Cerillion CCS is based on the industry standard 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) charging specifications, providing unified online and offline charging through a single high-performance convergent charging engine. CCS supports the new REST-based Nchf interface for 5G charging, whilst maintaining support for legacy and hybrid network deployments using Diameter and SS7/CAMEL where required. In addition, Cerillion Mediator Plus is offered as an optional extension to the CCS, providing additional mediation, session and policy management features as part of an integrated solution.
Convergent Charging System
Differentiate your services and stay 3GPP compliant
Cerillion Convergent Charging System (CCS) is a 3GPP compliant convergent charging and policy management system for online and offline services.
As the industry moves towards widespread deployment of 4G and 5G networks, a fundamental change is required in the back office systems in order to support the next wave of telecoms services. With a 5G charging function (CHF), operators can unlock new revenue streams and eliminate the traditional customer segmentation based on prepaid and postpaid payment methods. In addition, increased competition across all markets is driving the need for more personalised services – customers now expect enhanced spending controls and greater pricing transparency, which are essential for creating a compelling customer experience and increasing customer lifetime value.
Convergent Charging System (CCS) delivers the next generation of convergent services, enabling monetisation of new network capabilities such as network slicing using session and event-based charging. Built around the 3GPP charging specifications, the system supports multiple monetary and non-monetary balances, which can be shared within a hierarchical structure or between unrelated services. Cerillion CCS allows operators to perform real-time authorisation, accounting and policy control during service delivery, with Nchf (JSON/HTTP2), Diameter and SS7/CAMEL interfaces for integration with the network and upstream application platforms.
Key Benefits of Cerillion Convergent Charging System
3GPP compliant charging
Built from the ground up based on the industry standard 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) charging specifications, ensuring compatibility with 5G charging function (CHF) requirements.
Create new revenue streams
Monetise your network assets and create value in new content / OTT service partnerships.
Payment method independence
Break down the traditional barriers between 'prepaid' and 'postpaid' services with a single charging function for all customers and services.
Customer spending controls
Avoid ‘bill shock’ with advanced convergent charging system features such as fully transparent pricing, real-time balance management and customer-defined 'spending controls’.
Build customer loyalty
Allow customers to share service bundles with friends, family or business colleagues.
Flexible deployment options
Implement as a best-of-breed convergent charging engine, either to replace legacy network prepaid platforms or as part of an end-to-end BSS transformation.
Industry Recognition
Recognised in Gartner research for revenue management and monetization
Cerillion is named as a Representative Vendor in the Gartner® Market Guide for CSP Revenue Management and Monetization Solutions, published in March 2025.
Key Features of Cerillion Convergent Charging System
Standards-based 3GPP Charging platform
5G Charging Function (CHF)
The 5G Charging Function (CHF) acts as the gateway into Cerillion CCS, supporting both session-based charging and event-based charging scenarios, with flexible unit reservation and quota management. It supports advanced 5G standalone use cases such as network slicing, eMBB, URLLC and mIoT.
The CHF interacts with the Rating Function (RF) and Account Balance Management Function (ABMF) in order to authorise or deny service, or to send an instruction for the alert, automatic balance top-up or enforced termination of the currently active service. Dynamic balance reservation and quota handling enable charging behaviour to be adapted according to service type and consumption – optimising performance and scalability for high bandwidth services.
Account Balance Management (ABMF)
The Account Balance Management Function (ABMF) stores and maintains the credit, debit and reserve balance data for an account. This data is central to the real-time credit control mechanism. The ABMF enables monetary and non-monetary balances to be defined, and an account can have more than one balance associated with it. For example, this could include minutes, loyalty points, free text allowances or gift vouchers. A balance instance can also be shared between multiple directly associated services through a hierarchical structure, or between unrelated services not within a hierarchy.
The ABMF supports operator defined policies for applications such as balance notifications, auto top-ups, overdrafts and service denials, as well as customer-defined policies such as spending control preferences.
Rating Function (RF)
Cerillion CCS provides a high performance and low latency Rating Function (RF) which applies charging based on specific usage or event content and rules. The RF can determine the value of chargeable events or network resource usage based on a wide variety of criteria including subscriber, network slice, origin, destination and balances information. In addition, the RF allows for policy and charging rules to be included in the rating decision making logic, thus further increasing the flexibility within the system to meet a rapidly changing environment.
The Rating Function enables online and offline rating based on exactly the same tariff structure. Due to the flexible architecture, it is also possible to deploy the online and offline instances on separate hardware. This allows optimisation of the high availability online platforms separate from the offline environment.
Charging Gateway Function (CGF)
The Charging Gateway Function (CGF) delivers the required Ga interface to support receipt and onward processing of CDRs via the Bo interface to a downstream billing system (such as Cerillion Revenue Manager). It provides the functions to mediate the CDR from its native form into a standard CDR format for distribution to the Billing Domain, whether or not the CDR needs to be applied to an existing Account Balance within the CCS.
Real-time Discounts
CCS provides support for real-time discounts to be applied based on promotional top-ups and balance eligibility rules. These promotions grant discounts to qualifying usage determined by configurable eligibility criteria such as specific usage types, destinations or ad-hoc account groupings within a set qualifying period. Furthermore, cross-balance discounts can be offered whereby usage of one balance may invoke a promotional discount or credit on another balance.
Promotions Engine
CCS includes a powerful promotions engine that helps CSPs to increase revenue through dynamic promotional campaigns based on a wide range of customer behaviours and preferences, such as frequent top-ups, consistent monthly spending and usage patterns, following an "if this then that" pattern. It supports a broad array of campaign triggers from across our BSS/OSS suite and delivers both monetary and non-monetary rewards – for example, prepaid credit or bonus data – in real-time.
CCS Dashboard
The CCS Dashboard is an integrated tool for monitoring and managing all CCS nodes, processes and databases. It provides a graphical representation of the real-time system performance, highlighting key performance metrics including throughput, latency and error rates. With in-app notifications and configurable email alerts, it ensures you’re promptly informed when performance thresholds are exceeded.
Carrier-grade performance & high availability
Cerillion CCS has been built to support the carrier-grade operation expected of modern 4G and 5G network architectures, supporting 250+ Transactions per second (TPS) per node, with 95% of online requests achieving a response time of <50 milliseconds.
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Cerillion Convergent Charging System FAQs
What is a convergent charging system?
A convergent charging system is a telecoms platform that provides real-time rating, charging and balance management across different customers, services and payment methods.
Rather than operating separate charging systems for prepaid and postpaid customers, communications service providers (CSPs) can use one charging engine for all subscribers and services. This simplifies operations and supports converged offers spanning mobile, fixed, broadband, digital and IoT services.
Cerillion Convergent Charging System (CCS) provides unified online and offline charging through a single, 3GPP-compliant platform.
What is the difference between telecom charging and billing?
Charging determines the cost of a service or usage event and, where required, authorises that usage in real time. It includes functions such as rating, balance reservation, quota allocation and spending controls.
Billing typically takes place downstream, using rated usage and recurring charges to calculate bills, generate invoices, collect payments and manage revenue.
Cerillion CCS handles convergent charging and real-time balance management, while Cerillion Revenue Manager provides convergent billing and revenue management. Both products are pre-integrated as part of the Cerillion BSS/OSS Suite.
What is the difference between an online charging system and a convergent charging system?
An online charging system (OCS) authorises and charges for services in real time, traditionally focusing on prepaid customers. It checks the available balance or allowance before granting usage and updates that balance as the service is consumed.
A convergent charging system brings online and offline charging together and supports prepaid, postpaid and hybrid payment models through the same charging engine. This removes the need to maintain separate charging logic and tariff structures for different customer segments.
Cerillion CCS supports online and offline rating using the same underlying tariff structure, helping CSPs apply consistent offers and charging rules across their customer base.
How does a convergent charging system support prepaid, postpaid and hybrid services?
A convergent charging system applies the same charging rules and balance-management capabilities regardless of how or when the customer pays.
It can maintain monetary balances, such as prepaid credit, alongside non-monetary balances for data, minutes, messages, loyalty points and promotional allowances. These balances can be used individually or shared across families, businesses, groups of services or other account structures.
Cerillion CCS is payment-method independent, enabling CSPs to create offers based on customer needs rather than being constrained by traditional prepaid and postpaid divisions.
How does Cerillion CCS support 5G charging?
Cerillion CCS includes a 5G Charging Function (CHF) supporting the REST-based Nchf service interface defined by 3GPP for 5G standalone networks. It supports session-based and event-based charging, including real-time service authorisation, balance reservation and quota management.
Its Rating Function can apply charging rules using criteria such as the subscriber, network slice, service, destination and available balances. This enables charging for advanced 5G use cases including network slicing, enhanced mobile broadband, ultra-reliable low-latency communications and massive IoT.
Can Cerillion CCS be deployed as a standalone charging system?
Yes. Cerillion CCS can be deployed as a best-of-breed charging engine to replace a legacy online charging or prepaid platform, integrating with existing network and BSS environments through standards-based interfaces.
Alternatively, CCS can be deployed as a pre-integrated component of the Cerillion BSS/OSS Suite, working with products including Enterprise Product Catalogue, Revenue Manager and CRM Plus. This gives CSPs the flexibility to undertake a focused charging transformation or implement CCS as part of a wider end-to-end BSS programme.