Throughout the incredible journey of the telecom OSS/BSS sector over
the last 10 years, VanillaPlus has remained a reliable source of both key
news but also informative, objective and thought-provoking assessments of
the key trends which have shaped our industry. I am looking forward to
VanillaPlus and their more recent Stream journal continuing to play a key
role in providing valuable insights as we enter one of the most exciting
phases of the telecoms OSS/BSS market evolutions.
Kieran Moynihan
Vice President & CTO Telecoms
IBM Tivoli Division
Billing
EXCLUSIVE: Ericsson & LHS explain merger plans
In an exclusive interview with VanillaPlus magazine (Feb 2008 issue),
Jan Wäreby, head of Ericsson's Business Unit Multimedia and Wolfgang
Kroh, CEO of LHS have described the reasons behind the Swedish giant's
surprise acquisition of LHS, a leading billing and customer care
systems provider.
VanillaPlus asked: "Why did Ericsson need to acquire LHS and why now?"
"LHS' leading billing and customer care solutions, together with Ericsson's leadership in real-time charging and mediation, make us a leading player in revenue management and strengthen our overall multimedia offering," replied Wäreby. "We feel very strongly that convergent charging and billing solutions with real-time charging capabilities will become a standard requirement for operators to support the products and services that subscribers increasingly expect.
The interview went on to investigate what will now change and how the combination of LHS' billing and customer care solutions with Ericsson's real-time charging and mediation offering will benefit their operator customers?
What, we wondered, has been the response of LHS’ customers, operators and partners?
"The response from our customers has been extremely positive," said Kroh. "I believe most of our customers recognise the expertise and also the stability that a company of Ericsson’s size brings. For our partners that compete with Ericsson, such as the other major network equipment vendors, the news of the acquisition was understandably greeted with caution. However, we have given assurances that LHS and Ericsson are committed to an open approach and that all such partners will be treated fairly and with an even hand. While discussions are still ongoing with some of these partners, we are continuing to engage in new partner projects. By way of example, Alcatel-Lucent has won three new customers for LHS since the announcement of the Ericsson acquisition.
"The response from our integrator partners has also been very positive. They recognise the additional growth and number of projects that an organisation like Ericsson brings to the table, and wish to participate in the new opportunities and growth that the acquisition will generate," added Kroh.
The two men are well known in the telecoms industry. Jan Wäreby is SVP of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson and head of Business Unit Multimedia. From 2002 to 2006, Wäreby was Corporate EVP, and head of Sales & Marketing, for Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications and played an integral role in establishing the joint venture.
From 2000 to 2001 Wolfgang Kroh held senior positions at Digiquant Deutschland, in Neu-Isenburg, and subsequently became managing director at EMC² Deutschland. In 2006, he returned to LHS having previously worked there from 1997 to 2000, and was named CEO in July of that year.
Oracle to acquire BEA for US$8.5bn
Oracle Corporation (NASDAQ: ORCL) and BEA Systems (NASDAQ:
BEAS) have agreed that
Oracle will acquire all outstanding shares of BEA for US$19.375 per share in
cash. The offer is valued at approximately $8.5 billion, or $7.2 billion net of
BEA’s cash on hand of $1.3 billion. Oracle was already the world's largest enterprise software company.
As we reported in the January issue of our html newsletter, VanillaPlus Bites (see below for details of FREE Subcriptions), Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said: "The addition of BEA products and
technology will significantly enhance and extend Oracle’s Fusion
middleware software suite. (It) has an open 'hot-pluggable' architecture that
allows customers the option of coupling BEA’s WebLogic Java Server to
virtually all the components of the Fusion software suite. That’s just
one example of how customers can choose among Oracle and BEA middleware
products, knowing that those products will gracefully interoperate and be supported
for years to come.”
Alfred Chuang, BEA’s chairman and CEO, added: “Over
the past several months our Board of Directors, with the assistance of
independent financial
and legal advisors, has reviewed various ways to maximise stockholder value,
including engaging in discussions with third parties about a possible sale of
the company.” Said Chuang:
“This transaction is the culmination of that diligent and thoughtful
process, and we believe it is in the best interests of our shareholders. I am
confident our innovative products, talented employees and worldwide customer
base will be key contributors to the success of the combined company over the
long term. We look forward to working with Oracle toward a successful
completion of the transaction.”
“BEA is a pioneer in
middleware, and this combination recognises the innovation and customer success
the company has achieved. Our joint customers have consistently suggested this
deal for more than three years,” said Oracle president Charles Phillips.
“This transaction will accelerate the adoption of Java-based middleware
technologies and SOA; advance innovation in enterprise applications
infrastructure software; extend our strategic relationships with customers and
partners; and increase our penetration in key regions like China.”
The Board of Directors
of BEA Systems has unanimously approved the transaction. It is anticipated to
close by mid-2008, subject to BEA stockholder approval, certain regulatory
approvals and customary closing conditions.
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'One-stop-shop' optimises Orga Systems' billing and CRM
The launch of a long-term, one-stop-shop initiative to optimise telecom operators' entire
billing and CRM processes has been announced by Orga Systems, a leading provider of convergent real-time billing. This end-to-end solution includes Orga Systems' billing system and
pre-integrated products from worldwide leaders in software for the
IT/billing field.
Pre-integrated for Customer Relationship Management
(CRM) is Selligent's solution. All bill handling requirements are
covered by Group 1 Software. Business Objects takes care of the
reporting demands. WeDo technologies complements the concept in
regards to TAP roaming, and Basset Labs completes the solution package
with interconnect billing. Additional partners will follow soon.
Through the
pre-integration of individual benchmark products, telecom
service providers benefit from an end-to-end solution. Professional services
for consulting, solution design and software integration round off the
package.
Rainer Neumann, CEO of Orga Systems GmbH, said:"With our one-stop-shop solution we offer telecommunication
providers the possibility of covering all areas of the billing chain
with us as a central partner. With the flexibility of the Orga Systems
Convergence Program, we are able to provide end-to-end solutions, or
offer modular solution packages that allow a step-by-step system
integration. With this program, we are taking an innovative approach
that is ready to meet the needs and requirements of the network
operators,"
The program provides network operators with a
complete IT and billing system with what is said to be a unique modular approach. At the heart
of the program is the fully convergent billing system OPSC Gold that is
currently inter alia in successful operation for the Ukrainian provider
"life:)".
Through the program, Orga Systems manages the whole project and thus
becomes the one-stop-shop for telecom providers who are
searching for efficient integration strategies and trying to minimise
the efforts of vendor co-ordination. The core element of the Orga
Systems Convergence Program is an initial requirements analysis, in
which all the requirements for the solution are determined and defined.
This ensures that future requirements are taken into account, but also
that the intended architecture is not over-designed.
This modular pre-integration of third party products, is designed says Orga
Systems to supply solutions that transcend the "one size fits all"
approach offered by some other providers.
New CTO, Asia office and staff for Orga Systems
Ferdinand Herrmann, a telecom system integration specialist at Orga Systems, has been promoted to the post of chief technology officer (CTO). Herrmann takes over from Adnan Yaqub who has played an important role in shaping Orga Systems' direction since 1993. Yaqub will concentrate on research and development of new billing technologies as the Paderborn-based company's new technical director.
The company has also announced the establishment of a new subsidiary office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Orga Systems now has sites at eight locations in 7 countries worldwide, to guarantee the availability of on-site customer support. This brings the total number of staff deployed worldwide by the company to 500 employees.
Billing Dictionary launched by Billing College and Althos
A 600-page dictionary covering all areas of billing, including business and operations support systems (BSS & OSS), and customer care, has been published by The Billing College. The Billing Dictionary is edited by Avi Ofrane, the college's president and CEO, along with Lawrence Harte, the president of Althos, a provider of research, training and publishing services.
The dictionary contains over 8,000 of the latest billing terms, more than 2,000 acronyms, and 200 diagrams and pictures to illustrate complex terms. It also lists world currencies and the magazines (including VanillaPlus) that cover this sector. (ISBN: 1-932813-38-1) For more details visit: www.BillingDictionary.com
Antel signs fully convergent rating and billing contract with Intec
URUGUAY & UK, March 4, 2008: Intec, a provider of business and operations support systems (BSS/OSS),
has signed a significant multi-million dollar convergent billing contract with Uruguay's government-owned
operator Antel.
Intec’s Convergent Billing solution will reportedly enable Antel to be the first convergent operator in Latin
America to offer network and service convergence, through pre-paid and post-paid wireline, wireless and
broadband services with fully convergent, real-time charging, billing and customer care capabilities, as well
as subscriber self-care and electronic recharge. This is also the largest contract Intec has secured to date
and will be deliverable in 2008 and 2009.
“By providing complete convergence across all payment and subscription types, Antel can now shift from
a service-centric business model to a more customer-centric approach where they can create targeted
campaigns to meet the individual customer’s needs, thus improving the overall customer experience
and giving Antel an edge over its competitors,” said Andrew Taylor, Intec's CEO.
“Antel selected a solution to become fully convergent, giving us the flexibility we need to become more
customer oriented, able to offer our customers a complete portfolio of services through one unified
billing system, thereby supporting our mission to be the leading telecommunications service provider in
the country,” said Edgardo Carvalho, president of Antel. “We underwent a competitive tender process
and selected Intec based on their proposal and their proven experience.”
Antel is the largest operator in Uruguay, which has a population of 3.5 million. It is the only provider to
offer fixed, wireless and broadband services in the country. Between its wireline, mobile and broadband
services Antel has more than 2.5 million subscribers, with 80% of its mobile subscribers being pre-paid.
“Antel’s current pre-paid billing system was no longer able to meet the volume demands of its growing
wireless customer base. Additionally, maintaining three separate billing systems for pre-paid and post-
paid wireless, wireline and broadband customers was costly and prohibited cross-selling and bundling
opportunities due to disjointed views of Antel’s customer base,” said Ian Watterson, Intec’s CALA
regional director. “Intec’s Convergent Billing solution will address these issues by providing scalable
functionality to support all pre-paid and post-paid customer care, charging and billing services in one
platform, using a common subscriber database, thus decreasing operational expenses.”
Cambodians select Redknee billing platform
TORONTO March 19, 2008 -In a multi-million dollar deal, Redknee Solutions Inc
(AIM: RKN), a provider of infrastructure software that monetises and personalises
services and content for mobile operators, has been selected by Cambodia
Advance Communications (CADCOMMS) to provide Redknee's Turnkey
Converged Billing Solution.
As a new entrant in the competitive and high growth market in Cambodia,
CADCOMMS reportedly saw that its opportunity to carve out a majority share of
the market depended on an ability to differentiate itself with flexible, personalised
billing. CADCOMMS has selected Redknee's Turnkey Converged Billing Solution to
enable customer care operations with subscriber-centric, real-time rating,
segmentation and promotion services for both pre-paid and post-paid subscribers.
The flexible platform is also said to help the operator integrate new services and
accelerate their time-to-market. The system provides self-care features that allow
all subscribers to query and modify their attributes, reducing call centre costs.
"As we take our first steps into this market, we have a unique opportunity
to clearly differentiate ourselves from existing telcos and to deliver transparent
pricing models that provide more flexibility for our subscribers," said Don Maclean,
chief information officer at CADCOMMS. "After a thorough evaluation, we
determined that the Redknee Turnkey Converged Billing platform provides the
exceptional flexibility and scalability we require. The simple, open architecture of
their solution promises ease of integration, swift deployment and scalability.
Additionally, Redknee has established a strong Asian development and support
infrastructure, and continuously demonstrates its commitment to working with
CADCOMMS as a strategic, long-term partner."
Delivering a functionally-rich platform that extends beyond basic rating / charging /
billing models, the Redknee Turnkey Converged Billing solution for voice, data and
messaging integrates easily with existing core network elements and offers
out-of-the-box support for 3G+ services. The scalable solution grows with the
subscriber base, allowing operators to meet demands for new service offerings
and to stay ahead of increasing competition.
"In the fiercely competitive environment of high-growth emerging mobile markets,
the realisation of subscriber and service revenue growth hinges on the operators'
capability to offer highly-personalised services," said Lucas Skoczkowski, chief
executive officer of Redknee. "CADCOMMS has taken a significant step toward
establishing itself as a markedly-differentiated leader, uniquely positioned to
realise increasing revenues and subscriber retention enabled by Redknee's
market leading solutions."
How dumb is a dumb pipe?, asks Hugh Roberts
In the first of a series of articles in VanillaPlus magazine challenging received
wisdom, Hugh Roberts asks in the April issue (out Monday 7th April), is the
dumb pipe a recipe for disaster… or a clever way to exploit network
infrastructure?
Hugh, a senior strategist at Patni Telecoms Consulting, looks at the reality
behind the industry’s fear of becoming a series of interconnected dumb pipes,
and in particular at the role that the vendor community might need to play if
profitability for network operators is to be assured.
In a communications ecosystem increasingly driven by content revenues, the
nightmare scenario for telecoms operators has often been characterised as that
of relegation to the role of a ‘dumb bit pipe’, living off the scraps of the other
players in the new value chain. Indeed, at this year’s Mobile World Congress,
Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin warned operators against this and stressed the
importance of focusing on delivering content and internet services of their own.
The telco’s position is under threat not only from the ‘X-factor’ companies such
as Google, Yahoo!, Apple and Amazon, but also from other branded horizontal
retailers and hardware manufacturers such as Nokia and even Intel, who are
now taking a much more active role in the provision of content services via both
fixed and mobile.
Comarch integrates LBS with instant messaging
MobiLoc is a new system from Poland's Comarch that integrates the instant communication of
mobile users with a mobile presence that they
can control. The
system can be used with all popular mobile platforms and devices including
mobile phones, PDAs, smartphones as well as PCs.
The user tailors and decides
whether he or she uses the complete version of the software together with
detailed maps on his mobile terminal or just a ‘lite’ version with
more detailed information obtained via a PC. This approach minimises the problem
of illegible information being displayed on a small mobile screen. The user
decides what information is crucial for him, what is to be accessed instantly and
what to check later in the office using a PC.
"Technologies like LBS, allowing a user to
precisely determine their position, have become popular due to their usage in
automotive navigation systems. Comarch MobiLoc adds more content to this
application integrating existing communication, social communities and
information services with localisation opportunities. When my friends are close,
I want to be notified. I would certainly call or IM them if I know they are 400
metres away. I want to search for new contacts, new places and new pubs just
around the corner," says Stanisław Zbroja, senior product manager, Comarch
SA.
The
solution creates new opportunity for location commerce enabling a mobile user to
obtain immediate information, not only about a location but also about nearby hotels, restaurants, ATMs, hospitals, pubs, offices and car parks.
The information can be obtained either as a query from a mobile terminal user or
it can be pushed as an advertisement, together with basic information, a map and
instructions how to get to the place.
'The Queen' drops in on telecoms fraud forum
March 31, 2008, Windsor, UK: Delegates attending a recent telecoms fraud forum were astonished when
‘Her Majesty the Queen’ arrived to preside over one of the conference
sessions.
The
event was a user forum for customers of fraud management solution provider,
Neural Technologies (Nt). It was hosted
in Windsor, the home town of Her
Majesty, and Neural Technologies took advantage of
this fact to give the event a royal theme.
Not only did a very convincing look-alike of the Queen attend the event,
but the delegates were also treated to a private evening tour of the State
Apartments at Windsor
Castle.
Delegates
from 18 countries attended the forum, an annual event designed to enable Nt’s
customers to share fraud knowledge, learn
how to achieve the best out of Nt’s Minotaur™ fraud and risk management
solution and to contribute to future product development.
Luke Taylor, commercial director at Neural Technologies stated, “We are
committed to supporting our customers and facilitating information sharing -
this event provides an excellent forum for that purpose. We complement this with online seminars held
on a quarterly basis to ensure that our customers are continually kept
up-to-date on any new product enhancements and fraud trends.”
Martin Dawes Systems speeds new services' time to market
Warrington, UK, 17 April 2008 - Martin Dawes Systems, an
international provider of billing, customer care and business assurance
solutions for the communications market, has announced the launch of its
Business Process Engine (BPE), a new SOA-based solution for service providers
who want to customise their customer service management systems.
The latest addition
to the Martin Dawes Systems product family, BPE is a fully customisable
system that dynamically and efficiently automates labour-intensive processes,
including fixed-line and broadband provisioning, sales order processing and
e-commerce order fulfilment. Using BPE will reportedly help service providers achieve
their goal of bringing complex offerings to market much faster, more
cost-effectively and successfully.
Based on a service-orientated architecture (SOA), BPE allows a service provider to encapsulate key business
processes, such as new subscriptions or contract upgrades, into individual
reusable modules. Customer service agents can activate and link these together
using a graphical interface, quickly and easily automating complex functions. This
delivers considerable operational benefits with the costs per transaction
significantly reduced because processes are much more streamlined and require
less manual intervention to complete routine tasks.
The modularity of
the BPE relieves the pressure on service providers who must customise their
subscriber management systems to keep pace with a succession of new product and
service roll-outs. BPE allows for the rapid adaptation of processes to take
account of changing business requirements and the strategic migration of
systems.
Designed to be
integrated with third party systems, BPE automatically performs a range of data
integration functions, such as creating new customer records or updating
inventory levels in real-time. Combined with how it tracks individual orders
using the administrative console view, customer service agents can use BPE to
simplify common and complex tasks such as identifying the status of an order
through to doing a credit check.
BPE is available as
a stand alone product or pre-integrated within diseMP, the end-to-end subscriber management solution from Martin Dawes Systems.
Gary Steen, technology director, Martin Dawes Systems said: “Operators have to bring new
services and products to market much faster than ever before. And with each
new service innovation, a positive customer experience must be delivered every
time or the marketing opportunity is lost. Achieving this presents a real
challenge and one that BPE is built to overcome by enabling operators to adapt
processes and systems without compromising on service quality and systems integration.”
TIM awards MVNO billing contract to Orga Systems
Orga Systems has supplied Telecom Italia with its fully convergent real-time
billing platform, OPSC Gold to power mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) and enable multi service provider
support. With regards to this growing market opportunity, two elements are
essential: rapid service offerings and top performance.
TIM Italy
is building on Orga Systems’ international real-time billing expertise.
All processes are managed within this one system - whether wholesale or retail
billing; billing of pre-paid, postpaid or convergent subscribers.-
With this new undertaking, TIM is extending its long relationship with Orga Systems. Since 1996 more than 30 million TIM pre-paid subscribers have been rated and
charged with Orga Systems’ billing system. TIM
will continue its growth with this strate4gy geared towards active multiple MVNOs.
For more info visit: www.orga-systems.com
Vodafone UK signs managed service agreement with Alcatel-Lucent
Vodafone UK has signed a managed
service agreement with Alcatel-Lucent to support, maintain and upgrade a range
of technical platforms delivering key services. The work is primarily designed to enhance customers’ mobile
experience.
The agreement is expected to deliver a
range of benefits to both Vodafone UK and its customers including greater cost
efficiency, faster time to market for new products such as innovative tariffs and offers, as well as Vodafone UK’s access to Alcatel-Lucent’s research
and development facilities to ensure a programme of continuing
improvement.
Under the five year agreement,
Alcatel-Lucent will carry out maintenance and operations for Vodafone UK’s
Intelligent Network & Core Applications (INCA)1 platforms, as
well as transition current systems to standardised Alcatel-Lucent platforms to
enhance levels of service delivery.
The
initiative is expected to help accelerate the introduction of new pre-pay and
enterprise offers to both consumers and businesses to give customers even more
convenience and value.
“We are confident that this agreement
with Alcatel-Lucent will help Vodafone UK to operate more efficiently as well as
enhance levels of service to customers,” said Jeni Mundy, CTO of Vodafone UK.
“By accessing Alcatel-Lucent’s standardised product range and strategic services
architecture, we also expect to lower the cost and accelerate the roll out of
new products by reducing the amount of system customisation required.”
1 The INCA platforms cover the Home
Location Register (HLR) which contains information on customers, the Prepayment
system and the Intelligent Nodes which control Virtual Private Network (VPN)
services. Together the INCA platforms manage the mobility, authentication and
incoming call activity of subscribers, they perform real time rating and control
of prepay calls, and they allow advanced call scenarios used extensively in VPN
and enterprise services.
Winners of World BSS Awards announced in Amsterdam
The Judges announced their decision on the companies and projects selected as
Winners for each of the World BSS Awards at the BIMS 2008 Gala Diamond Drinks
Reception in Amsterdam on June 10, 2008.
The World BSS Awards help raise awareness of the significance of billing and
information management systems and processes to the communications industry,
identifying key trends and rewarding BSS best practice. They are widely regarded
as the highest industry recognition of BSS excellence. Launched in 1997, this
will be the 12th year that these important awards will be presented.
The Judges for this year's World BSS Awards are:
- Anil Prakash - President, Telecom User Group Of India
- Barbara Lancaster - President, LTC
International
- Chris Sanders - Partner, Business Change
Partners
- Hugh Roberts (Chair) - Consultant Director, BSS/OSS &
RM Events, IIR Telecoms, &
Senior Strategist, Patni Telecoms Consulting
- Olga Botero - CIO, Bancolombia
- Peter Smith - Director of Information Technology, Hong Kong
CSL
- Teresa Cottam - Prinicipal Telecoms Analyst, Analysys
Mason
The World BSS Awards Winners are as follows:
1. Overall - Best Contribution to BSS(Open Category) - The
organisation which has had the largest impact on the BSS landscape over the past
year
Winner: LHS
Runner Up: Amdocs
Other
Finalists:
- Comverse
- Intec Systems
- MetraTech
- Orga Systems
In addition, the
Judges decided gave an Honourable Mention to
AsiaInfo
2. Judges' Award: 'Above And Beyond The
Call Of Duty' (Open Category) - The organisation or individual who
has, in the opinion of the Judges, overcome significant difficulties or hardship
in the fulfillment of a BSS objective
Winner: Nawras
Runner Up: kajeet / Telcordia
Other Finalists:
- SFR / Capgemini
- Virgin Media / TMNG Global
3. Innovation In Billing & Information Management
(Open Category) - Innovation and enhanced functionality in product
/ service offering, approach to market &/or business modelling or
methodology
Winner: Highdeal
Runner Up: Orga Systems
Other Finalists:
- Garanti Techology
- kajeet / Telcordia
- LHS
- MetraTech
4. Best Billing / Charging Implementation (Network
Operator / Service Provider / Partners) Effective implementation of all (or
part) of a system to deliver new or improved billing &/or charging
functionality
Winner: NTT DoCoMo
Runner Up: City Of
Chicago / MetraTech
Other Finalists:
- Astelit life:) / Orga Systems
- du / LHS
- Utel / Comverse
In addition, the Judges decided to
give an Honourable Mention to Opal / CTI Group
5. Best Content / Partner Management Implementation
(Network Operator / Service Provider / Partners) Suitability,
innovation and profitability (win-win-win) for inter-business processes,
relationships and architecture for a content or other 3rd party service
implementation
The Judges did not to carry any nominations forward as Winner in this
category.
6. Best e/m-Commerce / Payments / Collections Implementation
(Open Category) - Effective implementation of all (or part) of
systems and business processes to deliver financial transaction processing
capability for commerce, payments &/or collections
Winner:
Garanti Bank and Maxis / paybox
Other
Finalists:
- QQ Coin
- VimpelCom / Kabira
7. Best Revenue Assurance / Management Project
(Network Operator / Service Provider / Partners) Effectiveness of
a proactive or reactive project to enhance data quality and business processes
that improves profits, revenues and/or cash flows
Winner: BT / cVidya
Networks
Runner Up: AT&T / Ectel
Other Finalists:
- Carphone Warehouse
- Etisalat Egypt / Connectiva Systems
8. Best Customer Management / Business Intelligence / Marketing
Project (Open Category) - Effective implementation of CRM, CEM,
BI, data integration &/or marketing systems and processes to improve
customer information management &/or enhance brand loyalty for the
organisation's portfolio of services offered
The Judges did not carry any nominations forward as Finalists in this
category. However, they did give an Honourable Mention to George
Kohl
"We are delighted to honour all of the winners and finalists of the World BSS
Awards." said Hugh Roberts, Chairman of the Awards Judging Panel and
Consultant Director for IIR's BSS, OSS & RM Events. "Judging is
hard - but enjoyable - work. The projects and companies chosen as winners always
enlighten us, and reflect the ability of the telecoms industry to effectively
get to grips with its customer management, information management and
transaction processing demands. Convergence - however you choose to define it -
only makes this harder, but I have no doubt that telecoms BSS professionals will
rise to the challenge!"
QUOTE OF THE MONTH: Inaccurate Billing
Accurate billing is still proving
to be a challenge with many ‘triple play’ providers under- and over-billing for
content. So VanillaPlus doffs its cap to James Brunson of Spirent who was quoted as follows recently.
Brunson, Landslide product
marketing manager at Spirent, explained: “We’re seeing a common theme across
many operators worldwide in that there can be issues when it comes to billing
accurately. Many of these glitches are due to poor network intelligence and the
fact that many triple play providers have grown by acquisition meaning a
‘mishmash’ of systems which don’t always talk accurately to each other all of
the time.
"It’s not uncommon to find network nodes which are known to be
inaccurate with rules written to counter-balance inaccurate billing. Whilst
these are accurate most of the time, it is not fail-safe. There are particular
issues when it comes to differentiating between ‘session-based billing’ which is
flat-rate or pay for duration (such as an international phone call) and
‘service-based billing’, where one pays extra for specific content (such as
video on demand). As such many customers are being billed
inaccurately," added Brunson.
Either way, operators stand to
lose. Overbilled customers may complain and overload customer service staff and
help lines. There is also the risk of churn should they remain dissatisfied. And
obviously customers which are under billed represent lost
revenue.
Brunson continued: "Deep packet inspection will
certainly help to look at service based billing and discover exactly what
customers are being billed for. However it is just as important that operators
test continuously to ensure that rules written relate to actual traffic
patterns.”
While this may not come as news to many service providers, VanillaPlus finds it
refreshing to hear such candour on a widespread industry problem.
Legacy systems pose major barrier for mobile operators, says Pontis survey
A new survey carried out among marketing managers at mobile operators
highlights the problems marketers face in accessing and leveraging customer
data, particularly real time usage data, to create and deliver compelling
marketing offers and promotions. The survey commissioned by Pontis, experts in
targeted marketing for communication service providers discovered that
47% of
respondents judged technological challenges in accessing data held on different
and non-interoperable platforms to be the biggest barrier to delivering
personalised communications, with organisational structure and processes in
second place with 29% and just 9% of respondents highlighting lack of resources
as the issue.
The survey
reveals that the majority of marketers believe personalisation and price are the
key ingredients for a successful marketing promotion. 34% of all respondents
consider personalisation to be the most important aspect of developing a
successful marketing offer or promotion with pricing in second place at 23%
followed by communication and then timing with 21% and 17%
respectively.
The survey
reveals the difficulty marketing staff are facing in creating such personalised
communications due to the problems in accessing subscriber’s usage history, real
time behaviour and response to previous offers -- just 18% consider this to be
easy while 82% find it problematic. This poses a particular difficulty in
marketing bundled services like triple- and quad-play offerings where 44% of
respondents consider it extremely difficult to get access to the relevant
customer data.
According to Guy
Talmi, marketing director at Pontis, “The survey graphically highlights what our
customers have been telling us for some time about the difficulties they
encounter in accessing customer data and usage history to help them deliver well
targeted marketing offers.”
He adds, “It’s hardly surprising that marketers
have struggled to market new mobile services effectively in the absence of such
vital data. The good news, of course, is that there are now solutions available
like our own, which automate this process and help marketers to determine the
optimal proposition, price, communication’s channel and timing to give the
maximum chance of success and help to overcome the technological and
organisational barriers that have traditionally hampered the marketing of mobile
services.”
AOL Broadband selects MDS to enhance customer management
AOL Broadband, one of the largest Internet Service Providers in the UK,
has selected Martin Dawes Systems' diseMP system to provide “end-to-end” customer care to its subscribers. This implementation represents a significant
part of AOL Broadband’s large-scale transition programme, separating
its entire IT infrastructure and associated managed services away from Time
Warner/AOL LLC UK
– in order to become a stand-alone trading entity following its acquisition by
The Carphone Warehouse group in late 2006.
As a result of the major contractual agreement, AOL Broadband will adopt
Martin Dawes Systems’ convergent billing and customer management system, diseMP, and subscribe to the
company’s award-winning managed service for what is said to be "a significant proportion" of its day-to-day operations.
“AOL Broadband is committed to ensuring our
customers continue to experience the highest quality of service throughout this
transition,” said Mark Hollister, CEO of AOL Broadband. “We
carefully evaluated a number of leading solution providers against rigorous
criteria before making our selection. We
chose Martin Dawes Systems because of its international track record of
providing both a reliable, robust solution and an excellent managed
service. Together, both elements will
significantly contribute to our goals of providing industry-leading levels of
customer care. We look forward to
exploiting the flexibility of both the diseMP product and the managed service
offered by Martin Dawes Systems as we continue to build our business.”
diseMP will be implemented in all AOL Broadband call-centres, servicing
both broadband and fixed-line subscribers.
Designed to enable an enhanced customer experience, diseMP will enable AOL Broadband to manage clients’ converged billing requirements and enquiries
at its call centres.
AOL Broadband will also be implementing the latest version of Martin
Dawes Systems’ Self-Care,
extending to its customers an innovative e-billing solution. Customers will benefit from bill management
features including usage information, payment facilities and online help
delivered through AOL Broadband’s website.
Gary Steen, Martin Dawes Systems’ technology director, commented; “We are
extremely pleased to be working with AOL Broadband, one of the largest
broadband providers in the UK. The company is exploiting our established
convergent capabilities in new and exciting ways. By employing a managed service, AOL Broadband
is also secure in the knowledge that its customers will receive a quality
service based on the highest industry standards, enabling it to concentrate on
business development.”
Guinea's Sotelgui selects new Interconnect system from Cerillion
London, 2nd July 2008 – Guinean telecoms operator, Sotelgui is
set to implement Interconnect Manager from convergent billing
specialist, Cerillion Technologies to support billing, settlement and
least cost routing for all of its interconnect agreements. The new
contract is an expansion of the existing relationship between the two
companies; Sotelgui has been a customer of Cerillion’s CRM and Billing
solution for five years.
Cerillion Interconnect Manager will provide Sotelgui with revenue
assurance by enabling it to bill interconnect partners accurately and
reconcile invoices received. The solution will also allow Sotelgui to
re-rate actual traffic data against individual offers from partners in
seconds, enabling it to choose the most cost-effective route in each
case.
In addition, Cerillion Interconnect Manager provides a universal
formatter for partners’ tariff tables. This will allow Sotelgui to
accept tariff tables in multiple formats, thus dramatically reducing
the time needed to load data and enabling Sotelgui to manage many more
partners than would otherwise have been possible.
Louis Hall, Cerillion’s chief executive, says, “With growth in the
African telecoms market continuing to escalate, the need to have an
efficient interconnect system in place is becoming an increasingly
urgent issue for African operators. By enabling the company to manage
its interconnect partners efficiently and accurately, we are confident
that Interconnect Manager will help Sotelgui to maximise the return on
investment (RoI) for existing network assets and improve overall
profitability.”
Polkomtel uses Intec convergent billing solution to deliver 'unique' set of pre-pay services
London/Warsaw, 2 July, 2008: Intec, a leading BSS/OSS software developer for
fixed, mobile and next-generation networks, has implemented its
Singl.eView convergent billing system and enabled Polkomtel, one of
Poland’s top mobile communications providers, to roll out a range of brand
new innovative services to its pre-pay mobile subscribers.
Polkomtel –
which has over 13 million subscribers in Poland – operates in a fiercely
competitive marketplace. Two years ago, there were three mobile operators in
Poland. Now there are four operators and two more are set to join before the end
of 2009.
Polkomtel purchased Intec’s Singl.eView convergent rating and
billing solution to manage its user base of GSM, 3G and mobile IP access
subscribers. During the past few months it has been working with staff in
Intec’s local Polish office to complete the pre-pay phase of the Singl.eView
installation. This has enabled the company to develop a range of high profile
innovative pre-pay services specifically aimed at the teenage market.
These services – which were officially launched on June 6, 2008 – have
been branded under the 36.6 name. Customers can take advantage of a variety of
offers. If they choose to sign up for the Chill Bill service, they have the
possibility to connect to a free IVR number in order to listen to a
series of advertisements. In return for this, clients receive up to PLN 10
(€3.00) per month added to their account. The Chill Bill service is available also for clients with
zero account balance.
Another service – Esy Floresy – allows users to
send a limited number of on net SMS for 3 PLN monthly. The SMS can also be
sent with a zero credit account.
Subscribers can opt for a third service
– Mowisz Masz – which roughly translates as “just say it and you’ll and get it”.
Every time a user receives a call from another network they get one second of
extra talk time for every two seconds of
received calls, which is credited to the Plus network.
Jaroslaw Bauc, president and general director,
Polkomtel, said: “The introduction of the innovative and first of a series of
services like 36.6 was possible because of the Singl.eView billing platform
being implemented by Intec. The service is one of the most technologically
advanced solutions in the mobile telephony market.”
Said
Gary Bunney, COO at Intec, “This is
the largest implementation we’ve done so far in Central and Eastern Europe and
its success is based on the real partnership we have built with Polkomtel. We are delighted that our
system is already delivering real dividends for the company and helping them win
new customers in the highly competitive Polish market.”
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Claro Brasil turns to pre-paid Virtual Voucher from Orga Systems
Paderborn, Germany / Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. August 12, 2008: Orga Systems, a leading provider of convergent real-time billing,
is to deliver its award winning, pre-paid top-up system, Virtual
Voucher to Claro Brasil.
With Virtual Voucher any mobile handset can be used as the
vending device to sell pre-paid airtime and communication services in real time.
It provides the sales person with convenient means for direct recharge of a
subscribers’ account. The sales and distribution system is
designed to support a hierarchical network of distributors and retailers, and it
provides comprehensive functionality for all aspects of sales and channel
management in real time. The solution is based on fast and proven
technology.
Compared to recharge systems like scratch cards or POS payment terminals,
Virtual Voucher usually provides a Return On Investment in less then 6 months as well as superior
operational benefits to launch, monitor and control dedicated pre-paid recharge
strategies.
It is said to be ideally suited to target new and existing customer segments, in areas facing logistical challenges as well as in highly populated
metropolitan areas. Orga Systems’ Virtual Voucher won the TMForum Excellence
Award 2008 in the category “Most Innovative Application of Customer Care”.
US-based Evolve IP selects Highdeal for pricing, rating and billing
New York, NY, USA. August 12, 2008. Highdeal, a leading provider of pricing and rating systems, announced today that Evolve IP, a Managed Technology
Provider based in Philadelphia, USA, has selected Highdeal
Transactive® for its business infrastructure. Combined with
leading solutions from SAP, IBM and Broadsoft, Transactive is said to provide Evolve IP
with robust service pricing, rating and billing
capabilities.
Evolve IP built its business
infrastructure in a 100% green field environment enabling a selection of
best-in-class solutions integrated in an SOA-based environment. A web
services framework manages the flow of data between Transactive and the other
business and service delivery applications.
Transactive delivers
comprehensive pricing and packaging capabilities for Evolve IP’s managed
technology solutions ranging from managed telephony and network services to
hosted applications and security. Working with CRM and other applications in
the Evolve IP portfolio, Transactive manages complex subscriptions and a growing
list of service offerings.
“We selected Highdeal after a
comprehensive search of the leading rating and billing solutions in the
marketplace,” commented Mark Soma, SVP Information Technology, Evolve IP. “Now,
having implemented the solution, Transactive has actually exceeded our
expectations. The ease and speed with which we were able to integrate it with
our service platforms and other back office solutions was
extraordinary.”
“We are delighted to be selected
by Evolve IP,” commented Camilla Dahlen, president, Highdeal Inc. “As the
industry’s first true ‘Managed Technology Provider’, Evolve IP is defining an
exciting new market that enables organisations to increase their productivity
through the cost-effective use of communications technology. We are committed
to helping them succeed in their vision and reach their
goals.”
Slovenia's Si.mobil launches OPSC billing system
Paderborn, Germany/Vienna, Austria. August 14, 2008: Orga
Systems, a leader in convergent real-time billing solutions, has
supplied Si.mobil with its OPSC real-time billing, making the Slovenian network the latest member of mobilkom austria group, to port to Orga Systems’
real-time billing.
Si.mobil can now meet
the rising demand for advanced customer oriented campaigns and promotions. The
advantages for Si.mobil and mobilkom austria group are, on the one hand the next
step in unifying the group systems environment, and on the other hand the chance to re-use modules for promotion and loyalty campaigns to lower
OPEX.
“Supplying real-time billing, loyalty and promotions management, Orga Systems
is a strategic partner of the mobilkom austria for more than 10 years, and an
ideal partner for Si.mobil. Taking advantage of the group-wide usage of Orga
Systems‘ billing system and loyalty solution, the re-use of campaign modules,
programmed for sister companies and vice versa, will enable Si.mobil to launch
marketing and loyalty campaigns very fast and efficiently”, says Milan Zaletel,
Management Board member at Si.mobil.
The new contract builds upon a long-standing relationship
between mobilkom austria group and Orga Systems in Europe. mobilkom austria has
been using Orga Systems‘ OPSC Billing System since 1997 to handle real-time
billing of its B-FREE and pre-paid Vodafone live! customers in Austria.
Wild Jack Mobile Casino incorporates Payforit billing on Vodafone UK
London, UK. August 20, 2008: Wild Jack Mobile Casino (www.wjmc.com), has announced a deal which enables
customers of Vodafone UK to
purchase credits easily and charge them directly to their mobile bill to play the
award-winning and exciting casino mobile games.
Before anyone can deposit and play a
Wild Jack Mobile Casino game, Vodafone UK will verify each user’s age through
its customer records, a move that will help prevent minors from gaining access
to the service.
While playing, gamers can view their
balance and should they want to buy more credits, they can easily navigate to
the banking section within the game.
Wild Jack Mobile Casino, which is one
of the first mobile casinos in the UK using Spin3’s award-winning
platform, works on more than a 1,000 mobile handsets and is promoted for its of
ease-of-use, slick graphics and exciting game play. The casino offers 14 games, ranging from Roulette and BlackJack to the progressive jackpot slot Major
Millions™, which is currently climbing to the GB£1,000,000 mark.
“We are delighted to make playing
Wild Jack Mobile Casino even easier through this deal with Vodafone UK. Our
focus is on usability and fun, this deal opens up our offering to literally
millions of potential customers,” said Robbie Guy, marketing manager for Wild
Jack.
Openet continues expansion with new office in Malaysia
Dublin, Ireland – Openet, a provider of transactional intelligence systems for service
providers, has opened a new Malaysia office in Kuala
Lumpur. With demand growing across the Asia Pacific region, this expansion enhances Openet’s global presence and its ability to deliver
innovative products and services to telecommunications and cable providers
worldwide. This announcement comes on the heels of Openet’s announcement of a
new office in Brazil.
Kuala
Lumpur was chosen because it delivered the largest pool
of qualified talent. Since recruitment began for the facility in February,
Openet has hired 15 experienced professional services engineers to support the company’s expanding operations. With an anticipated 10 - 15 new hires in
product development and 20 to 30 additional professional services staff, the
Malaysia office is now a significant
development and support centre for the company.
“With worldwide
recognition for our transactional intelligence solutions, growing our support
staff has become vital to providing our customers with the products and services
the market demands,” said Cyril Dolan, VP of professional services,
EMEA/APAC, Openet. “Asia is a hot
spot for telecommunications innovation. The new Malaysia office is poised to support
the growth already happening in the region and worldwide, and will fuel the
development of new innovative technologies.”
With support personnel in North
America, Ireland and now
Malaysia, Openet can provide
around-the-clock service and support to its worldwide customer base. As the
market for network-edge solutions in Asia expands exponentially and continues to
show immense growth potential.
M2M & telematics company selects Highdeal’s pricing, rating and billing platform
New York, USA. September 8, 2008. Numerex has
selected Highdeal Transactive as its billing platform for the company's suite of Xpress™
network service capabilities. The Highdeal Transactive suite, which is in production,
provides Numerex’s network service business unit with pricing and
packaging flexibility in a dynamic and competitive
marketplace. Transactive is integrated with other internal
application and transaction servers to deliver real-time pre-paid and post-paid
billing, including the use of SMS-based tokens.
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Numerex makes possible real-time wireless data
communications for remote monitoring and tracking of fixed and mobile assets. Its fully integrated satellite, cellular-based network, hardware and back-end
support services provide machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions for a range of
markets including wireless security, vehicle and fleet tracking, intermodal
shipping, emergency management services, telemedicine, retail/POS monitoring,
automated meter reading (AMR), and other utility monitoring
applications.
"Our industry is rapidly growing and we need quality billing
solutions that allow us to remain competitive in the marketplace.
Highdeal Transactive meets our objectives in every aspect,” commented Stratton
J Nicolaides, chairman and CEO of Numerex. “We also required a secure, pricing and billing platform
that would enable us to innovate and expand, and that is exactly what Highdeal
has delivered.”
“We are pleased to have been selected by a leader in the
burgeoning M2M and telematics market,” said Camilla Dahlen, president, Highdeal
Inc. “We look forward to helping Numerex build on their well established
market leadership.”
Both Highdeal and Numerex are exhibiting at the CTIA
Wireless IT & Entertainment conference in San Francisco, September 10 - 12. To
learn more, please visit Highdeal at stand 1533 or Numerex at stand 1501 on the
second floor of the Moscone
Center.
Smart move for i-conX in Ireland
After a successful
audit of Smart Telecom’s current billing structure, i-conX Solutions has been
appointed by the Irish telecoms operator to provide ongoing outsourced interconnect
billing services.
In a two-year
deal, i-conX will use its own proprietary hardware and software to manage the
costs of Smart’s incoming and outgoing voice and data traffic. The contract was
awarded upon completion of a back-billing and cost control exercise in which
i-conX demonstrated how new measures implemented across the company’s
corporate, residential and payphone services could assist Smart in assuring
that billing relationships with other carriers are both accurate and auditable .
Over recent months
Smart Telecom has undergone a management restructure and has driven operational
and cost efficiencies throughout the organisation. “With robust financial
management one of the key priorities for the new management team, the deal with
i-conX is an important investment and links in with other controls and
automation that we now have in place,” says Pio Murtagh, chief operations
officer for Smart Telecom.
“The back billing
exercise and new interconnect billing functionality introduced by i-conX provides
Smart with valuable commercial visibility and a platform from which to
carefully assess our financial position at any one time. Alongside recent
significant investments in system automation and process control, the new deal will allow us to continue with our plans
for further growth over the next few years.”
i-conX Solutions' annual turnover now stands at
€2.2million. Alongside extensive reach in Europe and the Middle East, the
business continues to win contracts in emerging markets, and is currently
working on site in Sudan and
Palestine
implementing both its outsourced and licensed services.
Of the company’s
new deal with Smart Telecom, CEO at i-conX, Martin Browne commented: “Our new
deal with Smart has proven to be mutually beneficial; its new management team
has introduced fantastic new technology, so not only is it great for us to have
the opportunity to link in our proprietary hardware and software, but we have
also moved our own operations over to Smart’s network to take advantage of its
cutting-edge network.”
Naughton moves to VoluBill
London, UK. October 24, 2008 -- Martine Naughton has left the service fulfilment
company, Axiom Systems – which was recently acquired by Comptel – to join France-based
VoluBill. Martine had led the marketing and PR team at Axiom Systems since 2001.
She has now been appointed head of Marketing at VoluBill, working in the policy
and charging space. Martine will continue to be based in the UK, working from VoluBill’s London office.
Scorecard adds third European customer for subscriber, service analysis
TORONTO, CANADA. October 16, 2008 – Scorecard Systems, Inc has been selected by UK operator Kingston Communications
to provide the broadband and telecoms provider with a more robust
and rich subscriber and service analysis capability from its traditional fixed line
operations to complicated hosted and
multi-site networking services.
A leader in reporting and analysis solutions for cable, broadband and telecommunications companies, Scorecard’s systems are designed to drive deeper, more accurate
analysis of customer activity and reduce commission and acquisition costs, and put
greater analytical ability directly in the hands of end users.
Kingston Communications is the third European operator to
partner with Scorecard Systems. The company’s subscriber and service analysis system has been deployed at dozens
of carriers and currently measures results for over 100 million subscribers.
Scorecard Systems’ Subscriber Analysis application will provide
KC with increased visibility into customer and service activity, particularly
surrounding upgrade/downgrade paths between various products and bundle
packages, and will ensure “one version of the truth” for reporting throughout
the organisation. The solution will supplement KC’s existing Data Warehouse,
allowing the company to measure customer activity, trends and behaviours using
a table-based, user-configurable business rules approach that leverages
subscriber industry standards customised to its specific needs. The approach enables KC to avoid
“hard-coding,” business rules typical to home-built subscriber analysis
systems. The rules are applied
automatically at the subscriber/service/billing code level, with the results made
available to any number of query, reporting, OLAP or other tools.
“The Subscriber Analysis Application will allow us to integrate
all of our voice, data, mobile and hosting business rules into one application
with the ability to quickly drill down to customer detail a critical advantage
in our competitive marketplace,” said Ben Wrigley, business intelligence manager of Kingston Communications. “The solution will enable us to quickly
evaluate the success of campaigns and new product launches, and ensure all of
our users have one, auditable, accurate source of data for customer activity,
without having to build such a solution in-house.”
“The Scorecard solution allows
companies to rapidly respond to market conditions, determine any challenges
with their business model and maintain low churn rates at both a subscriber and
value added service level,” said Simon Marwood, Scorecard's CEO. “Kingston
Communications has the scale and resilience of a large network operator and the
flexibility and market knowledge of a specialist solutions provider, a valuable
combination in today’s climate.”
Tunisie Telecom selects BSCS iX 2 as its billing platform
Frankfurt/Main, Germany. October 27, 2008 - LHS, a leading provider of telecom billing
and customer care systems across the wireless, wireline, and IP telecom markets
worldwide, today announced that Tunisie Telecom has selected BSCS iX Release 2
as its new pre- & post-paid billing platform for all telecommunication services
offered to its customers (including fixed, mobile, and internet services).
The
new project will include the iX Collections module for the improvement of
revenue collection and for leakage prevention, as well as the LHS bill
presentment solution, which enables customer-oriented billing coupled with
flexible layout design and formatting.
"This project gives us the
opportunity to put all key internal stakeholders together, while the
company-wide business transformation enables us to deliver excellent services in
a more efficient way," said Ms Rula Ammuri, director of Information Technology
at parent company, EITL and CIO at Tunisie Telecom.
"Another key aspect of
this project is the unified customer care. Replacing and unifying several
existing applications will allow us to offer better and more services to Tunisie
Telecom customers. The positive implementation results at 'du' in the UAE,
another EITL company, convinced us that BSCS iX Release 2 is excellently suited
to the future offerings of Tunisie Telecom," she added.
The project has
already been launched and involves Tunisie Telecom staff, local companies, and
Capgemini as the main system integrator.
"We are delighted with this renewed trust
towards our company, technology and products by our long term partner Tunisie
Telecom, and we will offer all our support to the successful rollout of BSCS iX
Release 2," said Parvaiz Ahsan, managing director MEA-APAC at LHS. "Our powerful
solution based on BSCS is deployed across North Africa, and this new win will
reinforce our position as the number one customer care and billing solution
provider in the region," he added.
UK's First Utility chooses OpenRate open source software
First Utility Ltd, a leading multi-utility provider in the UK has selected OpenRate as a component for its internal billing systems replacement. The new billing system will unify the processing of both telecommunications and smart energy services.
OpenRate is a free, commercial open source rating, mediation and data
manipulation platform which has been created for use in telecommunications and utilities environments. It reportedly
currently offers a stable and mature stand-alone package for performing high
speed (5000 events/second) rating of usage events.
New roaming hub system launched by Syniverse
TAMPA, FLA, USA. 15 October 2008 -- Syniverse Technologies has launched a roaming hub to help mobile operators solve the
business and technical complexities of wireless roaming. Enabling operators to
quickly deliver ubiquitous voice and data services wherever their subscribers
may roam, the Syniverse Roaming Hub features a comprehensive suite of roaming
services, including data clearing, financial clearing and award-winning fraud
protection.
"Our more than 20 years of global interoperability experience clearly
shows that Syniverse is well positioned to cater to the diverse roaming needs
of operators around the world," said Tony Holcombe, president and CEO,
Syniverse. "Moreover, through strategic partnerships with established players
in the market, the Syniverse Roaming Hub will expand on our ability to provide
seamless connectivity and a full range of roaming services to the wireless
marketplace."
Holcombe said the Syniverse Roaming Hub, which is designed to replace
today's inefficient bilateral agreement business model, will provide mobile
operators with a means to economically expand their roaming footprint, quickly
launch new services and cost effectively manage roaming partner relationships.
Some of the hub components include Syniverse Data Clearing House (DCH),
Financial Clearing House (FCH), signalling, agreement management, RAEX,
operational support services and the company's award-winning Syniverse DataNet
NRTRDE system.
Through its
active participation in the GSMA, Syniverse is defining many of the technical specifications
for roaming hubbing. As a result, the Syniverse Roaming Hub is fully compliant
with GSMA specifications.
Also, during a recent GSMA trial, Syniverse demonstrated the strength of its
roaming hub by successfully testing three of the four technical architectures
defined by the GSMA -- the most of any participant. During the trials, Syniverse
worked with the largest pool of operators, which included six operators in four
countries and three continents. This interaction helped ensure Syniverse's
roaming hub would be effective on a global scale.
Additionally, Holcombe said Syniverse Roaming Hub services are able to be
implemented in a number of leading-edge approaches as the company develops
different types of relationships with operators and service providers around
the globe. Not only will Syniverse offer its roaming hub solution to individual
operators, the company also will provide services to operators who choose to
implement their own hub solutions for their affiliates. Moreover, Syniverse, in
its mission to provide seamless mobile interoperability anywhere in the world,
will form alliances with other hub providers to expand those providers'
technical capabilities and global reach.
"Although Syniverse already has a significant global presence, we plan
to continue strengthening our hub connections by engaging a number of partners,
making our hubbing capabilities even more robust," Holcombe said.
Comfone and Infobrain establish independent, Swiss-based clearing unit
Bern,
Switzerland. 30 October, 2008 –
Comfone, the Swiss-based roaming specialist and a provider of roaming services to
more than 300 mobile operators around the world, and Infobrain, a global market
leader in providing systems for GSM/3G roaming and TAP3 data management, today
announced the establishment of an independent clearing unit. The new unit
provides data and financial clearing services for mobile operators and is based
on state-of-the-art data and financial clearing systems, NRTRDE, RAEX and fraud prevention systems.
The announcement
is part of Comfone’s strategic initiative to become the telecoms
industry’s leading, independent hub provider of integrated solutions for mobile
operators. With over 10 years of experience in roaming services provision,
Comfone offers a wide range of in-house services, including signalling,
financial clearing, hubbing, WLAN roaming, convergence and data services. Until
today, Comfone relied on existing data clearing platforms to support the
provision of its data clearing service (also see Roaming article in VanillaPlus December 2008 issue, out Dec 8). Now, with the setting up of the new
Data and Financial Clearing Unit, Comfone completes its portfolio of in-house
services and secures its position as a fully independent roaming, inter-carrier
and hub services provider.
The new Clearing
Unit, provided in partnership by Comfone and Zürich-based company, Infobrain,
is said to ensure premium quality functionality, "Swiss precision" in data handling and
exceptional customer care. By combining Infobrain’s and Comfone’s expertise in
the data and financial clearing business, the aim is that customers will profit from a concentration
of clearing proficiency in Switzerland.
The new Clearing Unit will be fully operational by the end of 2008 and is to
provide data clearing, financial clearing, NRTRDE, fraud prevention and RAEX services. All industry standards will be supported.
Mathias Prüssing,
CEO Comfone, said: “I am convinced that the launch of our independent Clearing
Unit offers mobile operators a concrete alternative in a consolidated market.
Together with Infobrain, we are committed to providing dedicated services
supporting the data exchange between mobile operators with the Swiss quality
our customers demand.”
Orange Niger calls on Highdeal, Sofrecom to launch convergent services
Paris, France. 6 November, 2008 - Highdeal, a
leading provider of pricing and rating systems, has announced that Orange Niger, a subsidiary of the
France Telecom Group, has deployed Highdeal Transactive(R) as part of its convergent billing platform. This
solution has been selected and successfully integrated with other best-in-class
solutions by Sofrecom, a leader in telecoms consultancy and information
technologies and a subsidiary of the France Telecom – Orange
Group.
“Our
central challenge is to deliver high quality services rapidly and at competitive
prices. Holder of a global licence, we
have decided to differentiate ourselves and innovate by offering our customers a
single invoice. For this reason, and given the ambitious schedule for our
commercial launch, we selected Highdeal Transactive for the platform and
Sofrecom as integrator. The timescale for the launch was met and the customer's
view of an integrated operator was achieved. The final corrective touches and
enhancements are being made in order to reach our target of convergence and the
integration of all the application platforms and services so as to maximise
productivity for our customers' benefit,”
says François Brunet, CEO of Orange
Niger.
With a
population of approximately 13 million and a mobile penetration rate of less
than 8%, Niger is planning for enormous
growth. Recognising this potential, Orange Niger
was looking for a billing platform that combined guaranteed extreme high
performance and scalability with comprehensive pricing and packaging
capabilities. Highdeal was an obvious choice. Orange Niger,
4th operator entering the Nigerian market, launched its mobile,
internet and fixed networks in July 2008. Orange Niger
is differentiating its services by offering quad-play packages
and real-time pre-paid, post-paid and
hybrid payment plans aimed at families and
businesses.
“Orange Niger understands the positive impact
that innovative pricing and time-to-market for new services can have on their
business. We are extremely pleased that our solution was selected and deployed
by such a forward thinking and pioneering telecommunications operator,” says
Eric Pillevesse, CEO of Highdeal.
Econet Wireless Kenya set to go live with new pre-integrated, pre-configured CRM
London, UK. 17 November, 2008 – Start-up mobile communications provider, Econet
Wireless Kenya is set to go live with Cerillion Express, the new pre-integrated
and pre-configured CRM and billing
system. The news follows on from Econet’s recent decision
to install Cerillion Technologies ’s Interconnect Manager system.
Cerillion Express provides all the elements required to support a
communication provider’s business in one off-the-shelf package. Utilising core elements of Cerillion’s
bundled component product suite, the solution covers the entire customer
lifecycle from initial sales and order handling to billing and collections.
“We were attracted to Cerillion Express because it facilitates rapid
time to market,” says Jitendra Sharma, general manager, IT at Econet Wireless
Kenya. “Cerillion’s solution can be implemented quickly and cost-effectively
because it is pre-configured and pre-integrated. This has allowed us to accelerate
our service roll-out plans.”
Cerillion Express also supports the integration of pre-paid and post-paid functionality.
This has enabled Econet to achieve competitive edge by offering both types of service
to customers from the first day of their operation.
Michael Foley, CEO, Econet
Wireless Kenya comments: “The mobile-specific nature of Cerillion Express and
the ease of integration it supports have been critical in enabling us to meet
all of our tight project deadlines and we are confident that it will allow us
to provide all our customers with the best possible service from launch.”
Louis Hall, chief executive, Cerillion Technologies
says: “The ability of Cerillion Express to grow in breadth and sophistication
to keep pace with users’ expanding needs makes it ideally suited to a rapidly-growing
operator like Econet. We believe that Econet’s decision to implement Cerillion
Express is particularly significant not only in marking the first installation using
this pioneering new deployment model but also in signalling a further key step
in the growing business relationship between our two companies.”
Comarch buys German software producer SoftM AG for up to €22m
Krakow, Poland. 14 November, 2008.
Comarch has signed an agreement to acquire 50.15% of the shares
in the Frankfurt-listed company, SoftM Software und Beratung AG of Munich. SoftM is the
nineteenth biggest player on the German software production market.
The
software producer is listed in the ‘Prime Standard’ segment. In line with
German law, Comarch is obliged to conduct a call to tender for the remaining
shares. The final combined value of the transaction could be greater than €22
million.
SoftM is a software producer and IT systems integrator with a 2% share of
the German ERP (enterprise resource planning) market. The SoftM Group employs
420 people and is active in Germany,
Switzerland, Austria, France,
the Czech Republic
and Poland.
The group supplies IT services and solutions to more than 4,000 customers and
targets its products – including its flagship products: Sem