SingTel, Amdocs open joint development centre in Israel

SingTel, Amdocs open joint development centre in Israel
PHOTO: SingTel, Amdocs open joint development centre in Israel

RA'ANANA, Israel - Singapore Telecommunications and Amdocs, a software provider for telecom companies, have opened a development centre in Israel as part of SingTel's investment in new technology.

SingTel said its initial focus will be on voice and facial recognition as well as systems that enable mobile and Wi-Fi networks to work more efficiently.

"More and more mobile customers are using mobile devices for more than just communications," said Allen Lew, chief executive of SingTel's digital life group. "In our business it's not enough to be up to date, we have to be up to tomorrow."

This will be SingTel's third so-called "LifeLabs" in addition to similar centres in Singapore and Boston.

Lew said SingTel has a corporate venture fund of S$200 million and part of this will be dedicated to Israel.

SingTel will also invest in Israeli start-ups, fund academic and research institutes and collaborate with incubators and angel investors to find interesting technologies.

Amdocs Chief Executive Eli Gelman said the new centre would help Israeli technology to reach the Asian market.

Amdocs, which had revenue of US$3.2 billion (S$4 billion) in fiscal 2012, provides revenue management, customer call centres, provisioning and other software for communications firms.

Amdocs already has a similar centre with AT&T but Gelman said there would not be conflicts of interest as the two operators do not compete in any markets.

SingTel has already invested in two Israeli start-ups and last year acquired mobile advertising company Amobee, which has a technology centre in Israel.

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