Lucent Deploys Convergent Billing for Russian Mobile Operator MegaFon

Details: Alec Barton; Category: Revenue & Billing; 13 March 2006; 9432 views

Lucent Technologies has completed the first stage of deploying a real-time charging solution for Russian mobile service provider MegaFon...

Lucent Technologies has completed the first stage of deploying a real-time charging solution for Russian mobile service provider MegaFon. Lucent's solution ensures internetworking between MegaFon's network infrastructure and its billing system, provided by the Russian supplier of billing solutions, CJSC Peter-System.

The solution that MegaFon plans to introduce throughout its complete network to facilitate convergent, centralised, real-time billing capabilities has been implemented in several MegaFon sectors: CJSC MSS-Povolzhie, CJSC Uralsky GSM and CJSC Mobicom-Khabarovsk. This solution will help MegaFon better manage both post-paid and pre-paid customer accounts, and more easily track and charge for all services in real-time, helping the operator streamline its operations, reduce its operating costs and deliver more flexible payment options to its subscribers.

Lucent is to supply MegaFon with a hardware and software solution based on the CAMEL (Customised Applications for Mobile network Enhanced Logic) protocol: it sits between MegaFon's existing billing platform and its mobile network infrastructure to provide real-time charging capability. This solution was designed by Lucent to meet MegaFon's specific requirements to create an interface between its existing billing system and its multi-vendor network infrastructure. Lucent was selected as the network integrator for the project, providing the deployment and migration services to help the operator introduce the new capabilities on its multi-vendor network.

In Russia and CIS, Lucent Technologies is currently offering its solutions to carriers, ISPs, and business customers.

* MegaFon is the first Pan-Russian GSM 900/1800 mobile carrier, formed in May 2002 by renaming and changing the business organisation form of ZAO North-West GSM and merging with ZAO Sonic-Duo ( Moscow ), ZAO Mobicom-Kavkaz, ZAO Mobicom-Center, Z AO Mobicom-Novosibirsk, ZAO Mobicom-Khabarovsk, ZAO Mobicom-Kirov, OAO MCC-Povolzhie, ZAO Volga GSM, and ZAO Ural GSM. The main shareholders of MegaFon are OAO Telecominvest, O.O CT-Mobile, Sonera ( Finland ), and Telia ( Sweden ). The licensed territory of MegaFon covers the whole of Russia , a population of 145 million. The company serves more than 23 million subscribers as of February 2006.

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