Billing Process

Definition:Network data management (i.e., mediation) and rating are the key OSS elements that support the billing process.


Purpose of a Billing System:

•Meter and bill the services consumed by the customer
•Allow definition of different rates for services
•Allow easy management of customer accounts
•Maintain record of payments received

Billing Functionality:

Billing is more than just a means of collecting money. In a marketplace fueled by competition, Carriers are recognizing billing as a strategic weapon in the battle for new and retained business.

Various types of telecom billing includes

Wireless Billing
Convergent Billing
Interconnect Billing
IP Billing

Critical Billing requirements include

•Flexible rating capability for new services
•Multi-mode processing : real time, hot or batch
•Multi-party settlement capability
•Service convergent
•Unified accounting: postpay/ prepay/ nowpay
•Adaptability and ease of use
•Multi-territory and multi-role capabilities
•Carrier- grade performance
–Functional
–Scalable
–Useable
–Available

Key definitions

•Account: Any customer is represented in the billing system as an account. One account can have only one customer

•Plan: A plan is a bundle of services associated with the account

•Service / Product: Different billing vendors have different definitions for service…. check out the definition for specific package

•Billing cycle: A periodic cycle for which the customer is billed. E.g. from the 4th of a month to the 3rd of the next month. Can be weekly, monthly, bi monthly, quarterly

•Accounting cycle: A cycle for which the charges against an account are calculated (not billed)…typically monthly.

•Recurring Charge (RC): A predetermined charge associated with a product or service that is assessed on a regular interval i.e., monthly, quarterly, annually

Mediation Systems:

The role of mediation systems is to capture usage information from the network and service infrastructure, and distribute it to upstream billing, settlement, marketing and other BSSs.

Mediation processes the Call Detail Record (CDR), call, message, usage, traffic, ticket, event, xDR

Usage types can be

•Fixed to Fixed
•Fixed to Mobile
•Mobile to Fixed
•Mobile to Mobile
•Roaming
•Value Added Services (SMS, Call Forward, etc.)

Key activities in Mediation – Usage collection

•Polling / Data Collection
•Consolidator across network elements
•Standardize inputs to Biller
•Support for real time applications
•Drop non-billable usage
•Reformat, validate, number translations
•Direct usage between applications
•Insulate the biller from Network elements

The validation functions in mediation includes:

•Duplicate checks
•Drop calls
•Perform edits and translations
•Creating message legs
•Table look up and conversion (CLLI -> country code, city code, exchange)
•Assign a unique tag number to the event