Ericsson has informed that it will provide Al-Madar Al-Jadid, a mobile operator in Libya, with a convergent charging and billing solution that will enable its mobile subscribers to enjoy benefits such as flexible tariffs and full control of costs, bonuses and rewards. Ericsson will also supply related systems integration services.

Through this convergent charging and billing solution, the operator hopes to offer services across all end-user segments, something that was reportedly not possible with previous billing systems.

The solution provides a single revenue management solution for all subscribers and services and includes key features such as discount and promotion handling, real-time rating, segmentation, pricing and promotions, Ericsson said.

For consumers and business users, convergent charging and billing provides full control over all communications costs as users have one point of contact and a single invoice for all their services and gives users access to the services they want independent of their subscription type, as well as the ability to pay however they choose. End users can also be kept fully update on their bundled minutes, bonuses and rewards.

Ericsson also informed that this will be a one-year contract and Al-Madar Al-Jadid is expected to launch the new services next year.

Bharti Airtel, an integrated telecom services provider headquartered in India, has launched its m-commerce service – ‘Mchek on Airtel’ on the voice platform. This service enables use of voice (IVR) for m-commerce transactions for all Airtel mobile customers. The customer has to call 543219 to access the service which is toll free.

The new service will enable Airtel customers to pay Airtel mobile and fixed-line bills, recharge the company’s pre-paid and digitalTV accounts, recharge Delhi-Gurgaon expressway toll tags, pay insurance premiums, buy gifts, tickets and shop using their mobile phones.

To avail this service, Airtel customers has to go through a one-time registration that will link the user’s credit card automatically to the Mchek on Airtel service. For all future transactions the user is required to only enter a six-digit MchekPIN on their registered mobile number to authorise the transaction.

The service provides an on-demand solution for mobile payments with a two-step authentication process, the MchekPIN and the Mobile Number.

Redknee, a provider of billing and charging software and solutions, announced that an Asia Pacific (APAC) operator has selected Redknee’s Inbill solution to manage its wholesale billing with its Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) partners through Redknee’s service bureau operations.

The company has informed that the operator maintains a large wholesale division, providing telecommunications services to other service providers and carriers around the globe.

The company believes Inbill’s solution service bureau offering will provide the operator with the tools and know-how to achieve converged settlement, the ability to process event records from any source, improved reporting and an independent tool for revenue assurance.

FTS, a provider of billing, CRM and business control solutions for communications and content service providers, has announced that Starcomms, a 3G CDMA mobile network in Nigeria, has selected FTS as its interconnect billing provider.

Starcomms deployed FTS’ Leap Interconnect to support its subscriber base, and to ensure accounting accuracy of its interconnect revenues.

FTS informed that the new implementation will offer Starcomms a range of interconnect services, including retrieval of mediation records from the operator’s mobile switch, rating of these records as well as generating and printing bills for Starcomms’ interconnect partners.

Leap Interconnect will also provide Starcomms with reporting and settlements capabilities as a result of its ability to flexibly integrate with other Starcomms applications.

TransCard, a provider of pre-paid debit card solutions branded with MasterCard, Discover Network and STAR associations, has launched online bill pay for all MasterCard clients and cardholders.

The online bill pay platform is aimed at providing cardholders with an easy way to pay their bills. It has been integrated with the cardholder website. Payments can be set up to be either one-time or recurring, with the amounts directly deducted from cardholders’ accounts as with any other transaction.