GSM and OTT integration – symbiotic partnership, not parasitic competition
In recent years, a significant narrative of our industry has focused on the apparent threat to mobile network operators of what have been called OTT service providers. It’s now received wisdom that OTT players present a significant competitive (but not existential) threat to traditional service providers, with free social media-enabled communications leading to revenue loss and changes in the perceived value of classic communications services such as voice and messaging.
This tale of woe has become self-fulfilling. Many vendors promise solutions to combat the OTT threat and leading organisations have become obsessed with defending established operators and their interests. However, the picture isn’t quite as straightforward as this. In fact, alternative providers play a vital role in bringing new services and applications to users, in turn, stimulating demand for the networks that traditional players have built. This is not so much competition as an innovative use of available resources.
Many OTT services provide solutions that enrich the daily life of millions of consumers but they can sometimes appear as islands or communities of users. Such OTT services need to be able to communicate with users across different media – which includes classical voice and messaging. For example, a purchaser of a taxi ride needs to be notified that the order has been confirmed, of the proximity of the vehicle, estimated pickup time, and when the driver arrives. If IP access is unavailable, how can this be achieved? Similarly, someone booking accommodation through a platform may need to interact with the renter or property manager using their mobile – again, if data access is not available or if the user is roaming and hence subject to higher costs, what’s the best way to enable the direct communication required?
OTT providers simply cannot depend on in-app or IP-based communication as the sole means of interaction but instead need to be able to access all available channels. They need to be able to connect to classical mobile networks and to secure access to ubiquitous messaging and voice services over GSM.
Partitionware offers a ready-made, well-proven solution to this problem, which enables OTT providers to access classical mobile subscribers, using familiar forms of interaction, such as voice and SMS messaging. Our Virtual VLR (vVLR) is closely integrated with key elements in the mobile core network. It works by converging traditional mobile signalling messages, using protocols such as CAMEL or MAP, and then enabling break-out to the Internet application world via IP protocols such as SIP and SMPP. This gives AppVNOs the ability to provide aliases in the Internet world, which are reachable through the traditional mobile approach – simply by dialling a mobile number, for example, or sending a classical text message.
This is a well-proven solution, in service with Three UK, for example. Three uses the interworking solution and the vVLR to provide a simple means by which its Internet service partners can connect to users on mobile networks and communication, simply and easily. By extending connectivity options, it helps consumers and businesses maximise their use of available communications channels and ensures providers and customers can stay in touch.
Partitionware’s vVLR solution enables an AppVNO or an MNO that wishes to support the AppVNO model seamless interworking of voice and SMS messages between mobile and Internet domains, which means that Internet and OTT applications can interact easily with mobile devices, and vice versa. By using numbers that are reserved from a public mobile network (which serve as aliases for contact points in the Internet domain), the Internet or OTT application can obtain full mobile access.
This interworking unlocks a range of new interaction possibilities. For example, an OTT service provider can send necessary order acknowledgement and update notifications to a customer’s mobile device, or enable an agent to speak customers via their mobiles. Because the user receives the notification via a classical mobile number, they can respond more easily and more naturally, and without the need to be on a data network.
This provides seamless convergence between Internet OTT applications and mobile users – but it depends on mobile operators understanding the opportunity it represents. As more applications shift to the cloud and Internet-based delivery modes, ensuring reliable interworking extends communications opportunities and creates new revenue possibilities. Far from being competitive to classical mobile services, OTT providers need mobile operators to enable more advanced and intuitive forms of interaction.
The tone of the debate has tended to label OTT providers as parasites but, in truth, there is a symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship that can be built and exploited. If you want to know how, then you should talk to Partitionware and see how we can unlock convergence between Internet applications and the mobile world.
