Billing & Rating

What billing models does BlueRockTEL support?

BlueRockTEL supports the full range of billing models used by telecom and cloud operators:

• Recurring fixed fees — monthly subscriptions, line rentals, maintenance contracts
• Usage-based billing — rated from CDR files (calls, data, SMS)
• One-time fees — installation charges, hardware sales, project fees
• Hybrid bundles — fixed packages with included usage and overage rates
• Multi-site billing — consolidated invoices for customers with multiple sites or entities
• Third-party payer — billing directed to a parent company or reseller instead of the end user

This flexibility allows BlueRockTEL to handle even the most complex telecom service portfolios from a single billing engine.

What is a CDR file and why does it matter for billing?

A CDR (Call Data Record) file is a structured data file generated by your telecom switch or softswitch that records every call event: the calling number, the called number, duration, timestamp, and call type. For data services, the equivalent is a usage record (bytes transferred, session duration).

CDR files are the raw material of telecom billing. Without processing them accurately, you cannot bill your customers for what they consumed, and you cannot reconcile your costs against what your carrier charges you. A billing system that cannot process CDR files correctly is simply not fit for telecom operations.

How does BlueRockTEL process CDR files?

BlueRockTEL imports CDR files automatically from your switch or softswitch. The process is:

1. Import — files are collected via SFTP, API, or direct database connector
2. Normalisation — records are parsed and standardised regardless of the source format
3. Rating — each record is matched against the applicable tariff plan and priced
4. Validation — anomalies (duplicate records, unusually long calls, unrated numbers) are flagged
5. Assignment — rated records are assigned to the correct customer and service line
6. Invoicing — aggregated usage is included in the customer's monthly invoice

The entire process is automated. Your team reviews exceptions rather than processing every record manually.

How fast can BlueRockTEL rate and process CDRs?

BlueRockTEL is designed for high-volume environments. The rating engine can process hundreds of thousands of CDR records efficiently within a billing cycle. For most operators, a complete billing run — importing, rating, and generating all invoices — completes in minutes rather than hours.

Can BlueRockTEL generate white-label PDF invoices?

Yes. BlueRockTEL generates fully customised PDF invoices with your logo, brand colours, and layout. Each invoice includes:

• Customer details and billing period
• Itemised fixed fees and subscriptions
• Usage summary (calls by destination type, data by service)
• Detailed call logs as an appendix if needed
• Tax breakdown and totals
• Payment instructions and bank details

The PDF template is configured during onboarding to match your brand identity.

How does VAT and tax handling work across customer types?

BlueRockTEL handles VAT rules per customer type and jurisdiction:

• B2B customers — standard rate, VAT displayed separately
• B2C customers — standard rate, VAT included in displayed price
• Intra-EU B2B — reverse charge mechanism applied automatically
• Public sector — Chorus Pro invoicing for French public bodies
• Exempt entities — zero-rate flag per customer account

VAT rates are configured per service type and country, ensuring every invoice is compliant regardless of your customer mix.

What is "pre-production" billing and why is it important?

Pre-production billing is a dry-run of the billing cycle executed before any invoices are issued or sent to customers. BlueRockTEL generates a full preview of all invoices with real data — you can review every line item, check totals, spot anomalies, and approve the batch before anything goes out.

This step is critical because billing errors are expensive: a wrong invoice damages customer trust, requires a credit note, and wastes support time. Pre-production billing catches errors before they reach customers.

Can I run a billing dry run before issuing invoices?

Yes — this is the pre-production step described above. It is built into the standard billing workflow in BlueRockTEL. You run a pre-production pass, review the outputs, make corrections if needed, then approve and run the production pass that issues invoices and triggers payment collection.

Does BlueRockTEL support multi-batch billing for diverse service portfolios?

Yes. BlueRockTEL supports multiple billing batches, each with its own billing date, tariff plans, and customer segments. This allows operators to bill:

• Different service lines (voice, data, hosting) on different cycles
• Different customer tiers on different dates
• White-label resellers under separate invoice templates

Each batch runs independently, with its own pre-production and production pass.

How does real-time margin analysis work?

BlueRockTEL calculates the cost of each CDR record based on your carrier tariff rates and compares it to the revenue generated from the customer tariff. This gives you, for each call and for each customer:

• Revenue (what you charge)
• Cost (what you pay the carrier)
• Margin (the difference)

You can identify which customers, which destinations, or which service types are generating the most (or least) margin, and adjust your pricing accordingly.

Can BlueRockTEL detect billing anomalies automatically?

Yes. The rating engine flags anomalies during the billing process:

• CDR records that cannot be matched to any tariff plan (unrated traffic)
• Unusually high volumes or durations for a given number
• Duplicate records imported twice
• Numbers that appear in CDRs but are not assigned to any customer

These alerts are surfaced in the pre-production review so your team can investigate before invoices go out.

How does BlueRockTEL prevent revenue leakage from forgotten billing items?

Revenue leakage in telecom typically comes from four sources:

1. Unrated traffic — calls or data not billed because no tariff plan matches
2. Forgotten one-time fees — installation charges or hardware not added to the invoice
3. Expired promotions — discounts that were never removed after the promotional period
4. Cancelled services still being paid to the carrier — costs with no matching revenue

BlueRockTEL addresses all four: the anomaly detection catches unrated traffic, the service configurator links one-time fees to service activations, tariff plans have validity dates, and cost tracking makes carrier-side costs visible. Operators using BlueRockTEL consistently recover significant revenue that was previously slipping through the cracks.