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Bill and keep (B&K or BAK), also known as net payment zero, is a pricing arrangement for the interconnection (direct or indirect) of two telecommunications networks under which the reciprocal call termination charge is zero. That is, each network agrees to terminate calls from the other network at no charge. [1]
Bill and keep represents an approach to interconnection charging in which networks recover their costs only from their own customers rather than from the sending network. Such an arrangement acts to remove the wholesale cost barrier to retail pricing for off-network calls and has been proven to result in significantly higher levels of calling activity.[ citation needed ]
On October 27, 2011, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission announced that it would adopt a bill-and-keep framework for all telecommunications traffic exchanged with local exchange carriers as part of an effort to reduce arbitrage practices such as traffic pumping and phantom traffic, encourage the deployment of IP-based networks, and reduce artificial competitive distortions between wireline and wireless carriers. [2]
In the European mobile telecommunications sector, in the absence of a bill and keep arrangement, wholesale markets have traditionally applied the calling party pays principle, in which an originating network pays the terminating network a charge called the mobile termination rate or fixed termination rate for calls to the terminating network.[ citation needed ] The mobile termination rates paid under the mobile termination rate model, therefore, act as a cost floor to retail pricing, preventing lowering of prices and innovation of retail propositions. In many countries including the UK, the mobile termination rate model has led to a high level of regulatory activity aimed at capping mobile termination rates at a competitive level, which inevitably acts to reinforce the cost floor rather than being pro-competitive.[ citation needed ]
Although bill and keep has gained momentum, some drawbacks have been identified, such as issues related to the quality of service offered to the end user. [3]
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasting and telecommunications. It was created in 1976 when it took over responsibility for regulating telecommunication carriers. Prior to 1976, it was known as the Canadian Radio and Television Commission, which was established in 1968 by the Parliament of Canada to replace the Board of Broadcast Governors. Its headquarters is located in the Central Building of Les Terrasses de la Chaudière in Gatineau, Quebec.
Telecommunications in Pakistan describes the overall environment for the mobile telecommunications, telephone, and Internet markets in Pakistan.
In computer networking, peering is a voluntary interconnection of administratively separate Internet networks for the purpose of exchanging traffic between the "down-stream" users of each network. Peering is settlement-free, also known as "bill-and-keep" or "sender keeps all", meaning that neither party pays the other in association with the exchange of traffic; instead, each derives and retains revenue from its own customers.
Local exchange carrier (LEC) is a regulatory term in telecommunications for the local telephone company.
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a United States federal law enacted by the 104th United States Congress on January 3, 1996, and signed into law on February 8, 1996, by President Bill Clinton. It primarily amended Chapter 5 of Title 47 of the United States Code.
Roaming is a wireless telecommunication term typically used with mobile devices, such as mobile phones. It refers to a mobile phone being used outside the range of its native network and connecting to another available cell network.
A conference call is a telephone call in which someone talks to several people at the same time. The conference call may be designed to allow the called party to participate during the call or set up so that the called party merely listens into the call and cannot speak.
Spark New Zealand Limited is a New Zealand telecommunications and digital services company providing fixed-line telephone services, mobile phone services, broadband, and digital technology services including cloud, security, digital transformation and managed services. Its customers range from consumers to small - medium business, government agencies and large enterprise clients. It was formerly known as Telecom New Zealand until it was rebranded to Spark in 2014. It has operated as a publicly traded company since 1990. Spark's mobile network reaches 98% of New Zealand, with over 2.5 million mobile connections and 704,000 broadband connections
Phone fraud, or more generally communications fraud, is the use of telecommunications products or services with the intention of illegally acquiring money from, or failing to pay, a telecommunication company or its customers.
An access network is a type of telecommunications network which connects subscribers to their immediate service provider. It is contrasted with the core network, which connects local providers to one another. The access network may be further divided between feeder plant or distribution network, and drop plant or edge network.
In telecommunications, interconnection is the physical linking of a carrier's network with equipment or facilities not belonging to that network. The term may refer to a connection between a carrier's facilities and the equipment belonging to its customer, or to a connection between two or more carriers.
In voice telecommunications, least-cost routing (LCR) is the process of selecting the path of outbound communications traffic based on cost. Within a telecoms carrier, an LCR team might periodically choose between routes from several or even hundreds of carriers. This function might also be automated by a device or software program known as a least-cost router.
Call-through telecom companies are alternative telecommunications companies in Europe that provide services to make inexpensive international phone calls. All a user needs to do to take advantage of these savings is to dial the call-through access number followed by the destination number. Different phone companies specializes in a different types of international phone call deals, which means that the cheap long-distance call plan that works for one country won't necessarily work for another. Most call-through telecom companies charge different telephone call prices at different times of day for local and national calls while others offer really cheap international phone calls.
The termination rate is one of the three components in the cost of providing telephone service, and the one subject to the most variation.
Telephone companies in different countries use a variety of international telecoms routes to send traffic to each other. These can be legal routes or other arrangements the industry calls grey routes, special carrier arrangements, settlement by-pass and other euphemisms.
The Roaming Regulation 2022 bans roaming charges (Eurotariff) within the European Economic Area (EEA), which consists of the member states of the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. This regulates both the charges mobile network operator can impose on its subscribers for using telephone and data services outside of the network's member state, and the wholesale rates networks can charge each other to allow their subscribers access to each other's networks. The 2012 Regulation was recast in 2022.
Lyca Mobile is a British mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) operating in 60 countries. The brand is active in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal,, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States. The bulk of Lyca Mobile revenue is claimed to be generated from its SIM products. Lycatel, also a part of Lyca Group, targets customers within expatriate and ethnic markets that want to make international calls.
Traffic pumping, also known as access stimulation, is a controversial practice by which some local exchange telephone carriers in rural areas of the United States inflate the volume of incoming calls to their networks, and profit from the greatly increased intercarrier compensation fees to which they are entitled by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Pac-West Telecomm, Inc. is a privately, wholesale telecommunications carrier headquartered in Oakland, California, United States.
Calling party pays (CPP) is a payment model in telephony, especially in cellular markets, that states that the total cost of a call is borne by the caller and not the receiver. It is also known as "Calling party network pays" or CPNP.