- Staff, software products and customers complement Intec’s ‘revenue assurance’ strategy
London, 31 May 2001 - Intec Telecom Systems PL (“Intec”), a leading provider of telecoms Operations Support Systems (“OSS”), today announces that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Dataphone Limited (“Dataphone”), a private UK based provider of telecoms software solutions. The total consideration is £1.1 million, to be satisfied in cash (to be paid from Intec’s current cash resources of £23 million). For the year ended 30 November 2000, Dataphone had sales of approximately £1.3 million, which included £500,000 of recurring revenue from support contracts, and EBIT loss of approximately £1.1 million due, in part, to substantial investment in product development. As the business is integrated, operating synergies are expected to be achieved and the transaction is expected to boost earnings potential in the medium term.
Dataphone, established in 1994 by ex-Nortel engineers, has developed a number of telecoms revenue assurance software products which it has sold to customers that include multiple NTL sites, Global Crossing and IDT, among others. Intec will integrate Dataphone’s products, 19 staff, and business operations into its current structure. Dataphone has offices in the UK and Barcelona, Spain.
“Acquiring Dataphone helps us strategically in two key ways,” said Intec’s Executive Chairman, Mike Frayne. “Firstly, we will gain several complementary software products, in areas such as telecom fraud detection and billing revenue assurance, that usefully extend our current offering. In addition, we will gain staff resources with directly relevant experience in our main markets of mediation and billing, which is important as we gear up for growth across the business, particularly in next-generation networks.”
Richard Smith, Dataphone’s Managing Director added, “Intec’s strong reputation and global operations will allow us to take our vision for our products forward in way that would be difficult as a standalone business. We also bring core expertise in several disciplines of growing interest to Intec, particularly in the convergent space, which will help it achieve its business goals in areas such as next-generation networks.”
Dataphone’s products lie in four areas – convergent mediation, fraud detection and analysis, interconnect reconciliation and analysis, and revenue assurance and regulatory compliance reporting. The products, which all fall within Intec’s existing revenue assurance strategy, are modern client/server solutions designed around a common technical architecture that allows fast integration and extension.
Dataphone’s staff of 19 people also includes sales, support, marketing and experienced telecoms and IT industry management. The current management team have backgrounds in major companies that include Nortel, Olivetti, TNT and Thorn-EMI. In addition to its UK offices in Leicestershire, Dataphone has a sales and support subsidiary in Barcelona, Spain.
Intec’s billing customer base includes, amongst others, MCI Worldcom, COLT Telecommunications, France Telecom, Swisscom, T-Mobile International, Thus and Telkom South Africa. Intec’s mediation customer base includes, amongst others, Bell South, Telstra, Cable and Wireless, ITXC, Verizon, US Wireless, and Telia.
Other product offerings include InterconnecT ITU for settlement based on ITU rules, the InterconnecT ASP service, and Maxi-routE, a Least Cost Routing system. Founded in 1997, Intec was listed on the London Stock Exchange (code: ITL) in June 2000.