Cerillion CEO, Louis Hall, talks to Tony Poulos from The Telecom Channel at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Due to the exponential growth in data services and the rise of app stores, policy management has a key role to play in the service delivery and charging models of the future...

Dominic Smith takes a close look at the many promises of 4G networks and how operators can get in on the ground floor of next-generation billing and charging by embracing new business models, such as billing as a service, to create new opportunities to grow their revenue streams.

Dominic Smith talks to Teresa Cottam of Telesperience about how operators in fast-growing markets can improve their customer experience.

Most telcos are used to engaging with their postpaid customers using sophisticated customer relationship management (CRM) solutions and highly efficient CRM processes. Operators typically draw on classic call center techniques such as knowledge of customer history and key demographics, for example, to inform the overall approach to service delivery and drive up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.

By contrast, prepaid customers have traditionally been serviced using only basic administration systems and rudimentary self-care, supplemented by text messages and handset alerts.

With operators needing to enhance profitability, but constrained in terms of capes and opex, how can they leverage their OSS/BSS systems for some quick results in 2009? Dominic Smith, suggest some answers...

In the current economic downturn, the need to plug potential sources of revenue leakage has become an increasing priority for telecoms operators. To develop competitive edge, telcos need to ensure they are tackling the problem of revenue leakage aggressively. Dominic Smith looks at ways of stopping revenue leaks at source.

Barely a week goes by without EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding making the headline news in the industry. Since being named “Most Influential Person in Telecoms” at the World Communications Awards 2007, she has continued to champion the consumer and feel the wrath of the telecom operators with a raft of changes and proposals to the regulatory regime across Europe. Dominic Smith explores the role of the regulators.

With vendors posting good results, achieving decent valuations when acquired and the first fruits of OSS/BSS transformation feeding through to carriers' bottom lines, 2008 has been a strong year for the sector yet, as the financial storm clouds gather and burst, could progress stall in 2009, asks George Malim?

As the industry bundles more and more services together, flat-rate pricing is frequently seen as the easy option to deliver a simple pricing scheme. Dominic Smith looks at the flaws in this model and argues that transparency is the key to pricing effectiveness.

In the battle for market share new products, services and applications are being launched on an almost daily basis. However, for many operators, the ability to move with the speed necessary to remain competitive is severely limited by their billing systems

Online billing has become increasingly prevalent as consumers' trust in making financial transactions over the Internet has grown. Dominic Smith looks at the impact of online billing, both on consumers and on operators, and at how billing presentation can actually increase ARPU.

Being able to adapt to market pressures and respond quickly is obviously key to success in today's highly competitive telecoms landscape. And yet many telcos are weighed down by the sheer weight and complexity of their technological and service infrastructures. Opting for a managed services solution provides telcos with enhanced agility in a highly competitive marketplace claims Dominic Smith.

In line with the current emphasis on conserving resources, reducing wastage and cutting carbon emissions, telecommunications services are at the forefront of a revolution in green thinking, which is affecting every business sector today. And telecoms operators themselves are under ever-greater pressure to adopt environmentally friendly strategies.

Today’s converged telecoms market is an increasingly challenging environment for operators featuring greater diversity than ever before in services, providers and pricing. Dominic Smith looks at the importance of joined-up customer service and managing service complexity.

Telecoms operators today are increasingly interested in exploring the benefits of outsourcing their CRM and billing systems to third party solutions providers. Dominic Smith investigates the various approaches to outsourced billing and the benefits which can be achieved.

Considering the scale of revenue losses that many telecoms operators incur, it is vital that they identify the causes, quantify their magnitude and then set about addressing these leakages in a holistic manner. Dominic Smith looks at the main causes of revenue leakage, and outlines ways in which operators can resolve these with the help of end-to-end pre-integrated business support systems.

The emergence of pre-integrated CRM and billing solutions is helping operators to provide not only the highest quality service possible, but also the most straightforward, and so, says Dominic Smith, help prevent customer churn.

Cerillion CEO, Louis Hall, talks to George Malim of Vanilla Plus about continued growth and the on-going operator quest for convergence.

Cerillion CEO, Louis Hall, talks to Lynd Morley of European Communications and explains why he believes the company is uniquely placed in the convergent billing market.