Case Study » The MINT System for Customer Migration and Mobile Number Portability

In the mid-1990s (before mobile number portability existed) Telstra wanted to migrate its customers from the analogue AMPS network to the newly introduced GSM network.

The challenge was to move customers to the new network without losing them to competing service providers who were also offering GSM.

Telstra needed a strategic edge to market the new network service. The proposed solution was to give its mobile customers reserved GSM numbers which could be used immediately while their existing AMPS numbers were still functioning. This was an important option because many trades people had their existing numbers on their vehicles, business cards and other materials, and they would need significant lead time to get everything updated.

The Problem

Telstra had AMPS and GSM infrastructure to support both networks. The challenge was to find the most cost-effective way to move customers from AMPS to GSM with minimal disruption to their business. One option proposed by an alternative provider was going to cost between 5 and 10 million dollars.

The Solution

Given the expensive alternative, Telstra turned to Unico to find a more favourable solution. By leveraging experience with their Intelligent Network product and applying their knowledge of Telstra’s signalling network, Unico developed the MINT (Mobiles Intelligent Number Translator) system. MINT is a signalling proxy that is positioned before the home location register (HLR) to route the signalling messages to the right destination while also performing rule-driven number modification “on the fly”

MINT made it possible to call AMPS customers on their existing 018 mobile numbers, or on their new 0418 or 0419 numbers. This meant that Telstra’s mobile users could continue displaying their AMPS numbers while adopting the GSM service or to start advertising their GSM number while retaining their AMPS service. This gave Telstra a competitive advantage in promoting the migration of it customers to the GSM network.

Besides the cost savings, Unico’s solution created a foundation for future benefits. When number portability was mandated for introduction in 2001, Telstra was in a very strong position because they already had the technology in place to port numbers. Ranil Hewawasam, project architect said: “With just a small change to the system, we could route the numbers to the right network. Whether an original Telstra number had moved from competitors, or vice versa.”

Results Russell Williams, Unico’s General Manager of Strategy and Business Development, explains the competitive advantages created by MINT. “It put Telstra in a strong negotiating position because they had the network technology to port numbers long before their competitors did. This meant they could focus on the business and IT aspects of number portability rather than the network aspects.”

Although MINT was developed over ten years ago, its robustness and scalability have meant that the technology could be updated to meet new demands (see UNICO case study: “Cutting Edge Technology Boosts Capacity of Telstra’s Mobile Signalling Network”). In its current form, MINT handles close to 100 million transactions per day at over 99.9999% availability.