Cerillion To Provide Interconnect Billing Solution to BTC Bulgaria
London, 18th January 2005 – Cerillion Technologies today announced a new contract to supply a complete interconnect billing and settlement solution for BTC, the primary fixed line communications provider in Bulgaria. Cerillion will deliver a full turnkey solution, implementing their Interconnect Manager product to support all BTC’s interconnect agreements.
The Cerillion solution was selected as the ideal match for BTC’s requirements, enabling automation of existing processes to support the growth in interconnect traffic as the Bulgarian telecom market is de-regulated. Least Cost Routing and streamlined settlement features will be used to drive down costs and improve operational efficiency.
“With on-going liberalisation of the markets in Eastern Europe, interconnect billing is an area of strategic focus for many of the established operators” commented Louis Hall, MD of Cerillion Technologies. “This is a key milestone for us as we look to expand our operations in the region, and we are delighted to be working with BTC on this project.”
Said David Clark, Director of Billing at BTC: “Interconnect billing is a key area of focus within BTC as we open our network to competitors for call termination and transit. We needed a scalable solution which would enable close control and optimisation of our interconnect revenues and costs. After a formal selection process we have selected Cerillion to deliver the complete solution. Cerillion have shown that they understand our business, and we have total confidence in their ability to implement the solution that will meet our needs now and in the future.”
- ends -
Notes to editors
About BTC
Bulgarian Telecommunications Company AD (BTC) is the main telecom operator in the country. BTC has 2.8 million phone installed connections and the number is still growing. Bulgaria is one of the CEE countries with the highest fixed line telephone penetration rate - 85% of all households.
In June 2004, Bulgarian authorities sold after obvious procedure 65% of BTC to Viva Ventures, a subsidiary of the leading US private equity fund Advent International. Viva Ventures paid EUR 280 million, including EUR 50 million destined to raise the company's capital and pledged to invest up to EUR 400 million over five years to upgrade the telecom's analogue network and release of a range of new services, based on data transfer and the Internet.
In 2004 BTC was awarded the third GSM licence in the country. The first call within the new network was presented in November. It is expected that the operator will enter the market in April 2005 offering full range of services and mobile call charges at least 20% below the current Bulgarian market average.
Advent International is a leading international investor, having raised more than $6 billion of investment. Advent has invested in more than 500 companies in more than 35 countries all over the world.