Roaming cellular traffic policy and charging negotiation and enforcement entity

Abstract

A virtualized Policy, Charging, Negotiation and Enforcement Entity (PCNE) is disclosed for serving cellular traffic across multiple networks. The PCNE manages signaling and user payloads to apply policies compliant to concerned networks in real time. The PCNE provides policy control to a Home network even when its outbound subscriber traffic is locally offloaded at a Visited network or IP Packet Exchange (IPX) cloud. The PCNE protects the Visited network against capacity overuse by inbound subscriber traffic, thereby providing joint control to the Home and Visited network operators resulting in optimal use of bandwidth and resources along with consistent subscriber experience. The PCNE enables the Home network operator to implement domestic quota buckets and policies while its subscriber is roaming in the Visited network by applying differential policy and charging rules. Traffic can be offloaded to a preferred packet data gateway after enforcing the negotiated policies.