AOL today announced its decision to make a substantial investment in a new telecoms infrastructure in the UK, which will open up the local telephone network and related services to increased competition and innovation.

The investment will be made in ‘Local Loop Unbundling’ (LLU), which is the process that allows telecoms and Internet companies to replace BT as the provider of services over the telephone line from the local exchange to the phone socket in the home, known as the ‘local loop’. This will enable AOL to deliver Internet, telephony and other broadband related services, such as Video on demand, television over broadband and advanced gaming services, directly to these consumers.
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Info Directions, leading developer of net-centric billing, rating, order management, workflow and selling solutions for the telecommunications industry, is pleased to announce it has reached a significant benchmark this week – the company’s 10-year anniversary.
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Wisor Telecom Corporation, a leading OSS solutions vendor, announced expanded availability of its industry leading OSS solutions for retail and wholesale Voice over IP, number portability order and access circuit management available to carriers who are not existing Wisor customers. Wisor offers carriers proven provisioning support for all aspects of an order process from order entry to resolving fallout with partners.
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Sigma Systems, www.sigma-systems.com, a premier provider and leader in the design, development and deployment of OSS service management solutions, today announced the availability of the Sigma Voice Client Services Centre (CSC), which provides VoIP users with an easy online alternative to speaking on the phone with contact centre representatives.
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Atreus Systems(TM), the premier supplier of provisioning software for VoIP and advanced IP services, today announced that it has been selected by Level 3 Communications (Nasdaq: LVLT) to participate in its (3)VoIP Technology Alliance Program (TAP). The (3)VoIP TAP program unites Level 3 with a select group of technology vendors to help service providers quickly deploy services interconnecting with the Level 3 network. Participation in this alliance validates that Atreus’ software is interoperable with Level 3’s current application programming interfaces for its (3)VoIP services.
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MIND CTI Ltd. (NASDAQ: MNDO), a leading provider of convergent end-to-end billing and customer care solutions for VoIP, Mobile, 3G and Triple-play carriers worldwide, will release financial results for its fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2005 on Monday, February 20, 2006, after the market close. Based upon preliminary information, MIND expects to report revenue for the fourth quarter of approximately $4.6 million and operating income close to 20%.
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CellStar Corporation (OTC Pink Sheets: CLST – News) today announced that it plans to release to the wire services its fourth quarter and year-end financial results after the market closes on Monday, February 13, 2006, followed by a conference call on the morning of February 14, 2006. The full text of the press release will be available over First Call and on the Company’s web site, http://www.cellstar.com , after the wire services have published the press release. After the release has been issued, CellStar Investor Relations will not be able to return phone calls until the conclusion of the conference call on February 14th.
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Infozech, a leading provider of transaction processing management and Billing, Mediation and Rating solutions for packet-based converged network environments, today announced that it has joined the OSS through JavaT (OSS/J) Initiative, a working group of telecommunications industry leaders that provides standards-based Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and design guidelines for the development of component-based OSS systems. As a member of the OSS/J Initiative, Infozech will lead the development of the OSS/J Billing Mediation API (JSR 130). This will include aligning the API to OSS/J Design Guidelines and supporting on-going changes in the OSS Common API (JSR 144).
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NetCracker Technology, the global Solution Leader enabling service providers to deliver and manage converged services, today announced that Ian Roy, vice president of product management, will present at the Pacific Telecommunications Council’s (PTC) 28th Annual Telecommunications Conference and Exhibition on Tuesday, January 17, at 3:30 p.m. Roy’s session, “Challenges of Middleware in OSS in Next Generation Networks,” will examine strategies Communications Service Providers (CSPs) need to ensure a robust OSS for their operations.
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TelcoBridges Inc. announced today that Kingdom Telecom Network Technology Company Ltd (Kingdom Telecom) of Beijing has used TelcoBridges’ TB640 System-Blade™ and StreamServer™ products to deliver the largest single location Personalized RingBack Tone (PRBT) system in China. The recent deployment at Henan Mobile Communication Company Limited (Henan Mobile), a subsidiary of China Mobile (HK) Ltd, (whose major shareholder is China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile carrier with more than 230 million subscribers), is to meet the increasing demand for the operator’s successful “Color Ring” service. Henan Mobile, serving more than 10 million subscribers, required a robust solution to scale beyond the limits of their current system.
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Ed Donelan, owner of Telecom Infrastructure Corp, an award winning Information Transport Solutions (ITS) corporation, has been elected President-elect of BICSI. Donelan will provide a leadership role as President-Elect for 2 years at the winter conference in Orlando the end of January 2006 before taking over as President in 2008, for an additional 2-year term. BICSI, a worldwide organization founded in 1974, boasts over 17,000 members in more than 100 countries.
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Green Mountain Capital Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: GMCI), has authorized its common shares to be reverse split, effective January 11, 2006, on the basis of 1000 old shares for 1 new share. This authorization was approved by the stockholders in March 2005. The common shares outstanding after the effective date of the reverse split will be 899,089. In addition, the Company has agreed to acquire London based Internet Telecommunications PLC, a private company, for 23,500,000 common shares. As part of the acquisition, the Company will have raised $3,000,000. The total shares outstanding after completion of the acquisition will be 45,899,089 common shares. The outstanding preferred shares will be retired as part of the acquisition and recapitalization. The final closing is estimated to be on January 11, 2005.
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Tom Giovanetti, president of a national, economic think tank, will testify on the benefits of comprehensive telecom reform at a hearing before the Indiana Senate Homeland Security, Utilities, and Public Policy Committee on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2006 at 9:30 a.m. The committee is considering legislation that would provide reform in three key telecom areas: video franchise, municipal broadband and deregulation of traditional voice. [Read more…]

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.