Overview of Inter Operator Billing and Accounting System (IOBAS)
and Foreign Carrier Billing
1.0 Introduction
In multi operator network scenario, interconnection among different operators is very
much required. To regulate the various issues involved in the interconnectivity between
the operators, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has unveiled
“Telecommunication Interconnection Usage Charges (IUC) Regulation, 2003” which was
made effect from 1st of May 2003. As per this regulation, the interconnectivity charges
for all the calls made over by the other operators are to be billed by each operator and
also settle the invoices raised by the other operators. This interconnect billing should be
on Minutes of Usage (MOU) basis which can be derived by analyzing the Call Detailed
Records (CDR). This activity requires a separate billing and Accounting System called –
“Inter Operator Billing and Accounting System” (IOBAS).
In order to comply with these regulations, BSNL has called for tenders to implement Call
Detail Records (CDRs) based Inter-operator Billing and Accounting System of Wire line,
Wireless, IP Traffic through Agency based (Bureau/ ASP Model) solution. The solution
should enable BSNL to implement The Telecommunication Interconnection Usage
Charges (IUC) Regulation, 2003, as amended from time to time, issued by TRAI. It
envisaged reduction in the cost of operation, increase revenue realization, stop leakage of
revenue and minimize inter-operator disputes. The ASP is required to set up a Data
Center and a Disaster Recovery Center for processing the CDRs collected from various
BSNL switches. The tender was finalized in Aug. 2004 and three Application Service
Providers (ASP) were awarded the work of IOBAS. The details of the ASPs are listed out
in the Table – I. After validation of POC, the operations of IOBAS on ASP model were
commenced from 28th March 2005.
Details
M/s. Satyam Computer
Services Limited
Primary – Chennai
DR – Bangalore
AP, Kerala, Karnataka,
A&N,
Tamilnadu, Chennai TD,
Assam, Bihar, NE I , NE II,
Jharkhand, Orissa, West
Bengal , Kolkatta TD, ETR
and STR
IOBAS Web http://iobas.satyam.com
Portal
Datacentre
Locations
Circles /
Maintenance
Regions
M/s. Tech Mahindra
Limited (Formerly,
Mahindra British
Telecom Limited)
Primary – Pune
DR - Mumbai
Haryana, J&K, HP,
Rajasthan,
Punjab, UP(East ) ,
UP(West ) ,
Uttaranchal and NTR
M/s. HCL
Infosystems
Limited
Primary – Noida
DR - Hyderabad
Chattisgarh, MP,
Maharashtra,
Gujarat and
WTR
http://iobas.techmahind http://iobas.hcl.in
ra.com:8080/BSNLIOBAS
2.0 Concepts
Before delving into the scope of the IOBAS project of BSNL, it is necessary to
understand some important concepts of interconnect billing.
The networks of any two operators shall have connectivity through E1/STM junctions at
different levels and the exchanges where these junctions exist are termed as “Point of
Interconnection”. Telecom traffic is handed over from one operator to the other operator
in these junctions. These junctions can be either incoming / outgoing or bothways. The
group of circuits / junctions allotted to handle incoming / outgoing or bothway calls is
called a Trunk Group (TGP).
There are four different types of operators available for interconnect purposes – Basic
Service Operator (BSO), Cellular Mobile service Provider (CMSP), National Long
Distance Operator (NLDO) and International Long Distance Operator (ILDO). For
interconnectivity purposes, the UASL operator shall be treated as BSO for the Fixed
Level and Limited Mobility customers and shall be treated as CMSP for Fully Mobility
level customers.
BSNL has decided that POIs shall be provided to Other Licensed Operators (OLO) only
in EWSD, OCB, 5ESS, AXE and C-DoT Technology switches. All other switches in the
network of BSNL are sending the interconnect traffic to the nearest POI. The POIs are
allowed at SDCC tandem exchanges, Lev- II TAXes, Lev – I TAXes. From June 2006
onwards, POIs are being allowed at Cellone GMSC switches also. Each type of POI will
handle certain types of Traffic and will have a certain set of charges. The following Table
shows the connectivity details between BSNL and OLOs.
Block matrix for Different types of POIs. (A : Allowed
Type of POI
SDCC Tandem
Level-II TAX
Level –I TAX
Cellone GMSC
NA: Not Allowed)
Type of IC
Operator
BSO
A
NLDO
A
OG
Remarks
A
NA
Transit out of the SDCA is not allowed
Transit out of the SDCA is not allowed
CMTS
A(*)
A(*)
Transit out of the SDCA is not allowed
BSO
A
A
CMTS
A
A
BSO
A
A
CMTS
ILDO
BSO
CMTS
NLDO
ILDO
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
NA
A
A
NA
NA
All types of OG calls are allowed.
BSO can pump its LDCA traffic only.
Transit allowed upto LDCA. Cellular Transit
allowed.
All types of OG calls are allowed.
BSO can pump its LDCA traffic only.
All types of OG calls are allowed.
(*) – Only in Metro Districts.
Transit out of circle is not allowed
Transit out of circle is not allowed
Transit is not allowed
Transit is not allowed
3.0 Scope of Present IOBAS systems
As part of the tender, all the three ASPs is have set up a Data Center and a Disaster
Recovery Center for processing the CDRs collected from various BSNL Points of
Interconnect (POI). All the POIs except for the Cellone POIs are covered under this
IOBAS system. The Cellone POIs are being managed through a separate ICB software
available with the Cellone Billing units. The data center of each of the ASPs is connected
to a designated location (Level- I TAX) through a MPLS VPN network over a leased line
created by ASP. At this Level I TAX location, ASPs have setup their infrastructure for
collection of CDRs from all the POI locations in that circle / Maintenance Region.
ASP will process these Call Detail Records (CDRs) collected from POI locations and will
provide Operator wise Bills and Comparison Statements so that BSNL can settle the IUC
charges payable/ receivable to/ from the Other License Operators (OLO).
Various Processes involved in the entire process right from CDR generation to the
invoice generation stage are explained in the following paras.
3.1 Collection Process
At each POI location, the exchange incharge has to ensure that the necessary MML
commands are given so that CDRs are generated for all the calls exchanged between
BSNL and the OLO. The POI incharge should store these CDR files in regular intervals –
preferably on daily basis – in a PC located at the exchange. This PC is to be provided by
SSAs so that the CDR files can be stored by the POI incharge. The POI incharge then has
to run a script to rename the CDR files as per the directions given by the ASP.
The CDR files located on these POI PCs are then collected by the ASP either through
WAN or through Dial up network. All these files are aggregated and stored in the Servers
supplied by the ASPs at the respective Level -I TAX locations. The ASPs then pull the
CDR files from the Level- I TAX servers to the Data Centre locations through the MPLS
Cloud.
3.2 Mediation
Mediation system collects CDRs from aggregation points, converts it into compatible
formats & Distributes the CDRs to the downstream applications i.e., to the Interoperator
Billing system. The main features of the mediation system are •
Collection, Conversion & Distribution of CDRs
•
Selection & validation of CDRs
•
Elimination/Filtering of CDRs
•
Merging of Multiple CDRs
•
Duplicate CDR detection
•
Time gap detection
•
Flexible processing & error handling of CDRs
•
Database Look up
Mediation system converts the CDRs of different formats received from different
technology switches into normalized records with a standard internal format. The system
identifies the type of call based on the TGP Group (as specified in the IUC circulars). It
eliminates the non IUC CDRs and rejects the same. Further, the CDRs are segregated into
rateable CDRs (both incoming and outgoing), non rateable CDRs (error CDRs), Partial
CDRs. Duplicate CDRs are identified and filtered. The system merges multiple CDRs of
a single long duration call into a single CDR. The rateable CDRs are then distributed to
the billing system, which rates the calls based on IUC and generates the invoice.
The mediation system is generates Time Gap Analysis (TGA) Reports, based on the
threshold time gaps configured in the system. If the time duration between two CDRs in a
CDR file from a POI is more than the time gap specified, all such cases shall be reported
in the TGA report.
All the error CDRs can be analysed and corrective action can be taken. If any CDR can
not be analysed due to non availability of proper logic for analyzing the call or the TGP
itself is not configured, those CDRs are stored in separately and these Error CDRs can be
analysed as and when the proper logic/ the TGPs are configured.
3.3 Billing
All the rateable CDRs are summarized and priced on the basis of applicable IUC rates.
The Interconnect billing process shall run, according to a pre-defined schedule, for each
OLO with whom BSNL signs an interconnect agreement. Exception bill production
requests shall be supported. The bill process shall include both Invoices (for all incoming
calls) and expected payment statements (for all Outgoing calls), as required.
The ASP first generates the Draft Invoices and OG statements for each OLO service
areawise and based on the sign offs received from various field units, Final Invoices and
OG statements are generated and hosted on the web Portal. Normally, all the CDRs of a
particular month should be collected by 2nd of the following month and the draft invoices
are to be released by 7th of the following month. Final invoices are to be released by 10th
of the following month.
Supplementary Invoices can be generated and released as and the error CDRs are cleared
by the field units. As per the Corporate Office Orders, supplementary invoices are to be
released by 25th of every month i.e., within 15 days of release of Main invoices.
3.4 Accounting
The ASPs shall develop and maintain a web portal for the purpose of interacting with the
various field units. The accounting units at the circle level have to input the payments
received against each invoice generated by the system, the invoice received from the
OLO and the payments made against that invoice from OLO. The ASP shall make
interest calculations on the outstandings if any. A consolidated statement of payables and
receivables is to be generated by the system. However, as interest calculations are
differing from one OLO to another, interest calculation is not included in the present
system.
3.5 Web Portal
Each of the ASPs have developed and are maintaining a web portal to enable the users of
various levels to access the CDR Collection status, Mediation status, downloading the
Invoices, OG statements and many other reports. The following features are available in
the web portals.










User Access and Privileges
Reference Data (Add/ Modify/ Delete)
Fault/ Outage Management Module
Error correction module
Billing (Invoice & statement for OLO & ASP)
Report module (TGA, data reconciliation, traffic)
Reconciliation
Circular
Help Desk/ Contact details
FAQ
3.6 Reconciliation and Dispute Resolution
The system has automatic reconciliation mechanisms and it is possible to resolve the
disputes with the OLOs quickly. However, as per the data storage policy, only three
months CDRs are stored online. Hence, the disputes are to be sent to the ASP within ten
days of issuing of invoices so that all the required CDR data is available online and
disputes can be resolved quickly. As per the various Interconnect agreements signed with
the OLOs, OLOs are supposed to report any discrepancy in the invoice raised by BSNL
within one week of receiving the invoices. Hence, a quick action is required by the field
units for early resolution of disputes with OLOs.
4.0 Setup at Circle/ Data Center level
The introduction of ASP based IOBAS system has resulted in new units in BSNL
organizational setup. In order to coordinate with the various activities being performed by
the ASP at the Data Centres, a unit under IT Project Circle has started functioning at the
Data Centre Premises. Similarly, to coordinate with the various POIs in different SSAs of
a circle /maintenance region, a circle level set up has been started’
4.1
Circle level set up
Each circle has created an IOBAS Finance cell under GM (Finance) or [GM (TR)
wherever available] and IOBAS Technical cell under GM (NC) / DGM (NC) of the
circle. Both of these units comprise an officer of STS rank and two subordinate officers
to assist. Suggested structure of these two units is depicted below:
GM (NC) of the concerned circle is the overall coordinating authority for the territorial
circles and GM (HQ) of the maintenance regions is the nodal coordinating authority for
maintenance regions. The Aggregation Centers located at level 1 TAX locations are
under the control of maintenance regions.
The POI incharges continue to be under respective SSAs. Each SSA has designated an
officer responsible for co-ordination with Nregarding all information pertaining to the
data (CDRs) collection process and POI related data like addition / deletion of junctions,
OLO’s etc.
4.2
Data Center level setup
Two officers from finance and two officers from technical wing are posted at Pune and
Noida Data centers and three each at Chennai Data Center. One officer from finance must
be of STS rank. These officers shall report to CGM (IT) Project Circle through DGM
(IOBAS) / GM (F), IT Project Circle. Senior most person shall be the default group
leader unless otherwise specified by CGM, IT Project Circle, Pune.
CGM ITPC
GM (F), ITPC
DGM (IOBAS), ITPC
CAO / DE (Data Centre)
5.0
AO / AAO / JAO
Data Centre
Roles and Responsibilities
SDE / JTO
Data Centre
The roles and responsibilities of ASP, various units of BSNL are described in this
section.
5.1
Responsibility allocation between BSNL and ASP
Code Activity Name
B-1
Recording of
CDRs
B-2
CDRs
transferred
POI PC
Location Activity Owner
of
Primary Secondary
Activity
POI
BSNL
Responsibility Responsible for
of
POI
BSNL
POI In charge
Level
One
TAX
ASP
POI In charge
to
B-3
CDRs
transferred
to aggregation
PC at Level - I
TAX
B-4
Data transfer
ASP
From Level - 1 Data
TAX to ASP Center
Data Center
ASP
BSNL
Correct and
complete
recording
Correct and
complete transfer
Primary- ASP
Secondary BSNL SSA
Correct
complete
aggregation
&
ASP
Correct
complete
Data transfer
&
Code Activity Name
Location Activity Owner
of
Primary Secondary
Activity
ASP
ASP
Data
Center
Responsibility Responsible for
of
ASP
Correct
complete
conversion
ASP
Data
Center
ASP
Comprehensive
reconciliation of
accepted
and
error records
Ensuring
rectification
of
BSNL network
element level
problems, so as
to
prevent
recurrence
of
errors, as well as
getting
confirmation of
identified cause
of errors from
concerned BSNL
personnel
Complete data
conversion
B-5
Data flow to
conversion /
mediation
process
B-6
Identification
of errors
B-7
Coordination
ASP
with POI in
Data
charge and GM Center
NC of circle
for rectification
of error generat
ing causes
BSNL
B-8
Reprocessing
of data in
conversion /
mediation
module
for
error
rectification
Reconciliation
of records at
the end of error
rectification
process
ASP
Data
Center
ASP
ASP
Data
Center
ASP
B-9
ASP
ASP
DC personnel
ASP
BSNL
ASP
&
Reconciliation of
total
files
originally loaded
at the POI PC,
aggregated
at
data centre with
converted
plus
rejected records
at data center at
the
end
of
mediation
process
Code Activity Name
Responsibility Responsible for
of
B-10
Location Activity Owner
of
Primary Secondary
Activity
Data transfer
ASP
ASP
From
Data
mediation
to Center
Interconnect
system
ASP
B-11
Verification of
segregation
ASP
Data
Center
BSNL
B-12
Pre rating
ASP
Data
Center
ASP
Primary -Data
Center
personnel
SecondaryASP
ASP
B-13
Rating
ASP
Data
Center
ASP
B-14
Analysis
of ASP
non
rateable Data
CDRs
Center
BSNL
ASP
B-15
Rerating of
error CDRs
ASP
Data
Center
ASP
BSNL
B-16
Sign off for
preparation of
Invoice
Circle
IOBAS
Cell
BSNL
ASP
Segregation of
CDRs into
rateable,
nonrateable,
rejected
and partial CDRs
Satisfy
themselves
as to the
segregation done.
Segregation of
CDRs
into
incoming
and
outgoing.
ASP
Rating of CDRs,
and segregation
of non rateable
CDRs
Primary- Data Analyze the non
Center
rateable
CDRs
personnel
and record the
Secondary – reasons for non
ASP
rateable, rejected
and
partial
CDRs.
Primary- ASP
SecondaryData Center
personnel
Elimination of all
error
records.
Logic
for
processing
the
error CDRs to be
recorded.
Head
of To sign off the
“Circle
completion
of
IOBAS Cell” data update in
respect of all
POIs in their
circle before
starting of the
final bill process.
Code Activity Name
Location Activity Owner
of
Primary Secondary
Activity
ASP
ASP
BSNL
Data
center
Responsibility Responsible for
of
ASP
Data
Center
Primary- ASP
SecondaryData Center
personnel
B-17
Post rating
B-18
Invoice
Preparation
5.2
Responsibilities of BSNL units
ASP
BSNL
Primary- ASP
SecondaryData Center
personnel
Addition/
modifications of
fixed charges as
provided
by
Circle
IOBAS
Unit
Preparation
of
final invoice for
incoming calls,
and comparison
statements for
outgoing calls for
each operator,
along with SSA
wise details.
5.2.1 BSNL Team at ASP’s Data Center
a) Act as a liaison team for the ASP, POI in-charges and Circle Coordinators.
b) Any Change Process initiated to modify the configured data shall pass through this
team before the same is implemented in the system.
c) Monitoring of data collection status (POI -wise).
d) Ensure that CDRs are collected on regular basis from all POI s.
e) Daily monitoring of CDR processing with respect to number of CDRs collected,
number of CDRs processed, number of CDRs rejected, status of error CDRs,
correction status of error CDRs etc.
f) Co-ordinate with the concerned circle POI in charge or Network Coordination (Cell)
for confirmation of the cause of CDR errors.
g) Rectification of error CDRs based on approved business rules.
h) Finance Officer at DC to confirm the outcome of error rectification process at each
stage after re processing, with a view to ensure that there is a consistency in total of
all type of records and the break up of number of each type of records.
i) Quality check based on sampling plan for the invoice generated.
j) Pre- checks of all the bills and statements created by the system.
k) Authentication of all the invoices and statements (Circle, SSA and POI wise)
generated by the ASP.
l) Furnish circle wise monthly report of invoices (Incoming calls) and Statements
(Outgoing Calls) to CGM IT Project Circle, Pune.
m) Reconciliation of invoices and statements based on data received from OLO in
association with ASP.
n) Each process of billing shall have an activity log, and errors of each process shall be
scrutinized in association with the ASP.
o) Ensure that a sign off is received from the concerned circles, before final invoice
generation activity for that circle takes place at the Data Cent re.
p) Ensure that the services are delivered to BSNL as per the desired service level
agreement.
q) Maintain a log of planned and unplanned outages and send a monthly report to CGM
IT Project Circle.
r) In case of violation of any of the service level norm, forward a case to CGM IT
Project Circle for imposition of necessary penalties indicating the type of breach, time
of breach, response time, resolution time, escalations done by ASP, etc.
s) Inform CGM IT Project Circle about major violation of service level norm, disaster
like situations, actual disaster, etc, immediately after its occurrence.
t) Any other activity as assigned by CGM, IT Project Circle, Pune.
5.2.2
Duties & Responsibility of POI In- charge
POI In- charge is one of the vital links in total chain of Inter-Operator Settlement System.
Each POI has an Officer designated as POI In-charge not necessarily with exclusive
responsibility. Personal details along with Telephone, FAX etc. are to be communicated
to respective Data Centre for day- to-day communication. Duties and responsibilities of
POI In-charge inter-alia shall be as follows: a) To ensure configuration and upkeep of Trunk Groups meant for Other Licensed
Operators (OLOs).
b) To ensure generation of CDRs for 100% calls sent and received on all Trunk
Groups meant for OLOs.
c) To liaison effectively with the BSNL Officials posted at Data Centers in order to
ensure POI related configuration data on the ASPs software system.
d) To take CDR back-up on storage media on daily basis and subsequent dump on
POI -PC.
e) To ensure proper up-keep of POI PC, its availability and connectivity to Level- I
TAX location round the clock for data transfer and access to software system of
ASP. To ensure that antivirus application is installed and regularly updated on the
system.
f) To monitor data transfer done by the ASP through analysis of log at POI PC and
online report generated by ASP.
g) Analysis of CDR processing report and CDR distribution (Trunk group wise)
done for individual POI and available on IOBAS Portal of respective ASP.
h) To ensure entry of IOBAS specific data in ASP’s system for new POI creation.
i) To help BSNL Officials posted at ASP’s Data Centre in correction of error CDRs.
j) Maintenance of Manual Log Book for POI related activities.
k) Entry of MCU bulk Meter reading during every Bill Cycle in the Log Book.
l) Any other activity related with POI.
5.2.3 Circle coordinator’s Role and Circle IOBAS Cell
Circle Coordinator at each circle is the single point of contact for all ASPs to sort out any
circle related issue. GM (NC) or DGM (NC) or any other officer designated by the CGM
shall function as Circle Coordinator. The roles and responsibilities of circle coordinators’
shall inter-alia include:
(a) Ensure correctness of following data provided to the ASP:
(i)
POI related data ( including MTNL) .
(ii)
Operator’s Agreement data.
(iii) Working levels of different operators under the region.
(iv)
Details of adjacent LDCA.
(v)
Any other information required by ASP for IOBAS
All GMs (NC) / Officers responsible for POI and IUC monitoring at circles shall ensure
that complete IUC CDRs of all POI s in their circles are made available to the IOBAS
ASP at regular intervals during a month.
a. To ensure that all the POI s are configured properly so that no CDRs are missed for
the trunk Groups ( IC&OG) allotted to other Licensed Operator including MTNL.
b. Resolve all switch specific problem pertaining to CDR generation.
c. To ensure that no new POI s are opened before the configuration data pertaining to
new POI is entered in the IOBAS.
d. All issues related with data network (Dial-up, Leased Line and mixed) roll out for
collection of CDR data.
Each Circle Coordinator shall head the Circle IOBAS technical unit, which shall have
following responsibilities:
 Regularly monitor the results of CDR processing SSA wise, POI wise and
Circle wise at different stages – mediation, pre rating and final rating.
 Provide logic for processing of error CDRs through the portal when
authorized to do so by the BSNL staff at the data centre (core group) .
 View POI details of all POI s in the circle. Monitor changes being done by
POI in- charges regarding POI particulars.
The Circle IOBAS financial unit shall have following responsibilities:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
Manage a facility to upload the bills raised by OLO and the CDR files
given by OLO in standard format.
Give a go-ahead for the final bill process to start for the circle.
Monitor the results of the reconciliation process on the portal and decide
on the dispute based on these results.
Convey the decision to the Data Center personnel for raising the final
invoice based on this decision.
(v)
(vi)
(vii)
6.0
To input the payment particulars (both incoming and outgoing) into
IOBAS
Printing of invoice and sanction memo at circle level.
Utilize the IOBAS web portal:
a. To sign off the completion of data update in respect of all POI s in
their circle before starting of the billing process. This is to ensure that
all POI related data is input into the system before the billing process
for the circle starts.
b. To view and to print the bills, variation statements, control statements
and all reports required by the circle.
c. To send other operators’ CDRs to the respective ASP for
reconciliation in case of dispute.
Foreign Carrier Billing
BSNL initially started its ILDO operations using the infrastructure of M/s VSNL for the
Operations and Billing purposes. During December-06 BSNL has rolled out its
operations using its own infrastructure and wanted to make use of IOBAS platform for
the Billing and Accounting Activities of ILDO activities. As an ILDO, BSNL has
connectivity with the Foreign Carriers at the six ILD gateways located at Mumbai,
Chennai, Kolkatta, Delhi, Ernakulam and Jalandhar. Billing and Accounting of the traffic
exchanged at these gateways with the various Foreign Carriers is the essence of Foreign
Carrier Billing.
The main important feature of the foreign carrier billing is that the billing and settlement
is on the basis Greenwitch Mean Time (GMT) timings. A single invoice is to be
generated for each Foreign Carrier for the traffic received in any of the gateways and
similarly, FCs send a single invoice for the calls handed over by BSNL into their
network. As a single invoice is to be issued to the FCs, Corporate Office has authorized
WTR to raise the invoices on behalf of BSNL and to settle the claims of the FCs. The
settlement is mostly in USD. Though the settlement rates change every day, BSNL has
agreed to change the rates with a notice period of atleast one week. In practice, on an
average, atleast 3 rate changes are effected in a month.
The BSNL-ILDO Billing & Accounting is being done on the basis of detailed Call Data
Records (CDRs) recorded by BSNL-ILDO at their Point Of Interconnections (POIs)
using IOBAS network which is already extended to the ILDO switches. In this billing
model all the ASPs(Application Service Providers) are processing the CDRs(pertained to
both incoming and Outgoing) of Foreign Carriers/Foreign affiliates connected at the
ILDO POIs and one of the ASPs designated as Leading ASP shall collect the bill line
wise aggregated data and generate All-India Level Invoices, OG-Statements and related
reports centrally from one location.
The Leading ASPs and the Secondary ASPs were selected by IT Project Circle among the
ASPs of the IOBAS through a Limited Tender and the work was awarded in Dec 2006.
Name of the firm
Role
Zone
M/ s Satyam Computer
Services Ltd
Secondary ASP
South & East Zones
M/ s Tech Mahindra Ltd
Secondary ASP
&Leading ASP
North Zone (Secondary ASP
Role)
All India (Leading ASP Role)
M/ s HCL Infosystems
Ltd
Secondary ASP
West Zone
6.1
Administrative Setup
As already detailed above, WTR is the single nodal agency for the billing and settlement
of invoices of FC for the entire country. The DGM, TAX WTR, Mumbai is the
Coordinating Officer for all these activities. All the activities performed by a circle NS
wing / Finance wing in the case of IOBAS are being performed by the unit of DGM TAX
WTR, Mumbai in FC billing. The activities being performed by this unit are –
a. Providing the Rate Agreements to the ASPs through the web-Portal/email in the
proper format.
b. Allotment of Unique Operator Codes for the FCs/FAs
c. Allotment of Trunk group Nos/name to the ILD POIs.
d. Allotment of Unique Bill line IDs for each and every rate quotation.
e. Providing inputs to the ASPs for the clearance of error CDRs.
f. Verification of Draft Invoices and OG statements generated by LASP.
g. Verification shall be done on the basis of MOU details submitted by the POI Incharges of ILDO Switches.
h. Issuance of Invoices to the Foreign Carriers.
i. Receipt of Payments and making of Payments.
j. Providing the reference data like additions and deletions of Foreign Carriers,
Additions and deletions of Trunk Group Data etc.
k. Monitoring of Supplementary Invoices
l. Dispute settlements.
6.2
Roles and Responsibilities
6.2.1 Roles and responsibilities of lead as well as secondary ASPs
All ASPs (Lead as well as Secondary) shall be responsible for the following:
a. Collection/Mediation of ILDO CDRs
b. Identify the direction of the Call(Incoming or Outgoing or Transit) name of the
Carrier based on the Trunk Group Identifier available in the CDR, and flag it with
appropriate bill line.
c. Daily aggregation of the data as per different bill lines of the agreements and send
the aggregated data along with the processed & flat rated CDRs to the designated
Leading ASP, across the Network. The files are to be sent to the LASP as per the
standard data formats.
d. The ASP should maintain errors separately from the IOBAS. The errors should be
cleared before every fortnight and sent to the LASP with a certificate that all the
CDRs and errors have been rated for that fortnight.
6.2.2 Roles and responsibilities of Leading ASP
Leading ASP is to perform below mentioned activities but not limited to and shall be
responsible for following:
a. The LASP shall collect all the aggregated Data from the other two ASPs
(Secondary ASPs) and combine it that of his own zone.
b. The LASP shall apply rating according to the rating agreements entered with the
Foreign Carriers.
c. The LASP shall also provide a facility in his web portal for the Central team of
BSNL, to upload the agreement details of various Foreign Carriers through an
Excel sheet.
d. The LASP shall generate Invoices, Outgoing statements on monthly basis at all
India Level. He shall also provide supporting reports for the Invoices and OG
statements and also provide the other management reports requested by BSNL
from time to time.
e. The leading ASP shall prepare draft Invoice and final Invoice as in the case of
IOBAS.
f. The LASP shall take care of complete Billing and Accounting of ILDO Billing. It
shall maintain a logical separation between the IUC and ILDO Billing.
g. The LASP shall incorporate suitable provisions in the web portal to enable the
central team to perform all kind of activities involved in the ILD Billing.
h. The LASP shall re-rate and generate supplementary Bills, Credit adjustments if
the situation so arises.
i. The LASP shall implements the other features like other currency billing,
discounting, netting etc.
j. The leading ASP will prepare the comparison statement as per the inputs supplied
by the BSNL.
k. The leading ASP will be responsible for the timely preparation of the ILDO bills.
l. The leading ASP should collect all the rated CDRs from the other ASPs for the
purpose of periodical reconciliation.
m. The LASP will provide the rated CDRs to BSNL incase of disputes.
n. The ASP needs to maintain the same norms of IOBAS with respect to storage of
data.
7.0
Future Setup
The CDR based Customer Care and Convergent Billing project envisages IOBAS and
Foreign Carrier Billing. As and when the IOBAS module of CDR Project is ready, the
entire operations being performed at the data centres of ASPs shall be shifted to the CDR
Data Centres. All the other processes / circle level organizational setups in the existing
IOBAS set up shall remain the same except the CDRs shall be collected online directly to
the data centre through the Aggregation routers. The following table indicates the areas of
operation of CDR Data Centres.
Sl.
No.
Data Centre
1.
East
2.
South
3.
4.
West
North
Location of Area of Operations
Data
Centre
Kolkatta
A&N, Assam, Bihar, NE I , NE II, Jharkhand, Orissa,
West Bengal , Kolkatta TD and ETR
Hyderabad AP, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Chennai TD and
STR
Pune
Chattisgarh, MP, Maharashtra, Gujarat and WTR
Chandigarh Haryana, J&K, HP, Rajasthan, Punjab, UP(East),
UP(West ), Uttaranchal and NTR
The SIs of CDR Project – M/s. TCS and M/s. HCL Info systems Ltd. shall migrate the
existing IOBAS systems from the ASPs to the CDR Project system. However, as the
migration of entire call data requires huge storage, it is necessary that all the dispute cases
with the OLOs should be resolved in the existing ASP based IOBAS system itself
immediately so that the migration exercise is smooth and IOBAS has a smooth change
over.