Method and apparatus for the billing of value-added communication calls

A call billing method and apparatus specifies, on a call-by-call basis, the calling charges incurred by a caller during a call to a sponsor-provided value-added service. The method provides the sponsor real time access to rate tables to specify call billing parameters needed to rate calls made to a sponsor number. A billing number is determined and validated and used to identify the party to receive a billing record for the call. A separate billing record is created for each call to the sponsor's number which includes sponsor-specified charges determined using the call billing parameters. Another feature enables the caller or called party to provide call billing parameters for billing and identification purposes.