Cerillion Technologies has expanded its footprint in Africa by providing an interconnection management tool to Econet Wireless, Kenya's fourth mobile-phone service provider.

Econet Wireless has implemented Cerillion Express to cover the entire customer life cycle, from initial sales and order handling to billing and collections. The company, which will launch service on Nov. 27, is set to go live with the new pre-integrated and pre-configured customer relationship management and billing solution.

"The mobile-specific nature of Cerillion Express and the ease of integration it supports has been critical in enabling us to meet all of our tight project deadlines," said Michael Foley, CEO of Econet Wireless Kenya. "We are confident that it will allow us to provide all our customers with the best possible service from launch."

The need for efficient interconnect management is becoming an increasingly urgent issue for operators requiring revenue assurance and efficient settlement, said Louis Hall, chief executive of Cerillion Technologies. The ability of Cerillion Express to grow in breadth and sophistication to keep pace with users' expanding needs makes it ideally suited to a rapidly growing operator like Econet, he added.

Under the agreement, Cerillion Interconnect Manager will support Econet in achieving its revenue assurance goals by enabling it to bill interconnect partners accurately and to efficiently reconcile invoices received.

"As a startup operation, it is essential that we generate interconnect revenues and effectively manage our national and international interconnect costs from day one," Foley said.

The agreement is based on a group licensing model, which will enable Econet Wireless to roll out similar schemes into other African countries in the future.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.