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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

Mobile operators/MVNOs

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.

 

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.”

TALKING HEADS: CEM duo tell of role in raising revenues

In an Exclusive interview in the April issue of VanillaPlus (out April 10), Arantech's CEO and founder, Brendan McDonagh and James Doyle, the company's vice president of Marketing & Product Management talk candidly about Arantech's evangelising role in CEM (customer experience management) for telcos.



The goal is not just raising customer satisfaction levels, but improving revenues too. And work for the likes of T-Mobile Austria, as well as leading Irish and German wireless network operators is paying dividends. Following a re-direction for the company in 2000, Arantech has been able to double its revenues (year-on-year) over the last three years.



Referring to the company's "nimble" reactions to changing customer demands, McDonagh told VanillaPlus: "It is those dynamics that give us an edge when comparing ourselves against the slower moving giants like IBM."



Full report in VanillaPlus April 2008 issue. To subscribe to future issues contact: subs@vanillaplus.com

VanillaPlus is available free to qualifying individuals within Europe.

Openet loyalty app allows Tier 1s to enhance customer experience

April
18, 2008 – Openet, a provider of transactional intelligence for the world’s largest and most diverse service providers, has launched its new Loyalty Programs application.
Through the Openet FusionWorks
Product Suite™, Openet is
enabling service providers to more effectively leverage their existing
transactional data to enhance and extend customer relationships.

According to Openet, telecom
operators are finally realising that service innovation and convergence
are not the only ways to increase revenue and ARPU (average revenue per
user). Instead, they are shifting their primary focus from customer
acquisition to customer loyalty — innovating creative loyalty and affinity
programmes to increase “stickiness” and improve customer satisfaction and
brand perception. Innovative loyalty programmes can stimulate service usage
and the deployment of new opportunities, however they must be timely,
targeted and relevant in order for customers to see and appreciate the
value.

“Service
provider marketers are racing to keep up with customer expectations for
personalised services and
enhancements, and well-designed loyalty programmes are a tremendous
opportunity to communicate directly with enticing offers that will keep
customers coming back,” said Openet CMO, Mike Manzo. “The key is accurate and
real-time data on usage, thresholds and style of account to ensure you’re
targeting the right offer to the right customer. Leveraging FusionWorks
together with our Loyalty Programs application gives marketers the
real-time visibility and actionable information to capture and retain
customer attention and revenue, now and in the
future.”

Some
of the enhancements more readily possible with
Openet’s Loyalty Programs
application include:

•
Awarding points based on usage, tenure or transaction thresholds

• Points
programmes that allow customers to take advantage of service provider and
third-party offerings

• Free initial usage of new or existing services,
such as SMS, video downloads and ringtones. For example, service providers
can offer long-time customers a free month of text messages to coincide
with a user’s birthday month.



Tier
1s are constantly faced with high churn rates for pre-paid, hybrid and contract
subscribers. The ability to segment customer data brings service providers
the chance to identify the right situations where loyalty programmes can
either enhance a relationship or counteract the timing when users might
consider another provider, such as when a pre-paid customer is about to
top off and extend minutes. As service providers focus on extending
customer relationships and revenue for next generation services, capturing
and keeping customer attention is paramount, and targeted loyalty
offerings — such as these enabled by Openet — are
a direct way to positively impact lifetime subscriber value, improve
satisfaction and brand perception, and stimulate new services usage.

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. 

Vodafone New Zealand selects Callidus to manage incentive compensation

London, UK, June 6, 2008 —
Callidus Software Inc. (NASDAQ: CALD), a supplier of sales performance management systems, announced that Vodafone New Zealand, a subsidiary of Vodafone Group Plc (NYSE:
VOD), has selected the Callidus TrueComp(R) suite of software solutions to manage sales performance and incentive compensation
programmes for its 2,000 sales personnel, dealers and agents in New Zealand.



Vodafone New Zealand aims to maximise the performance of its enterprise and
distribution channels. The agreement was signed in the first quarter of
2008.  "Callidus Software is already
playing an important role for numerous mobile operators of the Vodafone family
in other markets, which provided us with confidence in their ability to provide
the right solution for our business," explained Vodafone New Zealand
spokesperson, Alison Sykora.

TrueComp® software’s ability to
expedite the alignment of sales with corporate objectives while maximising revenue streams and profitability reportedly helps achieve rapid ROI. Additional advantages include the substitution of
costly and time-consuming efforts around sales force and compensation
management, with the automation afforded by the industry's leading SPM software
solution.

The Callidus Software solution
is designed to provide proper audit capabilities and controls for compliance
requirements, thereby resulting in reduced operating expenses. It also allows
for a faster time-to-market with new products and compensation changes, and
streamlines the ability to model and forecast while providing increased
flexibility for the implementation of incentives.

“Vodafone New Zealand recognises
the value of aligning incentive compensation and sales performance with
corporate strategy, affording them a critical advantage in a fiercely
competitive environment,” said Steve Apfelberg, senior vice president of
marketing and business development at Callidus Software. “Our solutions link
execution to corporate objectives and support companies of all sizes in their
goal to drive revenue and profitability. We are extremely pleased to welcome yet
another member of the Vodafone group to our ever-growing list of
customers.”

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.”

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.”

ariesoGEO aims for faster, more accurate subscriber data collection

Current subscriber data monitoring techniques often provide data
that is incomplete or imprecise, leading to unnecessary and ineffective
expenditure without solving the real network issues. Now, wireless
network optimisation provider, Arieso has launched a geo-location event
observer, ariesoGEO, for network performance monitoring and
optimisation.

Using the new software, which is compatible with
both UMTS and CDMA2000 networks, operators will be able to pinpoint
technical performance issues as and when they occur, based on the
subscribers’ experience.

Through the real-time, automated
collection and analysis of existing data, ariesoGEO enables operators
to solve potential network faults before subscribers are aware of them,
thus reducing churn and minimising operating costs.

ariesoGEO
collects data transmitted by mobiles in the normal course of conducting
a call and requires no additional hardware, such as GPS handsets. By
geo-locating tens of millions of calls per minute, ariesoGEO reportedly
creates a true-to-life picture of network performance as witnessed by
the networks’ subscribers, whether they are indoors or outdoors, or in
business or residential areas, and at any time of the day, any day of
the week.

ariesoGEO was recently used by a tier-1 US operator to
identify critical problem areas within its network, in order to gain
the maximum return from a limited budget. The outcome was said to be a
dramatic improvement in all of the operator's strategic KPIs, including
a 24% reduction in dropped calls.



Shirin Dehghan, CEO of Arieso, commented: “By providing access to more accurate
and timely data, ariesoGEO will enable operators to focus their resources and
drastically reduce their CapEx and OpEx for both current and future network
developments. ariesoGEO will, for the first time, enable operators to really
know how their network is functioning at any given time or
location.”



Dehghan added: “Access to information of this quality that
allows you to spot and correct the kinds of faults that lead to unhappy
customers and increased churn is unprecedented. Knowing what the subscriber is
experiencing, without the need to invest in expensive probes, will give
operators a huge competitive advantage.”



ariesoGEO estimates the
geographical location of mobile subscribers, and identifies the spatial
characteristics of the subscriber profile and network performance, enabling
operators to visualize a diverse set of metrics in the form of high-resolution
maps and detailed charts or reports. These metrics may range from explicitly
financial (e.g. revenue and ROI) to technical (e.g. interference and call drops)
Key Performance Indicators.

Mobile service providers face challenging times in middle of next decade, iSuppli study says

El Segundo, California, USA, July 8, 2008 — The gloomy findings of a mobile social networking study have been released in a White Paper by its authors, iSuppli Corp.  In it they predict that the Technology,
Media, and Telecoms (TMT) business will undergo a fundamental
transformation during the next 10 years, courtesy of the coming wireless social
networking revolution. Because of this, iSuppli Corp.
believes, content providers, advertisers, telcos and
electronics suppliers — must transform their business strategies as well if they
want to maintain their relevance in the coming years.

Said Derek Lidow, president and chief executive officer at iSuppli, “The shifts
will impact most value-chain participants, and will be highly
interrelated." With
today’s TMT business representing 5% of global Gross Domestic Product, these industry realignments will have
impacts far
beyond the value chain itself.  Major
findings of this study include:

·          Within 10 years, Social Networking + Me
(SME), primarily driven by wireless devices, will become ‘must-have’
applications and devices for global consumers.

·          Although there have not been any
successful implementations of wireless social networking to date, the widespread
adoption of mobile Internet devices like the iPhone will spur an entirely new
generation of wireless social networking businesses and business models starting
in 2009.

·          Many wireless service providers
will face very challenging times in the middle years of next decade as intense
battles break out against alternate providers of wireless access over who
controls the distribution of all the content and services that will be enabled,
and will be highly sought after by wireless subscribers.

·          By 2020, there will be close to 7
billion wireless accounts, with many individuals having more than one account,
and with wireless communication devices being the primary communication, service
and content delivery channel for virtually all users.

·          Basic wireless social networking
service could be provided for a global average of around $15.30 per month per
user, using constant 2007 U.S. dollars.

iSuppli has summarized the findings from
its wireless social networking study in a new whitepaper, entitled: Social
Networking Wireless Social Networking Revolution Set to Reshape Global Tech
Industry.

www.isuppli.com

Will Yahoo's play for mobile pay off? - New report

London, UK, 23 July 2008.  Yahoo, the number two internet search engine, currently leads in mobile web
destinations due to an aggressive play to capitalise on the still emerging
mobile search and advertising space.  Google,
Microsoft, AOL, and other players are all jockeying to be first to pocket
profits from the most lucrative market to arise since internet search and
shopping.  Advertisers will spend US$1.8 billion on mobile media in 2007, which
visiongain predicts will rise to $17.5 billion by 2012.



In a new report,
visiongain explores Yahoo’s strategy in mobile in the medium-term future, and
discusses the significant opportunities and threats that the company poses to
current industry players.  How will Yahoo affect your operations? Should you be working with the company
to leverage its expertise in mobile search and advertising, or would you be
better off working with one of its competitors instead?

Is Yahoo likely to launch a VoIP phone leveraging current partner eBay's
Skype or an enhanced version of its own Yahoo! Voice?  3 recently became the
first operator to offer a mass market device tailor-made for free
calling over the internet from a mobile.  Now, all of Skype's 246 million
registered users can be reached for free with the 3 Skypephone.  Will Yahoo
produce a similar device, or will it enter this deal in a very big way
considering Yahoo already has partnered with 3 to provide Yahoo! Go for Mobile
2.0 to 3 Group customers in the UK, Italy, Ireland, Sweden, and Denmark, with
other 3 Group markets expected to follow by year end? This report addresses
bleeding edge issues Yahoo and the industry face, providing insightful analysis
on deals, market plays, and future mergers yet to be explored in other
studies.



The report tackles several key questions:

• What are Yahoo’s strategic visions and future plans in
mobile?

• How will Yahoo’s model perform in the mobile landscape?

• What
are Yahoo’s current activities in this space?

• What strategies and
opportunities are open to Yahoo in mobile?

• Will Yahoo launch a VoIP or
cellular phone?

• Will Google’s text ads be overshadowed by Yahoo’s mobile
display ads?



For more information on the report contact Qahramon Ikromov at:

telecoms.conferences1@conferencesandreports.com

Russia's SMM uses NDS to protect IP and mobile TV content

 

 

 

London, UK. 24
July, 2008 – NDS, a leading provider of technology solutions
for digital pay-TV, today announced that Russian media giant Sistema Mass Media has selected the NDS Unified Headend™ to manage and protect TV content delivery to subscribers
across both IP and mobile networks.



The NDS Unified
Headend™ integrates conditional access (CA), Digital Rights Management (DRM) and
third party applications, allowing operators to deliver secure broadcast and
Video-On-Demand (VOD) services to a variety of devices – set-top boxes (STBs),
mobile phones, PCs, Portable Media Players (PMPs) and digital video recorders
(DVRs). SMM will use the NDS Unified Headend to deliver content to STBs, PCs and
mobile devices with optimum operational efficiency, using a single system to
control content distribution.



SMM’s
deployment will include VideoGuard Mobile™, NDS’ secure mobile TV solution, part of the NDS Unified Headend, to
protect its upcoming DVB-H mobile TV service. Digital Teleradiobroadcasting Ltd (DTB), an SMM
subsidiary, will launch the mobile TV service.



The DVB-H
service will debut in Moscow, which will be followed by a series of launches in
16 other Russian cities with populations of over one million. Unlike most other
DVB-H deployments which are tied to a specific mobile operator and require a
subscription and operator-specific SIM, SMM’s upcoming DVB-H service will be
available to all Russian mobile subscribers regardless of their network service
provider.



VideoGuard
Mobile supports both the Open Security Framework (OSF) and OMA BCAST smartcard
profile standards and offers a clear and seamless migration path between both.
VideoGuard Mobile is fully compliant with DVB-H, DVB-SH, DMB, MediaFLO, CMMB and
STIMI standards.

BT buys Silicon Valley's Ribbit for US$105m

London, UK. July 29, 2008 - Ribbit has been acquired by UK incumbent telco, BT for  $105m.  Ribbit is an open platform for multi-protocol communication, that is said by its US creators to "empower a new market of voiceware applications and services".  BT's mission with Ribbit is to accelerate voice innovation by enabling
developers to bring to market the applications and products that end users need to stay in touch with their friends, family, colleagues
and customers.

As communications and computing are quickly coming
together, we are seeing new technologies being invented, new business models forming
and new partnerships being created.  Ribbit and BT intend that, through Ribbit's developer community, they will enable the dvelopment of improved voice services.

The Ribbit platform is designed to give developers,
integrators and product innovators the opportunity to ride on our
platform and leverage its APIs to create new communication solutions
for private businesses, global enterprises, vertical markets and the
masses.

The platform enables developers to bring
together the richness of voice calling and Web 2.0 experiences. With
Ribbit, voice can become a rich feature that can be added to any
application, on any device. Free from a traditional handset or the
latest mobile phone, voice can now be delivered and received on
multiple devices in multiple locations, across any network. It can be
integrated, monetized and personalized using the Ribbit platform.



Inevitably, Ribbit will be seen in the contect of Google's Android and Apple'siPhone. For some the former is merely a cloak for increasing Google's Advertisement sales, while the latter is tied to the Apple iPhone platform.  Although this is an open platform technology, BT's challenge will be to see if it can escape being associated purely with BT's own services. 

IBM software mimics PC features on mobile devices

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”.

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.

Digitania Pakistan to provide services and content to GEO.tv

Islamabad, Pakistan. August 19, 2008. Digitania Pakistan  has announced today that it has signed a deal
with GEO TV (www.geo.tv) to provide GEO TV with 

• Mobile Service Delivery Platform


• Content Hosting and Management Platform, and its


• WAP Portal System

These systems are
designed on an open architecture giving GEO TV enhanced capabilities to
offer mobile-based interactive products and services to its viewers and
to constantly add new features and products to its existing system.

The solutions provided by
Digitania to GEO TV will significantly reduce time to market and
will make Digitania a one-stop-shop for the content and service delivery needs of the Pakistan TV channel.

The implementation of
this system -- which is expected to be completed by November, 2008 -- is a landmark
achievement of Digitania. It is increasing its
clientele in various industry sectors and its ability to deploy
state of the art, customised and demand-specific systems for companies
like GEO TV, while maintaining performance benchmarks even at places where traffic and
demand are enormously high.

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.

Australia's Powerlan wins control of Omnix Software

London, UK. September 3, 2008 – Omnix Software, a
privately-held
UK-based provider of software systems for telecoms
operators which help organisations to plan, launch and manage their wireless
networks, today announced that Powerlan, the specialist Australian-based information
technology group, has purchased a 51% interest in the
company for an undisclosed sum.

Powerlan's UK-based European general manager,
William Tickner, has been appointed as Omnix Software’s CEO
with immediate effect.  The company’s founder and current owner, Martin Coates, will remain as chairman. Omnix Software
assists mobile operators to deliver complex network projects and manage
network assets. It has a global customer base which includes major operators
such as Vodafone, Orange, O2/Telefonica, Millicom, Celtel-Zain,
Orascom and Mobilkom. Omnix Software will shortly complete its next generation
product roll-out at Vodafone Ireland.



The Omnix
software platform is an OSS resource and workflow management tool, specifically
designed to provide today's 2G, 2.5G and 3G mobile telecoms operators with a
comprehensive solution to manage all aspects of planning, building, and
operating a wireless network. Omnix Software focuses on helping mobile network
operators realise operational efficiency across the entire network lifecycle,
creating demonstrable savings within the engineering and infrastructure function
and driving large potential reductions in the capital requirement for
infrastructure rollout.



The acquisition
of the majority shareholding in Omnix Software directly complements the
activities of one of Powerlan’s other businesses, Clarity, a specialist in unified operational support systems (OSS). Clarity provides proven,
pre-integrated inventory, fulfilment and assurance applications on a single
SID-based database, enabling real-time executive visibility of the network's
impact on revenues and customer experience. Clarity has offices in, Asia, Europe
the Middle East and Africa. Strong synergies
are expected between Clarity and Omnix.



William Tickner commented:
“Omnix Software’s solutions and global mobile customer base creates a new market
opportunity for Powerlan as well as being a complementary extension to sister
company, Clarity’s OSS product portfolio. We are planning to expand our operations in several geographies. In Asia Pacific in
particular we see significant potential for Omnix within Clarity’s established
Tier 1 mobile client base, to seamlessly extend existing network inventory
solutions into the asset management domain.”



Formerly Andrew Network Solutions, Omnix Software is headquartered in Bristol and was founded in 1998. Its products address the key business
issues facing mobile operators in the planning, rollout and management of 2G,
2.5G and 3G networks. Its flagship product, Omnix is a
modular OSS
resource and workflow management solution, comprising infrastructure project
delivery, property management and asset management.