February 28, 2002 -- Billing Concepts Inc., a provider of third-party local exchange carrier (LEC) billing clearinghouse and information services in the United States, has entered into an agreement of understanding with TELUS, which will provide carriers with greater flexibility to bill collect and bill-to-third-number calls to end users in Canada.

This new service from Billing Concepts should improve carriers' revenue opportunities by offering billing for the above services between Canada and the United States. Of major significance, these calls will no longer be subject to re-rating. Additionally, Billing Concepts will be able to offer Canadian billing services for collect and bill-to-third-number calls originating outside of the United States, which include Mexico, Caribbean and other international points. Due to the relatively recent deregulation of the Canadian telecommunications market, Billing Concepts will also be able to bill most Canadian originating calls.

As part of this agreement, TELUS will handle tax compliance, which includes calculating, collecting, reporting and remitting of federal, provincial and local taxes. Customer services and currency conversion services will also be handled under this agreement.

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