Glossary
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Activation code
Code used by devices to initiate an eSIM profile download. It is the concatenation of an SM-DP+ address and a matching ID.
Allowance
A quantity of service units (seconds, SMS, kB or cents) included in a product.
Balance
The current remaining quantity of service units (seconds, SMS, kB or cents) of a subscription.
Bill cycle
The bill cycle corresponds to the period of time taken into account for invoice calculation. (Usually from 1st to the last day of the month)
Cancel location
The Cancel-Location-Request (CLR) command is sent from HSS to MME or SGSN.
Catalog
A catalog holds list of products available for a particular COS (group of subscribers).
COS
A Class Of Service regroups subscribers sharing a common set of parameters on the OCS for example, product catalog, rate card, notifications scheme, etc...
Credit
Prepaid credit is stored in subscriber’s wallet and can be used to buy a product or to use out-of-bundle services (ex: premium, international, roaming).
Data Safeguard
The EU's 2009 Roaming Regulation (N° 544/2009) required mobile operators to offer their customers, as of March 2010 (IP/10/215), the possibility to set their own monthly cut-off amount limit for data roaming via mobile phone or a computer.
From 1st July 2010, if customers have not chosen a different cut-off level, operators should provide a monthly default cut-off for data roaming of €50 excluding VAT.
Since the 1st July 2022, the EU directive no longer applies to the UK market for the £45 limit. However, mobile operators continue to provide this service.
Dormancy
After a given period of inactivity, the subscriber enters dormancy state in the OCS. This is used to track inactive users and OCS can be configured to automatically trigger a subscriber's termination at the end of the dormancy period. Please contact your account manager to set up and configure dormancy period on your account.
EGP
Entité de Gestion de la Portabilité - is the French central system in charge of managing relationships between the operators during portability processes.
eSIM
An eSIM (embedded-SIM) is a form of programmable SIM card that is embedded directly into a device. Wikipedia
GOP
GO Portability - Notification sent by EGP to inform all operators involved that a portability is to be performed.
HSS
The Home Subscriber Server, is a master user database that supports the IMS network entities that actually handle calls. It contains the subscription-related information (subscriber profiles), performs authentication and authorization of the user, and can provide information about the subscriber's location and IP information. It is similar to the GSM home location register (HLR) and Authentication centre (AuC). Wikipedia
ICCID
Integrated Circuit Card Identifier (ICCID) is a unique serial number of your SIM card.
The ICCID is defined by the ITU-T recommendation E.118 as the Primary Account Number. A full ICCID is 19 or 20 characters.
IMSI
International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) is a unique number, which allows a mobile GSM, UMTS or LTE network to identify a subscriber.
IoT
The Internet of Things describes the network of physical objects—“things”—that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet. Wikipedia
M2M
Machine to machine refers to direct communication between devices using any wired or wireless communication channels. Wikipedia
MNP
A Mobile Number Portability allows an end user to keep their MSISDN while changing from one network operator to another.
MSISDN
Mobile Station International Subscriber Directory Number (MSISDN) is a unique identifier of a subscriber in a mobile network. Simply put, it is the telephone number to the SIM card in a device.
mTLS
Mutual TLS (mTLS) is a type of authentication in which the two parties in a connection authenticate each other using the TLS protocol. By default, the TLS protocol only proves the identity of the server to the client using X.509 certificates, with mTLS the server will also validate the client certificate used in the TLS hand check.
MVNO
A Mobile Virtual Network Operator is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure. Wikipedia
MVNO_REF
Unique label provided by Transatel identifying your account in our system.
MWC
Mobile Workplace Connect is a Transatel offer to connect nomadic employees with a multi-operator SIM: https://www.transatel.com/solutions/connected-workplace/nomadic-employees/
Network attach
The network attach is the procedure in which the mobile device registers to the network. This is one of the first procedure executed by the device after being switched ON and includes a location update.
Network detach
The network detach is an HSS-Initiated procedure. The HSS uses this procedure for operator-determined purposes to request the removal of a subscriber’s MM and EPS bearer at the MME and also at the SGSN if both an MME and an SGSN are registered in the HSS. It means a cancel location request is sent from the Transatel HSS to the Radio Access Network (RAN). Please note, it does not always force the UE to launch a new attach procedure because it depends on device context and behavior.
Location update
In order to make a mobile terminated call, the network must know the location of the UE (user equipment) despite its movement. For this purpose, the UE periodically reports its location to the network using the location update procedure.
OCS/Prepaid platform
Online Charging System is the telecom industry appellation to refer to a real-time platform which charge the subscribers based on their service usage.
Ofcom
The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Wikipedia Ofcom
Overspend Safeguard
The overspend safeguard is an option that enables real-time control of out of bundle usages by the OCS. The cut-off limit can be specified per subscriber.
It can help UK MVNOs manage subscribers’ bill limits regarding the Ofcom Mobile Bill Limit legislation. Ofcom Mobile Bill Limits
OTA
Over-the-air is any method of making data transfers or transactions wirelessly using the cellular network instead of a cable or other local connection.
This technology is used to communicate with SIM cards and change their data wirelessly.
PAC
Porting Authorization Code (PAC) is a unique identifier (9 characters long and in the format "ABC123456") used by UK mobile network operators to facilitate mobile number portability (MNP). This allows users to retain their mobile telephone number when switching operators. Wikipedia
Payment provider
Defines how products are paid. Depending on the type of service offered, and the contract signed with Transatel, the list of available payment providers may vary.
Payment Safeguard
The EU revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) (N° 2015/2366) and the UK PSR 2017 are designed to prevent subscribers from bill shocks that can occur consecutively to payments performed through their mobile connectivity service. Wikipedia
For telecommunications industry, the directives states:
- a transaction cannot exceed 50€ EU / £30 UK
- the sum of all transactions within a billing period (a calendar month) cannot exceed 300€ EU / £240 UK
PIN
A Personal Identification Number or PIN code, is a passcode used in unlocking a cellphone's SIM card. Wikipedia
Product
You can see a product as a type of service plan Transatel real-time platform (OCS) can offer. There are several product categories such as recurring plan, one-off plan or add-on. Please refer to your product portfolio documentation for more details.
Add-on product
Also known as bolt-on, allows to boost the current allowance of an active recurring product to extend service usage.
One-off product
A product that gives a one-time amount of service units (allowance) valid for a limited amount of time.
Recurring product
A product which renews itself every configured period of time. It can have an expiration date (fixed number of renewals) or be unlimited in time.
PUK
A Personal Unblocking Key, sometimes called personal unblocking code (PUC), is used in SIM cards to reset a PIN that has been lost or forgotten. Wikipedia
Rate plan
Rate plan defines the way charges are calculated for a particular service (Currency, price per zone, call types, ...).
RIO
A Relevé d’Identité Opérateur - is a code allowing an end user to port their MSISDN from an operator to another in France.
RTCP
Stands for Real-time Controlled Postpaid, commercial option to make use of Transatel OCS to meter and cap service usage when the subscriber plan is exhausted or expired.
SIM card
Subscriber Identity Module card is an integrated circuit (IC) inserted into a device (such as a cell phone) and that is used to identify a subscriber on a communications network. Wikipedia
SIM management portal
Transatel provides a web application in order to manage efficiently your SIM fleet.
SM-DP+
Subscription Manager - Data Preparation + (SM-DP+) is of the main system element of the GSMA Remote SIM Provisioning Consumer solution and is responsible for the creation, download, remote management (enable, disable, update, delete) and the protection of operator credentials (the eSIM Profile).
SMS
Short Message Service is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet, and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text messages. Wikipedia
A2P messaging
A2P or application-to-person messaging is the term used to define SMS messages sent to a subscriber by an application. Typical usages are one-time-passwords (OTPS), notifications, assistants, reminders or marketing campaign messages.
P2P messaging
P2P or person-to-person messaging is the term used to define SMS messages sent to a subscriber from another subscriber.
On-net
Refers to traffic (here SMS messaging) towards your own fleet of subscribers.
Off-net
Refers to traffic (here SMS messaging) towards any subscribers outside your own fleet of subscribers.
Resource
Resources are allowances defined to match a specific network usage, with a given amount expressed in an appropriate unit to the type of use (KB, Seconds, SMS).
Resources can be put on top of each other to form a stack, and several are able to match the same type of traffic, providing lots of flexibility to the system. This allows, among other things, to implement service options which control usage in parallel of products like the data safeguard.
STAC
Service Termination Authorization Code (STAC) is a unique identifier (9 characters long and in the format "123456ABC") used by UK mobile network operators allowing subscribers to automatically cancel their previous mobile subscription when switching to a new network operator.
Subscriber
The entity which represents the user (person or device) of a mobile connectivity service, it is charged for all fees related to the activation or usage of this service.
Subscription
When a product is subscribed and assigned to one subscriber, it becomes a subscription. Subscriptions are then stored in a subscriber inventory identified by his MSISDN.
Wallet
A specific subscription that holds prepaid credit.
Switch
A switch allows subscribers to automatically cancel their previous mobile subscription when switching to a new network operator.
Syniverse
Syniverse is the UK central system in charge of managing relationships between the operators during portability and switch processes.
Tariff holiday
Tariff Holiday enables you to pause a SIM’s services for a limited period of time. During this period, no charges will be applied for this SIM. If you have a commitment for your SIM, the period spent in Tariff Holiday will extend the commitment period.
Test mode
Test mode gives the SIM a quota of data & SMS to be used for a specific period of time before becoming active. While in test mode, no charges will be applied for this SIM. Once the quota is reached, the SIM automatically exits test mode.
Webhook
A webhook is a way to subscribe to real-time events emitted by a platform. You can see them as extension of an API, but instead of requesting data, this data will be pushed to you when some defined events occur. This allows to trigger any logic such as end-user communications. Wikipedia