Cibernet

CTIA - The Wireless Association (previously the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association), the membership organization founded in 1984 to represent wireless communications companies in the United States, developed a process and protocol with GTE to exchange call record information and invoice and pay each other for providing this service.

The protocol developed required the use of a standard record format. The standard record scheme that was developed was called CIBER (Cellular Inter-carrier Billing Exchange Record) and the function known as CIBER Roaming Settlement System (also known as financial clearing and settlement) was developed and provided as a service to the members of CTIA by the CTIA.

Eventually the CTIA decided to create a separate financial entity to perform this function and in 1988, Cibernet was created. Cibernet's role since its inception has been to define, developing and maintain the CIBER roaming settlement system.

Following the success of roaming in the United States analog AMPS (advanced mobile phone systems) market, Cibernet established a London operation in 1995 to provide financial clearing settlement services to the emerging digital GSM market. Cibernet grew to become arguably the largest and most experienced financial clearing-house in the world.

In 2000, Cibernet entered the data clearing market initially focused on the emerging market in India, one of the fastest growing and demanding mobile markets in the world, and now provides data clearing operations to over 45 networks in India, Central Asia, South East Asia and the African continent, processing large and growing TAP record volumes.

In March 2003, Cibernet was sold by the CTIA to a group of private equity investors including Venturehouse Group and Jeong H. Kim. This group provided significant investment. A technology and platform called One1Clear was developed by CTO Michael Baldwin (ex Bell Labs) with an integrated and automated end-to-end clearing and settlement service.

Cibernet recently launched fast forward, a set of intelligent consulting, tools and services to support wireless communications companies and mobile operators.

In May 2007, Cibernet was acquired by MACH^[1] (a portfolio company of Warburg Pincus).

References

1. ^ [1] MACH Announces Agreement to Acquire Cibernet