Note 14: Telecommunication Networks

Posted: 23 March 2006

Landline Phones
Mobile Phones
ISP (dialup / broadband / cable)
Cable TV / Satellite TV

Billing details include:

Centralised network measurement: Customers' access to an operator's telecommunications network can be measured centrally. A relatively small number of phone exchanges or internet connection points can generate the billable events for a large number of network services. Where services, such as mobile phones, can generate their transactions across multiple measurement locations, a central collation platform can merge the transactions' fragments together into a form suitable for billing.
Automated provisioning: New network connections can be performed electronically from a central location. Modifications can also be applied electronically allowing customer and operator requested changes to be implemented (and reversed) quickly. This level of automation allows product revenue to begin flowing quickly, and allows large telecommunications networks to operate from centralised infrastructure.
Rich usage information: Details of phone calls and other network transactions support time-of-day (peak, off-peak) and day-of-week (workday, weekend, public holiday) pricing. Details about the phone, ISP or cable service captured as it was provisioned, or network-independent details about the customer, can also help differentiate pricing between residential, commercial and government market segments.
Complex billable products: Utility and tollway networks offer a limited number of billable products when compared to the range that telecommunications operators must address. The telecommunication operator (biller) must support and charge for the wide range of call destinations available including: local calls, domestic long-distance, international long-distance, calls to/from mobile phones, recipient pays 1-800 calls, reverse charged calls, shared charging between caller and recipient, premium charge numbers, and free essential services.
Differentiated network service and/or access is possible: Network access (e.g. international calls) can be blocked on a service-by-service basis at the customer's or network operator's request. This differentiation can also be applied to offer premium products (e.g. call forwarding, call waiting, voice mail/answering services) only to those customers willing to pay for them.
Customer's service complexity: Characteristics of a network service, such as its 'speed' (ISP) and the number of channels available (cable TV), can be modified remotely and when passed to billing alter how the customer is charged. Unlike utility and tollway billing, two individual services are more likely to be different than the same.
Customers' equipment complexity: Customers' physical equipment used from their network service can drive the purchase of different transactions from the telecommunication network operator. For example, consumer entertainment equipment may drive the purchase of different movie formats, mobile phone handsets may enable games or video calls, and cable TV set-top boxes can download movies 'on-demand', enable pay-per-view events or record TV shows for later viewing (e.g. TIVO PVR).
Network Interconnection: Telecommunication networks are more likely to connect with other networks outside an operator's business than utility or tollway networks. Almost by definition, most telephone destinations are outside an operator's own network. The high-value bills exchanged for interconnected transaction processing makes this an important part of an operator's business operations. Network operators must consider not only their own outbound connections to outside networks (for which they will pay other networks to complete), but also inbound connections to their own network (for which they will charge other networks).
Broader range of differentiated penalties: Network operators can partially restrict a network service (e.g. only local calls), temporarily 'suspend' service until payment is received (using automated processing), and only as a last resort disconnect a service from the network. These penalties would be in addition to those available to the network operators when incurred debt remains unpaid.