New 3G Billing Solution

Intec Telecom Systems has announced the immediate availability of a new OSS solution, Inter-contenT, which allows companies involved in the delivery of content-based services to manage all key aspects of revenue generation, including Partner Relationship Management, real time content charging, and content revenue sharing. Inter-contenT will help network operators, content providers and financial intermediaries win a share of a market estimated to be worth $80 billion US by 2007, as services such as music, video and image downloads and streaming, mobile gaming, multi-media messaging, and mobile payments enter the consumer mainstream. Inter-contenT incorporates Intec's extensive experience of building revenue generation solutions that are currently used by over half of the world's top 50 carriers.

Inter-contenT addresses a fundamental problem in the billing of high value, content-based services: the existence of multiple organisations in the delivery chain between creator and consumer. This causes problems in ensuring that consumers are properly authenticated to receive services, that payment is available, and that the revenue generated is correctly distributed. Using a combination of Partner Relationship Management (PRM), real-time active and convergent mediation, and settlement technology, Inter-contenT ensures that content services can be set up between partners, brought into service and recognised on the network, that consumers can be authenticated in real-time for payment, and the content or transaction priced, delivered and charged, with each partner receiving the correct revenue share.

“In 2002 Intec invested over $12 million dollars in product research and development, and Inter-contenT is one of the advanced solutions that we are bringing to market in 2003 as a result of that investment,” said Intec CEO Kevin Adams. “Content is a market which is expected to take off in a big way in the next few years, and Intec is ready with a solution that operators can install with confidence.”

Inter-contenT is a component-based solution that uses a number of leading-edge technologies to build a flexible, real-time system that is adaptable to many situations. Potential customers include, among others, mobile and broadband network operators; content creation, aggregation and delivery specialists; and financial services and billing providers. Inter-contenT can be integrated into many different revenue-generation models within the content delivery chain, as well as with existing billing and settlement systems.

“Inter-contenT is a real-world solution that can be installed with confidence today, knowing that it can meet immediate, as well as longer term, content management needs,” said John Aalbers, Intec’s Director, Next Generation Solutions Business. “Content will be a very dynamic and innovative business, where time to market is extremely important. As the range of content services develop in sophistication, adding more complex charging models, relationships and revenue-sharing agreements, users can expand the capabilities of Inter-contenT to match their requirements."

Inter-contenT is based on a combination of active and convergent mediation, settlement, payment management and partner relationship management technology that is already proven in many current and next generation carrier networks, including the world’s major GSM providers and the first production 3G networks. The flexibility of this approach means that an Inter-contenT system can be implemented either as a complete solution or integrated with existing systems and infrastructure through open interfaces, thus maximising the return on investment of existing infrastructure, whilst achieving the goals of the content business at the same time.

Users and applications of Inter-contenT include:

Mobile network operators – facilitation of real time charging, validation of payment capability through interfaces to prepaid or converged pre and post paid balance management platforms and other payment mechanisms such as credit/debit card; service delivery control; correlation of network usage and content value event records; complex rating, revenue sharing and settlements; and partner relationship management (PRM).

Content owners and aggregators – recognition of service delivery requests; user authentication and authorisation; creation of usage records and revenue share statements and invoices; validation of revenue share claims; PRM.

Financial and billing intermediaries – user authentication; payment and balance management; validation of revenue share claims; PRM.
Components of Inter-contenT

The Partner Relationship Management component of the Inter-contenT framework provides a complete tool for managing content partners as well as allowing partner self-management. Key capabilities include partner registration; definition and maintenance of revenue share agreements, content-based products and services, and pricing structures; launch and decommission of products and services; real-time access to billing data; and web-based self-care for content partners.

The Real Time Content Charging component, based on Intec’s industry leading active mediation platform, provides a real-time, multi-directional bridge between users, balance management platforms, rating engines and content providers, using the network infrastructure, and with the participation of banks and authentication agencies as required. By definition, it is a secure system that minimises fraud potential, and minimises repudiation of transactions through strong authentication of users and content providers.

The Content Revenue Sharing component of Inter-contenT makes use of Intec’s industry leading convergent settlements technology. After a content transaction has been completed, a pre-rated record representing the nature and value of the content transaction is passed through Inter-contenT. This record forms the basis of the revenue share between the operator, the content provider/aggregator, and other partners involved. The content settlement component is responsible for applying the terms of the revenue sharing agreements between the operator and its partners. Billing data can be distributed to any other external system that requires an immediate data feed.