Abstract:
Exemplary embodiments of the invention include methods, systems, and storage mediums for facilitating a billing point of interconnection in a telecommunications environment. The method includes establishing a billing point of interconnection for a communications network. The communications network is serviced by an incumbent local exchange carrier and at least one competitive local exchange carrier. The method also includes monitoring traffic occurring on the communications network. For incumbent local exchange carrier-generated traffic that exceeds a pre-defined threshold, the method includes calculating an amount of traffic usage in excess of the pre-defined threshold. The amount of traffic usage calculated reflects traffic occurring between the billing point of interconnection and a physical point of interconnection. The method also includes billing the competitive local exchange carrier for dedicated transport facilities between the Billing Point of Interconnection and a physical Point of Interconnection where traffic usage is in excess of the pre-defined threshold.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION  
       [0001]     The present invention relates generally to telecommunications services, and more particularly, to methods, systems, and storage mediums for facilitating a billing point of interconnection arrangement in a telecommunications environment.  
         [0002]     Incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) refer to well-established telecommunications service providers that have typically been in operation before the government-imposed deregulation laws were effectuated. Since that time, many competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) have attempted to gain market presence within the traditionally ILEC-controlled geographies. These CLECs incur significant costs associated with equipment installation and building new facilities necessary for conducting its telecommunications services. For start-up CLECs without adequate capital resources, these costs can be prohibitively significant. These competitors typically enter into agreements with ILECs for handling interconnection calling services, such as, for example, when a CLEC end user calls an ILEC end user whereby both the ILEC&#39;s and CLEC&#39;s equipment and transmission lines are accessed.  
         [0003]     The physical interconnection point between the ILEC and CLEC networks is referred to as a point of interconnection (POI). When a CLEC negotiates a POI location at which to physically interconnect its network with that of the ILEC, it ideally desires to locate the POI as close as possible to its end office switch so that the distance between the end office and physical point of interconnection is minimal, thereby shifting the burden and costs of transmission to the ILEC. Obviously, the ILEC would prefer that the CLEC agree to locate the POI further into the ILEC network so that the ILEC is not required to handle an unfair portion of the total end-to-end transmission requirement.  
         [0004]     What is needed, therefore, is a way for both the ILEC and CLEC to economically benefit and share, more equally, the costs associated with the completion of end user customer calls that traverse the physical point of interconnection between the ILEC and the CLEC networks.  
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION  
       [0005]     The above-stated disadvantages and deficiencies are overcome or alleviated by methods, systems, and storage mediums for facilitating a Billing Point of Interconnection (BPOI) in a telecommunications environment. Methods include establishing a billing point of interconnection for a communications network. The communications network is serviced by an incumbent local exchange carrier and at least one competitive local exchange carrier. Methods also include monitoring traffic occurring on the communications network. For incumbent local exchange carrier-generated traffic that exceeds a pre-defined threshold, methods include calculating traffic usage in excess of the pre-defined threshold. The amount of traffic usage calculated reflects traffic occurring between the designated Billing Point of Interconnection and a physical Point of Interconnection. Methods also include billing the competitive local exchange carrier for dedicated transport between the physical POI and the BPOI after the pre-defined usage threshold has been achieved.  
         [0006]     Systems include a server executing a monitor application and a Billing Point Of Interconnection application. The monitor application monitors network traffic occurring on a telecommunications network. Systems also include a data repository in communication with the server. The data repository stores summary tables and usage reports. Systems further include a link to an incumbent local exchange carrier end office that services the telecommunications network and a link to a competitive local exchange carrier end office that also services the telecommunications network. The billing point of interconnection application establishes a billing point of interconnection for the telecommunications network and, in response to the traffic monitoring, for incumbent local exchange carrier-generated traffic that exceeds a pre-defined threshold, calculates an amount of traffic usage in excess of the pre-defined threshold. The traffic usage calculation reflects traffic occurring between the billing point of interconnection and a physical point of interconnection.  
         [0007]     Other systems, methods, and/or computer program products according to embodiments will be or become apparent to one with skill in the art upon review of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, and/or computer program products be included within this description, be within the scope of the present invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
       [0008]     Referring now to the drawings wherein like elements are numbered alike in the several FIGURES:  
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a portion of a system upon which the billing point of interconnection system may be implemented in exemplary embodiments;  
         [0010]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart describing a process for setting up the billing point of interconnection system in exemplary embodiments;  
         [0011]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart describing a process for implementing the billing point of interconnection system in exemplary embodiments; and  
         [0012]      FIG. 4  is a portion of a sample summary report produced by the billing point of interconnection system in exemplary embodiments. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0013]     The billing point of interconnection (BPOI) system is a transport option available to competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs). The BPOI system includes one or more dedicated DS3 transport facilities that connect a BPOI to a physical POI. A dedicated DS3 transport refers to a high-capacity, digital transmission path that is dedicated to the use of the ordering CLEC in its provisioning of local exchange and associated exchange access services. In accordance with pre-established agreement terms, a BPOI is established within the ILEC network, which enables an incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) to recoup it&#39;s network costs incurred when CLEC customer associated calling from or to the BPOI exceeds a predefined threshold.  
         [0014]     A BPOI, as opposed to physical POI, refers to a virtual or billing point of interconnection (BPOI). It defines the point in the ILEC network at which interoffice dedicated transport will be measured from the physical POI for which the CLEC agrees to pay the ILEC for use in the completion of local and ISP-bound traffic over ILEC facilities. The BPOI may be established at any point in the ILEC local calling area at which the pre-defined usage threshold has been met.  
         [0015]     A physical point of interconnection (POI) refers to the physical telecommunications interface or point at which the WLEC and the CLEC networks interconnect. It serves as both the technical interconnection point and the point of operational responsibility. It also defines the point at which the ILEC and CLEC&#39;s call transport, termination, and reciprocal compensation responsibility begins.  
         [0016]     Referring now to  FIG. 1 , a portion of a system upon which the billing point of interconnection system may be implemented will now be described.  FIG. 1  includes a host system  102  which may be a service provider entity such as a telephone service provider, Internet service provider, or other similar entity. In alternative embodiments, host system  102  may be an application service provider that provides the services of the billing point of interconnection system for one or more service providers under an agreement.  
         [0017]     Host system  102  includes a server  104  in communication with a data repository  106 . Server  104  executes monitor application  108 , a billing application  109 , and the billing point of interconnection system  110  (also referred to herein as BPOI system), which in turn, comprises a data collection component  111  and a reporting component  112 . Data collection component  111  and reporting component  112  further include a spreadsheet application. Server  104  may execute other applications typically associated with a service provider as well. Server  104  may comprise a high-powered personal computer or mainframe computer capable of handling the volume of call monitoring and data collection/processing activities as described further herein. Data collection component  111  and reporting component  112  are described further herein. Monitor application  108  monitors transmissions occurring between established ILEC and CLEC end offices and determines call volumes resulting therefrom. Monitor application  108  may be a commercial application or may include proprietary or legacy product. Data repository  106  stores call detail record tables  113 , billing point of interconnection summary tables  114 , and usage reports/bills  116 . Call detail record tables  113  are produced by monitor application  108  and include call volumes and associated information regarding calling activities conducted by its customers. Summary tables  114  are produced by the BPOI system  110  and provide BPOI and non-BPOI usage information for all carriers (CLECs). Usage reports  116  are produced by the BPOI system  110  and provide each carrier with a report of its usage for a billing period.  
         [0018]      FIG. 1  also includes an Independent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC) end office  118  in communication with an ILEC tandem  122  via a transmission medium  136 . ILEC tandem  122  is, in turn, in communication with a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) end office  120  via a transmission medium  136 . ILEC end office  118  refers to a switching center, or wire center, operated by the ILEC. End office  118  houses equipment used to process calls and data traffic.  
         [0019]     Likewise, CLEC end office  120  refers to a switching center operated by the CLEC, which also houses equipment for processing calls and data traffic. ILEC tandem  122  refers to a system that connects traffic between two trunks or switching systems. A CLEC facility at the collocation space  124  is connected to the ILEC tandem  122 . Through collocation space  124 , CLEC end office  120  is connected to ILEC tandem  122 . The ILEC and CLEC network service area may comprise an entire local access transport area (LATA) established for servicing a particular geographic region or some portion of an entire LATA.  
         [0020]     ILEC end office  118  and CLEC end office  120  are in communication with host system  102  via a network system such as the Internet.  
         [0021]      FIG. 1  also includes end user devices  126  and  128 , which refer to communications devices operated by customers of the ILEC and CLEC, respectively. While end user devices  126  and  128  are shown to each comprise a wireline telephone, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that end user devices  126  and  128  may comprise other communications devices such as a general-purpose computer, laptop, or other device. Devices  126  and  128  are in communication with end offices  118  and  120 , respectively, via cable wires, or loops  134 .  
         [0022]     The BPOI system  110  enables ILECs and CLECs to establish a billing point of interconnection that is separate from the physical point of interconnection within the network in order to balance the costs and burdens associated with providing communications services to their customers. Samples of a billing point of interconnection  132  and a physical point of interconnection  130  are shown in  FIG. 1 . These are further described herein. The BPOI system is initiated or set up after negotiations between a CLEC and ILEC have been conducted and a BPOI agreement reached. The BPOI set-up process of  FIG. 2  is initiated either subsequent to these negotiations or upon modification of the agreement.  
         [0023]     At step  202 , the beginning and endpoints (e.g., end office  118  and the POI  130 ) are identified and entered into BPOI system  110 . Any equipment, tandems (e.g.,  122 ), transmission lines (e.g.,  136 ), etc. between these endpoints are identified and entered into BPOI system  110  at step  204 . At step  206 , the physical point of interconnection (POI) (e.g.,  130 ), between the two carriers&#39; end offices  118  and  120  is identified and entered into BPOI system  110 . At step  208 , the agreed upon billing point of interconnection (e.g.,  132 ) is entered into BPOI system  110 . A usage threshold that determines when BPOI  132  will be activated is entered into the BPOI system  110  at step  210 . This process is separate for and may be repeated for each CLEC associated with the ILEC and for each BPOI arrangement the ILEC may have for a given CLEC, as needed. An example of a BPOI threshold may include a specified number of ‘minutes of use’ (MOU) that, once reached, activates BPOI  132  whereby the CLEC then pays the costs of transmission for calls between POI  130  and BPOI  132 . For example, according to monitor application  108 , ILEC customers calling customers of a monitored CLEC have reached an agreed threshold of  8 . 9  million MOU per month for three consecutive months. The DS3 dedicated transport facility mileage (i.e., transmission between BPOI  132  and POI  130 ) for each increment of 8.9 million MOUs would then be billed to the CLEC.  
         [0024]     BPOI system  110  may be utilized in conjunction with an existing monitor application  108  and may be designed as a plug-in application to the existing monitor application  108 . Alternatively, the BPOI system  110  may perform the monitoring activities in lieu of monitor application  108  along with the functions recited herein.  
         [0025]     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , implementation of the BPOI system  110  will now be described. At step  302 , CLEC traffic occurring between end office  118  and the POI  130  is monitored. From this monitoring, call detail reports are generated at step  304  and stored in data repository  106 . The BPOI data collection component  111  queries call detail records at step  306  for usage information applicable to the threshold agreement. These queries may be Structured Query Language (SQL) queries. From these queries, the resulting data is placed in a summary table at step  308 , a sample of which is shown in  FIG. 4 . The BPOI reporting component  112  generates usage reports  116  from the summary tables  114  at step  310 . The usage reports illustrate the aggregated usage for the list of monitored CLECs. Further, the usage reports separate the BPOI usage from the non-BPOI usage. At step  312 , it is determined from the usage reports whether the BPOI usage has exceeded the threshold. If so, BPOI system  110  calculates the fees for the dedicated transport associated with this BPOI usage at step  314  and enters the fees in a bill via billing application  109  at step  318 . At step  320 , the bill and usage report  116  are transmitted to the CLEC. If the BPOI threshold  132  has not been exceeded at step  312 , BPOI system  110  generates a bill for the non-BPOI usage at step  318  and transmits the bill and the usage report  116  to the CLEC at step  320 .  
         [0026]     The BPOI reporting component  112  enables users to sort results of call detail record queries by area, by CLEC, by date range, and by other criteria. As shown in  FIG. 4 , a portion of a sample summary report  400  illustrates usage information for a carrier “ABC Co.” within the state of Alabama during the months of July through September of 2003. The information may be further broken down by LATA. The summary report shows minutes of use (MOU) incurred above the agreed upon threshold for each month.  
         [0027]     A BPOI may be entered into a CLEC contract that allows the CLEC to initially establish a single physical POI within a LATA. As the originating ILEC and/or CLEC terminating traffic from all points within the LATA grows, the CLEC may be required to establish additional POIs when traffic from a given area within the LATA ramps up to a DS3 traffic level (i.e., 8.9M minutes of use). This ‘given area’ within a LATA may be as small as one end office or comprise a larger geographically relevant area such as a local calling area or access tandem serving area. Network entities monitor the traffic and, upon determining that the 8.9M minutes of use threshold has been reached, notify a product manager, who may in turn, notify the CLEC.  
         [0028]     To satisfy the additional POI requirement, the CLEC may be given the option to build facilities to the new physical POI location or by utilizing the BPOI agreement and obtaining BPOI transport from the ILEC. If the CLEC chooses to utilize the BPOI and, at some point after BPOI has been implemented, believes the average quarterly traffic volume has dropped below the 8.9M minutes of use threshold or other threshold set, the CLEC may query a local account manager for direction. The local account manager obtains direction from the network capacity managers as to whether the traffic has dropped below the 8.9M minutes of use threshold and, if so, takes steps to have the BPOI charges stopped.  
         [0029]     In some agreements, there may be additional caveats build into the requirements for the provision of BPI. For example, there may be a mileage requirement indicating that an additional POI is required only if the CLEC is a specified number of miles from an existing POI. Such caveats are typically discussed and agreed upon in the negotiations process. These caveats, however, serve to establish additional thresholds as to when additional POIs are required without changing the provision of the BPOI transport agreement.  
         [0030]     As described above, the BPOI system allows a CLEC to maintain a single physical POI within a LATA without having to expend the additional capital necessary to build additional transport facilities necessary to establish additional physical POIs further into the ILEC network. The ILEC, in turn, recovers its transport costs for transporting ILEC-originated traffic to the physical POI after the threshold has been met.  
         [0031]     As described above, the present invention can be embodied in the form of computer-implemented processes and apparatuses for practicing those processes. The present invention can also be embodied in the form of computer program code containing instructions embodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD ROMs, hard drives, or any other computer-readable storage medium, wherein, when the computer program code is loaded into and executed by a computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. The present invention can also be embodied in the form of computer program code, for example, whether stored in a storage medium, loaded into and/or executed by a computer, or transmitted over some transmission medium, , such as over electrical wiring or cabling, through fiber optics, or via electromagnetic radiation, wherein, when the computer program code is loaded into an executed by a computer, the computer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. When implemented on a general-purpose microprocessor, the computer program code segments configure the microprocessor to create specific logic circuits.  
         [0032]     While the invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims.