International Operator Direct Connect Services - An Overview

International Operator Direct Connect (IODC) Services are the new international services that re becoming very popular in recent years. These services allow callers in one country to directly access operators in another country, most likely their home country, and complete the call using the operator's assistance. Such calls can be billed in the called country using the standard billing instruments such as telephone company issues credit card or collect billing. This paper describes these services, their implementations and their benefits to the telephone administrations and to end users of these services.