PROJECT –REVENUE ASSUARANCE IN BSNL

SUBMITTED BY-MOHIT GUPTA(0192131707)

BBA- GGSIP UNIVERSITY(2007-10)
CHAPTER-1
BSNL (BHARAT SANCHAR NIGAM LIMITED)

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. formed in October, 2000, is World's 7th largest
Telecommunications Company providing comprehensive range of telecom services in
India: Wireline, CDMA mobile, GSM Mobile, Internet, Broadband, Carrier service,
MPLS-VPN, VSAT, VoIP services, IN Services etc. Within a span of five years it has
become one of the largest public sector unit in India.

BSNL has installed Quality Telecom Network in the country and now focusing on improving it,
expanding the network, introducing new telecom services with ICT applications in villages and
wining customer's confidence. Today, it has about 47.3 million line basic telephone capacity,
4 million WLL capacity, 20.1 Million GSM Capacity, more than 37382 fixed exchanges,
18000 BTS, 287 Satellite Stations, 480196 Rkm of OFC Cable, 63730 Rkm of Microwave
Network connecting 602 Districts, 7330 cities/towns and 5.5 Lakhs villages.

BSNL is the only service provider, making focused efforts and planned initiatives to bridge the
Rural-Urban Digital Divide ICT sector. In fact there is no telecom operator in the country to beat
its reach with its wide network giving services in every nook & corner of country and operates
across India except Delhi & Mumbai. Whether it is inaccessible areas of Siachen glacier and
North-eastern region of the country. BSNL serves its customers with its wide bouquet of telecom
services.

BSNL is numero uno operator of India in all services in its license area. The company offers vide
ranging & most transparent tariff schemes designed to suite every customer.
BSNL cellular service, CellOne, has more than 17.8 million cellular customers, garnering 24
percent of all mobile users as its subscribers. That means that almost every fourth mobile user in
the country has a BSNL connection. In basic services, BSNL is miles ahead of its rivals, with
35.1 million Basic Phone subscribers i.e. 85 per cent share of the subscriber base and 92
percent share in revenue terms.

BSNL has more than 2.5 million WLL subscribers and 2.5 million Internet Customers who
access Internet through various modes viz. Dial-up, Leased Line, DIAS, Account Less
Internet(CLI). BSNL has been adjudged as the NUMBER ONE ISP in the country.
BSNL has set up a world class multi-gigabit, multi-protocol convergent IP infrastructure that
provides convergent services like voice, data and video through the same Backbone and
Broadband Access Network. At present there are 0.6 million DataOne broadband customers.
The company has vast experience in Planning, Installation, network integration and Maintenance
of Switching & Transmission Networks and also has a world class ISO 9000 certified Telecom
Training Institute.

Scaling new heights of success, the present turnover of BSNL is more than Rs.351,820
million (US $ 8 billion) with net profit to the tune of Rs.99,390 million (US $ 2.26 billion)
for last financial year. The infrastructure asset on telephone alone is worth about Rs.630,000
million (US $ 14.37 billion).
BSNL plans to expand its customer base from present 47 millions lines to 125 million lines by
December 2007 and infrastructure investment plan to the tune of Rs. 733 crores (US$ 16.67
million) in the next three years.
The turnover, nationwide coverage, reach, comprehensive range of telecom services and the
desire to excel has made BSNL the No. 1 Telecom Company of India.
VISION

BSNL's Vision is to become the largest Telecom Service Provider in Asia. Its Mission is to
provide world class, state-of-art technology telecom services to its customers on demand at
competitive prices and world class telecom infrastructure in its area of operation and
contribute to the growth of India's economy.

Become a total solution provider company and to provide world class telecom services at
affordable prices.
Become a global telecom company and to find a place in the ‘Fortune 500’ companies.
 To become the largest telecom Service Provider in Asia
 To remain market leader in providing world class Telecom and IT related services at
affordable prices and to become a global player.

MISSION

 To provide world class State-of-art technology telecom services to its customers on

demand at competitive prices.

 To Provide world class telecom infrastructure in its area of operation and to contribute to
the growth of the country's economy.
Enter into and expand new services viz. Long distance, Cellular mobile, W-CDMA, Internet /
Broadband and ‘IN’ – services and development of telecom software. Become the largest
provider of private networks and leased lines.
Venture into other areas in India and abroad on the strength of our core competency.
OBJECTIVES

BSNL's Objectives are to be Lead Telecom Services Provider, provide quality and reliable
fixed telecom service to our customer and increase customer's confidence, provide mobile
telephone service of high quality and become the No. 1 GSM operator in its area of
operation, provide point of interconnection to other service provider as per their
requirement promptly and facilitate Research & Development activity in the country.
BSNL also has the objective to contribute towards National Plan Target of 500 million
subscriber base for India by 2010, Broadband customers base of 20 million in India by
2010 as per Broadband Policy 2004, Providing telephone connection in villages as per
government policy and Implementation of Triple play as a regular commercial proposition.

 To be the Lead Telecom Services Provider.

 To provide quality and reliable fixed telecom service to our customer and there by
increase customer's confidence.

 To provide mobile telephone service of high quality and become no. 1 GSM operator
in its area of operation.

 To provide point of interconnection to other service provider as per their requirement

promptly.

 To facilitate R & D activity in the country.

 Contribute towards:

- National Plan Target of 500 million subscriber base for India by 2010.
- Broadband customers base of 20 million in India by 2010 as per Broadband Policy
2004.
- Providing telephone connection in villages as per government policy.
 - Implementation of Triple play as a regular commercial proposition.

CERTIFICATIONS

 BSNL adds one more feather to its cap. Centre for Excellence in Telecom Technology &
Management (CETTM) has been awarded with the ISO 9001: 2000 Certification for
providing training in the field of Telecom Technology & Management.

 BSNL's Centre for Excellence in Telecom Technology and Management received ISO
9001-2000 certification on 4th July, 2005. This quality certification is the first step in
developing CETTM as a world class training centre.

 BSNL with a market share of about 40% of the National Telecom Network has a
customer base of about 20 million lines at the end of 2002-03.

Growth Plan

BSNL's future plan include a fast expansion programme of increasing the present 34 million
lines to twice that number by 2005 and some 120 million lines by 2010.

The shift in demand from voice to data domination, and from wireline to wireless, has
revolutionized the very nature of the network. BSNL has already set in place several measures
that should enable it to evolve into a fully integrated multi-operator by 2005 and its incumbent
status, size, infrastructure and human resource should certainly, give it a distinct advantage.

Consolidation of the network and maintaining high quality of service comparable to International
standards is the key aim of the Growth Plan. Objective of the plan are:

 The telephone connection shall be provided on demand and it shall be

sustained.
Future Plans of BSNL

BSNL plans Rs 349 cr CDMA expansion

The State-owned telecom firm BSNL will spend Rs 349.31 crore in 2009-10 to expand its
CDMA-based wireless services while the other PSU, MTNL, has no such plans in this segment.
In a written reply to a query in the Lok Sabha, the Minister of State of Communications and
Information Technology, Gurudas Kamat said, "In BSNL, 19.21 lakh lines of CDMA based
equipments are under various stage of supply and installations for the 20 09-10... BSNL has
planned to spend Rs 349.31 crores on procurement of the equipments." The minister added
BSNL services within the local area would be strengthened with the capacity expansion.

He clarified that MTNL has no plans to expand its CDMA network in the near future. However,
MTNL plans to spend Rs 122.91 crore to add ten wireless local loop (WLL) towers in Mumbai
in 2009-10.

BSNL’s Latest Plans – 3G services & More

BSNL has awarded the contract to leading telecom equipment maker Ericsson & Nokia Siemens
network for upgrading its technical services.

The high bandwidth of Nokia Siemens Networks' will allow BSNL to deliver high data and
triple-play intensive services such as Video on Demand, Video Multicast, IPTV, Video
Conferencing, and VPN to its many customers.

As part of the contract, Nokia Siemens Networks will deploy its Gigabit Ethernet-capable IP
DSLAMs Surpass hiX5625 (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers) and chassis-based
access switch (Surpass hiD6615). The company will also supply end-user devices to enable
BSNL provide speeds of up to 24Mbps for ADSL2+ subscribers over its existing Copper
infrastructure. Nokia Siemens Networks provides a comprehensive portfolio of wireline
 and wireless Broadband solutions including xDSL, GE, and GPON (Passive Optical Networks),
Carrier Ethernet, HSDPA, and WiMax.
BSNL – SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
• Pan-India reach
• Experienced telecom service provider
• Total telecom service provider
• Huge Resources (financial & technical
pool)
• Huge customer base
• Most trusted telecom brand
• Transparency in billing
• Easy deployment of new services
• Copper in last mile can be used for easy
broadband deployment
• Huge Optical Fibre network and associated
bandwidth
OPPORTUNITIES
• Tremendous market growing at 20 lac
customers per month
• Untapped broadband services
• Untouched international market
• Can capitalize on public sector image to
grab government’s ICT initiatives
• ITEB service markets
• Diversification of business to turn-key
projects
• Leveraging the brand image to source funds
• Almost un-invaded VSAT market
WEAKNESSES
• Non-optimization of network capabilities
• Poor marketing strategy
• Bureaucratic organizational set up
• Inflexibility in mindset (DOT period legacies)
• Limited number of value added services
• Poor franchisee network
• Legacy of poor service image
• Huge and aged manpower
• Procedural delays
• Lack of strategic alliances
• Problems associated with incumbency like
outdated technologies, unproductive rural
assets, social obligations, political
interference,
• Poor IT penetration within organization
• Poor knowledge Management
THREATS
• Competition from private operators
• Keeping pace with fast technological changes
• Market maturity in basic telephone segment
• Manpower churning
• Multinational eyeing Indian telecom market
• Private operators demand for sharing last mile
• Decreasing per line revenues due to
competitive pricing
• Private operators demand to do away with
ADC can seriously effect revenues
• Populist policies of government like
• Fuller utilization of slack resources “OneIndia” rates
• Can make a kill through deep penetration
and low cost advantage
• Broaden market expected from convergence
of broadcasting, telecom and entertainment
industry

Hierarchical Structure of BSNL

 Indian Telecommunication Industry

The Indian telecommunications has been zooming up the growth curve at a feverish pace,
emerging as one of the key sectors responsible for India's resurgent economic growth.
India is has surpassed US to become the second largest wireless network in the world with a
subscriber base of over 300 million in April, according to the the Telecom Regulatory Authority
of India (Trai).

The year 2007 saw India achieving significant distinctions:

1 having the world's lowest call rates 2-3 US cents

2 the fastest growth in the number of subscribers 15.31 million in 4 months
3 the fastest sale of million mobile phones in a week
4 the world's cheapest mobile handset US$ 17.2
5 the world's most affordable color phone US$ 27.42
6 largest sale of mobile handsets in the third quarter

Segment-wise growth
Wireless segment has emerged as the preferred mode of telephone service by the consumers,
reflected in the rising share of mobile phone connections to total connections.
1. The share of mobile phones has increased from 71.69 per cent at the end of March 2006
to 87.68 per cent at the end of May 2008.

2. While total mobile subscriber base was 277.92 million, wire line subscriber base was
39.05 million.

3. Consequently, overall tele-density has increased to 27.59 per cent at the end of May
2008.

India is likely to be second largest mobile market in the BRIC nations, with 560 million mobile
users representing the next great growth curve for both mobile and interactive marketing
industries, according to a report by eMarketers.

Investment

The booming domestic telecom market has been attracting accelerating amount of investment.
During April 2000 to March 2008, cumulative FDI inflows into the Indian telecommunications
sector amounted to US$ 3.84 billion, accounting for 6.81 per cent of the total FDI inflows into
the country.
In fact, the surge in mobile services market is likely to see huge amount of investment implying a
mobile in the hands of every second person in the country.

Buoyed by the rapid surge in the subscriber base, huge investments are being made into this
industry by companies like
• Maxis Communications-owned mobile service provider Aircel
• Srei Group's Quippo Telecom Infrastructure Ltd (QTIL)
• The Central public sector enterprises(CPSEs) have lined up investments for infrastructure
sectors like telecom energy and power for 2008-09.
• Vodafone Essar will invest US$ 6 billion over the next three years in a bid to increase its
mobile subscriber base from 40 million at present to over 100 million.
Manufacturing
India is emerging as a handset super-power as more manufacturers set up base in the country, it
is not only the world's fastest-growing telecom market but it is also making remarkable progress
in the telecom manufacturing space. The Indian telecom equipment manufacturing sector is set to
become one of the largest globally by 2010.
Simultaneously, India's surging domestic market is also providing excellent investment
opportunities in other segments of telecom equipment industry.

• Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) is shifting its global services business unit headquarters
from Munich to India.
• Nokia set up its manufacturing plant in Chennai.
• Samsung has set up its GSM mobile manufacturing base in Manesar.
• Motorola has established a manufacturing plant in Sriperumbedur.
• Sony Ericsson has set up GSM Radio Base Station Manufacturing facility in Jaipur and
R&D centre in Chennai.
• LG Electronics set up plant of manufacturing GSM mobile phones near pune.
• Elcoteq has set up handset manufacturing facilities in Bangalore
• Elextronics has set up an SEZ in Chennai.

Value Added Services Market

India's runaway success in mobile telephony has also given a boost to the mobile value added
services (MVAS) market. According to a study by Stanford University and consulting firm
BDA, the Indian MVAS is likely to grow at a CAGR of 44 per cent 2010.
Government Initiatives

The Government has taken many proactive initiatives which has provided a framework for the
rapid growth of the telecom industry.
• Opening the industry for private sector participation.
• 100 per cent FDI is permitted in telecom equipment manufacturing through the automatic
route.
• FDI ceiling in telecom services has been raised to 74 per cent.
• Establishment of an independent regulator - the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
(TRAI) for the telecom sector.
• Introduction of a Unified access licensing regime for telecom services on a pan-India basis.
• Implementation of New Telecom Policy (NTP'99).
• Introduction of Calling Party Pay (CPP) regime and lowering of access deficit coupled with
Introduction of revenue share regime in ADC.
• Introduction of Mobile Number Portability in a phased manner, starting with the fourth
Quarter of 2008.
• Allowing service providers to share active infrastructure.

Road Ahead
• According to a report by Boston Consulting Group, while only one in 20 of the world's
first two billion mobile subscribers live in India, as many as one in every four of the next
billion subscribers will be an Indian.

• The department of telecommunication estimates the total subscriber base to total 500
million by 2010, out of which 80 million are expected to be from rural areas.

• The Indian telecom industry's revenue, likewise, is estimated to increase, which

according to Ernst & Young is expected to total US$ 35 billion, accounting for 3.6 per
cent of the total GDP of the country.

With such growth projection, this industry is likely to see increased investments. In fact, total
investment is projected at US$ 76.6 billion during the eleventh plan period (2007-12). Private
sector is estimated to continue its dominant share, accounting for 67 per cent of the total
projected investment while public sector accounts for the rest.

Top players

The top players based on cellular subscriber (in millions) base were

Idea
cellular
, 24
Bharti, 62
BSNL, 41

Vodafone, 44 Reliance, 46

Cellular services can be divided into two categories: Global System for Mobile
Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). The GSM sector is
dominated by Airtel, Vodafone-Hutch, and Idea Cellular, while the CDMA sector is dominated
by Reliance and Tata Indicom.
Surprisingly, CDMA market has increased its market share up to 30% thanks to Reliance
Communication. However, across the globe, CDMA has been losing out numbers to popular
GSM technology, contrary to the scenario in India

Reasons for growth

The two major reasons that have fuelled this growth are
1. Low tariffs

2. Falling handset prices.

 3. Competition between companies to increase market share.

CHALLENGES

The challenge of the day is to search for new cost-effective ways to roll out telecom services in
rural areas. It means one has to choose proper and effective technology for deployment and
leverage on the use of available infrastructure to reduce cost and time of role out of services.
Those service providers who create the right business would emerge winners and the rest would
remain spectators. Connectivity of networks and cost of bandwidth are also important to
facilitate broadband usage. Availability of local application and content is another area of
concern. Most of the content available on website as of today is in English. The content in local
and regional language will increase interest of the local population in broadband utilization. The
convergence of technologies and emergence of new applications is another thrilling area. Lot of
revolution is round the corner in broadcasting and entertainment industries. The emergence of
Internet protocol TV, mobile TV will all change the scenario in the coming years. Wireless
technology is the future growth driver for which spectrum is the most important input. The task
of spectrum management in a multi user and multi usage scenario is more daunting and crucial
than ever before. In summary, if the last few years in telecom were exciting, it will be even more
exciting in the coming years.

Problems faced
The bottlenecks for ' Indian Telecom Industry ' are:
• Slow reform process.

• Low penetration.

• Service providers bears huge initial cost to make inroads and achieving break-even is
difficult.

• Lack of infrastructure in semi-rural and rural areas, which makes it difficult to make
inroads into this market segment as service providers have to incur a huge initial fixed
cost.
 • Huge initial investments.

• Limited spectrum availability and interconnection charges between the private and state
operators.

Table showing increase in GSM & CDMA Subscriber Base

Year Millions (GSM) Growth (GSM) Millions Growth (CDMA)

(CDMA)
2000 3.1 94% - -

2001 5.05 76% - -

2002 10.5 91% 0.8 -

2003 22.0 110% 6.4 700%

2004 37.4 70% 10.9 70%

2005 58.5 57% 19.1 75%

2006 105.4 80% 44.2 131%

2007 180.0 71% 85.0 92%

MAJOR MARKET TRENDS

 Telecom trends in India have a great impact on the PC, internet, broadband, Cable,
handset features.

 An average of 4million subscribers added every month for the past 6 months. The
wireless subscriber base has increased 75percent from 2002 to 2007.

 18 percent of mobile users are willing to change their handsets every year.

KEY POLICY INITIATIVES

 New Economic Policy (1991)

Opening up of Telecom service sector (Mobile –metros)

 National Telecom Policy 1994

 Telecom, key for development.

 Inadequacy of public resource to meet demand.

 Private sector to supplement Govt.

 Provide world class telecom service at affordable cost.

 Establishment of TRAI (1997)

 New Telecom Policy (NTP 1999)

 Transition from fixed license fee to revenue share.

 Introduction of free competition.

 Technology neutral licenses.

 Tariff rebalancing.

 Creation of BSNL (2000)

 Establishment of TDSAT (2000)

 Opening of National & International long distance

 Launching of mobile service by BSNL (2002)

  Broadband policy (2004)

KEY FACTOR OF TELECOM GROWTH IN INDIA

 Intense competition among several players.

 Wireless revolution is taking place in country.

 Global economics is growing.

Telecom Regulatory Authority Of India (TRAI)

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India or TRAI (established 1997) is the
independent regulator established by the Government of India to regulate the
telecommunications business in India.

TRAI Mission: The mission of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is to ensure that
the interests of consumers are protected and at the same time to foster conditions for growth of
telecommunications, broadcasting and cable services in a manner and at a pace which will enable
India to play a leading role in the emerging global information society.
 POLICIES AND ACTS

The telecom industry is regulated by the following acts:

1. TRAI ACT, 1997

2. INDIAN WIRELESS ACT, 1933

3. CABLE TELEVISION NETWORKS ACT, 1995

Also the following government policies help the government to enjoy its control over the
telecoms:

1. NATIONAL TELECOM POLICY, 1994

2. NEW TELECOM POLICY, 1999

3. BROADBAND POLICY, 2004

4. Unlinking Guidelines

5. Down linking Guidelines

6. DTH guidelines

These policies are framed by the government and it is binding on all the telecoms to abide by
these guidelines failing which they can be deprived of their license, provided the company is
proven guilty in the court of law. BSNL has the highest rating of Value for money as 33 persons
out 34 has rated it as an excellent and good service provider. Then Idea Company is following
BSNL as a best service provider for value for money. Other two players Airtel and Vodafone
have similar performance approximately. Both have been rated good and excellent, where good
has been rated more as compare to other options.

Present Scenario Of ‘The Indian Telecom Industry’

Telecommunications is one of the prime support services needed for rapid growth and
modernization of various sectors of the economy. It has become especially important in recent
years because of enormous growth of Information Technology (IT) and its significant impact on
the rest of the economy. India is perceived to have a special comparative advantage in IT and in
IT-enabled services. However, sustaining this advantage depends critically on high quality
telecommunication infrastructure. Keeping this in view, the focus of policy is vision of world
class telecommunication facilities at reasonable rates. Provision of telecom services in rural areas
would be another thrust area to attain the goal of accelerated economic development and social
change. Although the telecom network has grown rapidly in recent years, its growth needs to be
accelerated further in the Tenth Plan.

Today constant efforts are being made, both by public and private sector to enhance
telecommunication facilities. In today's era of globalization India is rapidly developing as a
telecommunication giant in the global scenario. Bsnl, Mtnl, Idea, Reliance, Airtel, Vodafone are
some of the leading service providers in India. BSNL is the world's seventh largest telecom
company in terms of the number of subscribers. In 1975, it was the department of telecom which
had the responsibility of providing telecom services in India. In 1985 MTNL (Mahanagar
Telephone Nigam Limited) was established to provide services in Delhi and Mumbai.

The telecom sector in India has been witnessing a continuous process of reforms since 1991.
With the opening of international long distance services and internet telephony from April, 2002,
the process of liberalization and opening up the sector for competition is complete. Convergence
of services is a major new emerging area and the telecom sector will have to address this in the
Tenth Plan.

INTRODUCTION

“REVENUE ASSURANCE IN BSNL”

Introduction
In this world of hybrid telecommunications companies, even a simple phone call can involve
several kinds of carriers. These multi-level handoffs mean that carriers have to mediate and
dispute more complicated combinations of revenue, billing and tariff data. More often than not,
telecommunication companies stand helplessly as millions of dollars of their revenue go
unaccounted. Revenue leakage is guaranteed, given the technical and business challenges in this
complicated environment. Companies worldwide take a 5 percent leakage in revenue as normal.
Now due to competitive pressure companies are beginning to focus on internal tightening of their
process to stop revenue losses. Revenue Assurance process is one of the simplest and easiest
ways to stop revenue leakages.

What is Revenue Assurance?

Revenue Assurance is about billing all transactions for all events without losing revenue to
fraud. It extends its functionality to include collection of bad debts and outstanding revenues.
The communications market is one of the most competitive sectors in the commercial world. As
economic pressure increases, many operators are moving from a growth-based business model,
where success is measured in numbers of subscribers or ARPU, to a value-based model where
success is measured by margins and profitability.

As part of this transition operators are targeting both cost reduction and new, high-margin
services that can increase revenues. Both of these can directly increase profitability. However,
there is another area where profitability can be substantially improved with minimal investment,
by implementing a proactive Revenue Assurance strategy.

Why is Revenue Assurance Required?

Safeguard against loss of revenue Collecting revenues due to a company is one of the easiest
ways for a company to grow. It has been found that telecom companies regularly miss out billing
5% of their revenues.

Reducing customer churn

Revenue Assurance strategies help in monitoring the causes of customer dissatisfaction and
controlling them methodically and quite effectively.

Maintaining billing accuracy standard

Both under-billing and over-billing is a cause of worry for the company. While under-billing
results in loss of revenue, over-billing results in loss of reputation.

Complying with regulatory requirements

In most countries, regulatory bodies impose certain standards to retain the licenses, which might
include customer complaints, compliance to service levels and billing accuracy.

Reputation (word of mouth, bad publicity, references): The primary concern of any company is a
customer reporting a problem with the company.

Controlling financial losses (compensation, lost business):

Revenue Assurance can make a significant contribution to financial performance and strategic
positioning.

Causes for Revenue Leakage

Lack of co-ordination among different units in the same organization

Co-ordination among the different functions of the organization is essential for Revenue
Assurance. One Mismatch between service (de-)activation on network and billing
(de-)activation Seamless integration between service provisioning system and billing system is
important to plug revenue
Leakage. Around 20% of the revenue leakages occur due to provisioning errors.

Improper functioning of switch components

Wrong configuration of switches or other failure may lead to revenue losses.

Inaccuracy of switch/network transactions

Data transfer between the network and the billing systems must be fail proof. Loss of data
generally leads to
loss of revenue. Mediation and Data collection account for 45% of revenue leakages.

Rating complexity
Complex rating structures just like complex promotions lead to numerous chances for errors.

Bill production and bill delivery

Call detail records used for bills production must be approved before any bill runs. Bills
produced need to be
checked before being sent to the customers.

Business process weakness

Uncontrolled business process violations cause chain effects that often result in revenue loss.
Business
processes must be designed to cope up with all emerging contingency situations.

Data centre process weaknesses

Processing and transfer of data should be done carefully to protect critical fi les, which might
result in both over-billing and under-billing.

Wrong rounding definitions

Rounding principles should be clearly confi gured throughout all systems consistently.
Inconsistent or wrong Rounding can cause companies to lose millions in lost revenue.

The Following are the Practices followed by BSNL for Revenue

Assurance
The practices followed by BSNL for revenue assurance other than the general practices
followed by other organizations are a follows:-
 Sub-ledger

 Collection Efficiency

 Provision for Doubtful Debts

 Age wise Analysis of debtors

Sub Ledger
Sub ledger is an ancillary or supporting record book to the main Ledger Book to
maintain records and to find out the amount of outstanding Revenue that should have
been collected in the previous month.

Collection Efficiency
Collection Efficiency is calculated to find out how much amount or revenue is collected
for the “Amount Billed For”(ABF). Collection Efficiency is collected at the end of the
month for a bill which is raised on the Ist day of the month.

Provision For Doubtful Debts

Provision for Doubtful debts is created to give the company a cushion of money against
the bad or doubtful debts or any case of disputes. Provision for doubtful debts is related
to Revenue Assurance as after the amount become irrecoverable by law then provision
for Doubtful Debts is used to write off amount of Bad debts.

Age wise Analysis of Debtors

Age wise analysis of Debtors is done to keep a check on how old the debtors of the
company are? Older the debtors of the company, the slimmer the chances of recovery. So
it lets us know that how old the Debtors are, & it becomes easy to keep a check on
debtors.
The above practices are explained below:-
Subsidiary Ledger
The accounts represented in a general ledger match up one-for-one with the accounts in a
company's chart of accounts. However, in some instances there is a need to track transactions
within a single account in more detail. This is accomplished by using a subsidiary ledger.
A subsidiary ledger, also called a sub ledger or subaccount, breaks out a single general ledger
account into subgroups that share common information. Individual transactions are posted to the
general ledger account, called the controlling account, and to the appropriate subsidiary ledger.
In accounting software, you only have to make the entry in the subaccount and the software
automatically makes the corresponding entry in the controlling account. When preparing the
Trial Balance the subsidiary ledger is totalled and compared to the controlling account to verify
they are in agreement.It is important to understand that the subsidiary ledger is not a single
ledger but a type of ledger. A company will only have one general ledger, but it can have
multiple subsidiary ledgers. Below are some different types of subsidiary ledgers a company
might have.
 Accounts Receivable Subsidiary Ledger

 Accounts Payable Subsidiary Ledger

 Other Examples of Subsidiary Ledgers

• Notes Receivable Subsidiary Ledger

• Notes Payable Subsidiary Ledger

• Equipment Subsidiary Ledger

• Equipment Subsidiary Ledger

Below is the Format of Subledger used by BSNL

 Net
O.Bal C. Bil Amoun Amoun Paym Amou TD Amt.
Period ance/ D. ls t t ent nt S Net Amount Gross Under Net
Can
Amt.Bi celle Recei Adjust C. C.Balan
lled d W/Off Billed ved ed Recovered Balance Dispute ce
93-94 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
94-95 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
95-96 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
96-97 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
97-98 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
98-99 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
99-2k 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1.4.2k to
30.9.2k 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1.10.2k to
31.3.01 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2001-02 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2002-03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2003-04 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2004-05 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2005-06 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2006-07 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mar-08 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mar-09 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Apr-09 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
May-09 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
G.Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Collection efficiency
Credit executives have an abundance of measures available to help them quantify and analyze
the success of their efforts. One of the most widely used (and some credit executives might say,
misused) measures is Days Sales Outstanding, or DSO.
Days Sales Outstanding expresses the average time, in days, it takes your company to convert its
accounts receivables into cash. There are several ways to calculate DSO. When used
appropriately and consistently, these calculations can help you answer a variety of questions
about the effectiveness of your credit and collection policies and practices. For instance, are your
credit terms in line with competitors? Are your collection procedures successful in meeting
stated goals? Is your customer base risky?
.
There are basically six requirements (as outlined in "Performance Measures for Credit,
Collections and Accounts Receivable"):

1. The measure should express a value that complements and supports the objectives of your
company and department.
2. It must be communicated to all individuals responsible for the process being measured.
3. It must be compared to some standard, for instance, past company performance, or an
industry benchmark.
4. It must be used consistently, from month to month, year to year.
5. The results should elicit some action - correcting course, managing change for improvement.
6. It should provide a benefit. This could be as basic as the satisfaction of reaching a goal that
contributes to the organization’s success.

Formulas for Calculating DSO

DSO is important as a financial indicator to the extent that it shows the age, in terms of days, of
an organization's accounts receivable and the average time it takes to turn those receivables into
cash.

It can give insight into the changes occurring within an organization's receivable balance;
indicating whether a change occurred because of a positive or negative fluctuation in sales during
that period, or if other business factors such as promotional discounts, seasonality, selling terms,
etc. created the effect.

The Standard DSO calculation provides an average (aggregate) time in days it takes to convert
accounts receivables into cash. It should be tracked over time and compared to previous
company results or industry/competitor benchmarks.

Standard DSO Formula and calculation utilizing data above:-

(Ending Total Receivables / Total Credit Sales) x Number of Days in Period

The another formula for calculating collection efficiency is calculated on the basis of
“AMOUNT BILLED FOR” . The formula for ccalculating collection efficiency from
AMOUNT BILLED FOR is as follows:-
[ Amount billed for (–) Outstanding Amount/Amount billed for] x 100

Provision for BAD & Doubtful Debtors

BAD & Doubtful Debtors

Another practical application of the accruals concept is the making of a provision for
bad and doubtful debts. Such a provision is normally charged against profit in the
period in which the debt is first considered to be bad or doubtful in accordance with
the prudence concept. But the idea of matching seems to imply that it ought to be
charged in the period in which the sale was originally made. Why is this rarely done?
It is true that strict interpretation of the matching principle would require the bad debt
write-off to be made in the period in which the sale to which it relates took place.

However, it would be extremely inconvenient to have to keep restating prior periods’

results (e.g. recalculating the profit of two years ago) in this way, and there are
arguments for not doing so. Accounting is not an exact science and does not pretend to
be; it is accepted as normal that certain estimates will subsequently turn out to be wrong
and require correction in later periods. Users of accounting statements would find it very
confusing if adjustments to prior periods’ accounts were continually being made, and
there would be scope for an unscrupulous management to manipulate the accounts.
However, there are circumstances in which corrections to the accounts of earlier periods
should be made. These are mainly where the correction is so material (i.e. large in value
or the correction will turn a profit into a loss and vice versa) that it would be misleading
not to restate earlier years’ results. So, if a very large debt, representing an important
part of sales, were to require writing off, or providing4against, there could be a case for
 doing so by restating the accounts for the period to which it relates. It would depend
upon whether the debt was effectively ‘bad’ from the start, or whether more recent
circumstances have been the cause of the problem. Again, we come back to the idea ofgiving
users the most helpful information.

PROVISION FOR DOUBTFUL DEBTS

The rules for creating a Provision for Doubtful Debts may vary from enterprise to enterprise. The
basic concept is to allow for debts that may potentially be written off in the future, to match the
cost of it (for accounting & not tax reasons). Generally the method of calculating the relevant
provision is contained in the Credit Policy. It may be based on a number of criteria. For
established firms it is quite often driven by past history & trend analysis.

Examples of various methods include:

1. % of annual turnover
2. % of total debtors
3. specifically identified debtors
4. % of debtors by ageing analysis
5. Set value based on past claims under Trade Debtor Insurance

When providing for Doubtful Debts, the aggregate value of the debt or % thereof is made
including such items as unearned income in the case of consumer debts or GST in the case of
commercial sales.

The assessment is usually made at the end of each financial reporting cycle, eg, yearly for private
enterprises or half yearly for publicly listed companies. The assessment made at the end of each
financial year is some times referred to as the "Fixed" Provision, whilst the monthly adjustment
may be made to the "Interim" Provision - again, it's a matter of individual accounting
methods. Each enterprise makes their adjustments according to there own accounting practices. It
may be made monthly, quarterly, half yearly or annually. It is wise practice to budget for bad
debts for the year & then take up an interim provision on a monthly basis, equivalent to one
twelve of the annual budget. Again the matching principle in practice & to avoid large
cumulative adjustments at the end of the financial period.

Age wise Analysis of Debtors

Debtors are customers who owe money to your business. A customer will purchase goods or
services from you, and either pay you immediately - COD (cash on delivery) or offer to pay
later. Even if you do not allow accounts, a customer is a debtor until he pays, even if it is later in
the day or the following day. It is the business's job to collect that money as soon as possible.

A business will typically issue an invoice to its customers whenever the customer makes a
purchase. It could be a cash sale slip, a hand written invoice from a pre-printed invoice book, or
computer generated. Either way it is usually the only proof that the required goods or services
have been supplied to the customer, and that the customer agrees to pay for those goods.

Aging
A statement usually has an aging or age analysis or it. The aging analyses each outstanding
amount and calculates for how long it has been unpaid. This is usually summarised into all
amounts that have been unpaid for less than 30 days (sometimes known as current), amounts
unpaid between 31 days and 60 days, 61 days and 90 days and over 90 days. As a general rule of
thumb any debtor older than 30 days needs to be followed up and anything over 90 days (or three
months) is a problem and about to be lost. This obviously depends on the credit terms advanced
to the customer.
Another useful document is the Age Analysis for all customers. This document lists all
customers, in a table format, and shows each customers aging. A total for each age category is
then printed, summarising the entire business's situation. Again, the higher the number of days of
debtors, the worse the situation.

The format used for making an Age-Wise Analysis of Debtors

1. Other Operators ( Basic & WLL)
Age wise O/S dues against other Basic service/WLL
ii) Section -E Operators
 of the year-
Name of Circle NTR Agra Month May-09 2009

(Rs. in 000's)
Net
Period Gross out-standing Disputed Amount Outstanding
1 2 3 4

Up to 94-
95 0 0 0
1995-96 0 0 0
1996-97 0 0 0
1997-98 0 0 0
1998-99 0 0 0
1999-00 0 0 0
2000-01 0 0 0
2001-02 0 0 0
2002-03 0 0 0
2003-04 0 0 0
2004-05 0 0 0
2005-06 0 0 0
2006-07 0 0 0
Mar-08 0 0 0
Mar-09 0 0 0
Apr-09 0 0 0
May-09 0 0 0
0
Grand
Total 0 0 0
>3
months 0 0 0

Project “KUBER” an Initiative taken by BSNL for REVENUE

ASSURANCE
Overview of Project Kuber:
Revenue Assurance is the process of assessing and preventing revenue leakages across the
billing value chain, including the processes of measurement, billing and collection. Through a
process of opportunity identification and prioritization, two initiatives were identified for
immediate roll out:

1. Collection of Bad Debt

2. Leased Circuits Billing

The following sections will focus on “Leased Circuits Billing”

Lease Circuits Billing: Telephone & Data circuits are an important business for BSNL. In
FY2008, the revenues from this segment were Rs. 757 Crores. However, audits have shown that
there are significant leakages in the billing of leased circuits. The initiative on leased circuits
would aim to identify the circuits that are currently not getting billed and create a national
centralized database of leased circuits.

In the pilot project held in Pune, the following activities are being conducted:
a.Collection of data on leased circuits from all exchanges in the SSA
b. Comparison of exchange data with data from billing and commercial sections
c.Updation of database and issuance of retroactive bills based on comparisons.

Unbilled circuits worth Rs. 10 lacs have been identified so far in Pune. Additional revenue
expected from this exercise is estimated at Rs. 50 – 100 Crore nationally.

Key Activities

This section describes in detail the set of activities that need to be conducted as part of the
Leased Circuits Initiative.
 Leased Circuits Billing

a. Data collection on leased circuits from all exchanges in all SSAs

− To include all information relevant to the circuits
b. Collation of data from billing database
− To include circuits that are due for billing.
c. Comparison of data from exchanges and billing
d. Getting details on missing circuits from Commercial section
− Details to include commissioning dates, billing authority etc.
e. Creation of retroactive bills
− To be done by the billing section

Team required for the project

To realize the above mentioned potential, we are launching a national roll out of the Leased
Circuits Initiative of Project Kuber immediately. The program will be conducted by teams at
three levels: Corporate Office, Circle Office (CO) and SSA. Description of the team required at
Circle Office (CO) and SSA are given on next page:-

S.N Required Circle /

o. Position Designation SSA Role
Circle Head - Leased Overall head of project; responsible
1 Circuits GM Cicle for delivery
 Project Manager Manage project at Circle level;
Circle - Leased Ensure delivery of milestones for all
2 Circuits DGM Cicle SSAs
Project Coordinator
Circle - Leased Tracking of activities at SSA level;
3 Circuits SDE / JTO Cicle Assist Project Manager (Circle)
Project Manager
SSA - Leased Responsible for execution of project
4 Circuits GM / DGM SSA at SSA level

The nominated persons at each level should be the ones looking after leased circuits at that level.
The Project Manager at the SSA level will appoint and manage team for executing on-ground
activities. The details of the team required will be provided during training sessions to be held in
June 2009.
Action Items

To have a successful roll out we need your whole hearted support and cooperation. As a first
step, we need to identify the teams at the CO and SSA level as per the details given in the table
above.
Objectives of project kuber

• To ensure that the Revenue earned by BSNL Is properly billed & collected from
customers.
• Collection of Bad debts with focus on amount less than 2 years old.
• Identification & Billing of leased circuits that are currently not getting billed.

Format for Nominations for Project Kuber – Leased Circuits

Circle

Circle Level
Nominations
 Initiative Position Name Designation Mobile No.
Circle Head –
Leased Project
Leased Manager
Circuits
Circuits Circle – Leased
Circuits

SSA Level
Nominatio
ns Project Manager SSA – Leased Circuits
S. No. SSA Name Designation Mobile No.

Note: Please submit this completed format by 15th June to Shri K. Sebastin Dy. Manager
(Datacom.-I) at Corporate Office.
Email: ksebastin@gmail.com Fax: 011 - 23766206, Phone: 011-23037221 Mobile:
09868266200

Scope of the Study

Each and every project study along with its certain objectives also has scope for future.

Scope of the study could give the projected scenario for a new Successful strategy with a

proper implementation plan. The Scope of the study “REVENUE ASSURANCE IN

BSNL” would let us know about Revenue assurance & its importance. It would also tell

us about the different Revenue Assurance practices followed by BSNL. The scope of the
study would shed a light on debtor’s position of BSNL & about it’s collection efficiency.

The study would also have a focus on staff efficiency & overall efficiency of the

organization.

Significance of study

The significance of Study is to analyze the Revenue Assurance Techniques followed by

BSNL to prevent revenue leakages & ensure the proper collection of revenue. The study

also focuses on Efficient revenue collection, it means that aal the services which are

provided by BSNL to any of it’s customers should b e billed properly so that the

revenue is generated.

Objectives of the Study

 To Study the concept of Revenue Assurance.

 To Study the various Revenue Assurance practices followed by BSNL.

 To Study the position of Debtors of BSNL.

  To Study the Revenue’s collection efficiency of BSNL.

 To Study the Staff efficiency & overall efficiency of the organization.

 To suggest the recommendations accordingly.

Chapter-2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Methodology for laying out Revenue Assurance Framework

A simple methodology for laying out the Revenue Assurance framework has been outlined
below :

● Identify key attributes for every service that is in operation which affect revenue
● Identify the affected data sources associated with the key attributes (such as switches,
mediation components, roaming clearinghouses and interconnect operators).
● Map the data sources to the Information model
● Identify the data fl ows across the above identifi ed data sources, identify the location
of the data source and to where the data is being sent from each of these data sources.
● Define controls to ensure the integrity of data related to revenue, across all data flows.
● Define thresholds for loss at each point. This should be derived from the target
threshold on an End-to-end reconciliation, thresholds such as rejection tolerances and
time to receive CDRs.
● Devise a mechanism to cross-check with the fi rst point to the last point in the data fl
ow (Switch to Billing system) function acting independently without taking into effect
the limitation and capabilities of the other function will result in a loss of revenue.

Complexity in the product/service definition

With increasing competition, custom contracted or multiple rating schemes are also increasing
which creates huge chances of errors in billing. According to a industry study, around 20% of
revenue leakages occur due to rating and billing diffi culties.

Key factors to be considered

The following factors must be considered while placing the Revenue Assurance framework into
place.

● Collective responsibility for revenue Assurance – The root cause for revenue leakage
being the lack of co-ordination, it is important to have a separate team with clear
 Responsibility towards revenue Assurance.
● There should be a framework document for the Revenue Assurance activities.
The revenue Assurance team should come out with a framework document with due
Consideration for measurements and best practices as suggested below.
● The Revenue Assurance team should also consider the external events related
to the reliability factors such as system failures, their impact and the effectiveness of
the contingency procedures.
● Tracking and Reporting as specifi ed in the framework document should be strictly
implemented.

Best Implementation Practices

All events that could possibly trigger revenue loss should be given due importance. Some of the
possible triggers are listed here. This might vary with organisations.

● Product/service launch testing, live call testing, co-ordination among different

functions of the organization
● Tariff plan approval, the factors affecting billing and other systems.
● CDRs Reconciliation (Home call, Roam call and Interconnect)
● Introduction of new interconnection operator (trunk group, content provider) should
lead to review of Revenue Assurance framework to see if any possible modifications are
to be done.
● Customer profile statistics and analysis. This is a regular activity, but focussed
attention should be paid whenever the launch of a new tariff plan, product or service
occurs.
● Customer complaint statistics and analysis with respect to Revenue Assurance
measurements. Analysis must be done to fi nd out the ROI(Return on Investment) in
doing the Revenue Assurance activity rather than to fi nd out the statistics. Collecting
statistics is the responsibility of the customer service department. The Revenue
Assurance team should reuse those statistics.
● Bill cycle approvals – this provides a means to ascertain that all billing related
 processes are completed accurately. This should be utilised effectively to review
important triggers that might affect the rating and billing processes. A fi nal check of the
bill should be performed before it is delivered. Business decisions and processes should
be thoroughly checked for any weaknesses and leakages.

Revenue Assurance a critical tool for Telecom Success

Increasingly complex telecom networks are leaving more openings for revenue leakage from
technical errors and fraud, a recent study suggests; and without proper revenue assurance
practices, losses may get worse.

The annual study, conducted by Analysis and paid for by revenue assurance provider Subex
Azure, found that average revenue leakage increased from 12.1% to 13.6% of turnover from the
2006 to 2007 surveys.

Geoff Ibbett, director of product management at Subex Azure, said that many companies are in
denial about the amount of revenue that -- for one reason or another -- is never collected or
accounted for.

"There is an attitude in the industry that we're not part of that, we're [losing] less than 1%," Ibbett
said. "Until they actually monitor it … they really don't know."

Those losses come from a variety of sources, he said, and even if a provider has a handle on one
area, other areas can quickly cause problems.

Some of the problem areas the survey highlighted are:

• Poor processes and procedures

 • Poor systems integration
• Applying new products and prices
• Invoicing system errors
• Rating or prepaid charging failure
• Incomplete or incorrect usage data
• Interconnect and partner payment errors

Ibbett said Subex Azure has developed a suite of tools to help quantify revenue loss and tie it to
specific issues.

The system works alongside the billing agent, ideally collecting information as close to the
subscriber as possible. The system then looks at the billing information and models projected
usage both from the subscriber-side data and from billing data to compare actual usage and data
patterns with what the billing system is reporting. That data is analyzed for discrepancies, which
can be further studied to find fault points in the current system.

These faults points can range from consumer or operator fraud to services deployed without
proper billing rules being in place. Ibbett gave one example where an engineer created a rule
discarding any call longer than five days as a system error. While few voice calls ever lasted five
days, plenty of data connections did last that long, and important revenue streams were being
discarded as false operator errors.

Revenue assurance can also mean more than making sure proper billing was being implemented,
Ibbett said. Complex systems often overlook the "recycling" of resources from cancelled
services, so networks are oversupplied with connectivity even as some users leave. Subex Azure,
he said, can rapidly find these unallocated resources and alert the provider to the error.

Critical to a provider's handing over revenue assurance to a third party is the need for security
and for the revenue assurance not to disrupt the current billing operations.

"Subex Azure's system works independent of existing systems within the billing chain," Ibbett
said. "So we don't put the billing chain at risk; we sit parallel to it."
By sitting outside the chain, these solutions can not only audit the information in regular reports,
they can also be set to regularly alert the operator of corrective actions to take (such as billing a
customer for provided services) or even take the corrective actions automatically, with the
provider's monitoring.

Ibbett said that revenue assurance has come into its own as a discipline only in the past few
years. As some vendors continue to discover major revenue losses, the field is becoming more
formalized and comprehensive.

The next step, he says, is taking the traditionally separate departments of revenue assurance,
fraud and credit risk and being able to see them in the larger context of revenue assurance as a
whole. This holistic view is particularly important as convergence makes networks more and
more complex -- and open to loss.

"Subex Azure is merging its systems to provide a consolidated view of these things," Ibbett said.
And despite all the major revenue loss issues already highlighted, network convergence, cross-
network interoperability and new technology platforms like IMS will continue to open up new
ways for critical revenues to disappear.

Putting Revenue Assurance into Practice

The term "revenue shortfall" is perhaps the most dreaded term in financial circles of
telecommunications companies. If actual revenue results fall short of budgeted expectations, the
billing system becomes fair game for blame. Unless revenue drivers, volumes and key process
metrics are readily available and explainable, the billing system remains suspect. Countless
investigative hours may be spent attempting to uncover process flaws that could have caused
revenue leakage. After exhaustive efforts, weeks or even months go by. New crises rise to the
surface, each demanding its own sense of urgency. Meanwhile, the root cause of this "revenue
shortfall" may remain undetected. The memory fades, then it's business as usual...at least until
next time.

Sound familiar? The concept of revenue assurance is perhaps easier understood in its absence.
Those responsible for revenue assurance must have their finger on the pulse of the revenue
process to avoid needless fire drills.Network ProcessingBecause the switches are viewed as the
lifeblood of the revenue stream, management is keenly interested in knowing their every move.
As the point of origin for potential revenue-generating transactions, the switch is where revenue
leakage can begin. The complexity and volume of switch transactions amplify these risks. AMA
recording and translation errors can occur in a variety of ways, including the following.
Do call codes exist for all possible call events?
Is the switch recording call activity for open call codes?
For open call codes, are the call events correctly recorded?
Is the switch translation correct with respect to key billing information such as carrier ID, call
type or class of service?

Media transmission errors to a data collection node pose yet another threat. Typical transmission
risks include these:
Were all recorded call events transmitted to message processing?
Were recorded call events transmitted to message processing in a timely manner?
To achieve information integrity in network processing, controls should exist that ensure the
completeness and accuracy of AMA recordings and transmissions. The process should be
monitored to determine whether all call events are completely recorded by the switch.
Furthermore, attention should be given to detect whether call event media exists throughout the
day for each switch. Accuracy of AMA recordings will maximize the number of billable call
events, ensuring that all pertinent information (originating number, terminating number, call
length, time of day) is captured. Accurate translation by the switch ensures the correctness of
call type, class of service and other vital call information. Finally, ensuring that calls are
authorized requires that the customer be properly identified.

Organizations also recognize control objectives for the completeness, accuracy and timeliness of
data transmissions from data collection nodes to the mainframe. If call events are not
completely and accurately sent to the mainframe for processing, revenues could be lost.
Processing delays, such as transmissions errors, need to be resolved quickly to prevent the
media from becoming too old to bill.

Assurance Techniques in Network ProcessingVarious trending, reporting and process balancing

techniques are used across the industry today. The effectiveness of these tools, in large part,
depends on their continued accuracy and flexibility. In rapidly changing applications, embedded
control reporting may be overlooked. Also, as departments are downsized, the responsibility of
reviewing and resolving any reported exceptions may inadvertently be terminated. Revenue
assurance management needs to be alert regarding which control tools are working and which
ones are broken or in disrepair.

Time of Day Volume Trending

A common method used by telcos to measure the completeness of AMA recordings is trending
call event media by hour or by quarter-hour. Actual call volumes by switch or recorder group
are captured and stored in a history database. Once there is enough historical information to
evaluate, expected volume ranges can be set. Management then has to decide what the
acceptable fluctuation range will be. Exception reports will pinpoint switch volumes that fall
above or below bounds.

AMA Call Code Trending

To determine whether a switch is capturing and recording activity for all expected traffic types,
trending and exception reporting can be established that monitors call volumes by call code for
each switch. By comparing actual switch traffic to the anticipated volumes, deviations are
brought to the forefront for investigation. Follow-up of these exceptions may yield additional
revenues as a result of incomplete call code recording of switch activity. (See Table 2 on page
46 for a sample report.)

Open Gap Reporting

Open gap reporting identifies gaps in call traffic volumes for each switch. For example, the
report might show that for a given switch, no traffic was recorded from 8:32 a.m. to 10:17 a.m.
As a caveat, gap analysis can be time consuming because of the inherent difficulty in relating
open gaps with real life events. Network disruptions can occur due to planned maintenance or
unforeseen disruptions. For the true controls aficionado, gaps noted in the network traffic can
also be reconciled to gaps noted downstream in message processing.

Process Balancing

Process balancing ensures that revenue transactions are completely processed. In other words,
everything made it from point A to point B to point C, etc., without falling off the face of the
earth. An example of this in the network process would be to first reconcile call attempts on the
switch to call events recorded on the AMA tape. Next, the number of call events on the AMA
tape would be reconciled to the number of call events sent to the data collection node, then to
the mainframe, into message processing and ultimately to actual calls billed. Process balancing
can be done at a summarized level (records-in, records-out) or at some level of detail. An
advantage of reconciling at a lower level is the relative ease of resolving discrepancies. Process
balancing checkpoints should also exist to reconcile data transmissions sent to the mainframe
from the central office to transmissions actually received by the mainframe. This identifies
usage already transmitted to message processing that errored into a pending state, awaiting
retransmission. Call detail record counts from the switch should be compared to call record
counts per batch, or unit of control. (See Figure 1 on previous page for network process control
points.)

Message Processing

Moving downstream, call events travel from the network through the central office, into usage
collection, and finally into message processing. It should come as no surprise that life just got
tougher. Switches are sexy; mainframes are not. Monitoring potential exposure points in this
part of the process may require a bit more momentum from the control enthusiast. Nonetheless,
the risks are there, waiting to be identified and monitored. To begin with, call event media may
never make it to the front door for input to message processing. Conversely, call media may
arrive more than once. Additionally, delays could prevent call events from processing in a
timely manner, or worse yet, not at all. Media could be errored, dropped or bypassed altogether.
In some cases, call records are stripped (i.e., removed) from the processing stream, possibly in
connection with a high volume of error activity. In this case, there is a high risk that the call
records never reenter the process, becoming undetected lost revenue.

The risk of unauthorized call messages exists for a variety of reasons. Service order processing
issues may compound this risk. Translation errors also contribute to the population of
unauthorized call events. Invalid carrier IDs or class of service renders call event media
unbillable.

Completeness and accuracy controls help ensure that all recorded message data is input and
accepted for processing from the central office through the data collection node and into
message processing. The recorded media should be processed once and only once. In addition,
recorded messages must contain sufficient, correct information to be billable. Timeliness of call
event input and processing affect the ability to bill all recorded calls. Incoming call detail should
be processed as received. Any errored batch transmissions need to be immediately investigated
and promptly resolved. Also, any messages that error from message processing should be
corrected and reprocessed in a timely manner.

Assurance Techniques in Message Processing

As in network processing, a variety of trending reports and balancing techniques exist.

Management's real challenge at this juncture is to translate massive volumes of data into
meaningful information to manage their processes.
Volume Trending

A host of different trending reports may be deployed to monitor the integrity of message
processing. An extremely useful volume measurement is the trending of raw switched minutes
of use. This gives management up-to-the-minute feedback on the daily network traffic. The
trending of volumes and revenues by call type or by recorder group is useful for highlighting
unexpected rises or drops in traffic. For example, averages can be calculated for revenue and
call length based on historical data. Management can then monitor exceptions through the use of
statistical process controls.
Due to the potentially large quantity of data, exception reports need to be kept accurate and
concise. Voluminous exception reports quickly become useless. Management may want to
implement additional filtering to reduce the number of exceptions reported. For example, a
minimum lower threshold may be set to eliminate the reporting of exceptions for recorder
groups having less than a specified number of minutes. (See Table 1 on page 46 for a sample
report.)

Call Event and Error Trending

Trending call events and errors provides the underlying data necessary to develop and monitor
key process metrics. Volume and revenue information must be available at several points
throughout message processing to be meaningful. For example, management should be aware of
the shrinkage rate of usage as it flows through message processing. To know this, several ratios
must be monitored, including the ratio of recorded call events to nonrateable call events; the
ratio of rateable call events to rated call events, and so on.

Error trending provides an early warning of problems upstream. When key error rates are
monitored, network problems can be identified and quickly rectified to minimize lost revenues.
For example, if a switch translation erroneously identifies calls from a pay phone as calls from a
residential phone, the sudden rise in the occurrence of that error type would trigger an alarm,
causing investigation and corrective action. Trending can also be done on nonrateable call
events. When carefully analyzed, companies may potentially uncover areas of revenue leakage.
However, to be effective, categories must be defined for nonrateable call events. In addition,
standards must be established for acceptable occurrence rates. Finally, exception reporting must
be reliable and exceptions acted on promptly.

Process Balancing

A mix of both intermodular and intramodular process balancing can be an effective means of
establishing key control points. Intermodular balancing will ensure that all call events that were
input into the process are accounted for in some form of output. For example, the balancing
equation would be to compare the number of raw call events to the sum of rateable call events,
plus errored call events, plus recirculated records, plus nonrateable call events. Intramodular
balancing assures application integrity as it tracks incoming records and volumes to outgoing
records and volumes through the process. Unaccounted for records will be missed and flagged.

Chapter-3
CURRENT SCENARIO
The BSS/OSS industry is witnessing explosive growth, and the various segments

contributing to that are mobility and broadband, and the prepaid segment, coupled with
the evolving richer content services and applications. The other significant developments

changing the telecom landscape are strong competition and entry of new players.

Convergence has enabled the embracement of technologies, with WiMax, to deliver

services over increased bandwidths, IPTV to provide quad play services, and launch of

DTH services for the masses. The CAGR of the global OSS/BSS industry in the past five

years has ranged between 6-7%.

The OSS/BSS market in India is growing much faster than the global market, and stands

at Rs 5,500 crore in FY 2007-08.

Key Trends

The competition is further intensifying with service providers continuously rolling-out

new services and making huge investments toward new technologies, and expanding their

networks for growth and stability. Branding innovations and marketing efforts to retain

the wallet-share of their customers, maximizing ARPU, and fighting competition are the

areas that companies are working on. Also, telecom service providers are investing

heavily on their back-office infrastructure to support convergent next-generation services.

The growth rate for the industry has doubled in the areas of revenue assurance, fraud

management, CRM, and order management. The advent of new technologies and

standards, IMS, IPTV, SOA, and SDP architectures (SOAs), have further accelerated the

growth.

Another trend picking up steam is fraud management. International roaming fraud is a

growing concern that drastically affects the profitability of mobile operators. According
to a recent GSMA survey of thirty-seven operators, significant roaming fraud losses

affect networks of all sizes across regions. Currently, operators rely on a high usage

report (HUR) for alerts on possible fraud instances. The HUR framework requires a CDR

detailing roaming service usage between the visited and home operator networks within a

36-hour window. However, in many instances, records arrive too late to prevent the

fraud, resulting in revenue losses.

Roaming fraud has become such a concern for operators that the GSM Association

(GSMA) has developed and mandated a new set of fraud detection standards for its

operator members. The near real time roaming data exchange (NRTDRE) initiative has

been developed in specific response to international revenue share fraud (IRSF), which

thrives on the clone-and-sell technique.

With GSMA's introduction of NRTDRE as a replacement for HUR, the visited network

must forward CDRs to the customer's home operator within four hours of the call-end

time, to enable near-real-time detection of frauds committed by subscribers roaming on

other networks.

The Players
Intec has enhanced its convergent billing product, SingleView, implemented at MTNL and

Reliance in India. MTNL is focusing on widening the cellular and CDMA-based WLL customer

base by introducing 3G services and IPTV. The company's business stands at Rs 50 crore this

year.

HP has done quite an impressive business this year in India. Its OSS/BSS business contributed

Rs 320 crore to its total revenue. The Rs 400 crore BSNL order for deployment of OSS and fraud
management was the biggest order for HP in the last fiscal. HP will undertake the deployment

along with TCS and HCL. HP's major customers include Bharti, BSNL, BPL, and Reliance. This

year HP's NeoView product drew a lot of attention among telcos.

Suntec, an Indian company focused on the international market, has key clients in India like

BSNL, MTNL, VSNL, and HFCL. This year, the company hasn't got any big orders. But there

are a number of contracts in the pipeline which will bear fruits in the next financial year. Some

of the prospective customers of Suntec include one of India's largest ISPs, an MSO, and another

project in Nepal. Last year, the company's revenue stood at Rs 80 crore.

Clarity, a company specializing in next generation OSS solutions, signed a deal with BSNL to

offer a highly scaleable OSS solution in the form of inventory management, provisioning, and

fault management, for support of all voice services.

Ahmedabad-based Elitecore also received some good contracts from India's leading telecom

service providers. It bagged orders from MTNL, Aksh Optifibre, BSNL, and Spice. The

company's revenue stood at around Rs 45 crore compared to Rs 31 crore in the last fiscal.

Xalted delivered a convergent solution to MTNL which included seven key areas of inventory

management, trouble ticketing, order management, service activation, revenue assurance,

mediation, and inter-operator settlement.

Simultaneously, through Xalted's service provisioning platform, MTNL benefits from a unified

view of subscriber bookings provisioned into the network. Beginning this fiscal, Xalted also

received an order from BSNL to deploy its fraud management solution 'Fraud Trace', for

CellOne users. This fiscal, the company stood at Rs 96 crore compared to the Rs 76 crore in the

last fiscal.
TCS, FSS, Sasken, and Tech Mahindra are more focused on their international operations and

most of their work involves integration of software systems. Tech Mahindra's business model

straddles both telecom service providers as well as equipment manufacturers. In the domestic

market, the company has a deal with BSNL and Idea to deliver managed services.

Although CRM deployment in India is restricted to certain verticals, telecom is one vertical

where maximum deployment has taken place.

Chapter-4

RESEARCH METHEDOLOGY

TYPE OF RESEARCH

The result of the project is completely based upon the research of the facts and figures collected
through the different ways of research.

Descriptive research: To portray the characteristics of an individual, group, situation.

Type of data used:-
 Secondary Data.
 Primary Data.
SOURCE OF DATA

The source from which the data is collected is secondary & Primary.
The secondary data was collected from books, publications and internet.
The primary data was collected through Questionaire.

Sample Size

The size of the research is 6 respondents.

Sample location

The sample location is BSNL,NTR Region Office,Janpath.

Instrument
The various Instrument used for data interpretation are pie charts, Bar diagrams &
Specimens of different formats used in BSNL for specific purposes ,etc.
DATA ANALYSIS & INTERPRETATION

Q1:- The number of debtors of the company are :-

LARGE 4

AVERAGE 2

LESS 0
Interpretation-The above table is showing the respondents’ views about the debtors of the
Company in which out of 6 respondents 4 said large, 2-average & 0-less.

4
3.5
3
2.5 LARGE
2 AVERAGE
1.5 LESS
1
0.5
0
Interpretation- Here is the pictorial Representation of the above table in the form of bar
diagrams.

Q2:- Is the average investment in debtors commensurate with the level of operations ?
YES 4

NO 2
Interpretation-The above table is showing the respondents’ views about the investment in
debtors in comparison to the level of operations of Company in which out of 6
respondents 4 said yes & 2 said no.

4
3.5
3
2.5
YES
2
NO
1.5
1
0.5
0

Interpretation- Here is the pictorial Representation of the above table in the form of bar
diagrams.

Q3:- What is the most significant cause of outstanding amount?

Nature of Business 1

Litigations & Disputes 4

 Others 1

Interpretation-The above table is showing the respondents’ views about the cause of
outstanding amount in which out of 6 respondents 1 said nature of business , 4-litigations
& disputes , 1-others.

4
3.5
Nature of
3
Business
2.5
Litigations &
2
Disputes
1.5
1 Others

0.5
0

Interpretation- Here is the pictorial Representation of the above table in the form of bar
diagrams.

Q4:- The most Significant exercise to liquidate the outstanding amount?

Conservative 2

Modern 4
 Others 0

Interpretation-The above table is showing the respondents’ views about the exercise used
to liquidate the outstanding amount in which out of 6 respondents 2 said conservative , 4
said.

4
3.5
3
2.5 Conservative

2 Modern
1.5
Others
1
0.5
0

Interpretation- Here is the pictorial Representation of the above table in the form of bar
diagrams.

Q5:- The recent advancements in billing process to facilitate quick realization are :-
 Effective 3

Effective but need more 3

attention

Not Effective 0

Interpretation-The above table is showing the respondents’ views about the effectiveness
of the advancements in billing process in which out of 6 respondents 3 said effective.

2.5 Effective

2
Effectivebut needmore
1.5
attention

1
Not Effective
0.5

Interpretation- Here is the pictorial Representation of the above table in the form of bar
diagrams.

Q6:- How Significant is the role of channel partners in increasing sales & revenue ?
 Important 4

Not much Important 2

Not Important 0

Interpretation-The above table is showing the respondents’ views about the role of
channel partners in increasing the sale & revenue in which out of 6 respondents 4 said
important, 2-not much important , 0 not important.

4
3.5
3
2.5 Important
2 Not much Important
1.5
Not Important
1
0.5
0

Interpretation- Here is the pictorial Representation of the above table in the form of bar
diagrams.

Q7:- Do Add-on Packages help in increasing the revenue ?

YES 5
 NO 1

Interpretation-The above table is showing the respondents’ views about the effect of add-
on packages in increasing the revenue in which out of 6 respondents 5 said yes & 1 said
no.

5
4.5
4
3.5
3
YES
2.5
2 NO
1.5
1
0.5
0

Interpretation- Here is the pictorial Representation of the above table in the form of bar
diagrams.

Q8:- How would you rate the collection efficiency of BSNL ?

Good 3
Satisfactory 3
Bad 0

Interpretation-The above table is showing the respondents’ views about the collection
efficiency of BSNL in which out of 6 respondents 3 said good 3 said satisfactory & no
one said bad.

2.5

2 Good

1.5 Satisfactory

Bad
1

0.5

Interpretation- Here is the pictorial Representation of the above table in the form of bar
diagrams.

Q9:- Is there any scope of improvement in Collection efficiency?

YES 4
NO 2
Interpretation-The above table is showing the respondents’ views about the improvement
in collection efficiency in which out of 6 respondents 4 said yes & 2 said no.

4
3.5
3
2.5
YES
2
NO
1.5
1
0.5
0

Interpretation- Here is the pictorial Representation of the above table in the form of bar
diagrams.

Q10:- What are your views on the staff’s efficiency?

Staff is Efficient 1
Staff should improve 4
Staff is not efficient 1
Interpretation-The above table is showing the respondents’ views about the Staff’s
efficiency in which out of 6 respondents 1 said staff is efficient 1 said staff is not efficient
4 said staff should improve.

4
3.5
3
2.5 Staff isEfficient
2 Staff should improve
1.5
Staff isnot efficient
1
0.5
0

.
Interpretation- Here is the pictorial Representation of the above table in the form of bar
diagrams.

Q11:- What measures should be taken to improve staff efficiency?

Monetary incentives 3
Non Monetary incentives 3

Interpretation-The above table is showing the respondents’ views about the Steps to be
taken to improve the staff’s efficiency in which out of 6 respondents 3 said monetary
incentives & 3 said non-monetary incentives.

2.5

2
Monetaryincentives
1.5

1 NonMonetaryincentives

0.5

Interpretation- Here is the pictorial Representation of the above table in the form of bar
diagrams.

Q12:-Do Revenue Assurance practices help in preventing revenue leakages?

YES 5
NO 1

Interpretation-The above table is showing the respondents’ views about the Revenue
assurance practices’ effectiveness in the prevention of revenue leakages in which out of 6
respondents 5 said yes & 1 said no.

5
4.5
4
3.5
3 YES
2.5
NO
2
1.5
1
0.5
0

Interpretation- Here is the pictorial Representation of the above table in the form of bar
diagrams.

Findings of the Study

 The no. of the debtors in BSNL are large.

 The Average investment in debtors is proportionate to he scale of the

total operations.

 The main cause of outstanding amount is the litigation & disputes.

 There is a scope of improvement in the collection efficiency of BSNL.

 BSNL is using ample no. of methods & techniques for the purpose of

Revenue assurance.

 Revenue Assurance practices also keeps a check on staff efficiency.

 Revenue assurance helps in preventing revenue leakages.

RECOMMENDATIONS & SUGESSTIONS OF THE STUDY

 The debtors of the company hould be minimized by reducing the notice time period
(which is 3 years) so this will result in fast collection of revenue.

 The customers should be given discount on payments made in advance so this will
result in fast collection of revenue and the chaces of loss of revenue would be
decreased.

 There should be proper coordination among various departments and the collection
centers so any kind of ambiguity can be avoided.

 There should be no inaccuracy in the transfer of the data. Data transfer between the
network & the billing system must be fail proof.

 The main aim should be achieved that the company should minimize the revenue
leakages.

 The staff should be rewarded with both monetary & non monetary benefits on the
basis of their performance.

 BSNL should impose heavy fine on the defaulters to improve its revenue collection
efficiency.

 The needs of the channel partners should be taken care of as they are the main link
between the consumer and the company.
 ANNEXURE

Questionnaire

Q1:- The number of debtors of the company are :-

a) LARGE

b) MODERATE

c) LESS

Q2:- Is the average investment in debtors commensurate with the level of operations ?
a) YES

b) NO

Q3:- What is the most significant cause of outstanding amount?

a) Nature of Business

b) Litigations & Disputes

c) Others

Q4:- The most Significant exercise to liquidate the outstanding amount?

a) Conservative
 b) Modern

c) Others

Q5:- The recent advancements in billing process to facilitate quick realization are :-
a) Effective

b) Effective but needs more attention

c) Not Effective

Q6:- How Significant is the role of channel partners in increasing sales & revenue ?
a) Important

b) Not much Important

c) Not Important

Q7:- Do Add-on Packages help in increasing the revenue ?

a) YES

b) NO
Q8:- How would you rate the collection efficiency of BSNL ?

a) Good

b) Satisfactory

c) Bad

Q9:- Is there any scope of improvement in Collection efficiency?

a) YES

b) NO

Q10:- What are your views on the staff’s efficiency ?

a) The Staff is efficient.

b) The Staff should improve.

c) The Staff is not efficient.

Q11:- What measures should be taken to improve staff efficiency?

 a) Monetary incentives

b) Non monetary incentives

Q12:-Do Revenue Assurance practices help in preventing revenue leakages?

a) YES

b) NO

BIBLOGRAPHY

WWW.BSNL.CO.IN

WWW.SCRIBD.COM

WWW.WIKEPEDIA.COM

WWW.MANAGEMENTPARADISE.COM

WWW.TMFORUM.COM

WWW.ATSREVENUE.COM

WWW.TRAI.GOV.IN