Charging Ahead With WIN Phase II

Wireless has reached the point where it can say to wireline networks, "Anything you can do, I can do better" for calling features, but not for charging options. Consumers today generally cannot bill calls to a third number, choose to charge a call to a credit card (as opposed to being forced to charge a call at exorbitant prices due to roaming restrictions), make the caller pay for incoming calls nor even make a 1-800 call for free (as normally airtime charges still apply).

CTIA is planning to change all that with its new System Requirements Document (SRD) for Phase II of the wireless intelligent network (WIN), which is focused almost entirely on new charging capabilities.

The first phase of WIN is aimed at providing advanced calling features (voice-controlled services, incoming-call screening and calling-name presentation). Phase I is nearing the end of development, and carriers have indicated that charging and billing issues are their priorities for Phase II. CTIA's new WIN Phase II document has a sweeping scope that, when standardized and implemented, would allow charged calls to be handled in different ways.

The capabilities are numerous, including:

* Freephone (1-800, 1-888). Wireless calls to "toll-free" numbers today are free of toll charges but not airtime charges. Some holders of freephone numbers may wish to pay all charges to encourage more wireless callers. Today, Toll-Free Cellular provides this service using non-standard #800 numbers.

The trouble with using standard freephone dialing patterns is that you must maintain a database that indicates which free-phone numbers are willing to pick up airtime charges (although this eventually could be incorporated in the industry-wide 1-800/1-888 database).

* Calling party pays (CPP). In many countries, the caller pays any charges for calls to wireless phones. But in North America, the called mobile subscriber almost always pays the charges. Many people assume that this is a technical deficiency of AMPS in relation to GSM, but it is actually due to the enormous number of telecommunications carriers in the United States as well as other differences in the regulatory and competitive environment.

Carriers are in favor of CPP because they believe it will encourage subscribers to leave their phones on and thus dramatically increase incoming minutes of usage. This capability is so important to carriers that CTIA is developing a separate SRD for this feature alone.

* Split charging. With CPP and current charging methods, the industry could charge the entire call to either the calling party or the called party. Split charging will allow an arbitrary division of the charges between the calling party and the called party. This capability likely will be further in the future than CPP. If implemented, it could be used to limit the charges assigned to an incoming caller to a flat rate and bill the remaining charges to the mobile. This may be useful for enhancing CPP for roamers, where the total cost of roaming is higher than the CPP charges.

* Premium rate & location-based charging. Carriers would like to be able to vary charges based on time of day, day of week, location of the mobile handset, identity of the calling or called parties, or the specific radio capabilities requested (or some mixture of these call characteristics). Some of these capabilities are available today, but not those that depend on the specific rate plan of a roaming mobile phone.

* Third-party, prepaid & charge card calls. Wireline networks have developed a sophisticated array of alternate charging options. Wireless carriers appear to want the same -- to be able to charge calls to a third party, such as the subscriber's office or home wireline number; more sophisticated prepaid services, such as those that work for roamers; and the ability to charge calls to credit or debit cards. In some cases, this information could be part of the subscriber's profile, which would allow automatic alternate charging to provide bill consolidation, for example.

* Customized accounts. Lawyers and consultants often charge calls back to their clients. Some wireless systems allow the sub-account (client) number to be dialed during a call, but this works only in the home system. Wireless carriers would like to be able to place the sub-account number in call-detail and billing records and have it incorporated in the roamer's bill.

* Charge notification. It would be useful for consumers to be able to determine the cost of a wireless call in real-time. This could be simply a tone or special alert to indicate that special charging is applied (but not the specific amount), a 1-time display (that presumably would include at least the per-minute rate) or even a continually updating display of the call cost so far. For roamers, this requires information about their rate plans to calculate even an approximation of the charge for the call.

The Three R's of Charging Charging superficially seems simple because the algorithms used are usually relatively simple. (How difficult can it be to calculate 10 minutes at 25 cents per minute?) The problem is not the calculations, but having the right information in the right place at the right time. The three R's of charging are roamers, rate plans and real time.

Roamers are a complication because information on their special charging capabilities and restrictions must be obtained remotely. This requires standardization and thus slows down innovation.

Profile information will have to be enhanced with rate-plan information to ensure that correct charges are applied for each subscriber. And almost all of the WIN Phase II capabilities require real-time calculation of charges. This applies to CPP, third-party billing, advice of charging, debit card, credit card and prepaid services.

Charging is an area that will occupy the attentions of carriers for a long time to come. Advances will come slowly and steadily as the industry matures and the required interconnection protocols develop.