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Telstra Selects MetaSolv for OSS Transformation Project to IP and 3G Wireless

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MetaSolv Software, Inc., a global leader in comprehensive operations support system (OSS) solutions for next-generation communications service providers, today announced that Telstra, Australia’s leading media-communications company, has selected MetaSolv for a key role in its Operational Support System transformation. MetaSolv’s Activation 5 will provide multi-service activation for Telstra’s next-generation voice, broadband, IP wireline and 3G wireless networks and services.

“Telstra is transforming its business to deliver a ‘one click, one touch, one button, one screen, one step solutions’ environment for customers and employees. The company’s vision is a simpler IT environment that involves partnering with world-class suppliers using proven off-the-shelf solutions. We are pleased to welcome MetaSolv as one of our partners in the Operations Support Systems (OSS) transformation space,” Mr. John McInerney, Program Director, IT Transformation, Telstra Corporation said.

MetaSolv’s multi-year, multi-million dollar agreement is planned to provide Telstra with a sophisticated, scalable next-generation activation platform that enables multi-service activation across all technology domains, including multi-vendor 3G wireless and IP-based networks. Telstra will use MetaSolv to help consolidate its activation systems, with the aim of reducing operations costs, improving customer service and accelerating time-to-market for new services through rapid service introduction and bundling. [Read more…]

Gibtelecom Selects Comptel’s Reporting and Provisioning Solutions

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Comptel Corporation, a leading Operational Support System (OSS) software vendor for convergent mediation, charging, provisioning and network inventory, announced today that Gibraltar’s Gibtelecom, an affiliate of Verizon, has now deployed Comptel’s mediation solution, and signed a further agreement to use Comptel’s reporting and provisioning solution. Gibtelecom will be using Comptel’s convergent solutions for its fixed, mobile and Internet services.

Mr. George Gaskin, Gibtelecom’s IT Manager says: “Comptel was selected following a competitive tender for both mediation and provisioning. Obviously, by the time we came to choose a solution for reporting and provisioning, we had already worked with Comptel, so we felt confident that Comptel’s solutions would meet our needs. These solutions will enable us to provide even better services to our customers, while helping combat fraud.”

Gibtelecom chose Comptel EventLink® because it needed a convergent mediation solution that would be able to handle, collect and process usage information across all networks and services, allowing a greater flexibility in billing for these services. Comptel’s mediation solution offered an off-the-shelf integration with Gibtelecom’s billing systems. The solution is now deployed and live, managing Gibtelecom’s services, including GSM, GPRS and MMS. [Read more…]

Intec Billing Agrees to Acquire Outsourced Billing Company EUR Systems

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Intec, a provider of software to the global telecoms industry, is has recently announced that it has agreed to acquire the operating assets of outsourced telecoms billing specialist, EUR Systems (“EUR”) of Pennsylvania, USA, from current owners Saratoga Partners.

“Intec has built a successful and profitable business in billing services and software for US carriers,” said Intec CEO Kevin Adams. “Economies of scale are important in this business, so consolidating a key competitor in the US market is a good move for us. We have already identified a number of immediate cost synergies, and we expect to be able to begin enhancing EUR’s financial performance from day one.”

The consideration, which will be paid in cash, is approximately $13.5 million*, subject to a working capital adjustment. The value of the gross assets being acquired is approximately $6.6 million. The transaction is expected to close in approximately 30 days. On closing, Intec will combine the operations of EUR into its existing North American business, and expects to be able to make the acquisition earnings enhancing in the financial year ending 30 September 2007. [Read more…]

Nakina Systems CEO Dave Vicary Named Finalist in Ernst and Young Competition

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Nakina Systems Inc. (“Nakina”), a provider of multi-vendor security and element management solutions to network operators worldwide, today announced that Dave Vicary, president and CEO at Nakina, was recently named an Ontario finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2006 awards. Vicary is one of three finalists in the Information Technology category. Nominees in a total of 12 categories were chosen based on demonstrated leadership, drive and innovation.

“It is truly an honor to be recognized by Canada’s most prestigious business awards program,” said Vicary. “This acknowledgement clearly validates the progress Nakina Systems has made during its few short years of existence in delivering innovative telecom and data network management solutions to service providers worldwide.”

On October 19th, one finalist in each business category will receive a regional category award. One person chosen from among the 12 category winners will then be awarded Entrepreneur of the Year for Ontario. The Ontario award winner will compete against other top entrepreneurs from across Canada for the national award. The Canadian winner will then face off against more than 35 country recipients for the title of World Entrepreneur of the Year. The Ernst & Young achievement follows other recent Nakina accomplishments. [Read more…]

Amdocs Limited Reports 23% Growth in Revenue to a Record $626 Million

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Amdocs Limited (NYSE: DOX) today reported that for the quarter ended June 30, 2006, revenue was $626.4 million, an increase of 23.5% from last year’s third quarter. Excluding acquisition-related costs, which include amortization of purchased intangible assets and the write-off of in-process research and development and excluding equity-based compensation expense, net of related tax effects, of $20.6 million, net income on a non-GAAP basis was $106.2 million, or $0.49 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income, excluding $1.7 million of acquisition-related costs net of related tax effects, of $78.8 million, or $0.37 per diluted share, in the third quarter of fiscal 2005. The Company’s net income was $85.6 million, or $0.39 per diluted share, compared to net income of $77.1 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, in the third quarter of fiscal 2005. Free cash flow, defined as cash flow from operations less net capital expenditures and principal payments on capital leases, was $94 million in the quarter. [Read more…]

Convergys to Support New German Satellite PAY-TV Service

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Convergys Corporation (NYSE:CVG), a global leader in customer care, human resources, and billing services, announced today a contract with Arena, a subsidiary of the German cable company Unity Media. Convergys will provide a unique set of product offerings, with consulting and professional services, to support Arena’s new German satellite PAY-TV service.

“Working with Unity and Arena enabled us to apply our operational expertise and proven software products to configure and implement a solution that meets their particular billing and customer care requirements and aggressive implementation timeline,” said Convergys’ Jean Herve Jenn, President, International. “With this solution, subscribers will experience a seamless transition from ordering to receiving, while enjoying the quality of service they have come to expect from Unity Media.”

Scheduled to launch in August, Arena holds the broadcast rights to the live matches of the first and second Bundesliga in Germany from Deutsche FuBball Liga (DFL). Unity Media expects Arena to have 3 million PAY-TV soccer subscribers within 3 years. [Read more…]

Convergys’ Second Quarter 2006 Financial Results

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Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG) will hold its Second Quarter 2006 Financial Results conference call at 10:00 A.M., Eastern Daylight Time, Thursday, July 27, 2006. During the call, Jim Orr, Chairman & CEO, and Earl Shanks, CFO, will review Convergys’ second quarter 2006 financial results. [Read more…]

Intec Billing Founder Mike Frayne Joins Logan Orvis International as Director and Deputy Chairman

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Logan Orviss International, one of EMEA’s largest privately held telecoms consulting organisations, has appointed one of the telecom industry’s most influential figures to its board of directors. Mike Frayne, co-founder and former executive chairman of Intec Telecom Systems, joins Logan Orviss as a director.

“Never has the telco industry faced such challenging times in terms of how the large players will shape their businesses in the future. Faced with imminent pressures of converged charging, local loop unbundling, next generation networks and multi-media converged services to name but a few, these companies will rely increasingly on consultants that bring the knowledge and expertise to counsel them on strategic decisions. Mike’s appointment will strengthen our practice greatly,” said co-founder and chief executive officer of Logan Orviss International, Brendan Logan.

Frayne enjoys an enviable reputation in the telco industry, having catapulted Intec Telecom Systems, a leading provider of billing and mediation solutions for carriers worldwide, into one of the UK’s most successful and largest software companies. Through a bold acquisitive strategy, including a takeover of the retail billing software division of ADC Telecommunication, Frayne transformed Intec’s business into a global OSS company that now employs more than 1,600 people. Frayne was subsequently named Ernst & Young ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ in 2001. [Read more…]

Reltelwireless Implements Cerillion Mediation Solution for CDMA Network

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Cerillion Technologies has announced a new contract with Reliance Telecommunications (Reltelwireless) to implement a complete mediation solution for their CDMA network in Nigeria. Cerillion will deliver their Mediator product and provide integration with network switches from Huawei.

Kenneth Aigbinode, Vice Chairman Reliance Telecommunications, said “Mediation has become an important area of focus within Reltelwireless as we continue to develop our revenue assurance programmes. Cerillion have proven they understand our business and we are confident that their Mediator system will help us maximise our billable revenues.”

The system will be used to improve revenue assurance in Reltelwireless, securing revenue generation from a full range of corporate and residential services. Mediator’s intuitive configuration tools and rules-based processing engine will support their time-to-market demands, whilst providing a complete audit trail and CDR traceability. [Read more…]

Amdocs Agrees to Acquire Cramer OSS Solutions

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Amdocs (NYSE: DOX), a leading provider of software and services to enable integrated customer management and the intentional customer experience, has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Cramer Systems Group Ltd. (“Cramer”), a leading provider of operations support systems (OSS) solutions. Under the terms of the agreement, Amdocs will acquire all of Cramer’s shares of capital stock for approximately $375 million in cash, net of cash on hand, subject to post-closing adjustments. Cramer is a growing company with more than 80 customers worldwide.

“With a quality company like Cramer, Amdocs expects to be well positioned to capitalize on the growth opportunity that OSS represents,” said Dov Baharav, chief executive officer of Amdocs Management Limited. “Together, we intend to deliver a complete automated service fulfillment solution across all lines of business — for any service, on any network — linking order management at the customer layer with activation at the network layer.”

With the acquisition, Amdocs plans to expand its service management and OSS offerings and expects to become a leader in OSS, uniquely able to support large-scale OSS transformation projects. The OSS domain is typically defined as network-facing applications supporting key service fulfillment and service assurance business processes. Cramer has a proven and tested OSS product portfolio, which includes leading products in network resource management (NRM), activation and auto discovery. [Read more…]

LecStar Telecom Signs Customer Service Management Agreement with Lightyear Network Solutions

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LecStar Telecom Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Fonix(R) Corp. (OTCBB: FNIX) offering a full array of fixed wire-line voice, data, Internet and operator services to business and residential customers in the Southeast, has entered into a management agreement with Lightyear Network Solutions, LLC (“Lightyear”) in order to decrease LecStar operating and related costs.

“Outsourcing LecStar Telecom’s telecommunications and customer service functions to Lightyear significantly reduces the company’s operating costs in the wake of recent regulatory actions that have negatively impacted small CLECs,” explained Thomas A. Murdock, chairman and CEO, Fonix Corp. “This change further enhances the company’s financial and competitive positions, while better enabling us to focus on developing and deploying integrated communication technologies.”

Under the terms of the agreement, effective July 1, 2006, Lightyear will manage all operating support services for LecStar including billing, provisioning, customer relationship management systems and telecommunications services under the terms of LecStar’s commercial agreements with wholesale telecom providers. Lightyear will receive specified fees from LecStar for these services. [Read more…]

Coastal Technologies Group Appoints Former US Representative Tauzin and Dr Peter Diamandis as New Board Members

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Coastal Technologies Group Inc. (CTGi), a leader in call detail processing, back-office accounting process and OSS support for the telecommunications industry, today announced the appointments of W.J. “Billy” Tauzin, former U.S. Representative from Louisiana and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman and Dr. Peter Diamandis, Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation and Zero Gravity Corp., to its board of directors.

“Coastal Technologies Group is at an exciting point in its development, and we are thrilled to add both Congressman Tauzin and Dr. Diamandis to our board of directors at this time,” said Richard Kane, president and CEO for Coastal Technologies Group. “Representative Tauzin has been a staunch supporter of the telecommunications sector and led the way to develop key legislation during his tenure as the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Likewise, Dr. Diamandis is a brilliant entrepreneur who has successfully founded and grown multiple space technology and communications companies over the last 20 years. Both of these men will provide critical guidance and influence as we look to expand our operations and customer set worldwide.”

Former Congressman W.J. “Billy” Tauzin was one of the most powerful Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives and served 12 terms in the U.S Congress representing Louisiana’s 3rd Congressional District before retiring in 2004. Tauzin was Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection in 1997 and was involved in much of the legislation affecting telecommunications and the Internet. Tauzin holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Nicholls State University and a Law Degree from Louisiana State University. [Read more…]

Highdeal Receives Most Innovative Billing Product Award at World Billing Awards 2006

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Highdeal has received the Most Innovative Billing Product award at the World Billing Awards 2006. The award recognises the innovation and functionality of the Highdeal Transactive® convergent pricing, rating and charging solution. Highdeal Transactive enables service providers to gain pricing, rating, and packaging flexibility while ensuring a future proof solution which delivers high performance, low TCO and proven easy integration with networks and business systems.

The World Billing Awards are widely regarded as the highest industry recognition of billing excellence, rewarding billing best practice and raising awareness of the importance of billing to the communications industry, as Hugh Roberts, Chairman of the Awards Judging Panel and Consultant Director for IIR’s BSS/OSS and RM events explains:

“The projects and products we assessed clearly demonstrated the broadening scope of billing and information management within the increasingly complex communications value chain, and the ability of service providers, consultants and ISVs to identify and implement innovative business models and approaches to markets in far-from-traditional telecoms environments.”

The award is the latest in a series of accolades for Highdeal and demonstrates Highdeal’s continued success. [Read more…]

Highdeal Achieves 55 Percent Growth in 2006

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Highdeal, a provider of Pricing and Rating solutions, has announced an unprecedented an “over 55 percent growth in the first half of 2006”. This dramatic growth reflects increasing recognition among the service provider community of the critical role that Pricing & Rating plays in the marketplace.

“This signing is confirmation of Highdeal’s strategic decision to address the market for convergent charging within the context of IMS and aligning ourselves with the 3GPP standards for convergent charging,” said Eric Pillevesse, CEO of Highdeal. “Through our extensive partnerships and alliances with leading network equipment vendors and multi-service operators we are gaining considerable momentum world-wide.”

Highdeal increased its global footprint in 2006 considerably with 15 new customer wins across Europe, the Americas, North Africa and the Middle East. Highdeal now has over 150 customer deployments in over 40 countries world-wide, supporting a wide range of services including Triple-play, VoIP, mobile and on-demand services. [Read more…]

Comverse Asia Pacific Group Honored As Telecom BSS Vendor Of The Year

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Comverse, a subsidiary of Comverse Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: CMVT), and the world’s leading supplier of software and systems enabling network-based multimedia enhanced communication and billing services, has announced that Comverse Asia Pacific has been conferred the 2006 Telecom BSS Vendor of the Year Award by global growth consulting company Frost & Sullivan for its outstanding performance in 2005.

Sin Siew Teyew, head of telecoms research at Frost & Sullivan, said, “Comverse has done extremely well in positioning itself as a trusted vendor amongst service providers in Asia Pacific. The company is playing a key role in enabling the transformation of service providers towards delivering next-generation services. It is a clear leader with the largest customer base in the region and a strong position in high-growth markets.”

The award was one of a series of prestigious titles conferred at the 2006 Frost & Sullivan Asia Pacific ICT Awards, held annually to recognize outstanding performance and best practices by companies in the information and communications technology (ICT) industry across Asia Pacific. [Read more…]

Swisscom Mobile and cVidya Networks Initiate a Partnership on Revenue Assurance

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Swisscom Mobile and cVidya Networks have announced a partnership in the field of Revenue Assurance. The goal of the partnership is to engage in activities to develop and improve next generation Revenue Assurance best practice and solutions while integrating principles of, for example, business intelligence. The two companies will use the installation of the MoneyMap® at Swisscom Mobile for the development and validation of new and innovative Revenue Assurance technologies, methodologies and principles.

“cVidya has proven to go the extra mile when it comes to Revenue Assurance and understands the requirements of an operator that has a mature Revenue Assurance process. At Swisscom Mobile we believe that Revenue Assurance is to take a different turn, especially in the light of eroding monopolies, hostile markets and continuous market and product innovation. In cVidya we have found a partner who will face the next level of Revenue Assurance challenges successfully and we hope to provide a stimulus to the industry as a whole” said Kurt Meyer, Chief Risk Officer.

“We see Swisscom Mobile’s decision to join efforts with cVidya as a major vote of confidence in our approach to Revenue Assurance,” remarked Alon Aginsky, CEO of cVidya Networks. [Read more…]

TelecomIQ Next Generation OSS Integration Summit

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TelecomIQ, a division of IQPC (International Quality & Productivity Center) have recently announced their upcoming Next Generation OSS Integration Summit titled “People, Process and Systems in the Migration to IP-Based Services”, which will be held on September 25-27, 2006 in Boston, Massachusetts.

“Today, an increasing number of IT executives in the telecom OSS space are recognizing the value of process-oriented thinking and a service orientation in dealing with the migration to IP based services. The OSS Summit in September will provide case studies from the Service Providers on dealing with implementing SOA, Web Services, business process management, and Quality of Service initiatives for improving the efficiency, quality and flexibility of the organization’s Operational Support Systems.”

At the summit, you can learn about defining the right approaches and tools for this service orientation using Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). You can also learn about the key factors for successful integration of the SOA into Enterprise Architecture and obtaining organizational buy-in (demonstrating the value and ROI of SOA to management). Other topics include “How OSS business case can aid or hinder production of new services”. [Read more…]

Billing Components Acquired by Sobha Renaissance Information Technology SRIT

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Sobha Renaissance Information Technology, providers of outsourced IT business services and software products in HealthCare, Telecoms and the Enterprise space, has acquired Munich-based Billing Components AG. This strengthens SRIT’s offering in the Telecoms Operational and Business domain.

Billing Components AG are the creators of software components for the telecoms market in the areas of customer care, billing & collections, rating, usage collection, provisioning and inter-carrier reconciliation and settlements. The exact value of the acquisition was, however, not revealed. [Read more…]

AsiaInfo to Develop Phase II Prepaid Service Management Platform For Shanghai Netcom

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AsiaInfo Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASIA), a provider of telecom software solutions and security products and services in China, announced today it has entered into a contract with Shanghai Netcom to construct a phase II prepaid service management platform.

”Through AsiaInfo’s enhanced prepaid service management platform, Shanghai Netcom will be able to increase their prepaid service offerings and improve the quality and speed of customer services,” said Steve Zhang, President and Chief Executive Officer of AsiaInfo. ”The platform will also integrate their support functions and increase general operating efficiency.”

The phase II prepaid service management platform will allow Shanghai Netcom to provide a greater variety of prepaid services to customers and improve the management of all prepaid service data. In addition, it will connect the process management system to the integrated accounting system. It will also reduce complicated system interfaces and enhance the real-time performance and accuracy of information transfer. [Read more…]

Telecom Cost Management Survey Finds that Mid-Market Enterprises Average 2 Percent Late Payment Penalties

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As a result of inefficient processes to manage telecom expenses, late payment penalties, carrier billing errors, and inadequate visibility into spend, mid-market enterprises are forfeiting opportunities to reduce telecom expenses by an average of 3% to 10%. AberdeenGroup’s new report, ‘The Challenge in Total Telecom Cost Management’ found that mid-size enterprises must address the following issues:

– Inefficient manual processes with 64% of bills were being received in paper format.
– Late payment penalties that are 2% of telecom spend.
– Complex carrier services, contracts, and legacy billing systems produce invoices with error rates of 7% to 12%.
– Eighty percent of the respondents have no formal program to audit for contract compliance.

Telecom costs are difficult to track because they include tangible assets with decentralized inventory spread over multiple locations and intangible services. Move Add Change, Disconnect service order activity creates a moving target that enterprises must reconcile. [Read more…]