Accounting solutions in the UMTS core network

The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is the third-generation (3G) wireless technology that will offer the expanded bandwidth to allow for enhanced services in data and multimedia. UMTS will support both circuit-switched and packet-switched access to Internet services. However, the introduction of the 3G wireless technology will incur significant expense to operator networks. The success of UMTS for network operators may well depend upon the delivery of highly desirable applications and mobile Internet services. Concomitant with this will be how well the accounting solution within the UMTS core network integrates into an end-to-end billing model that is able to return and distribute revenue to both service providers and network operators. (C) 2002 Lucent Technologies, Inc.