PortaSwitch helps Lightspeed Communications profit from surging Bahrain economy

Lightspeed Communications, a subsidiary of Orange-France Telecom Group, is a major player in meeting Bahain's increasing demand for world-class telecommunications.

The company was Bahrain's first alternative fixed-line telecom operator and the first provider in the island nation to launch dual-play (Internet and voice) services.

Lightspeed is renowned for providing high-quality broadband services to the residential and small-to-medium business (SMB) markets, as well as a full range of high-performance corporate services including dedicated Internet, Virtual Private Networks, data hosting, Web hosting, and Orange's GMPLS network.

At the heart of Lightspeed's Bahrain infrastructure since 2011 is PortaOne's PortaSwitch softswitch/billing platform. "PortaSwitch is a great all-in-one solution," said Mr. Alain Groleau, Lightspeed Communications Business Development Director. "Not only does it give us a comprehensive, flexible voice implementation that meets the requirements of different classes of customers, but also it lets us deliver additional high-end services that add value and profit," he added.

PortaSwitch is a software-based communication services and subscriber management solution that lets telephony service providers deliver a wide variety of business models quickly and flexibly. Capable of handling all the call control, routing, proxying, and converged billing functions of any diversified digital services company, the platform consists of a real-time billing system, class 4 and 5 SIP softswitch, and applications servers that deliver converged billing and provisioning, SIP call control, unified messaging, IP Centrex and hosted IP PBX, callback management, IVRs, conferencing and more.

"One of the greatest advantages of PortaSwitch is its simplicity," noted Mr. Abdulrahman Ghazal, Lightspeed Communications Technical Manager. "It's easy to configure, which saves us time and effort. Moreover, PortaOne upgrades PortaSwitch frequently, which allows us to stay at the top in terms of technology and system capabilities," he added.

As Lightspeed Communications has increased its base of SMB and large corporate accounts, PortaSwitch has allowed the telecom to host and maintain a number of value-added services. "PortaSwitch supports a wide array of SIP Centrex services. Since installing PortaSwitch we've increased our business significantly by adding new customers who, for example, are looking for a VoIP hosted model with fax-over-IP capability," he concluded.

Other advantages PortaSwitch provides, Mr. Ghazal said, "Include postpaid/prepaid support, features like call waiting and voicemail, and the ability to support interconnection with new carriers. He also pointed to the need among Lightspeed customers to fax using their own equipment—a capability PortaSwitch supports."

Since the beginning, Lightspeed Communications has also subscribed to PortaOne's PortaCare 24/7 technical support programme. In addition to technical assistance, the programme gives the telecom remote monitoring and basic maintenance of covered servers.

"Lightspeed provides a comprehensive platform and first-class customer care professionals, ready to assist with every aspect of our services," stated Mr. Groleau. "Our commitment to our customers, combined with our unbundled lineup of services and our all-in-one voice/Internet offering, is very attractive to a wide range of Bahraini market segments. PortaSwitch and PortaCare help us meet all these different customer requirements," he added.