As operators face a pressing need to monetize 5G services, Mavenir is focused on a converged charging system to bridge the gap between 4G, NSA 5G and SA 5G
As operators navigate the numerous technological and business model evolutions needed to deliver the full 5G feature set–the move to cloud-native core, service-based architectures, disaggregation throughout the network including the RAN, distributed compute and intelligence, and more—costs seem to always be on the increase, yet profits are not rising at the same rate. With the next evolution from non-standalone 5G to standalone 5G, the need to deliver and monetize the network has never been more pressing. And, in this context, monetization is near impossible without modernization of charging systems; to say that another way, you can’t monetize something that you can’t measure and charge appropriately for.
In conversation with RCR Wireless News, Mavenir Sandeep Singh, senior vice president and general manager of digital business enablement, sketched out the problem: Most operators are still using highly-customized, proprietary charging systems designed for 4G networks. Because Standalone 5G will for some period of time still rely on backend systems, like charging, designed for 4G, operators can’t effectively bill for new services like network slicing, guaranteed QoS, or the like. They need a bridge from 4G to 5G charging, then a holistic, long-term charging solution going forward, he said.
“We are trying to solve an industry problem by bringing an overlay system,” Singh said. “We bring a softer landing approach to deploy the new BSS adjacent to the existing one. It reduces the impact on existing systems of the CSPs”. With Mavenir’s Converged Charging Solution, transactions on a Standalone 5G network are generated in a manner an existing 4G system can understand. “We have the capability to receive the 5G request and transfer that into a 4G format so that the older charging system can still be used,” Singh said.
In addition to building that modular bridge, Singh highlighted that Mavenir provides an evolutionary path forward. “Once you have the charging system in, our product suite doesn’t end at charging. This is the entry point for 5G as a catalyst.” A focus on open APIs allows Mavenir to connect to existing customer management platforms, product catalogs, other billing tools and the operator’s OSS, all based on a low-code/no-code platform design.
The solution is built wholly on microservices and supports 4G, 5G and combination nodes on a common rating function. There’s built-in support for diameter and service-based interfaces, and native support for both EPC-based and 5G core-based charging with a common Rating Function and Account balance management function engine support for the charging enablement function. In terms of monetization, Mavenir’s CCS allows charging for network slicing, MEC and edge applications, sporadic network access for mMTC (machine-type communications), API calls invocation, tenants for MVNO/MVNE and sub-brands. The architectural agility of our platform enables it to not only monetize the current set of use cases but also adapt to any use case that may arise in the future.
To this point on the importance of open APIs in allowing hardware/software interoperability, giving operators more choice, creating a more competitive vendor landscape, and otherwise driving digital change and monetization for operators, Mavenir is highlighting this in an upcoming session at TM Forum’s Digital Transformation World event Sept. 19-21 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Mavenir Chief Architect for Strategic Accounts in Europe Tarek El Basyouny will join a panel with leaders from Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson and Blue Planet to discuss how to use open APIs to implement orchestration to deliver dynamic 5G slicing in a multi-vendor/multi-domain ecosystem.
Singh summarized Mavenir’s approach as focused on open APIs, open networks, cloud-native solutions and automation. “It comes with all of our products and brings lower costs.” Specific to the charging solution, “We are giving operators a chance to enable Standalone 5G without a huge impact to IT systems. Then we give operators the opportunity to expand on this investment by becoming the single source for converged charging. Then we give them the ability to grow…And while doing all this, all of our products are being delivered on a cloud-native environment which means they’ll have lower TCO.”
