Bharti Telesoft gets new name – Comviva

Bharti Telesoft, the integrated value added services provider for mobile operators, renamed itself as Comviva Technologies as part of its company-wide rebranding initiative. Sabri Amireh, Vice President, Middle East and North Africa, Bharti Telesoft, told Emirates Business that the rebranding was essential to become global and avoid confusion with the parent company and one of the largest Indian telecom operators Bharti Telecom. "Comviva will continue to be under the Bharti Group as it is the major stake holder. But it was becoming essential to establish a separate identity and reflect a multi-supplier approach. Bharti Telesoft does not reflect our vision and aspiration," he said. Comviva has deployed solutions for more than 100 mobile operator customers in over 80 countries worldwide. The company has over 500 million mobile subscribers globally. The new name Comviva means 'Communication is Life.' As the major focus for 2009, Comviva is looking at mobile commerce aggressively in the Middle East and North Africa. The company is already talking to operators across the region including the UAE to enable mobile banking applications. "We foresee an increasing demand for mobile commerce and applications. There are regulations still not permitting these transactions in the region but operators are in talks with international organisations like GSMA to sort out this issue. Comviva has given couple of presentations and had discussions with operators in the region. Phase one of application development focused on checking bank balances, money transfer and local remittances," Amireh said. The phase two will include making utility bill payments and also remitting money outside of the region by expatriates. "Operators with a large network of point of sales network can benefit from such applications as they could be added as services on top of the basic service agreements. Operators like Saudi Arabia based Mobily can benefit from such services. Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the Emirates Business 24|7 daily newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here .