As more advanced services become available on next-generation networks, innovative pricing and billing models are more effective than flat-rate plans to help operators maximise revenues and improve their subscribers’ overall experience, according to a Comverse presentation for the upcoming CTIA Wireless 2009 conference in Las Vegas.

“Legacy billing systems have forced operators into an ‘all-you-can-eat’ trend rather than sophisticated pricing models and bundling and operators are not extracting their networks’ full value for themselves and their subscribers,” said Gabriel Matsliach, General Manager of Billing and Active Customer Management at Comverse.

Operators also recognise this dilemma. According to a recent Yankee Group research report, in which Comverse received the top ranking among global Business Support System (BSS) providers, most operators believe the flat-rate business model is not sustainable when providing cutting edge, value-added services.

“To extract full network value, operators must have a sophisticated billing and customer management system that can support any charging model, including hybrid prepaid/postpaid models,” Matsliach said. “These systems also make it easy to create and modify innovative bundles of services and get them to market quickly.”

At CTIA Wireless 2009, Matsliach will address the critical need for “smart” billing within IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS), which are next-generation networks that enable operators to offer such rich communication services as converged messaging, visual voicemail, address book management, presence, and third-party applications, all of which potentially combined with residential and business voice, video and data.

By working with the Comverse® ONE™ Billing and Active Customer Management™ solution, which supports any combination of services, networks and payment types through a single unified system, operators can find the best business model and then charge for the value perceived by subscribers. At the same time, the real-time marketing capabilities of the solution encourage more usage.

“Every subscription, every attribute and every transaction is available in real-time throughout the system,” Matsliach said. “With our single data model, operators get a true 360-degree view of the customer, which allows for the best customer management. A single system also increases efficiency and reduces costs for maintenance, hardware and training.”

For operators not in a position to overhaul their networks all at once, Comverse ONE supports a continuum of deployment modes to support the specific needs of each operator.

Other Comverse solutions that provide the ultimate user experience will be showcased at CTIA:

• Comverse HUB Visual Voicemail allows users to go directly to the message they want to hear with access from any device;
• Comverse HUB Mobile Advertising delivers personalised targeted ads directly to multi-channel customer touch points; and
• Comverse HUB Mobile Internet Gateway is a cost-effective, high-capacity data platform that transforms operators to “smart pipes” with advanced data services and intuitive mobile Internet browsing while managing growing mobile data traffic.

Matsliach will speak during the panel session, “IMS: An Acronym for the Future,” on April 2, from 2.30pm to 3.45pm. Comverse will be located at Hall C5, Meeting Room #101. To arrange a meeting with a Comverse representative or have a tour of the Solution Showcase at CTIA Wireless, please visit www.comverse.com/ctia/.

About Comverse
Comverse is the world’s leading provider of software and systems enabling value-added services for voice, messaging, mobile internet and mobile advertising; converged billing and active customer management; and IP communications. Comverse’s extensive customer base spans more than 130 countries and covers over 500 communication service providers serving more than two billion subscribers. The company’s innovative product portfolio enables communication service providers to unleash the value of the network for their customers by making their networks smarter. Comverse’s solutions support flexible deployment models, including in-network, hosted and managed services, and can run on circuit-switched, IP, IMS or converged network environments. Comverse is a subsidiary of Comverse Technology, Inc. (CMVT.PK). For more information, visit www.comverse.com.

All product and company names mentioned herein may be registered trademarks or trademarks of Comverse or the respective referenced company(s).