Zain and Huawei have partnered to bring convergent billing to Iraq for the first time.
The operator has installed a state-of-the-art converged billing and charging platform that replaces legacy infrastructure with a modern, unified charging, billing and CRM solution. This system is capable of effectively handling all services and customer types, bringing a fluidity to services including voice and data, billing options, and customer segment offerings. The time-to-market from concept to product launch has also been dramatically reduced.
Haidar Radi, Zain Iraq Chief Operating Officer, said: “This launch marks a milestone in the telecom industry in Iraq, as Zain’s customers now have the freedom to handle and receive their mobile services in a multitude of different ways.”
This is the first complete end to end Business Support Systems (BSS) implementation for Zain Iraq and other Zain operations. The solution includes full convergent rating, charging and billing, a new enterprise bus (ESB) that enables and facilitates interactions between diverse software components. These are all integrated together with a new Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) and other IT support systems that help Zain understand the customer and provide an appropriate service.
The implementation of the Convergent Billing System was undertaken in multiple stages. The first phase enabled prepaid customers to recharge their balance online, and purchase rich Zain Iraq services through multiple channels. The second phase moved post-paid customer rating to the same platform, with both prepaid and post-paid customers benefitting from being able to be serviced quickly by the same offering. This year the final stage of the project went live, with full customer service in all Huawei business support systems.
