Telecom is on the Move in 2018. Are you Ready?

According to an article in No Jitter, the changes in the telecommunications industry are explosive, with growth expected across all fronts. If you ask futurist Jim Carroll about innovation in telecommunications, he would state that hyper-innovation dominates, new competitors will continue to emerge at furious rates and that agility is key to staying on top of the ever-increasing demands from both a technology and customer standpoint. Bottom line – telecom is on the move.

While this kind of growth is exciting, it can also create challenges for organizations- to prioritize initiatives – and service providers – to have a clear path for successfully supporting their customers. Recently ATL Communications’ president, Mark Bilton-Smith, provided his insights on the upcoming changes and how to prepare for them.

Bilton-Smith recognizes the major impact the internet has had on the telecom industry, particularly with regard to the ability for competitors to enter the marketplace:

“The internet, virtual services, and virtual networks have eliminated the need to build infrastructure. Today, I do not have to spend money on hardware and the network required to turn up my voice service. I can simply utilize someone else’s backbone, resell the product and start making money almost immediately.”

Within the last decade, telecommunication service providers have gone from needing an outlay of millions of dollars to securing a lease that allows them to immediately prop up their service. The start-up time is very short and the cost is insignificant. This laid the groundwork for the most recent wave of service providers to make an impact – interconnected voice providers (IVPs).

Changing the Way Telecom Service is Done

In mid-2016, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed legislation that allowed IVPs to own their own local numbers. Prior to that, they had to purchase them through a service from a large provider, such as Verizon or Level 3. Vonage was the first to adopt the new model, and many have followed suit.

These service providers, who utilize Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as their primary service, made a significant impact on the way businesses look at their telecommunications. Having their own local number pool enables them to make an even larger impact on the telecommunications industry. There are approximately 20 VoIP providers that have opted into local number pooling (LNP), a number that could be increased by utilizing a state-of-the-art service provided by ATL.

“Many IVPs find the filings required by the FCC to be daunting, and frankly it’s not easy,” says Bilton-Smith. “Simplifying the process of filing and maintaining applications, while ensuring the NPAC Local Number Porting provider is in place, is exactly why we created Porting Pro.”

ATL Communications’ service includes filing FCC paperwork and checking off the required NPAC Porting interface to get access to the local number pool for the IVP, and then removing the complexity out of maintaining that pool by taking care of the porting through Porting Pro, we even outsource the entire porting department if desired, providing additional services while ensuring quality.

IVP’s that choose to partner with ATL and use Porting Pro will receive benefits that ensure improved market share, including:

• Single interface for porting services, including submitting CSR/LSR and updating CNAM, 911 and DL data. All services also available through APIs.
• Enhanced status view that tracks every step of the LNP process.
• Updates to ensure compliance with industry changes.
• Business rules maintained and updated.
• Comprehensive order status, reporting and performance metrics.
• Eliminate the need for FOBs, Gateways and proprietary software.
• LSR automation and post port updates that can reduce overhead by up to 25 percent.
• Leverage delegate SPID for disaster recovery, resource allocation and overflow.

“Porting Pro is a one-of-a-kind service in the telecom industry, and we are pleased with the results,” says Bilton-Smith. “Of course, we are also working on additional innovations to disrupt the industry so that our clients can capitalize on the growth of the industry.”

Growing Pains Never Felt So Good

Bilton-Smith eludes to a new service that ATL Communications is rolling out in early 2018 – one that he and the ATL team know will make a significant impact for their clients – automatically finding the least-cost provider while ensuring quality and control.

“In the past, choosing the least-cost provider could impact the quality through lots of static or robotic-sounding calls,” says Bilton-Smith. “This new service will provide insights and adjustments to ensure the best price without compromising quality, giving our clients an improved way to manage costs.”

Bilton-Smith believes that with the improvements coming, such as 5G and HD voice, soon the industry can focus on the quality of service, which until recently has been difficult to achieve in a consistent manner.

“Between the ability to commit to quality of service, and the FCC’s nationwide number portability coming soon, the industry will see significant positive changes in the near future,” says Bilton-Smith. “We’ll have speed and quality like we’ve never seen before and a more level playing field to improve competition. It’s a very exciting time for telecommunications.”

The future for telecommunications is exciting, and with the doubling of technology, it is certain that multiple changes will be coming soon. ATL Communications is focused on simplifying the complexity of telecom while innovating processes so that their clients are able to tackle those changes head-on with a positive outcome. Contact us today so you have a partner for positive change!