Billing and back office software provider CustomCall (News - Alert), which traditionally has focused its efforts on the competitive service provider set (in fact, it announced this week at COMPTEL a win with wholesale provider 360networks), has expanded its horizons to also serve cable companies. And the company’s first cableco customer is none other than Comcast (News - Alert).
Actually, CustomCall got the Comcast business following the MSO’s purchase of NGT, with which the vendor had a relationship. Now CustomCall has a contract with Comcast to provide it with order management for multiline business voice.
CustomCall Chairman and CEO Frank Peregrine (News - Alert) says his company has a pretty big advantage compared to big back-office companies like CSG Systems that target cablecos given such competitors’ telephony products have not been a central focus for them. Noticing this opportunity in the market, Peregrine explains, CustomCall about 18 months ago began to target the cableco space, particularly tier 2 and 3 types. Last summer CustomCall saw a return on this new strategy when it won the business of a small MSO in Northern Wisconsin, for which is provides billing, and set-top box and cable modem activation. Additional cableco deals are in the pipeline.
As it moves to appeal to addition cablecos, CustomCall is working to expand its offerings for these customers, says Peregrine. For example, he says, the company expects to deliver a “truck-roll product” to this space. CustomCall is currently in discussions with a big supplier of such a solution, which it hopes to integrate with its own software and potentially cut an OEM deal with. However, he says, CustomCall also has a product of its own in this realm, so it could potentially go that route. Still, he explains, CustomCall would like to leverage the standing cableco relationships of existing players in the space where it makes sense.
Edited by Kelly McGuire