scope:

This standard applies to enhanced telecommunication charge cards issued within North America. The determination of eligibility to issue telecommunication charge cards is beyond the scope of this standard.

Purpose

This standard defines the major characteristics of enhanced telecommunication charge cards usable for international, domestic, inter-industry, and intra-industry applications in an interchange environment. These cards comply with existing American National Standards Institute (ANSI), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and ITU-TS (formerly CCITT) standards.

Application

The application of a telecommunication charge card is primarily for, but not limited to, payment for telecommunications services. Depending on the equipment involved, the card holder can present the card information to the service provider verbally, manually, or via a card reader. The use of these cards also involves appropriate agreements¹⁾ between card issuers and service providers on matters such as, but not limited to, account number format, validation, billing and settlement procedures. These agreements are beyond the scope of this standard.

¹⁾ Agreements between card issuers and service providers could permit the acceptance of charge card alternatives other than this standard including, but not limited to, cards using the traditional 14-digit format, abbreviated versions of this standard, and financial transactions cards.