International and Long Distance Routing of Mobile through VoIP

The client is a company providing cutting-edge technology in the communications marketplace. A mobile services specialist, the company has been leading the industry in delivering the latest and most exciting mobile content.

Positioning itself as a Pan Nordic and Pan European MVNO, the customer is a young and innovative service provider, focused on providing mobile services. The organization, which has commenced operations in the Nordics, will later spread its wings to other regions in Europe and North America. Tulip’s solutions cover a gamut of customers—from large enterprises at one end, to SOHO (Small Office Home Office) companies and even individual users.

The business challenge

The client already had its VoIP infrastructure in place and was planning to offer converged voice and VAS services to its customer. It wanted to add GSM mobile services in addition to its existing suite of VoIP services. It thereby needed a solution that would provide seamless integration and handoff between the IP and GSM/PSTN networks. Infozech analyzed the business needs of the client and enabled it to provide international and long distance rerouting of the mobile communication through VoIP.

In such a scenario, it was critical for the client to ensure that the user experience was not degraded and the quality of service (QoS) parameters of the call were maintained. Also, since the call type involved was international long distance, it was more susceptible to frauds and revenue losses. In order to put a check on such revenue leakages and reduce the possibilities of fraud, a solution was devised to work in a prepaid manner, that enabled real-time call tear down.

Also, the client needed to maintain only a single point of interface for its subscribers to enable faster and easier adoption of newer services. Thus interoperability was a major concern for the client, as the telco needed to integrate the new system with its existing infrastructure with the minimum of disruption and customization.

The requirement

The customer required a solution that would support its needs of routing of international mobile calls over its VoIP network and help it overcome the above-mentioned business challenges. Tulip’s functional requirements for handling international calls were centered around the following sequential steps:

The client wanted to route all mobile originated international calls to the VoIP network through the Cisco gateway.

The Radius server would be used for authentication purpose. The MVNO user database table would reside on the billing server database, which would be used for this authentication.

After authorization, the subscriber would be provided with a talking window of one hour, after which the call would be terminated. To control fraudulent calling activities, the operator wanted to have a talking window of one hour, which was a configurable entity and could be modified as per future needs.

The international call would then be routed to its destination through the Cisco gateway. The call detail records (CDRs) were to be collected and uploaded on the FTP site at regular intervals.

The solution

Infozech provided a prepaid solution to the client for handling its international mobile calls in real time. The SIM in the client phone was programmed in such a way that it forwarded all international calls to the Cisco gateway in Denmark. Since the MVNO wanted to generate a single bill and create a single point of interface with its subscribers, Infozech integrated its Precall with the client’s existing TMS (mobile billing) system. Therefore, while the CDRs of the call were recorded by Precall, the rating and billing was undertaken by TMS.

Infozech exposed Web APIs using which active mobile users on TMS were activated on Precall through web services. Every international call made by a mobile user and landing on the Cisco gateway was authenticated by Precall and once authentication was complete, the call got established. After the call was terminated, the recorded CDRs at Precall were uploaded at predefined intervals on the FTP site, from where they were picked by the TMS` for further processing.

The benefits

• Enhanced customer experience
  Infozech provided a solution, which offered seamless rerouting of international mobile calls through the VoIP network. It enabled the client to offer an enhanced user experience to its customers by enabling smooth call handoff between the GSM/PSTN and VoIP networks. The transparent and cost effective international routing through the VoIP network contributed greatly to an overall improved customer experience.
• Increased savings on integration costs
  The Infozech edge in the project lay in the fact that the company had a keen understanding of the MVNO market and supported solution interoperability with networks like GSM, TMS etc. Infozech integrated almost effortlessly with the client’s existing billing system, TMS and enabled the customer to cut down its integration costs significantly. The easy integration also enabled the client to provide a single point of interface for its customers.
• High security
  The online interface provided to prepaid mobile customers allowed them to log in using a unique combination of user name and password. The system ensured high levels of security by providing an SSL secured Web site, wherein all passwords, etc. were maintained in encrypted format. Only the payment gateway, DIBS maintained credit card information of online users, while the billing application only stored the ID associated with the user. The log in passwords of customers were also not known to the CSR and were sent automatically to the customer by e-mail.
• Increased ease-of-use due to fully automated system
  The system provided users with the flexibility of making both online and offline payments. It allowed subscribers to recharge their prepaid vouchers in various denominations, on-line. At the time of signup, the customer would select its top up option and the system would automatically recharge the voucher as soon as a predefined threshold was reached.
• Increase in operational efficiency
  The open standards based architecture of the deployed solution enabled the customer to manage the entire operation with the help of a small team. Formal training and user documentations were provided to the users of the system, which enabled them to understand and use the system effectively, thereby reducing operational hazards.