iBurst is a well respected South African wireless broadband service provider. Launched in May 2005, it is a multiservice operator offering wireless broadband Internet, value-added services and VoIP to prepaid and postpaid customers. Since its launch iBurst has made a significant investment in its network infrastructure so it could offer highly attractive products and services to the South African market. Through its focus on mobile broadband technology, iBurst is able to offer the speed of DSL in a mobile environment, combined with handover capabilities that allow users to move freely between base stations, broadening the range of activity.
As South Africa’s leading wireless broadband provider, iBurst strives to be the preferred gateway for data communication by offering innovative products, at affordable prices, with the highest levels of customer service.
iBurst decided to undergo a total back-office systems upgrade and was looking to improve its billing capabilities, as well as the ERP and CRM systems. For the updated billing system, the company was looking for an end-to-end solution that would cater to its billing, rating, balance management and customer management needs. iBurst also needed the solution to have strong credit control capabilities in order to secure its revenue by implementing authorization functionality.
iBurst also wanted to introduce policy control in order to support its ambition to provide subscribers with the highest standard of service possible. However it wanted to be sure that this could be effectively monetized.
A workshop allowed iBurst to witness the robust features of both FTS Billing and FTS Policy Control. iBurst was particularly impressed with the central product catalog for authorization and business control. Based on FTS’ patented FTS BCCF (Business Control and Charging Function), it is capable of adapting service and network behavior in real-time in response to customer interaction, affording it inherent PCRF (Policy and Charging Rules Function) capabilities.
Using FTS Billing and FTS Policy Control in conjunction with Cisco’s SCE Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) solution, iBurst is now able to initiate a sophisticated service program that allows subscribers to boost their bandwidth. Once their quota is exceeded, subscribers can now either continue with a pay-per-use option or top-up online with a Bandwidth Booster — bundles of extra bandwidth for less. The Booster is easily purchased with a credit card or charged to the subscriber’s account and added to the monthly bill. The same functionality automatically caps subscribers that have opted out of pay-per-use.
A further functionality that iBurst is able to offer, with FTS Policy Control in place, is to refund the data consumers use by accessing premium data services like VoIP or iBurst’s online gaming service iGame. Consumers of these services are credited with additional data usage on top of their regular Internet quota, meaning that they no longer ‘pay’ twice for additional services. This offering incentivizes subscribers to sign up for premium services, creating increased revenues while enhancing customer satisfaction.
FTS Billing and FTS Policy Control platforms were integrated with Softline’s Sage Line 500 ERP system, Saleslogix’s CRM system, Cisco’s SCE DPI, Aradial’s AAA RADIUS and other components to cater for iBurst’s service requirements.
Thanks to the implementation of FTS Billing and FTS Policy Control platforms iBurst is now able to enhance the subscriber’s experience by allowing them to choose additional bundles; to secure and increase revenues by incentivizing premium services; and deliver its intricate service package-payment programs. iBurst is making full use of FTS Policy Control’s robust capabilities.
FTS Policy Control is built upon FTS’ patented visual Decision Operations Tree (DO Tree™), which allows operators to scrutinize the traffic on their network and set rules and policies to react to it in real-time, adapting services based on customer interactions. For carriers such as iBurst this means that their billing solution can actually help the introduction of innovative new services.
With many billing solutions, the billing element comes at the end of new service creation, often delaying the process. With FTS’ solutions, billing is part of the creative process. iBurst can now bring a new generation of services to customers quickly and economically.