By Rajeev Tankha, Sr. Director Solutions Marketing at Oracle Communications
The rapid expansion of the mobile device market has brought consumers closer than ever to their smartphones and tablets. A recent Gartner study projects tablet sales to rise by 70 percent over the next year, and forecasts that more than 2 billion smartphones will be in use worldwide by 2017.
These developments are increasing pressure on Communications Service Providers (CSPs) to deploy comprehensive data networks that ensure both reliable and cost-effective service delivery as they support customers’ increasingly digital lifestyles.
With the 4G LTE rollout accelerating, operators must be prepared to meet the performance and scalability demands this technology places on their networks. To help customers fully benefit from their connected devices, CSPs will also need convergent charging systems and intelligent billing platforms that let them monetize services more effectively and enable users to manage and personalize policies through a single, easy interface on any connected device.
A widening Diameter
As CSPs update their business models to address rising bandwidth needs and more complex data management, many are moving toward all-IP LTE networks. To fully leverage these networks and provide customers with flexible, user-controlled policies, operators will depend heavily on advanced Diameter signaling protocols.
Diameter messages convey a broad range of critical subscriber information, including billing details and network policy data. With robust Diameter routing, operators can direct these messages efficiently and maintain the high level of network reliability that subscribers expect.
This technology is shaping the future of service delivery, and EMEA has emerged as the fastest-growing market for Diameter implementations. According to the Oracle Communications LTE Diameter Signaling Index, regional traffic climbed by more than 200 percent in the past year. As Diameter signaling grows even faster than data traffic, cost-conscious CSPs are prioritizing investment here to strengthen their networks and accommodate evolving subscriber behavior.
Meanwhile, the proliferation of connected devices has driven consumers toward streaming video and online gaming offered by Over-The-Top (OTT) providers. In response, traditional CSP policy rules—originally focused on managing usage allowances—are evolving into additional revenue streams.
By gaining finer network control through Diameter-based solutions, operators can act as gatekeepers of reliable OTT experiences and explore new monetization opportunities as demand for these applications increases.
A unified solution
Today’s consumers expect personalized services that fit their individual digital lifestyles, and CSPs need straightforward ways to support voice, data, and multimedia consumption. Convergent charging and policy platforms enable operators to consolidate these services on a single platform, simplifying the creation of tailored offers. With such solutions in place, subscribers can personalize policies, manage usage, and control connections within their mobile social circles anytime, from any connected device.
Converging IT, telecoms, and media on a unified platform also helps operators lower operational costs. Running an online convergent platform with real-time charging reduces ongoing investments across business, IT, and network teams.
Streamlining infrastructure in this way enables CSPs to handle increasingly complex business and network policies while minimizing exposure to revenue leakage, positioning them to meet consumer expectations and monetize next-generation services effectively.