Making Visual Voicemail Available for Mass-Market Use in Norway Paves Way for Significant Global Growth

WAKEFIELD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Comverse today announced that Netcom, a leading Norwegian mobile operator and part of the TeliaSonera (NASDAQ OMX Stockholm: TLSN) group, will become the first operator to offer visual voicemail service to subscribers with Sony Ericsson handsets.

"An integral aspect of our leadership is our strategic cooperation with leading handset vendors like Sony Ericsson to make the best possible visual voicemail experience available to the broadest number of people"

Comverse Visual Voicemail revolutionizes the voicemail experience with an information-rich inbox for voice messages that lets users click to hear and handle voice messages. Highly intuitive for today's Internet-nurtured users, the service has already been launched by operators around the globe on more than 50 different handset models. Upon deployment, many operators have reported that the average revenue per user (ARPU) for voicemail services has increased 30 to 50 percent.

As a result of visual voicemail's surging popularity around the world, Comverse announced last October that it was teaming up with Sony Ericsson to provide visual voicemail on its handsets for residential and business users. With visual voicemail now available on its handsets in Norway, Sony Ericsson is positioned to support the service for millions of users in other countries.

"I am happy to note that Netcom is distinguished as not only a regional leader, but as a global leader," said Netcom Messaging Services Manager Thorbjørn Rusnes. "Our launch last year of Comverse Visual Voicemail for the iPhone was extremely well received by our iPhone subscribers. The service is in such high demand that we were eager to extend availability to owners of other popular handsets. We are proud to inform our many Sony Ericsson users that they can now be the first in the world to enjoy visual voicemail on their handsets."

Comverse Visual Voicemail is boosting voicemail usage and revenues for more than 40 operators around the world. "An integral aspect of our leadership is our strategic cooperation with leading handset vendors like Sony Ericsson to make the best possible visual voicemail experience available to the broadest number of people," 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.

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.

The new Visual Voicemail for Netcom on Sony Ericsson handsets currently are on display at the Comverse booth, Hall 8 Booth B83, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, now through Feb. 18. To schedule a meeting with Comverse, visitors are encouraged to make an online request.

About Netcom Norway

NetCom is the second largest mobile phone operator in Norway. The company has about 1.2 million subscribers, and the company headquarters are located in Nydalen in Oslo. It is owned by the Swedish and Finnish company TeliaSonera.

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. (CMVT.PK). 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.