Mark Greenquist, President
and CEO of Telcordia
Piscataway, New Jersey, USA. 14 October, 2010 – Triple-digit growth in broadband usage, challenging mobile data economics, technology evolution and commoditisation, security, and changing business models for communications service providers (CSPs) are a few of the drivers in today's 'Mobile Interactivity Revolution' according to global communications software and services provider, Telcordia.
These market drivers, their impact on CSPs, and Telcordia's software and service solutions are in the spotlight at a two-day "State of the Business" media and analyst event attended by VanillaPlus at the company's New Jersey headquarters.
"There is an unmistakable revolution in mobile interactivity and CSPs globally are faced with consumer fickleness and the need to deliver value," said Mark Greenquist, President and CEO of Telcordia. "At the end of the day, strong quality of service, adapting to new technologies, and price will determine the market winner."
Greenquist also reported that Telcordia achieved year-on-year revenue growth in financial year 2010 of 8% to US$768 million, up from $711 million. But in his review of the company and the market, he cautions against premature optimism, forecasting a fall in total revenues to $758 million in FY2011 and no increase in FY2012.
This projected flat revenue line is partly down to a couple of cancelled US government communications programmes, as well as to regulatory delays in previously forecast revenues from number portability contracts in India. However, he is hopeful that this will come good next year.
Telcordia's historical reliance on RBOC (Regional Bell Operating Company) revenues is diminishing as a percentage of total sales, as international business rose from 20% in FY 2009 to 28% in 2010. And Greenquist is confident that this will reach 30% in 2011.
The company is also making progress from the creation of new and varied partnerships. In the past Telcordia was "deeply involved" with one partner (Accenture). But, as Greenquist told VanillaPlus, this approach has now been replaced by multiple system integrator partnerships, and the change is beginning to yield results. "We now end up in large system integrator bids. There are still only a handful of deals," he cautioned. "It's too early to claim victory here, but a number of SIs are now open to looking at new partners and our interface with partners has improved."
Greenquist also described how Telcordia re-financed its debt early in 2010, in the processing adding some liquidity to the company's balance sheet. Telcordia's earliest debt maturity is now due in 2016, and the business is generating $40 – $45 million of free cashflow annually after debt servicing.
