2013/12/09 Convergent charging market lifting as operators replace first-gen systems and roll out LTE

Boston, MASSACHUSETTS, December 6, 2013—Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from its latest Convergent Charging Software and Services report, which tracks charging software built to handle multiple dimensions of convergence, including convergence across payment methods, service types, and access networks, along with related consulting, integration, and managed services.

“Healthy growth in the convergent charging market continues, driven in part by a wave of replacement activity as operators swap out their first-generation charging systems for more scalable and flexible solutions that allow them to get new services and offers to the market quickly and efficiently,” reports Shira Levine, directing analyst for service enablement and subscriber intelligence at Infonetics Research.

“We expect LTE rollouts to further accelerate the market over the next few years,” continues Levine. “Operators will want to capitalize on LTE’s bigger ‘pipe’ via new services and pricing models that better tie the bandwidth consumed to the price being charged.”

• Convergent charging spending is generally not occurring hand-in-hand with LTE deployments; instead, LTE is acting as an indirect driver
• M2M transactions are expected to eventually far exceed human transactions on the mobile network, and Infonetics anticipates that most operators will implement new charging stacks—rather than extending existing systems—to support this new line of business
• Over the next 12–18 months, there will be a greater emphasis on convergent charging solutions that include self-care capabilities, enabling subscribers to change plans, add bolt-ons, and monitor usage, gaining more control over their services and spending
• Infonetics forecasts the convergent charging market to reach $4.2 billion in 2017, with growth coming from an increase in licenses in emerging markets and services spending in developed markets