Telecomm billing Topics

Introduction

The Principle of Billing
CDRs
What about data?
Billing can be for:
Volume Billing
Always on
IP Billing
Mediation
Rating
Interconnect/Interadministration Billing
What makes a good Billing System?


Boundaries and Interfaces

Defining the major areas of Billing Support Systems (BSS)
The end-to-end generic billing process flow
Interfacing and co-dependant critical systems - marketing, finance, OSS, network management
Making a call and the key billing system information at the service provider, customer and account levels
How the levels are linked to support billing processes


The Service Order Process

Acquiring customers and gathering their information
Credit checking options
Data structures
Information security issues


Mediation and Event Processing

What is Mediation?
Carrier Challenges
Mediation Requirements and Features
Collection, Filtering and Consolidation
Presentation and Distribution
Return on Investment


Rating and Pricing

A Huge range of Options
Least Cost Routing
Tariffing Tables
CDR Formats
Options
Some CDR Record Formats
Different Rates for Different Customers
Guiding


Billing and Collection - Invoicing the customer

The Bill and the Engines
Convergent Billing
Convergence Models


Interconnect Introduction

What is interconnect?
Why interconnect matters


Fraud management

How Big a Problem is this?
Criminals are Lazy
Types of Fraud and Fixes
Don't Spend too Much
Checklist


Calling Cards

Calling Cards and Accounts
Cards and Batches
Life Cycles of Batches and Cards
Charging for Calling Card
ASRs, Redial Causes and Least Cost Routing


Premium Rate Dialling

Cheap International Calls
Ranges of Access Numbers
Example Operators, websites and charges


The IP Billing Chain

The Food Chain
Volume Billing and its Limitations


So what is this

Data Traffic
Connection Types
Layered Systems
IP Features
TCP
IP Routing
The Internet


Voice over IP

Why Voice over IP?
Patterns of Use
Voice and Data are Different
All the Protocols Needed
Billing Implications


IP Billing Components

Content or just Bytes
Example from ADSL
Problems and Mediation
Viewpoints
Online Trading Example
What could we charge for?
IP Security
IPDR
TOM
JAIN Initiative
Parlay


Mobile IP Billing

GSM & GPRS
The Basis of 3G
Tariffs
Roaming
Location-Based Services
Prepay
Charging Principles
Quality
CDRs
Conclusions to Ponder