Implementing Value-Added Telecom Services

Value-added services - messaging, mobile-commerce, location services, content provisioning - are the moneymakers in today's telecommunications market. This book shows you how to commercially offer these services without having to own network infrastructure. It explains all the relevant technologies that enable value added services in plain style without assuming in-depth knowledge of telecommunications. You learn how to offer pre-paid telephony over a third party's network, route calls inexpensively over the Internet, build and market mobile applications with short messaging (SMS) and multimedia messaging (MMS), and explore the commercial possibilities of cell broadcasting (CBS). The book explains push, pull, streaming, and progressive download content, the technologies for delivering each content type, and the methods for charging customers for each type of content delivery. You get expert guidance on how to exploit a variety of location techniques to become a provider of location based services. Moreover, the book discusses commercial and open-source solutions for developing service platforms. A practical, service-oriented guide, this book is your road map to building and deploying third-party telecommunications services.