Roaming services provider Starhome has been awarded a patent for its Home Short Code solution. The Home Short Code is converts unrecognized home shortcodes into valid international formatted numbers, and provides the mobile operator with a basis to increase its revenue potential from both the inbound and outbound roaming markets. In addition, the solution supports CLI delivery for both inbound and outbound roamers, and is not bound to a specific international carrier.
More than 100 Starhome customers have already deployed the Home Short Code solution, that allows both inbound and outbound roamers seamless access to their home VAS (Value Added Services). Using the solution, says StarHome, mobile network operators can quickly expand their earning potential, by continuing to serve their subscribers whenever and wherever they travel, and also by attracting inbound travellers for the duration of their visits, and encouraging the use of further VAS and international airtime.
When an inbound international traveller dials a shortcode that has not been defined as a valid local shortcode in the mobile operators MSC (mobile switching centre), the call is transferred to the visited Starhome IntelliGate platform for processing. The IntelliGate analyzes the validity of the shortcode in relation to the callers home country and HPMN (Home Public Mobile Network) and with respect to the roaming network shortcodes and dialling rules. Finally, the IntelliGate converts the dialled shortcode into an internationally-formatted number and routes it back to the visited network MSC.
The Home Short Code is a complete service that supports postpaid and prepaid market segments for both CAMEL and non-CAMEL. The solution can also be used for one roaming segment only.