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There are a few fundamental changes taking place in both network architecture and in the business landscape with which OSS deployments must keep up if telecom operators are to succeed in this extraordinarily dynamic market.
The increase in IP and next-gen networks have created conditions in which each player must deal with a greater number of partners and competitors. Traditional roles of many market players are changing as providers leverage the new technologies to offer new services and break out of their traditional "silos." Along with various incumbents entering each other's markets, the increased flexibility presented by network technology has enabled a rapid increase in the number of VNOs and MVNOs in many areas.
In addition to these market developments and stricter QoS requirements, the technological shift toward IP or next-gen networks itself brings challenges for network operations. Of course, it is difficult to discuss the challenges from technological developments and the challenges from market developments as separate issues, as each takes place in the context of the other. Ironically, the same technology that enables such commercial innovations as VNOs and MVNOs, also raises the risks for the smooth and profitable operation of their services. IP and next-generation Mobile technologies force operators – both VNO and incumbent – to face new operational challenges. Meeting those challenges may mean the difference between success and failure of the whole model.
Each class of these new market players introduces a unique set of challenges for network operations and OSS. Regarding providers of IP-based services (namely, VoIP providers), the key challenge is to guarantee QoS at a level comparable to that of circuit- switched networks. When VoIP was in its earlier stages, it was more of a novelty than a serious business proposal. QoS was not much of an issue, since the fact that it worked at all was impressive enough. This still applies to many cases today, especially with internet calling services such as Skype (although even there, one can see constant improvement). QoS is still not committed, but being a practically free service, they can get away with it. At the same time, these services fill a rather small market niche, with limited growth prospects at the current level of service reliability.
More serious VoIP providers wish to grow beyond a market niche and make this technology a mainstream means of voice communications and eventually reach a new universal standard. However, if these providers are going to grow their market share while keeping prices at a profitable level in order to successfully compete with the
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Traditional roles of many market
players are changing as providers
leverage the new technologies to
offer new services and break out
of their traditional "silos". |
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circuit-switched world, it is absolutely necessary that they also raise QoS to the same level. Similarly, current TDM incumbents who wish to migrate their voice services to IP and benefit from the efficiencies of packet-switched traffic will have to do so without compromising on quality. Regardless of how much these providers may invest in their network switching and transport hardware, they will be able to meet the tight QoS requirements of this business model only with a robust service assurance solution in their OSS platform.
One reason QoS is such a critical issue in VoIP is the same reason that applies to IPTV, mobile video, and similar content services: unlike data, user experience for voice is far more sensitive to traffic irregularities or packet loss. In addition to the QoS of the service while in use, VoIP also must address network availability in a stricter way than video services. If a network providing video services has some down time, this will create a very irritating experience for the user, with a very low threshold before leading to subscriber churn. However, as aggravating as video downtime may be, loss of dial tone is something that most subscribers don’t even want to think about. Even to the extent that VoIP is already being adopted for its greater efficiency, there are subscribers who still maintain a PSTN line as well, just to be safe. If VoIP is to be seen as equally dependable, one bad episode of downtime and the resulting anecdotes of people unable to dial 911 can cause long term setbacks for the individual operator and VoIP as a whole.
If VoIP services are to compete with PSTN (or IPTV with cable), they’ll have to continually monitor services in a way that fault resolution will be as proactive and near real time as possible. Consequently, they will need access to an end-to-end view of their network, their customers and services. The fault detection and resolution cycle must be
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