Patent ID: 8447268

Claim:
A method for routing a tariff associated with one or more data transactions in a mobile telecommunication network to an appropriate billing system, wherein the mobile telecommunication network incorporates a data switching centre, the data switching centre being adapted to receive data transactions transmitted by a subscriber to the telecommunication network and route them to an appropriate destination, the method comprising the steps of: a) receiving service detail records from the data switching centre associated with the mobile telecommunication network, the service detail records being associated with a specific data transaction having been previously transmitted by, or to, a subscriber within the telecommunication network, the service detail record containing a unique indicia associated with the subscriber; b) associating the retrieved unique indicia with one or more records previously stored in a subscriber database so as to establish a routing criteria for the specific subscriber, c) effecting the calculation of a tariff for the data transaction, and d) routing the tariff to one or more billing destinations, being selectable from a plurality of available billing destinations, in accordance with the routing criteria previously established, wherein if the tariff is routed to one or more billing destinations having a balance insufficient to pay for the transaction, at least part of the tariff is then routed to one or more further billing destinations.