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Croatia’s Metronet Deploys Convergys’ Infinys Billing Solution in Newly Deregulated Telecom Market

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Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG) provided a unique set of product, consulting, and professional services to implement and integrate a new billing solution to support Croatia’s Metronet telekomunikacije d.d. with complex triple play billing, speedy introduction of new services, and rapid customer growth in Croatia’s newly deregulated telecom market. The Convergys solution for Metronet has gone live, implemented in a matter of months as opposed to longer timeframes often seen in the communications industry.

“As an aggressive new competitor in the triple play arena, we know the importance of speed to market and simplified billing for a complex bundled triple play offering,” said Dennis Rukavina, Chief Financial Officer at Metronet. “We made a strategic commitment in selecting Convergys to consult and implement its solution including Infinys, a comprehensive, off-the-shelf solution that could immediately support the diverse requirements of our sophisticated product suite, and scale to meet our future needs as we undergo rapid expansion.”

The Convergys on-site consulting team completed the implementation on time and within budget in just five months using Convergys’ worldwide implementation best practices learned through over 20 years of experience. As part of the solution, Convergys implemented Infinys [tm], its award winning comprehensive, convergent, business support system software. [Read more…]

cVidya Announces Revenue Assurance Solution for IPTV

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cVidya Networks, a provider of Telecom Data Integrity and Revenue Assurance solutions, announced today the availability of a solution for IPTV services based upon its flagship product, MoneyMap®/Suite. This makes cVidya the first vendor to provide a revenue assurance solution for IPTV. The solution covers both active and proactive aspects of revenue assurance, making it particularly important at the IPTV service deployment stage. cVidya’s solution was recently validated as the revenue assurance component of the IPTV Catalyst project presented by the TeleManagement Forum in Nice.

“Being the first to identify and address the need for revenue assurance in the most innovative and promising line of business in the telecommunications arena today, is an important achievement for cVidya as a leader in our field,” commented Alon Aginsky, CEO of cVidya. “As the services offered by the telecommunications industry continue to multiply, we aim to continually adapt our solutions and lead the revenue assurance industry in fulfilling the changing needs of the communication service providers.”

The business of IPTV has lately become one area in which revenue assurance is especially critical. As CSP’s focus their efforts on IPTV deployment to gain market share, the support systems infrastructure receives lower attention, and they find themselves increasingly exposed to financial risks resulting from data and process integrity issues. Furthermore, information and revenue flows now must be managed between a growing number of content providers and other partners, in addition to the network and consumers. [Read more…]

Intec Honored by AT&T As Outstanding Supplier

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Commitment to excellence over the past year has earned Intec Telecom Systems (LSE: ITL) recognition as an outstanding supplier to AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), one of the world’s leading data, voice, wireless and Internet services providers.

“We are proud of our long-standing tradition of providing unparalleled products and services to our business and residential customers,” said Maureen Merkle, President, AT&T Procurement. “We’re successful on that front in large part thanks to supplier partners like Intec Telecom Systems that consistently go above and beyond the call of duty.”

Intec received one of 49 supplier recognition awards for its work in helping AT&T deliver outstanding service to its customers during the past year. Intec was recognized for its contributions in the Teamwork category. [Read more…]

Digicel Reaches 2 Million Customers with Launch of VoluBill’s Charge It Solutions

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VoluBill, a supplier of real-time charging, control and monitoring applications for IP-based mobile services, today announced the successful launch of its latest versions of Charge it™ for Browsing, Charge It™ for Delivery and Charge it™ for IP solutions in Digicel’s mobile network operations in Trinidad & Tobago and Haiti. Through the installation of VoluBill’s products Digicel is now able to support pre-paid charging for mobile data, content and messaging services for millions of wireless subscribers across its expanding pan Caribbean GSM network of 20 Caribbean markets.

“It is with great pleasure that we announce that Digicel has purchased and deployed our enhanced “Charge it “ solution and the results of the implementation have exceeded expectations,” explains John Aalbers, VoluBill’s CEO. “This is due to the solutions’ cutting edge, real-time technology, which enables Digicel to seamlessly and cost-effectively apply revenue enhancing pre-paid charging plans. VoluBill’s solutions achieve this objective by measuring and charging mobile data, content and messaging services accessed by Digicel’s two million plus subscribers on pre-paid tariffs. The results are greater revenue streams and reliable, non-labour intensive network maintenance.”

Founded in 2001, Jamaica-based Digicel is the leading and fastest-growing GSM network provider in the Caribbean. The company has played an important role in the advancement of cellular communications in the region, offering innovative, competitively priced products and services as well as superior customer care to over two million subscribers. VoluBill’s advanced and well proven solutions enables Digicel to successfully manage its growing subscriber base and offer excellent network coverage as it continues its development across the Caribbean islands. [Read more…]

Convergys Appoints Bawa Singh Country Manager of Customer Care Operations in India

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Convergys Corporation (NYSE:CVG), a global leader in providing customer care, human resources, and billing services, announces the appointment of Dr. Bawa Singh as interim Vice President and Country Manager for Convergys’ Customer Care operations in India, effective June 16, 2006.

“Bawa is a seasoned and successful senior executive with a strong history of influential leadership and accomplishment, traits that are vital to our India operations, and we are pleased to welcome him to Convergys,” said Streit. “India is important to the success of Convergys and Bawa’s appointment as vice president and country manager for Convergys’ Customer Care operations in India is an important component of Convergys’ plans to continue growing its operations in India in the future.”

In this position, Dr. Singh will be responsible for overseeing the operations of Convergys Corporation’s eight contact centers and approximately 10,000 customer care employees in India. Singh will report to Clint Streit, executive vice president of global operations for Convergys’ Customer Care business, and will be located in New Delhi. [Read more…]

Amdocs Ranks First in Global OSS Market According to OSS Observer Report

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Amdocs (NYSE: DOX – News), a provider of software and services to enable integrated customer management and the intentional customer experience(TM), has announced that it was named the leading provider of global operations support systems (OSS) in a recent report by OSS Observer titled, Market Share: Global OSS Supplier Market Leadership in 19 Segments.

“Amdocs has established a leading position in billing systems with a combination of software and extensive services,” said Patrick Kelly, founder and senior analyst of OSS Observer. “Through acquisitions and new development, they have expanded to be a leader in customer care and are emerging as a service fulfillment leader as well. As CSPs push toward greater OSS/BSS convergence, Amdocs portfolio is the most comprehensive offering in the market.”

OSS Observer defines the OSS space to include both network-facing systems (OSS) and aspects of customer-facing business support systems (BSS), such as billing and customer relationship management (CRM). Amdocs has three times the market share of the second largest provider, according to the report, which is an annual ranking of 250 global software and equipment vendors. [Read more…]

Intec Upgrades Interconnect Billing Product

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Intec, a global provider of business and operations support systems (BSS/OSS) for fixed, mobile and next-generation networks, has launched the latest version of Intec Interconnect (previously known as InterconnecT), the world’s leading convergent rating, billing and settlement solution.

Hassan Iftikhar, Intec vice president of product management, said, “With Intec Interconnect v7.1, you choose the functionality needed to suit different environments and settlement requirements. Requirements such as pre-processing, ITU, automated reconciliation and partner relationship management become useful for many service providers as they reach specific milestones in their business development. For example, allowing partners secure, web-based self service facilities may become cost effective after specific services are implemented, or after a particular number of partners are acquired.”

A modular, flexible solution, Intec Interconnect v7.1 supports all service architectures and all settlement billing models, from voice, data and SMS interconnection to international route-based tariffs (ITU), new IP and revenue sharing based agreements with multimedia content VoIP and m-commerce partners. The system offers customers a seamless and efficient transition from traditional telephony into the world of IP and content from the same, single platform. [Read more…]

Elitecore Technologies Changes Name of JISP Billing to Crestel Convergent Billing

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Elitecore Technologies has announced a change of name from JISP Billing to Crestel Convergent Billing. Crestel accurately depicts the end-to-end capabilities of the solution which are in tune with the market movement towards triple-play convergence.

“Crestel represents our core concept of building Scale with Margins in rapidly emerging economies like India and China,” says Nikhil Jain, President and COO, Elitecore Technologies, vendor of Crestel. “Considering the low penetration in these economies, operator concerns involve rapid scale rollouts while delivering high-end, value-added services simultaneously. This requires deep segmentation and high level of innovation at both ends,” he adds.

Crestel is based on a convergent billing framework, providing next generation triple-play services to wireline and wireless networks over a single platform. [Read more…]

NewMarket Technology VOIP Subsidiary XIPTEL Communications Launches Proprietary Decision Support Solution

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Newmarket Technology’s VoIP Subsidiary XIPTEL Communications has launched their proprietary solution for managing a company’s back office operations. XCCP, (Xiptel Customer Control Panel), the core component of XIPTEL’s intellectual property portfolio, has been running the back office functions for XIPTEL since January 2006, and is now available to selected customers.

“Customers can now get on-line access to incoming and outgoing calls whenever they want, from wherever they are,” said Peter Geddis, XIPTEL’s CEO. “Today’s VoIP based systems provide a long list of important features to customers,” said Geddis, “but unless access to useful information and control is made easy and reliable, many of those features will remain unused. Our XCCP system solves those problems, adds real value to our company, and helps set us apart from our competition. Offering new products and services, such as XCCP, is an integral step to building our revenue base to $10 million for this year and meeting our forecast for 100% growth in 2007.”

XCCP handles the back office tasks involved with subscriber management, provisioning, support ticketing, call detail reporting and mediation, and billing. The software features a multi-level security and permissions architecture to allow subscribers, customer administrators, resellers, and system billing, engineering, and executive users to view and manage those elements necessary for day to day operations and planning. [Read more…]

ONO Uses Convergys Infinys Software for Services Bundling, Flexible Pricing, and Increased Cable Market Penetration in Spain

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Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG), a leader in integrated billing, employee care, and customer care services, announced today its Infinys [tm] rating and billing software is in live operation at ONO, the leading broadband communications operator in Spain. Convergys is providing convergent billing across all of ONO’s services, bolstering its “triple play” offerings of voice, data, and video services, and helping to increase market penetration throughout Spain.

“Because we’ve worked with Convergys since ONO was formed in 1998, we’ve experienced the considerable value and cost efficiencies that Convergys and its solutions and services bring to our business,” said Jorge Vega, CRM and Billing IT Director, ONO. “Moreover, at a time when strong differentiation is needed to attract and retain customers, Convergys gives us the ability to better support our customers with bundled service offerings that meet their needs at competitive prices. With this new ability to differentiate our services, we will be better able to address our potential market of over eighteen million homes.”

The implementation involved the migration of all customers and accounts and over 2.5 million recurring charge services from ONO’s existing billing system to Infinys. [Read more…]

LHS Wins Best Contribution to Billing at IIR Billing and Information Management Systems 2006

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LHS, a leading provider of telecommunications billing and customer care systems has won the “Overall – Best contribution to billing” at the IIR’s World Billing Awards 2006 second year in a row. The World Billing Awards acknowledge best billing practice and raise awareness of how significant billing, charging, IT and associated processes are to the communications industry. LHS was selected for its efforts in supporting IMS and all-IP billing. In the category “Best billing implementation” LHS earned second place.

“We are delighted to acknowledge LHS as winner in the ‘Overall – Best Contribution to Billing’ category for their development work on IMS-ready products.” said Hugh Roberts, Chairman of the Awards Judging Panel and Consultant Director for IIR’s BSS/OSS and RM events. “This year for the first time we took the unusual step of imposing an additional last minute requirement on the finalists in the ‘Overall’ category – and it was significant that each of them chose to highlight a different aspect of their value proposition as the most compelling. It was interesting to us that only one of the finalists mentioned the need to confront and overcome the challenges of IMS and all-IP billing – and that company was LHS.”

LHS recognized the trend towards IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) very early. IMS is a layered horizontal network architecture based on IP standards enabling network operators to offer all kinds of new services to their customers, independent from the type of network access or device used. LHS has managed to cope with the requirements and challenges of IMS and all-IP billing, and taken the industry lead by integrating its key charging and accounting protocol Diameter into its product portfolio. This enables carriers on-line and offline billing in an all-IP environment. [Read more…]

Filed Under: LHS

mBlox Selects Valista Payment Platform for Mobile Internet Billing and WAP Billing

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Valista (www.valista.com), the leading provider of payments and merchandizing solutions enabling the purchase of premium digital services, today announced that mBlox, the world’s largest mobile transaction network, is deploying Valista’s end-to-end transaction engine — PaymentsPlus. mBlox selected the payment platform after a close comparison of the world’s leading vendors and will use it to support its next generation mobile billing services, including WAP billing.

Andrew Bud, Executive Chairman of mBlox, said, “The evolution of premium SMS, an industry we lead, into the next generation of mobile content billing is a huge opportunity for us. We will be able to offer a wider range of innovative and effective payment services for our customers. The mobile content industry will be able to deliver and bill content including mobile TV, video clips, gaming and music downloads. We chose Valista’s technology because it is proven to be the best in the industry, and are pleased to be working with a company with a similar customer-focused ethos to ourselves.”

Valista’s PaymentsPlus solution enables mobile transaction network providers and telecommunications operators to adapt to the ever-changing dynamics of the global payments market by offering more flexible payment choices such as direct to mobile bill charging and WAP billing. [Read more…]

Alcatel Selects LHS Billing and Customer Care System for Pre-Postpaid Convergent Billing

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LHS, a provider of telecommunications billing and customer care systems and Alcatel (Paris: CGEP.PA and NYSE: ALA) announced today that they have extended their strategic partnership to offer a combined pre-post-paid convergent billing solution for simplified and cost-optimized billing operations.

Stéphane Terranova, President of Alcatel’s integration and services activities, commented: “Today, mobile operators need to compensate for the steady decline in revenue from voice services and reduce the cost of operations. Having a single billing system for both prepaid and postpaid customers will enable operators to increase operational efficiency. At the same time, the convergent solution will help operators to launch new pre- and postpaid services to fight fierce competition with faster time-to-market, and increase revenues. Alcatel has selected LHS’s BSCS for its proven superior functionality and excellent performance in the IT field, which perfectly fits with Alcatel’s real time billing leadership and over 10 years of expertise in the network field.”

The new solution combines LHS’s billing and customer care system, BSCS iX and Alcatel’s Payment Suite 4.4 with Alcatel’s project management and integration skills to provide an end-to-end convergent billing solution from customer management to network interaction. The convergent solution includes features such as real-time call control, full real-time convergent rating engine, and unified provisioning and customer care for prepaid and postpaid customers. [Read more…]

Elitecore Launches Convergent Billing Solution in Europe at Billing Systems 2006

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Elitecore Technologies has launched Crestel, its Convergent Billing Solution, in the European region through its participation in Billing Systems 2006. Formerly known as JISP Billing, Crestel is the carrier-grade billing, customer care, mediation and provisioning platform that enables next generation data, voice and video services over wireless and wireline networks.

“In the current highly evolutionary phase, operator success depends on a customer oriented approach rather than a technology-oriented one,” says Nikhil Jain, President and COO, Elitecore Technologies. “Crestel’s strength lies in its ability to build scale with margins, enhancing operator profitability and long-term stability.”

Crestel delivers scale with margins by facilitating convergence at the customer, OSS and BSS level, while enabling fine segmentation at the customer, service and geographic levels. The Western European Billing and OSS market is set to grow to nearly EUR1.4 billion by 2010, according to Analysys. Crestel aims to penetrate this market through a modular approach in addition to full systemic revamps. Crestel’s modular architecture delivers billing, customer care, mediation and provisioning, offering great flexibility and scalability to service providers. [Read more…]

Allround and Energoinvest Win Roaming Tender for Introduction of TAP3 Standard in BH Telecom’s GSM Billing System

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Allround, a supplier in the global roaming market and Energoinvest, a key player in the telecommunications market in Bosnia Herzegovina announced that their joint bid has been successful in winning roaming tender for the introduction of the TAP3 standard in BH Telecom’s GSM Billing System. The strong partnership between Allround and Energoinvest will guarantee that BH Telecom will benefit both from Allround’s global roaming expertise and Energoinvest’s extensive local support.

“The contract was awarded and selected from a high level of competition that tested suppliers ability for local support competitiveness and ability to grow with our company” said Ms. Tanja Trivanovic, Project Manager at BH Telecom.

Bosnia Herzegovina represents a new addition to the expanding list of countries, where Allround’s highly reliable TAP Solution is deployed. It is a very thoroughly tested, robust application that proved its worth in several similar reference projects. [Read more…]

Argent Networks Appoints Senior US Telco Exec Fred Lax to Board

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Argent Networks has appointed Frederick (Fred) M. Lax to its Board as a Non-Executive Director. Prior to joining Argent Networks, Fred served as President and CEO of Tekelec, formerly a California based telecommunications company that recently moved its corporate headquarters to North Carolina, and which is a leading developer of next-generation switching and signaling telecommunications solutions, network performance management technology, and value-added applications.

Chris Jones, CEO of Argent Networks says he is delighted that someone of Fred’s calibre and international experience has joined the Board. “Fred is a driven, natural thinker who is not afraid to challenge the status quo and actively seek growth and change. He has considerable knowledge of the telecommunications industry, which is ideal for Argent, and he will also bring the company his wider experience and extensive contacts with the global telecommunications industry. Fred’s skills will boost Argent Networks as it continues to expand and develop its business to the next level internationally,” says Jones.

As CEO, Frederick M. Lax provided leadership and guidance to Tekelec and oversaw the company as it broadened and diversified its telecommunications product portfolio, strengthened its competitive position and expanded its global presence in key markets world-wide, substantially increasing revenue and operational results. Under his leadership Tekelec also acquired several private companies, providing customers in the telecommunications industry with the company’s leading next generation technology solutions. [Read more…]

Avea Selects Schema’s GSM Network Optimization Solution

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Schema, a global provider of network optimization software solutions, announced today that it has signed a license agreement with Avea, one of Turkey’s leading wireless operators. Under the agreement, Avea will deploy Schema’s GSM Forté, a highly advanced automatic RF optimization solution, to optimize the planning of network frequencies in major cities in order to increase network capacity and improve quality of service. This deal, which marks the first phase in Schema’s relationship with Avea, demonstrates the company’s further expansion into Europe and continued deployment of GSM Forté by major wireless operators worldwide. [Read more…]

Skype To Debut New Klonies Avatar Product From Comverse

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Comverse, a subsidiary of Comverse Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: CMVT), the world’s leading supplier of software and systems enabling network-based multimedia enhanced communication and billing services, and Skypeâ„¢, the global Internet communications company, today announced Skype Kloniesâ„¢, an innovative avatar service that lets users personalize Skype with special characters that reflect their personalities, moods and interests.

“Recent surveys we conducted show that personalization capabilities are important to the Skype community,” said Saul Klein, VP Marketing, Skype. “Avatars are a key component of the Skype personalization strategy. Klonies are debuting on the Skype site and launching with a ¡§Football Mania¡¨ section offering fun and topical content to everyone on Skype.”

Using the Klonies Studio in the Skype website, users can create and frequently update their unique Klonie image-changing hairstyles, clothing and accessories, expressions, locations, animated activities and more. Klonies appear as the Skype Caller ID on the screen of the called party, representing how the user would like to be seen, and reflecting the user’s appearance, interests, and feelings. As part of the launch, a special “Football Mania” content catalogue has been created, which will allow users to dress their Klonies in fans’ clothing and accessories, perform the well-known ola wave in the football stadium, and much more. [Read more…]

Manx Telecom Secures British Approvals Board of Telecommunications BABT Approval Using Cerillion Billing Solution

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Cerillion Technologies has announced that Manx Telecom, a wholly owned subsidiary of O2 and part of the Telefonica group, had become the first combined fixed and mobile telecommunications company in the world to gain BABT approval for its billing. BABT – British Approvals Board of Telecommunications – is the standard recognised worldwide which gives customers an assurance of accuracy in billing and pricing for telecommunications products and services.

“Gaining approval was a condition of our new Telecom license,” commented Mike Dee, Director of Finance, Manx Telecom. “Cerillion’s billing software supports all our fixed and mobile services and has played a vital role in us achieving this compliance.”

Manx Telecom worked in close co-operation with Cerillion staff to evaluate the existing billing operation, and identify and correct any areas that failed to meet the rigorous conditions laid down by the BABT Standard. By demonstrating that the bill production process achieved the high levels of accuracy and consistency required, approval was achieved in a comparatively short timeframe. [Read more…]

Azure Solutions Wins Fraud Detection Contract with Ukrainian Mobile Operator Astelit

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Azure Solutions, a revenue assurance company, today announced that Ukrainian mobile operator Astelit is deploying Azure Fraud Control System version 3.5 (AFCS v3.5) to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of its anti-fraud system.

Oguz Memiguven, chief technical officer at Astelit said: “Astelit is always moving forward, aiming to deliver the best technology and service. It was really important for us to find a solution that could both integrate with existing legacy systems, and new data or capabilities as they are introduced. Azure offered this in a package that could be easily configured to suit our needs, meaning that we can now run a stronger and more efficient fraud-detection team.”

As a rapidly growing digital communications technology and service provider, Astelit needed a cost-effective and forward-looking way of detecting and preventing fraud. Azure’s flexible and scalable solution will help Astelit easily configure, control and define fraud detection rules, and leverages comprehensive case management workflow and report generation to make its fraud-detection teams even more efficient. AFCS v3.5 will fully integrate with new data that is added to the system, and help to detect fraud as new products are introduced. [Read more…]