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The Multi-profile Subscriber

With the proliferation of communication mediums and access networks, subscribers now have choices to make and communications identities to juggle. Users keep adding identities and devices for several reasons: for the sake of managing costs, exploring enhanced features, and improving the convenience of communicating anytime and anywhere.

Much has changed since the days when the only choice for telecommunications was a copper line from the incumbent operator. With the proliferation of access technologies available, subscribers now have a plethora of communications choices and are accumulating devices upon devices and identities upon identities.

Their identities are splintered, and the preferences for each user remain separated. This is not only painful to manage, but also prevents the delivery of coherent services, like single phone numbers, optimal routing, and consolidated voicemail, across access technologies.

 

Consumers are constantly seeking new features to enhance their ability to communicate – they seek out VoIP for its lower costs, broadband for its rich media experiences, cellular for its mobility and convenience, and TV, internet, P2P, and IPTV for its content.

At the same time, because of all these choices, consumers are accumulating whole new pools of communication identities: multiple SIM cards that they pop into their phone when traveling for lower roaming charges, the use of separate Blackberry and voice-focused handsets, long distance service accounts accessed by mobile and fixed lines, virtual numbers in multiple area codes or countries, accounts for TV and online content, etc.

Are you aware of the growing and widespread concern for carriers of how they will manage subscribers and their identities moving forward into a multi-domain, multi-access, multi-device, and multi-dimensional world?