ATM services usage metering for accounting and charging

Abstract

This paper addresses the very basic part of ATM services accounting and charging related issues — what usage measurement information ATM network must provide in order to perform usage sensitive bills to the customers, what kind of accounting information can be used between operators and which part of the network is responsible for collecting and transfer that information to the management entities. A global set of usage metering parameters that network operators find of primary importance are also discussed. It also identifies measurement points for those parameters and finally it describes what additional functionality has to be implemented in the network elements in order to produce usage sensitive metering. The information summarised in this paper is based on the results achieved in the framework of the EURESCOM P616 project “Enhanced ATM Implementation Issues” within the Task T3: Charging and Accounting Parameters.