Double Win For i-conX In Fiji

Online, September 24, 2010 (Newswire.com) - The new customers are Vodafone Fiji, Fiji's leading mobile carrier by market share, and Fintel, the premier international carrier linking Fiji and the Pacific islands to the world.

The announcement cements i-conX's growing profile in the Pacific territory, a market it entered in mid-2009 with the launch of an office based in Sydney, Australia.

Vodafone Fiji

Launched in 1994, Vodafone Fiji was the first mobile telco to offer 3G services and today dominates the mobile market in Fiji, successfully maintaining market share in response to recent new competitive threats.

Vodafone Fiji has selected and deployed the i-conX system as a key project in response to Fijian national telecoms deregulation, which was enacted in July 2009. The telco is using the i-conX a-s-p service, a fully web-based, hosted solution, under the terms of which the i-conX interconnect billing system is accessed remotely and securely by onsite users.

The deal provides Vodafone Fiji with an end-to-end, fully integrated interconnect billing solution which facilitates the accurate rating, charging and settlement of their interconnect business both domestically and internationally.

Commenting on behalf of Vodafone Fiji, Manager IT & Corporate Security Ateen Kumar said : "i-conX has successfully met our challenge to deploy its interconnect billing system, on-time and on-budget. In live use, the solution has proven itself to be highly capable in meeting the requirements of the Vodafone Fiji business, and the i-conX team has provided a strong package of support, at both local and global levels, to the Vodafone Fiji users".

The i-conX project was delivered onsite by i-conX project managers working closely with the Vodafone project team at its offices in Suva, Fiji.

Speaking on behalf of i-conX solutions, Vice President Account Services Danielle Cussen commented, "We are delighted to welcome Vodafone Fiji to the i-conX customer community. We are already working very closely to support this customer from our regional office located in Sydney, backed by the full offsite support resources of our global HQ in Dublin".

Alongside its core v9 interconnect billing software, i-conX also delivered significant added value through its EDR File Importation capabilities and associated technical innovations.

A key benefit to Vodafone Fiji arising from the i-conX solution, has been its core reporting capability, which presents value from both and interconnect and non-interconnect standpoint. i-conX's reporting suite was able to assist with identification and analysis of Roamer activities, which was not previously possible, and which constitutes an important element of Vodafone's business in the popular tourist destination of Fiji.

The i-conX deal is its second such contract within the Vodafone international group operation, following i-conX's selection by Vodafone Qatar in 2009.

Fintel

Fintel, in which the Fijian Government and Cable and Wireless are major shareholders, occupies a strategic profile within the region as the premier international gateway linking Fiji and the Pacific islands to the world.

The carrier selected i-conX as its partner of choice to execute "Project Fix", a major Fintel initiative for 2010 designed to intensify further its international competitiveness by replacing its obsolete interconnect billing and settlement solution. As part of Project Fix, the previous mediation device was also de-commissioned and replaced by the i-conX CDR automated File Import engine.

The project was completed on-time and to budget across a 3-month timeframe, during which time Fintel successfully migrated from its former system to the latest v9 i-conX software. i-conX v9 now equips Fintel to meet confidently the challenges of next-generation networks (NGN), 3G, and modern telecoms products.

Under the terms of the deal, Fintel will access the i-conX solution via the remotely hosted "a-s-p" service, whereby local users login to and operate the solution via a secure web-based interface.

Speaking for Fintel, Mr George Samisoni commented : "Fintel chose the i-conX system as it was adaptable, flexible, scalable and very light on hardware. i-conX has provided us with a much lower cost of ownership, since license fees, operational costs and auditing requirements of the mediation device from our former billing system are no longer a recurring expense".

"Reconciliation margins, traffic disputes, and issues of overcharging and under-billing are well under control, thanks to the i-conX real-time reporting system. Additionally, the i-conX Credit Management feature has brought delight to our people as exposure to carrier fraud and bad debts are minimized", continued Mr. Samisoni.

The entry into live production status for Fintel coincides with further investment in its Pacific resources by Dublin-based i-conX, which has significantly strengthened its support and account management capability in the region with the re-location of key staff throughout 2010, including VP Account Services Danielle Cussen, who heads the support and account management functions.

Mr. Samisoni continues : "The i-conX support has been a real surprise to us with the promptness and the "going the extra mile" attitude to attend to our needs, the on-site follow up visits, refresher trainings, and above all, sympathetic approach to the local business and social environment showing total commitment to see that their system and service worked".

Fintel offers international voice, data, internet and video services worldwide. The carrier operates both a satellite Earth station and the fibre-optic Southern Cross (SCC). SCC is the world's second largest submarine cable network, connecting Fiji and the Pacific Islands to Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and the US mainland.

Commenting for i-conX, Head of Sales and Marketing Gavin Stewart said : "i-conX is delighted to have successfully met the challenges of "Project Fix" for Fintel of Fiji, one of the Pacific's most acclaimed and strategically important international carriers."

"The successful interaction on this project between the Fintel team, our regional resources in the Pacific, and our global resources in Dublin, shows clearly the robustness of the i-conX hosted solution and its ability to deliver value irrespective of physical distance and geography".