Who Should Attend?

Anyone involved in the Number Portability project including project managers, project workgroup leaders and experts in the areas of core network, IT systems, billing, interconnect, regulatory issues and marketing.

It is strongly recommended for project manager responsible for the network part of MNP project, senior engineers analysing NP impact on systems and working out solutions, anyone requiring an in-depth understanding of the mechanics of NP network solution and modifications required in the CN and surrounding systems – such as staff responsible for CN planning and maintenance, specialists in the areas of billing, interconnect, provisioning and service cost modelling.

The three days Mobile Number Portability training consists of two sessions:

• Key Considerations - it is an introductory session intended for anyone involved in the Number Portability project including project managers, project workgroup leaders and experts in the areas of core network, IT systems, billing, interconnect, regulatory issues and marketing.

• Network Implementation - this part of the training is designed to provide an in-depth understanding of the mechanics of NP network solution and modifications required in the CN and surrounding systems – such as staff responsible for CN planning and maintenance, specialists in the areas of billing, interconnect, provisioning and service cost modelling.

Session 1 - Key Considerations

Objectives
Introduction of Mobile Number Portability is a very complex project that affects virtually every area of operator’s business. Awareness of the implications of MNP and understanding of key concepts and dependencies related to MNP is crucial for successful completion of the project. The objective of the first part of the course is to enable such awareness and understanding especially with relation to extensive modifications required in the network and IT systems and key assumptions concerning regulatory aspects, traffic routing, interconnect, marketing and project management.

Content

1. Key definitions related to Number Portability (understanding what is number portability, what is in MNP scope, explaining of key concepts and vocabulary used).
2. Motivation (analysing various reasons why MNP may be required, internal and external factors).
3. Legal requirements (discussing EU requirements concerning MNP implementation and its local implementation).
4. Role of the Regulator (discussing on what aspects of MNP implementation may activity of the Regulator concentrate and what are the various approaches).
5. Areas of cooperation between operators (analysing which areas of the project require inter-operator cooperation and into what work-packages may that be organized).
6. Areas impacted in operator’s business (providing an overview of areas in operator’s business that are impacted by MNP implementation, explaining why they are impacted).
7. Project set-up (providing a proposition of project structure within the operator’s organisation to cover all topics related to MNP).
8. Strategy and marketing assumptions (discussing possible approaches that the operator may adapt towards MNP implementation – active versus passive, pros & cons and cons of each option).
9. Position in negotiations with other operators and vendors (discussing possible approaches and problems that may appear in negotiations with operators and vendors).
10. Porting process (presenting various models of the porting process, e.g. one step approach, two step approach, porting process duration, postpaid / prepaid).
11. Exchange of porting data between operators, central database and other models (understanding how may communication between operators be arranged in order to enable effective porting process, discussion of centralized and decentralized models).
12. Tariff transparency (analysing impact of MNP on tariff transparency, what are the possible solutions, what are the pros & cons).
13. Solution architecture; MNP databases, their localization and role (understanding overall solution architecture on inter-operator level and intra-operator level, understanding various kinds of MNP databases that are required and placing them within the overall solution architecture).
14. Overview of routing schemes for voice, SMS and MMS (explaining direct routing schemes, indirect routing schemes and all their flavours).
15. Interconnect aspects (discussing issues need to be considered in the interconnect area).
16. Support in operator’s IT systems and systems affected  - including billing, provisioning, porting process support (analysing which areas of the IT will be impacted, proposing an overall architecture and specific solutions).
17. Overview of network solution - introduction to Part II (analysing which telecommunication systems are impacted and in what way).
18. Discussion of key dependencies between various areas of the project (understanding how may decisions in one area of the project impact other areas, discussing areas in which cooperation is especially important).

Session 2 - Network Implementation

Objectives
Preparing GSM operators core network to support Mobile Number Portability is a very challenging task constituting probably the most complex, extensive and costly part of the whole MNP project. Moreover no off-shelf solutions exist in this case due to specifics of each network and each country. This part of the course provides an in-depth understanding of the impacts of MNP on CN systems and presents in detail a range of available functionalities and solutions for each case. This session highlights how a coherent network-wide solution can be worked out and optimised. Detailed routing and network configuration aspects are also discussed.

Content

1. Discussion of important inputs and assumptions for the network project (understanding what inputs are required to start design and implementation in the telecommunication systems).
2. Defining a list of services and systems affected (defining and discussing a detailed list of telecommunication systems and services that may be impacted by MNP).
3. Defining and negotiating necessary changes in SS7 on inter operator interface (understanding what modifications are required to SS7 signalling protocols to enable MNP, which specifications are relevant, what is the common practice, which aspects may require negotiations).
4. Network solution architecture; location of NP database(s) in network structure (working out the MNP implementation architecture in the telecom area and adequate network structure).
5. Details of routing models for voice and SMS and their realisation options SRF/MATF based solution versus IN based solution (analysing in detail an extensive list of call flows impacted by MNP and proposing various solution options for each case, analysing various technologies for MNP functionality implementation in the network, discussion of pros & cons).
6. NPDB defining the requirements and choosing adequate solution (investigating what functionalities are required in the network-level MNP database, discussing how to choose the most adequate NPDB solution in a given network environment).
7. Detailed discussion of modifications required to CN systems - MSCs, PrePaid, VPN, SMS, MMS, VMS, LBS, …. (going though all the telecommunication systems to prepare a detailed list of MNP impacts and possible solutions for each case).
8. Interdependencies with systems surrounding CN (mediation and billing, provisioning, interconnect); working out a coherent network-wide approach (discussing what kind of interdependencies may exist, understanding what kind of decisions have to be taken to work out a coherent overall solution).
9. Call flow optimisation, redundancy issues (analysing very detailed aspects related to optimisation of CN configuration/routing and ensuring adequate solution robustness).
10. Solution rollout and testing (discussing what activities need to be undertaken during MNP solution testing and rollout on intra- and inter-operator level).

Pre-requisites
There are no prerequisites to attend the first session. Basic knowledge of call handling in GSM core network, SS7 signalling network structure and SS7 routing would be useful for better understanding of session 2 issues.

Training Structure
3 days divided into 2 logical sessions, 1.5 day each.

Methodology
Instructor led training.

Fee* - the price includes lunch, coffe breaks and participation in one evening event. VAT is 0%. Discounts available for groups and corporate clients.