Amdocs buys Bridgewater to secure future LTE charging mechanisms
Amdocs moves early to acquire policy management and home management cellphone billing player
Published: 20 June, 2011
READ MORE: M&A | US | amdocs | Billing | LTE
Amdocs, one of the largest billing suppliers in cellular and fixed line telecommunications, has signaled a jump into complex LTE charging systems based across multiple services and multiple devices, with a $214 million (C$211 million) bid for Canada's Bridgewater Systems.
The two companies have signed a definitive merger agreement and key shareholders and management with 35% control have already come out in support of the deal. Bridgewater has many tier 1 customers including Clearwire, Comcast,
Amdocs believes that it can move towards a stronger mobile data offering with the Bridgewater product line or of policy controllers and home subscription servers. This will enable operators to have flexible and agile data service pricing - something that will be vital in future LTE charging mechanisms which anticipate far more policy management on the fly, and a much broader and more complex set of charging mechanisms, as operators move away from simplistic unlimited data plans.
Amdocs will pay C$8.20 per share in cash and will need Bridgewater shareholder approval and must straddle the usual regulatory approvals. If you look at the deal net of cash help by Bridewater it's closer to C$128 million. Both Boards have approved the transaction which is expected to be completed in 90 days.
Bridgewater's systems added to Amdocs' charging technology will provide a holistic view of the customer hierarchy across multiple devices, lines of business, and networks, Amdocs said. Allowing service providers to redefine their approach to monetizing data services. LTE charging is likely to include deals for whole households and SMEs, across many devices, and multiple services, and Amdocs has moved early to acquire a technology that will facilitate this.
Amdocs and Bridgewater already share a number of top tier customers, including Bell Mobility, Sprint and Telstra. The agreement prevents Bridgewater from soliciting alternative transactions and provides for the payment of a termination fee in certain circumstances.
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