T-Mobile taps Ericsson for new OSS/BSS contract

T-Mobile is giving its customers more visibility into their wireless service by leveraging Ericsson’s service agility solution, which includes charging, billing, order management, product catalog and customer relationship management. The solution is based on Ericsson’s pre-integrated OSS/BSS software suite.
The contract is a long-term managed services agreement that will include all branded T-Mobile and MetroPCS customers. Customers will gain real-time billing visibility and full control over account service changes.
“Ericsson makes it possible for carriers to give their subscribers a broad range of control based on demand and the service experience they want to provide,” said Per Borgklint, senior vice president and head of BSS solutions for Ericsson. “This includes the ability to dynamically change service plans.”
Several carriers have been experimenting with real-time offers that let subscribers add new services, purchase a video, or buy more data when they need it. The ability to dynamically change service plans is an extension of this functionality.
Ericsson’s announcement comes as TM Forum Live is getting underway in Nice, France this week. Customer agility and service agility are the two themes Ericsson is promoting at the event. Ericsson may be eager to get its news out early this week, ahead of an expected OSS/BSS announcement from rival Alcatel-Lucent.
Ericsson’s push into telecom software in general and OSS/BSS solutions in particular has accelerated during the last three years, in the wake of its $1.5 billion purchase of Telcordia. Ericsson already offered OSS/BSS solutions when it bought Telcordia, but the two companies had complementary offerings and client rosters. At the time of the acquisition, Ericsson noted that Telcordia was particularly strong in service fulfillment.
T-Mobile has worked with Ericsson for years on the radio network side, and now Ericsson is expanding that relationship to billing and customer experience management. In the past, T-Mobile has worked with Amdocs for billing support systems.
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