How does billing for roamed calls actually work?
Recovering the costs for roaming calls and settling payments between operators for roamed calls are two separate processes. Recovering costs from subscribers is described first, followed by inter-operator settlements: • Call Detail Records for calls made by roaming subscribers are sent by the operator of the visited network to the operator of the home network. The home network operator is responsible for including the details of the call and charges in the bill for the subscriber and for recovering the costs from the subscriber. CDRs are usually transferred electronically between operators within 24 hours of the call being made. This speed of transfer is important because the information is used for fraud detection as well as for billing. • Inter-operator settlements are usually carried out through a Clearing House. Each operator has an agreement with a Clearing House (e.g. MACH in Luxembourg). Call records for roaming users are sent to the Clearing House. The Clearing House processes
