User Story

MNOs/MVNOs oftentimes sell shared pools: customers that have multiple SIM cards can combine allowances into shared pools, e.g. 10 SIM cards with data plan 1MB share 10MB. So, this allows customers to more effectively utilize the services: i.e. companies/people can have devices that under-utilize their data allowance and devices that go over their allowance can borrow from the pool. Once devices have exceeded their pool allowance, customers will be charged excess usage per KB/MB/min/SMS.

Currently, shared pools can be assigned to 'sponsor' accounts with beneficiary accounts as volume discount plans. However, it's not possible to:

• dynamically update quotas available within a shared pool when new SIM cards are activated (pool should be increased) or deactivated (pool should be decreased)
• dynamically add/remove subscription plans to/from a sponsor account when new SIM cards are activated (a new fee should be added) or deactivated (existing fee should be canceled)

Therefore, a service provider is interested in support of shared pools for their customers which are prepaid services: customers are not refunded, as it is a fixed month-to-month agreement and customers pay for a full month regardless for what they do (service provider only pro-rates fees on account start/activation).

Example of use

Business model

MNO/MVNE/MVNO

Technology

3G/4G

Current Solution

N/A

Stakeholders and their benefits

Who are the users / whom we bring value to?

Communication service providers will increase their sales at the M2M/IoT markets where shared pool is a widely used and demanded product

Use Cases

Use case #1: Creating shared pools

Roles: Administrator, portal, user, mobile core, system

Preconditions:

• PortaSwitch is connected to the mobile core for provisioning and gets usage statistics from the mobile core nodes
• PortaSwitch is configured to send email/SMS notifications to users
• There is a custom self-care portal that is used by the MVNO's customers for self-signup and self-service
• The SIM and MSISDN inventory have free SIM cards and mobile numbers:

Use scenario #1.1: Group plans

• The administrator creates following plans:

• The administrator sets the thresholds for email/SMS notifications for all the group plans (no peak/offpeak differentiation):
  • notify customers when 80% of the shared pool is exhausted
  • notify customers when 90% of the shared pool is exhausted
  • notify customers when 100% of the shared pool is exhausted

• On Jun 15, Administrator/Portal (via API) creates Customer 'Eagle Security' (with 0 AUD balance) and creates 5 accounts with SIM cards:

• The system provisions the mobile core to activate the SIM cards 89610200000000012345-89610200000000012349
• On Jun 15, the balance of Customer 'Eagle Security' becomes 7.40 AUD (5 SIMs×(2.95AUD÷30 days×15 days))
• The user opens the portal and sees that the shared pool for 5 SIM cards with 'DATA 1MB' plan is 2.5MB (5 SIMs×(1MB÷30 days×15 days)) until Jun 30

Use scenario #1.3: Sharing units from the pool

• Starting from June 15, the mobile core reports usage of SIM cards 89610200000000012345-89610200000000012349 to the system
• On Jun 25,  the consumption is as follows:

• On Jun 25, the balance of Customer 'Eagle Security' remains 7.40 AUD
• On Jun 27, the consumption is as follows:

• Customer 'Eagle Security' receives a notification via email/SMS that the shared pool for 'DATA 1MB' plan has crossed the 80%-threshold
• User opens the portal and sees the current statistics for the shared pool for 5 SIM cards with 'DATA 1MB' plan as of Jun 27:
  • Total: 2.5MB
  • Used: 2MB
• On Jun 28, the total consumption for SIM cards 89610200000000012345-89610200000000012349 reaches 2.25MB
• Customer 'Eagle Security' receives a notification via email/SMS that the shared pool for 'DATA 1MB' plan has crossed the 90%-threshold

Use scenario #1.4: Excess usage charge

• On Jun 29, the total consumption for SIM cards 89610200000000012345-89610200000000012349 reaches 2.5MB
• Customer 'Eagle Security' receives a notification via email/SMS that the shared pool for 'DATA 1MB' plan has been completely used up
• The user opens the portal and sees the current statistics for the shared pool for 5 SIM cards with 'DATA 1MB' plan as of Jun 29:
  • Total: 2.5MB
  • Used: 2.5MB
• On Jun 30,  the consumption is as follows:

• On Jun 30, Customer 'Eagle Security' is charged 0.08 AUD for 1MB (rounded 0.2MB excess usage)
• The balance of Customer 'Eagle Security' becomes 7.48 AUD
• At 17:01, the user opens the portal and chooses to see the usage history for the pool shared by 5 SIM cards with 'DATA 1MB' plan since Jun 20 until Jun 30:

• Plan	DATA 1MB
  SIM cards	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	5
  Total (available until Jun 30)	2.5MB	2.5MB	2.5MB	2.5MB	2.5MB	2.5MB	2.5MB	2.5MB	2.5MB	2.5MB	2.5MB
  Used	1.7MB	1.71MB	1.72MB	1.73MB	1.75MB	1.8MB	1.9MB	2MB	2.25	2.5MB	2.7MB
  Date	Jun 20 23:59	Jun 21 23:59	Jun 22 23:59	Jun 23 23:59	Jun 24 23:59	Jun 25 23:59	Jun 26 23:59	Jun 27 23:59	Jun 28 23:59	Jun 29 23:59	Jun 30 17:01

Use case #2: Separate shared pools

Roles: Administrator, portal, user, mobile core, system

Preconditions:

• continued after UC#1
• The balance of Customer 'Eagle Security' is 0 AUD

Use scenario #2.1: Activation of a different group plan

• On Jul 1, the pool shared by SIM cards 89610200000000012345-89610200000000012349 with 'DATA 1MB' plan is renewed and has 5MB until Jul 31

• On Jul 1, Administrator/Portal (via API) creates 6 more accounts with SIM cards for Customer 'Eagle Security':

• The system provisions the mobile core to activate the SIM cards 89610200000000012350-89610200000000012355
• On Jul 1, the balance of Customer 'Eagle Security' becomes 47.00 AUD (4 SIMs x 7.50 AUD + 2 SIMs x (7.50 AUD + 1 AUD))
• The user opens the portal and sees the current statistics for the 3 separate shared pools as of Jul 1:

Use case #3: Updating shared pools

Roles: Administrator, portal, user, mobile core, system

Preconditions:

• continued after UC#2
• The balance of Customer 'Eagle Security' is 0 AUD

Use scenario #3.1: Activation of a new SIM card with a group plan

• On Aug 15, Administrator/Portal (via API) creates 5 more accounts with SIM cards:

• The system provisions the mobile core to activate the SIM cards 89610200000000012356-89610200000000012360
• On Aug 15, the balance of Customer 'Eagle Security' becomes 8.09 AUD (5 SIMs×2.95 AUD÷31 days×17 days left)
• The user opens the portal and sees that the shared pool for 10 SIM cards with 'DATA 1MB' plan is 5.48MB (10 SIMs×1MB÷31 days×17 days left) until Aug 31

Use scenario #3.2: Deactivation of a SIM card with a group plan

• On Aug 22, the user opens the portal and sees that the shared pool for 10 SIM cards with 'DATA 1MB' plan is 5.48MB until Aug 31
• On Aug 22, Administrator/Portal (via API) deactivates 5 accounts with the SIM cards 89610200000000012356-89610200000000012360
• The system provisions the mobile core to deactivate the SIM cards 89610200000000012356-89610200000000012360
• The user opens the portal and sees that the shared pool for 5 SIM cards with 'DATA 1MB' plan is still 5.48MB until Aug 31
• The balance of Customer 'Eagle Security' remains 8.09 AUD
• On Aug 31, Customer 'Eagle Security' is charged 14.75 AUD (5 SIMs×2.95 AUD) for 'DATA 1MB' usage in Sep
• On Aug 31, the balance of Customer 'Eagle Security' becomes 22.84 AUD (8.09 AUD+14.75 AUD)
• On Sep 1, the user opens the portal and sees that the shared pool for 5 SIM cards with 'DATA 1MB' plan is 5MB  until Sep 30

Use scenario #3.3: Re-activation of deactivated SIM cards with a group plan

• On Dec 20, the balance of Customer 'Eagle Security' is 0 AUD
• The user opens the portal and sees that the shared pool for 5 SIM cards with 'DATA 1MB' plan is 5MB (5 SIMs×1MB) until Dec 31
• On Dec 20, Administrator/Portal (via API) re-activates 5 accounts with the SIM cards 89610200000000012356-89610200000000012360
• The system provisions the mobile core to activate the SIM cards 89610200000000012356-89610200000000012360
• On Dec 20, Customer 'Eagle Security' is charged 5.71 AUD (5 SIMs×2.95 AUD÷31 days×12 days left)
• The user opens the portal and sees that the shared pool for 10 SIM cards with 'DATA 1MB' plan is 6.94MB (previous 5MB+(5 SIMs×1MB÷31 days×12 days left) until Dec 31
• On Dec 31, Customer 'Eagle Security' is charged 29.50 AUD for 'DATA 1MB' usage in Jan
• On Jan 1, the user opens the portal and sees that the shared pool for 10 SIM cards with 'DATA 1MB' plan is 10MB  until Jan 31

Use scenario #3.4: Upgrading a group plan

• On Feb 16, the user opens the portal and sees:
  • the shared pool for 10 SIM cards with 'DATA 1MB' plan is 10MB  until Feb 28
    
  • the shared pool for 6 SIM cards with 'DATA 100MB' plan is 600MB  until Feb 28
    
• The user realizes that SIM card 89610200000000012356 consumes too much data and its 'DATA 1MB' plan needs to be upgraded
• On Feb 16, Administrator/Portal (via API) changes the product of the account with SIM card 89610200000000012356 from 'DATA 1MB' to 'DATA 100MB'
• The user opens the portal and sees:
  • the shared pool for 9 SIM cards with 'DATA 1MB' plan is still 10MB until Feb 28
  • the shared pool for 7 SIM cards with 'DATA 100MB' plan is 646.43MB  (previous 600MB+(1 SIM×100MB÷28 days×13 days left)) until Feb 28
• On Feb 16, Customer 'Eagle Security' is charged 4.48 AUD (1 SIM×7.50 AUD÷28 days×13 days left)

Use scenario #3.5: Downgrading a group plan (alternative to #3.4)

• On Feb 16, the user opens the portal and sees:
  • the shared pool for 10 SIM cards with 'DATA 1MB' plan is 10MB  until Feb 28
  • the shared pool for 6 SIM cards with 'DATA 100MB' plan is 600MB  until Feb 28
• The user realizes that SIM card 89610200000000012350 consumes too little data and its 'DATA 100MB' plan needs to be downgraded
• On Feb 16, Administrator/Portal (via API) changes the product of the account with SIM card 89610200000000012350 from 'DATA 100MB' to 'DATA 1MB'
• The user opens the portal and sees:
  
  • the shared pool for 11 SIM cards with 'DATA 1MB' plan is 10.46MB  (previous 10MB+(1 SIM×1MB÷28 days×13 days left)) until Feb 28
  • the shared pool for 5 SIM cards with 'DATA 100MB' plan is still 600MB  until Feb 28
• On Feb 16, Customer 'Eagle Security' is charged 1.37 AUD (1 SIM×2.95 AUD÷28 days×13 days left)

Non-functional requirements / constraints

• Pools can be shared by thousands of SIM cards
• The target for the CSP's nearest future is 30k SIM cards
• The shared pool usage history must be available for 1 year
• The current project may use xDR mediation: PB gets usage statistics from Jasper every 5 min
• The custom self-care portal will use PortaBilling API
• Allocated monthly quotas for data include both UPLOAD and DOWNLOAD traffic
• Requirement for the displayed statistics for a shared pool on the customer-facing self-care portal :