Policy Control Crucial for Operators

By Anders Emilsson

**Editor's Note: Anders Emilsson was one of the featured speakers at the 2012 Policy Control Conference in Amsterdam last month.**

The interesting statements from analytics and operators that operators will need to procure a policy management solution on average three times, before being “fully" satisfied, did really raise a number of questions. Where is the mobile data market headed for consumers with smartphones? Will the legacy mobile and packet core solutions cope with new requirements? Is this a race toward the over-the-top content competitors/providers, and how should operators design a future-proven policy solution? The lead times and costs involved are crucial to consider.

The Policy Control Conference in Amsterdam was interesting in several aspects, especially in the area of technical requirements. I think it really addressed the complexity of launching new subscriptions and data plans on a multi-generation mobile/packet core, and the necessity of a flexible policy solution in meeting new subscription requirements. As subscriptions are given a broader scope of properties, these must be replicated down into the production environment without “static" show-stoppers in provisioning, policy and charging management, enforcement and billing. The need for a flexible and dynamic data model in provisioning new services is obvious.

Anders Emilsson, VP of sales, Europe/Africa, Aptilo Networks , has more than 20 years’ experience in telecom. He was previously CEO at ServiceFactory (acquired by Aptilo in 2011 and incorporated as a business area).