For Immediate Release
ATIS 1200 G Street, NW Suite 500 Washington, DC 20005	Contact: Trish St. Michel Phone: 202-434-8851 E-mail: tstmichel@atis.org www.atis.org

ATIS OBF Takes on IP System Billing Challenges

Issue Paper Outlines VoIP Back-office Issues; New Committee Addresses IP Network-to-Network Interfaces

December 14, 2005, Washington – ATIS today announced multiple efforts to address the back-office challenges presented by the conversion from the PSTN to IP-based networks.

The Ordering and Billing Forum (OBF) recently published VoIP Ordering and Billing Issues and Concerns (ATIS-0411000-0001), a compilation of industry questions, comments, concerns and assumptions surrounding VoIP and the related challenges for intercarrier ordering and billing. The publication traces call flows for multiple scenarios across IP systems and interacting with wireless and wireline networks, identifying areas that require new standards and processes.

Work identified in the issue paper is being managed by a new OBF committee, the Internet Protocol Network-to-Network Interface (IP-NNI) Committee. IP-NNI is charged with developing standards and processes related to accounting and settlements between suppliers and partners for use of the packet-based network and associated service elements – including VoIP, Wi-Fi roaming, IPTV and various multimedia systems -- as well as analyzing and identifying issues associated with IP-NNI service establishment functions. IP-NNI will work with other committees within ATIS and external standards development organizations to facilitate committee work.

“With the inherent mobile nature of VoIP and the slow regulatory response to these issues, there is a real need for the industry to identify and solve the ordering and billing problems that arise from carrier inter-connection,” said Susan Miller, president and CEO of ATIS. “The new OBF IP-NNI will work with the ATIS committees developing technical standards and ensure the delivery of end-to-end standardized solutions for the industry.”

Major findings in the issue paper include:

• there is a lack of consensus on how to apply rules such as jurisdiction and taxation for intercarrier compensation regarding VoIP traffic;
• information to support business processes is not always available;
• few, if any, of existing definitions of business processes apply when interconnection makes use of an IP network-to-network interface;

The issue paper also notes that the fluidity of existing rules for VoIP requires that any standards that are developed must be easily modified to accommodate future relevant regulatory rulings.

The document is available free of charge to ATIS member companies at http://www.atis.org/obf/_mem/Docs/SAG/0411000-0001.pdf. Non-ATIS members can purchase the document for $50 from the ATIS Document Center at http://www.atis.org/doccenter.shtml.

For more information about the IP-NNI, visit http://www.atis.org/obf/ipnni_home.asp.

About ATIS

ATIS is a technical planning and standards development organization that is committed to rapidly developing and promoting technical and operations standards for the communications and related information technologies industry worldwide using a pragmatic, flexible and open approach. Participants from more than 350 communications companies are active in ATIS’ 23 industry committees and Incubator Solutions Program. www.atis.org

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