Carrier call data records hold a bevy of information about wireless subscribers, their calling patterns and details about network traffic. Until recently, however, wireless operators overlooked or underused much of this data. With shrinking margins and increasing pressure to improve revenues, wireless operators now are looking closely at ways to use this data to their advantage.

Plenty of firms are ready and willing to assist operators in making better use of their call data records. Companies such as Vibrant Solutions, Teradata, Netezza and others can help carriers store their data records and then use software tools to mine the records for valuable information that can lead to cost savings. For example, carriers can use their call data records to determine when their compensation for interconnection is inadequate. Or in the case of a roaming caller, they can use the information to determine the home carrier and properly charge for that call. Some carriers use the call detail records to reconcile with their network elements. By comparing their call data records with events on their network, carriers can determine whether other wireless operators, CLECs or wireline operators have properly compensated them for traffic or other network events.

LNP And Other Issues Although these types of calling scenarios have existed on carrier networks for a number of years, the advent of local number portability (LNP) has further complicated the compensation process. "Issues of carriers terminating traffic and identifying the calls properly became more complicated with local number portability," says Yves Robinson, director of revenue assurance at Vibrant Solutions, a maker of revenue assurance solutions for Tier 1 and Tier 2 carriers. "And these issues aren't getting easier. We have to constantly tweak our applications."

Accudata Technologies, a firm that provides data validation, has developed a new product specifically for operators that want more information regarding their customers who have their numbers ported. By using Accudata's Operating Company Name Lookup service, carriers can find out within 24 hours where their subscribers have ported. According to Accudata Technologies CEO M. Gregory Smith, the company has had success with the product from its CLEC customers and hopes wireless carriers will see the same value.

Besides LNP, new data services such as SMS and content downloads have made call data records even more complex. This additional caller information increases the likelihood of leakage and complicates revenue settlement. "Once you get into content, settlement assurance is a big deal," says Bryan Truex, senior director, global industry consulting, financial management and revenue assurance at Teradata, a provider of data storage, analysis and asset management products. Teradata customers include Cingular Wireless, AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless and Sprint. "Not only does a carrier have to maintain revenue assurance around the points of interconnect, but there are also multiple layers of content partners" that must be paid for their portion of the content provisioning.

Teradata and other revenue assurance firms typically store and analyze the data and then provide that data to the carrier's billing platform, which then processes the invoices. "We provide the foundation layer of architecture," Truex says.

As cell phones become more like computers, allowing customers to access all types of data via 3G networks, vendors say that carriers will see an even greater up-tick in information that they can glean from call data records. "Once you get into 3G and content analysis, you have URLs and information about content that the mobile user has accessed and that is contained in the call data record," Truex says. "Not just voice, but data and other information has to be carried in the call data record."

That plethora of call data information can be helpful in a number of ways, including using the information as a marketing tool for operators. According to Jit Saxena, CEO and co-founder of Netezza, operators can use the data from calling records to determine the effectiveness of marketing programs and tailor specific rate plans to certain customer groups. By looking at the records during a promotion, carriers can see whether they are spending their marketing dollars in the most financially effective manner. "They can look at 180 days of call data records and understand trends," Saxena says. And the more carriers understand about individual customer calling patterns, the better they are able to structure calling plans that will appeal to those subscribers. "It's simply a matter of understanding what a customer is doing and who they are calling on a regular basis," Saxena says. "If I call the U.K. all the time and my carrier comes to me with a plan that is tailored to that type of calling, chances are I will stay with that carrier."

Significant Savings Exactly how much carriers can save by employing various revenue assurance tools varies according to the size of the operator and the type of system that they implement. Vibrant works with a number of carriers, including Nextel Communications and Qwest. Robinson estimates that carriers can secure anywhere from $6 million to $30 million in lost revenue annually by finding and billing for these types of data discrepancies.

In one case study with a carrier using Vibrant's revenue integrity service in which the company validates billing for all services provided, the carrier customer recovered $8 million in lost revenue annually. In a second case study, one in which Vibrant analyzed 200 million call records per day and looked specifically at LNP issues, the carrier saw an annual increase of $6 million in reciprocal compensation billing.

For wireless operators facing increasing pressure to keep margins high, putting a plug in the revenue leaks by storing and analyzing call data records could make a significant difference to the bottom line. And unlike other revenue-generating services, deploying revenue assurance solutions doesn't require a significant upgrade to the network.