Comverse and Vodacom Bring Visual Voicemail to the South African Mobile Phone Market

Voicemail Messages Appear in iPhone's Inbox


WAKEFIELD, Mass., May 11, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vodacom, South Africa's leading mobile operator with 25 million subscribers, has launched the nation's first visual voicemail service, powered by Comverse and available to iPhone users.

Visual voicemail makes voicemail more convenient and attractive for users, who no longer need to dial in for their messages. Instead, a glance at the phone's inbox shows all relevant information about a message, such as date, time, sender and length. The user then clicks on any message to hear it and can listen to messages in any order.

By using visual voicemail, recipients retrieve voice messages quicker and are more likely to return calls. Callers also are encouraged to leave more messages because they realize their messages tend to be heard immediately. With more messages being deposited and more calls returned, operators maximize the revenue potential of visual voicemail.

"Being the first in the country to launch visual voicemail underscores Vodacom's standing as an innovation leader," said Dror Bin, President of Global Sales at Comverse, the world's leading supplier of software and systems enabling value-added messaging and content services, converged billing and active customer management, and IP communications.

"With this service launch in South Africa, visual voicemail has now expanded its presence and popularity to key regions around the world," Bin said. "We are proud of Comverse's leading role in making visual voicemail the global next-generation voicemail standard."

With more than two thirds of commercial launches worldwide, Comverse is the visual voicemail market leader. Comverse Visual Voicemail is part of the Comverse HUB Value-Added Services, which spans voice, messaging, mobile Internet and mobile advertising. Comverse HUB is a synergistic framework that enables service providers to maximize their business performance and augment their position in the market.

About Vodacom

Vodacom is a leading African communications group providing mobile communications and related services to more than 25 million customers. Its mobile network covers a total population of approximately 182 million people across five countries: South Africa, Tanzania, the DRC, Lesotho and Mozambique.

About Comverse

Comverse® is the world's leading provider of software and systems enabling value-added services for voice, messaging, mobile Internet and mobile advertising; converged billing and active customer management; and IP communications. Comverse's extensive customer base spans more than 125 countries and covers over 450 communication service providers serving more than two billion subscribers. The company's innovative product portfolio enables communication service providers to unleash the value of the network for their customers by making their networks smarter. Comverse's solutions support flexible deployment models, including in-network, hosted and managed services, and can run on circuit-switched, IP, IMS or converged network environments. Comverse is a subsidiary of Comverse Technology, Inc. (Pink Sheets:CMVT).  For more information, visit www.comverse.com.

All product and company names mentioned herein may be registered trademarks or trademarks of Comverse or the respective referenced company(s).

This release contains "forward-looking statements" under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurances that any forward-looking statements will be achieved. Important factors that could affect the statements contained herein include:changes in the demand for the company's products; changes in capital spending among the company's current and prospective customers; the risks associated with the sale of large, complex, high capacity systems and with new product introductions as well as the uncertainty of customer acceptance of these new or enhanced products from either the company or its competition; and risks associated with rapidly changing technology and the ability of the company to introduce new products on a timely and cost-effective basis. The company undertakes no commitment to update or revise forward-looking statements except as required by law.



            

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