-
Call Us(+91) 9811220228
-
Our officeNew Delhi, India
- Get a Quote
Telecom Billing
Telecom Billing
Telecom Billing is a process of collecting usage, aggregating it, applying required charges and finally generating invoices for the customers. Telecom Billing process also includes receiving and recording payments from the customers. This tutorial gives you a complete understanding on Telecom Billing.
Sending voice, data, picture, fax, etc., from one point to another using electronic media is termed as telecommunication and in short 'telecom'. Examples include Phone, Radio, Television and Internet. The medium of transmission includes Wire (Copper), Fiber Optics, Ether (wireless), Radio towers, Microwave, Satellite, etc.
Telecom operators are charging their customers in various ways, but there are two mainly used parameters to charge a customer −
Rental Charges
These are the charges taken from the customers on monthly basis against the service provided. For example, your telephone monthly charges would be $5.00 regardless you use it or not.
Usage Charges
These are the charges taken from the customers based on the service utilization. For example, you would be charged for all the calls you made or data downloaded using your phone.
Billing Systems
There could be very complex charging scenarios, which would be difficult to handle manually. There are state-of-the-art Billing Systems available in the software market that can handle billing tasks very efficiently and provide lots of flexibilities to service providers to offer their services with different price structures.
Billing systems are often viewed as accounts receivable, as the billing system assists in the collection (receipt) of money from customers. Billing systems are also part of accounts payable (for inter-carrier settlements), as customers often use services from other companies such as wireless roaming, long distance, and call completion through other networks.
Billing systems are high end, reliable, and expensive softwares, which provide various functionalities. Here is a list of most important features but not limited to the following −
Rating & billing
It involves rating the products or services usage and producing monthly bills.
Payment processing
It involves posting of the customer's payments into his/her account.
Credit control and collections
It involves chasing the outstanding payments and taking appropriate actions to collect the payments.
Disputes and adjustments
It involves recording customer's disputes against their bills and creating adjustment to refund the disputed amount in order to settle the disputes.
Pre-pay and post-pay services
It involves supporting both the pre-paid and the post-paid customer bases.
Multilingual & multiple currencies
Multilingual and multiple currencies support is required if the business is spread across the globe and have multinational customers or else if the government regulations demand for it.
Inter-carrier settlements
It involve sharing of revenue between carriers that provide services to each other's customers.
Products & services
This involves providing flexible way to maintain various products and services and sell them individually or in packages.