Comverse Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: CMVT) today announced that Comverse Inc. completed its acquisition of the GSS division and certain related assets of CSG Systems International, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSGS), for approximately $249 million in cash, subject to certain post closing adjustments. The combination of GSS, a leader in software-based billing solutions, with Comverse’s Real-Time Billing group is expected to expand significantly Comverse’s addressable market, and enhance its leadership position in the emerging converged billing market, serving wireless, wireline, cable, satellite, and Internet-based service providers.
GSS brings to Comverse a broad suite of software-based billing solutions, supporting the voice, data, video, and e-commerce offerings of approximately 150 service providers, including wireless, wireline, cable, satellite, and Internet-based companies. GSS customers include, among others, Bharti, British Sky Broadcasting, BSNL, BT, China Telecom, eBay, France Telecom, O2, Telecom Italia and certain Vodafone entities.
Kobi Alexander, Chairman and CEO of Comverse Technology, said, “We believe the emerging converged billing market is approaching an inflection point, and that a significant growth opportunity is at hand. Converged billing is expected to be among the fast growing, and ultimately one of the largest, segments of the overall billing market. This combination is projected to enhance our leadership position as a supplier of converged billing solutions, and to open up cross-selling growth opportunities for data, messaging, content, and billing solutions into our respective customer bases.”
Zeev Bregman, CEO of Comverse, the company’s network systems unit, said, “GSS complements our product portfolio, technology, customer footprint, and strategic direction. Most service providers today rely on disparate solutions for billing, including highly customized, inflexible systems serving specific customer and application segments, including prepaid, post-paid, fixed, and wireless. As services and networks converge, so too will billing solutions, addressing the different types of convergence, such as prepaid/post-paid, fixed/mobile, and data/voice. We believe that flexible, software-centric product modules, such as those provided by GSS and Comverse, are best suited to meet the needs of service providers going forward. In addition, we believe service providers will appreciate the advantages of having both value-added services and billing solutions provided by the same supplier. The advantages include faster time-to-market for new services, greater flexibility in service segmentation, modification, and targeted marketing campaigns, and lower total cost of ownership. This growth-driven initiative is expected to position Comverse for long-term leadership in the emerging and expanding converged billing market, expand our customer base and scale, enhance the leadership position of both GSS and Comverse in their respective domains, and introduce new cross-selling growth opportunities into both customer bases.”
The combination of GSS and Comverse’s Real-Time Billing group is expected to result in the creation of a leading supplier of converged billing solutions, and one of the leading overall suppliers of billing solutions for wireless and fixed service providers.