Redknee, a provider of billing and charging software and solutions for communications service providers, today announced at TM Forum Management World that it has signed a contract with Telfort, a subsidiary of KPN, to extend its use of Redknee's data monetization platform, NGRC.
Redknee's NGRC platform, in addition to already supporting Telfort's data rating and charging, now also enables the operator to meet EU mobile broadband roaming regulations. Under the latest EU data roaming regulations, operators must enable subscribers to cap their spending while they are roaming as well as provide notifications as subscribers approach their threshold.
Based in the Netherlands, Telfort's extended investment in NGRC comes in response to regulation that came into effect in March 2010 by the European Commission (EC) aimed at preventing situations of excessive charges, or ‘bill shock' occurring while customers are roaming in the European Union (EU). Redknee's NGRC will enable Telfort to provide more than 2 million customers with greater transparency into the services they use and their associated charges while they are abroad. Using NGRC, Telfort implemented a default spending cap and in the future, Telfort can provide meaningful and timely balance notifications to their customers, such as when the balance reaches a certain per cent of their threshold.
Rob de Beer, IT Director of Telfort, comments: "It was imperative for Telfort to comply with the EU regulations for data roaming. Redknee helped Telfort to comply in time by swiftly deploying the required modules on the Redknee's existing IP Charging Gateway. With the success of this service in March, Telfort decided to continue working with Redknee to deliver the required functionalities of the next phase of EU roaming data transparency regulation, which will be implemented by 1st July 2010."
Redknee's CEO Lucas Skoczkowski added: "The launch of the EU data roaming solution is further validation of Redknee's vision to support our customers to be agile and responsive to changes in the operating market and industry now and in the future. At Redknee, we are continuing our investment in solutions that serve the Tier-1 markets of the Americas, Europe and Australia, along with the high growth markets of Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific, to support the success of our customers and the execution of our growth strategy."
Redknee's NGRC is a platform for providing next generation data and convergence solutions. The NGRC platform includes Redknee's core usage management capabilities and standards based interfaces along with data mediation, a standards-based policy engine and subscriber profile repository. Based on patented technology, the NGRC platform is said to offer operators the flexibility and scalability to launch new services, while creating new revenue streams based on diverse pricing options for both prepaid, postpaid and hybrid-plan subscribers. Operators can choose to expand the NGRC platform through a variety of available modules such as Rating and Charging, Subscriber Usage Manager and the Promotions Manager. The solution suite enables operators to monetize subscriber usage, better manage their network assets, and drive ARPU growth, while leveraging existing billing systems and network investments.