GlossarySystems
What is OSS?
OSS Operations Support Systems
OSS (Operations Support Systems) is the software that runs the technical side of a telecoms business: provisioning, activation, service inventory, assurance and fault handling. It turns a sold plan into a working service, and keeps it working.
- 01Order and payment takenBSS
- 02Subscriber provisionedOSS
- 03eSIM profile deliveredOSS
- 04Service marked activeOSS
- 05Usage mediated and chargedBSS
Three handovers in five steps. Each one is a place two systems have to agree.
What OSS covers
Six jobs, all of them about the service rather than the money. OSS knows what is provisioned, on which network, in what state, and whether it is healthy.
Provisioning
Setting the subscriber up on the network with the right entitlements.
Activation
Bringing the service live, including delivering the eSIM profile.
Service inventory
What exists: subscribers, SIMs, numbers, profiles and their states.
Assurance and fault
Noticing that something is broken, and raising it against the right party.
Usage mediation
Collecting usage records from the network and normalising them for charging.
Order orchestration
Running the steps of a fulfilment in order, with retries when one fails.
OSS and BSS, on one order
A customer buys a plan. BSS captures the order and takes the payment. OSS provisions the subscriber, delivers the eSIM profile and marks the service active. Usage then flows back through mediation so BSS can charge it.
The handover points between the two are where telecoms integration projects spend their time and their budget.
How much OSS an MVNO runs
It depends on the model. eSIM changes the shape of all three, though: delivering a profile is an OSS job every model now owns, because the profile is tied to the plan the brand sold rather than to a card somebody posted.
Branded reseller
Provisioning is inherited from the host operator, along with most of the service state.
Light MVNO
Your own subscriber and SIM management, running on the host’s core.
Full MVNO
Your own core, and most of the OSS that sits around it.
What to look for
Ask what happens when an activation fails at three in the morning. A good OSS retries it, raises the fault against the right carrier and tells someone, without a person watching a queue.
Where Mindszi stands
On Mindszi the OSS work runs on automation. Activations, retries, carrier faults and profile delivery are handled by agents that act through scoped tools, report in Slack and wait for a human yes on anything sensitive.
OSS questions, answered
- What is OSS?
- OSS stands for Operations Support Systems. It is the software that provisions, activates, inventories and assures a telecoms service, as distinct from BSS, which sells and bills it.
- What does OSS stand for?
- Operations Support Systems. In telecoms it covers provisioning, activation, service inventory, usage mediation, order orchestration and network assurance.
- What is the difference between OSS and BSS?
- OSS runs the service: provisioning, activation, inventory and faults. BSS runs the commerce: catalogue, orders, charging, billing, payments and care. A single customer order crosses both.
- Do MVNOs run their own OSS?
- Partly, and how much depends on the model. A branded reseller uses the host operator’s provisioning, a light MVNO runs subscriber and SIM management itself, and a full MVNO runs its own core and most of the OSS.
Build on a platform that already speaks telco
Catalogue, billing, provisioning, activation and eSIM delivery on one core, run on automation. Book a demo and we will walk through the parts of it your business actually needs.