- First year revenues in excess of £5million ($8.7 million); 10% pre-tax profits
- 1999 growth predicted to exceed 100% with rapid global expansion
UK-based Intec Telecom Systems, a fast-growing telecoms software specialist, has announced revenues of over £5 million pounds and pre-tax profits of around 10% for its first year of operations, with the majority of revenue coming from a series of high-value international contracts for InterconnecT, the telecom industry’s leading interconnect settlements solution. Intec predicts growth for next year will exceed 100%, as deregulation in world telecoms markets fuels demand for interconnect solutions capable of dealing with complex intercarrier agreements and a new generation of sophisticated telecoms products.
Intec Telecom Systems recorded pre-tax profits of around 10% of revenues, despite significant investment in product development, staff and international offices. The Company, part of the high-tech NATH group, was formed in September 1997 following the acquisition of the InterconnecT product line from Sterling Software.
During 1998 Intec has more than doubled the existing customer base for InterconnecT to 36 installations, with a series of high-profile contracts with both existing carriers and new market entrants, including Telkom South Africa, Connect Austria, diAx of Switzerland, and SIRIS (France). This year Intec has opened offices in the United Kingdom, South Africa, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Singapore and Australia with plans to open offices in South America and a second office in Asia.
“Our growth has been powered by strong worldwide demand for our flagship product, InterconnecT, driven by a combination of technical and financial issues within the market place” says Intec Telecom Systems’ MD, Kevin Adams. “Deregulation, and technical problems like mobile roaming, number portability, Year 2000 and EMU are pushing many carriers to look at new interconnect settlement systems. The complexity of modern interconnect agreements, the growth in call volumes, and margin pressures caused by the downward trend of call revenues have made interconnect a business issue which can impact both cashflow and profitability.”
Highlights of Intec Telecom Systems’ 1998 results include:
- 1998 (Sept 97 - Sept 98) Revenues - £5,247,000 ($8,710,000)
- 1998 Net Profit Before Tax - £523,000 ($868,180)
- Revenue Breakdown - UK: £2,318,000 ($3,847,880), International:£2,929,000 ($4,862,140)
During 1998 Intec Telecom Systems successfully launched the latest version of InterconnecT. Version5, which uses a new three-tier client/server architecture to exploit the scalability and massive processing power available from both UNIX and, in the near future, Windows 2000 platforms, enabling both large and small telcos to handle interconnect settlement cost-effectively, whatever their daily call volumes. InterconnecT V5 has already been installed by a number of Intec Telecom Systems’ clients, including Worldcom, diAx of Switzerland, SIRIS of France, Infostrada of Italy and Telkom South Africa.
Interconnect billing and settlement systems are used by telephone carriers to invoice and verify charges between themselves for carrying each other’s calls. InterconnecT charges can be up to 90% of a carrier’s 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.