Safaricom enhances end-user experience through true convergence of its subscribers

The solution today is already flexible enough to meet long term growth and on completion, will enable Safaricom to enjoy a consolidated view of its 17 million live mobile, WiMAX, GPON and Internet subscribers, facilitating the introduction of new, innovative and targeted services.

“ Nokia Siemens Networks’ subscriber data management platform helped us understand the needs and demands of our subscribers. This enabled us to provide more customized and secure services and also increased our network capacity to handle future subscriber growth "

Ken Okwero, Head of Department, VAS-TechnicalSafaricom

Safaricom, Kenya’s leading CSP has always been a market innovator and pioneer. When it needed to increase the capacity of its existing Home Location Register (HLR) database, the CSP did not merely look to upgrade, but instead underwent an exhaustive search for the right technology to future-proof its network. While building new capacity was top of mind, the CSP looked for a solution that would make it more agile to its subscribers’ needs, quicken time to market for new services, not to mention initiate its progress towards an all-IP network.

Safaricom homed in on Nokia Siemens Networks’ path-breaking common subscriber database solution – One NDS. The solution would consolidate multiple subscriber databases on a single system while separating core network services such as the HLR, Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (AAA) server, Equipment Identity Register (EIR), Nokia Siemens Networks’ Voice Server (NVS), Home Subscriber Server (HSS) and Mobile Number Portability (MNP) onto front-end application platforms.

Challenges

  • Old HLR had reached its capacity and there was a need to upgrade to handle future subscriber growth
  • Siloed databases did not provide a common, integrated view of the subscriber
  • Inflexibility to respond to end user needs and provide innovative, targeted services

Nokia Siemens Networks pulled out all the stops to engage Safaricom during the pre-sales phase itself. Given the wide scope of this project, the team decided to involve all of Safaricom’s departments – starting from technical to marketing and customer care – to ensure features were adapted in the solution that would address each group’s specific requirements. Already backed by a unique solution, this effective sales strategy went a long way in gaining buy-in across Safaricom.

Immediately post the contract signing, Nokia Siemens Networks convened kick-off meetings and workshops with Safaricom to specify the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of the project and decide the priority of delivery of the six front-end applications.

Solutions

  • One-NDS common subscriber database with front end applications including One-AAA, NT-HLR, One-EIR, NT-HSS, NVS (VoIP) and One-MNP
  • Possibility to connect third party applications to the consolidated database
  • Possibility to connect third party applications to the consolidated database

The next step was to conduct site surveys to assess space and power requirements and draw up necessary blueprints for additional hardware and software. Nokia Siemens Networks took complete responsibility for the migration of subscribers from the old database to the new one, provisioning, installation and commissioning and user acceptance testing. At the end of phase one, Safariom has additional new capacity to handle subscriber growth and can offer unique applications such as Mobile Number Portability and Equipment Identity Register.

The common subscriber database reduces operating expenditure through its modern, server based hardware architecture. Through its standard interfaces for any kind of applications from Nokia Siemens Networks or third parties, the solution reduces time-to-market for new services significantly.

Benefits

  • Creation of new capacity to meet long term growth in subscriber numbers
  • Introduction of new, targeted services basis a common integrated view of all subscribers across mobile, fixed and Internet
  • Increased agility in time-to- market of new services
  • Increased reliability given a geo-redundant, robust architecture
  • Introduction of VoIP and IMS capabilities – the stepping stones to a full IP network

Another value add offered by Nokia Siemens Networks is the three redundant sites it has developed, providing Safaricom a robust geo-redundant architecture for maximum resilience.

As part of phase two, Safaricom will integrate subscriber profiles from the AAA, HSS and NVS databases into One NDS. Unified authentication and converged subscriber profiles will enable Safaricom to offer enhanced customer experiences backed by features such as Automatic Device Detection. Powerful business intelligence and customer insight will also allow innovative service offerings such as targeted advertising. In addition, the NVS and HSS front-end applications will provide VoIP and IMS capabilities, providing the foundation for Safaricom to evolve to IP technology in the near future.