Evaluation of a charging framework for composite multimedia services using a testbed implementation

In the past, network operators were content with offering simple services such as voice and text messaging. However, they began to notice that these services were generating lower revenues even while the number of subscribers increased. Network operators are now forced to rapidly deploy value added services with minimum capital investment while maximising revenue from service usage by end users. Network operators can achieve this by exposing the network to external content and service providers. They would create interfaces that would allow these 3rd party service and content providers to offer their applications and services to users. This would allow for dynamic service mashups that result in rapid service creation for the network operator. In this paper a framework that would allow for the effective charging of services composed from external service and content providers is presented. The use of a service mediator that forms a gateway between an IMS network operator and the many content providers is proposed. This allows for the creation of new services that are composed from independent applications; the service mediator simplifies the technical and business aspects of service provisioning while ensuring that charging and billing occurs within the network.