Nokia Siemens Buys Subscriber Manager Provider, Apertio

Nokia Siemens Networks has announced the intended acquisition of Apertio, a provider of open real-time subscriber data platforms and applications. Nokia Siemens Networks will pay around €140 million (US$204 million) for the acquisition, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.

The acquisition builds on a pre-existing partnership, Nokia Siemens Networks having already integrated its Home Location Register and Home Subscriber Server products with Apertio's open platform to deliver a subscriber management solution that is in deployment with leading operators.

The company said that seventy-six percent of communication service providers view consolidation of customer data as a critical challenge in delivering on the opportunities of convergence.

"The race is on to deliver seamless and highly targeted services to end-users across various access devices and this requires a unified approach to subscriber data" said Jürgen Walter, head of Nokia Siemens Networks' Converged Core business unit. "Enabling access to this information in real-time means you can profile subscribers and deliver new services and advertising appropriately. Market entrants from the Internet world that are used to using real-time profiling are starting to play in the telecoms space and operators need to enable a personalised experience - today's announcement gives Nokia Siemens Networks the opportunity to provide unique value to our customers in this growing area."

Apertio's customers number among the world's largest and fastest growing communications service providers, including Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone and O2. Once the deal has closed, Apertio is expected to form a new business line, to be headed by Apertio CEO, Paul Magelli, within Nokia Siemens Networks' Converged Core business unit.

Posted to the site on 2nd January 2008