Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has upgraded its Service Node Prepaid platform to Comverse`s Real-Time Billing Solution. Seen as one of the strategic partners of Comverse in Africa, Econet has deployed value-added services from Comverse since 1999.
Comverse`s Real-Time solution is technology-independent and has been deployed to a large number of GSM, CDMA, TDMA and other networks around the world. Scalable to support millions of active subscribers, it offers a rich feature set.
The Comverse system operates in a variety of IN and pre-IN environments and allows service packages to be customised to the needs of each local market. The solution is designed to encourage high ARPU through the delivery of advanced service features, while ensuring that subscriber spending does not exceed pre-defined credit limits.
Comverse has deployed prepaid systems in more than 100 sites in 53 countries and supports over 30 different languages and currencies.
With the new enhanced platform, Econet can now offer services such as balance inquiry, balance recharge and callback solutions based on USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) technology. When the subscriber sends a USSD query with the selected access code, the Comverse system responds by either retrieving the subscriber account details or by topping up the account. One important advantage of the technology is that roamers can now place prepaid calls even from networks that do not support the CAMEL-2 standard based on the call back solution.
"There has been a tremendous response to USSD Balance Enquiry and Recharge," says Christian Mhlanga, brand manager of Econet Wireless. "Further to this, we went on to brand the service Buddie 123 Top Up. Customers have been writing in to express their excitement at the new service," says Mhlanga.
Also deployed, the Comverse`s prepaid SMS solution, enables Econet to bill in real-time for mobile originated (MO) and mobile terminated (MT) messages, based on the type of application and content. The Comverse prepaid SMS solution seamlessly integrates the power, functionality and features of Comverse`s well established prepaid and SMS systems.
By combining Comverse`s prepaid solution and its Intelligent Short Message Service Centre (ISMSC), Comverse`s prepaid SMS overcomes fraud, capacity, and real-time billing challenges that many operators face.
In addition, it supports charging based on application, content or time; free credit; refund on non-delivery; and mobile number portability support. The charging capability also lays the foundation for 2.5 and 3G services billing.
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