MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.-VeriSign Inc. announced a deal with Rural Cellular Corp., which operates in the Midwest, Northeast, Northwest and Southern regions, to provide VeriSign’s wireless billing service for RCC’s GSM customers.
RCC already uses several VeriSign products, including billing and customer management solutions, the vendor said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Earlier this month, RCC reported that it lost 9,992 customers during the second quarter compared with a gain of 8,144 customers during the second quarter of 2004. The carrier attributed the decline to issues encountered during the commercial introduction of its GSM networks in its Northeast, Northwest and South regions.
In July, RCC said it mutually terminated its customer relationship management and billing managed services pact with Amdocs Software Systems Ltd. The carrier said at the time that its 75,000 GSM customers were being served by a transitional service until the carrier implemented a replacement billing system.
“VeriSign has been an RCC solutions provider for more than five years. Based upon our experience using VeriSign’s telecommunications products, we have confidence in the company’s ability to meet our GSM requirements,” said Richard Ekstrand, president and chief executive of RCC.
RCC serves 716,755 total customers in rural areas adjacent to metropolitan areas and highway corridors where tourism, agriculture and small businesses are prevalent.
