Convergys (News - Alert) Corporation, a vendor of customer care, human resources, and billing services, announced today that cable TV, telephone, and Internet services vendor RCN Corporation has renewed its billing and customer care agreement with Convergys for five years.

The renewed agreement continues the licensing, maintenance, and support of Convergys' ICOMS convergent voice, video, and data billing and customer care product for RCN. It also provides options for RCN to use components of Infinys, Convergys' modular, convergent, business support system software.

RCN has been using ICOMS since 2001 to support billing and customer care for its communication, information, and entertainment services. With ICOMS, RCN supports more than 880,000 customer connections in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.

Tim Dunne, RCN Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, said the arrangement lets RCN "improve efficiencies… as well as go after future growth opportunities without adding new infrastructure."

ICOMS lets RCN create, sell and support its triple play bundles with a single bill and view of the customer.

With its Infinys software and professional and consulting services, Convergys works in the deployment of real-time convergent billing -- including the quadruple play of video, voice, data, and wireless -- for cable, wireless, satellite, and wireline service providers around the world.

Convergys might have to replace a marquee client soon: Given fact that AT&T (News - Alert) and BellSouth (News - Alert) will have to combine their customer records, Convergys rival Amdocs "will likely become AT&T-Cingular's major provider of billing software," according to industry observer Mike Angell.

"Unlike with hardware, telecom carriers usually rely on just one software vendor -- in order to keep billing and account information in one standard format," Angell writes. "AT&T already relies on Amdocs. BellSouth uses billing software from rival firm Convergys, which could get squeezed out."

David Sims is contributing editor for TMCnet. For more articles please visit David Sims' columnist page.