Fixed Mobile Convergence

Zain, a mobile telecommunication operator in the Middle East and Africa with a commercial presence in 23 countries has selected Connectiva Systems, Inc., a provider of revenue and risk management solutions, to partner and participate in the TM Forum (News - Alert) Catalyst Program 2010.

The Catalyst Program helps create and launch leading-edge industry solutions and is hosted by the TM Forum, one of the largest communications and media industry associations in the world representing more than 700 companies and 185 countries.

Officials with Connectiva (News - Alert) Systems said that the company has also collaborated with Dataupia, a major player in highly scalable, cost-effective, MPP data warehouse appliances, and Protiviti, a global business consulting and internal audit firm, to help establish and demonstrate best practices for mCommerce management.

Entitled "Developing a scalable mCommerce model," the Catalyst project is based on Zain's (News - Alert) pioneering mCommerce platform that has been successfully implemented in 7 African countries and has more than 12+ million subscribers.

Company officials said that aiming to expand this platform globally, the Catalyst objectives include: defining a common framework for the integration of different mCommerce business models, developing processes and key performance indicators for the TM Forum's standards library, understanding revenue management procedures and analyzing the profitability and customer preferences of mCommerce services.

"Our mCommerce service ZAP (News - Alert) empowers our subscribers with access to financial services on their mobile phones. In collaboration with industry leaders Connectiva, Protiviti and Dataupia, we will showcase a solution that provides actionable business insight and analytics for enabling campaign management", said George Held, marketing director of Zain, in a statement.

Held said that the company will also propose integration standards for mCommerce service providers.

He said that Connectiva brings strong platform-based analytics expertise, innovative methodology and in-depth knowledge of the company's target markets - all of which is invaluable to the success of this solution and the company's mCommerce service ZAP.

'We are delighted that Zain has selected Connectiva to be one of its partners for the Catalyst program. Africa has an unbanked population of approximately one billion people; ZAP's mCommerce service provides them greater access to financial services and we can help extend this opportunity globally," said Avi Basu (News - Alert), president and CEO of Connectiva Systems.

Basu said that mCommerce is dramatically changing the way businesses, retailers and consumers conduct financial transactions.

"We believe that this Catalyst initiative will establish industry best practices and enable providers to make strategic investment decisions," he said.