Table of Contents:

Definition and Overview

1. 2G Billing Challenges

2. Transitioning from 2G to 2.5G Network Services

3. The Emergence of 2.5G Services and Resulting Billing Challenges

4. Next-Generation 3G Services: Bringing Challenge and Opportunity

5. New Business Models for Billing 3G Services

6. Conclusion

Self-Test

Glossary

PDF of this tutorial

The introduction of 2G cellular radio in the 1990s led to a genuine and significant change in human behavior. Technically, it provided the basis for the transition of voice technology from an analog, wired environment to a digital, wireless environment. Psychologically and socially, the advent of 2G transformed telecommunications from a communications tool to an agent of social change that improved people's professional and personal lives by enabling unprecedented communications flexibility.

Deploying a billing system for wireless services has never been simple. However, in the early days of 2G, billing was based on voice minutes. As a result, many wireless carriers, familiar with traditional voice telephony, implemented wireless billing systems using previous models that billed for voice minutes using call detail records (CDR).