What is Data Clearing House and its role in the Roaming Business

DCH is an acronym for Data Clearing House

An Operator would want and will have Roaming agreements across the globe. Now to facilitate to and fro flow of TAP files, individual connectivity links will have to established, this is practically not a viable solution. DCH acts as a collection point of TAP files. The Operator needs to have connectivity with the DCH only. Over time, DCH has evolved into more than a collection point offering Value Added Services like Inter-Operator Tariff check (IOT), Rerating or Re-pricing, Roaming Agreement setup and Management, MIS. The basic services of a DCH are TAP file reception, Validation as per GSM TAP format, Upconvert or Down Convert TAP files to the TAP format of the Client, MIS. The below picture shows the basic relation between a Telco and the DCH.