INTERCONNECT BILLING

• There are two type of billing in Wireline,

- Retail Billing
- Interconnect Billing
 WHAT IS INTERCONNECT
• When an end to end call can’t be completed entirely on a
single operator’s network and the call has to be handed
over to another operator then INTERCONNECTION
occurs. The point at which the call is handed over to
another operator is known as POINT OF TERCONNECT.
Interconnect Vs. Retail billing
• The number of accounts (i.e.no. of subscribers) in
Retail billing is much larger than the no. of
accounts (i.e. Operators agreements)
• The billing amount for an individual subscriber in
retail billing is very small in compare to billing
amount for an Operator in Interconnect billing.
• Introduction of new tariff plan is much easier in
case of Retail billing where as the same may not
be true for Interconnect billing as it involves
agreement between two operators.
 Contd…..
• Error in billing may cause huge financial losses in
case of Interconnect Billing as revenue generated
per Operator is very high.
• There is no reverse billing concept in the Retail
billing.
• A large number of customer interaction is not
required in case of Interconnect billing.
Data flow in Interconnect Billing

CDR CDR

Switch Mediation Interconnect

INTERCONNECT TERMINOLOGY
 INTERCONNECT TERMINOLOGY
Franchise

Charging
Number
Point of interconnect Prefix
Interconnect
Owner

Tier


Switch

Trunk Group
MSO Operator
INTERCONNECT CALL TYPES
 Incoming (Interconnect)


Operator A Interconnect
Owner 

Transit (Interconnect)

Retail


Operator

B

Outgoing (Retail & Interconnect)

BILLING TYPE
 DIRECT BILLING

MSO

Operator A
x
Operator B y
A pays B: x
Operator C
A pays C: y
 CASCADE BILLING

MSO
Operator A
x
Operator B y
A pays B: x +y Operator C
B pays C: y
 Billing Criteria

Point of Interconnect

Interconnect Call Direction

Owner Incoming/outgoing Operator

 
A No B No

Invoice Direction
To NOP
From NOP

Charge Direction

Standard POI to B number

Reverse POI to A number
Call Scenarios
 Outgoing Call
A number
 Interconnect charge

Interconnect Operator 
Owner
B number
POI

Charge Direction - Standard (POI  B number)

Invoice Direction - From (Operator  Interconnect Owner)
 Incoming Call

B number
Interconnect
 charge

Interconnect Operator 
Owner
A number
POI

Charge Direction - Standard (POI  B number)

Invoice Direction - To (Interconnect Owner  Operator)
 Transit Call

A number
Interconnect charges


Operator A Interconnect
Operator B 
Owner
B number
POI (1) POI (2)

Charge Direction - Standard (POI (1)  B number)

- Standard (POI (2)  B number)
Invoice Direction - To (Interconnect Owner  Operator A)
Invoice Direction - From (Operator B  Interconnect Owner)
 Trunk Group configuration

• POI Trunk

• Backbone Trunk
 Impact of wrong TGNO on billing

- If backbone trunks are not configured before the start of

traffic then wrong product will be defined in the
mediation. It will not be possible to rate(i.e Reprocess)
these CDRs through interconnect billing application.
- If POI trunks are not configured wrong product will be
generated and the CDRs will get rejected. e.g. call
originating from a GSM operator with A# not starting with
98 1st char of product as ‘F’ instead of ‘M’.
- Wrong distance band
- Transit calls (NLD) can’t be captured
 Rate Updation

• Rate change process flow

– Rate change is received from users
– New rates are uploaded in to the billing system
– Dump of rate tables are taken & sent to users for checking
– In case any discrepancy billing is informed & the process is
repeated.
 Contd……

• Impact of wrong/delay rate updation on billing

– Wrong rate cause repricing of CDRs

– Wrong rate updation generates misleading information
to the management
Call Rating
 CDR rating

• How InterconnecT Prices Calls

– The basic aim of InterconnecT is to take a telephone number,
together with other call data from the Call Detail Record
(CDR), work out the appropriate tier and product, and apply
the relevant rating elements in order to calculate the cost of
the call.
– InterconnecT is interested in calls between a point of
interconnect assigned to an NOP and the terminating or
originating telephone numbers(POI to B#) and in assigning
these calls to tiers such as 'local', 'national' etc.
 CDR Rating contd….

• CDR coming from the switch contains the following info

– Switch
– Trunk group
– A_Number
– B_number
– Start date
– Start time
– Duration
 CDR Rating contd….

• After processing the CDR mediation adds the following

– Product (e.g. M2M,M2MR etc.)

 CDR Rating contd….

• Interconnect determine the Network operator from

– Trunk group & Switch information.
• Interconnect determine the Franchise from
– Switch information.
• Interconnect determine the Charging Number Prefix from
– A_Number & B_Number information.
• Interconnect determine the Tier from
– POI & CNP information.
• Interconnect determine the Charge type from
– Date & Duration information
 CDR Rating contd….

• Interconnect gets the product information from

» Mediation
 CDR Rating contd….

• A rate is provided against the following in the rate table of

interconnect
– Franchise
– Network operator
– Tier
– Charge type
– Product
– Rating element
Reference Data
• Reference Data contains three types of data
– Network Data
– Catalogue data
– Billing Data
 Network Data

• MSO(Multiple System Operator)

• Franchises
• Switches
• POI
• Trunk Group
 Catalogue Data

• Services
• Products
• Rating elements
 Billing Data
• Charge Type
• Charge period Type
• Day types
• Special Dates
• Day elements
• Billing Periods
• Currencies
• Currency conversion factor
• Tiers
• Charging Number Prefix
 ERROR Report

• Present Process flow

– Error report from Interconnect is sent to users (NLD/ILD)
– Errors due to missing information (i.e.Trunk group,rate etc) are
checked for.
– Relevant information provided by the user to the interconnect
billing.
– Information are updated in the reference data & error CDRs are
reprocessed.
– Next day error report is again checked by the user to ensure that
earlier error has been rectified. If any new error is found the cycle
is repeated.
 ERROR Report contd….

• Some common type errors

– Trunk group not found
– Rate not found
– CNP not found
– Product not found
 Overview of SoA

• SoA stands for Statement of account. It is not an

invoice. It doesn't have any provision service tax.
• SoA can be generated on the basis of following
Grouping Option
– Franchise
– NOP
– Call Direction
– Currency
 Overview of SoA contd…

– Service
– Product
– Switch
– POI
– Trunk group
– Tier
– Charge type
 Overview of SoA contd…

• SoA can be generated on the basis of following

Detail Options
– Call date
– Rate used
– Rate unit
– Call count
– Duration
 Repricing

• Re pricing is carried out in case a retrospective

rate change is agreed with a carrier.
 Reprocessing

• Reprocessing is carried out to process the CDRs

which are rejected due to mismatch with reference
data.
SAMPLE REPORT