McLeodUSA Incorporated announced today that its Joint Prepackaged Plan of Reorganization (the “Plan”) became effective on Friday, January 6, 2006, and that the Company has emerged from Chapter 11. As previously reported, McLeodUSA’s Plan was approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois on December 16, 2005, after having received the affirmative vote of more than 90 percent of the creditors who voted on the Plan. [Read more…]

Convergent billing specialist, Cerillion Technologies, today announced it has completed delivery of a new CRM, Billing and Mediation solution for Caudwell Communications Ltd. Cerillion provided a turnkey delivery, implementing the CRM Plus, Revenue Manager and Mediator products from the pre-integrated Cerillion suite, and completing the migration from Caudwell’s legacy systems.

The new system delivers a cost-effective solution to support Caudwell’s Carrier Pre-Select (CPS), Broadband and other services to customers across the UK. The system also supports BT’s Wholesale Line Rental (WLR) provisioning which is critical for CPS providers needing to provide a complete telephony solution to their customers.

Speaking yesterday at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show here, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg will outline the unique role his company is playing in delivering a total broadband experience to customers and how Verizon’s new multimedia networks are evolving to ultimately deliver digital content on any device — anywhere, anytime. [Read more…]

DAX Technologies was accepted into the membership of the TeleManagement Forum (http://www.tmforum.org). The TeleManagement Forum (TM Forum) is a non-profit global organization providing leadership, strategic guidance and practical solutions to improve the management and operation of information and communications services. The TM Forum membership is open to over 450 companies and includes incumbent and new-entrant service providers, computing and network equipment suppliers, software solution suppliers and customers of communications services. TM Forum has been actively contributing to the Information and Communications Services (ICS) Industry for over 15 years.
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LogicaCMG today announces that it has won a contract with PT Natrindo Telepon Seluler (NTS), a 3G and GSM1800 operator in Indonesia, to provide an extensive suite of telecoms products and solutions to enable advanced mobile data and charging services for NTS’ mobile networks. The contract is a significant win for LogicaCMG in Asia Pacific, reinforcing its position as a leading mobile telecoms solutions provider in the region.

The contract, to be implemented over a four-year period requires LogicaCMG to design, build and operate the Service Platform Network (SPN) as well as IT and Business Support Systems (BSS). LogicaCMG will also deliver Programme Management, System Integration and Managed Services for the solutions.

The SPN portfolio includes LogicaCMG’s IP-based Next Generation Messaging architecture and prepaid charging solution, comprising the Short Messaging Service Centre (SMSC), Multimedia Messaging Service Centre (MMSC), Wireless Service Broker (WSB) and Pre-Delivery Service Agent (PSA). The SPN will enable NTS to offer superior messaging, browsing and content download capabilities. The IT and BSS components will provide interconnect settlement, rating, mediation, provisioning, service management and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) capabilities for NTS.

The complete portfolio of telecoms products and solutions is enabling NTS to offer its subscribers a high quality of service delivery for messaging and wireless browsing, as well as accurate and transparent real-time pre-paid billing for greater revenue assurance. NTS is well positioned to innovate in a highly competitive market, offer enhanced customer service thus improving end-user experience and achieve significant cost savings.

ANT plc (AIM: ANTP), the market leading provider of software and solutions for the IPTV, hybrid TV and consumer electronics industries, announced today that the company will demonstrate its Galio TV Application Manager and client software at the 2006 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), taking place 5-8 January in Las Vegas. In the IPTV Tech Zone at the Sands Convention Center (72241-J), ANT will feature the award-nominated ANT Galio client. ANT Galio is at the heart of the world’s premier TV Application Manager, which provides a consistent and extensible platform for the delivery, presentation and control of interactive TV applications and enhanced services. More than 70 percent of the world’s IPTV deployments depend on ANT.

Visitors to the IPTV Tech Zone will see demonstrations of the increased service value and differentiation that can be achieved through the use of ANT’s standards-based, extensible client software. Along with partners Amino Communications, BitBand, Kreatel and Orca Interactive, the company will show elements of IPTV, including fast channel change, next generation electronic program guide (EPG) and various interactive services that form the basis of the majority of the world’s IPTV deployments.

“IPTV is an exciting, fast-growing opportunity that delivers significant value for Telcos and digital TV operators worldwide. 2006 promises to be a strong year for IP and hybrid TV deployments,” said Stephen Reeder, executive director of sales and marketing for ANT. “ANT is working closely with the other global leaders to define and roll out new and compelling services.”

ANT solutions and expertise are widely adopted by the world’s leading IPTV services, including Telecom Italia, Chunghwa Telecom, France Telecom, Sasktel and SureWest. ANT’s award-nominated Galio platform has redefined the benchmark for IPTV client technology and is rapidly gaining an extensive worldwide content creation following.

MTS – Mer Telemanagement Solutions Ltd. (Nasdaq: MTSL), a global provider of business support systems for comprehensive telecommunication management and customer care & billing solutions, today announced that its telecom solutions have enabled nearly 1,000 colleges, universities and school districts throughout the world to better analyze telecommunications expenses by accurately identifying billing problems and allowing them to reduce their overall telecom expenses. The MTS Application Suite instructs educational institution on the ABC’s of managing their telecom expenses — Accounting, Billing and Control. MTS solutions enable these institutions to check and track telecom expenses, while offering lost cost services to their students, faculty and administration.

MTS has sold its Application Suite to colleges and universities such as William Patterson University in New Jersey (USA) and the University of Johannesburg (formerly RAU) in South Africa. At the University of Johannesburg, which consists of 17 campuses/sites, the MTS Application Suite is used to bill students at discounted rates, charge faculty and administration calls to their respective departments, and track and monitor all calls relative to allocated budgets. The Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), which consists of over 1,000 districts throughout the state of Texas, is another example of an educational institution with demonstrated success utilizing the MTS Application Suite. The New York State Board of Education has used MTS solutions for more than 10 years to check, control and manage telecom expenses across its 400 plus school districts throughout the state, ensuring that expenses are billed to the appropriate district.

MTS’ Telecommunications Expense Management (TEM) solution features an automated simplified tool for managing, monitoring and routing invoices for payment or correction. Invoice data is transmitted from all sources, including calling cards, purchase orders, mobile lines and landlines, and automatically analyzed relative to real usage, thereby reducing overhead costs caused by invoice discrepancies, disputes and errors. MTS’ TEM solution is comprised of a number of modules that work in tandem to manage all telecommunications expenses, such as Invoice Management, Bill Verification, Call Accounting, and Workflow Management. The Invoice Management module facilitates full bill reconciliation, verifying charges with actual contracts and assets against their known inventories, and provides tracking for all discovered billing anomalies. Bill Verification automatically validates data from the PBX against the data provided by the service provider to ensure the rates, durations, and costs are all within the company’s tolerable levels. Workflow and procedure controls are maximized when MTS’ customizable process engine is utilized to define all corporate defined process steps, rules and data flow, as well as monitor and adjust them according to their individual business policies. Application Suite’s modular infrastructure allows for the suite to be purchased on a modular basis and expanded as the organization grows or desires additional features.

Platinum Equity announced today that its portfolio company Matrix Telecom, Inc. has completed the acquisition of Global Crossing’s Small Business Group (SBG), which provides voice and data products to small- and medium-sized enterprise customers in the United States. In addition, Global Crossing and Matrix announced they have executed a long-term carrier services agreement under which Global Crossing will provide a full suite of voice, data and IP services to Matrix and its customers. SBG’s current product offering includes switched and dedicated voice services and data applications.

“The integration of Matrix and SBG is well underway and should be seamless for customers,” said Rob Joubran, chief operating officer and treasurer for Platinum Equity. “These two businesses complement one another extremely well, and combining them enhances the capabilities of both. Our top priority during the integration process is to maintain excellent service for customers of both Matrix and SBG.”

Global Crossing divested SBG after announcing it intended to de-emphasize certain non-core areas of its business, including the small- to medium-sized enterprise space. Platinum Equity, which often works with large corporations on non-core divestitures, identified the business as a strong complement to Matrix. A definitive agreement to sell SBG to Matrix was announced in March 2005.

“One of Platinum’s core strengths is our ability to grow existing portfolio companies through strategic add-on acquisitions that expand their capabilities, and the SBG acquisition is a great example of that,” said Matt Young, senior vice president for M&A at Platinum.

“We not only provided a divestiture solution to Global Crossing, which viewed the business as non-core, but we strengthened both SBG and Matrix by bringing them together,” Mr. Young said. “Moving forward, our M&A team will continue seeking additional acquisitions to further expand Matrix Telecom’s small- and medium-sized enterprise customer base.”

Rogers Communications Inc. will be participating in the Citigroup Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference being held in Phoenix, Arizona January 9 – 11, 2006. On January 9, 2006, Rogers will be presenting from 10:25 – 11:00 a.m. (MT). A live audio webcast of the presentation, as well as an on-demand replay following the presentation, will be accessible through Rogers’ Investor Relations website at http://www.rogers.com/webcast.

Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: CNSL) announced today it will present at the 16th Annual Citigroup Entertainment, Media & Telecom Conference being held at the Arizona Biltmore Resort in Phoenix, AZ on Monday, January 9, 2006, at 2:30 p.m. MT time/4:30 p.m. ET. A live webcast of management’s presentation will be accessible from the “Investor Relations” section of Consolidated’s website ( http://www.consolidated.com ). In addition, a replay of the webcast will be available.

About Consolidated
Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. is an established rural local exchange company (RLEC) providing communications services to residential and business customers in Illinois and Texas. Each of the operating companies has been operating in their local markets for over 100 years. With approximately 245,000 local access lines and over 36,000 digital subscriber lines (DSL), Consolidated Communications offers a wide range of telecommunications services, including local dial tone, custom calling features, private line services, long distance, dial-up and high-speed Internet access, carrier access, digital TV, VoIP, telephone directories and billing and collection services. Consolidated Communications is the 15th largest local telephone company in the United States.

ECtel, a leading global provider of Integrated Revenue Management(TM) (IRM(TM)) solutions, announces the closing of the previously announced acquisition of Elron Telesoft, a prominent revenue assurance solution provider. This acquisition strengthens ECtel’s position as a leading provider of IRMTM and revenue assurance solutions to communications service providers (CSPs) worldwide.

About ECtel
ECtel (NASDAQ: ECTX) is a leading global provider of Integrated Revenue Management(TM) (IRM(TM)) solutions for communications service providers. A pioneering market leader for over 15 years, ECtel offers carrier-grade solutions that enable wireline, wireless, converged and next-generation operators to fully manage their revenue and cost processes. Led by the Company’s flagship fraud management solution FraudView(R), the ECtel IRM(TM) Product Suite features a range of fraud and revenue assurance products that minimize operator revenue leakage across the operations support system (OSS) chain. ECtel serves more than 75 customers, including prominent tier-one operators, in over 50 countries. Established in 1990, ECtel maintains offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit http://www.ectel.com

Formula Telecom Solutions, Ltd. (LSE: FTS), a leading global provider of Billing and CRM solutions for service and content providers and the telecom industry, today announced that it ranked 54th on the 2005 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Ranking are based on percentage revenue growth over five years, from 2000-2004. FTS grew 1373 percent during this period.

“This recognition by Deloitte clearly demonstrates the growing market acceptance of FTS’ solutions. Furthermore, in the last quarter of 2005, FTS signed new deals amounting to about US$15m,” said Yair Sakov, FTS’ Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. “FTS is capitalizing on service and content providers’ moves to next generation products, while providing traditional operators with state-of-the-art solutions that address their current needs with a clear roadmap for the future.”

“Because Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA measures sustained revenue growth over five years, being one of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in EMEA is an impressive achievement,” said Eric Morgain, partner in charge of Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 EMEA program. “Formula Telecom Solutions deserves a lot of credit for its remarkable growth.”

In addition to ranking on Deloitte’s Fast 500, FTS ranked 7th on the Israel Technology Fast 50 (http://www.fast50.co.il/), which is a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology firms in Israel. The prestigious Israel Technology Fast 50 focuses on success stories among emerging Israeli companies, with FTS continuing to be one of Israel’s strongest and more successful.