Everything worth knowing, nothing that isn't.
What each one captures
A CDR is structured per operator-defined billing schema: subscriber identity (IMSI/MSISDN), called party, duration or message count, start/end timestamps, network element, charging classification. CDRs are the source-of-truth for revenue. An EDR is application-defined: it captures the full lifecycle of an event from the platform's perspective — for an SMS, things like submit time, validity, sender-ID, content classification, template ID, queue dwell time per hop, DLR receipt time, retry count, final delivery status, and error code. EDRs are the source-of-truth for operational analytics and customer-facing dashboards.
Why the distinction matters commercially
Operators pay billing systems for CDR processing; they need analytics platforms for EDR processing. Confusing the two leads to bad decisions: trying to do operational troubleshooting from billing CDRs is painfully limited (the CDR doesn't know why the message failed, only that it did). Trying to drive revenue from raw EDRs misses the billing reconciliation that CDRs anchor. BroadNet's ESME CDR Intelligence Suite (/platforms/esme-cdr) correlates EDR feeds from the messaging platform with CDR feeds from the operator's billing to reconcile billed-vs-delivered counts.
Latency, scale, and compliance angle
CDRs are typically batched and delivered to billing/mediation on a 5-15 minute cycle; EDRs are usually streamed continuously into a time-series store. Scale: a tier-1 operator generates billions of CDRs/month, often tens of times more EDRs (because the platform creates EDRs for every submit, every retry, every DLR, every state change). Compliance: CDR retention is regulator-mandated (5-7 years for tax/wholesale; longer in some markets); EDR retention is operationally chosen, typically 12-24 months.
Privacy and compliance considerations
Both CDRs and EDRs are personal data once tied to an MSISDN. Mature platforms keep the raw records in encrypted, access-controlled storage with audit logging, and serve aggregated dashboards from a separate pseudonymised store. Cross-border export of CDR/EDR is in scope for KSA PDPL, UAE Federal Data Protection Law, EU GDPR Schrems II; data-residency is typically enforced at the storage layer.
CDR vs EDR at a glance
| CDR (Call Detail Record) | EDR (Event Detail Record) | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary purpose | Billing / revenue source-of-truth | Operational analytics source-of-truth |
| Schema | Operator billing schema | Application-defined event lifecycle |
| Generated by | Network element (MSC / SMSC / OCS) | The messaging platform |
| Captures | The chargeable event facts | Full lifecycle + platform metadata |
| Delivery | Batched (5–15 min cycle) | Streamed continuously |
| Retention | Regulator-mandated (5–7 yrs) | Operationally chosen (12–24 mo) |