Importance of Improving Your Telecom Billing Collection Process

Telecom billing systems manage the data and processes a CSP needs to rate calls, calculate charges and present invoices to customers.

Gathering Usage Data

The first step in the telecom billing process is to gather detailed records of customer usage of telecom services (voice calls, text messaging and internet data usage). Collecting this data is essential for accurately tracking and billing the services used by customers.

Usage data includes information about each event (i.e., a single billable occurrence of service usage, captured electronically by the network). For example, when someone makes a mobile phone call, the usage data for that call (event) includes call duration, time of day, and the phone number that was called. A Call Detail Record (CDR) stores usage details, including

• Calling Party (A number).
• Called Party (B number).Call Start (date and time).
• Call duration.
• Call Type (Voice, SMS, Data).
• A unique sequence number identifying the record.
• Other fields as needed.

The mediation system processes the CDRs and converts them into a format compatible with the billing system.

Rating Calls

Rating is the process of determining the charge/price of individual events. The telecom billing system includes a rating engine (Online Charging System) that calculates charges based on pre-defined charging rules.

The rating engine matches the event source (mobile number or IP address) to an account to determine what account will be charged for the event-and what rate plan (rating tariff) to use in charge/price calculation. The rating engine uses rating tables and event information from the CDRs to calculate the actual charge for each call. The rating tables include:

• Connection charges
• Minimum billable connection times
• Configurable call increments
• Call rounding options (up, down, round)
• Minimum and maximum calling charges

Generating Invoices

In this step, the billing system determines the final charges for each customer. The system:

• Rounds off amounts according to the company's billing policies.
• Calculates charges.
  • Recurring charges (e.g., monthly plan costs)
  • Non-recurring charges (e.g., one-time setup fees or roaming charges)
  • Applicable Taxes
• Applies eligible discounts.
• Creates detailed, clear invoices that break down charges, services and fees.

Sending Invoices to Consumers

Billing systems deliver invoices to customers via email, print, PDF, or online. Customers can view their telecom bill via an online customer portal.

The billing system also sends payment reminders, increasing on-time payments and reducing the costs associated with collections.

Processing Payments

Payment processing refers to the processing of bill payments into the billing system. CSPs should offer a variety of payment methods to accommodate customer preferences:

• Cash
• Check
• Credit/debit card
• Automatic recurring payments
• ACH

As payments come in, the billing system posts the payments to the customer's account.

B2B Telecom Billing

Telecom billing is more complicated for B2B than it is for B2C. As CSPs become digital service providers that provide a variety of services to enterprise customers, billing systems must be flexible enough to accommodate different business models (such as tiered pricing, subscriptions, and custom services). CSPs must be able to bill for network slicing, 5G private networks, and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity. The usage-based pricing model isn't practical for IoT devices that generate relatively small amounts of data. The cost of managing and billing for each device might outweigh the revenue generated.

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