Forrest HarperProduct Manager CDMA Clearing & Settlement ServicesSyniverse Technologies, Inc.

CRX Clearing & Settlement Issues

CRX Data Clearing Issues

• How to count what is to be rated– Interim vs. Final Stop– Session definition inconsistent with 3gpp2, WiFi/WiMAX– No reject rules or process; age, format & content

• How to Rate it– Carriers require flexibility to support their business needs so

the CRXs must be transparent on the required rating. – Current documents do not account for dominant industry

rating practices or specify complete rating requirements• Minimums• Rounding rules • Rating point• Level of precision and rate expression (per mb, per kb, etc.)

• How to reconcile– Current defined process suffers from the inadequacies of the

above issues– Current defined process insufficient to address corrective

actions to address the above issues– Insufficient exception handling

How to count (Interim accounting)

• Counts usage from each accounting UDR record including interim accounting UP records until the FINAL STOP record is received– Missing Final Stops result in lost revenue for both Serve &

Home– Incomplete method for handling late arrivals crossing period

boundaries• Delayed interims could result in double billing and incorrect session

counts• No defined age criteria for delayed activity • No defined count and rating for delayed activity

– Interims not widely used– Designed to maximize Serve Operators Revenue without

regard to addressing cause of lost Stops or impact to retail revenue. In essence it protects the serve in the event there are problems in their network or CRX such that UDR delivery is unstable.• The Serve is not compliant if it does not send final stops. This is

indicative of an issue that needs resolved and not rewarded.• Wholesale should not exceed retail due to lost data in flow

How to count (Final Stop accounting)

• Uses the session-end date as the Event Date; Event Date drives period accounting

• Counts usage from each Stop– Missing Stops result in lost volume (as does Interim

Accounting)• Motivation for Serve/CRX to fix

• Count a session only if the FINAL STOP is received– Follows 3gpp2, WiFi/WiMax standards and general CDMA

practices• By definition a session has a final stop. Interims are optional

and not widely used, larger networks tend to avoid them to reduce network volume.

– Supports accurate tracking of session count and volume– Less complex, lower overhead solution– Simplifies reconciliation troubleshooting– Eliminates issues with delayed accounting messages– More desirable in large volume environments– Statistics indicate that loss of Stop records is not an issue

How to count - Summary

• How to count is the foundation of being able to reconcile and settle between partners

• As the foundation of processes and procedures that allow reconciliation and settlement it is important that it be practical, efficient and reflective of industry practices and standards.– Most do not use interims– Missing UDRs raised as an issue and argument for Interim

Accounting• Missing UDRs are an issue to fix; not mask, overlook or reward• Missing UDRs statistically insignificant

– Aicent reports as much as 0.57% loss of stops.– On a daily basis Syniverse finds unmatched UDRs variable as much as

0.30%; over a 10 day sampling the unmatched UDRs are on the order of 0.006%.

• Doc #94 references aged data, for this and other reasons data may be rejected for rating, a returns process is needed.

Statistics from Feb 1 thru 10

%sessions missing a stop by DayNet % over 10 days 0.006%

-0.500%-0.400%-0.300%-0.200%-0.100%0.000%0.100%0.200%0.300%0.400%

2E+0

7

2E+0

72E

+07

2E+0

7

2E+0

72E

+07

2E+0

7

2E+0

72E

+07

2E+0

7

Date

%sessionsmissing a stop

avg #interims per session

0.00930.0090

0.0118

0.0134

0.00960.00930.0090

0.0118

0.0134

0.0096

0.00700.0080

0.00900.0100

0.01100.0120

0.01300.0140

0.0150

avg #interims persession

How to count - Recommendation

• Use Final Stop accounting

• Modify Docs 94, 102, 103, 104 & 116– Update for Final Stop accounting– Update reconciliation

How to Rate it (current)

• Documents define a simplistic rating method that restricts Carrier’s control of their business relationships– Gives appearance that CRX dictates Carrier business rules– Does not allow for Qos rating– Defined rating requirements create issues for carriers that adhere

to SOX and SAS70• Section 4.3.1 of doc 94 suggests “operator with the higher amount owes

the difference“ presenting an unknown revenue risk and insufficient justification for one carrier’s business and audit obligations

• Arbitrary settlement of variances, as much as 5%, represent greater revenue risk and audit concerns

– Inconsistent with dominant industry rating practices and current requests• Minimums• Rounding rules • Rating point• Does not completely define rating rules (level of precision, by

byte/kb/mb, remainder value)

How to Rate it (industry practice)

• Session rating– Some with minimum charge of $0.01– Some require sessions under minimum be dropped– Some with incremental minimums

• Rating in blocks of 128, 256, , , 1kb; rating full block for any increment of a block, 370 bytes rates as 512

• Daily Aggregate by subscriber• Daily Aggregate by subscriber with tiering

(progressive & non-progressive)– Progressive rates first tier volume with tier 1 rate, volume

over threshold is rated at second tier rate– Non-progressive rates all volume by either tier 1 or tier 2

rate based on volume exceeding, or not, the threshold

• Monthly aggregate

How to Rate it (Recommendation)

• Document the complete criteria for rating scenarios on prior slide plus any other known to be required rating plans.– Provides transparent understanding of rating requirements

so that each rating point (CRX) can replicate faithfully the required rating and thus balance.

– Provides a range of rating options for Carriers– Clearly define what is rejected

• Modify Doc #44 & #94 to identify known rating criteria and correctly define settlement procedures.

• CRX’s must share any new rate criteria as they arise in a shared situation.

How to reconcile

• Daily USAGE and session (final Stop) counts will help insure both rating points are seeing the same data population for potential rating, any daily or sub daily rated amounts should be included as well to insure any rating variances are detected and addressed early.

• Daily reject reporting should be exchanged to identify any issues due to data found unrateable by one of the CRXs.

• All Final Stops to be included in a period shall be delivered by the 17th for first balancing on the 18th.