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WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
Cell C Expands Mobile Messaging Infrastructure in Time for Festive Peaks
READING, UK and Boston, USA — 18 December 2006 — Airwide Solutions, the leading provider of mobile messaging infrastructure and applications, today announced an agreement with Cell C to upgrade its messaging network, using Airwide's AirMessenger SMSCs and AirGate messaging gateways to increase capacity and more efficiently manage messaging traffic. Cell C, South Africa’s third largest mobile phone operator, is making the investment to be better prepared for the festive season peaks in SMS traffic. Airwide’s South African partner, Atos Origin, is working with Airwide on the integration of the new technologies with Cell C’s existing infrastructure.
Cell C's network is growing fast through both organic subscriber acquisition and through agreements with mobile virtual network operators, including Virgin Mobile. Over 16 million SMS messages were sent over Cell C's network during last New Year's celebrations and this figure is expected to be even higher this year. AirMessenger is a high performance, industry-proven SMSC that will facilitate Cell C's growth, enhance subscribers' experience and maximize revenues from mobile messaging.
AirGate is a flexible messaging gateway that will allow Cell C to quickly integrate 3rd party applications into its network, so that it can deliver a wide range of new SMS and MMS based mobile data services and mobile media applications, from music downloads to SMS voting. AirGate will enable many new wireless application service providers (WASPS) to utilize Cell C's messaging infrastructure by acting as a secure access gateway. It ensures that only verified and safe traffic can enter the network, protecting both Cell C’s network and subscribers.
Cell C has 2.7 million active subscribers, composed of 1.9 million prepaid subscribers and just over one million post-paid subscribers. Over 84% of Cell C traffic is carried on the company’s own network, which covers 70% of the country’s population and 28.5% of the geographical land area.
Dennis Magaya, head of service and architecture planning at Cell C, says: "Airwide has been our preferred messaging infrastructure partner since we rolled out our messaging network in 2001. With the upgrade to our system we are confident that we will be able to handle the anticipated peak in traffic and continue to deliver a reliable service to our subscribers during the festive season. By installing AirGate, we look forward to being able to offer a new range of exciting applications and maintaining our leading innovative position”.
Vince Kadar, CTO of Airwide Solutions says: "Mobile messaging and other data services typically contribute around 15% to operator revenues, with the majority of those revenues arising from SMS. Cell C is investing now to ensure its messaging network is ready for the busy Christmas and New Year period. This expansion demonstrates the strong growth of telecommunications in the region and the commitment from Cell C to provide innovative new services and reliable technology."
Brian Scoble, sales and marketing director at Atos Origin says: "Over the past few years Cell C has built a strong reputation for service and competitive pricing in the South African mobile market. We have chosen to work with Airwide Solutions because of the flexibility and robustness of its products, and its understanding of the complexities of messaging networks."
About Airwide Solutions
Airwide Solutions is the leader in next generation mobile messaging infrastructure and applications, providing high-performance, field-proven software to more than 70 wireless operators in 46 countries. As one of the early mobile messaging innovators, Airwide Solutions introduced the first SMSC and sent the first commercial SMS (short message service) in 1992, introduced the first SMS router in 1998 and deployed the first A2P (application-to-person) MMS push gateway in 2003. Airwide continues this tradition of innovation with its industry-leading IMS and SIP-based open architecture, routers, gateways, applications and security solutions. Airwide Solutions is a global organization with offices in Australia, Canada, England, India, Singapore and the United States. For more information about Airwide Solutions, please visit www.airwidesolutions.com
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