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

    • Zoho CRM Community Digest October 2025 | Part 2

      Hello Everyone! From new mobile capabilities and smarter integrations to real-world workflow fixes and developer insights, all the highlights from the second half of October is covered right here. Let’s dive in. Product Updates: Zoho CRM Mobile Updates:

    • Understanding Zoho Contracts

      Effective contract management relies on systems that are structured, organized, and reliable. Every feature, workflow, rule, and restriction in Zoho Contracts are designed the way they are to ensure consistency, compliance, and control across every stage

    • Tip of the Week #76– Automate your inbox during vacation in Zoho TeamInbox

      When you're on vacation or away from your desk, the last thing you want is for important emails to be missed or left unanswered. The good news is, you can easily set up rules in Zoho TeamInbox to assign incoming messages automatically to a teammate who's

    • Domain restriction for User Management actions in Zoho One

      Greetings, Zoho One Admins! To strengthen account security further and safeguard user management settings, we are imposing domain-based restrictions for user account-focused admin actions in Zoho One. In addition to password reset of user, organization

    • Zoho Mail iOS app update: Signature

      Hello everyone! In the latest version(3.1.7) of the Zoho Mail app update, we have brought in support to create, edit and remove signature within the app. You can create signature from the compose screen as well as from within the Settings module(inside

    • Copy paste from word document deletes random spaces

      Hello Dear Zoho Team, When copying from a word document into Notebook, often I face a problem of the program deleting random spaces between words, the document become terribly faulty, eventhough it is perfect in its original source document (and without

    • Desktop app doesn't support notecards created on Android

      Hi, Does anybody have same problem? Some of last notecards created on Android app (v. 6.6) doesn't show in desktop app (v. 3.5.5). I see these note cards but whith they appear with exclamation mark in yellow triangle (see screenshot) and when I try to

    • Approval Button in Subform

      Hi Team, I’m working on a subform-based requirement where users will submit requests, and these requests must go through approval by multiple team managers. Each line item in the subform needs to be individually approved or declined based on the user's

    • Setting checkbox value on template in Sign from Creator

      Good day, Please help me understand how do I set a tick from a checkbox in Creator into a checkbox on a Sign template. Below is the only values on the Sign template and the code from Creator, "field_boolean_data": {}, "field_date_data": {}, "field_radio_data":

    • Zoho Projects - Unread Comment Icon

      Hi Projects Team, It would be great if there was a notification I con on the comments icon so it's easy to see which tasks have new comments. Something like a red circle with a number of unread comments would be great. Thanks for considering my feed

    • Zoho Projects - Update Feed via API

      Hi Projects Team, Please consider adding an API to allow update and retrieval of messages to the Feed. Thank you

    • Automated log-out/session end

      I'm concerned about security of our data. Is it possible to set an automatic time-out for user sessions on Zoho CRM, after a certain period of inactivity or when the session reaches a certain duration (12 hours perhaps)? 

    • Subform auto populate values

      Hi Team, I’m trying to retrieve values from Zoho People using API functions and dynamically populate them into a subform. For example, I’ve created a form with several fields that users will fill out. Based on their input, I need to fetch records from

    • What is New in CRM Functions?

      What is New in CRM Functions? Hello everyone! We're delighted to share that Functions in Zoho CRM have had a few upgrades that would happen in phases. Phase 1 An all new built-in editor for better user experience and ease of use. ETA: In a couple of days.

    • Gantt Chart - Zoho Analytics

      Are there any plans to add Gantt Charts capabilities to Zoho Analytics?

    • WhatsApp Calling Integration via Zoho Desk

      Dear Zoho Desk Team, I would like to request a feature that allows users to call WhatsApp numbers directly via Zoho Desk. This integration would enable sending and receiving calls to and from WhatsApp numbers over the internet, without the need for traditional

    • Identify long running sync jobs/tables

      My sync process causes strain on my production database and I'd love some tools/alerts to help me identify which tables are taking the longest. The current screen only shows 3 tables at a time and truncates the last fetch time so that it is very cumbersome

    • Temporarily rate limited due to IP reputation.

      We have suddenly started receiving the following Mail Delivery Status Notification: Diagnostic-Code: 4.7.650 The mail server [136.143.184.12] has been temporarily rate limited due to IP reputation. For e-mail delivery information, see https://aka.ms/postmaster

    • Automatically CC an address using Zoho CRM Email Templates

      Hi all - have searched but can't see a definitive answer. We have built multiple email templates in CRM. Every time we send this we want it to CC a particular address (the same address for every email sent) so that it populates the reply back into our

    • Solution to Import PST File into Office 365.

      MailsDaddy OST to Office 365 Migration Tool is an outstanding solution to recover OST files and migrate them into Office 365 without any hassle. Using this software users can multiple OST files into Office 365 with complete data security. It offers users

    • Best-practice setup in Zoho One for managing combined candidate pools and exporting anonymised CVs

      We are new users of the Zoho One bundle and operate a consulting and engineering company. Our workforce model includes a mix of permanent employees, active job applicants, and freelance/independent consultants. All three groups need to be searchable,

    • Associate emails from both primary and secondary contacts to deal

      We need to associate emails from multiple contacts to a deal. Please advise how this can be achieved. At present, only emails from primary contacts can be associated. Thanks

    • New integration: Zoho Sign for Zoho Projects

      Hey there! We’re excited to announce the brand-new Zoho Sign integration for Zoho Projects! With this integration, users can now send documents for signatures, track their progress, and manage approvals—all without leaving Zoho Projects. This bridges

    • Update to attachment display in ticket threads

      This enhancement will provide faster access for support teams and end-users, significantly boosting productivity for everyone. Get ready for a more efficient and satisfying experience! Immediate benefits Faster ticket rendering reduces wait times and

    • Narrative 15: Blueprint - Automate, guide, and transform your support processes

      Behind the scenes of a successful ticketing system: BTS Series Narrative 15: Blueprint - Automate, guide, and transform your support processes Even organizations that deliver quality products and services can face low customer satisfaction when their

    • Different MRP / Pricing for same product but different batches

      We often face the following situations where MRP of a particular product changes on every purchase and hence we have to charge the customer accordingly. This can't be solved by Batch tracking as of now so far as I understand Zoho. How do you manage it as of now? 

    • Batch/lot # and Storage bin location

      Hi I want to ask for a feature on Zoho inventory I own a warehouse and I've gone through different management software solutions with no luck until I found Zoho, it has been a game changer for my business with up to the minute information, I'm extremely happy with it. It's almost perfect. And I say Almost because the only thing missing for me (and I'm sure I'm not alone) is the need of being able to identify the lot number of my inventory and where it is located in the warehouse. Due to the nature

    • ZOHO BOOKS - RECEIVING MORE ITEMS THAN ORDERED

      Hello, When trying to enter a vendor's bill that contains items with bigger quantity than ordered in the PO (it happens quite often) - The system would not let us save the bill and show this error: "Quantity recorded cannot be more than quantity ordered." 

    • Good news! Calendar in Zoho CRM gets a face lift

      Dear Customers, We are delighted to unveil the revamped calendar UI in Zoho CRM. With a complete visual overhaul aligned with CRM for Everyone, the calendar now offers a more intuitive and flexible scheduling experience. What’s new? Distinguish activities

    • Sync desktop folders instantly with WorkDrive TrueSync (Beta)

      Keeping your important files backed up and accessible has never been easier! With WorkDrive desktop app (TrueSync), you can now automatically sync specific desktop folders to WorkDrive Web, ensuring seamless, real-time updates across devices. Important:

    • Writer update results in BitDefender blocking it as malware

      After updating Writer to latest update, Bitdefender blocked the app and writer no longer runs.

    • Refresh frequency

      Dear Zoho Team, I really, truly appreciate that Zoho Books gets frequent updates. As a matter of fact this is how a good SaaS company should stay on top. However, I feel that I have to hit refresh almost every day. This was exciting at the beginning but

    • Refund

      My plan expired today, and I updated my payment details with a new credit card. At the same time, I wanted to downgrade, but the system wouldn’t allow the downgrade until the payment details were updated. As a result, I was charged for the same plan before

    • Calling Function via REST API with API Key gives 401 using Zoho Developer

      Hi, I created a couple of functions using the one month trial of Enterprise edition, which I was able to call using the API Key method from Postman and from an external site. Now that my trial has expired, I have created the same functions in the Developer

    • Error due to - 'Internal Exception' when uploading Sign-generated PDF file to workdrive via Deluge in Zoho CRM

      Hi I wasnt getting this error a few days ago and my code had not changed, so I'm wondering if there's a Zoho bug somewhere? I am downloading a PDF file from a Zoho Sign url using invokeurl and then uploading it to a Workdrive folder using zoho.workdrive.uploadFile.

    • Embed CRM record images in email templates

      I have email templates that I want to embed dynamic images in their body - not as an attachment. For the context, the image is a QR code individual to each contact. So there are couple of challenges for which I think there is no solution in CRM: 1/ I

    • Assign multiple departments to multiple helpcenters

      Hi there! I have a reseller company for a software and I'm using Zoho Desk as my helpcenter and ticket management system. The software is great and I would like to make a suggestion! With multi-branding activated, your departments that visible in help

    • Zoho Desk Training

      Hello, We've had Zoho desk for a while now, but we run into issues occasionally, and I was wondering if there was a customer who currently uses it and really enjoys the functionality, that would be wiling to chat with us?

    • Edit default "We are here to help you" text in chat SalesIQ widget

      Does anyone know how this text can be edited? I can't find it anywhere in settings. Thanks!

    • PO Based Advance payment to Vendor

      We recommend to introduce a provision at PO to make advance payment to vendors and auto apply that advance paid later at the time of Vendor Bill submission for that PO. This will help us track PO-wise Total Payments.

    • Next Page