News, Contracts, Egypt, MENA: The Middle East and Africa's largest fixed line operator is set to replace 12 of its billing systems with replacements from Convergys Corporation.

Convergys will manage the replacement of Telecom Egypt's existing billing systems with Infinys by providing the following professional services: project management, business requirement analysis, solution definition, configuration, installation, testing, and data migration services. The first Infinys-generated bill is expected during 2Q07, and the consolidation project will be completed in 2008.

Telecom Egypt is the country's incumbent telecommunications operator, established in 1998 to replace the former Arab Republic of Egypt National Telecommunication Organization (ARENTO). It serves over 10.5 million subscribers, and this is what makes it the largest fixed line provider in the Middle East and Africa.

With Infinys, Telecom Egypt will lower its IT costs by consolidating and eliminating redundant systems, utilising a distributed open source platform, and limiting the need to pay for expensive and time-consuming custom system or application development. Infinys will also facilitate revenue growth and profitability for Telecom Egypt through its capabilities to support the rapid launch of new convergent service bundles, the roll-out of next-generation IP based services, and the application of new business models.

* Convergys is a member of the S&P 500 and a Fortune Most Admired Company. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, it has more than 62,000 employees in 69 customer contact centres, three data centres, and other facilities in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

more info: www.convergys.com