A mobile telecommunication system supporting location based billing of
data services is provided. The mobile telecommunication system includes a
plurality of routing areas each having one or more base transceiver
stations therein for providing a radio interface to a mobile terminal. A
service node provides data services to the mobile terminal in two or more
of the routing areas. The service node opens a mobility call detail
record and a location container therein when the mobile terminal attaches
to the mobile telecommunication system. The service node opens a packet
data protocol call detail record and a traffic volume container when the
mobile terminal activates a data session with the service node. The
traffic volume container counts data service traffic volumes transferred
to and from the mobile terminal. The location container is automatically
closed when the mobile terminal roams from one routing area to a second
routing area. The contents of any traffic volume containers are reported
via a partial record to a node in the telecommunication system upon
closure of the location container thus limiting, at any given moment, the
traffic volume count in any traffic volume container to traffic volume
transfers in a single routing area. Counts of subsequent data transfers
are made in a zeroed traffic volume container. An operator of the mobile
telecommunication system may then implement location based billing of
data services by levying different fees for data services obtained by the
mobile terminal in different routing areas.