The Prepaid Press - February 2009 - (Page 14)

PREPAID TELECOM February 15 · 2009 - 14 The STaTe of PrePaid Technology by Ken Osowski Prepaid Virtual Operators Emerge: Gaining access to low-cost PSTN terminations is a pressing issue for prepaid service providers. While there are two main ways to interconnect with the PSTN, both can be cumbersome. Yet becoming a so-called virtual operator can address these trouble spots, enabling providers to offer services from outsourced networks while still maintaining the ability to choose carriers and routes, and manage the network as if it were their own. Of the two most common approaches to accessing PSTN terminations, the first is through a direct hardware connection to the PSTN. To do this, you will need a media gateway controlled by a softswitch. Another increasingly common approach is through SIP peering, which enables you to route your calls directly to a wholesale carrier who provides outbound call terminations (where the call goes from the Wireless Dealer Revised.pdf 2/5/2009 IP network to the PSTN network and recipient’s phone). For SIP peering, a session border controller (SBC) is used to connect to TDM-facilities owned by wholesale carriers. Either approach enables your calling card subscribers to make calls through the PSTN. Both methods can be sophisticated and resource intensive. You have to consider: Are you up to these technical challenges? Prepaid service providers looking to implement an IPcentric prepaid service tend to fit into one of two categories: 1 You want to be technically involved and will procure a prepaid services platform and build out a network. 2 You do not have a heavy-duty technical team and want to focus your energies and capital more on marketing and sales channels rather than switching. 6:11:49 PM Managing Your Own IP Services Without the Network Build-Out currently face a myriad of hybrid platform technologies to pick from. Many of these products are derived from TDM-based components and add some SIP call signaling. So even though they may be capable of interacting as a backto-back SIP user agent, their service call logic is not implemented using a scalable IP application server that supports easy-to-use service creation software development. These solutions often use IP component terminology to make you think you are getting next generation technologies. For the second category of service provider, you have traditionally had to decide whether or not to white-label a prepaid service from a service provider who partitions their IP network resources. Again, this sounds appealing but what is under the covers? Is it really a modern IP network architecture powered fully by IP network components including media gateways, softswitches, SBCs, media servers, and application servers? You need to look behind the marketing pitch to understand how many IP-based benefits are really there – i.e., cost reduction, flexible application feature content and development. But there is another alternative for the service provider who wants to leave the technical challenges to someone else and not make a large initial investment. A new breed of service providers that are “carrier neutral” are now taking full advantage of pure-IP network and service architectures to deliver a turnkey, prepaid solution to prepaid service providers. They can essentially act as Prepaid Virtual Operators (PVOs) without all of the typical up-front capital or manpower requirements. One such company is For the first category of service provider, you You need to look behind the marketing pitch to understand how many IP-based benefits are really there – i.e. cost reduction, flexible application feature content and development. WCGS, headquartered in Amityville, New York with network facilities in New York City. WCGS is run by people who understand the prepaid business because they used to run RSLCom, once one of the largest prepaid companies in the USA. They not only provide their customers with the technology to start a services business, but also the business know-how to make them successful. WCGS has all of the necessary IP network components provisioned in their network that support a turnkey, partionable, SIP-based prepaid service built on a pure-IP service delivery platform. This enables the core WCGS business model, which is to completely facilitate any sized prepaid service provider – from 100 to 10s of thousands concurrent calls. What makes WCGS stand out beyond the network and hosted service is that they allow these service providers to control their own businesses as if they owned their own networks. This is done by integrating the switching platform with a sophisticated business management system, which can be run by non technical personnel and includes: • Carrier Analysis • Service Provider Partitioning • Seamless Carrier Rate Loading/Updating • Sophisticated Profit and Loss reporting • A Customer Care web portal • Automated LCR Generation Capability • The ability to control Retail Rates and Maintenance Fees • The ability to run an array of other reports that provide all key business metrics necessary to run your business That means the hosted service provider can act as a PVO, giving them full control over carrier selection and route access as well as other costs that, unless monitored, can bring a prepaid service provider to a grinding halt. This is especially critical in these demanding economic times. So you don’t have to wait to make your strategic SIP/IP prepaid services platform move. Acting as a PVO, you can get all the benefits of actually being facilities-based as well as get the business management tools you need to be successful as prepaid service providers make their ultimate “switch over” to the future. Ken Osowski is VP of Product Management for Pactolus Communications Software, whose IP service applications include prepaid, post-paid, conferencing and operator assistance. Contact Ken at kosowski@pactolus.com. C M Y CM MY CY CMY K http://www.lunexcenter.com http://www.lunexcenter.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Prepaid Press - February 2009

Payments & Processing: Prepaid Debit Card Trends Contents The Retske Report: A Courthouse Divided Regulatory Rundown Prepaid Business: 5 Minutes With Darren Dat Lu, CEO of Lunex Group Prepaid Telecom: International Mobile Top-Up Virgin Mobile USA Compliance Plan Accepted by NYSE Tata Communications Launches One IP World KIT Communications Selects PhoenixSoft Sprint Nextel Increases Payments to Virgin Mobile Motorola, Sprint and Boost Mobile Welcome iDEN Flip PhoenixSoft Announces New Program Virgin Mobile Partners with Susan G. Komen The State of Prepaid Technology: Prepaid Virtual Operators Emerge Prepaid Wireless Roundup Boost Launches ‘Monthly Unlimited’ in More Cities Cricket Selects Callidus On-Demand Solution ICC Worldwide Expands Prepaid Products IPsmarx Launches SIP Based Card Platform The Legal Line Prepaid Telecom in Brief Pinnacle Rolls Out Ingenico’s Payment Terminals TransCard Makes Staff Announcements H&R Block Bank Selects MasterCard Avangate Pays Vendors and Affiliates with Prepaid MC TIO Networks Announces Grant of Stock Options TSYS Offers Enhanced Loyalty Solution First American Payment Systems Inks Deal with RDM Hypercom Introduces HyperSafe Remote Key System i2c Expands Team iPayStation Integrates with Movistar Payments & Processing in Brief New Javelin Report on Evolving Prepaid Card Market TransCard, Socialwise Plan to Revolutionize Prepaid Congresswoman Introduces Financial Literacy Act Industry Analysis on Mobile Banking Available Gift Cards & Promotions: Seven Cost-Conscious Marketing Strategies for 2009 Ntreev USA Announces PvP Tournament hhgregg to Help Circuit City Customers NRF Releases December Industry Sales Cellfire Expands Kroger Mobile Coupon Program Petrofix.com Offers a New Fuel Solution Gift Cards & Promotions in Brief Our Advertisers Contact Us

The Prepaid Press - February 2009

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.