Atio Corporation`s push into international markets is gathering pace, with the company`s Telecom Services division recently signing up two major European cellular network providers with a combined base of 25 million subscribers.
Atio is providing services to test the availability, quality of service, billing and metering accuracy for the operators` third-generation (3G) services, which are currently being rolled out. These include video and high-speed data services as well as the more traditional voice and SMS.
"The launch of global 3G services has been a very stop-start affair and varies from country to country," says Atio`s Tim Courtenay. "Operators` teething problems have been largely overcome and the 3G infrastructure is now up and running in some western European countries, UK, Far East and the US. The market has stabilised to the point that there is a critical mass of networks and operators can roll-out services in a commercially sensible manner."
Most operators have set their sights on growing the proportion of their revenue generated by data services, says Courtenay. "Our products and solutions allow them to test the availability and quality of those services to ensure they`re meeting customer requirements. We also help operators assure their revenue streams by testing the accuracy of their metering and billing systems."
The latter is important, he says, as most operators currently suffer from 3% to 15% revenue leakage. "There are a number of contributing factors, from fraud and data entry errors to technical problems and network element configuration issues," says Courtenay. "Atio provides tools that help to identify and quantify areas of possible leakage so they can be shut down. The issue is getting a lot of attention at the moment and demand for these services is high."
The problems are more complex in 3G networks, he says, because typically more parties are involved in every transaction. "With a simple voice call it`s possible to control the communication very tightly and it`s relatively easy to allocate revenues," explains Courtenay. "Now you have subscribers downloading content from third-party providers, and the revenue has to be fairly split between the provider and the network. The transaction flow is more complicated, but our tools help to control it and to minimise the opportunity for revenue leakage."
Atio is, he says, one of a handful of companies in the world offering these niche solutions. "We`re offering services at the leading-edge of mobile technology today, not just in SA but in Europe as well. We believe this an excellent platform to build on for the future."
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Atio Corporation is a black empowered company specialising in ICT solutions and services. Atio`s two business divisions target clearly defined niches within the market for business communications solutions.
The Atio-Intelligent Business Solutions (IBS) division provides integrated multimedia communication channels to give managers a holistic, real-time view of all company business interactions - including contact centres, customer relationship management, mobile and unified communications, multimedia recording and telephony. ATIO is SA`s biggest privately owned provider of contact centre solutions and services, with nearly 20 years` experience in this environment.
The Atio-Telecom Services division provides end-to-end network performance and revenue assurance testing solutions and services to the GSM industry. It is one of the global pioneers of network performance testing and its innovative solutions and services are widely used not only in SA and the rest of Africa, but also throughout the European Union (EU) and the UK.
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