Ericsson, MTN Congo to launch billing system

Lars Lindén, president, Ericsson sub-Saharan Africa, says, "We are exceptionally proud to have enabled MTN Congo to provide their customers with a common charging and billing platform for all its services - as opposed to separate pre-paid and post-paid platforms in the past. The MTN Congo customer will see major benefits from this implementation including increased visibility of their usage; more control of their spend (addressing one of their customer's greatest needs) and of course, they will now have access to a wider choice of services and products as there is no prejudice between prepaid and post-paid and the limitations of having separate platforms."

The solution is realised with modules developed by Ericsson and LHS, part of the Ericsson Group. With this, Ericsson provides a single revenue management system for all subscribers and services and includes features such as discount and promotion handling, real-time rating, segmentation, pricing and promotions.

MTN Congo customers accessing multiple services (such as fixed network type services, ISP or data amongst others), will receive one bill, detailing their usage, instead of individual bills for each service type. Customers can customise their payment options, based on personal preference.

Seny Ganemtore, CTIO at MTN Congo says, "Ericsson's solid position as a provider of revenue management solutions in the local and international market enabled a strategic, well managed implementation, with quick implementation time and low risk, which is currently being rolled out. MTN Congo are exceptionally optimistic that all timeframes will be maintained, and look forward to going live at the end of the year."

Seny Ganemtore continues, "MTN Congo invested in this technology primarily to increase our customer experience through improved time to market and increased customer intimacy - a key component to our business values. From a business perspective of course, this investment also made sense as it will increase revenue streams, improve cost efficiencies and allow for better credit control."

Linden concludes, "New ways of working are needed to reflect new pricing models, partnerships, revenue distribution and risk. At the same time users are seeking greater spending control. Ericsson's Convergent Charging and Billing solution can improve marketing capabilities and cost-effectiveness, all while securing revenue flows. We believe Ericsson's experience in charging control and billing platforms will significantly benefit MTN Congo with improved quality and superior cost structure, and will certainly offer us the opportunity to build on our strong relationship and develop our collaboration further to deliver future business benefits."