Time to Tweet About Neustar's Ventures Outside DNS Like Promotion of Mobile Portability

Neustar, Inc., a provider of carrier and enterprise solutions for sending calls and content alike across networks, has revealed a partnership with Twitter, Inc., promising subscribers reliable access to their Twitter stream in real-time, even through the process of changing mobile operators. Neustar can ensure subscribers of such a service through the use of its GSMA (News - Alert) PathFinder Service.

PathFinder, a GSMA-managed service operated by Neustar, is a global registry of IP addresses and phone numbers, which provides global network operators and application providers such as Twitter, with the means to reach all their users no matter their choice of network or technology.

There are many companies in the world that are now introducing mobile number portability, keeping your mobile phone number when you change your carrier. As Jean Foster, vice president of marketing for Carrier Services at Neustar, explained further in an interview with TMC (News - Alert), in the U.S. we’ve been able to keep our mobile phone number for 15 years, but in the U.K. if you want to change from one mobile provider to another it is not a possibility. In other words, if you wanted to change from one mobile vendor to another if you lived in the U.K., you would have to change numbers. However, many countries are now enabling number portability, and that’s the core of Pathfinder’s mission. The GSMA association represents all the mobile operators around the world; there is a need for a type of service where someone acts as a mediator and indentifies when a number has been transferred from one operator to another.

In a press release, Adrian Dodd, senior director of Managed Services at the GSMA, said, "We are excited to see how PathFinder is being harnessed to extend mobile lifestyles, and working with Twitter demonstrates our ability to support communications delivered by an expanding range of innovative new businesses." 

Besides social networking, another aspect of a subscriber’s mobile lifestyle to benefit from Pathfinder is his or her mobile banking. For instance, Foster discussed such possibilities at the recent Mobile World Congress (News - Alert) and explained that there is no banking infrastructure in Africa. However, there may be someone working in the U.S. who wants to transfer money back to their family in Africa, which could be delivered via a mobile phone connection. This is where Pathfinder could step in; when they are making that transfer they want to identify which mobile operator should the mobile payment be routed to.

Nick Holland, senior analyst of Yankee Group (News - Alert), said in a statement, "Consumers expect their services to move with them as they change network operators or handsets, and services such as PathFinder are critical for enterprises creating brand loyalty through mobile social networking applications." 

Neustar has on record almost 90 percent of the subscribed numbers around the globe, if a number has been moved to another carrier that will be in its database. As we globally become more mobile, we are all going to be doing much more with our phones and that require services such as Pathfinder.