Well, it’s all about the packing. Is three T-shirts enough or two too many? What about a jacket? Are you really going to go to the gym? If you don’t bring the hiking shoes, you definitely won’t be able to hike. And what about packing a sweater, just in case? Never mind the laptop; you’re on vacation!
Preparing for your summer vacation can be about as stressful as planning for your VoLTE implementation – to ensure a worry-free experience, you need to think through the potential hazards and opportunistic side-trips.
Preparing for the VoLTE Journey
In a recent survey conducted by Ovum*, approximately half of the operator respondents indicated that they are planning to launch international VoLTE interconnection and roaming within a year of domestic launch. However, they aren’t sure what to pack for their international VoLTE journey. Specifically, operators are unsure about which roaming model to choose – Local Break-Out (LBO) or S8 Home Routed (S8HR). The choice for a roaming model could easily be reduced to a technical evaluation; however, the commercial impact must also be considered. For example, selecting the S8HR model, which treats voice as data, will negatively impact inbound roaming revenues, retail outbound roaming revenues and wholesale termination revenues. Decisions related to international VoLTE should be made with input from marketing, strategy and technical departments, as it is a trade-off between criteria like time-to-market, quality of service, commercial impact, and support of features (e.g. lawful intercept and emergency services). Coordination between departments is needed to ensure a smooth VoLTE journey.
A questionnaire we conducted among our customers taught us that some of them are already preparing themselves for international VoLTE this year while other have no plans to introduce VoLTE interworking and roaming before 2017. Preparing for the VoLTE journey is obviously far from booking a last minute vacation deal. It requires research, planning, coordination, procuring the right equipment and making sure it all works.
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The Ovum survey also showed that mobile operators are confused about what needs to be done to support international VoLTE. However, as the report concludes, these operators do not have to face these decisions alone, nor should they. IPX providers, like iBasis, have the knowledge and expertise to explain the implications of the different decisions made, and can help improve the speed and efficiency of deployments.
No need to do a time-consuming web search to find the best holiday spots that will fit your vacation plans! The IPX hub – an intelligent online platform, will greatly simplify new service launches. Based on GSMA specifications, it guarantees both quality of service and security. Like a professional guide, the iBasis IPX hub also plays a critical role as a mediator between various roaming systems and can ensure interworking between different VoLTE Roaming models. For a full overview of VoLTE roaming models, challenges and how iBasis IPX hub architecture can help, please view the webinar presentation that was held by Ovum and iBasis.
Clearly, it is important for mobile operators to benefit from the advantages that come along with VoLTE, for both international calling as well as roaming. It might be more challenging than a simple trip to the beach, but, with thoughtful preparation, the journey will be so worth it.
* Ovum Survey, Confusion Reigns over VoLTE, ViLTE, and RCS Roaming, March 2016