Billing World Standards Watch Cibernet Formulates Near Real-time Billing Settlement Standard

A new wireless billing standard for roaming is hot off the press. The Non-Signaling Data Protocol for Billing and Settlement (NSDPB&S), which was developed by Cibernet in cooperation with industry experts, is designed to facilitate the exchange of billing data near real-time. Presently, billing records are exchanged in batch form once per month and follow an older set of guidelines. It is hoped that the new standard will expedite the exchange of billing information between carriers, clearing houses, billing service bureaus and customers, says Mary Clark, director of Cibernet, Washington, D.C.

NSDPB&S grew out of a pre-existing wireless standard called the Cellular Radio Telecommunications Intersystem Non-Signaling Data communications standard, a.k.a. IS 124. "Back in 1993, a discussion began about how we could exchange call detail, rating and service information more efficiently," says Clark. IS 124, a standard for the exchange of certain information in less than 15 seconds, was developed, but did not cover the exchange of billing information. So, Cibernet set out to establish extensions of 124. Building on the principles of the original standard, NSDPB&S outlines business applications for the newer billing platforms, so that information concerning service usage will be available from a call detail information source in near real-time, says Clark.

Exchange of Billing Information at Present

Currently, the billing environment for roaming is based on the exchange of records that conform to a standard called CIBER. When a caller whose home carrier is Baltimore travels to New York, for instance, the carriers have a standard way to exchange billing and usage information. When the Baltimore carrier's customer makes a call in New York, a call detail record is produced. It goes from the nearest switch to the New York carrier's billing service bureau. The service bureau then takes the raw data and makes it conform to the "CIBER" standard. (CIBER stands for the Cellular Intercarrier Billing Exchange Roamer record and is the industry standard for the transfer of roaming related billing information in batch form between roaming partners. CIBER is designed to accommodate circuit switched wireless communications services that are billed on a time increment basis.)

From the New York carrier's billing system or vendor, these CIBER records are forwarded to its clearing house, which checks each field in each record for compliance with the standard CIBER format. For example, the clearing house may have an internal check that shows a particular field can only be 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. In the case of a 7, the clearing house will send the record back to the New York carrier's billing system or vendor, says Clark.

If the CIBER record complies with the internal checks, then it is forwarded on to the home carrier's clearing house, which will ask business questions, such as, "Is there a roaming agreement between these two carriers?" and "Does this CIBER record show the correct rate according to the carrier-to-carrier roaming agreement?" The record then is passed on to the home carrier's billing system or vendor.

When the billing cycle for roaming ends on the 15th of the month, clearing houses reconcile their batches and mail activity reports to the carriers. The report contains the dollar amount that each carrier owes the other.

The same reports are mailed to Cibernet, which produces the settlement statements that declare how much each carrier owes its roaming partners collectively. At this point, the carrier pays this amount into its account at Cibernet. These transactions are handled for Cibernet by Chase Manhattan Bank, says Clark.

What does the new standard do?

The new standard does what CIBER does, but potentially quicker," says Clark. Instead of a monthly collection of all of these CIBER records on the 15th in batch form, the records will be forwarded on a continuous basis near real time.The new standard will allow call detail records to be forwarded to call detail record generation points at a billing service bureau or a carrier's in-house billing system. The away carrier's service bureau or billing system will create a rated usage message, which is, in turn, forwarded to the call detail collection point at the home carrier's billing vendor or in-house system. As a result, the home carrier's customer service representatives can then access this billing information for the wireless customers.

ut it is up to each wireless carrier, billing vendor and service bureau to develop applications and change business processes to take advantage of the new standard, says Clark. Presently, there are no real time billing applications for roaming, she believes.

Cibernet is forwarding the new standard to all its information technology vendors and wireless carriers in the hope that they will develop applications for it, says Clark. And some vendors are already working on these applications, she says.