Redknee Acquires Argent

December 2007
Ovum Research

By Cynthia Leung

Redknee Solutions has announced it is to acquire Argent Networks to bring interconnect billing and converged products into Redknee's rating and billing portfolio and expand its global reach in Asia Pacific, Africa and North America.

Redknee will acquire Argent Networks for $4m in cash, which will double up if revenue metrics are met. Argent Networks is a developer of billing and customer care solutions for fixed line, wireless, broadband and next generation telecommunications networks.

Comment: Argent Network's market presence will enlarge Redknee's customer base and partner network. The objective is clearly underlined in the conditional cash payment terms. This will certainly strengthen Redknee's positioning in the emerging market, particularly in Asia Pacific and Africa, complementing its future growth strategy. With its first acquisition as a public company, Redknee is clearly expanding its converged billing portfolio, targeting the emerging markets aggressively.

New Zealand-based Argent Networks' Eclipse suite provides interconnect billing, settlement, realtime convergent rating, billing and CRM solutions for all network types from traditional network services to next generation VoIP, content, IPTV and multimedia services. It has customers in North America and across the emerging markets of Asia Pacific and Africa.

Redknee's solutions include advanced converged billing, rating, charging and policy for voice, messaging and new generation data services. Addition and integration of Argent Networks' Eclipse will enrich Redknee's offerings, creating a synergy between the products.

Following Redknee's holiday announcement, 2008 is expected to see more growth-by acquisition strategy, with further consolidation and more mergers in the industry. Furthermore, this acquisition also proves the growing importance of converged rating and billing as a valuable pre-cursor to triple and quad-play services, especially for emerging market operators.

Click here for the original article.