Basics of Telecom Offline Charging

October 11, 2019 | By Rajarshi Pathak @ Measat Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd

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We are pleased to share with you all an interesting article contributed by Rajarshi Pathak who is AVP, Enterprise Applications at Measat Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd.

Rajarshi Pathak

AVP, Enterprise Applications at Measat Broadcast Network Systems Sdn Bhd

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Offline Charging allows Subscribers to consume the service without an upfront balance check or balance reservation. Post Service consumption, service usage records in the form of files & batches are processed for charging the Customers. These service usage files are also known as Charging Data Records (CDRs) or Event Data Records (EDRs).

As it's not practical to send these large no. of files (which can be of different formats) through different Network nodes directly to the billing system, they are first mediated via a system known as Mediation. It sits between the Network layer and the BSS layer.

Mediation system performs operations like: -

Raw CDRs Collections via PUSH or PULL method. CDRs file format can be ASCII, CSV, Binary, TAP, XML, etc.
Validating, Filtering & Parsing the CDRs.
Processing/Enriching the records as per the Northbound systems (like Rating Engine, Interconnect System, Roaming Clearinghouse, RA, FMS, Reporting, etc.) requirements.
Distributing the processed CDRs to Northbound systems.

Let's see how Offline Charging mechanism works for a Service usage: -

Customer initiates service usage.
Raw CDRs get generated about this usage. Usage can be Session-based (e.g. Video call) or Event-based (e.g. File transfer/SMS).
Accounting Request (ACR) and Accounting Answer (ACA) Diameter Messages are used to construct CDRs for service usage.
Raw CDRs are collected and processed by the Mediation system.
Processed CDRs from Mediation are guided to Rating Engine.
CDRs are rated by Rating Engine as per the rate plans by measuring the events.
Rated Event data gets generated and stored in the Billing system.
Billing process picks up these rated events during bill run for calculating the Usage charges to be applied on the Bill.
Bill gets generated for initiating Customer payments.

Offline Charging supports Session-based (like Voice call or YouTube browsing) as well as Event-based (like SMS, File transfer over Instant Messaging) services. Operators use the Credit limit of the Customers for the service allowance. Revenue leakage will be minimal when the CDRs are rated as soon as they are generated during the service usage.

Let's understand the Offline Charging mechanism as per 3GPP standard: -

Above figure explains the Offline Charging architecture as per the 3GPP standard.

CTF (Charging Trigger Function): This is the network node which generates charging triggers whenever a Customer uses services. Examples are GGSN, PGW, SMSC, etc. It sends Diameter Accounting Request (ACR) messages to CDF for the generation of Raw CDRs.

CDF (Charging Data Function): This network node generates Raw CDRs by processing ACR/ACA messages based on service consumption. On receiving ACRs, CDF processes the offline charging info and generates the CDRs.

Using Accounting Answer (ACAs) messages, it notifies the CTFs that the Charging record has been generated.

CGF (Charging Gateway Function): This is the Mediation system that processes the Raw CDRs and transfers the processed CDRs to the BSS systems. More details of Mediation are mentioned above.

Billing System: Usage records received from CGF (or Mediation) are rated by the Rating Engine. Rated Event data gets generated and stored. Billing process consumes the rated events stored in the database and adds up the Usage charges against the Customer's bill. During Bill Run, charges like monthly recurring charges, one-time charges, cancellation charges, etc. are also processed along with usage charges. Other activities like billing time discounts, adjustments, settlements, taxes, etc. are also considered during the Bill Run. Once the Bill is finalized, it becomes ready to accept the Payments against the Invoice.

Glossary: RA (Revenue Assurance system), FMS (Fraud Management system), 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), BSS (Business Support System), OSS (Operations Support System), TAP (Transferred Account Procedure files), GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node), PGW (PDN Gateway), SMSC (Short Message Service Center)

Mohamed Abdirahman Abdullahi 2020-01-18 15:11:40

Excellent explanation!!!!!! interesting article.

Rajarshi Pathak 2020-02-24 12:02:10

Thank you for your kind comments.

Alani Faiai 2020-02-05 23:27:58

Very nice information, concise and clear. Thank you.

Rajarshi Pathak 2020-02-24 12:02:46

Thank you!

Rajarshi Pathak 2020-02-26 00:30:29

I have started my own Website (Link) to share my knowledge on a regular basis on Telecom Networks and OSS/BSS. Requesting your kind support in promoting it with your contacts. Thank you!

VICTOR 2020-04-28 19:46:15

A perfect article, Thank you.

Share also the Basics of Telecom online Charging

RajarshiP 2020-06-24 12:02:31

Hi Victor - Thank you! Please refer to my other Article for knowing the Basics of Telecom Online Charging.

yusuf t 2021-01-12 05:04:51

where can we use NoSQL system? at the median system can we use and manage distributed messages ?

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