Setting the Stage for Smart Mobile Internet in Malaysia

The insatiable subscriber appetite for mobile Internet services in Malaysia is eating away at network operators' traditional business model--the foundation of their profits. To cope, local mobile operators have been pursuing a business model associated with tiered pricing. But they're struggling to determine what will succeed in the long term.

An effective pricing plan should win subscriber acceptance and sustain operators' profitability. If usage-based pricing is to succeed, operators must give subscribers incentives to use the network. These incentives should relate directly to how each subscriber uses the network. That means operators must have insight into how much and what types of data individual customer’s use, while at the same time being able to bill the user accordingly.
Usage patterns shape usage-based pricing

To determine how Malaysian subscribers use the network, local operators need more network intelligence. Leading operators are deploying advanced networking solutions to help them understand how subscribers use the mobile Internet. Such a solution should feature deep packet inspection (DPI) functionality, or content awareness, that is distributed from the network core to the edge and integrates the data layers with the service or application layer. This solution effectively creates a smart mobile Internet network that is aware of both subscriber content and subscriber context.

By gathering real-time information about the applications each subscriber is using and that subscriber's location, the network delivers the information operators need to develop usage-based pricing plans that are aligned with subscriber behavior.

For example, an operator might offer heavy Facebook users a plan with unlimited access to Facebook. The user will incur higher usage fees for other sites that they use less frequently. That operator could offer similarly structured plans to frequent online gamers and those who often watch streaming video.

Personalized, high-quality experience drives network usage

A content- and context-aware network also enables operators to create and bill for personalized services, as users opt in to them. These services further encourage subscribers to use the network. One such service might target enterprise customers with the quality-of-service (QoS) and security levels they need for their mission-critical applications. Another might offer more granular controls for parents who want to monitor their children's Internet activities.

An advanced, content awareness-based platform also makes it possible for operators to optimize the network to manage all traffic types. Operators can also dynamically provision the resources required to ensure all applications deliver the best-possible performance. With its ability to detect and support subscriber usage patterns (within the bounds of the regulatory environment), the intelligent network improves subscribers' overall quality of experience (QoE) on the network. As a result, operators strengthen subscriber loyalty and further encourage network use.

LTE: another tool in usage-based pricing

LTE technology also helps operator efforts to develop customized usage-based pricing. In addition to delivering the bandwidth needed to deliver more new services, LTE, with its flattened architecture, will enable more distributed switching and routing of content. That means operators can optimize traffic for better QoS/QoE, thereby encouraging more use of the network and strengthening usage-based pricing.

Personalized service, personalized pricing

All subscribers don't use your network the same way. If usage-based pricing is to succeed in the long run, operators must customize their pricing plans to subscriber usage patterns. They need a more intelligent network to determine what those patterns are.