BERLIN — Policy Control & Data Pricing — April 16, 2013 — Tekelec is giving operators new and improved services to increase revenues, decrease costs and improve customer service with its Mobile Policy Gateway (MPG). The MPG takes policy ‘everywhere’ in the network, extending rules from the core network to mobile devices, tablets and machines.

The first eight use cases Tekelec has developed go well beyond basic signaling scenarios to enrich subscribers’ interactions with their devices and enable operators to more intelligently manage network resources, applications and devices. They help operators create or improve digital lifestyle services, such as machine-to-machine (M2M) and mobile payment offerings, while addressing subscribers’ most common concerns, such as battery life or security.

The eight use cases, also highlighted in the new whitepaper “Policy on the Mobile: New Use Cases that Optimize Devices for the Network and Generate Revenues” include:

1.Network Congestion Management. The 3GPP introduced the Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF) to enable offload of cellular traffic to Wi-Fi networks. While an important first step, the ANDSF standard is limited to defining static rules for Wi-Fi offload only. The MPG integrates with Tekelec’s Policy Server (PCRF) to allow operators to define Wi-Fi offload rules by more than a dozen dynamic criteria. These include subscriber tier, subscriber type (e.g. enterprise versus consumer), device type, quota status and location. In addition, the MPG can configure devices or incent subscribers to shift high-bandwidth application usage out of peak usage times or locations.

2.Application Firewalling. The MPG can instruct an application firewall to selectively throttle or block application data and signaling traffic based on time, location, port or device. This allows operators to rapidly respond to rogue applications, security threats, or network congestion.

3.Application Traffic Scheduling and Management. Automated application traffic can overwhelm radio and core network resources. The MPG configures devices based on parameters like device type, traffic characteristics and deployment location to best utilize network resources. For instance, the MPG allows operators to direct “bursty” machines such as smart meters to evenly distribute traffic loads and avoid busy hours, while configuring and prioritizing “streaming” devices such as health monitors to continuously send critical data at all hours. 

4.Service Continuity. The MPG enhances a device’s network selection capabilities so it can transparently steer application traffic to the appropriate networks, with user permission but without user intervention. This maintains the application session so that, for example, a streaming video or song plays uninterrupted when a device switches from LTE to Wi-Fi. 

5.Battery Life Preservation. Through the MPG, operators can deploy policies that improve mobile device battery life. Examples include policies that account for device model, battery age and remaining charge, application usage patterns and network conditions. With this logic, an operator can provide superior battery performance without software updates.

6.Chargeable Services and Mobile Payments. Tekelec’s Policy Server streamlines the behind-the-scenes charging architecture for mobile payments by implementing a Diameter interface directly to online and offline charging systems. Adding the MPG establishes secure, authenticated connections to devices. This allows operators to move transaction-related traffic onto their network, protecting subscribers from sending financial data over unsecure networks such as public Wi-Fi. 

7.Targeted Mobile Advertising. The MPG creates a direct channel for intelligent advertising to subscribers and streamlines the conversion process. Examples include:

·         Zero-rated content – Subscribers are less likely to opt out of advertising if they do not pay for the bandwidth needed to deliver it. This also represents a revenue opportunity from third-party advertisers paying operators to zero-rate their ads.

·         Enhanced ad targeting – Targeting advertisements to opt-in subscribers according to operator-owned data such as their preferences, circumstances, location/presence and partnerships with preferred businesses, improving customer loyalty.

·         Monetizing subscriber data – In return for incentives, subscribers could opt in to allow operators to share data culled from policy, analytics and other sources with mobile advertisers.

·         Contextual advertising and interactive dynamic upsell – The MPG can create policies that present ads and upsell opportunities based on which applications subscribers are using. 

8.Subscriber Self-Care. The complexity of expanding service offerings is increasing customer care training and operational burdens. These are compounded by the fact that subscribers often lack awareness of new services. The MPG integrates with self-care clients on the device to allow customers to make changes or additions to their services in real time. This reduces customer care costs, improves customer satisfaction and accelerates new services.

“For operators to become digital lifestyle providers, they will need to mix and match service bundles and pricing models while managing network resources in new and creative ways,” said Houck Reed, vice president of product management and marketing at Tekelec. “Practically, this means operators and subscribers will need more intelligent controls over applications and devices. The goal is to empower subscribers to better control their experience, allow operators to manage finite resources and welcome advertisers to better communicate with subscribers.”