In the 5G , ultrafast broadband era , personalisation of content and data speeds is becoming a key requirement , meaning service providers need to be much more agile in their ability to respond to customer expectations . Colin Mann spoke to a range of industry experts to identify the role business and operational support systems ( BSS and OSS ) will play in determining such success .

• Family / SOHO / SMB plans will cover multi-SIM / mobile services with full control and management . More controls ( ask / grant , parental control , add-on services , real-time advice ) given to account holders makes services sticky , especially when they are tailored to family / enterprise needs .

• More over-the-top products will be included in bundles including productivity suites ( e . g . Microsoft 365 ), entertainment ( e . g ., Spotify ) and security solutions as service providers try and become full digital service providers .

• Home automation / IoT extensions with

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OEM or partners are also new options in n-play strategies “ We see many of these initiatives at our customers such as Telstra , M1 , Comcast and Liberty Latin America ,” he notes . “ It is effectively moving toward n-play . We call these our ‘ beyond connectivity ’ initiatives . Aria is successful here because we are a multiindustry billing and monetisation platform . We manage the subscription services for over 100 of the largest global brands like Adobe , Experian , VMWare , Philips and Twitter . We are bringing this experience into the CSP [ Communicatison Service Provider ] market as they move beyond connectivity .” MULTIPLAY . “ With 5G and full-fibre at their disposal , multiplay CSPs need to do a much better job of integrating their services and providing a seamless customer experience ,” suggests Dominic Smith , marketing director , Cerillion . “ For example , as a quad-play customer , if you signup to a premium sports channel , this needs to run seamlessly across multiple devices and at no extra cost – the old model of charging extra to access the service on your mobile or on a second set-top-box cannot survive . This legacy thinking will drive customers further to broadband-only deals and over-the-top digital content services that work across multiple devices .”

“ We are bringing this experience into the CSP market as they move beyond connectivity .” Akil Chomoko , Aria Systems

“ Innovations such as BT and EE ’ s ‘ unbreakable WiFi ’ are a step in the right direction , but with around two minutes to handover from fixed to mobile broadband it is not exactly seamless , yet . That will come though , and going forward , we would expect to see much more of this service portability – broadband access , voice services , video streaming , content services and a plethora of new applications all working seamlessly across both 5G and fibre networks ,” he adds .

“ The buzz around quad play peaked around 2015 and has largely died out since ,” observes Teresa Cottam , chief analyst at Omnisperience . “ The core motivation was to lock customers in to spending more with a single operator ,