BICS (company)

Last updated
BICS
Industry Telecommunications
Founded1997
Headquarters Brussels, Belgium
Key people
Matteo Gatta (CEO until 02/2024)
Website bics.com

BICS is active in digital communications, cloud communication services, mobility and IoT for telecom players, virtual network operators, service providers, enterprise software providers and global enterprises. [1] It is a subsidiary of Proximus Group. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Brussels, Belgium with sales offices and Service Operation Centers worldwide, including Dubai, Singapore, Bern, San Francisco and New York. BICS provides services across more than 200 countries, carries around 50% of the world's data roaming traffic and partners with more than 500 mobile operators. In 2021 BICS carried over 20.8 billion minutes of international traffic and generated revenues for 999 million Euros. [2] [3]

Contents

History

BICS' coverage

BICS owns and operates a high capacity MPLS enabled global network based on a wholly owned and operated 100 Gbit/s capable DWDM network in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Luxembourg, UK and Belgium augmented with leased capacity and submarine cable assets to serve the global footprint.

BICS' international network includes over 700 direct connections in 180+ countries, [12] capacity on 75 submarine cables (including the TAT-14, SMW3, FLAG, Yellow/AC-2 and SAT-3/WASC) with 200 landing points, participation in the Intelsat and Eutelsat satellite systems, and over 300 bilateral agreements with other operators. To secure capacity between Europe and Asia for future requirements.

To add physical redundancy, in 2008 BICS invested in the EIG (Europe India Gateway) cable system through their partner Omantel. [13] BICS fully own Teleport in La Ciotat with a large allowed Leased Spectrum (76°5E to 31°5W).

For mobile data, BICS operates its own signalling, SMS, MMS and GRX platforms, which connect up to 400 mobile networks across the globe. Peering connections have been established with over 30 hubbing providers to extend the company reach to the overall mobile community.

Products and technologies

BICS routes voice and data communications across the different networks on an international scale. The voice and mobile data products and services are part of the Mosaic [14] product portfolio. The company is evangelist of developments in new telecommunication technologies as 4G, IP, Wi-Fi, etc. In the first half of 2013 BICS announced the performance of the first intercontinental 4G roaming connection over its IPX platform, between Europe and Asia. [15] BICS historically started off as a voice-only provider, but began to diversify its offering with mobile oriented solutions[ buzzword ] in the early years 2000.

In 2019, BICS launched the first 5G intercontinental roaming service [16] and enabled Europe's first 5G roaming [17] service.

In 2022, BICS launched its Communications Platform-as-a-Service (CPaaS) Platform. [18]

References

  1. "Proximus acquires full ownership of BICS, securing the flexibility to execute the development and growth path of BICS and TeleSign". Proximus Group Website. 2021-02-09. Retrieved 2022-04-01.
  2. "Proximus Annual Report 2021". proximus.com. Proximus Group. 2022. Archived from the original on 22 May 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. "Welcome to BICS". BICS. Retrieved 2022-04-01.
  4. "Mergers: Commission approves joint venture between Belgacom and Swisscom". European Union. 20 May 2005. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  5. "BICS and MTN combine international carrier service". Telegeography. 26 June 2009. Archived from the original on 17 June 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  6. James Middleton (1 December 2009). "Belgacom, MTN merge carrier services operations". www.telecoms.com. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  7. "BICS Completes Acquisition of TeleSign". BICS. Archived from the original on 2021-03-20. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
  8. "Changes in the BICS management team". BICS. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  9. "Proximus acquires full ownership of BICS, securing the flexibility to execute the development and growth path of BICS and TeleSign". BICS. Archived from the original on 2021-03-06. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
  10. "BICS accelerates 5G Standalone readiness with test environment". BICS. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  11. "BICS Group accelerates its transition to a communications platform company with acquisition of 3m Digital Networks". BICS. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  12. "BICS Point of Presence". BICS. Archived from the original on 12 November 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  13. "Omantel and Belgacom make joint investment in Europe India Gateway". Telecompaper. 28 May 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  14. "Mosaic". BICS. Archived from the original on 15 July 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  15. "BICS enables first intercontinental 4G/LTE Data Roaming relation". www.cellular-news.com. 27 June 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  16. "BICS, SK Telecom and Swisscom pioneer world's first 5G roaming service". BICS. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
  17. "BICS enables the launch of Monaco Telecom's first 5G roaming service in Europe". BICS. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
  18. "BICS launches CPaaS platform". BICS. Retrieved 2022-10-20.