OTCE: A Win-Win Telecom Ecosystem for Operators

Plight of Operators  

With the integration of the communications industry and the internet, core telecommunications services are being replaced by OTT applications and telecom operators are being relegated to mere "channel providers." The industry value chain is shifting in favor of OTT providers. OTT providers are decreasing the main business of traditional telecom operators and marginalizing new businesses. OTT providers are also undermining the loyalty of subscribers of traditional telecom operators and greatly increasing the amount of signaling in networks.

In many countries, telecommunication services are part of the national strategic infrastructure and are considered public utilities. Operators have obligations to build better networks and lower charges. However, they have not been sensitive enough to user demands for new information and services, such as e-commerce. This has resulted in insufficient development of new businesses and on overly long time to market.

"Circle of friends" features in social contact applications reduce subscriber stickiness. One concomitant of OTT applications is frequently used short-length heartbeat messages that occupy many radio channels and affect the services of other users.

Open to Collaboration for Business Blossom 

Separating mobile services and network infrastructure from booming OTT services enable operators to establish new telecom multi-participatory ecosystem. They have realized that both network quality and openness to collaboration are important for winning business. 

In order to expand pure end-user-oriented services to vertical industry subdivisional infotainment value-added service provider, telecom operators need to open network capability and make resources integration to create multi-win ecological environment. Maintaining sustainable progress with multiple service providers is the goal of most operators.

Some operators have gone forward to integrate and promote OTT services to enhance the overall user experience and user loyalty.

ZTE's OTCE Solution 

ZTE's open telecom cloud ecosystem (OTCE) is a platform for opening network capabilities and integrating resources. It helps operators transition from being channel providers to competitive telecom/internet operators selling not only services but also network capabilities and business and technological guidance.

Following the principles of enable "capabilities open, user identifiable, service integrated, Qos guaranteed, network manageable and bills confirmable", ZTE's OTCE solution opens and expands the capabilities of CS, PS and IMS to help operators realize value chain integration as shown in Figure 1.

With capability adaptation layer and capability management section, ZTE's OTCE solution opens the network capability with invoking authorization to third party applications. The reference points between OTCE and network elements are the existing standard telecom protocol interfaces, they can reduce the impact on existing networks so that the solution can be deployed quickly. The network capability APIs provided for third-party applications are based on lightweight internet network protocols (such as HTTP/XML and RESTFul), to eliminate the development complexity of third-party applications.

The network capability APIs of the OTCE include data transmission, QoS control, service control, authentication and accounting, secure communication, user data storage capability, and messaging capability. Network capability APIs can be divided into basic API package, enhanced API package, and compound API package, which can be ordered and invoked by third-party applications on demand. In addition, network capability APIs enable user-level or service-level control of network resources and services. Operators can analyze the most popular service types, identify user habits and preferences based on statistics of invoking network capability APIs. Furthermore, operators can provide personalized services to achieve a win-win situation between operators, third-party applications, and end users.

Based on the NFV opening technologies, the OTCE solution integrates third-party COTS hardware with ZTE's virtualization platform (OpenCOS) to accelerate service trial and deployment. It is scalable, which means it can cope with dynamic business needs, lower OAM costs, and guarantee system stability. It also provides third-party applications with reliable execution environment. It can deploy hundreds of services at low costs, which encourages individuals developer as well as small and micro enterprises for innovation in new areas.

ZTE also offers a full range of CS, PS, and IMS core equipments. For the "non-optimal behavior" of a number of applications, ZTE can coordinate and optimize the implementation of applications and network equipment, and provide the best service channels for applications and users. For example, frequent heartbeat messages of applications lead to too many paging requests and occupy too many radio resources. The OTCE solution determines user status according to the inherent periodic signaling between networks and terminals, and provides network event triggering APIs to report user status changes to applications.

Various third-party applications are emerging in the mobile internet era. Attracting more users is the first step for application providers. The OTCE solution integrates and classifies different types of applications according to attributes—such as operator applications, third-party applications, enterprise applications, personal applications, catering, audio and video applications, and parenting platforms—and presents these applications to users according to user characteristics and preferences. This promotes applications and creates greater convenience for users.

ZTE's OTCE solution has facilitated the implementation of China Mobile's integrated communications strategy by opening IMS capabilities. The core attribute of China Mobile's integrated communications is to upgrade basic communications, namely, to upgrade communications services through the call, message, and address book on mobile phones using the GSMA RCS protocol, to meet diversified communications needs of users.

Conclusion

Revolutionary changes, sharing, and collaboration are the features of the internet era. In partnership with operators, ZTE makes innovations, seizes opportunities, and builds a win-win telecommunications ecosystem.