Elephant Talk | January 12, 2011 | Press Release
LONDON– Elephant Talk Communications, Inc. (OTC.BB:ETAK) (www.elephanttalk.com), an
international provider of business software and services to the telecommunications and financial
services industries, today announced that the company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU) agreement with Cleartech to become its Mobile Virtual Network Enabler (MVNE) partner in
Brazil. Elephant Talk will provide infrastructure services to the growing marketplace of Mobile
Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) and their end-user customers. Cleartech, a joint-venture by the
leading Brazilian IT companies EDS, CPqD and DBA Engenharia, is a clearinghouse of telecom
companies that manages interconnections and services shared by telecom operators in the country,
which has a mobile penetration that recently reached 100 percent in a population of about 200
million people.
“With the recent approval of the MVNO regulation by the Brazilian regulator Anatel, the last barrier
for MVNOs to enter the market has been removed,” stated Steven van der Velden, Chairman and CEO
of Elephant Talk. “The partnership comes at an extremely opportune time, as many large companies
in Brazil, such as banks and financial institutions, retail chains, media companies, and alternative
carriers are now assessing their opportunities to enter the market as an MVNO. Many new MVNO
market entrants from abroad are also expected to enter the Brazilian market to obtain a part of this
highly potential business.”
Brazil is estimated to be among the fastest growing emerging global economies and is considered to
be one of the largest potential MVNO markets. Experts believe the Brazilian MVNO market has the
potential to grow to between 20 and 50 million mobile clients in a 10-year-period. Elephant Talk and
its established local partner Cleartech plan to leverage its strengths in IT and software services to
obtain substantial market share in the evolving Brazilian market. The strategic partnership with
Cleartech is important to Elephant Talk’s vision of deploying its next-generation mobile telecom
platform to approximately 7 to 10 countries by year end of 2012. Elephant Talk is already established
in Spain, Belgium and The Netherlands. The Cleartech partnership allows for ETAK’s previous
European MVNO clients to expand into the emerging Brazilian market.
“Elephant Talk’s MVNE platform is an integrated system that is cost-effective, and flexible to operate,
that will enable Cleartech’s telecom operators to connect and unlock enormous possibilities,”
explained Martin Zuurbier, Chief Technical Officer of Elephant Talk. “Now the required radio access
will be arranged by our leading-edge full convergent mobile platform with all mobile systems
required, such as HLR, SMSC, MMSC, GMSC, STP, GGSN, SGSN. There will be integration of all of these
aspects to the fullest extent with banks, media and payment systems to support all 4G services.”
Elephant Talk’s technology reduces over 20 telecommunication systems to just one platform for all
MVNE/MVNO process domain areas. The software provides the ability in Brazil to use the
combination of Elephant Talk’s unique product portfolio that includes value-added ValidSoft
technology in the battle field of credit card, fraud security and voice biometrics. ValidSoft, Inc.
(www.validsoft.com), a subsidiary of Elephant Talk, is a market leader in providing authentication
and transaction verification solutions to counter electronic fraud relating to card, internet, and
telephone channels. ValidSoft is the first security software company to be granted the rigorous
European Privacy Seal, and has also proven compliance in the U.S., Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia
and Mexico.
Marcos Bellotti, Business and Regulatory Director for Cleartech, the leading Brazilian Business
Process Outsourcing (BPO) service model for Call Data Records (CDR), and one of the largest in the world, stated, “Cleartech is very proud to partner with ET. This partnership allows us to continue
providing the Brazilian market with world class services. With our Telecom and Business experience
in Brazil together with Elephant Talk’s experience in the MVNO domain, we are certain we have the
best platform for our customers with a flexible business model and strong competitive advantages.”
