Home > News > What’s New > Release
Contact: 
STC Associates
Carolyn Robertson
212-725-1900 ext. 204
[email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Calling Code Confusion Costs Telecom Carriers $1 Billion Annually
AXCESSCODESM Product Eliminates Discrepancies and Drives Savings
NEW YORK – May 09, 2001 – Keeping telecom buyers and suppliers synched up with one another in light of today’s proliferation of calling codes is proving to be a Herculean task. These ever expanding codes result from the growth of fixed, mobile and premium phone services. As a result, carriers are losing about a billion dollars annually as discrepancies in code information between corresponding carriers lead to blocked calls, arbitrage and billing disputes.
Carriers can now stop the hemorrhaging caused by international calling code confusion. Arbinet-thexchange, the full-service trading solution for buyers and sellers of telephony bandwidth, has introduced AXCESSCODESM, which allows carriers to use a standard, accurate list of over 3,500 code breakouts for 1,000 world markets to synchronize their routing tables.
“One large Latin American-focused carrier I recently spoke with lost $1.7 million in 2000 on billing disputes resulting from code discrepancies,” comments Jan-Joost Rueb, director of business development, Arbinet-thexchange. “Calling codes populate the routing tables carriers use to define the correct billing rates and global destinations required to manage the flow of global telephony traffic.”
“We have focused our resources on implementing a full-service solution for dynamic bandwidth trade management in the telephony minutes market," stated Anthony L. Craig, Arbinet-thexchange Chairman and CEO. “We are satisfied that we have successfully implemented a robust, scalable solution and have been pleased by the industry adoption rate. The timing is now right to apply our patented processes to the next logical vertical market, broadband trading. We are very pleased to have the benefit of Cavan’s experience to guide our efforts.”
Calling codes are used to define a number of routing parameters including destination country and city, fixed, mobile or premium service and even a particular operator’s network. The worldwide explosion of premium rate mobile services is a leading culprit in causing code confusion, since many countries are creating non-standard mobile codes faster than carriers can update their routing plans to accommodate them. A common, and very expensive, problem occurs when a carrier unwittingly passes along traffic that is billed for mobile termination, while it bills its own customer at the standard fixed line rate.
The AXCESSCODESM database provides a common routing and billing language for corresponding carriers by providing benchmarks for:
The Market Identifier: A standard recognizable reference for over 1,000 of the world’s leading destinations, similar in concept to a stock ticker symbol. This permits route matching across functions and systems from the retail origin of the minute to its final termination, regardless of carriers involved. Market indicators are assembled using the standard Internet codes for countries, airport codes for cities and common sense suffixes such as “M” for mobile that indicate traffic type. For example, Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Fixed is defined by MYKUL.
The Code: A rapidly expanding database of over 3,500 valid dial digit codes that map to each market. For example, the code for MYKUL is 603.
The Time Stamp: An updated AXCESSCODESM database is sent to every subscriber biweekly. This feature eliminates disputes between carriers relating to code and pricing changes.
Sources of accurate code information are scarce. The FCC regulates code changes in the U.S., and carriers can buy the LERG U.S. code database, published monthly by Telcordia. Internationally, there is less regulation and almost no information sharing. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) publishes code information, but only as it is voluntarily received and carriers vary in how often they submit code changes.
“The work of code management was once relatively easy to manage. Now with deregulation and premium services it requires a full time staff,” comments Rueb. “The real costs, however, come from the discrepancies between all these individually managed lists.”
Rueb estimates that the industry is losing about a billion dollars a year, at a time when it can least afford such losses. The U.S. market represents approximately 35-40 percent of this total loss.
“This is the first accurate, centralized source of international calling code information available in the market,” comments Stephen G. Davis, Arbinet-thexchange’s senior vice president of sales and marketing. “Standardized code information like standardized stock ticker symbols are crucial to enable a fair, efficient trading environment. This information, which is updated regularly and can be downloaded in user-friendly formats, will help eliminate the financial exposure that current code management issues create.”
Illustration of the problem: Caught Paying the Difference
“This is the first accurate, centralized source of international calling code information available in the market,” comments Stephen G. Davis, Arbinet-thexchange’s senior vice president of sales and marketing. “Standardized code information like standardized stock ticker symbols are crucial to enable a fair, efficient trading environment. This information, which is updated regularly and can be downloaded in user-friendly formats, will help eliminate the financial exposure that current code management issues create.”
A U.S. carrier charges a German carrier a France proper rate, since the US carrier believes it is fixed traffic. What this carrier doesn’t realize is that 50 percent of the traffic is destined for mobile termination in France. The U.S. carrier receives 3 million minutes of mobile traffic for final termination to a French network. Thirty days later, the U.S. carrier discovers it has undercharged the German carrier, but must nevertheless pay the French carrier the higher mobile rates. The difference of $0.1089 per minute between proper and mobile minutes has resulted in a loss of $163,350 for the U.S. carrier.
About Arbinet-thexchange
Arbinet-thexchange is the full-service, online exchange for on-demand transactions, automated
physical delivery and settlement of trades of telephony bandwidth. Thexchange is neutral,
favoring neither buyers nor sellers, and allows participants to trade anonymously. Automated
delivery is accomplished by employing advanced trading software and a set of patented
processes to link the web-based trading platform with carrier-grade telecommunications switching
equipment. Arbinet-thexchange handles all invoicing, collection and payment for trades effected
on its exchange and provides continuous monitoring and online rating of the service quality of
each seller’s network.
Arbinet-thexchange estimates the total global market for telephony bandwidth measured in
minutes was $706 Billion in 2000. This market is characterized by both falling prices and a high
level of SG&A; expense, which at 25% of revenues is 9% higher than the U.S. corporate average.
Use of Arbinet-thexchange’s full-service, automated trading solution helps members cut costs
and maintain profitability by providing the opportunity to generate incremental revenues, as well
as lowering the cost, risk and transaction time required to complete transactions for telephony
bandwidth. For more information, visit Arbinet-thexchange at www.thexchange.com.
120 Albany St. Tower II, Suite 450, New Brunswick, NJ
08901
phone: 732-509-9100, fax: 732-509-9101, website: www.arbinet.com
# # #
|
