• Lifecycle Software has launched a consultancy service that maps telecom regulatory requirements to the customer and BSS processes used to operate mobile services
  • Its obligation map links rules to stages from tariff selection to customer exit, while regulatory accountability remains with the operator

The fact

Lifecycle Software launched a Compliance Consultancy Service on 4 September for mobile network operators, MVNOs and companies entering the telecoms market. The UK-based BSS and MVNE provider says the service will help operators identify regulatory requirements and apply them across their systems and operating processes.

A central part of the service is an "obligation map" that connects individual requirements with stages of the customer journey, from choosing a tariff to leaving the service. Lifecycle says this can identify where processes, controls or system functions are needed. Its scope includes areas such as Ofcom requirements, UK GDPR, customer identity checks and the Telecommunications Security Act.

Lifecycle also cited its work with Coop Mobile Channel Islands, where it advised on identity verification, handling and retention of customer data and data-erasure requirements. The operator remains responsible for meeting its regulatory obligations.

The assessment

For an MVNO, compliance often appears inside ordinary operating tasks: verifying a customer, retaining or deleting data, porting a number or configuring a service. Those tasks may sit inside a BSS or MVNE platform operated partly by an external supplier, so a regulatory requirement eventually has to become a process, permission, data rule or system action.

Lifecycle is trying to make that translation earlier in the service-design process. Mapping obligations while workflows are being configured can identify where a control needs to exist before an operator launches or changes a product. It does not remove the operator's responsibility to decide which rules apply or to show that the resulting controls work.

For BTW readers, compliance here is becoming a configuration problem as well as a legal one. The value of the service will depend on whether operators can show regulatory controls working inside onboarding, data handling, switching and other live customer processes.

What to watch

Watch for Lifecycle to name additional operators using the service and disclose which requirements are implemented as automated controls within its Nexus platform. Live examples covering identity checks, data deletion, switching or regulatory reporting would show whether the service changes operating workflows rather than adding another advisory layer.