Pipeline Publishing, Volume 7, Issue 10
This Month's Issue:
Unlocking Next Gen Networks
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Prepping for the Gigabit Society: OSS/BSS in the Race to LTE
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By Sanjay Mewada

The Communications Industry is focused on the race to roll out 4G and LTE, but in the bigger picture this is just the first step into a “gigabit society.” Successive generations of higher capacity wireless broadband services are before us in which customers will expect high-quality, on-demand services delivered on devices that meet pop culture’s image-driven demands. OSS/BSS strategy is increasingly critical in this intense environment because of the many roles it plays in new service delivery, customer experience, costs, partnerships, and revenue generation.

Pain and Pressure

Operators will compete to be the first to deliver each successive advance. As soon as they’ve completed one wave, they will have to start working on the next next-generation of networks and services. At the same time, their business models are shifting from being pure communications providers to becoming vertical-specific solution suppliers. The speed of this market, coupled with increasing customer expectations, means the need to monetize technology investments immediately has never been more intense; there has never been less room for inefficiency; and everyone must do more with fewer resources in less time under greater price pressure.

The increasing bandwidth that operators are delivering for customers requires massive capital outlays, and not just for the Radio Access Networks. More capacity in wireless connectivity also means more demands on, and capacity needed in, backhaul and core networks. With essentially no time to ramp and transition (the time between tech generations is too short), the challenge is to figure out not only how to monetize new capacity, but how to do so profitably with a sustainable economy of scale in operations.

Driving profitability means seizing and keeping market share from one generation to the next, but it also means keeping costs down amidst increasing price competition. Most organizations face continuous budget pressure as a result, which means resources are more constrained and there is little to no room for error, waste, or inefficiency in building new infrastructure and launching new services and partnerships.

"In the midst of all this pain and pressure, OSS/BSS can’t hide in the back office anymore."



A relatively new variable that plays a radical role in this market is the intense public pressure operators face to consistently deliver new and more attractive technology. Wireless is in the spotlight. It’s a huge part of pop culture and lifestyle right now. Public commitments are aggressive and must be met, or there’s a big price to pay in the social media-driven court of public opinion. The downside of that public opinion is harsh and translates into losses in market share and revenue.

In the midst of all this pain and pressure, OSS/BSS can’t hide in the back office anymore. It now has too great an impact on speed, profitability, and public image. OSS/BSS is directly involved in: delivering new technology; governing customer experience; dictating underlying costs; enabling on-ramps for new partners and services; and providing the basis for revenue generation in terms of pricing, billing, and payments. In other words, OSS/BSS is central to any operators’ overall success, not just today, but for the next several generations of mobile and broadband services.

Acceleration and Explosion

In the present, LTE and 4G are used more as marketing terms than technical terms, but their use is raising expectations among customers for more capacity, functionality, and access, as well as increasingly functional devices to come. With each new advance in network and device technology come explosive responses from subscribers, evident in some clear growth metrics.


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