Released on = December 16, 2005, 6:03 am

Press Release Author = Sara Peerun / Visiongain

Industry = Telecommunications

Press Release Summary = San Francisco, CA and London, UK; 15 December 2005: Billing
is already an essential function for operators but it is set to gain an even more
important role, as the onset of convergence makes services and service provisioning
more complex. That is the finding from a new study, \"Billing in convergence:
Analysing the next-generation billing market\", published by industry research
company, visiongain.

Press Release Body = Among the hype associated with FMC, 3G, IMS, UMA, WiMAX, VoWLAN
and others, these services will only succeed if the necessary billing mechanisms are
in place to support them. With the move towards multimedia and convergence, having a
robust billing platform - as well as a cohesive billing strategy in place, is
absolutely critical if operators want to generate revenues.

\"While billing vendors have begun to focus on these issues, we believe they must
place greater thought into the unique challenges convergence will present,
articulating their strategies now in order to satisfy operator demands going
forward,\" says report author Kaushik Das.

\"We believe IMS is in everyone\'s picture and billing vendors are all betting some
kind of \"true IP billing\" might take place in IMS, especially towards real-time and
QoS. Furthermore, vendors all believe FMC will happen sooner than later. However,
there is little enthusiasm for voice over WLAN or unlicensed mobile access,\" adds
Das.

As service complexity increases, so transactions have to be simplified and usage has
to be billed appropriately. Future applications involving multitasking and
multi-modality will also require a single bill if businesses and consumers are to
embrace them.

This latest report looks at billing mechanisms and architecture in mobile networks,
with a particular focus on convergence and next-generation networks (NGN). Besides
analysing the unique challenges and opportunities that exist with billing in a
convergence landscape, this report also looks at integrated prepaid/postpaid
billing, revenue leakage and assurance, and business models.

ENDS

Notes for Editors

If you are interested in a more detailed overview of this report, please send an
e-mail to sara.peerun@visiongain.com or phone Sara on +44 (0) 20 8767 6711 or see
http://www.visiongainintelligence.com/reportDetail.aspx?reportId

Web Site = http://www.visiongain.com

Contact Details = Visiongain
Sara Peerun
40 Tooting High St
London SW17 0RG
UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 8767 6711
Fax: +44 (0)20 8767 5001
email: sara.peerun@visiongain.com