Billing Concepts Adds Snet DG Data Gateway Service To BC BETI March 2004

SNET DG (Booths 319-321) and Billing Concepts Inc. (Booth 411) today announced an agreement to add SNET DG’s Data Gateway as an enhancement to BCI’s BC BETI service, an information hub used by telecom providers to verify line information for billing purposes.

The deal enables BC BETI customers to submit queries for line information using SNET DG’s least-cost method, which ensures each query is destined for the appropriate database using the most economical access method available.

"Billing Concepts sees the Data Gateway service as an ideal complement to BC BETI’s suite of information services, including its proprietary historical database," says Joe Webb, president of BCI. "By adding Data Gateway to BC BETI, customers now have a cost-effective means to accessing critical service provider information which will, in turn, decrease Return Code 50 rejects and increase the overall accuracy of billing."

A billing record submitted to a LEC for a line it does not service or bill for is rejected as Return Code 50. There has been an increase in such rejects following the emergence of CLECs, which has made traditional ways of identifying the local service provider unreliable.

SNET DG’s Data Gateway supports efforts in identifying the end users’ LSP by providing access to a nationwide body of data that includes accurate LSP information.

"It is exciting to partner with an industry leader like Billing Concepts, who are experts in the telecommunications clearinghouse industry," says Bob Rice, president of SNET DG. "And for SNET DG to be a part of the solution that helps companies retain millions of potentially lost dollars in the industry is a benefit to all concerned."

Ann Dow, product manager for Billing Concepts, says that while BC BETI always allowed customers to query LIDB databases, a full billing number screen is not necessary for most customers that just want to obtain the operating company number. Instead, SNET DG supports "get data" and originating line number screening (OLNS) queries, which are less detailed and less expensive.

The cost of a BNS query can be several times that of "get data" queries, so customers stand to save using the new service.

Dow says that in addition to the OCN information, BC BETI offers customers access to historical information associated with a telephone number that can help to evaluate whether to extend credit to certain originating numbers. Some customers use it to block future calls or to terminate calls that they are not likely to be billed or collected. This information could include the number of billing adjustments, the number of LEC rejects, the number of write-offs against a line or a high accumulation of toll charges.