Is Your Roaming Business Leak-Proof?

Are you managing and controlling your Roaming business efficiently?
Roaming is a very important service that competitive operators must offer, not only to serve customer needs, but also to earn associated revenues. On average, Roaming revenues represent more than 10% of the total operator revenue.

Roaming revenue, however, is very difficult to manage, due to the dynamic evolution of Roaming contracts. Hundreds of agreements, with documentation such as AA12, AA13, AA14, are required to facilitate Roaming. With each new service launched, such as MMS, Roaming Prepaid, Data Services, and Roaming Services, technical complexities are inherent. Daily operational problems and constrains are also a reality in the Roaming Business. High volumes of data are necessary to manage every day, in compliance with GSM Association.

Roaming does provide operators with a high level of revenue. Nonetheless, due to the complexity involved in the information transfer required when providing Roaming services, Revenue Leakage in Roaming services, either through deliberate or unintentional means, is a reality that telecom operators must address.

The complex Roaming business process contributes greatly to Revenue Leakage in Roaming services. Roaming fraud currently accounts for 24% of the total fraud incurred by operators (GSM Association). One TAP can represent €1,000, and un-recovered files can result in even greater losses. Incorrectly rated, incomplete or duplicated records, as well as TAP file delays can all result in a large cost to the operator. Tests incongruence, inefficient processes, settlement inconsistencies, late payments, incorrect invoices and customer complaints also account for revenue lost in Roaming services.

Roaming margins are already hard pressed by intense competition, and it is vital to protect this high margin revenue stream. It is imperative to assure all Roaming Process is accurate and up-to-date .

In the Roaming Business, assuring the correct billing of all transactions and services provided, according to established agreements, assures both high levels of process efficiency and a minimum losses due to bad debt and fraud. Using a dedicated software tool to complete this process results in greater operator earnings, and more accurate customer service results.

What is the true value in using dedicated software tools?

Using automated systems to implement frequent and systematic processes, as well as effective management mechanisms, will detect revenue leakage and therefore achieve high efficiency in Roaming business practices. This efficiency will directly be translated into higher profitability for the operator.

Roaming Revenue Assurance – Automated systems should have an efficient, continuous and autonomous control of Roaming Business revenue flow, and should validate inbound and outbound Roaming services, settlement, TAP and RAP, and control Clearing House data interchange.

A revenue chain approach, detecting and preventing events loss (CDR's) along the entire revenue chain of roaming business, and validating data integrity between different kinds of OSS/BSS systems, is essential. It is also important to have a continuous and autonomous management of the Roaming business life cycle, and control the Roaming business workflow.

The positive impact, inherent in the implementation of a dedicated solution, can be measured with the following benefits:

• Streamline Roaming administration business processes with efficient management of Roaming agreements , TAP, RAP, HUR and tests.
• Reduce of problems with CDR's and TAP's generation, and reduce integration problems between platforms.
• Eliminate fraud revenue leakages
• Increase efficiency, customer satisfaction, and service quality
• Notify management of potential problems within the system
• Optimise resources and explore the full potential of the roaming business

Inês Ferreira
Product Manager and Account Manager
WeDo Soft, January 2004

WeDo Soft opens new offices in Sao Paulo and Düsseldorf

Paris, France, March 22, 2005 – WeDo Soft continues the international expansion by announcing having opened two new offices; one in Düsseldorf, Germany and one in São Paulo, Brazil. The inauguration of these two offices represents the completion of another step in WeDo Soft's strategy, designed for the international market in 2005.

WeDo Soft's international success has already been proven by the acknowledgement and adaptation of the products. Now, through the entry on the German market and the strengthening of the position in Brazil , WeDo Soft continues to penetrate new, strategic business markets on the international arena, aiming at bringing WeDo Soft's expertise and solutions closer to the local markets, and establishing closer relations to the customers.

“The opening of these new offices represents the fulfillment of a long set goal. By having a physical presence in markets as strategically important as Central Europe and Brazil , we are positioning ourselves in areas that are geographically relevant for the expansion of our business. Being close, on the spot, gives us greater capability to detect and trigger new business opportunities and partnerships," said Rui Paiva, WeDo Soft's CEO.

Besides the offices in Portugal, in Lisbon, Oporto and Braga, WeDo Soft also has a physical presence in Spain (Madrid), Brazil (Rio de Janeiro and now also in São Paulo) and in Germany (with the new office in Düsseldorf).

About WeDo Soft
WeDo Soft, a division of WeDo Consulting, is a leading provider of software solutions for the communications & media markets. With an international presence, WeDo Soft is an ISO9001: 2000 certified organization, and a member of the GSM Association, as a provider of applications and systems.

Customers include Orange, Vodafone, Telefónica, Amena, Optimus, Novis, Oi, Telemar, Telecom Americas and Cabovisão. WeDo Soft can be found on the World Wide Web at www.wedosoft.com

WeDo Soft Finalist for the “WORLD BILLING AWARDS” with RAID Implementation Project.

Category of “Best Revenue Assurance Project”
Lisbon, April 4, 2005 – WeDo Soft's RAID solution, implemented in Telefónica Brazil , has been named a finalist for The World Billing Awards (IRR), the most prestigious telecommunications award, in the category “Best Revenue Assurance Project”.

WeDo Soft was selected amongst world leading suppliers of Information Technology Systems; once again proving its edge in areas of international innovation.

The project nominated was developed in 2004 and involved the implementation of WeDo Soft's Revenue Assurance solution in Telefónica Brazil – Telefonia Fixa (fixed telephony).

Telefónica Brazil needed to improve and automate its internal control mechanisms to prevent revenue losses along the entire operation chain, from the network to the billing platforms.

According to estimations, telecom operators lose between 3-5 per cent of their revenues on average, due to inefficiency and failures in the integration and configuration of their revenue chain systems infrastructure.

To solve this, Telefónica Brazil chose WeDo Soft's RAID. Currently RAID controls Telefónica Brazil fixed telephony of 14 million clients, daily processing about 600 million call records and performing complex validations of the main processes and systems. The Revenue Assurance team of Telefónica Brazil now has access to performance indicators and alarms that enable quick detection of revenue loss situations, which allow them to take corrective and preventive action.

According to Rui Paiva, Head of WeDo Soft: “This award recognizes the innovative work developed by WeDo Soft in the past years, and the quality and experience of our consultants. Currently, although we are working on an extremely competitive market, we are recognized as leaders in Revenue Assurance and our solutions have been selected by several fixed and mobile operators in Europe and Latin America .”

About RAID
The RAID solution defines and implements what Revenue Assurance processes are most adequate to each technological infrastructure and business requirement. This allows the Revenue Assurance teams to save effort on usually time-consuming tasks and to dedicate all resources to the performing root cause analysis.

RAID is an important tool for any telecom operator worldwide that wishes to prevent revenue loss due to data inconsistencies between their different systems – network components, operational systems and business support systems.

RAID is a modular solution:

The Platform Integrity Assurance Module performs automatic verification of subscriber data consistency between different OSS and BSS platforms. This RAID module validates discrepancies through a process of comparison across systems, such as Switches, Billing and CRM systems, and generates divergence reports and alarms.

The Revenue Flow Control Module audits the revenue chain, from event generation to the integration of these records in invoices sent to subscribers. This module monitors the exchange of information between the different systems of the revenue chain, identifying possible failures or deviations, which could lead to revenue loss, as is often the case.

The Events Control module is used to monitor the event processing chain, by tracking a sample of events, individually, from CDR generation in the switching centrals and/or service platforms to their inclusion in the invoices sent to subscribers. It also measures the performance of the flow of these events contributing for determining levels of service. This module is highly complementary to standard Test Call Generators.

About Telefónica Brazil
Telefónica Brazil is a Tier 1 Fixed Operator in Brazil , part of one of the world's leading telecommunications companies in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets. Telefónica Group has a significant presence in 15 countries, and operations in almost 40. It boasts a strong presence in Latin America , with operations in eight countries following a clear growth strategy.

Today Telefónica Brazil provides Wireline, ADSL and Mobile services being the major communications services integrated provider in Brazil . Telefónica Brazil carries large wireline operations including 14 million lines installed.

About WeDo Soft
WeDo Soft, a division of WeDo Consulting, is a leading provider of software solutions for the communications & media markets. With an international presence, WeDo Soft is an ISO9001: 2000 certified organization, and a member of the GSM Association, as a provider of applications and systems.

Customers include Orange, Vodafone, Telefónica, Amena, Optimus, Novis, Oi, Telemar, Telecom Americas and Cabovisão. WeDo Soft can be found on the World Wide Web at www.wedosoft.com

About IIR
IIR, the organizer of World Billing Awards, is world leader in hosting conferences, training and seminars with a presence in 47 countries. Every year, IIR works with over 650.000 executives, providing them with knowledge through training, seminars, e-learning and conferences.

IIR organizes annually the prestigious World Billing Awards, which recognize organizations' exceptional contribution to the telecom sector during the preceding year.