1 Scope
1.1 Definition of VAS
Value Added Services , VAS, is a term that was coined in the telecommunications industry for services that
go beyond core service, such as mobile voice communications. Such additional services
are intended to add value for the consumers in order to encourage them to use the
telecommunications service more often and to add an additional revenue stream for
the Service Provider.
In the context of EFC, a VAS in this strict sense is a telematics service offered
to the Service User by means of an EFC OBE. This service might directly be consumed
by the driver in the vehicle, or might, particularly in the case of heavy vehicles,
be targeted at the freight operator and be consumed in a back office. Such services
can be fleet management services like track-and-trace, payment services such as paying
petrol automatically at the pump, or regulatory applications such as Electronic Licence
Plate or access control. Such additional services and applications create additional
value to the user, either by the value the new service creates to him, or in the case
of regulatory services, by combining several functionalities in a single device, thus
removing the need to install and maintain several pieces of equipment simultaneously.
In a wider sense, the operator of the EFC service can draw additional benefit from
the data collected by the EFC system. Data from EFC OBE gives a good account of the
traffic situation on the charged network, and may be utilised for statistical purposes,
for traffic...