Prepaid VoIP services deployment using Precall

The client is a Florida-based company, which provides Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication services to its customers. Since its inception in 2002, the client has grown to provide telecommunications service to millions of customers worldwide.

The client’s strategy is to assign customers a US or Canadian and eventually an international phone number, which can be used to make a local, long distance or international call from any Internet-enabled computer, anywhere in the world. Through its proprietary, patent-pending technology, the client recently launched its Web and PC-based product, which provides subscribers with the ability to call each other while online (i.e. peer-to-peer calling) for free via a broadband connection. Moreover, this product can be used with a dial-up connection as well—another important instance of differentiation keeping in view the millions of Internet users around the world who use dial-up methodology. Another key point of differentiation of this product line is that it also offers the option to make calls to and receive calls from traditional landline or wireless phones.

The client follows a complete prepaid business model, where prior to allocating any service to the customer, all the charges need to be collected. The client is offering prepaid services like on-net IP-2-IP, Off-net IP-2-PSTN and Off-net PSTN-2-IP VoIP services alongside calling card services.

The requirement

The client, while rolling out its services, needed a comprehensive billing and rating system that would be in tune with its business requirements and covered the following:

• Monthly and annual plans
• Free minutes to subscribers on registration
• Monthly fixed rentals
• Free calls between the client and its own subscribers
• Bundling of minutes
• The ability to change from one plan to another plan without reregistering
• Web-based customer sign up and customer care
• Seamless integration with third parties
• Automatic recharging through the credit card

The Solution

To meet the billing requirements of the customer, Infozech deployed its flexible and easy-to-operate eBill solution in the following manner:

• Taking into account the fact that the client was rolling out its services through a Web portal, Infozech provided a solution that took care of needs such as online payments.
• Infozech's solution also encompassed a customized rate engine module that supported the customer's wide variety of rating schemes. This gave the telco flexibility in launching new rate plans.
• As the client was using a prepaid business model, it required a reverse rating feature, which was also made available by Infozech.
• In order to enable the client to implement new rates very quickly, Infozech added a data refresher into eBill. This allowed the telco to change rates and implement new rates frequently.
• In order to allow the customer to re-charge the subscriber account as soon as the balance dipped below the threshold amount, Infozech provided an auto replenishment feature in its software.
• Web APIs were provided as part of the solution so that eBill could talk to third party systems and seamlessly integrate with them.

The benefits achieved by the customer

The eBill solution deployed by Infozech, enabled the telco to achieve the following:

• Enjoy "low cost of acquisition and maintenance"
  The basic configuration of eBill and solution up-gradation licenses were cost competitive, thereby significantly reducing the cost of acquisition. By providing 24 * 7 support via its development center at India, Infozech also helped the customer reduce its cost of maintenance.
• Access a solution that could be "flexibly customized" to its needs
  Voiceglo needed to increase its services portfolio at the speed of light. Infozech offered increased flexibility by rapid adoption of new business models in tune with the dynamic needs of the client.
• Gain access to a solutions company that could provide it "business consultancy" on its billing needs
  In addition to the billing and rating solution, Infozech also provided Voiceglo with the complete suite of consultancy services. It provided the customer with
  business process flows in various domains such as account management,
  network management and customer acquisitions. This additional feature allowed the users of the system to take the right business decisions, thereby increasing the efficiency of operations.
• Acquire a solution that was "easy-to-use and administer"
  The solution consisted of an easy-to-use, user-friendly GUI as a means for accessing the system. The modules and capability set of the system are self-explanatory and allowed the users to handle and manipulate the various business processes or functions according to their specific needs.
• Gain a solution that "scaled with its expanding needs"
  The solution provided by Infozech was highly scalable and automatically adapted itself to the ever-increasing needs of the service provider. The system provided uninterrupted billing and rating services despite the rapid addition of newer and complex next generation services.