Friday, 23 September 2005 10:37 EST

Warid Telecom of Pakistan has chosen Telsis' next-generation messaging solution for its new-build network, instead of an old-style SMS architecture based on conventional SMSCs.

The Telsis Intelligent SMS Routing solution gives Warid the ability to quickly build a powerful revenue stream from ultra-reliable high-volume, high-speed messaging and advanced SMS-based services.

In contrast, SMSCs, devised more than 10 years ago, can limit message throughput during busy periods such as high profile voting events that rely on audience interaction by text. SMSCs also have a very restricted ability to support revenue-generating advanced services.

"Because we were building a new network, we had the choice of deploying state of the art technology or going a whole generation back. We chose to go forward," says Muhammad Iltaf, Warid's chief technical officer.

Warid's deployment of Telsis Intelligent SMS Routing is part of a larger network supply contract won by Ericsson. Telsis messaging is a part of Ericsson's total messaging portfolio.

Muhammad Iltaf has gained valuable experience working on major projects for Vodafone, Cellnet (now O2) and Orange UK, as well as for several Middle Eastern networks. At Warid, he leads a team of planners and engineers mainly recruited from established GSM networks. "We had all seen the limitations of the old store-and-forward messaging architecture built around SMSCs. Today, when almost all messages can be delivered straight away, it makes no sense to have a system which assumes a delay is inevitable. A modern network also needs a messaging architecture with real intelligence to support new network and third-party services. When Ericsson proposed the future-proof solution using Telsis Intelligent SMS Routing instead of SMSCs, we quickly saw that this would enable us to grow revenues while giving our customers the ultimate in quality."

Warid Telecom was launched in May and by early August the operator had already signed up one million customers. Iltaf agrees that it is an impressive rate of growth, and points out that with a population of some 155 million and a mobile phone penetration of just 4.5%, the Pakistan market still has great potential. Demand is already strong for voice and basic text messaging services, and IItaf believes that Pakistanis will very soon be matching Europeans in their enthusiasm for advanced text-based services and text-based interaction with television and radio. "The key to the design of our entire network, including messaging, is the flexible way in which it can grow. We are going to be ready for seven million customers in a year from now."

"Warid's deployment of Intelligent SMS Routing is a further strong indication of the way the mobile industry is going," says Telsis chairman Jeff Wilson. "A major operator has completely rejected the old messaging architecture of SMSCs. In choosing our next-generation technology, they have equipped themselves to grow revenues in a way that operators using legacy messaging can only dream of. This order is a real endorsement of our vision for a new generation of messaging."

Telsis Intelligent SMS Routing is already used to enhance existing SMSC-centric networks by mobile operators including members of the Vodafone and T-Mobile groups. This delivers most of the benefits of next-generation messaging, such as high capacity and new SMS-based services.

Warid Telecom (Pvt) Limited is headquartered in Lahore, Pakistan. It launched in May 2005 and aims to have coverage in all major cities across the country by May 2006. The operator, which won its license in open auction for $291 million, is owned by the Abu Dhabi Consortium.

With its headquarters, research and production site in the UK, Telsis (www.telsis.com) has sales and support operations in Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Singapore and Australia. The company offers a range of carrier-grade infrastructure platforms including Intelligent SMS Routers, IN service control points, switches, media gateways for NGN and VoIP networks, protocol converters and advanced IVR solutions that support a wide variety of innovative value-added text and voice services. Telsis products are in use with major fixed and mobile network operators around the world.