Customer-experience systems provider Amdocs has completed its acquisition of Bridgewater Systems, the policy-management and network-control solutions provider. Amdocs says the $215 million (U.S.) deal will further expand its CES portfolio, allowing service providers to implement new value-based data monetization strategies to capitalize on the data explosion.
Service providers are moving away from unlimited data packages and creating new value-based pricing and data-monetization models to offer more personalized packages that match revenue to consumers’ consumption behavior and usage patterns.
"This strategic acquisition will enable service providers to completely redefine the real-time data experience and maximize the return on their network investments," said Brian Shepherd, group president for Amdocs. "We are delighted to welcome Bridgewater's highly innovative, skilled professionals to Amdocs as we continue expanding our market-leading CES portfolio."
"To successfully monetize their networks and enable a move to value-based pricing, service providers need to integrate their charging and policy systems," said Ari Banerjee, senior analyst at Heavy Reading. "Standalone policy management provides an optimized network but not the most profitable one, while charging by itself provides monetization but does not enforce network knowledge. Successful network monetization needs these two systems to work together, which requires significant integration between the business support systems (BSS) and policy control systems. With the Bridgewater acquisition, Amdocs will be positioned to offer a pre-integrated policy management and charging solution to drive service providers' data revenue."
Amdocs says it doesn’t expect the acquisition to have a significant impact on earnings per share in fiscal years 2011 or 2012. The impact on GAAP results will be finalized after Amdocs completes the purchase price accounting for the acquisition. The company says it may incur acquisition-related expense in fiscal 2011 to account for certain costs related to the purchase.
In addition to the product and solution synergies, Amdocs and Bridgewater also share numerous top-tier customers, including Bell Mobility, Sprint and Telstra.
