Solution for European mobile operators to save billions

Bobby Srinivasan founded Roamware, a provider of mobile roaming software and solutions, has unveiled its Voicemail Call Completion (VMCC) product that can help the European operators to save a potential annual bill of $2.1 billion for compliance with new European Union (EU) regulations on roaming voicemail.

The EU regulations, which will be introduced next year, are meant for ensuring that consumers are not being charged additional fees for receiving voice mail messages while roaming.

Though the new regulations will cut costs for consumers, other than any more changes made, Roamware estimates states that European operators will collectively incur an annual cost of between $1.8 billion and $2.1 billion for re-bounding international voicemail calls known in the telecoms industry as "tromboning".

"If you make a call to customer who is roaming but who cannot be reached because the signal is bad or they are already using the phone, two international calls are effectively made - one to try to reach the phone, and a rebound leg back to the home network voice mail box to leave the message. This is what is known as tromboning," explains John Jiang, CTO, Roamware.

Using the Voice Mail Call Completion (VMCC) service in the home network, the software recognizes the unavailable roaming mobile and deposits the call, complete with all the relevant information, straight to the home network mail box.

"We cut out the "trombone call" and ensure that roaming messages get left in exactly the same way as normal, helping operators meet their EU commitment and saving costs for both them and the consumers," said Jiang.

The company provides roaming software and services to more than 90 networks in the EU region. "We are seeing significant traction and interest from our existing customers and other operators both inside and outside the European region as operators realize the implication of the new EU regulations and the opportunities that exist to cut costs and improve service," said Abraham Punnoose, Vice President, Marketing and Business Development, Roamware.

SiliconIndia