Becoming a Multiplay Operator
Magyar Telekom Plc., a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom based in Budapest, is Hungary's largest telecommunications company. It provides a range of telecommunications services primarily to residential and business customers in Hungary, Macedonia and Montenegro. Its services include fixed and mobile telephony, data transmission and value-added services.
The Need: Service Expansion via One Technology for Fixed and Mobile Networks
Magyar Telekom was born in 2005 as a result of the regrouping and rebranding of the Matáv Group. This re-organization led to the need for one technology to serve both the fixed and mobile operations. It needed to suit the requirements for an immediate expansion of the service offering, as well as to prepare for the next-generation service portfolio.
The immediate expansion of its service offering focused on a price-competitive telephony service, particularly for the small business segment. It was decided that Voice over IP (VoIP) would fulfill the needs for an affordable option and even provide subscribers with a primary telephone line.
The Challenge: One Technology for Fixed and Mobile
An operator who chooses to launch VoIP services is not only providing short-term benefits to itsconsumers, but also strategically investing in the IP technology as a cost-effective and flexible enabler for a fixed-mobile converged (FMC) evolvement.
Magyar Telekom needed an infrastructure that was able to answer the multifold needs of supplying a naked DSL line, providing VoIP telephony and preparing its network for next-generation FMC services.
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The Solution: IMS Network and Comverse Converged Services
Magyar Telekom chose to develop an IMS network and implement its VoIP service to serve both its wireline and mobile offerings. Comverse was selected for converged services and a range of IP multimedia applications such as Instant Messaging and Presence.
IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) is being adopted across the telecom industry as the standard architecture for next-generation networks, providing users with converged rich media services across all environments and devices.
IMS “open” architecture, based on the SIP protocol, facilitates IP-based applications and communication across different networks and systems.
Magyar Telekom’s IMS solution will allow the operator to roll out personalized, IP-based services quickly, enhancing the user experience and creating a total communication environment. As a result, Magyar Telekom can improve competitive positioning, increase customer stickiness and decrease churn. Added benefits include reduced operational costs over time through the architecture’s high scalability.
Why Selected: Comverse Service-Oriented Approach
Taking a proactive approach to a market experiencing the move to ‘naked DSL’, while preparing its infrastructure for service expansion, Magyar Telekom selected an end-to-end IMS network, as well as the value-added applications from Comverse, a leader in the industry with years of field-proven experience in VAS installations with major carriers worldwide.
In one of the world’s first IMS deployments, Comverse, in a partnership with Huawei, supplied the IMS network infrastructure as well as IMS applications for all access networks including fixed (e.g. ADSL, cable) and wireless (e.g. GSM, 3G, WiFi). The Comverse IMS solution is designed to offer true convergence to subscribers. Comprised of Comverse’s rich portfolio in real-time communication, messaging and content, the ultimate services environment allows Magyar Telekom to develop their service strategy with fast implementation time to earn customer satisfaction in both consumer and enterprise markets.
The Results: ROI Focus Works
The Comverse ROI-driven approach emphasizes the value of applications and uses the IMS core as an enabling capability to create synergy among services. This allows Magyar Telekom to leverage Comverse’s rich portfolio of applications for a pragmatic, business approach to IMS focusing on service combinations in demand with strong ROI.
Magyar Telekom decided on IMS as the strategic and future-proof reference architecture to deploy multimedia services over IP, while focusing on VoIP as the first service to be introduced and generate revenues. The first IMS services are being offered to fixed ADSL subscribers. This way the subscribers can use new, enriched telephone services even if they do not have traditional phone lines. This also enables Magyar Telekom to sell telephony services out of their concession area.
Flexibility in Its Offering
Magyar Telekom has adopted a proactive approach to a market experiencing a regulatory trend that is occurring across Europe: naked DSL. The operator has taken a very liberal and flexible stance with its convergent, multi-play offering by adding VoIP service running over IMS to its Internet and IPTV services. Subscribers have an ‘a la carte’ selection of services from various service levels and at different prices.
For instance, users can choose between a “Light T-Home Dupla” service bundle that offers broadband Internet of 1M bit/s as well as free calls within Magyar Telekom network and a “Premium T-Home Dupla” service bundle that offers broadband Internet of 4M bit/s as well as free calls within the network. Or they may choose a T-Home Tripla service that includes IPTV on top of the broadband and phone services.
1. A naked DSL line is a standalone DSL (digital subscriber line) that serves as a primary line telephony service which can circumvent the existing Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) telephony service.