Q3 2007
The ATS Network & Billing Update is published by Advanced Technologies & Services, Inc. (www.atso.com), a revenue and service assurance solutions provider. This free newsletter is a guide to telecommunications OSS, billing, and revenue assurance news and other telecom industry analysis. To unsubscribe, contribute an article, or for offbeat news, please scroll to the end. Feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends and co-workers!
In this issue:
OffBeat News: Surfing the Net From the Comfort of a Bathroom Stall
ATS Develops Siemens EWSD Module for SimCall
Advanced Technologies & Services, Inc, a supplier of Revenue Assurance solutions for communications providers, announced today that they have completed the development of a Siemens EWSD module for their SimCall revenue assurance tool.
ATS’ flagship product, SimCall, is the industry’s leading tool to ensure network integrity by validating the accuracy of switch translations. The tool is unique in that it simulates every dialing combination possible in a fraction of the time it would take to generate such calls. The call simulations are also done off-line so there is absolutely no strain on the switch being tested and no false inflation of call detail records detected. Just last year ATS recovered over $50m in lost revenue for their clients with SimCall.
Until now, SimCall was capable of testing Class 5 DMS and 5E switch types. The new EWSD module opens the door to many other testing opportunities in North America as well as internationally. The Siemens EWSD switch is a popular model used by telecom carriers throughout the world and the capability to test this new switch type will open new opportunities for ATS to compete in International markets. Two tier 1 carriers in North America have already ordered the new SimCall module for use in their networks.
“We are very excited to expand into the international telecom market,” says Randall Guthrie, ATS’ President. “Ensuring network integrity and revenue optimization for our customers have always been our core strengths and we look forward to developing trusted partner relationships with carriers around the world.”
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FCC Launches 'Inquiry'
Into USF
Courtesy
of
Information
Week
Agency seeks comments on managing and oversight of the USF, which is used primarily to subsidize rural telecom providers and low-income families.
The Federal Communications Commission said Wednesday [June 15] that it has opened a "broad inquiry" into the management and oversight of the Universal Service Fund, a small step toward USF reform, an idea that many telecom industry participants and observers have called for.
While the inquiry does not address USF's thorniest branch -- how and from whom it collects fees -- it is an opening gambit in the direction of overall USF reform, an industry and political battle that will likely pit rural-state senators and states against urban representatives and providers.
Click Here for the full story
Wireless Carriers – Click Here for more information about reducing your USF contributions
VoIP Providers – Click Here for more information about reducing your USF contributions.
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ATS Offers New Vertical Features Audit Tool
Advanced Technologies & Services, Inc, a supplier of Revenue Assurance solutions for communications providers, announced today that they have developed a vertical features audit tool, SimCall Lite.
SimCall Lite combines the switch intelligence from ATS’ SimCall tool and their billing expertise to produce an audit of the vertical features provisioned for customers. Carriers receive and process countless service requests on a daily basis to add or remove vertical features from a customer’s telephone service such as Caller ID, Three Way Calling, Call Waiting, Call Forwarding, etc. These requests are handled by adding or removing a USOC code to a customer’s billing profile as well as their switch profile. Unfortunately, many times the situation arises where the customer will be provisioned to use the additional features without them being added to their billing profile. These errors will often go by undetected and can cost the company upwards of millions of dollars per year.
“The Vertical Features Audit tool adds another fantastic module to the SimCall Suite,” says Randall Guthrie, ATS’ President. “We are excited to offer this new module which will help to ensure revenue optimization for our clients.”
SimCall Lite is offered as a stand alone module of SimCall or as part of the entire SimCall Suite. For more information, contact ATS at info@atso.com.
About SimCall:
ATS’ flagship product, SimCall, is the industry’s leading tool to ensure network integrity by validating the accuracy of switch translations. The tool is unique in that it simulates every dialing combination possible in a fraction of the time it would take to generate such calls. The call simulations are also done off-line so there is absolutely no strain on the switch being tested and no false inflation of call detail records detected. ATS estimates that SimCall has already recovered over $50m in lost revenue in 2007.
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OffBeat
News:
Employees Using Mobile Phones in Toilets to Bypass Office Internet
Restrictions
Courtesy of
Cellular News
A nationwide study by T-Mobile UK has revealed that over a quarter of the UK's workforce, still deprived of web access, are now turning to the Internet on their mobile - as employers enforce blanket bans on net usage.
The study of 2,000 UK adults commissioned by T-Mobile and compiled by YouGov, examined how consumer habits were affected by lack of Internet access. The findings uncovered a seemingly strict attitude towards using the Internet at work:
- 23% of employees were subject to company policies that banned them from accessing social networking websites 11%
- were banned from using web-based email
- were not even allowed to use Google
Nearly half of the employees surveyed (48%) use their mobile phone to access the Internet at work; from downloading music to buying groceries online, with further research illustrating that 15% of users resorting to hiding in the toilet just to get online.
Click Here for the full story.
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