Triple Play Services: IPTV, Video on Demand, and Pay-Per-View

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Architecture

PortaBilling serves as a service management and telecom billing platform, controlling content access on streaming IPTV middle-ware:

B/OSS

is used to configure and bundle TV channel packages as products along with other communication services or add-ons; set up pricing for VoD events; activate customers; perform monitoring & troubleshooting; and issue invoices. Once a customer is created in PortaBilling and assigned a product which includes the IPTV service, he is immediately activated on the IPTV platform and ready to start using the service.

The media streaming server

generates the actual video content and delivers it to the customer’s set-top box or smartphone/tablet app.

The VoD/Pay-per-view server

allows customers to browse the inventory of available items and initiate a purchase. The purchase events are then delivered to PortaBilling via either a real-time charging API or a batch file import.

Set-top box

allows connection to a traditional “hardware” TV set.

An app on smartphone/tablet

allows TV to be watched anywhere via a WiFi/4G connection.

How does it work?

1. The administrator defines channel bundles in an IPTV delivery platform (e.g. “Local Channels”, “News”, “Spanish Channels”, “Sports”) and maps them to products on the PortaBilling side (e.g. “HomeConnect” only includes “Local Channels”, while “HomeConnect+” also includes “News” and “Sports”). Products may include other services (e.g. 10MBps fiber-channel link and 1000 domestic minutes in HomeConnect+) and recurring fees can be defined ($39.99/month for HomeConnect+). Also, the administrator can define any number of add-on channel packages (e.g. “HBO” can be purchased for $5.99/month) or supplementary features (e.g. DVR at $4.99/month).
2. When a customer signs up for the IPTV service using PortaBilling's online self-care pages (of course, this can be done by the administrator as well), the available channel information (based on the assigned products) is provisioned into the IPTV delivery platform. Also, if a customer's product configuration changes, or the customer is blocked (e.g. due to non-payment), PortaBilling immediately updates the customer record in the IPTV delivery platform.
3. A set-top box will already be associated with the customer’s account when it ships, or, alternatively, the customer simply enters an activation code when he turns it on for the first time. This allows viewing of all enabled TV channels.
4. Customers may also connect a smartphone app and access the same selection of TV channels and pay-per-view content on their smartphone/tablet.
5. In the case of a pay-per-view service, the IPTV delivery platform sends a charging event to PortaBillling, which deducts funds from the available balance and applies the charge to the customer’s account.
6. At the end of the month, customers receive a consolidated bill for all recurring fees plus additional purchases such as video-on-demand.

Who are PortaOne’s technology partners for IPTV?

At present PortaBilling comes already equipped with service provisioning modules for the following IPTV platforms:

• Minerva Networks
• MatrixStream
• Espial
• Telebreeze

Is your preferred IPTV platform not on the list? PortaBilling’s open architecture allows you to easily create a service provisioning plugin module to accommodate new vendors and platforms. Contact PortaOne’s technical team to discuss and plan integration and an interop test.

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PortaSwitch helps us in doing business the way we want. We are not forced to adapt to the way the billing system works. With PortaSwitch, it has been easy to bring such new services, ideas and schemes that can be bundled to our existing plans to add value and differentiate us from our competitors. We are proud of the current breakthrough in providing various solutions to our customers under one platform.”

Binod Timalsina, Managing Director at Broadlink Networks & Communications

> Read more about Broadlink Networks & Communications success story

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Supported features