PortaBilling is a converged real-time billing system, service provisioning environment and CRM used for rating and invoicing any type of service you provide to customers, including centralized funds management and consolidated bills.
For IPTV service provisioning, PortaBilling is integrated with the Minerva IPTV platform. With this solution, service providers are able to:
- Configure channel packages and provide them to customers within a product configuration;
- Charge recurring fees to customers by using subscriptions;
- Manage customers’ service packages so that while Minerva’s channel packages only include sets of IPTV channels, service packages can include both channel sets and additional services such as the VOD catalog, WHDVR, or Caller ID presentation.
IPTV service activation is completed by using the External System Provisioning Framework (ESPF) in PortaBilling. This makes it easy to provide IPTV service to your customers while eliminating additional manual work.
An IPTV service is activated for the subscriber when:
- A new account assigned to the IPTV product is created in PortaBilling.
- An already existing account assigned to the IPTV product is unblocked in PortaBilling.
- A product assigned to an already existing account is changed to a new product with IPTV.
The key assets of integration with Minerva that occur when an account in PortaBilling corresponds to a customer in Minerva are:
- When a customer is suspended in PortaBilling, therefore the account is either blocked or switched to a product that no longer includes IPTV services. Their "subscriber” record is maintained in Minerva although it is disabled.
- When a customer is terminated in PortaBilling, the account is deleted in Minerva.
- PortaBilling adds information to the customer’s bill about services provided and charges incurred.
This interoperation between PortaBilling and the Minerva IPTV platform enables service providers to provide triple-play services to their users and therefore increase their revenue stream.
