Traditionally, the telecom sector has been one of the most lucrative market segments in both emerging and developed economies. But also traditionally, that sector has been protected by heavy local regulation. Nowadays, however, many countries have either started or are considering deregulation of their telecom sectors. Such strong trend towards liberalization of the sector, coupled with the emergence of new technologies for cost effective transport of voice data, and namely Voice-over-IP, opens up new revenue generating opportunities for entrepreneurs all over the world.
The calling cards business model offers a relatively low cost entry into the lucrative telecom market segment. The essence of the calling cards business model is to creatively segment customers by various demographic and/or behavioral characteristics and to design calling cards offerings to meet their specific calling needs. The calling cards business typically attracts entrepreneurs who want to enter the VoIP market, businesses with established retail distribution channels, and service providers who want to diversify their revenue streams.
Business Solution
Aiming PROVIDER as a leading VoIP service provider, PROVIDER has to offer integrated, scalable, and cost-effective calling cards solutions. Such solutions will feature powerful billing capabilities, intuitive CRM (Customer Relation Management) web portals, and proven interoperability with equipment from other VoIP providers. Because all solution components are developed by the engineers of PROVIDER and Softswitch Billing company, that reduces the need for integration costs at the PROVIDER VOIP service level which saves money for PROVIDER and improves our return on investment.
How will the solution work?
User experience
Aiming PROVIDER as a leading VoIP service provider, PROVIDER has to offer integrated, scalable, and cost-effective calling cards solutions. Such solutions will feature powerful billing capabilities, intuitive CRM (Customer Relation Management) web portals, and proven interoperability with equipment from other VoIP providers. Because all solution components are developed by the engineers of PROVIDER and Softswitch Billing company, that reduces the need for integration costs at the PROVIDER VOIP service level which saves money for PROVIDER and improves our return on investment.
How will the solution work?
User experience
- The user will purchase a calling card from a retail or online store.
- The user will dial the local or toll-free access number printed on the card.
- The user will hear a voice prompt, asking him to enter his PIN number.
- The user will then enter the PIN number printed on the calling card using the phone dial pad.
- He will hear his account balance and is invited to make a call.
- The user will dial the number and will get connected.
Provider experience
- When the user calls, PROVIDER Gateway, which is connected to the access number, will answer the call and send IVR prompts to the caller, inviting him to enter his PIN number.
- PROVIDER Gateway will read the PIN and will send an authorization request to PROVIDER VoIP Billing
- PROVIDER VoIP Billing will verify account information and will authorize the call if the user has sufficient balance.
- Then PROVIDER Gateway will announce to the caller his account balance and will invite him to dial a destination number.
- Then PROVIDER Gateway will pass the destination number to PROVIDER Softswitch and will request routing information.
- PROVIDER Softswitch will return to PROVIDER Getaway the IP address of the remote gateway and Getaway will connect the call.
- During the conversation, Getaway will convert voice signal to data packets and will route them to the terminating gateway (owned by the call termination provider) and vice versa.
- Upon call completion, PROVIDER VoIP Billing will record complete CDR information for the call and then debit the user account with accumulated service charges.
Solution components are required
Core elements of PROVIDER's Calling Cards Solution include:
- PROVIDER VoIP Billing, will be a robust billing server that provides us with all necessary tools to successfully implement a wide spectrum of VoIP business models.
- VoIP Gateway, will be a flexible switching device that provides us with universal IP-PSTN switching, high flexibility and remote feature upgrade ability.
- PROVIDER Softswitch will be an advanced VoIP softswitch that provides secure and reliable peering between our own networks and the VoIP networks of our business partners.
Related Topic:
I was searching for Calling Card's online when I came across this blog. Very informative post!
ReplyDeleteNice to see all collection of information. Thanks for your great input.
ReplyDeletePlease update in 2015 too ;)
International Calling Card