LD Let us first look at a simple case that illustrates how to set a charging level. A high end-user value tends to push the tariff upwards, whereas a competitive environment tends to lower the tariff. See Figure 5.17, which shows a typical mixture of elements in the subscriber bill. From the figure we also can get an idea of the revenue streams. With the Internet and content provision the traffic becomes increasingly asymmetric as a consequence of heavy occasional downloads and streaming video. Normally the content is directed towards the 'calling subscriber'. Video on demand is an extreme case. 'Sophisticated' charging of IP -traffic is possible by checking the content at the appli- cation level by means of a proxy server. The drawbacks are that such a server will give delays, cost money and become a weak point from a security point of view. To satisfactorily cover charging it is necessary to include a few words about inter- connection, accounting and peering between actors. 'Peering' is explained later in this chapter. With such a complex value chain it is not only the end users that are charged. 5.11.1 CHARGING END USERS 'Distance is dead and time is running out. How communications and services will be paid for in the future will change the Telecom business radically.' In the traditional telecom world charging has been based on subscription fee, time and distance-based periodical charging. In the new telecom world probably only the subscription fee will survive in the long run. Subscribers want a simple charging structure and preferably just one service retailer in order to receive only one bill. (The other fees are likely to be replaced by access fees (similar to access provider fees), transaction fees for e-commerce, advertising fees PRICES AND COSTS AS SEEN BY: SERVICE CONTENT PROVIDER (SP)/ PROVIDER (CP) END USER RETAILER User value Profit margin Profit margin Service Access to and content use of content Market Price of competition service usage Application service cost NETWORK PROVIDER (NP) Profit margin 