Billing, Mediation, and Service-Level Agreements

Billing and mediation software forms a large subcategory of OSS. Such software will usually be
tied in with the provisioning, network element, and network management software to register
changes in service and to track subscriber usage if the service plan is based on anything other
than flat-rate billing.
Here a word is in order on billing plans and service-level agreements: The usual pattern
in the formative period of broadband access services was to charge subscribers a flat rate for
service and allow customers as many transmissions as they desired. Such “all-you-can-eat”
service plans still prevail in the residential broadband market, though they are declining
among business-oriented broadband offerings in favor of what are known as tiered services.
Tiered services are just what the name implies—stratified offerings where higher service
fees command higher speeds and additional capabilities. Such plans allow the network operator
to tailor services to individual users and make certain that the subscriber is charged only for
the bandwidth and network resources actually utilized, and it also allows the operator to regulate
“bandwidth hogs” such as individuals running peer-to-peer video and music file-sharing
sites or call centers, as well as online gamers who may spend hours at a time in bandwidthintensive
transactions.
Increasingly, tiered service plans are accompanied by service-level agreements (SLAs),
which bind the service provider to meet certain quality of service metrics stipulated in the
agreement. Such metrics may include minimum throughput, latency, jitter, and bit error
rate—anything under the control of the network operator and for which the subscriber is
willing to pay. Such agreements usually provide for penalties to be imposed upon the service provider for failing to meet the terms of the agreements—generally a reduction in the service
fee. Incidentally, it is best to be scrupulous in such matters and to agree only to terms that can
be met in normal circumstances. To be wildly overoptimistic regarding what the network can
deliver is to verge upon fraud.