Telewest Broadband launches its new Special Rate Service (SRS)



Telewest Broadband, one of Great Britain?s largest alternative carriers, banks on next-generation technology of the European Computer Telecoms Group (ECT) for its service number offering



London-/1 Oct., 2004 - Wi-Fi Technology News/- Following a highly competitive tender process, the European Computer Telecoms Group (ECT), Europe?s market leader for intelligent value-added services, has provided a turnkey solution for special rate service numbers to Telewest, one of Great Britain?s largest alternative carriers. The cutting-edge SRS Inbound Telephony Solution is designed specifically for call centres and based on ECT?s effECTive? Service Number Suite.

Rather than continuing to use its legacy technology, Telewest opted for a completely new solution using state-of-the-art, next-generation switching technology. This allows Telewest to benefit from new functionality and lead the way in inbound telephony call handling.

SRS Advanced Solutions include a web portal that makes call handling and routing simple. It allows customers to get instant access to their SRS numbers and associated routing plans. Moreover, it gives them the ability to alter, define, copy, activate and display routing plans, all in real time.

With a suite of advanced features at their fingertips, organisations can instigate overflow plans to cope with particularly busy periods, upload announcements, set up and manage Network Interactive Voice Response (NIVR), utilise Network Queuing and route calls directly to the best available agent using Skill-Based Routing. Real-Time Statistics are also available as a premium feature allowing customers to view call data as calls are processed.

Matt McCloskey, senior product manager SRS at Telewest, said: "It was imperative for Telewest to find the right supplier to help us take our product set forward within very aggressive timescales. We wanted to lead the market with our new solution, not just keep adding extra functionality to outdated technology. ECT was able to provide us with exactly what we needed. The ease of use and web front end provided by ECT technology makes Telewest?s SRS Advanced Solution the front runner in inbound telephony handling."

The service is entirely network-based, so that there is no need for costly equipment on customer premises, additional hardware or capital expenditure of any kind. Utilising ECT?s effECTive? Service Number Suite and AutoCarrier? Softswitches located at different geographical locations for disaster recovery, the service is fully resilient and is also integrated with the Telewest National Network (TNN). The AutoCarrier? provides the backbone of the solution that will allow organisations across the UK, regardless of geographic location, to benefit from the latest in inbound call handling.


A demonstration of Telewest?s new service can be seen at:
http://www.telewest.co.uk/srs

Further information on ECT?s effECTive Service Number Suite can be found at:
http://www.ect-telecoms.co.uk/softswitch/applikation/effective.cfm

About the European Computer Telecoms Group:

http://www.ect-telecoms.co.uk/