Posts Tagged ‘TelecomBilling’

Why Modern Telecom Services Demand Usage-Based Billing

July 15, 2026



A few years ago it seemed to me that the all-you-can-eat, flat monthly pricing plan was becoming the way to go for billing telecom services.

It’s amazing how quickly things change.

Flat billing worked well a few years back, with less variety of online services, more predictable usage patterns and far less competition between providers.

Service providers and MSPs now deliver a wider range of consumption-based services, including UCaaS, SIP trunking, mobile connectivity, IoT, messaging, cloud communications, AI-powered services, and APIs. These services don’t fit neatly into a fixed monthly fee—they grow and change with how customers use them.

Furthermore, competition today is more intense and service providers can no-longer slap lazy all-you-can-eat pricing over variable services with built in “safety margins”. Those days are gone for service providers who want to hold on to their customers.

Some other considerations regarding usage-based billing are as follows:

  1. Customers Pay Only for What They Use

Usage-based billing is widely perceived as a fairer pricing model. Instead of paying for unused capacity, customers are billed according to actual consumption.

This is especially valuable for businesses with seasonal demand or rapidly changing requirements.

  1. Revenue Grows Alongside Your Customers

One of the biggest advantages for providers is that revenue naturally increases as customers expand their business.

Rather than renegotiating contracts every time usage grows, your billing model scales automatically with customer success.

  1. It Matches Today’s Telecom Services

Many modern telecom offerings are inherently usage-driven, including:

Voice minutes
SMS messaging
SIP trunks
Mobile data
IoT connectivity
Cloud communications
AI services
API transactions
International calling

Trying to force these services into a flat-rate model often means either undercharging heavy users or overcharging light users.

  1. Lower Barriers to New Business

Customers are often more willing to adopt a service when they know they only pay for what they consume.

Pay-as-you-go pricing, flexible plans, and lower monthly commitments can make it much easier for providers to win new business.

  1. Customers Can Scale at Their Own Pace

Businesses rarely stay the same size forever.

Usage-based billing allows customers to start small, add users and services gradually, and increase consumption without changing billing plans. That flexibility creates a better customer experience and often leads to higher long-term revenue.

  1. Better Protection of Your Margins

Wholesale telecom costs are frequently usage-based.

When customer billing reflects actual consumption, providers are much better positioned to recover increasing wholesale costs and protect profitability as usage grows.

  1. Greater Pricing Flexibility

Usage-based billing enables providers to offer pricing models that customers increasingly expect, including:

Included usage allowances
Overage charges
Tiered pricing
Volume discounts
Destination-based pricing
Burst capacity pricing

This flexibility allows providers to tailor services to different customer segments without creating unnecessary complexity.

  1. Better Visibility Into Profitability

Detailed usage records provide valuable business intelligence.

Providers can identify which services are most profitable, spot customers with unusual usage patterns, understand wholesale cost trends, and make more informed pricing decisions.

  1. Data That Drives Better Decisions

Usage data isn’t just for billing.

It helps providers understand customer behaviour, forecast network demand, identify upsell opportunities, and improve service offerings based on real-world consumption.

  1. Built for the Next Generation of Services

As AI, cloud services, APIs, cybersecurity, and IoT continue to grow, consumption-based charging is becoming the norm rather than the exception.

Providers with modern usage-based billing platforms will be well positioned to introduce new services quickly and monetize them effectively.

Flat-Rate Billing Still Has Its Place

Flat monthly pricing remains an excellent option for many services where usage is highly predictable or customers value complete cost certainty.

The most successful telecom providers increasingly offer a combination of both models—fixed recurring charges for stable services, alongside usage-based billing where consumption naturally varies.

That hybrid approach gives customers the simplicity they want while ensuring providers can price modern services fairly and profitably.

The future of telecom isn’t simply about offering more services—it’s about billing for them in a way that reflects how customers actually consume them.

How are you seeing usage-based billing evolve in your business?

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Conferences are back!

November 10, 2021

Last week I attended the Channel Partners conference in Las Vegas with Datagate‘s North American sales & marketing team. In almost two years, this was the first time I’d flown in an airplane, been outside British Columbia, been in person to a business event, and the first time I had the chance to catch up with so many industry friends, partners, clients and contacts.

I must admit that leading up to the event, I was somewhat nervous about the more-complicated processes involved in getting the Canadian members of our team in and out of the United States, and the question of how many people would turn up to the event – would it be successful? Other concerns included, what would we do if one or more of our team tested positive at one of the Covid-19 tests? As it turned, my concerns were unfounded and everything went smoothly.

The flight into the United States required us to take a rapid antigen Covid-19 test within three days of departure, and provide proof of vaccination status upon arrival at Vancouver airport. The flight back to Canada required the same via the ArriveCan app, except that the Covid-19 test needed to be of the more expensive PCR variety. No quarantine or isolation was required for any part of the journey, thankfully.

The Channel Partners conference was very successful, and they had a record number of attendees (I believe it was over 6,200 people). People there were generally in high spirits. Glad to be out at an in-person conference again and glad to be catching up with their friends and business contacts. Surely a good sign that life is getting back to some kind of normal.

For Datagate the conference was valuable on a number of fronts. We connected with a large number of new sales opportunities, met with clients, partners and prospects, and furthermore we had the opportunity to get our North American sales & marketing team together in person for the very first time. Our team was also able to meet with Datagate board member Eric Hernaez, who was also at the conference.

We announced Datagate’s sponsorship of Train our Troops who do great work for military veterans, helping them with training and certifications for their civilian business careers. It was great to meet the guys from Train Our Troops, and “Juan Rico” their friendly explosives detection canine.

This week Datagate team members are back at two more in-person conferences, which are the Compliance Solutions conference in San Diego, and the Connectwise IT Nation Connect conference in Orlando.

In 2022, we’ll start off the year exhibiting at the ITEXPO conference in Fort Lauderdale FL February (8-11) and then the SkySwitch Vectors conference in Orlando FL in March (27-30). Following that, we will be back at other MSP/telecom events including Channel Partners, DattoCon, Canadian Channel Partners and more.

If you’re attending any of these events, please come and say hello to the Datagate team!

Posted in Billing, Communication, conferences, Datagate, MSPs, TELCO | Leave a Comment »
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Managed Service Providers (MSPs) are winning in the new age of business telecom

December 12, 2019

MSPs are the new force in Unified Communications, and they are taking on the business telecom market at an accelerating pace, worldwide.

MSPs are winning an increasing share of the business telecom market
MSPs are winning an increasing share of the business telecom market

Through my business Datagate Innovation, that provides white-label telecom billing solutions, I am witnessing first hand, how MSPs are winning an increasing share of the business telecom market. From what we see at Datagate, this is very much a worldwide trend, and we see it directly in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand.

This is happening for the following reasons;

  • Business customers want a closer, more integrated and higher level of service than what the large telecom providers can give. MSPs have a closer relationship and better understanding of their business customers than the largest telecom providers can ever have.
  • Business customers want a single point of responsibility if/when something goes wrong with their mission-critical telecom service. They do not want to have their telecom provider and their MSP arguing about who is at fault and who needs to fix something.
  • Phones and computers have converged. Both are now running on the same networks and the same technologies. Whether MSPs directly sell the phone system or not, they end up supporting it by virtue of supporting its underlying network platform.
  • It’s good business for the MSP. Reselling telecom services is very profitable. It’s contracted and recurring revenue, with all the ingredients for MSPs to add considerable financial value to their businesses.
  • Being the “single point of supply” for all information and data technology solutions, elevates the MSP to a more strategic relationship with the customer and makes the customer “more sticky”.
  • It’s not difficult for MSPs who have no prior telecom experience to enter this space. Through the various white-label wholesale providers and solutions available, they can get as deeply involved in the technology as they want, or leave it to others to provide services for them to resell. The more deeply they get involved, the larger are the recurring margins.

My Datagate colleagues and I estimate that about 20% of MSPs are currently reselling telecom services and the MSP-driven telecom revolution is still in its early stages. The timing is clearly good for the other 80% of MSPs to enter this space!

Posted in Billing, Communication, Datagate, MSPs, TELCO | 1 Comment »
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Datagate on the roadshow with Robin Robins

August 30, 2019

This week I was in Los Angeles, where Datagate was a sponsor at Robin Robins’ Marketing Implementation Roadshow.

Robin is a well-known personality in the American MSP industry. Her events are very popular because she knows her target audience and she gives her clients great advice, blueprints and inspiration on how they can be extremely successful in their businesses. I’ve sat in on some of her sessions and I find her advice and material very motivating and inspirational.

Datagate’s main purpose for me being there was to connect directly with MSPs who are serious about growing their businesses, becoming more profitable and becoming the single point of supply to their customers for voice and data applications.

I connected with some great Los Angeles MSPs at this event and look forward to following up with them over the coming weeks. One thing I’ve noticed, is that the challenges and aspirations of MSPs are similar, no matter where you go. The common goal is to build good “sticky” customer relationships and strong recurring revenues – and Datagate is designed to help them achieve that.

I also enjoyed talking with the other vendor-sponsors, a few of which could become potential partners for Datagate. This type of interaction and what you learn from it, adds to the value of these events for a sponsor.

Anyhow… now it’s time to close off this chapter and head back up to Vancouver.

Posted in Billing, Cloud, Datagate, MSPs, Networking, TELCO | Leave a Comment »
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