Introduction
Orange Business Services manages interconnect billing with more than 21 global carriers including British Telecom, KPN, Dutch Telecom, Swisscom, and Telenor, etc.
Traditionally, Orange relied on a legacy billing system for standard cases, but non-standard billing scenarios—unique rules, processes, and business exceptions for each carrier—were manually managed.
To bridge this gap, Orange depended on
Borakay Software. Borakay extracted data from Orange’s mediation devices and used complex Excel macros to process call data records (CDRs).
While functional, this approach was highly manual, time-intensive, and prone to delays. Generating accurate billing and reporting for all carriers typically took 15–20 days every month, creating inefficiencies in cash flow realisation and operational productivity.
Initial Years
To lay the foundation,
Mr. Akshesh Panchal dedicated nearly three years at Orange Business Services alongside
Mr. Alban Vicarini, gaining deep insights into complex processes, operational bottlenecks, and carrier-level challenges.
This close collaboration and hands-on learning experience sparked the vision for IOStream. Unlike short-term projects, IOStream was conceived as a long-term, continuously evolving platform—designed to adapt to diverse rules and requirements across multiple telecom carriers.
It embodies years of iterative innovation, practical problem-solving, and a relentless drive to reshape how telecom businesses manage their value chains.
Key Challenges
Through years of hands-on experience, the team was able to pinpoint the following key challenges:
• High Complexity: Each interconnect carrier had different billing rules and processes.
• Manual Effort: Excel-based macros were difficult to scale and maintain.
• Time-Consuming: The end-to-end billing process stretched up to 20 days.
• Business Risk: Delayed invoicing led to slower revenue realisation and reconciliation challenges.
Orange needed a modern, automated solution to streamline its non-standard interconnect billing processes without overhauling its entire legacy ecosystem.
The Solution
Determined to overcome these challenges, BHARTI and Borakay embarked on the development of an end-to-end revenue assurance software suite - an achievement made possible through relentless dedication and years of committed collaboration.
Bharti and Borakay co-invested to build IOStream (Input-Output Stream) - a next-generation web-based interconnect billing system designed specifically to manage non-standard cases.
With total investment was over $2M in initial few years and continuous evolution of the product, IOStream was developed as a configurable, scalable, and carrier-agnostic platform.
IOStream - Software Features
- Configurable Rules Engine: Supports diverse billing rules for different carriers without manual intervention.
- Automated CDR Processing: Seamlessly ingests and processes mediation device data.
- Web-Based Access: Eliminates dependency on Excel macros and local environments.
- Faster Billing Cycle: Reduces billing turnaround time from 20 days to just 2 days.
- Scalability: Designed to handle additional carriers, geographies, and business rules with minimal effort.
IOStream - Software Outcome
IOStream transformed the interconnect carrier billing process for Orange Business Services:
• Efficiency Gain: Reduced billing cycle time by 90% (from 20 days to 2 days).
• Revenue Realisation: Enabled faster invoicing of over USD 50 million worth of interconnect billing.
• Productivity Boost: Freed up Orange’s billing teams from manual processes, allowing them to focus on reconciliation, dispute management, and value-added activities.
• Accuracy & Compliance: Minimized human error by automating complex rule applications.
• Strategic Differentiator: Provided Orange with a competitive edge in managing diverse, global interconnect relationships.
Importantly, for over 2 decades, IOStream has consistently delivered uninterrupted carrier billing solutions to Orange business services, proving the platform’s resilience, scalability, and reliability.
The Strategic Value
Over two decades of strategic partnership, both companies have created significant value and delivered substantial impact.
For Borakay Software, IOStream was a game-changer, evolving the company from a service provider into a product innovator with a global-ready billing solution.
For Bharti, this co-investment and tech knowledge showcased its ability to incubate transformative digital products with tangible impact on operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and financial performance.
Together, Bharti and Borakay solved Orange Business Services’ immediate challenges of non-standard carrier billing cases.
