“Bill-shock” regulations drive intelligent mobile billing platform uptake

Espoo, Finland - Vodafone Malta is one of Nokia Siemens Networks’ 125 customers convinced since the convergent mediation platform was launched

Nokia Siemens Networks’ platform that efficiently consolidates charging data across telecoms networks has reached the 125th customer mark. The Convergent Mediation* platform, known as charge@once mediate, simplifies billing and enables the seamless rollout of new mobile data services. Vodafone Malta is already seeing an improved end-user experience, thanks to charge@once mediate. One of its key features is the prevention of ‘bill shock’**, which is gaining worldwide relevance beyond Europe.

“Mobile Internet is changing how people access and consume content, so we are offering additional data services for our subscribers,” said Marco Incorvaja, billing and data warehouse manager at Vodafone Malta. “At the same time, we have to guarantee cost transparency. Nokia Siemens Networks’ charge@once mediate platform is the chosen mediation technology that allows us to be cost transparent as well as launch new services flexibly and rapidly.”

charge@once mediate acts as a single point of contact between all kinds of network elements, providing charging and billing data to support prepaid and postpaid customers as well as all kinds of convergent voice and data services. It converts and validates data in real time, so that receiving systems work without hiccups. The platform also removes the need for large integration projects for each new service, enabling a greater flexibility in tariffs and marketing strategies. Deployments are further helped by the pre-integration with other Nokia Siemens Networks’ products and easy integration of charge@once mediate with third-party systems. With solutions based on charge@once mediate, Nokia Siemens Networks has become one of the world’s leading mediation suppliers.

“In a highly competitive market in the mobile Internet space, faster time-to-market for new services is the key to achieving customer satisfaction,” said Kevin Wall, head of sales for charging, billing and care solutions at Nokia Siemens Networks. “charge@once mediate provides operators with a much-needed flexibility to achieve this. As a result, Nokia Siemens Networks’ mediation solutions are used by a variety of operators worldwide including India’s IDEA Cellular with over 74 million subscribers and Namibia’s leo with 200,000 subscribers.”
About Vodafone Malta

Vodafone Malta is part of the world’s leading international telecommunications group offering a wide range of telephony and internet services over mobile and fixed technology. Vodafone Malta is the market leader in the provision of mobile electronic communication services, innovation and the best value available on the market. The company is Malta’s first mobile network operator. Vodafone Malta remains at the forefront of technology, offering a wide range of communication services with a notable list of firsts in the local market. Vodafone’s future is exciting and the company’s vision is to operate with speed, simplicity and trust so that Vodafone remains the market leader and continues to strive to be Malta’s most admired brand. www.vodafone.com.mt Engage in conversation about Vodafone Malta on http://www.facebook.com/vodafonemalta
About Nokia Siemens Networks

Nokia Siemens Networks is a leading global enabler of telecommunications services. With its focus on innovation and sustainability, the company provides a complete portfolio of mobile, fixed and converged network technology, as well as professional services including consultancy and systems integration, deployment, maintenance and managed services. It is one of the largest telecommunications hardware, software and professional services companies in the world. Operating in 150 countries, its headquarters are in Espoo, Finland. www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

Talk about Nokia Siemens Networks’ news at http://blogs.nokiasiemensnetworks.com and find out if your country is exploiting the full potential of connectivity at www.connectivityscorecard.org

Notes to editors:
* The Convergent Mediation platform, known as charge@once mediate, was launched at the Mobile World Congress 2008 in Barcelona. Over one hundred operators worldwide including IDEA Cellular, India; UCell, Uzbekistan (TeliaSonera group); and leo, Namibia owned by Orascom Telecom have chosen Nokia Siemens Networks’ leading, fully convergent mediation as part of solutions to support their business.

Besides, traditional off-line billing mediation, the usage data collected and processed by the platform supports other purposes such as statistics, fraud detection, business intelligence and customer care. Accordingly, operators are able to consolidate several legacy mediation systems into a single solution. charge@once mediate has been deployed to various operators as part of multiple solutions including data charging, ‘bill shock’ prevention and policy control to manage users’ access and control for data services and content in real time.

The usability of charge@once mediate is further proven by deployments in other areas such as solutions for OSS mediation and data management in the energy sector for collection and processing of data from smart meters.

** The distress caused by use of roaming data services and the subsequent large bills is dubbed ‘bill shock’. In April 2009, the European Parliament voted in favor of a new legislation to cut roaming charges and introduce measures to prevent ‘bill shock’ and save travelers money. The roaming regulations became effective from 1 July 2010 in all 27 EU member states to radically change how European Communication Service Providers (CSPs) manage and charge mobile communications and data services from country to country. One of the regulations is enabling roaming travelers to set their own data use limits and be supervised in real time.

Discussions on the issue started all over the globe. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the independent United States government agency responsible for regulating communication affairs, moved forward on a proposal to help consumers avoid surprising charges on their cell phone bills.