London/Moscow, 4 April 2007: Intec, a global provider of business and operations support systems (BSS/OSS), announced today that leading Russian telecoms operator, VimpelCom, has selected Intec Interconnect v7 to manage intercarrier billing for its fast-growing long-distance and international business. The Russian market for long-distance and international telephony was deregulated in 2006, with new licences awarded to a number of carriers, including VimpelCom. As a long-established Intec customer, it was natural for VimpelCom to look to the latest generation of the world's most widely installed intercarrier billing and settlements system for its international and long distance traffic.
“We chose Intec Interconnect v7 as a result of our strong relationship with Intec on inter-carrier billing, the track record that Intec Interconnect has built in our domestic business, and because Intec has shown long-term commitment to the Russian market,” said Evgeny Saburov, the head of inter-carrier traffic and billing at VimpelCom.
The agreement with VimpelCom, for Intec Interconnect v7 software licences and implementation services, is worth in excess of $1 million. VimpelCom, which serves over 53 million customers across Russi,a is an existing user of both Intec Interconnect and Intec Trading & Routing in its high-volume domestic business. The implementation of Intec Interconnect v7 at VimpelCom will be managed from Intec’s recently opened Moscow office.
“The deregulation of Russia’s telecom market and the country’s burgeoning economy means that traffic levels are rising rapidly,” said Olga Speakes, Intec’s Business Development Director for Russia, Ukraine and the CIS. “With the new operators now entering the market a high performance billing system is an absolute necessity for maximising revenue opportunities from domestic, long distance and international interconnect traffic.”
“This further win with VimpelCom highlights our strong position in high-growth markets like Russia,” added Intec Chairman, John Hughes. “Deregulation is still a major force in the international communications market, and many regions are seeing the arrival of new carriers, with consequent ongoing demand for new systems.”
Intec Interconnect is the world’s most comprehensive and powerful settlements system, handling every kind of traffic, from simple voice to the most advanced content and data services, in a single, highly integrated, platform. Intec Interconnect is an ‘out of the box’ system that supports all billing and settlement models from voice, data, SMS/MMS interconnection, and international route-based tariffs (ITU), to new IP and revenue sharing based agreements with multimedia, content, VoIP, WLAN and m-commerce partners. It combines experience with leading-edge component-based technology to give unprecedented performance, scalability, interoperability and reliability. It is currently in use by over 250 Carriers across the world, including 50+ Tier-1 carriers.
About VimpelCom
The VimpelCom Group (NYSE: VIP) includes cellular companies operating in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, and recently acquired companies in Georgia and Armenia. The Company operates under the 'Beeline' brand. VimpelCom is recognized for introducing two digital cellular communications standards in Russia. It built the first dual band GSM-900/1800 cellular network in Russia and leads the development and emergence of the mass consumer market for wireless telecommunications in Russia with prepaid products.
The VimpelCom Group's license portfolio covers approximately 240 million people. Geographically it covers 78 regions of Russia with 136.5 million people, representing 94% of Russia's population as well as the entire territories of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia and Armenia.
As of September 30, 2006, VimpelCom's total number of subscribers was 52.4 million, with 47.7 million subscribers in Russia, 3.2 million subscribers in Kazakhstan, 0.9 million subscribers in Ukraine, 0.5 million subscribers in Uzbekistan and more than 14 thousand subscribers in Tajikistan. As of November 30, 2006, there were approximately 53.3 million subscribers on VimpelCom's network including 5.9 million subscribers in the CIS outside of Russia.
VimpelCom was the first Russian company to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in November 1996. Its ADSs (American Depositary Shares) are traded under the symbol "VIP".