Device Management

Prepaid Services: Increase Revenue, Improve QoS & Maintain CAPEX

By Ronan Bracken on December, 6 2016

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Ronan Bracken

Stagnation of subscription revenues and the trend toward all-data services is becoming a complex and pressing challenge for CSPs. OTT content and the Internet of Things (IoT) has risen the average user’s bandwidth requirements, and the infrastructure costs required to deliver a reliable Quality of Service (QoS) threatens to outweigh the amount of revenue service providers are generating. It’s no secret that bad QoS results in heightened subscriber churn, so operators must find a way to increase revenue without inflating CAPEX.

There are two ways CSPs can achieve this goal, which we will explore in this installment of the New Service Roll-Out Series:

  • Prepaid Service Enhancements
  • Prepaid Access to Services for Contract-Shy Customers

Prepaid Service Enhancements

To gain more revenue from your existing subscriber base, you can target customers with temporary prepaid service enhancements over your existing network infrastructure. An example of this would be offering a prepaid time-of-day Internet speed boost package to a customer with habitual service usage patterns. The OSS can be configured to automatically monitor the enhancement and then switch it off when time expires.

This option is attractive to subscribers who frequently stream Netflix, play online video games, or watch 4K IPTV after their regular weekday work hours. This can also be extended to customers who want uninterrupted services for major live-streamed television and sporting events. By offering an option to purchase a temporary speed-boost package over a customizable period of time, you’ll not only satisfy the subscriber craving for more flexible service options, you’ll also heighten the subscriber’s QoS and improve loyalty.

Prepaid Access to Services for Contract-Shy Customers

By enabling prepaid services, you can offer contract-shy users — a significantly untapped source of revenue in the IP services industry — temporary access to services for flexible periods of times. This option targets customers who need IP services but don’t have or can’t access a subscription, for instance travellers outside of their regular service area. By giving these users access to temporary Internet or data services, you’ll gain revenue above and beyond what regular service contracts can offer, and perhaps even attract a few customers to sign up for a monthly contract.

These options can all be enabled using your existing infrastructure, but the best part is that both of the above examples can done with minimal OPEX costs as well.

Using intuitive web-based self-service portals, customers can select and pay for services without any requirement for a customer service agent. That means that once the system is implemented and switched on, it’s a revenue generating machine that requires minimal maintenance. Customer portals also offer you new ways to target users for promotions and sales.

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