Regional Seminar on New Trends in
Tariff Policies for ECE Countries & CIS
Traffic Reconciliation between
operators
- Issues and Techniques
18-20 September 2001 - Bratislava - Slovakia
Didier Lacroix
+33 1 45 23 92 92
Didier.Lacroix@intec-telecom-systems.com
www.intec-telecom-systems.com
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
1
Agenda
u Objectives of the presentation
u ITU context
u Deregulation context
u Known issues
u Dispute resolution ideas
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
2
Objectives of the presentation
u Introduce reconciliation processes and techniques
l
ITU
l
deregulated markets
u Known issues
u Introduce dispute resolution techniques
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
3
ITU reconciliation - Incoming
accounts
u 1 account per billing period and per agreement
u Processing of incoming accounts
l
Creation of incoming account
Account from X Telecom to Y Telecom
l
Account lines entry
Period from : 1-3-2001 to 31-3-2001
Product : Stanadrd telephony
l
Verification
Route
Charge Nb.
•
•
•
•
•
l
route
product
billing method
charge type
rate
orig. Trans. Dest.
XT
XT
XT
Account authorisation
YT
YT
YT
Type
calls
Surch.
Durat. Rate Cost
TI
STD
BEL
STD
BEL-M STD
1000
333
500
0
0
0
190
60
500
.19
.22
.17
190
13.2
85
...
u Automatic traffic reconciliation
l
Comparison with traffic measures
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
4
Comparison with traffic measures
Account from X Telecom to Y Telecom
Period from : 1-3-2001 to 31-3-2001
Product : Standard Telephony
Route
Charge Nb.
orig. Trans. Dest.
Type calls Surch.
Durat. Rate Cost
TI
XT
XT
190
60
500
...
XT, YT BEL
STD 1000
YT
BEL
STD 333
YT
BEL-M STD 500
0
0
0
.19
.22
.17
190
13.2
85
Expected traffic statement from X Telecom
Period from : 1-3-2001 to 31-3-2001
Product : Standard Telephony
Route
Charge Nb.
orig. Trans. Dest.
Type calls Surch.
Durat. Rate Cost
XT
XT
240
500
YT
YT
BEL
BEL-M
STD 333
STD 500
0
0
.22
.17
528
85
...
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
5
Comparison Process
Our Keys
Their Keys
Route
Product
Route
Product
Incoming
account
Expected
account
Verifications
Products
Routes
Rates
...
Discrepancy Analysis
Morocco
Italy
Italy mob
50
40
20
30
50
11
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
- 66%
+25%
- 50%
6
Issues linked to the comparison
u Late traffic
Date
Orig.
Trans. Dest.
Period
Calls
Surch. Durat Rate
Cost
01-01
02-01
04-01
06-01
XT
XT
XT
XT
YT
YT
YT
YT
01-01
01-01
01-01
01-01
1000
333
500
250
0
0
0
0
190
11.4
95
38
Date
Orig.
Trans. Dest.
Period
Calls
Surch. Durat Rate
Cost
01-01
02-01
04-01
06-01
XT
ZT
HT
BT
YT
BEL
XT,YT BEL
XT,YT BEL
XT,YT BEL
01-01
01-01
01-01
01-01
1000
333
500
250
0
0
0
0
190
15
95
40
BEL
BEL
BEL
BEL
190
60
500
200
.19
.19
.19
.19
...
u Transit
190
60
500
200
.19
.20
.19
.20
...
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
7
Dispute resolution
u Identified during verification
l
easily solved
u Identified during comparison
l
Need to prove good faith
•
•
l
send more detailed information
(daily summaries, rated CDRs)
parallel and targeted measures
Negotiation
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
8
Reconciliation and deregulation
u No established standard
u Exchanged data
l
Billing period summaries
l
Detailed daily summaries
l
Rated CDRs
u Methods
l
CODIFI (Spain)
l
Bilateral
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
9
CODIFI (Spain)
u Method introduced by Telefonica
u Mandatory usage in Spain
u Codes standardisation
u Information exchange process
l
produce
l
acknowledge
l
process
l
conclude
u Need a specific information system
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
10
Bilateral Comparison
Our keys
Their keys
Destination
Trunk
Charge type
Destination
Trunk
Charge type
Their
Summaries
Our
summaries
Verifications
Product
Routes
Rate
...
Discrepancy Analysis
Morocco
Italy
Italy mob
50
40
20
30
50
11
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
- 66%
+25%
- 50%
11
Known issues
u Numbering plans
l
Each supplier owns its international numbering plan
u Rate
l
Non up-to-date rates
u Special numbers
l
Rating formula
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
12
Dispute resolution
u Prove your good faith
l
Send more detailed information
(daily summaries, rated CDRs)
l
Parallel and targeted measures
l
Allow audit of the inter-carrier billing process
u Negotiation
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
13
Control billing process
Collection
ITU rating
Account mgt
Reconciliation
Settlement
Non ITU rating
Invoicing
Reconciliation
Settlement
Mediation
errors
errors
losses
errors
u Minimise errors and traffic losses
l
far below reconciliation objective
u Ability to re-price errored traffic
l
adjustments management
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
14
Replay operator CDRs
Pricing
simulation
Their
CDRs
Translation
& Formatting
Their
CDRs
simulated
Our
Summaries
Traffic
discrepancies
Their
Summaries
Pricing
discrepancies
simulated
Their
Summaries
Our keys
Their keys
Destination
Peak Off peak
Destination
Peak Off peak
Our keys
Their keys
Trunk
Trunk
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
15
Conclusions on CDRs replay
u Correspondence tables per supplier required
l
Destination
l
Peak / Off Peak
l
Trunk
u Identify all discrepancies
l
Rating
l
Traffic
u Complex to implement
u Adapted to complex rating rules
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
16
CDRs verification
Leurs
Their
CDRs
CDRs
Enrichment
Enrichissement
prefix analysis
expected rate
Errored Prefixes
Our
Reference
Data
3998 ITA ITA-MOB 30
3217 BEL BEL-MOB 20
...
Errored Rates
Their Keys
Our Keys
Destination
Peak Off peak
Destination
Peak Off peak
1-5 ITA PK .20 .21
2-5 BEL OFF .17 .169
...
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
17
Conclusions on CDRs verification
u Correspondence tables required
l
Destination
l
Peak / Off Peak
u Rating errors identification
l
Prefixes
l
Rates
u Method adapted to CDRs
l
Simple scenarios
u Easy to implement
l
If verification rules are limited
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
18
Conclusions
u Reconciliation Techniques
ITU Deregulation
l
l
l
Compare
Replay
Verify
u Key success factors
l
Control billing process
l
Use tools
•
•
to reconcile
to re-rate
u Increasing importance
l
due to margin reduction
© Intec Telecom Systems PLC 2001
19