Telecom Italia Goes Live with Intec's Convergent Mediation Architecture; Inter-mediatE Supports Operator's Move to IP-Based Network and Services

Business Wire, May 11, 2004

Business Editors

LONDON & ROME--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 2004

Intec Telecom Systems announced today that Telecom Italia has gone live with the company's Inter-mediatE(TM) convergent mediation solution. The selection of Inter-mediatE followed a detailed and competitive evaluation against other mediation vendors, with a particular emphasis on performance on high-volume, next-generation networks. Inter-mediatE replaced Telecom Italia's existing mediation system, providing fully convergent mediation capabilities as the operator migrated its fixed line telephony network, which serves over 27 million customers across Italy, to IP. Intec eventually expects to be collecting and processing hundreds of million of voice and data EDRs (event detail records) per day.

The contract with Telecom Italia covers the supply of Inter-mediatE, with ancillary services to support Telecom Italia's system integration partners, IBM, and Accenture. Intec worked with all three companies to build a new mediation architecture capable of handling a wide range of new and traditional communications services delivered over the Telecom Italia network. Telecom Italia is moving rapidly towards an all-IP network backbone infrastructure, with the intention of adding IP-based services such as IP telephony in the near future. As well as the benefits of converting a legacy system onto a single modern platform, Inter-mediatE has helped Telecom Italia improve time to market for the delivery of these next-generation services.

"This agreement is the largest mediation deal that Intec has signed in Southern Europe," said Livio Ventura, Intec's regional manager. "Telecom Italia is a long-term customer of Intec's InterconnecT billing solution. Its decision to choose Inter-mediatE for this key infrastructure project is a recognition of our extensive experience and proven capability in national carrier grade OSS systems."

Companies competing for this contract were evaluated on technical, commercial, and stability criteria. Intec's solution was chosen over its competitors for its proven performance and flexibility in large-scale networks and for its true convergent capabilities. These will be particularly important as Telecom Italia migrates its network from a traditional switched infrastructure to an IP-based system, a move which it expects to deliver very substantial cost savings.

"Intec had a substantial performance advantage in benchmarking tests, and its reference base of high-end customers was very reassuring," said Telecom Italia's manager responsible for the Mediation project. "In addition, we have built a solid long-term relationship with Intec on interconnect billing, and are satisfied that Intec, as a public company, is a vendor with good financial stability and a commitment to a real presence in Southern Europe."

Inter-mediatE is a flexible, high performance, real-time mediation platform designed to meet the requirements for convergent service delivery and billing on all types and sizes of networks. Over 150 mobile, fixed, 3G and IP operators worldwide rely on Inter-mediatE for convergent mediation services, delivering accurate, high-quality data to downstream billing and other operational systems.

"Telecom Italia is a long-term client and we are very pleased the company selected us again on the basis of both technical superiority in convergent mediation and business strength," said Kevin Adams, Intec's CEO. "We see many operators who are looking to improve business performance through upgrades to key OSS systems and mediation is at the heart of this process. True convergent mediation can cut operating costs by consolidating multiple systems, and the capability to deal with all types of services in one platform is a key requirement for efficient operations."

About Telecom Italia Group

The Telecom Italia Group is one of the world's principal telecommunications companies, and a business leader in Italy. The Group's international presence is focused in Europe, Latin America and the Mediterranean Basin and it is one of Italy's largest corporations. Telecom Italia has more than 27 million fixed network connections; mobile network lines total more than 20 million, while Tin.it numbers in excess of 3.5 million subscribers. For more information visit the website on http://www.telecomitalia.it.

About Intec Telecom Systems

Intec Telecom Systems is the world's leading Operations Support Systems ("OSS") product vendor for fixed, mobile, and next-generation networks (i.e. WLAN, 3G and IP), with more than 570 installations of its products worldwide in over 400 customers. Founded in 1997, Intec was listed on the London Stock Exchange (Code: ITL.L) in June 2000. In 2003 Intec reported revenues of GBP 50.7 million, with adjusted net earnings after tax of GBP 4.1 million.

Intec's product portfolio includes:

-- Inter-mediatE(TM) - convergent mediation solution

-- InterconnecT(TM) - inter-carrier billing including US CABS and

ITU-based settlement

-- Inter-activatE(TM) - flow-through provisioning and activation