What is Call Rating in Telecom industry - Understand the building blocks

Services and Tariffs

Services and Tariffs are the key elements of a Billing System. These are the elements that actually convert call details into revenue. You can say, Services and Tariffs represent the brain of a Billing System.

The naming convention used for Services and Tariff differs from vendor to vendor. So here, I have used the most common name and the most easily understood definitions

Service: A service is a basic mobile facility provided by a Telco.

Customers being able to make an Outgoing call, able to receive an incoming call are examples of the basic mobile services.

Default Services: These are the services which are by default present in any rate plan offered to the customers.

Examples: Ability to make an incoming call, outgoing call, SMS.

Optional Services: These are the services that are not a part of the rate plan but can be opted for by paying an additional charge for it.

Examples are Call Forward, Call Hold, ISD calling Services, STD calling services.

Value Added Services (VAS): The services like Callertune, Missed call Alerts, Shortcodes fall under these categories. In short, these are not basic mobile services. Typically, these are not a part of the rate plan being offered to the customers. These services are available to customers once they are on board. These services help the customer have the feel-good factor.