The global billing systems market will slowly grow to $5.6 billion in 2014, according to the Billing systems: worldwide forecast 2010–2014 from global telecoms, media and IT adviser Analysys Mason.

The slow growth from $4.7 billion in 2009 to $5.6 billion in 2014, at a CAGR of 3.7 percent, is attributed mainly due to limited spending on postpaid billing solutions.

Analysys (News - Alert) Mason has not included prepaid billing or the real-time aspects of converged billing solutions in the forecast.

This report is authored by Peter Mottishaw (News - Alert), principal analyst at Analysys Mason, who says that in the later years of the forecast, spending on billing software will recover towards its long-term trend of 4 percent growth.

Spending will recover because of factors such as growth in the number of subscribers in emerging markets, competition in mature and emerging markets, and growth in mobile data and related services.

Looking forward, growth will also be driven by CSPs’ need to cut down their cost structures and support new business models. Mottishaw added that growth of cloud computing and renewed interest in convergence projects will also be a factor.

According to the report, partner and interconnect billing will be the fastest-growing segment and spending on these systems is set to grow at a 6.7 percent CAGR, from $.5 billion in 2009 to $.6 billion in 2014.

In the coming months and years, partner settlement will become very important as CSPs sign up new partners to support new business opportunities. Growth will also be made possible due to settlement for mobile roaming.

Other area characterized by high growth is business optimization and the report forecasts spending in this segment will grow at a 5.8 percent CAGR, from $0.7 billion in 2009 to $.9 billion in 2014.

While both rating and pricing are the core of postpaid billing platforms, the focus of CSPs’ investments in this area has shifted towards real-time charging. For this reason, spending in this segment has been forecasted to grow at 3.1 percent CAGR from $3.0 billion in 2009 to $3.5 billion in 2014.