optico

Telecommunications

Telecommunications is a global powerhouse. Phones remain the primary communication tool, generating vast amounts of data—from call logs and messaging habits to billing details. With billions of mobile units and the rise of smartphones, telcos now capture additional insights on app usage. This data can be monetized through:

  • Usage Insights: Correlating subscriber locations with app usage to drive targeted, location-specific marketing.
  • Resource Provisioning: Using call log and timestamp analysis to map population movements, aiding government and NGO infrastructure planning.

To stay competitive in saturated markets, telcos must also leverage data to better understand customer behavior. Key strategies include:

  • Augmented Customer Segmentation: Enhancing traditional segmentation with behavioral neuroscience to create more nuanced customer profiles.
  • Churn Analysis: Combining traditional analytics with proprietary simulations to predict and counteract customer loss.

Conformance Testing

Telecommunication networks involve a variety of passive and active components that are required to conform to international standards for handling network data prescribed by various RFC protocols. Several country specific and regional regulatory bodies now require that all network devices and components be tested for compliance with the requisite protocols. At Gauge, we have developed a proprietary platform, the GDS conformance suite, to carry our such compliance tests in a calibrated and verifiable manner.

The GDS conformance suite is a protocol analyser that can send and receive packets on demand. It can establish sessions for TCP, BGP etc. This way it can test the functionalities of various protocols by creating required sessions and sending and receiving required packets.

RFCs are covered for Routers, SIP terminals, SBC, ONT, ONU, IoT Gateway, Feedback devices, LAN Switch, Media Gateway, PABX, Soft switch, SGW, Mobile Device as per the MTCTE ER. These include the following,

  1. RFC 4271
  2. RFC 4760
  3. RFC 2545
  4. RFC 5036
  5. RFC 2328
  6. RFC 5340
  7. RFC 2460
  8. RFC 4861
  9. RFC 4862
  10. RFC 4443
  11. RFC 1981
  12. RFC 791
  13. RFC 4213
  14. RFC 3261
  15. RFC 3550
  16. RFC 3551
  17. RFC 4733
  18. RFC 793
  19. RFC 768
  20. RFC 8200
  21. RFC 3550
  22. RFC 4960

General Procedure

Step 1. The Network topology is setup between the Tester and EUT as determined by the RFC being tested, i.e. setting IP addresses on the Tester and EUT, and protocol specific configurations like AS number (for BGP), Router Id (for OSPF) etc.

Step 2. After the topology is configured, the EUT interfaces are pinged from the Tester to check their connectivity.

Step 3. After successful pings, tests are performed using the Tester.

Step 4. Specially crafted network packets using the GDS conformance suite software are sent from the Tester to the involved interfaces. Simultaneously, the responses are also monitored and recorded by the suite.

Step 5. If the responses are as required by the RFC specifications for that test, the test status is set to Pass, else the test elicits a Fail response.

Step 6. The Tester then prepares the report for the test which contains a list of packets that were sent and received on the Tester. Also summarised is the information about the EUT and Tester.