How MNOs should transform their wholesales business to increase IoT Roaming revenue?

The importance of IoT roaming traffic in 2020 has been substantially emphasized,
and this traffic is growing at a rapid pace, where according to Kaleido’s newest
forecasts, roaming IoT connections would expand at a 35 percent CAGR between 2020
and 2026, outpacing overall connections growth. Since the outbreak of COVID-19,
IoT roaming has resulted in increased wholesale revenue from consumers, resulting
in increased demand for remote connectivity, monitoring, automation, and other services
across numerous industries, and as a result, enterprise demand for IoT is growing rapidly.
The increased demand for network infrastructure and analytics tools strains already
scarce and stretched resources. The social and economic potential created by IoT roaming is enormous, promising, and evolving, yet it is now untapped. Because of their inability to identify, measure, classify and charge IoT traffic accurately and automatically,
most operators find it difficult to monetize it. Operators must overcome these obstacles
in order to grow this profitable industry since the overall growth of cellular IoT connections provides operators and IoT service providers with unprecedented opportunities to produce new revenue streams.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a global business that is distinct from consumer roaming behavior and usage habits. Traditional roaming charging models are not profitable for this traffic and result in annual revenue losses of $7,5 million, according to Tomia Global.
This traffic stream has a variety of steering, coverage, and QoS requirements. Devices typically consume little traffic, and the majority of them are always roaming. As a result, operators must develop unique commercial tactics that can result in new revenue streams. The capacity to recognize this traffic using device-based or machine learning algorithms that combine usage and signaling data, and align these segments across applications like roaming billing and guiding, is the first step toward monetization.

Monetizing IoT and M2M devices require:

● Identifying roaming narrowband IoT devices on reel time while optimizing steering to ensure service quality without affecting profits
● Having in place the appropriate segmented and device-based rating and settlement.
● Negotiating discount deals with roaming partners.
By assisting operators in identifying IoT permanent roaming devices, they will be able to negotiate the appropriate service levels and pricing, maximizing their revenue from IoT-based services. As a result, the the solution should assist global operators in turning the difficulty of narrowband IoT roaming into a business opportunity by delivering unrivaled real-time network data access, transparency, visibility, and connectivity with routing actions.
1. Identification of roaming narrowband IoT devices in real time:
In order to identify IoT traffic, several components are required. The most frequent are those that are based on the hardware profile or IMEI information of the device. APN lists and IMSI ranges are frequently used by operators to segment IoT traffic. This, however, has been disproven. Devices, unlike customers, are frequently in constant circulation. Because some are networked but silent, it’s critical to keep an eye on signals to precisely measure roaming time and movement. Operators can detect twice as many devices each month using signaling information. Low traffic quantities, peaks in signal traffic, or
consistent and recurring usage, often on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, are all examples of how devices act differently than consumers. When IMEI information is unavailable, machine learning (ML) algorithms ought to be applied. It can decipher signaling and usage data to give users insight into consumer and IoT traffic patterns, including borrowed IoT devices.
2. Having the appropriate segmented and device-based rating and settlement in place:
Together with LTE-M, Narrow-Band IoT (NB-IoT) is designed to deliver on the promise of scalable, cost-effective massive IoT applications. Lower power consumption enhanced and extended indoor coverage, and scalability are some of the key benefits of NB-IoT. Given the long-term nature of IoT agreements, operators who provide NB-IoT coverage first may reap the benefits.
3. IoT agreements:
Because most IoT devices use little amounts of data, charging based on usage, as in consumer bills, is not profitable. Differentiated network resources, such as the possibility for a local breakout to handle low latency requirements or data processing constraints, will be accessible with 5G. The industry is trending toward the Billing Charging Evolution (BCE) settlement mechanism to enable new business models. Furthermore, many enterprise purchases will have wholesale B2B2C solutions, which will necessitate margin computation.

Billing and Charging Evolution (BCE)

With the exponential increase in the number of wholesale agreements, new billing methods, and numerous consumer segments, the future of settlement will necessitate increasingly complex commercial strategies and advanced automation. Regardless of the underlying technology, such as VoLTE, NB-IoT, or 5G, the platform works with all forms of wholesale and commercial agreements for diverse customer segments. Automation streamlines the entire agreement management lifecycle.
1. Monetize IoT Devices
Despite the fact that signaling information is a valuable tool for recognizing permanent roaming devices,  it is rarely used for charging. Operators will continue to deploy distinct commercial strategies based on registration or access fees, SLAs, and other QoS characteristics and the advent of 5G data-driven services. As a result, presence data produced from signaling events is critical.
2. Current Process Inefficiencies: Aligning Steering Targets
New billing patterns, administration of numerous consumer segments, particularly corporations, and the advent of new technology such as 5G is all increasing business complexity in wholesale. Operators must find more effective ways to speed the adoption of new commercial use cases while maintaining quality requirements in the increasingly complicated wholesale ecosystem. Misaligned configurations result in poor business execution, which can cost $800K per year in duplicate hardware and maintenance, according to Tomia Global. Automation enables the rapid deployment of global
connection services while also integrating corporate decisions with the consumer experience. Discount agreements and steering rules are traditionally maintained by distinct systems with varying configurations and levels of granularity, resulting in an average of $1.5 million in commitment penalties or excessive costs. The existing offline settlement procedure, which uses numerous billing systems with decentralized data, is inefficient, prone to errors, and does not prevent major cash flow losses. Multiple
systems result in redundant and repetitive provisioning operations, as well as lengthy onboarding and service activation processes. Additional inefficiency is created by decentralized monitoring and reporting. Steering rules are frequently out of sync with business goals, and steering operations are typically reactive rather than predictive.

At the vanguard of settlement evolution:
Mobile operators will be able to effortlessly move to the “BCE wholesale settlement service” because of their flexibility and efficiency, allowing them to capitalize on new business prospects right now.
1. Business and Technical Benefits
Business automation is critical as we approach a hybrid time in which old and future settlement procedures will coexist for several years. BCE streamlines end-to-end business processes, letting mobile operators concentrate on MIoT and 5G prospects while lowering operating costs. Operators of various sizes, including those with corporate and MVNO businesses and organizations, can use the platform. It also enables novel usage and signaling use cases, as well as reducing errors by assuring compatibility and alignment across numerous applications. As a result, errors and disputes in reconciliation are reduced, and cash flow efficiency can be improved.
2. Operational Advantages
There are a variety of deployment and support options available. The service is offered in the cloud or as turnkey software that can be deployed locally, allowing for faster and easier adoption of the BCE settlement process. It can be provided as a managed service or as a self-managed service with additional consulting services. Operators of all sizes, including corporate and MVNO firms and groups, should be able to use the platform. Furthermore, new usage and signaling use cases should provide interoperability
and alignment across many applications, eliminating mistakes. Open APIs make it simple to integrate with third-party services.

How to meet the market demands?
● Since IoT services necessitate global coverage; instant coverage expansion must be available in all regions throughout the world.
● To market and offer services to IoT clients who require dynamic, multi-country service provision, virtualized core network infrastructure will become increasingly critical.
● Difficulty of maintaining several agreements with various vendors in order to gain access to all IMSI Donors and operator networks; the number of agreements and negotiations might be reduced which simplifies management.
● To overcome the permanent roaming limitations applied in some areas which prevent the usage of services; market constraints for IoT Services in major markets should be bypassed with local access or roaming agreements
● To overcome deployment delays due to high complexity in negotiations and regulatory
constraints, as well as constantly changing contractual specifics; service opening time must be decreased with a single integration, allowing deployment in various locations. Prices and long-term contracts should be available.
● New technologies such as LPWA, 5G, and VoLTE, which are not always accessible, are required to be supported for IoT services.
● Permanent Roaming, Affiliate Roaming, and Local Profiles should all be available to give a comprehensive solution for the complexity of various requirements in various markets, geographies, and various use cases.
● Since IoT use cases require low latency in specific locations; low-latency scenarios in important regions and destinations must be realized using regional and local GTP traffic breakdown.

Inbound Opportunity
The suggested approach should automate the entire wholesale supply chain, from detection to segmentation, network administration, and settlement, by seamlessly exposing hidden devices, including silent ones.
● Static parameters such as IMSI intervals and APN lists are defined.
● Device-based and machine learning (ML) models are used for detection
● Signaling is used to keep track of the time silent devices are in use.
● Pattern-based behavioral insights

Outbound Opportunity
According to Kaleido’s estimate, IoT outbound roaming revenues would reach $21.7 billion in 2026, up from $6 billion in 2021. Network management is essential for ensuring the proper type of connectivity at all times and in every location to meet the requirements while keeping wholesale prices under control. The suggested system should be able to detect radio access technologies automatically, allowing operators to route devices to the appropriate network.
● Alignment of IoT segments with applications for routing and charging
● NB-IoT and 5G devices are automatically detected.
● Multiple commercial methods and flexible device-based models are supported.
● TAP or BCE hybrid deployment options

Use Cases
1. MIoT agreements
NB-IoT and LTE-M are being used in a variety of industries, with the possibility for even more. Small segments, on the other hand, may have a larger cost of service than their income potential, thus operators tend to overlook them. BCE should automate business and operational tasks from beginning to end to drastically lower the cost of serving and monetizing the long tail’s vast market. It enables operators to gain a larger market share with less competition while also increasing profits.
2. Automation through collaboration
Although it is still a new technology, blockchain usage is increasing, with the promise of revolutionizing B2B relationships through cooperation. Digital transformation initiatives will be accelerated by blockchain technology. To speed settlement and increase cash flow, it incorporates agreement alignment, automated reconciliation, and a dispute resolution mechanism. The planned BCE service should be integrated with numerous workflows and DLT technologies in order to scale up and get mass usage.
3. Local BCE Deployment
Full visibility of roaming behavior is possible with data-centric services that use home-routed traffic.  Operators may wish to keep crucial data in-house for settlement or other reasons, such as combining registration and usage events for IoT monetization, provisioning steering adjustments, or feeding local analytics to enriched data. Local deployment eliminates the need for third-party implementation of business-related changes and simplifies data privacy management.
References:
[1]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlxNgvmEc_o:
[2]. https://www.tomiaglobal.com/polkomtel-and-tomia-discuss-iot-roaming-detection-monetization/:
[3].https://www .globalsolutions
.telefonica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Quantifying-the-IoT-Roaming-Opportunity_March22.pdf?
utm_source=Web
[4]. https://www.tomiaglobal.com/iot-roaming/
[5]. https:// www. tomiaglobal.com/billing-and-charging-evolution/
[6]. https://www.tomiaglobal.com/the-holistic-platform

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