Intec wins key deal with Telecom Egypt

• Licences for InterconnecT and Inter-mediatE valued at over one million pounds
  
• Offers new opportunities in the developing Middle East telecoms market

January 15 2002 Cairo/London: Intec Telecom Systems, a global leader in operational support systems (OSS) for telecom companies, has signed a deal with Telecom Egypt, the country's PTT and its largest telecommunications service provider. Valued at over one million pounds sterling, the agreement will supply Telecom Egypt with Intec's market leading InterconnecT™ and Inter-mediatE™ billing solutions, which will facilitate settlements between its ISP business partners and provide mediation features for all the company's billing systems. The deal was negotiated by Intec's new office in Lebanon, under the responsibility of Tarek Mneimneh, who is in charge of developing new business in the Middle East.

"Intec's interconnect and mediation solutions will play an integral part in optimising Telecom Egypt's revenue stream as it continues to develop interconnect partnership agreements with content and Internet service providers", says Mneimneh. InterconnecT and Inter-mediatE are compatible across fixed, wireless and Internet networks, giving Telecom Egypt the flexibility to charge any type of business partner for using its network and services. Intec's solid experience in implementation and installation also ensures that these solutions will be installed quickly across the network, with minimal risk to the overall infrastructure.

"Telecom Egypt is one of the biggest and most successful operators in the region and another win for Intec in a Tier One provider demonstrates that we continue to be the solution of choice in carrier grade billing and mediation," says Kevin Adams, Intec's CEO. "This agreement will heighten our exposure in the Middle East and show other carriers and service providers that we have the technology and experience to support the complex billing requirements of any type of network."

The ISP market in Egypt is fully liberalized and highly competitive, with companies offering a range of services including dial-up, pre-paid and premium services. There are approximately 55,000 paying Internet subscribers and an estimated 250,00 Internet users. The rise in Internet and associated services has stimulated Egypt's telecom industry by challenging carriers to adjust to major technological innovation and new revenue sharing models. As a result, there has been an increase in business-to-business partnerships between different vendors and content and service providers. This has created a requirement for flexible billing and mediation systems that can support all types of networks. Telecom Egypt currently provides the infrastructure for 60 different ISP providers throughout the country. InterconnecT, the world's leading intercarrier billing system, will provide Telecom Egypt with the capability to handle the growing volume of network traffic generated by these new content-oriented partnerships.

Inter-mediatE, a carrier-grade convergent mediation solution, will support the InterconnecT system by providing a platform that can track, measure and charge for the use of Telecom Egypt's entire network. This will be performed by gathering raw data from switches, routers and servers and transforming it into comprehensive billing information.