onment and from a single point in the network. This leads to satisfied customers, short TTC and faster time to revenue, favouring increased profitability. For the operators themselves a fast and efficient handling of the billing makes a very strong impact on their result. The handling cost of one bill might well be in the range of $10-20, SO being able to send a single bill to each customer instead of maybe three or four (e.g. fixed telephone, mobile phone, cable TV, Internet connection) saves money. See Figure 4.50 in Chapter 4. Telecom management also contributes to revenue generation via what is called billing mediation. Billing mediation takes care of the collection, buffering and delivering of information from the network elements or call control servers, for billing or accounting purposes. Telecom management could possibly also assist in the detection and preven- tion of fraud, by capturing information on selected network element events, and through statistics and network management capabilities. Heavy cost elements are marketing, network management and billing. See Figure 16.18. Administration Network management Short-term procurements/ Billing Equipment cost Annualized capital cost Marketing & sales Interconnect Figure 16.18 Example of cost elements for a network operator Understanding Changing Telecommunications - Building a Successful Telecom Business Fault Management Multiple networks Traditional Many faults Multiple elements vertical Many spares Multiple technologies network Complex fixes Multiple management Multiple O&M costs savings Common network Fewer faults Fewer elements Fewer spares Single technology Simple fixes network Common management Single O&M costs Figure 16.19 Fault management comparisons The introduction of the new network architecture has an impact on cost as also dis- cussed in Chapter 4. Cost reductions are achieved due to the sharing of common activ- ities (surveillance to mention just a simple one). Let us here exemplify by means of fault management. Fault management cost element 