Aricent Implements Mobile Number Portability Services Infrastructure for its Greenfield Operations in India

The customer, a new entrant in the Indian mobile services market, wanted to grow its existing subscriber base of 3.5 million subscribers. The operator saw a great opportunity to create a market with the introduction of Mobile Number Portability (MNP) services in India and by helping subscribers switch to its network and explore other options. However, the operator faced multiple challenges including:

  • Aggressive timeframe to implement MNP as per regulatory guidelines;
  • Requirement for a highly scalable system to handle high transaction volumes;
  • Need for integration with clearing house vendors, real-time databases and other back-office systems;
  • Adherence to the stringent guidelines of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI);
  • Stringent inter-operability requirements with multiple third-party roaming, billing, mediation and customer care systems.

Aricent Solution

In order to overcome the challenges, Aricent implemented its proprietary MNP Gateway (MNPGW) solution that supported all three phases - Negotiation, Activation, and Porting - of a porting process. Based on a distributed architecture framework, the solution seamlessly integrated with roaming, billing - mediation, and customer care applications.

Aricent’s Mobile Number Portability Gateway solution included:

  • OSS Gateway (OSSGW): This module interfaces with CRM and MNP clearing house (MCH) network nodes for execution of port requests (both as recipient and as donor).
  • Local Service Management System (LSMS): The module receives the broadcast messages from the MCH on completion of negotiation/activation phases. The interface between LSMS and MCH is SOAP/XML over HTTP.
  • Local Number Portability Database (LNPDB): The module stores the routing number of the subscriber in the local database. This can be further used for generating the port history for a particular subscriber.

The key features of the implemented MNP solution include:

  • A web based GUI, allowing users to configure details like URL/IP Address, user id, password, and port number etc of MCH, CRM, STP and IT OSS/BSS applications. The GUI allows the user to generate reports for porting related activities and initiate partial / full download of Centralized Number Portability Database (CNPDB).
  • Feature to update Location Routing Number (LRN) in Signaling Transfer Point (STP) for call routing and LNPDB for internal OSS/BSS application LRN query.
  • Seamless integration with centralized MCH Telcordia and Syniverse, the third-party CRM through web services over SOAP/XML.

Results

  • The solution was implemented within an aggressive timeframe as per TRAI guidelines;
  • The deployment was centralized to cater to all the operational telecom circles within a region;
  • High scalability and vertical scaling initiated faster, ready to market integration capabilities with back-end systems and applications for the operator;
  • The solution is highly inter-operable with multiple roaming, billing, mediation and customer care systems;
  • The solution handles high transaction volumes and can scale up to handle 50 Transactions per Second (TPS).