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Real-time charging and spend control, empowering the consumer in the post-unlimited data era
Date: Wednesday 26 January, 2011 Time: 09:00 New York, 14:00 London, 15:00 Madrid, 18:00 Dubai Speaker: Rob Jones, Acision Analyst: Dan Baker, Technology Research Institute Moderator: Jeremy Cowan, VanillaPlus
Mobile data charging – the move towards the consumer empowerment cycle in the post-unlimited data era
Anandan Jayaraman, Chief Product and Marketing Officer – Connectiva
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According to a report in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Telcordia has been put up for sale by its private-equity owners.
Having acquired the company back in 2005 from SAIC Inc for US$1.35bn, Providence Equity Partners and Warburg Pincus are said to be looking at the possibility of offloading the firm at somewhere between $1-1.5bn.
The appointment of Garry K. McGuire as chairman back in November would make sense for any kind of sales process. McGuire is the former chief financial officer and senior vice president of corporate development for Avaya, having held the position of president and chief executive officer of Williams Communications Solutions LLC and president of Nortel Communications Systems prior to this.
The WSJ says that Credit Suisse has been brought in to run the sale process which is believed to have begun in the second week of January.
It remains to be seen whether this might be the right time for SAP to make its move and buy its way into the service provider sector as mooted by VanillaPlus a while back. www.telcordia.comBack to top
New report sheds light on the decline in ARPU
A new report from VanillaPlus, The Moriana Group and Intec aims to shed some light on the decline in ARPU, explore the issues operators face and offer solutions as to how they can be overcome in greater depth.
With overall mobile revenues having declined for the first time in 2010/2011, the report, ‘How to Manage Content, Revenues and Partnerships’, seeks to address some of the most pressing issues faced by operators as they look to offset the effects of commoditising voice revenues.
Citing the example of the Italian market, where ARPU has declined from €30 per month in 2004 to €20 per month in 2009, the report highlights the challenge faced by operators attempting to handle and monetise vastly increased data traffic, increase loyalty and improve customer experience.
According to the report some 62% of operators already feel that they will become relegated to the role of a bit pipe within five years.
The full report, which includes a case study, further statistics and analysis is available now FREE. Download ReportBack to top
Movistar opts for Comptel upgrade
Comptel has announced that Movistar Argentina has upgraded Comptel Convergent Mediation to take advantage of the enhanced performance, scalability and ease of use offered by the platform.
The project, which was carried out in collaboration with partner IBM Argentina, will help the operator collect and transform more than 400 million daily network transactions into billable records whilst allowing them to effectively deliver and charge for advanced mobile services.
According to Omar Belloni, production management manager and a member of the Movistar Argentina Change Management Advisory Board, the new solution will provide the company with flexibility for growth whilst improving the consumer experience.
“The migration to an IBM High Availability architecture will allow Movistar Argentina to secure growth and optimise the quality of our customers’ experiences, while at the same time maximising our revenue potential,” he said. www.comptel.comBack to top
Andorra Telecom evolves billing to extend support from Convergys
Andorra Telecom has selected Convergys Rating and Billing Manager to perform the mission-critical job of aggregating, rating and billing these advanced services for its customers.
Having recently awarded the company a six-year professional services contract to support, maintain and evolve the current platform and its interfaces with other systems according to critical business and regulatory requirements, the move demonstrates the continued faith Andorra has in the relationship management player.
Josep Missé, development manager, Andorra Telecom, explained that the two already enjoyed a ‘mutually-beneficial, six-year history’ which had taken place during a period of growth, expansion, and technical innovation within the industry.
“Convergys’ dedicated professional services team works side-by-side with us to help ensure that our billing platform not only meets our current business and regulatory needs, but also evolves as Andorra Telecom grows and launches new products and services,” he added. www.convergys.comBack to top
PT Telkom deploys Clarity fulfilment and assurance
Clarity has announced that it has deployed a network support system for Indonesian operator PT Telkom.
The firm disclosed that the latest deployment enables fulfilment and assurance capabilities for PT Telkom’s Flexi Division which provides CDMA Fixed Mobile services to 16m subscribers in over 370 Indonesian cities.
The deal will see the operator benefiting from Clarity’s combined offering featuring network monitoring, fault management and inventory automation processing.
PT Telkom initially engaged Clarity back in 2006 to provide OSS capabilities for their switching, transmission and data domains which was followed with the migration of Metro-E networks onto the application.
The latest solution for Flexi continues the consolidation of its network onto one management platform and enables the operator to configure, view and manage its network status holistically, through advanced alarm control and correlation.
By storing consolidated information in a single system, Flexi is able to simplify the resolution of problems that span multiple technologies, vendors or management sectors.” www.clarity.comBack to top
MACH gets the nod from Microsoft
MACH has revealed that Microsoft has selected its Direct Billing Gateway (DBG) solution for Windows Phone 7 applications and content billing.
This enables Windows Phone 7 users to buy content direct from the Windows Phone Marketplace with a simple 1-click service, placing the fee for the application on the user’s phone bill.
With the solution being directly integrated to the billing system of mobile network operators it delivers real-time authentication and authorisation within the application, minimising risk of revenue leakage or abandoned transactions. So as well as providing a seamless user experience for Microsoft’s customers, it also helps the company maximise revenue assurance and conversion for application partners. www.mach.comBack to top
All-in-One Packet Network Synchronisation testing unit launched
EXFO has unveiled its SyncWatch-110 Synchronisation Testing Unit, a test and monitoring solution for next-generation synchronisation technologies, including performance assessment of synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) and Precision Time protocol (IEEE 1588v2).
The device, which maintains support for traditional TDM synchronisation testing, has been purpose-built for qualifying and monitoring networks that use IEEE 1588v2 and or SyncE technologies.
The SyncWatch-110’s software engine is capable of analysing the IEEE 1588v2 timing packets and reporting on a number of packet metrics. In addition, the unit supports different modes of operation for testing that are adapted to service-provider applications, allowing users to leverage it for the entire network lifecycle—from turn-up to troubleshooting and monitoring. www.EXFO.comBack to top
Run lean and expand fast with CES 8
Amdocs has launched CES 8, a new product portfolio designed to enable service providers to streamline and run more efficiently.
CES 8 helps service providers evolve and expand quickly by exposing network, IT and data assets to a growing ecosystem of content and developer partners. The portfolio then drives personalised and simple customer experiences by concealing the complexities of new applications and devices from the end user.
All of this is designed to help operators expand their reach within communications, media and entertainment quickly, as well as aiding them in grasping the opportunity to expand into new verticals with new services, revenue streams and business models.
The solution has also been designed to help operators to improve planning for 4G/LTE Radio Access Networks by providing mobile network planning and design tools via its mobile backhaul capacity management operational product pack. www.amdocs.comBack to top
Cable&Wireless Worldwide appoints Tim Weller as CFO
Cable&Wireless has appointed Tim Weller as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
The news follows the announcement by Cable and Wireless PLC of its intention to demerge its Worldwide business from CWI, with the appointment of a new CFO for Worldwide seen as another important step towards demerger.
Tim will join the Worldwide Board of Directors in May 2010 from United Utilities Group PLC where he has been CFO since July 2006.
During his time at United Utilities Tim was instrumental in the strategic realignment of the Group through the divestment of some non-core activities and the restructuring of businesses culminating in the £1.8bn sale of United Utilities Electricity. www.cw.comBack to top
Qualcomm rings the changes
Qualcomm, a leading developer and innovator of advanced wireless technologies, products and services, has announced it is making some strategic and organisational changes.
The company’s Global Business Operations (GBO), which was previously referred to as Global Business Development, is to be led by Jing Wang as executive vice president of Qualcomm and president of Global Business Operations.
The new GBO organisation will continue to focus on enhancing the business environment to support the continued growth of the company’s technologies and products and includes all of the company’s international business-focused offices, including those in China, Europe, India, Japan, Korea, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, and Southeast Asia.
Peggy Johnson will lead a new organisation called Global Market Development (GMD) as executive vice president of Qualcomm and president of Global Market Development. She and her team will oversee the process for commercialising new business opportunities that reside outside of existing Qualcomm business units. www.qualcomm.comBack to top
What’s On in Comms
Service Provider IT Global Event: Using OSS/BSS to Drive Revenue 25 January, 2011 Hilton London Paddington Hotel, London Register here
Webinar: Real-time charging and spend control – empowering the consumer in the post-unlimited data era 26 January, 2011 09:00 New York, 14:00 London, 15:00 Madrid, 16:00 Cape Town, 18:00 Dubai Register here
Webinar: Customer-centric Revenue Management 3 February, 2011 10:00 New York, 15:00 London, 16:00 Madrid, 17:00 Cape Town, 19:00 Dubai Register here
Get your message across with brand new blogs, launching in February 2011, VP Bites sponsorship and bespoke HTML mailers: For sponsorship details call Leisha Catton on 44 (0)1373 834012 or email:leisha@vanillaplus.com
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Ribbon Communications has announced plans for a major network modernisation programme with Verizon to retire legacy TDM switching platforms and replace their function with modern cloud-based technologies.
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