A WIN-WIN Situation?

WIN is the Holy Grail for carriers. With it, they hope to wrest control over features development from MSC vendors. By using a service control point (SCP) like an animal trainer at a circus, they command the MSC, which acts like a trained seal.

But a few requirements remain before carriers can run their own shows. The SCP has to know exactly how the feature is going to run, and not just any MSC will do. The MSC has to be trained with some modular tricks (triggers) to perform at the SCP's command. WIN Phase I was just published with the first set of tricks, and the TIA standards committee TR-45.2 has nearly completed WIN Phase II. What new tricks will it enable? And will audiences give it the seal of approval?

SURPASSING PHASE I Phase I focused on enhanced features such as voice-controlled services, incoming-call screening and calling-name delivery. These capabilities were based on triggers: new or enhanced TIA/EIA-41 messages that can involve an SCP in call processing. A standard to support these capabilities was recently published in TIA/EIA-IS-771. The jury remains out on whether the value of WIN-based features will outweigh the additional costs for carriers.

Phase II, spurred by a CTIA System Requirements Document (SRD), focuses more on billing-related capabilities, most notably prepaid. Consumers like prepaid because it doesn't require long-term commitment to a carrier, they have no billing surprises, and for some, it preserves anonymity. For carriers, prepaid is a double-edged sword: It attracts new customers, customer-service costs are lower, billing costs are virtually eliminated, and the per-minute charges are higher. However, prepaid systems also are limited in functionality -- roaming is a prime example -- and are vulnerable to leakage (unbillable calls) and fraud.

Network-based prepaid systems offer more security than those based on modified handsets because the carrier, not the customer, controls the remaining-minutes counter. However, existing standards haven't fully supported prepaid systems. With TIA/EIA-41, mobile originations generally don't involve the home carrier, and permission to make calls is granted at the time of initial registration and remains valid for several hours or days. With prepaid systems, the home carrier must track minutes as they're used, have the ability to warn users when they're running out of minutes and cut them off when the minutes are exhausted.

One way to accomplish this is to force a prepaid mobile to make calls via a prepaid platform, but this approach increases the amount of trunking -- and, therefore, costs -- involved in a call. In the worst cases, a roaming prepaid mobile will make a long-distance call to the prepaid platform, which will loop the call back to another phone in the area where the mobile is roaming. By comparison, a post-paid mobile would have made a local call. Although these systems can work quite well, they aren't optimal.

PERFECTING PREPAID The WIN approach to prepaid attempts to route signaling messages to the home system but keeps trunking and other resources within the serving system. A prepaid platform still is required, but it doesn't require trunking because it's just acting in a control capacity. The WIN approach provides several messages that keep the prepaid platform and the customer apprised of the current balance:

* An answer indicator tells the prepaid platform when to start subtracting minutes, and a release indicator tells it when to stop.

* A low-balance indicator tells the MSC to provide a tone or announcement to warn the customer that he's almost run out of time and perhaps prompt him to recharge the balance with a credit card.

* A disconnect command from the prepaid platform tells the MSC to disconnect the call because the prepaid balance has been exhausted.

Together, these capabilities can provide seamless, leakage-free roaming for prepaid customers, but only when the wireless infrastructure, MSCs in particular, has been upgraded to support it. This upgrade could take several years, and its effectiveness depends on how many carriers participate.

EVEN MORE FEATURES Phase II provides additional features to facilitate other services:

* Wireless Freephone. When calling (800) numbers, the caller usually has to pay airtime charges. WIN-based freephone services could make the airtime free for selected numbers by dialing in the regular way and might be especially popular with prepaid customers who don't have a bank of free minutes available.

* Premium-Rate Charging. Why would customers pay more for a call based on their location, the number they're calling or the time of day? Good question. Charging less is understandable, but the average consumer probably is going to be livid if he pays more to, for example, make a call within a convention center.

* Reject Undesired, Annoying Calls. This feature was promoted by Asian carriers and may be a sign of cultural differences. North Americans may have no trouble hanging up on annoying callers, but other cultures prefer a more polite method. By directing the caller to voice mail or a recording, the party he's calling appears to be unavailable rather than unwilling to talk to him.

* Advice of Charging. This feature often has been talked about, but it's difficult to implement and is of decreasing value as rates continue to drop. Phase II allows the per-minute rate to be announced at the beginning of a call or the total cost at the end of a call. Alternatively, information about the current cost of the call can be presented during the call. Close coordination of the network is required to ensure that the information presented reflects the customer's rate plan.

A PEEK AT PHASE III Preparations are already under way for Phase III, which will focus on location-based services. A recent CTIA SRD identified several services that could be enabled by location information such as cell/sector or the more accurate information required under the E-911 mandate:

* Location-Based Charging. Charges can be reduced or eliminated when a phone is in its home area.

* Fleet and Asset Management. One application is tracking high-value items by attaching a wireless-data module.

* Enhanced Call Routing. One example is *PIZZA, although it may be more commonly used to obtain roadside assistance.

* Location-Based Information Services. Filtered information based on your current location is provided in a text format.

Although WIN is a new technology and a concept that has yet to prove itself, it certainly is capable of a large array of tricks. WIN features have the potential both to attract new customers and provide higher value services to existing customers.