Metering and Billing | TÜV SÜD

As the UK’s leading assessor of metering and billing systems, TÜV SÜD BABT offers a range of services to ensure that billing systems and those functions that support them, are accurate and robust, as well as meeting all relevant regulatory requirements.

TÜV SÜD BABT is the leading Approval Body under the UK Ofcom Metering and Billing Approval scheme regulated by Ofcom.

With 25 years of experience, TÜV SÜD BABT has developed a holistic approach to assessing telecoms service providers covering end to end activities. TÜV SÜD BABT appreciate that no function is independent; the action of one will affect the quality of another, ultimately impacting on quality of service and billing accuracy to the customer.

Typical Assessment Procedure

A typical TÜV SÜD BABT assessment will involve:

An initial assessment / gap analysis
On site assessment of end to end activities against required regulatory framework
Measurement of the system’s performance against agreed target

The whole process is aimed at identifying the weak links in the total system and strengthening them to ensure sustainably accurate billing and revenue recovery results to meet both commercial and regulatory objectives.

2017 Metering & billing direction

The UK Metering and Billing Approval Scheme has been designed to monitor the accuracy of UK Regulated Providers’ Total Metering and Billing Systems (TMBS). TÜV SÜD BABT has been involved for over 25 years throughout the history of the scheme which has existed in various forms since the privatisation of British Telecom in the early 1980s. The current Scheme addresses the requirements of the Communications Act 2003 and of the Ofcom Metering & Billing Direction 2017, and is regulated by Ofcom. Ofcom requires that any UK telecommunications service providers with a relevant turnover of £55m per annum or more have their Total Metering and Billing Systems assessed under the scheme and that they apply to an Approval Body.

TÜV SÜD BABT has been appointed as an Approval Body under the Scheme to assess Communications Providers’ compliance against the Direction’s requirements and assesses over 80% of the current scheme members.

Scheme Guidance has been developed with input from TÜV SÜD BABT’s experts and provides guidance to applicants about meeting the specific requirements of the Direction. The scheme’s main requirements are that communication providers have a process management system in operation and can demonstrate continual improvement. Communication Providers must determine what constitutes routine performance and agree this with their Approval Body to whom regular reports must be sent. Ofcom may request sight of these reports to demonstrate that performance is being achieved in practice.

General Guidance can be found in the MABABF website: www.mababf.org

Certification to the technical requirements of the Direction, together with the associated benefits, is also available to non-UK operators.

Click here to view TÜV SÜD BABT's Metering & Billing clients

Attestation services

TÜV SÜD BABT provides services to manufacturers of systems and equipment, for example Communication Support Systems, which are used within the Total Metering and Billing System and can play a vital role in ensuring its integrity. We can assess the robustness of these systems against a TÜV SÜD BABT Code of Practice and provide an attestation of their performance. This adds value to the manufacturer as a way of differentiating his product, and to the Communications Provider, who can use the product with the peace of mind that it has been independently assessed by TÜV SÜD BABT’s team of experts.

In this increasingly competitive marketplace it is essential that system suppliers are able to differentiate their products. TÜV SÜD BABT has introduced this new assessment service for suppliers to mobile and fixed communications providers of billing, mediation, provisioning and customer support systems.

This is particularly important now with the advent of the as the onus is on support system suppliers to demonstrate that their products have the capability to meet the needs of the Direction when used as an element of a provider’s Total Metering and Billing System (TMBS).

Whilst it is not possible for billing or mediation hardware systems to be approved under the Direction, TÜV SÜD BABT has developed a unique assessment approach which can lead to an attestation of the product. This independent third party attestation from TÜV SÜD BABT, as the UK’s leading Approval Body under the Direction, will provide evidence to your customers that your product will meet their needs for accuracy, reliability and timeliness.

Your benefits:

Your product will be differentiated from those of your competitors
Your customers will be more confident that your product meet their needs and those required by Ofcom
Assessment is planned to suit your needs and to reach clear conclusions
Opportunities for improvements to system design and documentation are identified
The integrity and precision of your product’s contribution to a system is verified

Click here to view TÜV SÜD BABT's attestation clients