By Oystein Bergmann, Bureau Chief, Scandinavia

Ericsson  has announced the successful completion of the charging consolidation programme for the leading telecom operator, Vodafone Idea Ltd. (VIL), replacing three existing Online Charging Solutions (OCS) with Ericsson Charging as the single OCS solution across India.

The programme is one of the industry’s largest successful installations of this type to date globally. This consolidated online charging solution with integrated data policy architecture enables faster product launches and better, more efficient ways of working.

With this, Vi now has a simplified prepaid charging stack, which brings uniformity of architecture in Charging and data Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), customer experience, life cycle management, product modelling and configuration, features and functions. The solution takes advantage of the pre-integration of Ericsson Charging and Ericsson Policy portfolio (in this case Ericsson Service Aware Policy Controller).

Implemented through the pandemic, the project is one of the first-of-its-kind globally and enabled migration and consolidation for over 300 million Vi subscribers capacity on Ericsson Charging system. The sheer volume of subscribers migrated in this consolidation project makes it one of the largest global reference cases. With this solution implementation, Vi has consolidated all other OCS to Ericsson Charging. 

The project successfully navigated risks and complexities across multi-vendor network integrations and IT integrations, enabling streamlining and rationalization of business configurations. With a unified architecture and solution for integrated charging and data policy, the consolidated solution empowers Vi to launch new products faster with more efficiency as well as with the agility to meet the demands of today’s digital environment and future business needs more effectively. The implemented solution provides a single system for offer creation and user communication leading to simplified provisioning and consistency. The architecture setup not only simplifies Vi’s operations but also enhances the end customer experience.

CTO, Vodafone Idea Limited Jagbir Singh said, “Vi successfully managed the one of the world’s largest telecom network integration to set up a pan-India data network covering over 1 Bn Indians. As part of our integration, we collaborated with Ericsson for the massive Charging consolidation project enabling us to have uniformity in architecture and simplified operations. This future proof and flexible solution will not only enhance customer experience but will also enable us to launch new products and services at a faster pace. In addition, this solution enables us to control credit while letting users control their costs through flexible packaging, bonuses and discounts.”

Vice President, Sales, West India, Ericsson, Amarjeet Singh says: “Ericsson’s end-to-end network and IT experience combined with our deep understanding of customer specific needs enables us to offer tailored solutions to Vi. These solutions enable Vi not only to capture and secure revenue streams but also take advantage of new digital business opportunities. Ericsson Charging will help Vi reduce its OPEX, create new advanced product offerings and superior customer experience.”

Ericsson Charging is a scalable, flexible BSS solution with a strong user-experience focus and future-proof product roadmap, enabling real-time convergent charging, policy control, decoupling and fast service creation.