Telecommunication management; Charging management; Charging data description for the Circuit Switched (CS) domain
The GSM and UMTS PLMNs support a wide range of circuit based services. In order to enable operators the ability to provide a commercially viable service there is a need to provide charging functions.
The present document is part of a series of documents specifying charging functionality in UMTS networks. The UMTS charging architecture and principles are specified in TS 32.200 [22] which provides an umbrella for other charging documents that specify the structure and content of the CDRs and the interface protocol that is used to transfer them to the collecting node.
The present document specifies the structure and the contents of the CDRs that are collected by the relevant network elements for circuit switched services in 2G (GSM) and 3G (UMTS) networks. It also defines the syntax for the transfer of these CDRs from the collecting nodes to billing post-processing systems using standard file transfer protocols.
The CDRs content and transport within the PS domain are described in TS 32.215 [23] document, while CDRs used for application services are defined in document TS 32.235 [24].
The relationship among these charging specifications is illustrated in figure 1.
Figure 1: Charging Documents Structure
The interface definitions of GSM 12.05 are maintained for 2G, in order to assure backward compatibility to earlier GSM releases.
The charging architecture and principles that the present document is based on are specified in TS 32.200 [22].
All references, abbreviations, definitions, descriptions, principles and requirements that are common to charging in UMTS domains or subsystems are provided in the umbrella TS 32.200 [22]. To avoid unnecessary duplications, they are not repeated in the present document unless it is essential.