Bulgarian Telco BTC Picks Nokia Siemens To Provide IMS Services for Mobile Unit

"The solution from Nokia Siemens Networks will help us consolidate our leadership and strengthen our position to counteract cheap VoIP services, adding rich media communications on top of it," BTC's chief commercial officer Alexander Dimitrov said in a joint statetment by BTC and Nokia Siemens Networks.

Vivatel will become the first operator in the country offering IMS in the country, the companies said in the statement without providing financial details on the contract.

Under the agreement, Vivatel will be equipped with the mobile softswitch-based Nokia Siemens Networks VoIP Server and the Communication Suite, which is a rich call application for personal computers that interoperates with mobile devices, for cost-effective VoIP telephone services. In addition, the Nokia Siemens Networks will also provide network and service management, including profile management for provisioning new, converged services.

"In anticipation of the future growth of peer-to-peer (P2P) traffic resulting from new services, Nokia Siemens Networks also will supply data traffic control with its innovative Flexi ISN solution, a flexible packet-core platform that can be used to manage bandwidth allocation for different applications, subscription and access types and to ensure fair use of networks resources, and quality and availability of services," the statement added.

The IP Multimedia subsystem is a part of a next-generation core network, which allows operators to fully embrace the Internet by delivering services over all types of access, with flexible charging and seamless mobility. It brings high-quality dynamic multimedia applications, including interactive gaming, video sharing and video conferencing, to person-to-person communications.

BTC has been losing its share on the fixed-line market to fast growing competition in the past years. The company launched its wireless unit, Vivatel, in late 2005 seeking to offset the falling revenue from fixed-line services. BTC has said it expects a consolidated net profit of 105.576 million levs ($69.2 million/54 million euro) for 2008, compared to 116.075 million levs for last year.

Nokia Siemens Networks (www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com) is a leading global enabler of communications services, providing a product portfolio of mobile and fixed network infrastructure solutions. The company, headquartered in Espoo, Finland, has operations in 150 countries worldwide.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)