CBOSS Expands its Presence in Africa

Despite the global financial crisis, CBOSS Corporation continues its expansion abroad. CBOSS has successfully deployed the network of a startup mobile operator in the Republic of Burundi, Lacell SU, which has started active promotion of its services under the SMART Mobile brand.

It is a new player in the Burundi telecommunications market, offering mobile services meeting the highest international standards. As planned by the operator's owners, deployment of the new network should provide the inhabitants of Burundi with access to state-of-the-art digital voice services, develop mobile Internet services, and enable short messaging in a variety of formats. The company is also planning to expand into the less competitive provinces with more cost-aware population. Hence, the main product requirements were:

• Compliance with the major international quality standards.
• Supplying system software solutions and hardware platform from a single vendor, under one brand and with a single point of responsibility.
• High-quality 24x7 technical support of the platform, for there is a shortage of qualified specialists in Burundi.
• Possibility of the operator's staff training by the solution vendor.
• Turn-key industrial implementation of the system.
• Optimal price/quality ratio.

These requirements are aimed to reduce the TCO of the software and hardware platform, lower the investment risks so as to reinvest the growing net profit in gaining leadership on the Burundi telecommunications market.

The operator chose the CBOSS solution as it fully met all the specified requirements. In February 2009, an agreement was signed for implementing the integrated convergent software/hardware platform in GSM standard. CBOSS experts deployed the platform and base station network for the operator. In the startup environment, it was most crucial to meet the project timeframes and launch both systems simultaneously.

CBOSS engineers have achieved excellent results. As early as in May 2009, Lacell SU started providing services to postpaid subscribers and from July 2009 - to prepaid subscribers. Payment convergence is enabled by the robust integrated solution built on CBOSSbcc and extended with CBOSSprepaid, CBOSSsms, CBOSSussd, Money transfer, and other systems.

The high reliability of the software/hardware platform, meeting ROI targets, and the success of the selected business model already led the operator to the decision to extend the Money Transfer functionality. Now the service packages can be sold by dealers to efficiently expand the company's presence in the market.

Andrey Morozov, CBOSS President, says "In the current economic conditions, the only expedient technology policy for startup operators is to use convergent, end-to-end, integrated solutions. We prepared our response to such a demand long ago and its name is CBOSSconvergence³. It is not only a unique possibility to achieve financial efficiency while running a startup business, but also quite a good chance to catch up and outrun the competitors who started earlier. All this makes the African continent especially interesting to us, for that is where the benefits of the full-scale turnkey technologies from CBOSS are most evident. And this is our fourth installation in Africa which proves it."

Bhupendra Bhandari, General Manager of LACELL SU, says "The work was performed in efficient way. The solutions implemented by CBOSS Corporation allow us to carry out an effective marketing policy, providing our clients with a better access to the cutting-edge telecom technology. We believe that all the joint projects of LACELL SU and CBOSS will sustain the high level of quality, maintaining our strong dynamics to win the competition."

Lacell SU is a telecom operator of the Republic of Burundi, offering its services under the SMART Mobile brand. Lacell SU has a license for providing GSM services, including voice calls and short messaging, in the entire territory of the country. The operator provides services to corporate and private subscribers, using both credit and prepaid models.

CBOSS is a transnational corporation and one of the world leaders in the development of innovative convergent IT solutions for end-to-end automation of telecommunications companies, delivering a competitive edge to telecoms across the globe.

CBOSS Corporation offers the full range of equipment, system and application software and professional services, including consulting, turnkey implementation, technical support, staff training and IT outsourcing, providing telcos with guaranteed operations quality while minimizing operational and capital expenditures.

CBOSS can supply operators, service providers and MVNOs with all components of integrated IT infrastructure and/or services, as well as with full-scale outsourcing options, providing a reliable single point of responsibility.