Around the World

TM Forum Online Community…
Caps Off To Aussie ‘App Cap’ Initiative
A TM Forum online community member contributed a blog post on a recent interview with Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) chief executive Chris Althaus. Althaus believes that Australian mobile users need to step back, monitor their data usage on smartphones and manage their spending to avoid ‘bill shock’. A recent paper from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) found that 57% of mobile cap users did not monitor their expenditure between bills; 33% of users said they “cannot be bothered” in monitoring their spending, 19% said they did not exceed their cap, and 26% had “low usage”. Communications service providers (CSPs) need to step in and provide its end-users with services to better manage their plans. Check out our last “Around the World” post for Tony Poulos’ thoughts on this topic. The AMTA also put together some helpful tips for Australian mobile users to ensure that they follow the actions Althaus mentioned.

Connected Planet…
How To Meet Massive Demand For Mobile Data
Dan Warren, director of technology at the GSMA, contributed an interesting article to Connected Planet. Looking at the demand for mobile services and how service providers need to handle this influx, Warren offers readers two suggestions—update old configurations and make apps more frugal. While the demand for data services certainly presents mobile networks with challenges, he suggests that operators “can and will adapt”. He also leaves us with some food for thought—“rather than being seen as a harbinger of doom, the rapidly rising demand for mobile multimedia should be celebrated as the dawn of an exciting new age for the cellular industry”—which we couldn’t agree anymore with.

Voice and Data…
What Enterprises Want from 3G, WiMAX and TD-LTE
Beryl M. of Voice and Data reports that, in the next twelve to eighteen months, enterprises in India will have the option to pick up 3G, WiMAX and TD-LTE (4G)-driven broadband connectivity and other enterprise mobility solutions. This is the first time that three competing and complimenting technologies will land in the Indian telecom market at about the same time. The article continues by examining the opportunities and challenges each of these technologies will present and explaining enterprises concerns about them. Are there any other opportunities and challenges that were not discussed in this article? Share them with us.

Around the World…

Telecom Asia…
Bill Shock Worse Scourge Than Thought: FCC
In our last “Around the World” post, we touched on the recent ‘back and forth’ between the CTIA and the FCC on ‘bill shock’. Since then, Tony Poulos, head of the revenue management sector at TM Forum, has shared his thoughts on this topic in a recent article for Telecom Asia. As the subject of “bill shock” continues to captivate the world—customers, CSPs, regulators, etc.—Tony asks, “What should we, as an industry, do about managing it?” He believes it is not sufficient enough to simply inform customers that they will be charged a certain amount for services rendered; end-users should be careful—proactive action is necessary. Tony suggests that CSPs automatically set usage limits—as long as the method to override the limits is instantly offered at the same time. Do you have any ideas to add?

Connected Planet…
TM Forum, NGMN Alliance Will Yield Converged Requirements
TM Forum and the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGMN) have agreed to work together on 10 requirements for next-generation network (NGN) management and long-term evolution (LTE). NGMN has focused on understanding the requirements that next-gen mobile operators have, while the TM Forum provides the standards and expertise to enable the creation, delivery and monetization. For now, the 10 requirements center on:

• OSS standard interface requirements
• Inventory management
• Quality and quantity of alarms
• Automatic software management
• Energy-saving requirements (green)
• Self-organizing networks (define management of networks, help organize/heal themselves)
• Performance management
• Trace functionality (trace problems to their roots and to specific network errors)
• Plug-and-play/self-installing
• Tool support requirements

The alliance plans to reach out to 3GPP and other organizations that have core competencies. Martin Creaner, president and COO of the TM Forum states that “…the purpose is to get the various organizations to line up their brain power around common problems.” What do you think about this collaboration?”

Total Telecom…
LTE: Sharing the Burden
Ken Wieland wrote an interesting article that appeared in the July issue of Total Telecom. He considers this question: with high expenditure levels to deploy LTE networks, including spectrum and backhaul costs, are more operators are considering network sharing? Ken explores the pros and cons of network sharing and speaks with several industry analysts on their views of the market. He concludes with the following: “Yet to compete effectively in the mobile broadband market, there will be growing pressures to offset the cost of spectrum and equipment, as well as to reduce the cost of installing fatter backhaul pipes to support the higher volumes of traffic that LTE-based applications should bring. And that seems certain to drive LTE network sharing up the agenda.” Do you agree?

Witnessing Roaming Cost Control In Action

Last week, while at Comptel’s headquarters in Helsinki, Finland, I received the following text from my service provider:

“You’ve spent £34.04 (ex VAT) on data in Europe. We won’t charge you any more on your current bill, but we’ll stop the data service if you go over 50 MB.”

What an odd message! I thought:

• Why the somewhat random £34.04?
• What is 50 MB; how much daily usage does it represent? And how much have I used already?
• What can I do about it? Can I up my quota? The message gives no indication of that.

Of course, I immediately recognized this message as an implementation of the European Union’s (EU) Roaming Cost Control legislation—not a weird, threatening and inconvenient message. I could hazard a guess that the £34.04 (plus 17.5% VAT) could be equivalent roughly to the legislation’s limit of €50. And I also knew that I had the right to change that limit. So all in all, the message made me smile. I called my service provider and was able to up my credit limit (to an equally bafflingly random figure incidentally). Problem solved—for now at least.

However, how would other customers feel about this message, especially if, like me, they were travelling on business and needed data services for their jobs? My guess is they would not have been too happy about this message, even if they do understand the benefits of avoiding bill shock. What might they have done about it? I guess there are two options here: either they stopped using data services or, like me, they called the service provider.

In other words, for the service provider in question, this text resulted in either a lost opportunity for further revenue or a cost for handling customer calls—not to mention the potential customer dissatisfaction.

Yet, all of this could have been so easily avoided if the message had been better phrased, and if it gave an option to increase the limit by simply replying to the text.

There is so much talk these days in our industry about policy control as a tool for personalization and improved customer experience. It seems, however, that some implementations do not quite live up to that aspiration—yet.

Around the World…

Connected Planet | Unfiltered Blog…
CTIA vs. FCC in Bill Shock Dust-Up
BSS/OSS reporter Susana Schwartz gives us her take on the recent back-and-forth between the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and CTIA regarding the former’s survey on “bill shock”. As brief background, the CTIA started a dispute by calling the latest FCC data on bill shock “inflammatory,” with the FCC responding in a blog post that the CTIA is “denying bill shock by distorting the facts.” Regardless of who’s right or wrong, Susana raises an interesting point: “If the CTIA’s concern is well-founded—if only 30% of the respondents in the FCC bill shock survey said they were over 18—then where are we? Let’s pay attention to the perception of even young customers, as they are the near-future purchasers of services and plans. They will graduate and get jobs and pay bills, and they are the ones most savvy with social media and apps, etc.” Undoubtedly, these services will shape the future and certainly influence the telco industry. It is more important than ever for CSPs to be innovative and dynamic, and offer personalized services to subscribers at a price they are willing to pay for.

For more on the FCC-CTIA situation, Matthew Lasar of Ars Technica also covered bill shock and analyzed the FCC’s survey data in his article, “Fear and Loathing over Mobile Phone ‘Bill Shock’”.

Business Intelligence Middle East…
Africa & Middle East Mobile Broadband Adoption Will Grow Faster than Global Average over Next Five Years
According to a recent report from Pyramid Research, the future growth of broadband in Africa and the Middle East will be driven by mobile broadband. This is largely due to poor wireline services and innovative branding and packaging from mobile operators. It is expected that the total number of subscribers will reach 38 million by 2014, which is slightly faster than the global average. The report examines the current and forecast broadband landscape in the region in terms of subscribers and revenue, and looks more closely at the technologies that will enable fixed and mobile services. It also examines three key markets in more detail—the UAE, which exemplifies the most-developed parts of Africa and the Middle East; Nigeria, which illustrates the underdeveloped, sub-Saharan region; and Turkey, which represents the region’s middle-income markets. You can check out the report in full here.

TM Forum Online Community…
BSS Is Dead, Long Live BSS!
A TM Forum online community member contributed a blog post that looks at the “great BSS/OSS divide”. The terms BSS and OSS have traditionally been differentiated in the telco industry, yet with the combination of all-IP network transformation and service convergence, these have been more frequently blended together. This particular blogger raises an insightful point—“We have all heard this, but is it actually happening in the real world? If it is, how do we now define the functions that traditionally fell in the BSS camp…?” What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you think the BSS/OSS gap is closing?

From the FIFA World Cup 2010: Mobile Networks Under Control

Even though a 2-1 victory against France was not enough to see my home team through to the second round, I am loving the whole atmosphere, vibe and spectacle of the FIFA World Cup. Thanks to dual nationality, I am extremely happy to cheer on my ‘other home team’, England, and just now see them make it through to the next round!

One thing that has been performing well, according to reports, are the mobile networks. I even performed some tests at a match I attended in between blowing my vuvuzela. (An aside: to those who find vuvuzelas offensive or annoying … don’t knock it until you have tried it! There is something addictive to ‘answering the call of the hive’, something that appeals to the ‘primeval instincts’ deep inside!)

Despite the 65,000 people in the stadium, I had no problems exchanging a few SMS with the baby sitter, receiving a call from my father-in-law asking ‘are you there yet’ and even updating my Facebook status with ‘at Italy-Paraguay match’ to up my social network cred. That is certainly more than I have been able to do at midnight on just about any 1 January anywhere in the world! Of course, there may be many explanations for this—not least of all that most people were actually watching the football match rather than playing with their phones.

There are two, more likely explanations. Firstly, it is possible that foreign visitors are being cautious when using their mobiles while roaming for fear of receiving large bills on their return home. This issue of ‘bill shock’ is currently a hot topic as blogged about by my colleague here.  But, this is probably not the entire reason though, as many visitors are likely to have activated their pre-paid SIMs distributed by MTN, along with international ticket sales, upon arrival.

Secondly, and more simply, it appears that the investment in additional capacity around potential congestion points, like stadiums and airports, has paid off. Of course, this investment is only half the story, as the backhaul and core network capacity also need to be upgraded to support this. So, while nobody gets embarrassed by the performance of these investments during the World Cup, the interesting question will be how can operators recoup this type of investment after the World Cup: price wars or service innovation to increase ARPUs?

Around the World…

Light Reading…
Heavy Lifting Analyst Notes | Nice Show: Management World 2010
In this article, senior analyst, Ari Banerjee of Heavy Reading captures the key takeaways from Management World Nice. The common theme proved to be providing flexible and efficient software solutions and improving customer experience. Check out our recent posts from the show.

Data and Telecom | IT Business Edge…
4G Is Not the Only Game in Town
Blogger, Carl Weinschenk explores the wireless landscape and ponders the future of LTE and WiMax. While, these technologies are certainly the industry’s focus, Carl states that 4G is not everything and brings to our attention to High Speed Packet Access Plus (HSPA+) technology, which is informally called 3.5G technology. Do you agree with Carl’s views on HSPA+ and 4G? Do you think it’s comparable to 4G?

Broadband Expert…
World Cup Travelers Warned Over Mobile Bills
With the World Cup approaching, many experts are warning travelers to be careful about using their mobile devices to avoid costly and unexpected bills. Check out blogger William Harvey’s posts for recent industry commentary. This is particularly timely with the EU’s July 1 data roaming regulation approaching. This is a growing concern among operators globally, as they need to give their customers more control of their own experiences. How do you think this will unfold over the coming weeks?

The Mobile Phone Bill Is What?!

Last summer, I went gold prospecting in Finland’s Lemmenjoki National Park, which is about 250 km (155 miles) north of the Arctic Circle. This was at the height of the economic crisis, and desperate times called for desperate measures!

There is a serious telecom point to my story—while taking a break from panning, I checked my phone and found that it was connected to a Norwegian mobile network, even though Norway was some 65 km (40 miles) away! In other words, I was standing in one European country and roaming in another!

Unintentional roaming is not an unusual experience in Europe, but it also occurs elsewhere. For example, it happens frequently in Niagara Falls, which sits on the U.S. and Canadian border.

This brings me neatly to the subject of roaming cost control. Whether roaming intentionally or not, using one’s mobile phone abroad is far more costly than when using it at home. We’ve all heard the horror stories (admittedly some probably apocryphal). My own favourite is the one about the French café owner living on the Belgian border; he was hit by a €46,000 (U.S. $ 57,000) mobile Internet bill after unintentionally roaming into the neighbouring country. (An alternative, less credible but often quoted version of that story involves a German woman who downloaded an episode of Lost while in France.)

Now, however, regulators are stepping into the debate. Most notably, the European Union (EU) will, in just a few short weeks (1 July), enforce a new regulation on communications service providers (CSPs) in order to prevent ‘bill shock’. The legislation dictates lower costs for data services while roaming, and that subscribers are adequately informed of the charges.

One example of an operator preparing for this change—Finnish CSP DNA Ltd has deployed Comptel Roaming Cost Control, which allows subscribers to monitor their balances in real time, and notify them of any necessary actions, such as a notification or suspension of the services when a specified cut-off limit is reached.

The new regulation isn’t only affecting European CSPs.  After conducting a recent survey and finding that one in six mobile users have experienced ‘bill shock’ in service plans, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is putting pressure on U.S. operators and now considering legislation similar to that of the EU. Australian and New Zealand regulators are also looking into to tackling mobile roaming ‘bill shock’.

Excessive roaming bills have caused negative attention and bad publicity—and ultimately put customers off from using services that many operators are betting their futures on. Roaming cost control allows CSPs to not only comply with legislative demands, but also keep their customers satisfied and encourage data usage. As DNA points out, it is also an opportunity for CSPs to deploy real-time policy management and charging solutions that will help differentiate them from competitors by offering personalized services and price plans. This is critical for CSPs looking to fully monetize on mobile broadband services.

For the record, I did not find any gold. But thankfully, I was not hit by a big mobile phone bill either.