Summary Bullets:
- OSS/BSS platforms will prove essential in the scaling and monetizing of Cable WiFi services
- Amdocs portfolio asset bundles point to technologies cable operators need to meet WiFi service expansion objectives
Recently Amdocs identified WiFi services as the next frontier for significant cable operator revenue diversification and expansion. In itself this is not a surprise since the next-generation hotspot (NGH) market could witness up to $150 billion in operator revenues by 2018. Amdocs presents a compelling case on the WiFi deployment challenges that cable operators need to address in order to tap into the long-term potential of the NGH market.
Amdocs pinpointed four key challenges confronting cable operators as they pursue their NGH ambitions:
- Cable operators need to improve the time to market intervals for WiFi service adoption and monetization, especially in relation to incentivizing customers to use their WiFi-sponsored services beyond the home.
- Since cable operators seek to boost customer use of WiFi beyond the home, they need a roadmap to HotSpot 2.0 capabilities. HotSpot 2.0 is designed to allow seamless user authentication and access to WiFi services regardless of location (akin to how mobile cellular service work today).
- The alignment of subscriber plans aimed at easing customer adoption of pan-WiFi services. For example, cable operators can include NGH options within pre-packaged tier plans and QoE assurances during access over community WiFi.
- In order to reach WiFi monetization goals, cable operators need to apply big data analytics (BDA) to NGH services to better understand user behavior during WiFi sessions (while upholding privacy and legal mandates).
Amdocs proposes the following OSS/BSS technologies will prove indispensable in the scaling and management of cable operator NGH services:
- Service Controller: The Service Controller is designed to support network access control, including authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) functions, for devices and subscriber across multiple networks, needed for integration of WiFi services within cable operator and 3G/LTE service plans.
- Policy Controller: The Policy Controller plays the pivotal role of enforcing WiFi billing and metering rules, an essential element in the monetization of Cable WiFi services.
- Subscriber Data Broker: The Subscriber Data Broker manages the underlying subscriber data for their entire cable service packages.
- Captive Portal Integration: The capability provides a framework for cable operators to monetize casual WiFi use, including integration of ad insertion suppliers.
While these OSS/BSS technologies do not encompass the entire range of cable operator needs, Amdocs asserts they are the essential building blocks required to scale and monetize the NGH opportunity. In addition, Amdocs sees a catalog-driven approach as critical for improving the efficiency of the planning, design and rollout of NGH services. Moreover, the Amdocs self-optimizing networks (SON) solution targets dramatic improvements in Cable WiFi operational expenditures (OpEx) through the reduction of manual tasks and costs by over half.
While Amdocs can direct a rich array of OSS/BSS portfolio assets to fulfill cable operator WiFi service and revenue expansion objectives, the company’s proposition could benefit further by including the role that meta-technologies such as SDN/NFV and cloud can play in driving Cable WiFi deployments. Additional OSS/BSS portfolio insights in these areas can bolster Amdocs’ position in meeting operator demands related to fixed mobile convergence and streamlining the complexity of managing multiple services and partners (e.g., application developers).