Support for Daily Flat Rate Usage Charges

A new type of dynamic charge called Periodic Usage Charge (PUC) applies a flat rate charge to a subscriber’s account when their usage on a given calendar day fits specific usage criteria as defined via the Dynamic Charge wizard.

For example, suppose a wireless provider has a plan that charges $15 per calendar day for unlimited data usage when roaming on PMN 77777. In this case a periodic usage charge could be created and configured to apply to serving PMN 77777 and usage type Roaming Data that generates a charge using SKU Daily Roaming Fee ($15 charge). When this PUC is assigned to subscriber X, and subscriber X uses data when roaming on serving PMN 77777 on 7/1 and 7/3, then that SKU will be charged to that subscriber on those 2 days.

In general practice a Periodic Usage Charge will likely be placed into a package that also includes a corresponding grant discount, so that the corresponding usage records are zero rated (to prevent subscribers from being double charged). The package could also contain an additional recurring or non-recurring product to charge the subscriber for the plan itself.

Configuring Periodic Usage Charges

A new option for Periodic Usage Charge has been added to the existing Dynamic Charge wizard.

Note:

At this time, charging period is not configurable. Periodic Usage Charges always use a calendar day as the charging period.

The configuration process is similar to other dynamic charges; however, when Periodic Usage Charge is selected, two new pages are presented to specify a billing SKU, and to let you select one or more serving Public Mobile Networks (PMNs) as criteria.

In all, one or more of the following usage criteria may be selected:

• Usage Types

• Service Types

• Distance Types

• Orig Locations

• Term Locations

• Serving PMNs

The new wizard pages specific to Periodic Usage Charges are shown below.

This page lets you select the charge SKU to apply to the account when the specified usage criteria are met.

This page is for selecting one or more Public Mobile Networks (PMNs).

Billing and XML

Billing has been updated so that Non-Recurring Charges (NRCs) generated from Periodic Rated Usage are written as InvoiceDetail records with charge start and end dates. In the case of consecutive days for the same SKU and service number, the charge start/end dates will contain the date range and are stored as a single Invoice Detail record.

The Wireless New Charges and Wireline New Charges XML reports have been updated to include the charge end date for NRCs.