Billing Management: #7 Usage Billing in Telecom & Internet Service Provider

Billing Management: #7 Usage Billing in Telecom & Internet Service Provider

Telecom and Internet Service Providers operate in markets where usage varies drastically from one customer to another. While flexible, usage-based models align revenue directly with consumption, they also introduce operational challenges like real-time tracking, precise rating, and transparent invoices.


Many providers still see these models as complex to automate. But the reality is that the right billing infrastructure can turn this complexity into a scalable, data-driven process. Zoho Billing offers that infrastructure, which is adaptable enough for both ISPs and telecom service providers to manage millions of usage events daily.

Below are two scenarios that show how Zoho Billing supports usage billing models in these industries.

Scenario 1:  

A regional internet service provider, having 25,000 residential customers and 3000 small businesses, decided to move away from the traditional fixed monthly broadband plan. They let the customers pay entirely based on how much data they consume rather than setting up a standard base fee. The structure is simple,

  • $0.40 per GB for the first 500 GB

  • $0.30 per GB for the next 500 GB

  • $0.20 per GB beyond that.

This model gives customers flexibility while ensuring revenue reflects actual network usage. To make this model work,

  1. The ISP (Internet Service Provider) must capture live data usage from its network monitoring system.

  2. Rate the usage according to defined tiers.

  3. Generate accurate invoices each billing cycle without manual calculation.

 With Zoho Billing, a usage-based pricing engine, and API integration, the ISP connected its network management platform directly to its billing system. Every gigabyte consumed by a customer was sent as a real-time usage record.


In Zoho Billing, the ISP once defined usage tiers and rates. The system automatically applied those rates at the end of each billing cycle, calculating charges based on total consumption.

Let's take a residential broadband plan with three users sharing one data pool. Total monthly usage is recorded as 1.28 TB (~1,280 GB)

Item

Value

Total Usage

1,280 GB

Tier 1: 500 GB x $0.40

$ 200

Tier 2: 500 GB x $0.30

$150

Tier 3: 280 GB x $0.20

$56

Total Invoice Value

$406

 
The invoices were then generated automatically, including a detailed usage summary. The customer could view their live usage within the client portal through data fed directly from the same APIs, providing transparency throughout the month.


Scenario 2:  

A telecom operator runs a postpaid service where users subscribe to a base plan, and the customer pays for additional voice and message usage. It has a strong customer base of over 120,000 postpaid subscribers. The base plan costs $50, covering 100 minutes of domestic and 50 international calls and 100 SMS. Additional usage costs:

  • $0.05 per minute for local calls.

  • $0.10 per minute for international calls.

  • $0.01 per SMS

Managing this type of billing requires:

  1. High-volume usage capture from the telecom mediation system.

  2. Accurate categorization of usage (local vs international calls, SMS).

  3. Real-time rating to prevent discrepancies.

  4. Generation of detailed transparent invoices.

Since the telecom operator handles millions of call records monthly, even small inefficiencies could lead to significant revenue leakage.


Zoho Billing was integrated directly with the Call Detail Record (CDR) system via API. As calls and SMS were logged, corresponding usage data was pushed automatically to Zoho Billing, categorized by type. Each usage metric, such as local minutes, international minutes, and SMS, was mapped to the respective price brackets. The platform automatically applies rates and calculates the total charges at the end of each billing period.

Let's take a subscriber who makes 780 minutes of local calls, 90 minutes of international calls, and 310 messages in a billing cycle.

Items

Rate

Amount

Base Plan

$50

$50

Extra domestic calls 680 minutes

$0.05

$34

Extra international calls 40 minutes

$0.12

$4.8

Extra 210 SMS sent

$0.01

$2.1

Total Invoice Value

$90.9

 
The invoice generated through Zoho Billing gives a clear usage summary. This transparency strengthens customer confidence and reduces disputes over billed usage. Telecom providers maintained their pricing structure with minimal billing overhead, scaling up new offerings without changing their core system.


Potential Shift 
Across the connectivity industry, usage-based billing is becoming the new standard. Success depends on a system that can manage continuous usage flow, accurately rate customers, and clearly communicate with them.

Zoho Billing enables this transformation by providing an adaptable billing infrastructure that handles real-world complexities with built-in handlers. This allows industry experts to focus on innovation and not manual reconciliation. It helps service providers manage the full lifecycle of usage-based revenue with reliability and precision.


NotesAs we drive across industries in each post, the next sector, the next post will be on Usage Billing in Logistics & Delivery. 

    • Sticky Posts

    • Community Learning Series | Digest #5 — September 2020

      Dear customers, We're happy to bring you the September edition of our #CommunityDigest! Keep track of your subscription KPIs right from your smartphone: Last month, we enhanced our Android mobile app to help our customers get daily updates on their business health. We got to know from a lot of customers that this has made their job much more easier because they no longer have to keep a reminder to manually check on the previous day's revenue or activations. If you have not downloaded it yet, here's

    • Community Learning Series | Digest #4 - August 2020

      Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. I'm happy to bring you the fourth edition of our #CommunityDigest with some brand-new updates from us. 1. Daily Business Updates (for Android users) The Zoho Subscriptions Android app has got a cool new update: You can now get a push notification to your smartphone that lets you know how many activations and cancellations have taken place, and what's the net revenue for the previous day. The best part is, you can tell the app when exactly you

    • Community Learning Series | Digest #3 - July 2020

      Dear customers, We hope you're staying safe and healthy. We're glad to bring you the July edition of our #CommunityDigest. New community members can view our previous newsletters here. This time, we have two major updates and three interesting topics for you: 1. Zoho Subscriptions Developer Community Since the inception of Zoho Subscriptions, our team believed that the recurring billing platform we provide should be able to offer an extensive API library that empowers businesses to automate most

    • Introducing: Community Learning Series | Digest #1 - May 2020

      Dear customers, We hope you are staying safe and healthy. Helping businesses manage their customer subscriptions more efficiently has always been, and always will be, our goal at Zoho Subscriptions. We strongly believe this is possible if we grow together as a community and share what we know with each other. To nurture this shared learning experience, here is our brand-new Community Learning Series! ​ Welcome to the first edition of our digest! Each edition of our community digest includes guides

    • Recent Topics

    • All new Address Field in Zoho CRM: maintain structured and accurate address inputs

      Availability Update: 29 September 2025: It's currently available for all new sign-ups and for existing Zoho CRM orgs which are in the Professional edition exclusively for IN DC users. 2 March 2026: Available to users in all DCs except US and EU DC. 24

    • Zoho CRM - Email/Message icon for Deal List View

      Hi Team, My idea is to include a message icon at the start of the row of Deals when an unread message has been received. This would really help highlight the Deals where urgent action is required. Thanks for considering this request. Regards, Ashley

    • Is there a way to show contact emails in the Account?

      I know I can see the emails I have sent and received on a Contact detail view, but I want to be able to see all the emails that have been sent and received between all an Accounts Contacts on the Account Detail view. That way when I see the Account detail

    • CRM x WorkDrive: We're rolling out the WorkDrive-powered file storage experience for existing users

      Release plan: Gradual rollout to customers without file storage add-ons, in this order: 1. Standalone CRM 2. CRM Plus and Zoho One DCs: All | Editions: All Available now for: - Standalone CRM accounts in Free and Standard editions without file storage

    • HR Helpdesk Cases

      We have Zoho One Enterprise. I'm trying to find HR Helpdesk Cases, but my UI does not match the documentation. I'm not sure how to move forward.

    • Tip #7 - Siri shortcuts in Zoho CRM

      Hello Everyone, Here is a tip about the 'Siri Shortcuts' feature and how it works in the iOS version of the Zoho CRM mobile app. What are Siri shortcuts? Siri Shortcuts are quick actions across your apps on iOS. They can perform an action automatically

    • Automatic Department and Employee Sync Between Zoho One and Zoho People

      Dear Zoho Support, I'm writing to propose a valuable feature request that would streamline data management and improve user experience within the Zoho ecosystem: automatic synchronization between departments and employees in Zoho One and Zoho People.

    • Nothing triggers a Journey

      I have been on the phone with Zoho support and they claim their development team needs to investigate more. However, I've found this is a pretty standard answer after a call takes any amount of time. After that, it's days and even weeks before it actually

    • Manually Backorder Sales Order and/or Change Sales Order Status

      Is there an option to manually 'backorder' a sales order, or otherwise change it's status?  In some cases, we receive orders for products that are out of stock, but we already have issued POs to our suppliers for replenishment.   Ex- we created a PO on

    • Backorder process review - Automating Removal of Sales Order from "On Hold" When PO is Received

      Hello Zoho Inventory Team, Currently, sales orders in On Hold status are released only when the bill for the purchase order is created. In our workflow, it would be much more efficient if the sales order could automatically move out of On Hold as soon

    • Kaizen #254 - Building a Temporal Lead Score Decay System in Zoho CRM

      Hello, CRM Wizards! Welcome to a fresh week of Kaizen. In this post, we will build a temporal lead score decay system that works alongside your existing scoring rules by introducing percentage-based score decay driven solely by customer inactivity. By

    • Metadata API Access to Functions

      I think it would be incredibly helpful to have api access to every function's code. Our team primarily uses deluge functions to update fields across modules according to business logic. I would like to create a visual dependancy model for our CRM, but

    • API actions/approvals endpoint returns UNAPPROVABLE despite user having full permissions and being the assigned approver

      Hi Team, We are trying to programmatically approve a record via the CRM API but consistently receive an UNAPPROVABLE error, even though the same user can approve the record without issue from the UI. Endpoint called: POST https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/v6/{module}/{record_id}/actions/approvals

    • Upcoming Change: Increased character limits for module and field labels

      To provide greater flexibility in customizing your CRM, we are increasing the maximum character limits for module labels and field labels in Zoho CRM. What's changing? Label Current Limit New Limit Module Label 25 characters 50 characters Subform Module

    • Get a realistic picture of your revenue with Forecast Adjustments in Zoho CRM

      #crm25q1 Dear Customers, We hope you're doing well! Today, we're here with an important enhancement for business decision makers: forecast adjustments. Let's get straight to it! With technology on the rise and CX at its core, businesses are constantly

    • I am not able to check in and checkout in zoho people even location access allowed

      This issue i am facing in mackbook air m1, I allowed location in chrome browser and i also tried in safari but getting similar issue. Please have a look ASAP.

    • WhatsApp Vendors Module

      Hello, so WhatsApp works with the below, mainly with the customer side modules. Can we get functionality on the vendor side modules, i.e., PO, Bills, Vendor Credits, Payments Made, Purchase Received? WhatsApp is often the preferred method of communication

    • Upload ticket attachments via Drag-&-Drop

      Hello, if you want to upload a file to the ticket attachment you need to click the button and use the file browser to select and upload the desired file. In many cases, it would be much more efficient if you could simply drag the file to the browser window...

    • Introducing parent-child ticketing in Zoho Desk [Early access]

      Hello Zoho Desk users! We have introduced the parent-child ticketing system to help customer service teams ensure efficient resolution of issues involving multiple, related tickets. You can now combine repetitive and interconnected tickets into parent-child

    • Elevate your Radar experience: Best practices part 3

      In the Spotlight: Zoho Desk's Radar app Customer support requires human intelligence combined with emotional intelligence. How about these coupled with contextual intelligence? These elevate the customer support experience. When providing support through

    • Migrating my email from GMAIL to ZOHO MAIL..........

      I am a long time GMAIL user and I really only understand how they operate, but after reviewing your tutorials and forums online, it is quite unbelievable how much more and how much more streamlined ZOHO mail is, not to mention ZOHO's wonderful, more advanced capabilities. I do have several questions about transitioning over to ZOHO.  Primarily, where is the best place to start, what do I do first? And how hard is it actually to move all my business and personal accounts over here?  When I sign up

    • Unable to send message;Reason:553 Relaying disallowed. Invalid Domain

      Hi, Now when I try to reply to an email, I see the Unable to send message;Reason:553 Relaying disallowed. Invalid Domain voicemessagedownloader.com error. I tested sending an email when I set it up in the past and it worked. I have checked the Zoho Organization

    • RFID Scanner/Adapter Solution for barcode scanning

      Hello, We will be trialing using barcode scanning for item verification during our picking process. Using a phone or a tablet is awkward and uncomfortable. Are there any Zoho compatible RFID scanners, or an RFID device/adapter that will connect with a

    • Approval Process not retriggering after rejection when stage is manually changed back

      We have an Approval Process on the Opportunities module that triggers when Stage is changed to Negotiation (Execute on: Edit Only). On rejection, a field update action reverts Stage back to Proposal. The issue: after rejection, AE can manually changes

    • Free Webinar Alert! Workdrive + Office Suite in Zoho Workplace: Create, co-edit and collaborate

      Hello Zoho Community! Looking for a better way to create, manage, and collaborate on your business documents? Join our upcoming webinar to discover how Zoho WorkDrive and the Zoho Office Suite (Writer, Sheet, and Show) help teams to work together from

    • Updating Sales orders on hold

      Surely updating irrelevant fields such as shipping date should be allowed when sales orders are awaiting back orders? Maybe the PO is going to be late arriving so we have to change the shipment date of the Sales order ! Not even allowed through the api - {"code":36014,"message":"Sales orders that have been shipped or on hold cannot be updated."}

    • Two-Factor Authentication in Zoho Mail: Add an extra layer of security to your organization

      Account security is a critical aspect of managing any organization's email. With increasing risks of unauthorized access, a single password may not always be sufficient to keep accounts protected. Zoho Mail's Two-Factor Authentication (TFA) addresses

    • Dark Mode - Font Colors Don't Work

      When editing a document in Dark Mode and selecting font colors, they don't show up on screen.  Viewing/editing the same document in Light Mode shows them just fine.

    • API to post drafts for social media

      I we want to post draft posts to our zoho social account and then approve and schedule them within Zoho social. is this possible with for example: https://apis.zoho.com/social/v2/post TIA Jon

    • How to show product cards in your chatbot

      Hey everyone, If you are using Guided Conversations to help customers find products, you have probably run into this problem: the bot gives customers a list of options, but they still have no idea which one to pick. There will be no images, no specs,

    • Changing settings for auto logoff

      I've noticed that when I haven't used Cliq for a while, I have to re-enter my password. That is really clumsy, especially if you have a complicated password. Because it won't be filled in automatically. Is there a way to change that behaviour? We are

    • How do you create invoices before sending them through Zoho Invoice?

      Hi everyone, I'm curious how other businesses handle their invoicing workflow before sending invoices through Zoho Invoice. Do you: Create invoices directly inside Zoho? Prepare them first in another invoice tool or template? Use Excel or Word before

    • ZML Error/Bug

      Hi, I would like to request for your help regarding this kind of behavior. Requested_Start_Time & End_Time - date-time fields https://......#Page:PH_Calendar_Page?reqDate=08-04-2026 https://......#Page:PH_Calendar_Page?reqDate=07-31-2026 https://....#Page:PH_Calendar_Page?reqDate=08-03-2026

    • Item with name in different languate

      Hello, is there a way to have an item with its name in different languages? For example: I sell an item in different markets and I'd like to have a Proposal and the Invoice with the Item Name in a specific language. Rino Bertolotto Zoho Specialist, STESA srl

    • Email notification for followers

      Is there a way to enable email notification for followers of a support ticket? ie: Ticket #123 is owned by Agent#1, Agent#2 adds themselves as a follower. Whenever ticket #123 receives an email from the customer, Agent#1 receives an email. Agent#2 would

    • Migration of emails from Yandex to Zoho

      I am trying to migrate an yandex mail account to zoho mail account. I am confused with all the related articles/informations in the net. Could someone please outline the process to do it, just thinking about me as a novice with limited knowledge or experience. A couple of questions from the knowledge gained. 1. I believe we have to delete the yandex current MX from the website records and add Zoho MX. What happens to the emails as we remove the mail exchange record. Yandex stops updating emails and

    • Auto-fill from logged-in user's profile for Name Fields in Subforms

      Hi, The Name field is great, but I see you can't tick the Initial Value option of "Auto-fill from logged-in user's profile" when it is on a Subform, why not? Thanks Dan

    • Calling a function within another function

      Hello there, I have just found out that you can simply call up functions in other functions, regardless of the department. You can't create functions with the same name twice, even though you are in a different department. If you try it, you don't get

    • 【続々公開】Zoholics Japan 2026 セッション情報を更新しました！

      ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは！ Zoholics Japan 2026のセッション情報を続々と公開しています！ 今年は3つのトラックで、Zohoの最新情報やAI活用、製品アップデート、 活用事例など、多彩なセッションをお届けします。 現在公開中のセッション（一部） ・Zoho CRM 製品アップデート ・Zoho CRM Plus 製品アップデート ・Zoho Community セッション ・Zoho Desk セッション ・中堅・成長企業の人事DX ～AI時代に何から始めるべきか？～ ・Zoho

    • Zoho CRM Community Digest - July 2026 | Part 1

      Hello everyone, July is here! The first two weeks brought six CRM updates ranging from privacy-ready webforms to a significantly more powerful Layout Rules engine, two community wins worth a look (a dashboard workaround for spotting leads with no activities,

    • Next Page