Discover relevant Add-on Mart modules directly in PortaBilling
Your admins and resellers can now discover relevant Add-on Mart modules, such as a payment gateway, speech-to-text service, or support for auto-provisioning of a specific IP phone model, right on the PortaBilling page where they configure that functionality. This means you can add new capabilities as soon as your business needs them (for example, auto-provisioning for an IP phone model that a customer has been asking for).
Previously, your team had to search Add-on Mart separately to find out whether a suitable module existed, so useful modules could be missed. Now, a promo card appears on the page where the corresponding functionality is configured, showing a short description of the module, its current subscription status, and a link to the module’s page in the Add-on Mart portal.
Example
A large hospital signs up for Owl Telecom’s cloud PBX service and wants to keep using its Yealink T54W handsets. When going to PortaBilling to set up auto-provisioning so the phones don’t have to be configured one by one, Owl Telecom’s admin finds the Yealink T54W model in the list, marked as available in the Add-on Mart. The admin follows the link to the module page, subscribes, and returns to PortaBilling to finish setting up auto-provisioning. The hospital’s IT team then adds the handsets and auto-provisions them through the self-care portal.
What’s improved?
Faster adoption of new functionality
Discover and start using relevant Add-on Mart modules as soon as your business needs them.
Find more details here.
Shared data pools for IoT/M2M SIM cards
You can now let IoT/M2M customers share a single data pool across multiple SIM cards. Instead of managing a separate allowance, for example, 10 MB/month for each SIM card, a customer can get one shared pool that covers the combined volume of N eligible SIM cards (N is the number of participating SIM cards assigned by the admin). This allows devices that use less data to leave more of the allowance available for devices that use more, helping customers avoid excess usage charges as long as data remains in the shared pool.
Admins can create and manage shared pools directly in PortaBilling using the new “Customer pool, renewable by calendar” bundle type. When the pool is created, its volume is calculated based on the configured service volume and the defined number of participating SIM cards. For example, a 10 MB service volume with 10 participating SIM cards creates a 100 MB shared pool. Adding or removing SIM cards afterward does not change the shared pool. If 5 more SIM cards are added, all 15 SIM cards share the same 100 MB pool. PortaBilling automatically tracks usage for each participating SIM card and deducts it from the customer’s shared pool.
Your customers can manage their shared pools through the IoT and M2M Portal or your own custom self-care portals built using the PortaBilling API.
Example
A logistics company signs up with Owl Mobile for 500 SIM cards to track its delivery vehicles via GPS. Because data usage varies across the fleet, Owl Mobile offers the company a shared data plan instead of a separate 10 MB monthly allowance for each SIM card. The admin creates a 10 MB data bundle and shares it across the 500 SIM cards, creating a 5,000 MB shared pool. All SIM cards consume data from this pool, so vehicles with lower usage leave more of the allowance available for those that use more.
What’s improved?
Offer competitive IoT/M2M data plans
Help customers make better use of their data allowance when usage varies across devices.
Find more details here.
Protection of sensitive SIM card data
SIM cards contain sensitive information, such as PIN and PUK codes and cryptographic keys used to authenticate subscribers on the mobile network. If this data is exposed to an unauthorized person, it can be used to clone a SIM card or gain unauthorized access to services. PortaBilling now protects this data in two ways:
- Access control: You control who can view sensitive SIM card fields in the web interface and via API. By default, only an admin with the Root role can access this data; other users need explicit permission. Even with this permission, an admin must manually reveal each field in the web interface. The value remains visible for only a few seconds, helping prevent accidental exposure, for example, during screen sharing.
- Database encryption: You can encrypt sensitive SIM card data in the database, preventing users from viewing it through applications that have general read-only database access, such as custom reporting tools.
What’s improved?
Meet security requirements for sensitive SIM card data
Keep sensitive SIM card data accessible only to authorized users.
Find more details here.
Web interface changes
Manage customer classes and code groups/code group sets faster
The Customer class, Code group, and Code group set pages have been redesigned to reduce the time required to find and manage these entities.
Code groups let you group rate codes that should be treated the same way when defining pricing (for example, placing codes for a specific mobile operator under one name, such as “UA-Vodafone,” so admins can apply one rate to all codes in the group). Code group sets organize these groups at the level of granularity required for different business needs. For example, a “Retail” set can contain broad regional groups like “North America” or “EU” for bundles such as “1,000 minutes of calls to Europe,” while a “Wholesale” set can contain narrower, operator-specific groups like “UA-Vodafone” when rates differ between operators in the same country.
Across the redesigned pages:
- Search parameters have moved from the left side panel to a single row at the top, matching the layout of other pages in PortaBilling. Less commonly used search parameters are grouped under More.
- Admins can edit and delete customer classes, code groups, and code group sets using the Actions column, consistent with other pages in PortaBilling.
- All settings are available on the creation panel, so admins can fully configure a customer class, code group, or code group set without reopening it after creation.
Additional changes include:
- Customer classes
- Admins can now filter customer classes by currency and taxation plug-in.
- When editing a customer class, admins can now access settings grouped into tabs instead of opening separate sliding side panels.
- Code groups and code group sets
- Admins can now filter code group sets by rate match mode (whether the set matches called or calling numbers) and see the number of code groups created in each set.
- The Audit log button has moved to the top bar instead of being hidden in entity-specific menus, making audit information easier to access.
What’s improved?
Easier administration
Admins can manage customer classes, code groups, and code group sets in fewer steps.
Find more details here.
