Starhome sees increase in roaming revenue across customer base

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND: Starhome, the leading provider and acknowledged driving force of roaming services for mobile network operators, has been observing the positive changes in the roaming market and has identified new trends that indicate the return of the global roamer.

Analysts and mobile operators have reported an increase in roaming traffic during the first six months of 2010. The recent surge in data roaming can be attributed to price reductions in 3G devices together with appealing low-priced data packages being offered by mobile operators.

Data roaming traffic has soared to levels beyond what was initially anticipated by industry analysts prior to the economic downturn.

New global roaming trends have left a positive impression on global roaming revenues. Operators seeking to secure their share of the global data roaming boom are turning to innovation as the tool of choice to differentiate themselves from the competition.

Operators wishing to tap into the data market momentum need innovative marketing campaign solutions to secure customer loyalty and stickiness. Offering cross-sell and up-sell campaign benefits to their outbound roamers that are redeemable when back in their home environment are causal factors in creating the ultimate roaming experience and, of course, increasing customer loyalty.

Today, subscriber retention is paramount, and offering subscribers a good reason to stay can be achieved by offering innovative price packages and bundled services.
Hosted, managed and centralized solutions are also being sought by operators to maintain financial sustainability, optimize cost structures and reduce possible downtime.

Starhome provides roaming innovation for all levels of operator business: Wholesale, retail and operations. Starhome’s flexible, privately owned global IP network enables cost-effective scaling to accommodate increasing numbers of users and enables deployment of services in hosted, centralized or managed service modes.

Avi Hasson, General Partner at Gemini, a Starhome shareholder, commented: “Starhome has been an acknowledged leader in roaming innovation for the last 10 years. The company is moving from strength to strength by offering innovative and robust solutions to the mobile industry. Starhome’s position as the roaming solutions vendor of choice is backed by a growing number of operators as well as repeat business.

“Starhome has delivered six consecutive quarters of growth, despite the global recession and has achieved solid revenue growth from recurrent revenues and fixed licenses. Starhome is also enjoying a yield growth of more than 50 percent, which now reaches double digit profitability. Liquidity ratios have reached an all time high.”

These positive trends and innovations will be the focus of Starhome’s annual Roaming Forum, which will be held in Antwerp, Belgium, on October 6, 2010. Industry experts and operators will discuss case studies and current market trends. Starhome’s latest innovation in roaming is due to be unveiled at the event.