Cambodian mobile operator Sotelco has introduced Comverse’s ONE Billing and Active Customer Management solution to support its pre- and post-paid subscribers and rollout of bundled multi-play services. Sotelco, which is majority owned by Russia’s Vimpelcom, will also implement Comverse’s voice and messaging services from the Comverse HUB, including SMS, MMS, ringback tones, call completion services and management of mobile data services. ‘The commercial start under the Beeline brand in Cambodia is an important stage in the international development of Vimpelcom following our success in Russia and CIS,’ said Vladimir Riabokon, executive vice-president of Vimpelcom, adding, ‘Following the successful deployment of Comverse ONE at Sotelco, we will strongly consider the opportunity to work with Comverse to expand this platform to additional affiliates and markets in the region.’
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Vimpelcom acquired a 90% stake in Sotelco for USD28 million in July 2008. The remaining 10% remains with Sotelco’s former parent, local company Atlas Trade, though the Russian firm has a call option to acquire the entire outstanding stake. The company’s GSM network, deployed by Huawei under a five-year rollout deal, was launched commercially in May 2009 under the Beeline banner in Cambodia’s eleven largest provinces. The company says it will invest USD200 million over the next three or four years, by which time it hopes to achieve around two million subscribers, or roughly 20% market share.