EXHIBIT B
BILLING AND COLLECTION SERVICE
REQUIREMENTS
This Billing and Collection Services Requirements (BCSR) document constitutes Exhibit B to the Agreement for Billing and Collection Services between the Customer and Nevada Bell Telephone Company, (Nevada) (the "Agreement").
EXHIBIT B
TABLE OF CONTENTS
BILLING AND COLLECTION SERVICES
REQUIREMENTS
SECTION TITLE
1.GENERAL
1.1.Assumptions
1.2.Definition of Terms
2.BILLING AND COLLECTIONS SERVICES
2.1. Master File Maintenance
2.2.Account Data Maintenance
2.3.Message Data Transmission (CMDS)
2.4.Bill Rendering
2.5.Payment and Remittance Processing
2.6.Treatment
2.7.Denial of Service
2.8.Collection
2.9.Inquiry Support Service
2.10.Bill Format
2.11.Message Investigation Center
2.12.Billing Information
3.SETTLEMENT TERMS
3.1.Amount Due The Customer
3.2.Amount Due Nevada
3.3.Settlement of Disputed Amount
4.CUSTOMER BILLING STATEMENT
4.1.Price Elements
4.2.Customer Billing Format
5.MANAGEMENT REPORTS
5.1Tax Reports
5.2Informational Reports
6.TIME AND COST PROCESS
6.1.Change Requests
GENERAL INFORMATION
1.1.ASSUMPTIONS
1.1.1.Nevada Bell (Nevada) will offer Billing and Collection Services to the Customer for Customer's billings as provided for in the Agreement.
1.1.1.1.Where the Customer provides rated messages to Nevada, said messages will be in accordance with the rates and charges effective in the Customer's tariffs or published price list if applicable.
1.1.1.2.The Customer will provide messages to Nevada in standard EMI format or other format agreed to by the Parties and will conform to Nevada's requirements for the specific EMI record types or otherthe format agreed to by the Parties and valid field values utilized by Nevada. Nevada retains the sole right to modify its standards for EMI record types or the format agreed to by the Parties and acceptable field values for the messages submitted to Nevada for billing.
1.1.1.3.Nevada requires the Customer to submit the original number dialed by the End-User, in the call detail record unless agreed to otherwise by Nevada in writing.
1.1.1.4.Nevada and the Customer will use a data transmission communication protocol or other transmission medium acceptable to Nevada, to pass messages as well as other data files between Nevada and the Customer.
1.1.2.The Parties will use the Customer/LEC Memorandum (EC/IC memorandum) as defined in the Billing and Collection Procedures Manual. The EC/IC memo will be utilized if written communication is necessary between the Nevada IPOC and the Customer.
1.1.3.The Customer will provide Customer initiated adjustments to Nevada within five (5) work days from the End User contact date.
1.1.3.1.Customer adjustments can be provided through standard EMI record acceptable to Nevada or through the EC/IC memo as described in 1.1.2 above.
1.2.DEFINITION OF TERMS
Account Data Maintenance / Account Data Maintenance consists of the updating and retention by Nevada of all information needed for billing of End Users, either Nevada or the Customer.Adjustments / Adjustments include, but are not limited to, a full or partial refund of specific charges on an End User bill.
Amount Due the Customer / The amount due the Customer for the purchase of accounts receivable equals the total current amount billed on behalf of the Customer plus or minus appropriate charges set forth in Section 3 following.
Amount Due Nevada / Amount due Nevada equals all appropriate billing and collection charges billed under contract including any reserve requirement and appropriate charges as set forth in Section 3 following.
Bill Date / The date of Nevada's End User bill, upon which recurring and non-recurring charges to the End User are based.
Bill Format / Bill Format consists of the design of the billing media in a manner that will convey to the End User the Customer's charges in a clear and understandable format.
Bill Rendering / Bill Rendering is the preparation and mailing to an End User statements of amounts due.
Billing Information Services / Billing Information Services is the provisioning of information to the Customer from Nevada systems and is limited to the provisioning of information to a Customer relating exclusively to End Users for which services are provided by the Customer.
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Billing Service Charges / Nevada's charges to the Customer for Nevada's performance hereunder.Customer / Customer, for the purposes of this contract, means the purchaser of Billing and Collection services.
Customer Message / The individual call detail including the Customer's charges to the End User.
Denial of Service / Denial of Service consists of denying an End User's access to or a portion of the network in cases of insufficient payment for certain services consistent with regulatory authorization.
Editing / Editing is the verification of the aggregated message data (resulting from the assembly process) which ensures accordance with standard EMI format.
EMI / Exchange Message Interface (EMI) is the industry standard format for the exchange of message data between carriers.
End User / The End User is a Nevada Customer for local exchange service, exclusive of resellers of local exchange service, who:
Has been or is being billed by Nevada for having made use of the Customer's usage service;
Has Customer usage resulting from a "10XXX" call;
Has designated the Customer as its preferred interexchange carrier with request to one or more access lines whether by an equal access ballot, allocation or default;
Has purchased any other Customer service or product.
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Inquiry Service / The answering of end user questions, either written or verbal, concerning disputed charges, explaining bills, credits and adjusting charges and claims investigation.LEC / Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) refers to any exchange telephone company, whether a Bell Operating Company (BOC) or an Independent Exchange Company with geographic area franchise obligation to be carrier of last resort.
Master File Maintenance / Message Master File Maintenance consists of the receipt of Customer messages to be billed and maintaining a file of all unbilled message details in line number order or account sequence.
Service order (guide) activity is also included in Master File Maintenance. New installs, finals, telephone number changes will cause rearrangements of master file sequence. Additional information is also maintained to identify unique services/options to which the billing account subscribes.
MIB / The Message Investigation Bureau (MIB) is responsible for the investigation of messages which are unbillable to an End User(pre-billing errors). The primary objective of the MIB is to determine the correct disposition of error messages. Fraud investigation is a function performed under Billing Analysis Services.
MTS / Message Toll Services as defined in this Agreement in Section I.F.1.
Non-Transmission Services / Services which fall outside the definition of MTS as defined in Section I.E. of this Agreement. These services include but are not limited to pay-per-call, 900, 976, and include any services where regardless of the dialing pattern, the provision of information and/or services to the calling party is a necessary component of the call. Whether or not a given call constitutes a non-transmission service is not to be determined by whether a charge for transmission or a tariffed charge is assessed.
Pack / A term used to describe a group of invoices or messages formatted by bill to/send to RAO, separated by header and trailer records that the Customer transmits to Nevada.
PARS / Purchase of Accounts Receivables Statement
Payment and Remittance Processing / Payment and Remittance Processing is a process by which payments are received and applied to the bill of End Users.
Pay-Per-Call Services / Any service in which any person provides, or purports to provide, audio information or audio entertainment produced or packaged by such person; access to simultaneous voice conversation service or, any service, including the provision of a product, the charges for which are assessed on the basis of the completion of the call, for which the caller pays a per-call, or per-time interval charge that is greater than, or in addition to, the charge for transmission of the call. This includes but is not limited to 900 charges and 800 presubscription charges.
Promotions / Opportunities for End Users to receive certain discounts offered by the Customer and/or special rates based on the Customer's qualifying criteria.
Revenue Account Office (RAO) / A standard designation of a local phone company. Used in conjunction with EMI to identify the specific phone company who sent or shall receive given transactions. A large company may have multiple data centers or divisions within the company with different RAOs.
Transmission Services / Services which provide for the transport of traditional MTS or WATS-like services.
Treatment / The various activities involved in obtaining payment from an End User whose account is in arrears. May include but is not limited to letters, phone calls, and collection agency involvement.
Unbillable Messages / Consists of messages that have been sent to Nevada for processing that Nevada cannot bill for various reasons including but not limited to messages that cannot be associated with a billing account.
Uncollectible Bad Debt Allowance / Uncollectible bad debt allowance is an amount, determined through the uncollectible apportionment system, applied to the accounts receivable to recognize potential End User revenue losses on final accounts resulting from failure of the End User to pay legally earned service revenues.
Section 2.BILLING AND COLLECTION SERVICES
2.1.MASTER FILE MAINTENANCE
2.1.1.Nevada will provide Master File Maintenance services for the Customer messages for those Customer's End Users for which Nevada has Bill Processing service responsibilities. Balance due amounts previously billed by the Customer are not to be included as a message or other related charges to be billed by Nevada. Customer violation of this provision will materially affect the essence of this Agreement and will constitute substantial breach of its terms. Nevada reserves the right to return to the Customer any such messages prior to billing to the End User. In the event that Nevada places any such messages on an End User bill, Nevada reserves the right to adjust the End User bill for such messages. Adjustments will be recoursed to the Customer.
2.1.2.Rated Customer messages are required to provide Master File Maintenance. The Customer will provide rated messages to be billed by Nevada. The Customer will deliver its messages to be billed by Nevada to a location specified by Nevada. The Customer will uniquely identify its non-transmission service charges to enable Nevada to identify and segregate such messages. It is the responsibility of the Customer to maintain, and to resupply to Nevada if necessary, for a minimum of ninety (90) days from the date of receipt by Nevada, a back-up file of all rated messages provided to Nevada. This will allow Nevada to reconstruct lost records. If the Customer fails to maintain a back-up file for reprovisioning of messages to Nevada throughout the prescribed time frame, Nevada will not be liable for any such lost records.
2.1.3.Nevada will create and send to the Customer a Confirmation Report that contains information regarding acceptances or rejection of the Customer data into Nevada's data entry processing.
2.1.4.Nevada will provide investigation of the Customer's messages which are unbillable under certain error codes. Nevada will utilize its methods and procedures to determine investigation of messages and for the return of messages to the Customer. Nevada will not be liable to the Customer for the revenue associated with messages that are unbillable.
2.1.5.Nevada will return unbillable messages to the Customer as provided through Billing Information Services. Customer messages received by Nevada that exceed the age of message limits will be treated as an unbillable message and returned to the Customer without investigation.
2.1.6.Customer message detail determined to be lost as a result of the Master File Maintenance processing will be recovered, if possible, by Nevada. In the event the data cannot be recovered by Nevada and the Customer's obligation to resupply the data has expired, Nevada will in all instances assume that the data lost is attributable to direct dialed long distance service and will estimate the messages and associated revenues as follows: Unless otherwise agreed to by the Customer and Nevada, an industry average price for direct dialed long distance service will be used to calculate the revenues associated with the lost records. A reduction to the calculated revenue loss, for projected billing and collection charges, adjustments and uncollectibles, will be made based on the per message charge and bill rendering charge. The number of bill rendering charges will be based on the Customer's average number of messages per bill rendered. This estimate will be used to adjust the Amount Due the Customer as specified in Section 3., Settlement Terms.
2.1.7.In the event the Customer requests data that has previously been successfully provided by Nevada, the data, if available, will be reprovided to the Customer through the Time and Cost procedure.
2.1.8.Nevada will return to the Customer messages which are to be billed to an end user that has elected a local service provider other than Nevada.
2.2.ACCOUNT DATA MAINTENANCE
2.2.1.Nevada will provide Account Data Maintenance services to the Customer for all End User accounts for which Nevada provides Bill Rendering services to the Customer.
2.2.2.Account Data Maintenance consists of marking an End User's account to indicate the usage of Customer service(s) by the End User.
2.2.2.1.The account will be marked the first time the End User is billed for Customer service(s), and remain so marked until the Customer requests removal, or removed after six months from the last Customer's billings to the End User's account.
2.2.2.2.End User movement to an equal access end office will cause the account to be marked as the Customer End User if the End User has selected the Customer as its primary Customer.
2.3.MESSAGE DATA TRANSMISSION
2.3.1.Nevada will provide Message Data Transmission services to the Customer as described in 2.3.2 below. This service will consist of the transmission of rated Customer message records. Nevada maintains the right to terminate without cause or reprice Message Data Transmission services upon ninety (90) days written notification to the Customer.
2.3.2.Reserved
2.3.3.Reserved
2.3.4.EMI formatted messages from the Customer are required to provide Message Data Transmission. The EMI formatted records must be delivered to a location specified by Nevada. It is the responsibility of the Customer to maintain, for a minimum of ninety (90) days from date of receipt by Nevada, a back-up file of all call detail records provided to Nevada, to allow Nevada to reconstruct lost records. If the Customer fails to maintain a back-up file for reprovisioning of messages to Nevada throughout the prescribed time frame, Nevada will not be liable for any such lost records. For transmission from one Nevada location to another Nevada location, the Customer message data determined to be lost as a result of an error in Nevada's Message Data Transmission service, will be recovered at no charge by Nevada. In the event the data cannot be recovered by Nevada and the Customer's obligation to resupply the data has expired, Nevada will estimate the messages' associated revenues as set forth in Paragraph 2.1.6.
2.3.5.In the event the Customer requests data that has previously been successfully provided by Nevada, the data will be reprovided to the Customer through the Time and Cost procedure.
2.4.BILL RENDERING
2.4.1.Nevada will provide Bill Rendering services to the Customer for Nevada End User accounts. Rendering of bills is the preparation and mailing of statements to the End User. Bill Rendering services and charges include Payment and Remittance, Treatment, and Collection services described in Sections 2.5, 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8.
2.4.2.Customer messages will consist of individually rated call detail records to be presented on the End User bill. The Customer's combining of individual call records and/or other charges for processing and presentation on the End User bill is not acceptable under this Agreement and will constitute a substantial breach of this Agreement.
2.4.3.Should the Customer wish to submit promotional service records to Nevada in a non-invoice format, under this Agreement, to be applied to end user bills as a credit amount, the following terms and conditions will apply:
2.4.3.1.The Customer agrees that the total revenue amounts submitted as promotional service credits will not exceed ten percent (10%) of the total billed revenues submitted for billing under this Agreement.
2.4.3.2.Nevada will process the promotional service credit records as a toll detail record. Billing and Collection service charges applicable to mechanized adjustment records will apply.
2.4.3.3.The promotional service credit records will appear in the itemized charges section of the end user's bill.
2.4.3.4.The Customer agrees to submit a text code and proposed phrase associated with each unique promotional service credit thirty (30) days prior to a requested implementation date. The Customer agrees that Nevada retains the sole right to reject requests for a unique promotional service that Nevada may not wish to associate itself with.