Roaming Services

The arrival and departure of a roaming customer is an opportunity to create a favourable impression – and to secure commitment and revenue.

Cellular operators need to capitalize on these opportunities by establishing direct communications with potential customers, particularly in the high-value roaming environment. This is why the simple “welcome roamer” greeting sent by SMS is so important. First impressions matter.

With a timely “welcome roamer” greeting, operators can deliver information about their services, targeted towards the needs of different subscribers and nationalities via the familiar and comfortable SMS environment. It can create opportunities to develop two-sided business models, through sponsorships and partnerships with additional service offerings. For example, a visitor to a French network from the UK might be greeted with a message in English which also includes a sponsored link to a restaurant booking service, either online or with a call-back number.

Benefits of roaming services include:

• Increase service uptake
• Increase stickiness
• Reduce churn to rival networks
• Build new business models

Operators may also advertise their service capabilities in a bid to capture new roaming subscribers, which can be particularly important if the default roaming partner doesn’t support all of the required services. Of course, the service can be multi-dimensional – “goodbye” or “bon voyage” messages can be sent to customers who are roaming abroad on a third-party network giving them helpful hints about services and further building brand loyalty. With roaming costs providing a significant margin opportunity, it is in operators’ interests to maximise their potential to capture revenue from roaming customers.

Telesoft Technologies offers both passive and active solutions that allow operators and systems integrators to deploy powerful applications to build revenue in the roaming market. These include the HINTON Monitor and HINTON Decoder, for non-obtrusively monitoring cellular traffic, particularly the all-important service registration procedures to identify both inbound and outbound roamers.

Learn more about the HINTON Monitor and HINTON Decoder.