Part One: Introduction

Everybody talks about increasing ARPU (Average Revenue Per User). Any telco or service provider with a billing solution can offer new services and increase their ARPU. But a high ARPU does not always mean a high margin (AMPU, Average Margin Per User). More important is how services will be provided, for example, how fast, how cost-efficiently, and how well (quality). The total cost of offering attractive services must be taken into account. An agile operator with the smallest costs (ACPU, Average Cost Per User) can actually make more margin than one with the highest ARPUs.

Win the AMPU battle

Key weapons in the battle are convergence, real-time operations and linearly scalable consolidated architecture, as well as agility. Convergence comprises of many areas: networks, billing and information management. In the billing area, not only voice, SMS and data should be consolidated; also pre- and post-paid services should be billed smoothly with a convergent system.

Having the control before and during the transactions versus doing everything afterwards makes a big difference. Real-time operations minimize the risks for revenue leakage and enable subscribers to have better control of their service usage. Against traditional beliefs, real-time operations don’t have to be expensive, neither do they lack performance. With a linearly scalable consolidated architecture, telcos can get real-time operations with IT-world cost-structure, and OPEX savings.

Finally, companies that are agile and able to make and instantly implement decisions based on up-to-date information are also more likely to succeed. Referring to a Gartner Group definition, a Zero Latency Enterprise (ZLE) is an organization that can share information in real time immediately after it is created in any area of the enterprise.