BRIEF

policy
Policy and Charging
Control Solution Brief

A re you looking for ways to increase customer satisfaction and reduce

churn? Would you like to quickly offer personalized services and other
new applications to your mobile subscribers? Do you need a way to contain
network costs as the data traffic increases? Can you rapidly create new services
to monetize the mobile broadband tidal wave?

Starent Networks offers a proven 3GPP Standards-based

end-to-end Policy and Charging Control (PCC) solution that “To survive these tumultuous conditions and continue to
provides one of the lowest total cost of ownership on the thrive in an evolving market, established operators must
market today without compromising performance for reconsider how they manage network traffic, move beyond
functionality. A total cost of ownership analysis conducted flat-rate service models to tiered and personalized services,
by Network Strategy Partners showed that with Starent’s
and reconsider what core revenue streams they count on.”
integrated functionality (Mobile Gateway, Deep Packet
Inspection, In-line Services), operators can realize operational — Yankee Group, The Policy of Protecting
savings of 30-40% over leading competitor offerings with Customer Experience, September 2009
multiple box solutions. They are able to rapidly deploy
services from a wide variety of standard services or deploy
new services to improve the quality of experience for their
subscribers and offer new revenue generating services.
Operators also have the protection of a future-proof solution
that supports both 2.5G and 3G solutions today with only a
software upgrade to 4G.
T he explosion of data traffic on the mobile operator’s network combined with
data revenue streams growing at a slower rate is causing significant challenges
to operators. How can you improve the quality of experience for your
subscribers and at the same time keep your network costs from
exploding due to the increase in data traffic?
Functions
The Starent solution supports the three key capabilities
required for a Policy Charging Control Solution: Policy,
Enforcement, and Charging.
Policy
Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF)
The Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) houses
the individual policies defining network, application, and
subscriber conditions that must be met in order to successfully
deliver a service or maintain the QoS of a given service.
PCRF is standardized in 3GPP as part of the LTE solution.
Subscriber Profile Repository (SPR)
The Subscriber Profile Repository (SPR) is a logical entity that
may be a standalone database or integrated into an existing
subscriber database such as an HSS. It includes information
such as entitlements, rate plans, etc.
Enforcement
Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF)
Enforcement is a critical component of a policy solution. The
Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) is responsible
for enforcing policies with respect to authentication of
subscribers, authorization to access and services, and
accounting and mobility. Starent has embedded the PCEF
functionality into its ST-Series multimedia core platforms.
Charging
Online and Offline Charging (OCS/OFCS)
The Online Charging Subsystem (OCS) provides online
(or real-time) credit control and quota management for
subscriber data sessions. Quota management may include
multiple data sessions whereby the balance manager
Page 2 Policy and Charging Control Solution Brief
component of the OCS keeps track of the subscriber’s usage
and remaining quota balance. Online credit control may be
used to support policy enforcement for both pre-paid and
post-paid subscribers.
The Offline Charging Subsystem (OFCS) receives charging
data in the form of Charging Data Records (CDRs) and
diameter accounting messages from network elements
after the subscriber incurs network resource usage. The
OFCS does not have an active, real-time role in the
processing of charging policies.
Services
Starent offers PCC services that are grouped into three
main categories:
1. Resource Management
2. Service Personalization
3. New Revenue Creation
Resource Management
Bottom line is that operators need an improvement in the
quality of experience for their subscribers to improve
customer satisfaction and reduce churn. Resource
management services assure the proper allocation of
network resources based on what the subscriber has
purchased and what the network can deliver.
Key Benefits:
• Fair Usage: Track, monitor, and enforce compliance with
usage and allowance caps to ensure fair usage for all users.
• Traffic Optimization: Manage capacity growth costs
through network-based traffic optimization. Real-time
adjustment of allowance caps based on application in use,
and network congestion levels. i.e. P2P detection with
QoS enforcement.
Starent Networks, Corp.
 Re P-CSCF
AF IMS-
SPR ISC S-CSCF
(P-CSCF) GWF
Rf Rx Sp ISC
Ro
OFCS PCRF OCS AoC V-PCRF S9 Rx
Ro H-PCRF
TS 32.280
Gx Gy

Ga Gxc Gx

/Uu Gxa
Um Gxb
Gb
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(BBERF) (PCEF)
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(PCEF) A-GW ePDG
(CDF) (BBERF)

Figure 1—3GPP Rel-7 Architecture Figure 2—3GPP Rel-8 Architecture

• Time Based Differential Charging: Help manage network New Revenue Creation
congestion by potentially charging subscribers a New revenue creation allows operators to take advantage
higher rate during peak hour network usage. of the increase in data traffic and better align revenue
contributions with the expense of continually increasing the
Personalization Services
capacity and tools needed to manage the network.
Starent’s personalization services maximize the value of
network assets by offering services that meet the individual Key Benefits:
needs of subscribers and providing them with administration • Turbo Service: Provide subscribers with option to
of those services. dynamically upgrade Quality of Service for a particular
period of time or application. If a subscriber is looking to
Key Benefits:
watch a 30 minute podcast, they can upgrade their service
• Automated Usage Notifications: Prevent “bill shock” and
for this duration.
reduce subscriber churn by providing real-time notification
when subscribers are nearing/reaching their limit and offer • Location Based Differential Charging: Improve customer
options to top-up or upgrade service. Subscribers will still retention by offering lower service rates to subscribers
maintain connectivity but bandwidth level can be throttled who use service when in the office or at home versus
down until top-up or upgrade occurs. land lines.

• Tiered Services: Improve customer satisfaction by • On Net Preferential Charging: Offer lower or zero service
personalizing service packages to individual usage rates to on net applications or websites versus off net
patterns, up-sell new offers based on the subscriber’s applications, improving customer traction with network
behavior and profile. For example, offer a time-based hosted applications.
turbo service to a heavy video user.
• Parental Control: Improve customer stickiness by offering
parental control capabilities like blacklisting particular
websites, control when a child can use their phone (for
example, no usage during school hours or late at night),
as well as control usage levels.
• Roaming Management: Protect subscribers from “roaming
shock” by detecting when they are roaming outside their
network and provide automated notifications alerting
them of service rates in the particular roaming area as well
as provide notification when they are nearing/reaching
their limit. Provide options for top-up.

Starent Networks, Corp. Policy and Charging Control Solution Brief Page 3
 CONCLUSION
With mobile broadband roll outs, mobile operators recognize that bandwidth consumption is increasing much faster than
revenue. These challenges are driving the development and standardization of Policy and Charging Control solutions that assure
the proper allocation of network resources for the exact task based on what the subscriber has purchased and what the network
can deliver.

Starent offers a complete Policy and Charging Control solution based on the 3GPP’s Policy and Charging Control (PCC) standard
(Rel-7 and Rel-8 compliant) enabling operators to realize real-time control of their network resources, control subscriber access to
services, and proactively optimize network capacity, while offering compelling new services and applications.

Starent Networks, Corp.

30 International Place
Tewksbury, MA 01876
T: +1-978-851-1100
F: +1-978-640-6825
www.starentnetworks.com

Starent Networks maintains offices and development centers around the world. For the latest contact information, please go to http://www.starentnetworks.com/en/about/global-presence/default.cfm

Copyright © 2009 Starent Networks, Corp.

The material contained in this document is for informational purposes only and is subject to change without notice. No part of this document may be reproduced, transmitted, transcribed, or
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Corp. Starent, ST16 and ST40 are trademarks of Starent Networks, Corp. Any trademarks, trade names, service marks, or service names owned or registered by any other company and used in this
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