Original article Total Telecom:Read More
Interview
The service aims to simplify collaboration between network operators and device manufactures when it comes to rolling out new services
The GSMA has unveiled a new cloud-based platform, the Entitlements Service, designed to fundamentally streamline the relationship between mobile network operators and device manufacturers. Announced on last month, the service is positioned as the final piece of a three-part solution aimed at solving a long-standing industry challenge and ensuring a seamless, out-of-the-box experience for consumers.
Speaking to Total Telecom, the GSMA’s Senior Director of Product Management, Shamit Bhat said the platform was conceived as a solution to a fundamental lack of coordination between operators and equipment manufacturers, which typically leaves both sides spending lot of time exchanging optimum network and device parameters and conducting strings length tests to ensure devices and networks are technically aligned for best performance.
“The operators sometimes struggle to get through to the manufacturers and vice versa,” he said, adding that this is especially true for smaller operators and manufacturers who lack the resources to engage directly with industry behemoths. “There’s a lot that needs to be done in order to bring these two worlds together, even though the end customer is the same.”
According to Bhat, this disconnect in communication leaves the industry moving far slower than necessary, with each new device, new operating system update, or new network technology being tackled individually by the mobile ecosystem.
Streamlining interoperability
To address this challenge, the GSMA offers a suite of three products. The first is interoperability testing, a service that standardises the testing process for voice, data, and messaging services particularly focusing on Voice over LTE (VoLTE) and 5G services.
“If I have to test your capabilities with thousands of companies, it’s practically impossible to scale a service,” explained Bhat. “Our goal is to remove the unnecessary repetition of those tests by making test data readily available to relevant ecosystem players.”
By certifying a network or device against GSMA standards (such as IR.25 for voice and NG.143 for 5G), the GSMA provides an authoritative stamp of approval that can be trusted by the entire industry.
Building on this foundation is the Network Settings Exchange (NSX), a platform that simplifies the pre-configuration of devices. It allows operators to securely send their optimal network settings to manufacturers instantly, once again reducing the need for maintaining a one-on-one relation for enabling services.
“When customers buy a device off the shelf, they want to know that it will work optimally from day one,” said Bhat. “This service tells the manufacturer the optimal settings for 2G to 5G, voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi), voice over LTE (VoLTE), APNs, IMS, etc… We have around 400 different settings between different technology stacks, all of which can be communicated at the click of a button.”
So far, over 850 equipment manufacturers and 250 operators are using NSX, significantly reducing the burden on customer care across the device ecosystem.
The Entitlements platform
With the two previous services, the GSMA has focussed on the deployment and optimisation of the mobile industry’s core technologies. With the Entitlements platform, based on the TS.43 standard, the GSMA is penetrating even more deeply into the ecosystem, aiming to harmonise the activation of individual advanced features.
Traditionally, launching a new feature – anything from eSIM transfer to the pairing of smartwatches – meant a lengthy and costly development project, often with separate builds required for iOS and Android. With the GSMA’s Entitlements platform, this is no longer the case.
“When you look at an individual subscriber, you need to know what they are entitled to do with their device. Can they use VoLTE, for example, or VoWiFi? Can they use satellite messaging? What about connecting to a companion device? Operators typically build their own entitlements infrastructure for that,” explained Bhat. “We’re taking away that integration burden and shortening the time to market.”
The potential gains here through using a unified platform are significant, both in terms of cost and time.
“It just takes four to six weeks with two or three developers to do all the integration,” Bhat explained, contrasting it with the “months and months” or even “years” a traditional build would take. “It’s much, much faster, and it doesn’t need any new time and money to be invested in new use cases. They’re just added to the platform by default, and you can integrate the APIs and off you go. It’s far more efficient and far more scalable.”
At a time when operators are struggling to drive up ARPU, bringing new use cases to market quickly and simply has never been more important.
Removing roadblocks for the ecosystem
Taken together, these three interoperability solutions from the GSMA represents a significant boost in agility for the mobile ecosystem. By replacing bespoke, time-consuming integration projects with unified, cloud-based platforms based on industry standards, the GSMA is removing a costly barrier that has long hindered innovation.
Whether you’re an operator, device manufacturer or industry innovator, now is the time to get involved — collaborate, contribute and help build a world where every device connects seamlessly, intelligently and securely.
Contact GSMA today to learn more about these services.