What Is a Settlement Fee?

In the field of communication disciplines, the settlement fee is the fee that telecommunications users need to pay for services such as calling, short message sending and receiving, and data ordering. Generally speaking, it is a monthly settlement.

Article 17 of the "Telecommunications Regulations" clearly stipulates that telecommunications networks should be interconnected in accordance with the principles of technological feasibility, economic rationality, fairness and justice, and mutual cooperation. In other words, as long as the technology meets the requirements, telecommunications operators must cooperate with each other to achieve interconnection and fairness with fair and just tariffs within their respective cost ranges and service ranges. The tariffs here include two parts. The first is the external service tariffs of telecommunications operators, that is, the fees paid by consumers for using telecommunications services through interconnection. Telecommunications operators must not overpay for the interconnection and interconnection of telecommunications services. Costs are passed on to consumers, making them bear unreasonable expenses; the second is the inter-network interconnection settlement fee between telecommunications operators, that is, the leading telecommunications operator cannot use its advantages in the basic telecommunications network and telecommunications market share to force others Telecom operators accept settlement fees that are not good for their interconnections, because the so-called dominant telecom operators refer to controlling the necessary basic telecommunications facilities and occupying a large share in the telecommunications business market, which can enter other telecommunications business operators into the telecommunications business. Operators with a substantial market impact. ^[1]

International telecommunications has traditionally been provided jointly by monopoly state-owned operators. Each party provides half of the circuit, and the two parties need to join together to complete the call. The settlement fee can be considered as the sum of at least 3 independent costs. These 3 independent costs are: international transmission costs, often including transfer fees; international exchange costs (at each end of the call); domestic extension Cost (at each end of the call). ^[2]