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, [13] 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. [14] 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 [15] 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. [16] 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 [17] and enabled Europe's first 5G roaming [18] service.

In 2022, BICS launched its Communications Platform-as-a-Service (CPaaS) Platform. [19]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">3G</span> Third generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology

3G is the third generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology. It is the upgrade to 2G, 2.5G, GPRS and 2.75G Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution networks, offering faster data transfer, and better voice quality. This network was superseded by 4G, and later by 5G. This network is based on a set of standards used for mobile devices and mobile telecommunications services and networks that comply with the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000) specifications set by the International Telecommunication Union. 3G is used in wireless voice telephony, mobile Internet access, fixed wireless Internet access, video calls and mobile TV.

2G is a short notation for second-generation cellular network, a group of technology standards employed for cellular networks. 2G was commercially launched on the GSM standard in Finland by Radiolinja in 1991. After 2G was launched, the previous mobile wireless network systems were retroactively dubbed 1G. While radio signals on 1G networks are analog, radio signals on 2G networks are digital, though both systems use digital signaling to connect cellular radio towers to the rest of the mobile network system. 2G was superseded by 3G technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proximus Group</span> Belgian telecommunication company

The Proximus Group is a provider of digital services and communication solutions operating in Belgium and international markets. In Belgium, the company offers its main products and services under the brands Proximus, Scarlet, and Mobile Vikings. The Group also operates in Luxembourg as Proximus Luxembourg SA, with the brandsTango and Telindus Luxembourg, and in the Netherlands as Telindus Netherlands. Internationally, activities are carried out by BICS and Telesign. Proximus Accelerators is the ecosystem of IT partners Be-Mobile, ClearMedia, Codit, Davinsi Labs, Proximus Spearit and Telindus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swisscom</span> Swiss telecommunication company

Swisscom AG is a major telecommunications provider in Switzerland. Its headquarters are located in Worblaufen near Bern. The Swiss government owns 51% of Swisscom. According to its own published data, Swisscom holds a market share of 56% for mobile, 50% for broadband and 37% for TV telecommunication in Switzerland. Its Italian subsidiary, FASTWEB, is attributed 16% of private clients and 29% of the corporate clients share of Italian broadband and is also active in the mobile market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KPN</span> Dutch multinational telecommunication and internet company

Koninklijke KPN N.V., trading as KPN is a Dutch telecommunications company. KPN originated from a government-run postal, telegraph and telephone service and is based in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tele2</span> Multinational telecommunications company

Tele2 AB is a provider of mobile and fixed connectivity, telephony, data network services, TV, streaming and global Internet of things services, amongst others, to consumers and enterprises. It is headquartered in Kista Science City, Stockholm, Sweden. It is a major mobile network operator in Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The company initially founded Tele2 Russia, but later sold all its operations, later rebranding and changing the name to "t2".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MTN Group</span> Multinational telecommunications company based in South Africa

MTN Group Limited is a South African multinational corporation and mobile telecommunications provider. Its head office is in Johannesburg. MTN is among the largest mobile network operators in the world, and the largest in Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dialog Axiata</span> Sri Lankan telecommunications company

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vodafone Italy</span> Italian telecommunications company

Vodafone Italy is the Italian subsidiary of the UK-based telecommunications company Vodafone Group. The company's headquarters are in Ivrea (TO) and Milan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SLTMobitel</span> Sri Lankan telecommunications company

Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, doing business as SLT-MOBITEL, is the national telecommunications services provider in Sri Lanka and one of the country's largest companies with an annual turnover in excess of Rs 40 billion. The company provides domestic and corporate services which include fixed and wireless telephony, Internet access and IT services to domestic, public and business sector customers. As of 2018 SLT-MOBITEL was Sri Lanka's second largest mobile network operator with over 7.9 million subscribers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orange Egypt</span> Telecommunication company in Egypt

Orange Egypt, formerly known as Mobinil, is the oldest mobile network operator in Egypt, founded on March 4, 1998. Orange provides voice and data exchange services, as well as 4G, 3G, ADSL and broadband internet.

3G mobile telephony was relatively slow to be adopted globally. In some instances, 3G networks do not use the same radio frequencies as 2G so mobile operators must build entirely new networks and license entirely new frequencies, especially so to achieve high data transmission rates. Other delays were due to the expenses of upgrading transmission hardware, especially for UMTS, whose deployment required the replacement of most broadcast towers. Due to these issues and difficulties with deployment, many carriers delayed acquisition of these updated capabilities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voice over LTE</span> High-speed wireless communication functionality

Voice over Long-Term Evolution is an LTE high-speed wireless communication standard for voice calls and SMS using mobile phones and data terminals. VoLTE has up to three times more voice and data capacity than older 3G UMTS and up to six times more than 2G GSM. It uses less bandwidth because VoLTE's packet headers are smaller than those of unoptimized VoIP/LTE. VoLTE calls are usually charged at the same rate as other calls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airtel India</span> Indian telecommunications company

Airtel India is the second largest provider of mobile telephony and third largest provider of fixed telephony in India, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services. The brand is operated by several subsidiaries of Bharti Airtel, with Bharti Hexacom and Bharti Telemedia providing broadband fixed line services and Bharti Infratel providing telecom passive infrastructure service such as telecom equipment and telecom towers. Currently, Airtel provides 5G, 4G and 4G+ services all over India. Currently offered services include fixed-line broadband, and voice services depending upon the country of operation. Airtel had also rolled out its VoLTE technology across all Indian telecom circles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Epic (Cyprus)</span> Cyprus based telecommunications company

Epic Ltd, is a Cyprus based telecommunications service provider owned by Monaco Telecom.

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. 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. 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. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
  10. ↑ "BICS recognised in the Niche Players Quadrant in 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Managed IoT Connectivity Services, Worldwide". BICS. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  11. ↑ "BICS accelerates 5G Standalone readiness with test environment". BICS. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  12. ↑ "BICS Group accelerates its transition to a communications platform company with acquisition of 3m Digital Networks". BICS. Retrieved 2022-03-31.
  13. ↑ "BICS Point of Presence". BICS. Archived from the original on 12 November 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  14. ↑ "Omantel and Belgacom make joint investment in Europe India Gateway". Telecompaper. 28 May 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  15. ↑ "Mosaic". BICS. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  16. ↑ "BICS enables first intercontinental 4G/LTE Data Roaming relation". www.cellular-news.com. 27 June 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  17. ↑ "BICS, SK Telecom and Swisscom pioneer world's first 5G roaming service". BICS. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
  18. ↑ "BICS enables the launch of Monaco Telecom's first 5G roaming service in Europe". BICS. Retrieved 2021-03-17.
  19. ↑ "BICS launches CPaaS platform". BICS. Retrieved 2022-10-20.
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