Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has planned to verify billing calculations of cellular operators based on 1, 30 and 60 seconds voice packages.
The telecom watchdog has decided to carry out measures in order to curb the over-charging and improper billing amid the growing number of complaints it has received from mobile phone users. PTA has planned to verify the cellular operators’ billing as per their advertised rates with the aim of protecting the rights of subscribers. It has conducted a thorough study and utilization of the tool (NEMO) for billing related tests last year but sought suggestion of all stakeholders to frame “Cellular Mobile Network Billing Verification Methodology”.
The authority seeks to adopt a stepwise approach for comprehensive CMN Billing verification methodology of subscriber bills, based on the observations and experimental test results.
The desired CMN billing verification is a semi-automatic mechanism devised to calculate the call charges, as PTA’s existing NEMO tool deal with Technical QoS parameters and don’t automatically calculate billing part. The plan includes the evaluation of maximum time required by operator to update the billing database after making each prepaid/postpaid call. In present scenario with semi-automated approach, the test should be made for off-net and on-net for voice calls only, without disclosing the identity of PTA on SIMs. The advertised packages rates are suggested to be confirmed by the operators’ websites, accordingly, both post and prior to execution of test call on the testing numbers – on both prepaid and postpaid packages offered by operators. The most widely advertised package plans to be tested are the 1, 30, 60 second billing pulses as per directives of the authority.
PTA will ensure that a total of ‘10’ calls per operator should be established, both for on-net and off-net scenario with the confirmation of the package details/ package type of the SIMs being used for the test. The desired parameters (Call Start time, End time and Setup time) will also be exported. Call durations should be set depending upon the billing pulse of the package used for testing. Slight variations may exist in the methodology for selecting billable call duration time for 1, 30, 60 second billing packages, i.e, Call time (sec) = Setup time (sec) + Call duration (sec). After each on-net testing, the SIMs at the Called End (receiving side) shall be replaced by the SIMs of other operators for off-net testing. The taxes and the cost of SMS for balance check and the total cost of the calls will be calculated at the end.
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