AMPS    Advanced Mobile Phone Service. The analog standard for cellular service in North America and elsewhere developed by Bell Laboratories.

ANSI-41    North American Standard which describes inter-carrier signaling for call delivery, authentication, validation, etc. among AMPS-based mobile networks.

ARP    Authorized Receipt Point. Entity designated by wireless operator to receive roaming call records, usually either a data clearinghouse or a billing vendor, but sometimes the operator itself.

ASP    Application Service Provider. A business offering application services over the internet.

BARG    Billing and Accounting Rapporteur Group, a working group within the GSM Association that oversees roaming issues such as financial clearing.

BID    Billing ID. Used in AMPS systems to better identify subsets of SIDs.

bilateral settlement    At month’s end, two roaming partners compare balances, and use one financial transaction (one pays the other) to reconcile imbalance.

Billing OSS    Billing Operations Support Systems. Software and hardware solutions to facilitate all billing operations.

broadband    Services offering large bandwidth data access, such as cable TV or satellite-based internet access.

caller ID    A digital feature that displays the telephone number of the caller in the mobile handset’s display.

CDG    CDMA Development Group, the trade association representing the IS-95 community of operators, service and equipment providers, headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, USA.

CDMA    Code Division Multiple Access. (1) a technique to increase network capacity using voice compression and digital encoding to overlay several conversations on a single channel simultaneously. (2) TIA IS-95 standard for CDMA mobile systems in AMPS environment.

CIBER    Cellular Intercarrier Billing and Exchange Roaming. First released in 1988, the CIBER Record is commonly used by AMPS-family operators and data clearinghouses to exchange roaming information. Compare to TAP.

cross-protocol    In roaming, describes roaming across two different network technologies, e.g. GSM and TDMA. See Inter-standard

CTIA    Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, the trade association representing wireless operators, service providers and equipment providers of all technologies in North America.

data clearinghouse    A company that collects roaming records from numerous operators, then collates and redistributes them for billing and settlement purposes.

EBP & P    Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment, the process of presenting invoices or statements via email.

financial settlement    Process by which roaming partners reconcile payables and receivables. See gross settlement, bilateral settlement and multilateral settlement for more detail.

gross settlement    Roaming partners simply pay one another’s invoices to reconcile roaming payments. Two payments, no netting.

GSM    Global System for Mobile. A TDMA-based digital network developed in Europe and now overseen by the GSM Association.

GSM Association    The trade association representing the GSM community of system operators, service and equipment providers headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

inter-standard    In roaming, describes roaming across two different network technologies, e.g. GSM and TDMA. See Cross-protocol

IREG    International Roaming Expert Group, a working group within the GSM Association that considers technical issues of inter-network signaling.

IS-136    TIA standard defining TDMA digital mobile technology for AMPS environment.

IS-41    TIA Interim Standard 41, which describes inter-carrier signaling for call delivery, authentication, validation, etc. among AMPS-based mobile networks. Now ANSI-41.

IS-95    TIA standard defining CDMA digital mobile technology for AMPS environment.

ISP    Internet Service Provider. A business offering internet connectivity services.

ISV    Independent Software Vendor. The author of the software provided through ASP services across the internet.

MABEL    Major Account Billing Exchange Logistical Record, created by CIBERNET and used to consolidate major account billing across multiple providers.

multi-band    Describes handsets capable of operating on one or more frequency bands, e.g. GSM900, GSM1800 and GSM1900.

multilateral settlement    Many roaming partners cooperate to determine each carrier’s balance relative to a pool of all roaming traffic among them. One payment to or withdrawal from pool reconciles multiple roaming imbalances.

multi-mode    Describes handsets capable of operating on more than one type of technology, e.g. AMPS and TDMA, or GSM and TDMA.

Network QoS    Network Quality of Service. Software and hardware solutions to mediate between billing and operational hardware and to monitor and report on real-time network status.

PCS    Personal Communications Service. A wireless mobile service first licensed by the US Federal Communications Commission in 1995. PCS systems in the US operate in the 1850 - 1990 MHz band, and all systems deployed are digital.

roaming    Use of a mobile network by a customer who is a subscriber to a different mobile network.

roaming agreement    The agreement that defines the terms under which roaming partners will (a) provide roaming services to each other’s customers and (b) manage exchange and settlement of roaming financials.

roaming partner    When two operators enter into a roaming agreement, they become roaming partners.

SID    System ID. Used in AMPS systems to identify network to handset and to route roaming call records among roaming partners.

SMS    Short Message Service. A digital feature that allows users to receive and send brief (>256 characters) messages with their mobile units.

TADIG    Transferred Account Data Interchange Group, a working group within the GSM Association that oversees the file format and interchange mechanisms of call related data (TAP files) to support the billing requirements of international roaming.

TAP    Transferred Account Procedure. The TAP record is used by GSM operators and data clearinghouses to exchange roaming information. Compare to CIBER.

TDMA    Time Division Multiple Access. (1) a technique to increase capacity using voice compression and multiple time slots on a radio channel. (2) TIA IS-136 standard for TDMA mobile systems in AMPS environment.

TIA    Telecommunications Industry Association, North American standards-making technical association.

UWCC    Universal Wireless Communications Consortium, the trade association representing the IS-136 community of system operators, service and equipment providers, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, USA