Real time policy, in telecommunications, is a technical capability used to implement a wide array of business rules and subscriber preferences. While the genesis of policy was in Quality of Service

Quality of service

The quality of service refers to several related aspects of telephony and computer networks that allow the transport of traffic with special requirements...

 (QoS) and congestion control, it has evolved as Communications Service Provider

Communications Service Provider

A communications service provider or CSP is a service provider that transports information electronically. The term encompasses public and private companies in the telecom , Internet, cable, satellite, and managed services businesses.The market in which a communication service provider specializes...

s (CSPs) use it to create personalized, user-directed and interactive services and implement business objectives.

Real-time policy enables CSPs to follow the trend of “mass customization” to hyper-tailor services and customer experiences in real time, tailoring news delivery, content screening rules, display preferences, pricing, among other options, to fit every individual preference, requirement, and lifestyle.

Drivers for the roll-out of real-time policy functionality include:

• The ability to differentiate offerings in crowded/competitive markets;
• The need/desire to boost revenues; and
• The need to reduce churn by increased customer loyalty and service usage.

Examples of real-time policy include:

• User preference policies – Includes parental or corporate controls, content filters, calendaring restrictions, authorized-user lists and spending controls, among others.
• Targeted promotion/advertisement policies – Policies that guide how and what types of ads are delivered, including number of ads to be sent, content of ads and delivery methods;
• Content management policies – Policies based on rules around how content is delivered. For instance, content management can be used to protect minors from adult material, restrict business users from unrelated or inappropriate downloads, or simply classify which “persona” or account pays for what content-types;
• Handoff and network access policies for seamless mobility – Users have control over whether or not their devices will switch amongst various network types, such as WiFi, cellular or microcell, to take advantage of various quality boosts or costs savings; and
• Usage limits/bandwidth policies – CSPs can adjust upload/download speeds, bandwidth consumption based on a subscribers' plan.

Market Adoption

kajeet

Kajeet

Kajeet is a prepaid Sprint-based mobile virtual network operator that began selling phones to the general public in March 2007 through its website...

 utilized real time policy to become one of the first service providers to launch a mobile service aimed at preteens, featuring an array of parental control features. Large CSPs such as T-Mobile

T-Mobile

T-Mobile International AG is a German-based holding company for Deutsche Telekom AG's various mobile communications subsidiaries outside Germany. Based in Bonn, Germany, its subsidiaries operate GSM and UMTS-based cellular networks in Europe, the United States, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...

 have followed suit based on market demand.

Role In Advertising

Real time policy’s role controlling the delivery of interactive advertising is being explored in the TM Forum

TM Forum

The TeleManagement Forum formerly the Network Management Forum, is an international non-profit industry association, for service providers and their suppliers in the information industry, the telecommunications industry and the entertainment industry.Members include telephone companies, cable...

’s Content Encounter, which aims to make seamless, communications, information and entertainment services a reality.

Expected Market Growth

Analyst firm Yankee Group

Yankee Group

Yankee Group, a Massachusetts company, sells advice and market-research information relating to information technology.-History:Founded in 1970, the Yankee Group emerged as the first independent technology research and consulting firm...

 has forecasted that the market for real-time network based policy services will grow to more than $700 million by 2010. The top real time charging vendors include Telcordia, Alcatel

Alcatel

Alcatel Mobile Phones is a brand of mobile handsets. It was established in 2004 as a joint venture between Alcatel-Lucent of France and TCL Communication of China....

 and Ericsson

Ericsson

Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...

.