SIM inventory management belongs in the billing system
Service providers usually track physical and logical assets somewhere outside billing — a spreadsheet, a provisioning database, a warehouse system. Then a SIM is activated for a customer who was never billed for it, or a cancelled subscription leaves an MSISDN allocated for six months.
OpenBRM includes a generic inventory module that holds those assets inside the billing system and links them directly to subscriptions. Assign a SIM at the point of sale and it is allocated, billed and released as part of the same lifecycle as the service it belongs to.
Supported device types
- SIM — allocated, assigned and returned to stock as subscriptions change
- MSISDN — number pools with assignment and quarantine on release
- Modem and CPE — serialised equipment linked to a customer account
- IP pool — address allocation tracked against the service
- OTHER — a generic type for assets specific to your business
Wired into subscriptions, not bolted on
With device inventory billing, the inventory is part of billing: the module is integrated with subscription management rather than sitting beside it. Linking a device, swapping the associated device, and releasing it on cancellation are subscription operations. That means stock levels reflect reality without a nightly reconciliation job.
Why it matters for MVNOs
For an MVNO the SIM and the MSISDN are the product. Knowing which numbers are in stock, which are assigned, which are quarantined and which are billable is an operational requirement, not a reporting nicety. Running that inside the billing system removes the most common source of revenue leakage in mobile: services delivered on assets nobody is charging for.
The life of a SIM card
A SIM card starts as stock, held in the SIM card inventory as available. At the point of sale it is assigned to a customer's subscription, and from then on it moves with that subscription. If the customer swaps the device, the subscription keeps running and only the linked item changes. When the subscription is cancelled the SIM is released, and its number goes into quarantine before it can be offered to someone else.
Telecom MSISDN inventory management, modems and IP pools
The same module handles more than SIM cards. Number pools track which MSISDNs are free, assigned or quarantined. Modems and other customer equipment are serialised and linked to the account that holds them, which helps when equipment has to come back. IP pools record which addresses belong to which service. Because every item is tied to a subscription, an operator can see at any time what is in stock, what is in use and what is being billed.
Fewer reconciliation jobs
When assets are tracked outside billing, someone has to reconcile the two lists on a schedule, and every mismatch shows up as an unbilled service or a number that cannot be reused. Keeping assets inside the billing system removes that job, because the record that bills the customer is the same record that holds the device. Stock levels, assignments and releases are all visible from the same screens your billing team already works in, so no separate warehouse tool is needed to answer a simple question about a customer's SIM.
Subscription management · Rating engine · MVNO enablement services · Open source BSS · Oracle BRM alternative