04/19/2023 TRAI 1
Interconnection Issues inNGN
V.K. Agarwal, Dy. AdvisorTelecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)
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Present Telecom Scenario
• Present licensing framework is mapping different Telecom services with specific telecommunication licenses
• Low penetration of high speed Internet and Broadband
• Limited availability of Value-added services and content
• Restrictive regulatory framework for launch of new services
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Present Telecom Scenario (contd.)
– Separate networks for PSTN, wireless and data
– Huge growth of wireless deployment
– Complex network design to support increasing
bandwidth hungry applications
– Telecom service penetration is high in urban areas.
Digital divide needs to be addressed
– Huge investments are required to set-up access
infrastructure.
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04/19/2023 TRAI 4
Present Telecom Scenario (contd.)
• Migration from PURE voice traffic in early eighties to pure IP traffic in near future
• Growth of voice traffic is stagnating while data traffic shows exponential growth (nearly 100 % annually)
• IP networks are – stable , robust and time
tested– able to support triple play
application– efficient to support
emerging service requirements
– Supports required QoS
Network Traffic Growth Source: Cybermedia Center, Osaka University
IP Networks are future requirement
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Drivers for NGN• Increasingly acceptability of IP platform to provide triple
play services• Low cost of IP equipment, reduced power & space
requirement and ease of maintenance• Flexibility to provide different Value Added Services and
content quickly• Increasing convergence of devices pushing for
convergence of Networks• Competition demands integration of the network to
reduce cost as parallel networks means high costs.• Fast growth in telecom sector is reducing average
revenue per user. Therefore need is to boost revenue earnings through launch of new value added services and applications
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Enabling Convergence Consumer / Business Services
Reducing Cost
4-Key Business Drivers of NGN
Raising ARPU
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Service Convergence Support System Convergence
Device Convergence
4-Convergence
Network Convergence
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Openness Quality of Service (QoS)
Scalable
4-Key aspects of NGN Architecture
Reliable
Granular and modular On the fly enhancements Flexibility
Carrier grade High availability Trust
Standard interfaces and protocols Plug-n-play
Consistent performance Preservation of key information parameters
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IP Networking, Transportand Aggregation – IP / MPLS
Multi-Access
Service s andApplications
IP Core
4-Segments of NGN Architecture
S-CSCFS-CSCF
I-CSCFI-CSCF
P-CSCFP-CSCF
BGCFBGCF
DBDB
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Networks in NGN Scenario
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Networks in NGN Scenario (contd.)
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Stages of NGN Implementation
NGN is basically Network Convergence which consists of • Core Convergence• Switching convergence• Access Convergence
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Present Telecom Networks
End-to-End Mobile Network
GMSC
MSCBSC BTS
MSCBSCBTS
Local Exch.
L2TAX
L1TAX
L2TAX
Local Exch.
End-to-End PSTN Network
ADSL DSLAM
Local Exch.
National ISP
Int’l Internet Bandwidth
Provider
Broadband Network 13
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Convergence at Core Network
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End-to-End convergence
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Stages of NGN ImplementationCore Convergence Switch Level Convergence End-to-End
Convergence Core convergence
is presence of Unified backbone
IP Backbone is being used in converged core network since IP based packet transmission is more efficient
Introduction of Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) is favored as it is now one of the most powerful technology for converged core network.
Migration from TDM based switches to IP based soft switches
Media gateways are used to communicate with legacy central office (CO) TDM switches
Media gateways will not be required in fully converged IP Network.
Class-4 Softswitch: Used for Trunk Automatic Exchange (TAX) and Tandem Switching
Class-5 Softswitch : Deployment in access network
A fully IP based network from one end user device to other end user device is end to end convergence.
Only IP based access devices will be permitted in access network.
This is third stage of Network Convergence and will require sufficiently long time due to migration from traditional TDM to total IP user devices.
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Supportive & Regulatory Framework
Regulatory framework should facilitate expansion of Infrastructure, especially in rural and remote areas.
Promoting Competition and technology neutrality Focus on ‘Light touch’ regulation with special
emphasis on regulatory forbearance Time bound resolution of regulatory impediments for
rollout and migration to NGN services Govt. support for upgradation of end link will be
desirable
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NGN Interconnection Issues
• Migration from service based interconnection to service neutral interconnection
• Reference interconnect offer (RIO) in NGN environment
• Maintaining Fair cost based interconnection• Ensuring equitable & non-discriminatory
interconnection• Point of interconnect between various
operators• Basis of charging
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Point of Interconnection
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Direct Interconnection among service providers.
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Point of Interconnection
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Interconnect Exchange
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Comparison of two methodology of Interconnection
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IssueConventional Interconnection Scenario
Interconnect Exchange Scenario
Complexity of Network Very High Low
Interconnection and port charges High Low
Capacity Utilization Inefficient EfficientBandwidth Scalability Low HighCAPEX Requirement Initially Low Initially high, as cost of setting up
Interconnect Exchange will be shared among all operators
OPEX Requirement High Low, however the OPEX involved in Exchange will have to be shared
Overall Performance Depends on Individual Operator
May also depend on Interconnect Exchange
Call Handling Inefficient Efficient IUC settlement Difficult EasyImplementation of Number portability and carrier selection
Difficult Easy
Sharing of IN platform Difficult Easy
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Interconnection in Legacy Networks
Charging methodologies• Calling Party Pays (CPP) – widely used
• Receiving Party Pays (RPP),
• Bill and Keep – mostly in Internet scenario
Costing techniques• Distance Based
• Element Based
• Capacity based
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diaCurrent Interconnection Usage Charging(IUC) Scenario in India
• IUC determined based on minutes of usage for various Unbundled Network Elements and the cost of these elements.
• The IUCs for Origination, Transit and Termination are based on the principles of element based charging i.e. one operator charging the other for the resources consumed for carriage of its calls in terms of minutes of use (MOU).
• The total Interconnection Usage Charges for carriage of a call in a multi operator environment are shared for Origination, Transit and Termination on the basis of work done in each segment for the carriage of the call.
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Charging methodologies in NGN
• Calling Party Network Pays,
• Bill and Keep,
• Based on Quality of service,
• Bulk billing.
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Service Level Agreements across multiple networks in NGN Scenario
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Issues and challenges – for IUC Billing and Accounting in NGN
• Inter-operator settlement issues- content and quality based pricing, usage based or bulk billing.
• In an NGN world, the network service provider will not necessarily be the application service provider.
• The network provider will have only limited visibility into third party applications running over its network. The application provider may have extensive visibility into the application that it provides, but only limited visibility into the use of network resources.
• Usage-based billing will be possible only to the extent that the usage can be rigorously and unambiguously measured.
• How will providers and customers ensure that service commitments are met? Whose statistics will govern?
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Issues and challenges – for IUC Billing and Accounting in NGN cont.
• Competitive providers may be reluctant to share statistics about their respective networks with one another, and peering agreements may typically restrict the ability of the providers to disclose information about one another‘s networks to third parties. Can sufficient information be disclosed to customers?
• How will responsibility be allocated if a customer’s traffic fails to achieve its committed service level specification in case of multiple networks? Traffic data can legitimately be interpreted in more than one way. Will it be possible to administer payments and penalties rigorously and fairly?
• How can providers prevent fraud? How can they distinguish between fraud and legitimate use?
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