Veramark Wins $1.3 Million Telecom Billing System Contract in Malawi
Fourth VeraBill System in Africa
PITTSFORD, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 16, 1999--Veramark Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:VERA - news) today announced that it had been awarded an order for a convergent billing system to be operated by the Malawi Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (MPTC), the national telephone company of the central African country of Malawi.
In a recent competitive bid, MPTC selected VeraBill, an advanced billing and customer care system, to support its landline telephone operations. Office Equipment Company (OEC), a Malawian firm, is Veramark's partner on this project and acts as both a value-added reseller and a systems integrator. OEC will provide on-site installation, training and support services in Malawi, in addition to Windows NT client/server hardware, software and peripherals.
The value of the initial order to Veramark is $1.3 million out of a total of $2.4 million awarded to OEC for the total bid. System growth and maintenance may significantly add to the value of this project in subsequent years of VeraBill operations.
Implementation of the VeraBill system will begin immediately with installation expected before the end of the 4th Quarter of 1999. The VeraBill system will be installed in Blantyre, the leading commercial center of Malawi. The system will support wireline telephone calling throughout the country including 10 switching centers supplied by various manufacturers including Alcatel, Ericsson and Siemens.
The new VeraBill system will replace fifteen-year-old software that ran on an IBM System/36. One of the critical factors in MPTC's selection of VeraBill was the ability of Veramark to emulate the current management reports used by MPTC's operations, billing and marketing departments.
Salim Makani, Chief Executive of OEC stated, ''We are very delighted to work with Veramark on this important project. VeraBill was selected after an exhaustive analysis by our team, and by the Consultants appointed by MPTC. One of the critical criteria in our decision was the ability of VeraBill to accommodate the rather fast growth that we anticipate in the Malawi telecom network. Our decision was also based on the comprehensive scope of VeraBill. All of the major functions required by MPTC, including subscriber and asset management, service orders processing, rapid deployment of flexible pricing and discount plans, plus point-of-sale terminal support, are supported by VeraBill.''
Mr. Makani added, ''We believe that VeraBill is well suited for other locations in Africa and we are discussing expansion of our partnership with Veramark.''
David G. Mazzella, Veramark President and CEO commented, ''We are very pleased that MPTC and OEC have placed their confidence in VeraBill for this critical billing project. This will be the fourth VeraBill system installed in Africa. As part of this project with MPTC, OEC will acquire valuable billing and customer care experience on VeraBill software. We believe that expertise can be utilized with other telephone companies in the burgeoning African market.''
Malawi is located in southeast Africa and has a population of approximately 12 million people. The former British colony, independent since 1964, is receiving significant investment from other governments and private sources. A considerable portion of this investment is being used to modernize the country's telecommunications infrastructure. This should result in substantial growth in teledensity (number of telephones per capita) and overall network usage and revenues for MPTC.
Veramark Technologies, Inc. is engaged in the design, production and servicing of telecommunications management and billing systems for users and providers of telecommunications services in the global market.
The forward looking statements contained in this release are estimates by the Company's management of future performance and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from management's current expectations.
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Contact:
Veramark Technologies, Inc., Pittsford
Robert L. Boxer
716-383-6803
www.veramark.com |
