#2 – Data Billing: Beware of its complexity!

Since data has become a major revenue stream, it is important to ensure that subscribers receive the excellent customer experience and accurate billing whilst using the service.

Unfortunately, problems can occur at many steps:

Are subscriptions to data bundles applied correctly to customer accounts correctly and consistently via different channels?

#2 – Data Billing: Beware of its complexity!

Since data has become a major revenue stream, it is important to ensure that subscribers receive the excellent customer experience and accurate billing whilst using the service.

Unfortunately, problems can occur at many steps:

Are subscriptions to data bundles applied correctly to customer accounts correctly and consistently via different channels?

Are the correct customer notifications about the status of plans and encouraging additional subscriptions delivered at the correct times?

Has the notification indicating the bundle depletion and encouraging customer to purchase additional data options been effectively received? Is the SMS content appropriate?

Are bundle price and bundle allowance correctly pro-rated according to business logic after cancellation request? Are data services barred, throttled correctly?

Telecom operators have almost all the same concerns when it comes to revenue leakage, Data transactions and bundles are taking a steadily increasing share of operators revenues…

Episode #1 - Mobile Data Revenues: What is at stake?
Episode #2 – Data Billing: Beware of its complexity!
Episode #3 – Business Cases Data bundle : what kind of billing errors is Araxxe finding?
Episode #4 –Conclusion : Don’t only look at the tip of the iceberg!

Telecom operators have almost all the same concerns when it comes to revenue leakage, Data transactions and bundles are taking a steadily increasing share of operators revenues…

Episode #1 - Mobile Data Revenues: What is at stake?
Episode #2 – Data Billing: Beware of its complexity!
Episode #3 – Business Cases Data bundle : what kind of billing errors is Araxxe finding?
Episode #4 –Conclusion : Don’t only look at the tip of the iceberg!

#1 - Mobile Data Revenues: What is at stake?

Many operators  promote Data as their main service, rather than Voice or SMS. They continue to innovate, offering new plans and promotions to meet customer demands whilst increasing data usage and revenues.

The following graphs show the growth of data volumes by region:

Source: GSMA The Mobile Economy – p9 – 2021
https://www.gsma.com/mobileeconomy/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GSMA_MobileEconomy2021_3.pdf

All of these changes increase the risk of billing errors, revenue loss and customer complaints.

Billing errors impact the revenues, customer experience and cause reputational damage for mobile operators. Whilst many operators think they are immune from this type of problem by offering subscribers bundles and unlimited usage, Araxxe testing has highlighted many issues with these plans. 

Billing errors impact the revenues, customer experience and cause reputational damage for mobile operators. Whilst many operators think they are immune from this type of problem by offering subscribers bundles and unlimited usage, Araxxe testing has highlighted many issues with these plans. Uncharged data usage, incorrect bytes count, incorrect application of bundle fees, confusion between local, "Roam Like Home" and "Non Roam Like Home" zones, delayed application of throttling, missing customer notifications by SMS, bundle renewal process, and rollover errors to mention but a few.  

Araxxe's new billing observatory helps operators understand the level of billing errors in different countries and regions around the world.

Our unique maps display Billing Error Rates (BER) of Data transactions performed in 339 networks in 117 countries over 5 continents.  Maps are designed to help visualize where and how often problems occur. All Billing Error Rates are calculated according to the international Standard ETSI TS 102 845, ensuring that figures are reliable, comparable, and actionable.

All testing was carried out using Araxxe’s global network of resources.

We can detect billing errors whenever and wherever they occur!

Worldwide Data & Roaming Billing Error Rates

With our global network of telecommunications resources and highly qualified team, Araxxe’s mission is to help communication service providers maximizing profitability by ensuring billing accuracy, eliminating unnecessary costs and helping to maintain brand reputation:

With our Billing Verification services, we check rating, bundles, metering, data passes, roaming passes, Roam Like at Home applicability, SMS notifications and much more!

Let us help you to identify and correct your billing issues!

Feel free to contact me at frederick.van.de.weghe@araxxe.com