Johannesburg, 13 Nov 2006
In the wake of the launch of mobile number portability (MNP) on Friday last week, with predictions of high porting rates that will significantly erode least-cost routing savings, leading least-cost routing (LCR) provider TelePassport has unveiled a managed LCR service that guarantees complete coverage of number portability.
Least-cost routing is based on checking the destination of each telephone call as it is made, and then sending the call via the network that will cost the customer the least. With GSM number portability now in place, LCR providers can no longer rely on using the network root prefix, such as 082, to determine how to route a call. Instead, they now need to know the actual current network of every number before making that dialling decision.
TelePassport MD Anton Potgieter explains what LCR solutions need to handle MNP: "In order to effectively manage LCR in an MNP environment, you need to have more sophisticated call routing equipment in place than just your PABX. This equipment needs to be constantly in contact with its management server to get updated routing data, and the management server in turn needs to be constantly updated by the central Number Portability Database - all in all a costly and complicated infrastructure, with loads of potential to go wrong."
"TelePassport has a reputation as the company that really knows what it is doing when it comes to least-cost routing control, and MNP is no exception - we already have the systems and equipment in place to manage MNP for our customers - in fact, we have had most of this in place for years, such as our unique and market leading 'Genie Box' routing device that gives perfect routing to even the smallest client, even down to time-of-day based decisions," says Potgieter. "But in today's LCR market we understand that our clients are result oriented - the size and cost of the equipment is immaterial, what they really want is guaranteed results with no involvement or management from their side."
He continues: "We have therefore created a unique new product in response to MNP, the TelePassport MNP Protection plan. With this, we install and manage all LCR equipment needed to control MNP efficiently, at no additional cost to the client. However, with any managed MNP solution there will still be a percentage of calls that 'slip through the net' and are incorrectly routed, due to database timing differences and so on, and at which most LCR providers will probably shrug their shoulders and mumble platitudes like 'best effort'. That approach is just not good enough for us or our clients, so our answer to this is, we go even further and guarantee the client 100% correct coverage of MNP - thus completely preserving all of their current savings at pre-MNP rates! We are setting the bar right at the very top here - while we may be copied on this, it is impossible to better a guarantee of 100%!"
If current media predictions of around 20% of numbers porting turn out to be true, then the potential downside of not having an MNP-aware LCR installation is a loss of savings of up to 55%. With this bleak outlook, TelePassport's MNP Protection plan is sure to be a hit in the least-cost routing market, where service and results are everything, and real guarantees are few and far between.
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