Calling party pays kinks: BAM tests CPP in Delaware

Despite many hurdles, Bell Atlantic Mobile last week rolled out a calling party pays test in Delaware.

CPP will make wireless service more affordable, which should broaden BAM's customer base, said John DePaola, staff director of product management for BAM.

U.S. operators that want to implement CPP have faced many roadblocks. The FCC is gathering information before making a ruling on how CPP should be handled. At issue are the manner in which callers learn that they will be charged for calling wireless users and billing concerns.

Some in the industry have proposed that CPP customers be assigned a certain area code, which callers would learn carry a fee. In BAM's trial, callers will hear a message informing them they will be charged 25cents per minute for the call if they are in Bell Atlantic territory or they can charge the call to a credit card at 35cents per minute. BAM will let existing customers keep their same phone numbers.

Billing for CPP also is a challenge. For calls made to wireless users within Bell Atlantic's territory, BAM reprogrammed its billing system so it could flag calls being made to CPP customers and pull those calls out of the system before charging the wireless customer. Also, BAM formed a billing and collection agreement with Bell Atlantic to settle those calls. Outside Bell Atlantic territory, the process gets trickier. BAM would have to work with each local exchange carrier (LEC) to form a similar agreement, and many LECs have refused to cooperate with wireless carriers on CPP. "For the time being, it would be impractical to work with all the LECs," DePaola said.

"Wireless carriers would like to see the LECs required to offer their billing systems," said Mary Madigan Jones, vice president of external affairs for the Personal Communications Industry Association.

Further complicating both issues is the question of who has jurisdiction over CPP. The FCC determined that CPP issues should be decided on a federal level, but some states hope to control CPP themselves. "Operators would rather have one set of rules than 50," Jones said.