Dear Colleague:

Several years ago, Wall Street and Silicon Valley pundits predicted that value-added IP-based services would soon enable internet and media giants -- Microsoft, Yahoo, Disney, Viacom, Google and others – to capture the lion’s share of telecom industry revenues.

Telecoms -- so the story goes – were “dumb pipe providers” and didn’t have the knowledge or clout to succeed with value-added services. They would have no choice but to lease their pipes at bargain-basement prices and see the value of their network investments dramatically decline.

So far, the dumb pipe theory hasn’t proven true.

In the years since the dumb pipe prediction surfaced, many telecoms have  grown handsomely while the internet and media giants have made only limited penetration. In emerging countries like Russia, China, and India, telecoms are among the fastest growing companies in their countries.

Perhaps the greatest dumb pipe success story of all is Carlos Slim, the man who controls Mexico’s Telmex and América Móvil, and whose telecom investments are now worth $60 billion, making him the second richest man in the world -- surpassing even Bill Gates.

But how, you ask, could this happen? How could the dumb pipe providers succeed while the technologically savvy internet and media titans faltered?

I’ll tell you. Carlos Slim and the other telecom tycoons knew something that their opponents didn’t.  To extract value from their network investments, you don’t need a lot of cutting-edge IP-services, location based services, or advertising-enabled handsets.

You basically need to be expert in one value-added service that’s worth all the rest. . . Billing.

Billing not only assures service revenue, it’s the enabler of conversations with the customer.

In today’s telecom market, billing expertise usually spells the difference between telecom operators who are gaining market share and those falling behind.  It encompasses a wide range of systems from pre-paid IN charging and real-time convergent charging. . . to postpaid billing and billing for interconnect and content partners.

While the revenue assurance role of billing is critical, in recent years, it’s the merchandising and marketing role of billing that’s delivering the greatest value. In the wireless market, for example, billing software is increasingly enabling services such as real-time advise of charge, lifestyle packages, content charging, and marketing promotions.

But what billing capabilities are vital to your company’s future growth? And which billing vendors should your company rely on to provide that all-important marketing and accounting dialogue with customers?

To get answers to those questions is the purpose of Dittberner’s latest OSS/BSS Knowledgebase report, The Telecom Billing and Charging Market. This 255-page report pinpoints what billing capabilities look most fruitful and which vendor players are making a difference.

The study is really two reports in one: a thorough 255-page qualitative analysis of billing market trends combined with an informed quantitative estimate of market size, vendor revenue breakouts, market share, and forecasts delivered in software you can manipulate as you choose to create charts, tables, and Excel reports.

In addition to its detailed, 8- to 13-page analyses of major billing companies, the report tackles several of the billing market’s most pressing issues, including:

• Wireless Merchandising and Marketing. The wireless market is witnessing a bewildering array of new services and marketing initiatives that are enabled by the billing system. The Report profiles which billers lead in this important category and discusses the impact of new initiatives such as life style and enterprise marketing.
   
• Unified Billing & Product Catalogs. Consolidating product information in a single repository is a boon to large carriers who want to reuse their billing assets and promotions across regions, business units, and technologies. Here, the Study examines state-of-the-art and shows what benefits unified catalogs will bring and the challenges catalogs pose to vendors and carriers.
   
• Network Equipment Providers vs. Software Billers. In the wireless market, software vendors selling real-time billing solutions captured an early lead in on-line convergent software. However, the study shows how vendors such as Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks aim to reverse the tables on their competitors.
   
• Specialty Markets. Which markets offer the greatest potential for growth? Large incumbent carriers, emerging carriers, multi-operator carriers, or MVNOs? The Report show in which markets billing vendors are succeeding and the clever solutions they offer to give them an edge in niche markets.
   
• The Rising Importance of Interconnect Billing. The global expansion of telecom has been a boon to interconnect traffic. Now, carriers are investing in interconnect billing and full-blown “interconnect management systems” that monitor contracts, track fast-moving prices, and do settlements. Here the Report provides details on the innovative Telarix interconnect and Amdocs content partner management systems.
   
• Product Software vs. Custom Services. The dark black lines that separate software and services have greyed. On the one hand are product companies like Oracle who offer a rich suite of pre-integrated apps integrated by the likes of Accenture, Tech Mahindra, and Capgemini. Conversely, companies like Amdocs and Comarch are succeeding by self-integrating their solutions. Which strategy will win long term – or can both safely approaches peacefully coexist? The Report tackles this and  related issues.

Dittberner’s study not only sorts through the key billing trends and over 20 billing players, the intelligence can also help you avoid making bad decisions: investing in the wrong kind of billing solution, for example -- or if you’re a vendor -- entering a market segment that’s either too competitive or too specialized to attract sufficient customers.

The Report will help you discover:

• What are the most important market priorities?
• Which operator success strategies can you adopt at your own telecom organization?
• Which vendors have industry market share and are leading in specific niches?
• Which Billing/Charging players should be your partners?
• What emerging trends can your company capitalize on?

Please scan the table of contents below. You'll see why this report delivers the tactical and strategic information you need to understand where the telecom billing market is headed.

To access this market intelligence today, contact Wyatt Greenwalt at Dittberner's offices at 301-652-8350.

Sincerely,

Dan Baker
Research Director, Dittberner OSS/BSS KnowledgeBase

P.S.  This Telecom Billing and Charging report is one research module in Dittberner's on-going OSS/BSS KnowledgeBase covering the breadth of telecom software innovations on a regular basis.

The Telecom Billing & Charging Market

Table of Contents

A. Executive Summary (2 pages)

B. Historical Perspective on Billing

Stocking the Data Services Candy Store
The Convergence of Postpaid and Prepaid
Network Technology Uncertainty & Retooling
The Rise of Virtual Network Operators.

C. Billing's Functions

Pricing Management, Customer Balance Management, Interconnect Settlements & Partner Management, Service Authorization, Rating, Discounting and Promotions, Billing Cycle Management, Financial Management, Payments and Collections, Revenue Assurance, Direct Marketing & Merchandising

D. Billing Market Drivers

System Consolidation After Merger
Legacy Billing Consolidation
Fixed Mobile Convergence
Subscriber Controls over Costs and Content Access
Dual-Use Mobile Handsets
Real-Time Market Share Threats in Mobile
Lower Cost of Ownership
Competing on Better Capability Rather than Lower Prices

E. Real-time and Convergent Charging in Wireless

Why IN-Prepaid is Still Strong in Emerging Markets
The Challenge of Migrating Pre-Paid to Convergence Charging
Why Postpaid Wireless is on the Rise
The “Advanced Pay” Innovation of InfoDirections
The Growing Need for Postpaid Collections in Wireless
A Real-time Driver - Combating Wireless Sticker Shock
The Convergence of Prepaid and Postpaid
OnBoard vs. OffBoard Revenue Management

F. The Merchandising & Direct Marketing Role of Billing

Billing as Merchandising, not just Accounting System
Friends & Family Promotion and Balance Top Ups in Wireless
How Comverse Boosts the Revenue of its Clients
Amazon-Style: Thinking Like a Retailer
Offering Real-time Buying Opportunities
The Role of Subscriber Profile in Contextual Marketing
Customer Life Cycle Management

G. Lifestyle & Marketing Packages

The Complexity of a Multi-Operator Billing Solution
Life Style Marketing at VimpelCom
Billing and Rapidly Growing Product Line Crisis
Managing the Complex Service Life Cycle

H. Monetary Systems for Emerging Markets

The Special Monetary Needs of Emerging Carriers
Mom and Pop Retailers in Eastern Europe
The Success of Voucher-less Top Ups in South America

I. Interconnect Billing Systems

The Interconnect Driver: Telecom Deregulation
International Voice Call Terminations
How Interconnect Deals Evolve to Become More Complex to Manage
Telarix: Developing an Interconnect “Trading Platform”
Architecture of an Interconnect Trading and Billing Platform
Revenue & Margin Assurance Virtues of Real-time Interconnect Data
The Complexity of a Multi-Operator Billing Solution
Interconnect Crisis: Growth, Converged Networks & Compressed Margins
Architecture of an Interconnect Billing System

J. Content Services Partner Management

The Rise of Content Services
The Evolution in Types of Digital Commerce
A Profile of Amdocs’ Digital Commerce & Billing Solution: QPass
The Sales, Hosting and Billing of Digital Content
Content Delivery Options

K. The Unified Billing Platform & Product Catalog

The Attraction of a Unified Billing System
Market Drivers to the Product/Service Catalog
Where Adjunct Billing Platforms Fit In
The Enterprise Product Catalog
1. The Billing Product Catalog at T-Mobile
2. The Architecture of a Product Catalog
3. The Benefits Product Catalogs Hold for Telecoms
4. The Risk that Product Catalogs Bring to Billing Services

L. B/OSS Integration with Billing

Oracle’s Gambit: Enterprise Applications in Communications
The Status of Provisioning Integration
Nokia Siemens Leads in OSS Integration with Billing
Software and Integration Services Under One Roof: Amdocs & Comarch
Why Biller Professional Services Work is On the Rise
Billing & Customer Care Expertise Leads to Consulting at Convergys
Custom vs. Product Debates

M. Billing Consolidation Techniques

Billing Systems Integration Problems
Reconciling Different Billing Software Development Cycles
Billing Consolidation at AT&T
1. AT&T Billing Systems Landscape
2. Consolidation via the “Concept of One”
3. Concept of Zero
4. Sarbanes-Oxley
5. The Database of Record
6. The Common Customer Identifier System

N. The MVNO Billing Opportunity

Capitalizing on Individual Customer Hot Buttons: the MVNO
Why MVNOs are Ramping up in Europe: The Auchan Group
MVNOs: A Mixture of Success and Failure in the U.S. Market
Wholesale Carrier Attitudes towards MVNOs
Will we see Business and Corporate MVNOs?

O. Mergers & Acquisitions in Billing Industry

P. Vendor Market Opportunities & Threats

Market Segments & Forecasts

Dittberner has also sized and forecasted the worldwide market for the billing software market in this report.  Our forecast model is based on several parameters: Dittberner's historical tracking of the OSS/BSS market; Dittberner’s forecast of Next Generation Network (NGN) services growth; discussions with carrier experts; and interviews with software and consulting vendors.

Dittberner's principal B/OSS analyst, Dan Baker, has been tracking hte

The report provides 2007 base revenue and 2008 to 2012 forecasts for the global market in the following segments:

Overall Market Revenues 
- Corporate, Telecom Industry & OSS/BSS Revenues
Business type
- OEM software, Telecoms software, Consulting/SI services
Channels of Distribution
- Direct, Indirect
Service Provider Type
- Circuit wireline, Broadband, Wireless, Cable/DBS, Virtual Network Operator/Non-Facilities Operator, Other
Size of Carrier
- Tier 1 (>$10 bill. revenue), Tier 2 ($250 mill. to $10 bill.), Tier 3 (<$250 million)
Geographic Region
- North America, EMEA, Asia Pacific, Latin America
Software Delivery Method
- Software License, Prof. Services, Service bureau/Hosted
OSS/BSS Application Revenues of Billing Vendors
Billing Applications
- Billing, off-line/batch, Interconnect billing, IN-based Prepaid, Charging, on-line/realtime, Mediation

Vendor Profiles & SWOT Analysis

Dittberner's vendor profiles section delivers a detailed analytical snapshot of the leading billing companies.  Twenty-two of the leading software vendors and network equipment providers are profiled in the report as follows:

Each of the profiles are between 8 and 13 pages in length (except for the Cellution profile which is 4-pages) and are presented in the following sections:

1. Company Specifications and Web Links

This upfront backgrounder information in each profile is organized in the same format for easy cross-reference in other profiles.

Here you'll find basic company data organized for fast retrieval and web access such as:

• Corporate backgrounder
• Overall OSS/BSS business
• Significant investors and stock market reference for public firms
• Significant customers
• Major vendor partnerships
• Major worldwide locations
• Summaries of key products in the billing market

• Number of employees

2. Company Revenue Breakdowns

In this section, we provide an estimate of each company's individual revenue breakdown in the billing market.  The numbers are gathered from public documents, conversations with people at the companies themselves, and Dittberner's experience tracking the billing market since 1994.  Many companies provided guidance on their own numbers. 

Here are the segments we breakdown for each company:

• Overall Market Revenues 
  - Corporate, Telecom Industry & OSS/BSS Revenues
• Business type
  - OEM software, Telecoms software, Consulting/SI services
• Channels of Distribution
  - Direct, Indirect
• Service Provider Type
  - Circuit wireline, Broadband, Wireless, Cable/DBS, Virtual Network Operator/Non-Facilities Operator, Other
• Size of Carrier
  - Tier 1 (>$10 bill. revenue), Tier 2 ($250 mill. to $10 bill.), Tier 3 (<$250 million)
• Geographic Region
  - North America, EMEA, Asia Pacific, Latin America
• Software Delivery Method
  - Software License, Prof. Services, Service bureau/Hosted
• Billing Applications
  - Billing, off-line/batch, Interconnect billing, IN-prepaid and Charging, and Mediation

This calendar year 2007 data is made further accessible in a a database program (delivered as free software with the text report) that allows you to create instant tables and graphs,  compare various company market shares across these segments, and produce a variety of reports in Excel format.  Prior year (2006 and 2005) data is also provided on billing and other OSS/BSS market for historical analysis.

3. Dittberner Discussion of Company and SWOT Analysis

You'll no doubt find this section the most valuable because it's here where each company's billing business is put into context.  In this section, Dittberner gets into a free wheeling discussion on company success stories, challenges, and significant product developments.

Our discussion act, we meander quite a bit on the significance of the company's history, new product/marketing initiatives, telecom customers, geographic markets, and competitive forces affecting the company.

The section concludes with a company Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis -- a candid Dittberner opinion on where each vendor stands against its competitors and the suitability of its products and services for the billing market.

Dittberner's competitive analysis draws from significant research such as attending billing conferences and speaking with billing experts at telecoms.  We also held 30-minute or longer conversations with executives at 21 of the 22 billing companies we profiled for this report.

Getting so many billing vendors to participate was an invaluable aid to the research effort because Dittberner got to hear how each company interpreted its role in the marketplace.  In turn, Dittberner could challenge each company on competitive issues, evaluate trends, and gain insights on the company's strategy.  

When Dittberner finished its profiles, it also gave each company a chance to check the profile for accuracy and comment on Dittberner's analysis.

In all, we think our research methodology meets the twin goals of: maximizing competitive insights; and maintaining a relationship of trust with the sources of this valuable information.

* * * * *

About Dittberner’s
OSS/BSS KnowledgeBase

Since 2004, Dittberner’s OSS/BSS KnowledgeBase is a market research service that has helped telecoms, investors, software vendors, and integrators track innovations and companies in the OSS/BSS market.

The KnowledgeBase provides a sweeping view of the marketplace with analyses on everything from Billing and Middleware. . . to Provisioning and Service Assurance.

Dittberner feels it’s important for a telecom research firm to make the leap from market analysis (seeing all the parts) to true market synthesis (pulling all those parts together).

Our research goes beyond discussing market trends to synthesizing those trends in the context of market opportunities, threats, and their strategic impact to your business.

Bottom line: When you finish reading Dittberner's research, you don't ask: "Ok, what's it all mean?"

Web Database and Desktop Analysis Software

Dittberner’s OSS/BSS KnowledgeBase delivers a fully organized body of knowledge and analysis across two interfaces: 

1. On-Line Database for searching the text and visuals of our analysis modules, case studies, and vendor profiles, and 
2. A desktop Software Application (written in Microsoft Visual Foxpro) with market segmentation and forecast data that you use to view customized data tables, graphs, vendor comparisons, and print documents.  Note: all data and forecast tables are also provided in  Microsoft Excel and comma delimited files can be created too.

Below are some sample screens (NOTE: the examples show non-revenue assurance and non-fraud companies)

Search analysis in On-Line Database. . . 

Compare vendor market strength in grids. . .

View, modify, and print our estimates of company financials. . .

View market share graphs in international currencies. . . 

Compare company financials. . .

About Dittberner Associates

Founded in 1966, Dittberner Associates, Inc. is an international market research and consultancy with over 70 Telecom Service Providers, and in excess of 100 telecom suppliers as clients. The firm specializes in areas of OSS/BSS, NGN Switching, Broadband Access, and Wireless market segments. . . more

Dittberner Associates
44641 Montgomery Avenue
Bethesda MD 20814

Tel: 301-652-8350
To order or get more info, contact Wyatt Greenwalt
wyatt@dittberner.com