Streamlining provider switching for landline, mobile, and service number operators
Enghouse Carrier Services offers all processes as a managed service with extensive support provided by specially trained professionals. Our products are client and reseller capable, enabling operator models and white-label operations.
For customer-specific interfaces and integrations, our specialized developers are ready, using established tools and methods to efficiently implement even complex tasks.
Services Overview
Enghouse Carrier services integrate all processes of the provider switching for landline, mobile, and service numbers, including preliminary coordination and ordering of wholesale products. Our services include:
We support a variety of standards and procedures, including WBCI, S/PRI, WITA, PDA, MNP, DRNP, TR-AAV and ProKom.
Our services are suitable for Telecommunication companies, EKP, Carriers/City carriers, Internet telephony (VoIP) providers, Municipal utilities, Obligated parties for TR-AAV, Wholesale product vendors, Mobile services providers, MVNOs, Service number operators
Preliminary Coordination with WBCI
WBCI (WITA Based Carrier Interface) is your key to an efficient and smooth provider switch. It replaces the outdated fax procedure and enables electronic preliminary coordination between end customer contract parties. During a preliminary coordination, the involved EKPs exchange messages to communicate the termination of an end customer, to commercially agree on a switching date, and to signal the takeover of phone numbers and technical resources. With WBCI, the provider switching process is simplified and automated, reducing the error rate and achieving high service quality during the switch!
Participating in the WBCI Procedure
If you wish to participate in the WBCI procedure, you first need an ITU Carrier Code. This is mandatory for the unique identification of the interface communication partner in the WBCI process. With the ITU Carrier Code, you can then apply for the usage certificate at T-Systems. Subsequently, you can participate in the digital preliminary coordination process with our established WBCI solutions.
WBCI with Enghouse
Enghouse Networks Carrier Services offers different WBCI solutions for every conceivable use case. Whether you need a pure interface coupling with automated process control through a connected CRM system or a comprehensive ProcessManager with controlled user guidance for the different business cases – we have the right solution for you. Our team of specialized developers is ready to efficiently implement customer-specific interfaces and integrations.
WBCI ProcessManager
With the WBCI ProcessManager, the entire preliminary coordination process can be conveniently handled via the WBCI cockpit. By using the WBCI Hosting Service (WHS), the efforts for interface operation and the setup of connections to the involved end customer contract parties (EKP) are undertaken by Enghouse Carrier Services.
WBCI ProcessManager Cockpit
The WBCI ProcessManager Cockpit serves as the user interface of the WBCI ProcessManager. It is a web-based application that can be used with any modern web browser. The user requires a personal user access, which is provided by the EKP administrator or the system operator.
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Wholesale/Wholebuy: Ordering, Fault Clearance, Diagnosis
The procurement of wholesale products can be carried out through two processes: S/PRI for many FTTx carriers in the market, as well as WITA in the case of Deutsche Telekom as the network operator.
S/PRI
S/PRI facilitates the electronic ordering and provisioning of connections based on fiber optic and copper. With the emergence of new NGA networks (FTTH, FTTB, FTTC collectively referred to as FTTx), the relationships between buyers and suppliers are changing. Besides Deutsche Telekom, many providers of FTTx as network operators are now laying fiber optic cables to end customers and marketing them.
Enghouse Carrier Services supports the S/PRI interface also as a commercial solution in the S/PRI module, thereby enabling not only a simple S/PRI implementation but also the combination of S/PRI with other ordering interfaces like WITA. Providers of FTTC infrastructure (traditionally known as KVZ expansion) can thus take data from S/PRI orders for their own WITA orders with Deutsche Telekom.
The processes covered by S/PRI are:
- Provisioning
- Service modification
- Cancellation
- Provider switch
- Fault clearance
- Diagnosis
If you have developed your own fiber optic or copper network, S/PRI allows you not only to purchase wholesale products from other providers but also to sell to other providers as a supplier.
WITA OSS
With Enghouse Carrier Services’ WITA OSS (Wholesale IT Architecture Order Interface), you gain access to the order interface of Deutsche Telekom. Through this, orders can be placed in the respective product groups of Deutsche Telekom AG. WITA provides access to the subscriber line (TAL) for connecting end customers at collocation sites, as well as to other wholesale products of Deutsche Telekom, such as bitstream access for VDSL (IP-BSA).
The supported product modules are:
- WITA OSS TAL
- WITA OSS Preselection
- WITA OSS FTTH
- WITA OSS ADSL shared
- WITA OSS SDSL B
- WITA OSS xDSL
The WITA interface of Deutsche Telekom AG supports not only the procurement of wholesale products but also other processes such as management and fault clearance.
WITA ESS
The fault clearance interfaces from Enghouse Carrier Services conveniently send fault reports electronically via the internet to Deutsche Telekom’s WITA ESS.
This eliminates the costly and time-consuming transmission of reports by fax, and technician appointments can be precisely scheduled.
Communication between the carrier and network operators is reliable, fast, and automated. Order information is stored in a database and can be retrieved and tracked at any time. Integrating the fault clearance interfaces into a customer-specific system is easily possible via interfaces.
Enghouse is the selected KFT (Conformity Test) service partner for the German Working Group on Interfaces & Processes (Arbeitskreis Schnittstellen & Prozesse) to conduct interface certification. If you wish to acquire an interface certificate, please contact us. Further information on types of certificates and their background can be found on a page about S/PRI certificates directly at the Working Group on Interfaces & Processes.
S/PRI KFT
The Conformity Test (KFT) must be ordered from Enghouse as a cloud service to obtain the necessary certificates. This involves the use of the Enghouse S/PRI Simulator in hosting service (SaaS) in KFT mode.
Procedure of the KFT:
- Initially, we establish the connection to our S/PRI Simulator interface with you and grant you access to the associated web-based user interface. During the tests, our hosting team is available for troubleshooting.
- During the usage phase, test cases can be tried out and evaluated. To complete a KFT, all relevant test cases must be successfully passed in the last run.
- After completing the KFT, Enghouse Networks (Germany) GmbH will notify the S&P/VATM working group for the certification to be published on the working group’s website!
- For the KFT, all necessary documents, such as interface specification and test case list, are available to you.
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After conducting the KFT, the S/PRI Simulator can continue to be booked permanently in hosting (e.g., for QA purposes). The duration of use is freely selectable and is billed monthly. Further details are available upon request.
Background on S/PRI Certification
The Workstream (WS) S/PRI is a consortium of several major telecommunications companies and, endowed with the mandate of the NGA Forum of the Federal Network Agency, specifies the S/PRI interface and develops it further.
The members of WS S/PRI have commissioned VATM to take over the organization for the certification of the S/PRI interface.
A company that wishes to participate in provisioning and order processes as an interface operator must undergo certification in advance.
Steps for certification:
- This certification requires conducting a Conformity Test (KFT) based on a list of test cases. Enghouse Networks, as a service partner for KFT, provides the necessary platform (S/PRI Simulator) with which you can test your interface against the specified test cases. The content and scope of the conformity test for this certification depend on the roles to be certified (Supplier and/or Partner).
- Further information on the types of certificates can be found on the working group’s website: https://ak-spri.de/spri/zertifikate/
- The issuance of an (software) interface certificate is done through the Working Group on Interfaces and Processes after the KFT and is free of charge. For more information, please visit the S/PRI website of the WS S/PRI at www.ak-spri.de.
With ICCS Professional, Enghouse Carrier Services provides a powerful porting software for number porting, number allocation, customer and number management.
While ICCS is primarily aimed at German users in the area of number management, Enghouse has various other international solution components in its portfolio. Contact us for more information!
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Customer Data Management
The integrated customer data management in ICCS allows for stringent management of customers with their associated numbers (mobile and landline, as well as service numbers). Additionally, a direct connection to the TR-AAV information procedure is optionally available, so that customer data from the ICCS inventory can be automatically transferred into the information procedure.
Number Management
ICCS offers you a convergent solution for landline, mobile, and service numbers!
With ICCS Professional number management, you utilize number blocks assigned by BNetzA to allocate numbers to your customers. The allocation of numbers adheres to BNetzA’s allocation rules and meets the necessary requirements for individual numbers (NZ-E) or number ranges for system connections (NZ-Z). Users can comfortably use number management via a web interface or connect it electronically to their own systems.
BNetzA blocks can be divided into sub-blocks. This allows for the provision of parts of such a number block to resellers. The separation of user data is supported by multi-tenancy.
Connected Processes
Many processes are connected to the management of numbers and number contingents. These are also supported by our number management application, including:
- Prokom: Management and creation of telephone directory entries at Deutsche TeleMedien (formerly DeTeMedien interface)
- RCall: Management of RCall blocks at the Federal Network Agency
- Annual and semi-annual reports: Mandatory reports as a network operator to the Federal Network Agency
- Preparation of individual routing information
- and much more.
Landline Porting via PDA (LNP: local number portability)
In Germany, every network operator (TNB, vTNB) is obliged to participate in the porting data exchange with other porting code owners (PKI). This complex procedure describes not only business processes but also the technical coupling and data exchange.
Our process-supporting application ICCS significantly simplifies this complexity for the specialist user. In our Managed Service around the actual data exchange, complicated and lengthy administrative tasks for coupling, managing cryptographic keys, and monitoring the processes are eliminated.
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Mobile Number Porting via MNP and zMRDB (MNP: mobile number portability)
The mobile number porting procedure in Germany is divided into two roles: service providers and network operators (MNO, MVNO, MVNE). A network operator can also act as a service provider.
For preliminary negotiations between service providers, a dedicated MNP procedure with data exchange via the X.400 mailbox is used.
Network operators, whether MNO, MVNO, or MVNE, exchange information about upcoming portings and routing changes via the central mobile number database zMRDB.
With the specialist application ICCS, all aspects of the MNP procedure for service providers and network operators are covered. Where a network operator also acts as a service provider, process-supporting automations exist to make the procedures as efficient and error-free as possible.
Service Number Porting via DRNP (SNP: service number portability)
The allocation and management of service numbers (value-added services) are under the auspices of the Federal Network Agency. Besides the business processes, there are strict requirements for data exchange and encryption in transmission. Our porting application ICCS fully meets these business and technical requirements and represents them uniformly to other porting procedures via a user interface and interfaces for clerks and connected systems.
Number Inquiry
With Apollon Professional, we offer an online tool for quick number inquiries. With Apollon, geographic and service numbers can be queried. You receive information about the owner and the current holder of the number. This information can help you with:
- Customer provider changes
- Number misuse
- Routing issues
- Billing inquiries
- Problematic porting cases
Web-GUI Version
In the simple version, you receive information about the owner and the current holder of the number.
Advanced Web-GUI Version
In the advanced version, you additionally receive information about all portings and corrections to the queried number.
Advanced Web-GUI Version with Batch Processing
In this version, you can enter multiple numbers to query at once into the GUI. The response information is grouped by number. Like in the advanced version, you receive information about all portings and corrections to the queried numbers.
http-Request Interface Version
Through the http-request interface, you submit the number to query in an online stream and receive back the owner and the current
According to §172 of the Telecommunications Act (TKG, or in the past §112 of the old TKG), telecommunications companies are obligated to grant access to data regarding connection owners, their connections, connection addresses, devices, and various identifiers to authorized entities upon request. The technical guideline TR-AAV specifies the processes and interfaces for this automated information procedure.
AAV-QueryManager
The AAV-QueryManager from Enghouse Carrier Services provides the full functionality for implementing the processes of TR-AAV v2.0, to comply with the Customer Data Inquiry Ordinance (Kundendatenauskunftsverordnung). For this purpose, the product offers obligated companies an automatic query interface. This allows for electronic inquiries by requesting entities through the Federal Network Agency (BNetzA).
The AAV-QueryManager features rich interfaces (e.g., SOAP, file import) for optional integration into the company’s own system environment. In addition to handling TR-AAV protocols for responding to requests directed at the obligated party, the AAV-QueryManager also provides functionalities for managing historical inquiry records, as well as metrics for anonymized monitoring of the system and maintenance functions for tracing and correcting communication errors.
For users of our number management and porting application ICCS, synchronization of the inquiry data with our AAV-QueryManager is integrated.
Built-in control options allow even test inquiries to be made to the QueryManager to check data inventory and system behavior, for example, in the case of BNetzA complaints.
Enghouse Carrier Services offers all processes as a managed service with extensive support provided by specially trained professionals. Our products are client and reseller capable, enabling operator models and white-label operations.
For customer-specific interfaces and integrations, our specialized developers are ready, using established tools and methods to efficiently implement even complex tasks.
We look forward to accompanying you on your journey.
