Italy’s Conad chooses Nokia Siemens Networks as a partner to provide hosting and charging services for its new mobile operations

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The supermarket chain to start as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in 2008

Nokia Siemens Networks has won a contract with Conad of Italy to manage its system and provide hosting services as the supermarket chain enters the mobile virtual network operator market at the beginning of 2008.

The contract will see Nokia Siemens Networks supply Conad with convergent charging solutions and hosting services from one of its hosting centers. Using an intelligent network server, the solution will be capable of communicating flawlessly with the host network of Vodafone Italy.

Conad and Vodafone signed an agreement last August enabling the supermarket chain to enter the MVNO market within the first months of coming year. Conad will have its own brand, be the sole manager of its relationship with customers, have its own prefix number, and manage all commercial offers and customer care activities directly.

Nokia Siemens Networks will create and manage a complete Customer Relationship Management (CRM) service for tariff application and traffic management, and set up the necessary infrastructure to meet Conad’s requirements for innovative voice and data offerings.

Conad is among the top distribution cooperatives both by sales points (a total of 3,037 in Italy under the Conad, Margherita and Leclerc Conad brands) and by market share (12%). The chain has attracted around 4 million loyalty card holders, who make a potential target group for Conad’s MVNO services in Italy, where MVNO activity is now picking up.

“We are confident that the hosted online charging by Nokia Siemens Networks will enable us to offer high-quality services to our mobile customers once we start our service early next year,” says Mauro Bosio, President of Conad Insim, the company group managing the MVNO activity. “We are convinced that our footprint will allow us to create a strong customer base. Our customers will have the possibility to activate and top-up their accounts at our 3,000 sales points all over Italy.”

“The mobile virtual network operator sector is becoming increasingly interesting in Italy. The business is appealing to all involved parties: from network and service providers to MVNOs and host operators to consumers,” says Roberto Loiola, the head of South East Europe Sub region at Nokia Siemens Networks. ”By selecting our hosting service, Conad will be able to offer the new services quickly and cost-efficiently, while our charging solution will allow targeted tariff and calling plans that contribute to quality customer experience and thus increase average revenue per user.”

Hosting is one of the many tools that Nokia Siemens Networks can offer operators to help expand their business in the face of ever-toughening competition and growing technological complexity. Hosting is part of Nokia Siemens Networks’ Managed Services business, one of the main pillars of its growing Services business unit. Nokia Siemens Networks is a leader in the managed services market, with over 160 contracts serving more than 130 million subscribers around the world.

Nokia Siemens Networks is the world’s No. 1 prepaid and charging supplier serving more than 400 million online customers. More than 200 operators use the company’s leading-edge charging and care solutions.

About Conad
Conad counts 8 cooperative members, to which in 2004 came also Rewe Italia. In 2002 an alliance with French hypermarket chain E. Leclerc was starter.; thereof was born in 2006 Coopernic, first cooperative group in the large distribution in Europe – with 17.500 sales-points and a turnover of 100 billion Euro – second behind US giant Wal-Mart. Partners in Coopernic are Colruyt (Belgium), Coop Suisse (Switzerland), E. Leclerc (France) and Rewe (Germany). Last February Conad signed a five years strategic agreement with Interdis. www.conad.it

Nokia Siemens Networks
Nokia Siemens Networks is a leading global enabler of communications services. The company provides a complete, well-balanced product portfolio of mobile and fixed network infrastructure solutions and addresses the growing demand for services with 20,000 service professionals worldwide. Nokia Siemens Networks is one of the largest telecommunications infrastructure companies with operations in 150 countries. The company is headquartered in Espoo, Finland.
www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

Media Enquiries

Nokia Siemens Networks
Vitaliano Vitale
Communications, South East Europe
Phone: +39 335 8215046
Email: vitaliano.vitale@nsn.com

Christina Dinné
Communications, Services
Phone: + 49 160 4758737
Email: christina.dinne@nsn.com