IT Billing - International Roaming
International Roaming
Some Jargons
| HPLMN | Home Public Land Mobile Network |
| VPLMN | Visitor Public Land Mobile Network |
| EDCH | Etisalat Data Clearing House |
| DCH | Data Clearing House: takes care of file transfers, financial clearing, fraud control, reports, roaming agreements, testing & training Or simply, a company that collects roaming records from numerous operators, then collates and redistributes them for billing and settlement purposes |
| TAP | Transfer Account Procedure: usually referred to as the CDR files exchanged between operators |
| SDR |
Standard Drawing Rights: is an exchange
rate compared to the USD in international market taken on 23rd of every
month. Example: 1SDR=1.2882 USD Billing takes the SDR rate on 23rd of every month to be applicable for the whole of next month. See www.imf.org for details. |
| IREG | Intl Roaming Expert Group: includes call case testing and signaling or a working group within the GSM Association that considers technical issues of inter-network signaling |
| TADIG | Transfer Account Data Interchange Group: includes processing and transfer of CDR files or a working group within the GSM Association that oversees the file format and interchange mechanisms of call related data (TAP files) to support the billing requirements of international roaming |
| TAP-IN | CDR file produced by the other operator for use of their network for own subscribers |
| TAP-OUT | CDR file produced by the subscribers from other network for use of own network |
| X.25/ FTAM | Modes of data (CDR file) interchange |
| EXCHANGE RATE | Rate used to convert SDR to own/operator’s currency |
| VALIDATION | Set of procedures determining the file (TAP-IN) is a valid file in terms of the contents |
| INVOICE | Statement of the amount payable/receivable for use of the network |
| RECONCILLIATION REPORT | A report confirming the settlements taking place |
| GSM MoU | Global System for Mobile Memorandum of Understanding: guideline dictating the practices, operations, procedures etc of a GSM network. GSM Association has its headquarter in Dublin, Ireland |
| ROAMING AGREEMENT | The agreement that defines the terms under which roaming partners will (a) provide roaming services to each other’s customers and (b) manage exchange and settlement of roaming financials |
| TDMA | Time Division Multiple Access: (1) a technique to increase capacity using voice compression and multiple time slots on a radio channel. (2) TIA IS-136 standard for TDMA mobile systems in AMPS environment |
| TIA | Telecommunications Industry Association: North American standards-making technical association |
For two operators to come together and offer roaming, they must sign an agreement according to the GSM MoU and may engage a Data Clearing House i.e. EDCH as in our case. They will also define couple of things in their networks such as:
E164: CC
and NDC i.e. 92 (country code) and 333 (national destination code) respectively
E212: MCC and MNC i.e. 410 (mobile country code) & 03 (mobile network code)
respectively
E214 Hybrid: IMSI series i.e. 41003xxxxxxxxxx & Mobile Number series i.e.
92333xxxxxxx (41003 is replaced by 92333)
Ufone is currently using TAP 2 file format and will be using TAP 3 in phase-2
Lets now see how calls travel on the network while roaming:
TAP-OUT Call Communication:
Another operator's subscriber using Ufone network will have his calls rated by Ufone and sent via a data clearing house to the other operator in a file called TAP-OUT.
Call flow in
the diagram:
Etisalat Roamer to Etisalat Roamer
Case 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Etisalat Roamer to Ufone/Mobilink/Paktel/Instaphone/PSTN Number
Case 1, 6
Etisalat Roamer to Etisalat Number
Case 1, 2, 3, 7
Etisalat Roamer to Other Number
Case 1, 2, 3, 8, 9
TAP-IN Call Communication:
Ufone's subscriber using another operator's network will have his calls rated by the other operator and sent via a data clearing house to Ufone in a file called TAP-IN.
Call flow in
the diagram:
Ufone Roamer to Ufone Roamer
Case 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Ufone Roamer to Etisalat Number
Case 1, 6
Ufone Roamer to Ufone Number
Case 1, 2, 3, 7
Ufone Roamer to Other Number
Case 1, 2, 3, 8, 9
Calculating charges for a call while on International Roaming
The exchange currency for TAP-OUT will be USD against the SDR.
1 SDR = 1.2882 USD
\1USD = 0.77626 SDR
Example IDD Rate for UAE:
Example SMS Tariffs:
SMS Call Type |
Charges |
|
SMS MO Call: |
USD 15 |
|
SMS MT Call: |
USD 3 |
Example TAP-OUT Package-1 Airtime Tariffs:
Rate Band |
Outgoing |
Incoming |
Peak |
15 |
5 |
Off Peak |
10 |
3 |
Night |
5 |
1 |
Example TAP-OUT “Out OC Uplift” & Taxes:
Tax Rate: 12%
Unit of Charge:
Example Domestic Call Pricing (For OG/IC calls):
Formulae:
a : Airtime charge in TAP OUT file. [airtime = airtime charge* roundup{duration/60)}]
b : Convert the charge to SDR = (a * 0.77626) and place on normalised_event and charge tables.
c : Apply Uplift to the charge (b).= OC Uplift.
d : Apply Tax to (charge + Uplift) => (b + c) * TAP OUT Tax Rate.
e : (b + c + d) = billable charge placed on the charge table.
Example IDD Call Pricing (OG):
Formulae:
a : (Airtime + IDD Rate) in TAP OUT file. [IDD = IDD charge* roundup{duration/20)}]
b : Convert the charge to SDR = (a * 0.77626) and place on normalised_event and charge tables.
c : Apply Uplift to the charge (b).= OC Uplift.
d : Apply Tax to (charge + Uplift) => (b + c) * TAP OUT Tax Rate.
e : (b + c + d) = billable charge placed on the charge table.
The VPLMN rates our customers’ usage according to packages defined in their system. This may be (but not necessarily) in their own local currency but when the VPLMN converts these CDRs into TAP file, the charges are converted to SDR.
Billing Customers for Roaming:
Customers will be billed in PKR no matter to which country then went for roaming i.e. charging is transparent to the customer.
The Tariffs are agreed upon with the other roaming partner and our customers billed according to that. We however may also apply some Uplift if we require, upon receipt of the TAP-IN file
For more information, please contact Marketing, Ufone.
The exchange currency for TAP-OUT will be PKR against the SDR. This is due to the fact that we bill our customers in PKR and not any other currency. PKR is the unit of currency for the Ufone invoice. 1SDR = 78.7582 PKR
\1 PKR = 0.012697 SDR
Example TAP-IN “Inc OC Uplift”, “Inc TC Uplift”& Taxes:
MT Call: 30%
Tax Rate: 10%
Example IDD Rate for Free Incoming Calls received in UAE:
Example For MO Calls in Other Operator Network:
a : SDR charge in TAP IN file.
b : Convert the charge to PAK Rupees = (a * 78.7582) and place on normalised_event and charge tables.
c : Apply Uplift to the charge (b).= OC Uplift.
d : Apply Tax to (charge + Uplift) => (b + c) * TAP IN Tax Rate.
e : (b + c + d) = billable charge placed on the charge table.
Example For MT Calls in Other Operator Network:
a : SDR charge in TAP IN file.
b : Convert the charge to PAK Rupees = (a * 78.7582) and place on normalised_event and charge tables.
c : Apply uplift to the charge (a) = TC Uplift.
d : Apply Tax to (charge + Uplift) => (b + c) * TAPIN Tax Rate.
e : (b + c + d) = billable charge placed on the charge table.
Call Pricing Calculator !!
Call Pricing Calculator (International)
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