You want to bridge the Digital Divide? But how can the have-nots of telecoms compete with the more advanced markets? Form your own company and compete, that’s how. Hungary’s Magyar Telekom and Allround have been voted Best Revenue Assurance Project at the World Billing Awards 2006...

The joint efforts of Magyar Telekom's T-Com business line and Allround won Best Revenue Assurance/Management Project category at the World Billing Awards 2006. The success was announced at the Billing and Information Management Systems 2006 Gala Dinner. This report examines how.

A common problem regarding billing system testing, validation and auditing is that coverage is not sufficient. Increasing that coverage requires enormous resources while the problem of reusability is not solved. Problems are mainly concentrated in the execution and evaluation phase: test execution is never perfect. In turn, failed and repeated calls, imperfect timing and unsatisfactory call identification combine to make testing both difficult and involved. And all the problems noted at test execution roll over to evaluation. As a whole, there are two critical points: the production of test data and the evaluation of the results. Neither of them has been fully automated previously.

One fashionable methodology is coming into play and provides the solution for the problems above: stability testing.

At Magyar Telekom (T-Com) in Hungary successful revenue assurance through stability testing demonstrates how this task can be transformed from a one-off job to a regular, efficient and controlled process, achieving:

• proven legal and regulatory compliance;
• effective testing, supporting service and tariff development;
• automated execution, higher testing efficiency and wider coverage;
• increased subscriber satisfaction;
• extremely frequent (even daily) execution in contrast to a project based approach; and
• seamless evolution from project to process based approach.

Furthermore, the project enabled Magyar Telekom to operate, further develop and extend a pro-active process in order to continuously assure maximal revenue and efficiency.

The great achievement of an innovative approach is the change that has come about in revenue assurance. It has lost its event-driven character and become an efficient, repeatable, daily routine. The process-based approach ensures that even the smallest problem is detected in time. Thanks to continuous control, the aggregation of problems and domino effects are avoided. Revenue leakages are identified and solved efficiently.

Summing up

Allround claims it can help where operators have to prove the accuracy of their systems. And yet the methods and tools applied must be at least as reliable as the system itself. Therefore, a huge responsibility and challenge devolve upon suppliers of billing support systems to prove the compliance of their products and services.

CeDaR

The backbone of Allround’s methodology is its flagship product - CeDaR. CeDaR introduces a high level of automation and testing efficiency, and is attested by the British Approvals Board for Telecommunications (BABT). This ensures the acceptance of CeDaR-based testing and auditing processes by regulatory bodies and other authorities - both in Hungary and abroad.

Hugh Roberts, Chairman of the World Billing Awards Judging Panel, declared how impressed his panel was by “the proactive approach based on stability testing that was adopted and also by the honesty demonstrated in both relationships and reporting structures that are clearly important for real long term benefits to accrue."

Allround has completed several recent contracts. They include:

• winning the roaming tender for the introduction of the TAP3 standard in BH Telecom's GSM Billing System in Bosnia Herzegovina with its local partner Energoinvest;
• Selection of its roaming management system by Vmobile, a major Nigerian operator;
• Installation of CeDaR for CDR processing testing purposes at VimpelCom, Russia;
• installation of its TAP solution as the new roaming management system for SpaceTel Yemen;
• installation of CeDaR to handle the TAP processing workflow at Globul Bulgaria.

** Magyar Telekom is the principal provider of telecom services in Hungary, providing a broad range of services including telephony, data transmission, value-added services. It also holds a majority stake in MakTel, the largest telecom operator in Macedonia and in Telekom Montenegro, Montenegro's largest telecom operator.

more info: www.allround.net