- New mobile operator co-owned by Orange demands fast and accurate interconnect charging for innovative services
- InterconnecT will link to Connect Austrias SAP R/3 ERP system to derive extra benefit from settlement and billing information
UK-based Intec Telecom Systems, a fast-growing telecoms software specialist backed by high-tech investment group NATH, has added another high-profile mobile telephone operator, Connect Austria, to its InterconnecT customer base, in a deal worth several million Austrian Schillings. Connect Austria, a joint venture owned by a consortium that includes British mobile operator Orange, Telenor of Norway and Tele Danmark, chose Intec Telecom Systems InterconnecT settlement and billing software as the best solution to deal with its ambitious business growth plans and innovative service structures. Hewlett-Packard acted as prime contractor for the project.
Vienna-based Connect Austria, which launched its GSM DCS1800 service at the end of July in the Tyrol and Voralberg regions, is the third mobile operator in Austria. With financial backing amounting to 12.5 billion Austrian Schillings (around $1 billion), Connect Austria expects to take around 30% market share as a medium term forecast. The company has identified settlement and billing as one of its most critical operational activities, with fast and accurate interconnect charging, plus tight auditing of incoming invoices, essential to good cashflow.
Connect Austrias interconnect specialist, Tor Arne Knutsen, says that Intec Telecom Systems solution was a relatively easy choice on the basis of its functionality, scalability and ability to rapidly produce accurate interconnect bills and auditing of other carriers charges: We had good references for InterconnecT from other telcos, and we were very impressed with Intecs future product plans. We needed a solution that could grow with us, and that had the flexibility in its call rating engine to handle accurately the innovative products we plan to bring to the Austrian mobile market. Intec was also committed to meeting our roll-out goals, and to offering us a guaranteed level of future service.
Connect Austria is linking InterconnecT up to its SAP R/3 business systems, and is also considering linking it with a data warehousing application that will enable it to gain valuable business intelligence about its markets and customers. The use by InterconnecT of a standard ORACLE database to manage all call and billing data was identified by Connect Austria as a major advantage: Direct access to our interconnect data and financial information, using standard interfaces and database enquiry tools, will be very useful, says Tor Arne Knutsen.
Working closely with Intec Telecom Systems consultants, Connect Austria has implemented InterconnecT on a dual-processor Hewlett Packard UNIX server, with only two months elapsing from signing contracts to live running of the software. Connect Austria reports a high degree of satisfaction with product reliability and the effectiveness of the Windows NT-based user interface. The company has set itself a target of processing all call data within 8 hours, leaving 16 hours in any one day for reprocessing or repricing calls, an inevitable activity in a very complex and competitive market. Connect Austria has dimensioned the system to handle over 500,000 calls per day in its first year, with ambitious growth beyond that.
InterconnecT is increasingly the solution of choice for telcos facing a complicated and deregulated market, says Kevin Adams, MD of Intec Telecom Systems. The previous practice of simply trying to get close to the right costs to bill your interconnect partners is a thing of the past, with tighter margins and higher percentages of revenues coming from interconnect making accurate invoices and auditing absolutely vital. Telcos that cannot charge and audit interconnect properly are already suffering in competitive terms, and there are increasing legal and regulatory issues to be dealt with.
Interconnect billing and settlement systems are used by telephone carriers to invoice and verify charges between themselves for carrying each others calls. InterconnecT charges can be up to 90% of a carriers income, representing billions of dollars. Deregulation of world telecommunications, and growth in the number of carriers means the market is now very competitive. Increasingly complex billing agreements between carriers have resulted in high demand for inter-carrier billing solutions able to cope with sophisticated cost calculations (known as rating) against high call volumes. InterconnecT has a very fast and powerful rating engine that has made it the leading solution in this fast-expanding market.
Connect Austria
Austrias third cellular network provider, Connect Austria, started operating in Summer 1998. Connect Austrias shareholders are RHI Telecom with a 20.1% equity stake, VIAG with 20%, Orange and Telenor each have 17.45%, Tele Danmark owns 15% and the Austrian Constantia Telekom (part of the Turnauer Group) holds 10%. Break-even is expected in year five and a positive cumulative cash-flow is targeted for year eight after operations commence. In order to ensure comprehensive coverage as rapidly as possible five regional offices - in Graz, Linz, Klagenfurth, Salzburg and Innsbruck - have been opened.