Despite concerns about the global economic downturn, OSS vendor Amdocs does not expect telecom operators in China to slow down their purchases on next-generation operating systems, thanks to convergence and 3G.
Eran Ofir, COO of Admocs China, says the Chinese market is currently going through a historic change, with the telecommunications restructuring process aimed at turning the three major operators (China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom) into integrated service providers. In order to accomplish this huge transformation they will have to convert their systems to fully support convergence.
He expects a major push towards 3G networks and services later next year, which will drive Chinese telcos to implement and acquire new OSS and BSS systems to enable them to quickly roll out new services and products.
Like their counterparts in Asia, Ofir adds, Chinese telcos will continue to look for cost-effective, pre-integrated OSS and BSS systems that can upscale their network visibility and usability, reduce time to market, increase operational efficiency, and save integration and customization costs.
He says some of the big provincial subsidiaries of the Chinese carriers have already began consolidating their networks and replacing the local customizations and patch-based legacy systems with new platforms.
For instance, he adds, the company has recently won a contract from Guangdong Mobile, the Guangdong provincial subsidiary of China Mobile, to provide an OSS system to manage its complex network inventory requirements and gain an accurate view of its network resources to manage them more effectively.
The deal is Admocs' first OSS win in China, and is also Guangdong Mobile's first implementation of a commercial-off-the-shelf OSS product.