Convergent charging and billing (also known as convergent charging, converged charging and convergent billing), is a solution in the

telecommunication Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than tha ...

s industry that enables common management of all users and all services for operators.OSS/BSS analyst, May 2006, http://www.comptel.com/content/PDF/OBA052906.pdf?from=4487384376887653 European Communications September 2006, It includes convergence of payment methods like prepaid and postpaid,Ericsson Review Magazine No 1, 2009, Article by Robert Törnkvist and Ralph Schubert, http://www.ericsson.com/ericsson/corpinfo/publications/review/2009_01/files/Charging.pdfLight Reading, June 2007, http://www.lightreading.com/mobile/document.asp?doc_id=125681Vanilla Plus, October 2008, http://www.vanillaplus.com/downloads/expert-opinions4.pdfOvum, Cynthia Leung, Senior Analyst, http://www.ovum.com/go/content/c,73480 as well as access methods and services like fixed telephony,

mobile telephony Mobile telephony is the provision of telephone services to phones which may move around freely rather than stay fixed in one location. Telephony is supposed to specifically point to a voice-only service or connection, though sometimes the ...

broadband In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...

and TV.Vanilla Plus, October 2006, http://www.vanillaplus.com/downloads/expert-opinions4.pdf

Characteristics

Characteristics attributed to a convergent charging & billing system include support for multiple service types such as voice, data,

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradi ...

and content, support for bundling of services and the ability to create a single bill and statement for all communications services including fixed, mobile, broadband and TV. A converged charging system is described as having the ability to control services and manage balances in real-time. This includes, for example, authenticating the

subscriber The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century, and ...

and checking the account balance before service delivery to the end user. A converged charging system can also notify users when the account balance threshold set by the operator is reached, or terminate service connectivity when real-time charging indicates that credit has been depleted. This real-time capability can be used to deliver promotions and notifications to service users to stimulate usage.

Rationale

The need for convergent charging & billing has been partly explained by consolidation within the communications industry, the launch of new multimedia services and the increasing emergence of multi-play service offerings on mobile networks.Vanilla Plus, February 2009, http://www.vanillaplus.com/im_files/pages/VPFeb09_13-15_lr.pdf A number of motivations have been suggested to explain why mobile telecoms providers use convergent charging & billing. One is the ability to offer mobile service packages that include both pre- and post-paid services. Another is a sustained drop in Operating Expenditure thanks to reduced billing system complexity, since operators run a single billing platform rather than multiple ones. The telecoms and software consulting firm

Ovum The egg cell, or ovum (plural ova), is the female reproductive cell, or gamete, in most anisogamous organisms (organisms that reproduce sexually with a larger, female gamete and a smaller, male one). The term is used when the female gamete i ...

has said that convergent charging can greatly reduce revenue leakage. Swedish telecoms supplier

Ericsson (lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Sweden, Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in ...

has stated that convergent charging & billing can increase marketing flexibility for operators and create revenue growth. Telecommunications software provider

Redknee Optiva Inc. (formerly Redknee Solutions, Inc.) is a Canadian provider of Business support system and Operations Support Systems software and services to the telecommunications industry. History Optiva was founded in 1999 as Redknee Solutions by t ...

has said that convergent billing allows operators to launch targeted promotions quickly and deliver an improved subscriber experience. Openet reinforces this by saying "Convergent Charging makes it easier for communication service providers to optimize profitability by providing flexibility to deploy any service to any type of subscriber using any payment method with any set of business rules.". Finnish telecoms supplier

Nokia Siemens Networks Nokia Networks (formerly Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN)) is a multinational data networking and telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Espoo, Finland, and wholly owned subsidiary of Nokia Corp ...

is of the belief that the solution also provides the flexibility and cost transparency that prepaid and postpaid subscribers need to take up new services.Nokia Siemens Networks Press Release 2009, http://www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com/news-events/press-room/press-releases/nokia-siemens-networks-bridges-the-gap-between-prepaid-and-pos Convergent charging & billing has been credited with reduction of OPEX.

Challenges

Challenges to the introduction of convergent charging & billing include migration from existing billing systems for an incumbent telecoms operator. IT research and advisory company

Gartner Gartner, Inc is a technological research and consulting firm based in Stamford, Connecticut that conducts research on technology and shares this research both through private consulting as well as executive programs and conferences. Its clients ...

has also highlighted potential migration risks, reservations about

return on investment Return on investment (ROI) or return on costs (ROC) is a ratio between net income (over a period) and investment (costs resulting from an investment of some resources at a point in time). A high ROI means the investment's gains compare favourably ...

and the need for a

business case A business case captures the reasoning for initiating a project or task. It is often presented in a well-structured written document, but may also come in the form of a short verbal agreement or presentation. The logic of the business case is that, ...

for making a change. FTS and Aradial has a patent in the Convergent charging area called the DO TREE (Decision Operation Tree).http://www.aradial.com/convergent-billing-software.html Aradial Tech

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Convergent Charging Telecommunication services Mobile telecommunications Telecommunications infrastructure