Starhome, the leading provider of roaming services and converged solutions for mobile network operators, has launched its Service Broker solution which overcomes Intelligent Network (IN) limitations to allow mobile operators to deliver multiple services, such as musical ringback tones and multiple numbers to their existing prepaid and VPN customer base.
Intelligent Networks evolved without mechanisms to support multiple service triggers per call; therefore, operators are unable to offer their customers more than one mobile subscription-based service at a time. Attempts to overcome this limitation require significant changes to the core network.
For operators using IN this means limitations to the service they offer, network inefficiencies and a loss in potential revenue. For example, a call by prepaid customers abroad will trigger a balance check for their account to see if there is sufficient credit to make the call. Since IN does not support multiple triggers, those prepaid customers cannot subscribe to other mobile services simultaneously for this call, such as dialed number correction solutions.
Starhome’s Service Broker overcomes this technical limitation by enabling mobile operators to use a single trigger definition to enable multiple IN services. A simple user-friendly web interface (structured SCE – Service Creation Environment) provides full service synchronization and flexibility.
In addition the solution can be implemented without having to make significant changes to the core network. Easy integration into the network’ s architecture results in a quick and inexpensive time-to-market for the new services operators can now offer to their customers.
Shachar Florence, CEO of Starhome, says that “Starhome’s vast experience in the complexities of mobile environments and roaming enables us to identify the needs of the mobile operators and develop innovative solutions for them, such as the Service Broker that overcome long-standing technical problems faced by the industry.”
Service Broker is deployed using Starhome’s IntelliGate platform and can be used for both roaming and home-network services. The solution is IMS ready and offers easy migration to hybrid networks.