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If CDMA is a superior technology, then what do GSM operators do to overcome their underlying shortcoming? One answer is to one up on the OSS/BSS
front. This will improve network efficiency and address a host of customer-facing problems. It will lead to better network management and service delivery, and will also minimize revenue leakages and churn rates.

GSM operators already seem to have taken the cue, though not in full. They spent more on OSS/BSS than their CDMA counterparts, but that was also owing to the fact that the number of GSM subscribers is more than the CDMA subscribers in the country.

The overall OSS/BSS market is understood to have grown by 30 percent in FY 2004–05 as compared to the previous fiscal. Given that in the previous year the market was estimated at Rs 175 crore, it turns out to be at Rs 227.5 crore in 2004–05.

Billing continued to form the largest component of the market, at an estimated 70 percent of the pie, or Rs 159 crore. CSG remained the leading billing vendor.

While Indian operators have started investing in OSS/BSS solutions to an extent, they are yet to pay due emphasis on all its components. For example, while the developed world is moving fast towards revenue assurance, Indian operators are yet to gain speed there, feels an industry expert.

Subex, the homegrown player in the revenue assurances pace said while it gained 9 percent of its revenues from the space, most of it was from the overseas market.

The focus during the year was more on the infrastructure management. HP launched its network service management platform-that manages the services running on the network and not just the physical infrastructure. It says that many large service providers adopted the service management initiative, especially in the MPLS and telecom service management space. During 2004–05 large service providers made investments into infrastructure management and service level management. They also made investments in automation of service provisioning as well and monitoring of SLAs.

Agilent, which continues to be an active player in the OSS space, had offerings like GPRS Roaming solution, and Wireless Quality of Service Manager for the Indian market.

Global initiatives like the TM Forum's NGOSS are in a nascent state in India, even though a large number of telecom software companies in the country are associated with it.

SunTec said that it was associated with the TM Forum and was also an active member of the Application Map project team. The Telecom Applications Map is being designed to be of use to the entire spectrum of players in the telecom software value chain. It may be used for a variety of functions and allows both the operator and supplier communities worldwide to have a common frame of reference in describing both their current and future needs and intentions.

SunTec launched billing solutions for VoIP services, cable and broadband and triple play in the year 2004–05.

Subex has recently announced its participation in the Revenue Assurance Catalyst Project, under the auspices of the TM Forum. The project aims to simulate portions of a reference framework to ensure that all elements of a telco's revenue assurance strategy are adequately covered.

Incidentally, Subex became the world's largest player in the fraud management space, through its acquisition of Alcatel's FMS division and Lightbridge's Fraud Centurion product. Looking ahead, value-added services will play a dominant role in the coming years. As value-added services and personalized services are transitioning from desire to need, 3G is going to evolve and develop in India. Services like triple play, VoIP services and data-centric services will take a major chunk of the market.

In view of this, the role of mediation will become more important. Vendors are taking steps to make the mediation layer more flexible. So easy configuration options at this layer will help achieve uninterrupted OSS/BSS operations.

Deepak Kumar