1.6 Billing

Billing is a process of collecting usage, aggregating it, applying required usage and subscription charges and finally generating invoices for the customers. Billing process also includes receiving and recording payments from the customers.

Usage charges are the charges taken from the customers based on the service utilization. They are calls and SMSes.

Subscription charges include both recurring and one occurrence charges paid for:

• Plans - bundles covering certain destinations with a bulk of minutes included or at special rate
• Packages - derived from plans, extended by charged for DIDs and PBX seats
• DIDs - service charges for virtual numbers
• Products - all other items offered by provider

The main functions of the voipswitch billing system can be grouped as below:

• Rating & billing: involves rating the products or services usage and producing monthly bills. Charging is real-time which means that the events are taken as they occur and charged immediately.
• Payment processing:  involves posting of the customer payments to customer's account.
• Pre-pay and post-pay services: This involves supporting both pre-paid and post-paid customer base.
• Multiple currencies:  multiple currencies support is required if you have multinational customers. Accounts are associated with currencies through tarrifs.
• Products & services: This involves providing flexible way to maintain various products and services and sell them individually or in packages.
• Discount applications: This involves defining various discount schemes in order to reduce customer churn and attract and increase customer base.