ICT and Telephony Convergence: The Key to the Future

Converging ICT & Telephony: The Key to the Future”

Just over a year ago, Proximus NXT and Tango began a strategic rapprochement under the umbrella of the Proximus Group, their shared shareholder. This led to the creation of Proximus Luxembourg, with the ambition of building a new digital ecosystem by intelligently combining its telecom and ICT solutions, and with the goal of becoming a value generator for its customers.

“I joined Proximus NXT in 2005 to join the technical team dedicated to Voice over IP, which was then an emerging activity. Later, I participated in the development of the first cloud telephony solutions. I am therefore particularly enthusiastic about the idea of merging with a telecom operator,” says Sébastien Laurenti, who now heads the Sales Unit Unified Communications & Mobility, Video Surveillance at Proximus NXT, a team dedicated to product development and pre-sales. “Tango brings us the missing pieces to complete our offering and provide our customers with an end-to-end telephony service. We now clearly aim to become the leader in a market that has so far been dominated by the incumbent operator,” he states.

The convergence between Proximus NXT – an ICT and enterprise telecommunications provider – and Tango – a mobile, fixed-line, TV and internet operator mainly focused on the residential market – has given both companies the opportunity to combine their expertise within an Enterprise Business Unit (EBU) operating under the Proximus NXT brand, alongside a Consumer Business Unit (CBU) represented by Tango. This structure aligns Luxembourg operations with the group model and facilitates the adoption of a shared strategy at the local level.

A foundation for future solutions

Driving such a transformation is not without challenges. To achieve synergies from this convergence strategy, both companies had to reorganize their activities. In this context, Proximus NXT and Tango jointly developed convergence solutions such as SIP trunking[1], initially certified on the U-touch Collaboration-as-a-Service platform of Proximus NXT.

Building on this foundation, the Connectivity team of the new EBU unit developed a commercial SIP trunking offering. “When POST Luxembourg announced the end of ISDN installations, the technology used for about 20 years to access the public telephone network, we reacted immediately by positioning ourselves with SIP, the next-generation technology,” explains Sébastien Laurenti. “Not only does SIP trunking bring cost reduction, operational simplification, and flexibility to companies adopting it, but it also provides a standard foundation ready to support future use cases and solutions in video conferencing, collaboration, security, or cloud services, for example.”

When fixed and mobile converge

Once fixed telephony is integrated into a cloud solution, what can be offered to users in terms of mobility? “To meet this latent need,” explains Sébastien Laurenti, “we developed with Tango a service called FMU – Fixed Mobile Unification – which integrates fixed and mobile calls. Users can be reached at any time on any device, fixed or mobile, using the business number chosen by the company. If a client calls, both devices ring. As a result, no call is missed, and the client is immediately handled. It is also possible to display the fixed-line number when calling from a mobile. The concept of a single number is thus fully realized and brings real value to the user, who can also benefit from a unified voicemail box and call overflow rules—features of enterprise telephony rather than mobile telephony.”

Streamlining internal communication

Since mobile devices are integrated into the company’s communication platform, the user’s presence status is also updated when they use their mobile phone: colleagues—or the company reception—know when they are available again. Internal calls between colleagues do not incur additional charges. Finally, FMU significantly facilitates compliance with usage policies and the monitoring of mobile telephony costs.

Available since January, the FMU service is currently limited to the Tango network. “However, given the large number of cross-border users active in the Luxembourg market, it will soon be extended to roaming calls,” adds Sébastien Laurenti.

Meeting regulatory challenges

“We are also working on other services designed to help our customers face upcoming regulatory changes such as GDPR, which governs personal data protection, and especially the European MiFID II directive, which requires financial professionals to ensure traceability of all communications related to transactions with their clients. This recording obligation – and the ability to retrieve data easily upon request – applies to all communication channels: physical meetings, email, fixed or mobile calls, SMS, chat, or video,” emphasizes the head of UC & Mobility at Proximus NXT.

To address the mobile component of the directive, the UC & Mobility team is currently developing a solution called MVR – Mobile Voice Recording – designed to record mobile calls and SMS. Unlike some operators, Proximus NXT has chosen an approach that meets both the directive’s requirements and Luxembourg’s data localization constraints.

“We decided to rely on our FMU service to intercept the call on the Tango network, route it to our cloud, and record it on a Compliance Recording platform. This is the same platform used by our U-Touch customers who want to record fixed-line calls, video conversations, and other communication applications,” explains Sébastien Laurenti. “Our approach is to provide communication recording as required by MiFID II, while also enabling easy reconstruction of transactions, all within Luxembourg regulatory requirements, through a single integrated tool.”

Developing tomorrow’s digital ecosystems

“Today we are facing regulatory challenges that translate into technological challenges. This forces us to take quick positions on innovative choices that are intended to last and require significant investment. But these commitments are the key to the future. By promoting convergence between information technology and fixed and mobile telephony, we provide organizations with the means to develop their digital ecosystems. Through the democratization of digital tools in learning, creation, research, and development processes, sectors such as education, healthcare, and industry will be transformed. The gradual unification of digital tools will facilitate access to work resources, reduce real estate costs for companies, enable innovative transport policies, and better address environmental challenges,” concludes Sébastien Laurenti.

[1] SIP trunking is a service provided by an IP telephony operator that allows companies equipped with an IP-PBX system to use internet telephony (VoIP) to route incoming and outgoing calls via a broadband internet connection using the SIP protocol, an open multimedia standard used for voice, video, instant messaging, and more.