Nasdaq-listed voice and speech recognition company Nuance Communications is aiming to expand its service provider business globally with the help of recently acquired Noida-based value added service provider mCarbon, a top executive said.
mCarbon, a mobile value add services venture, was acquired by Nuance earlier this year in a cash-and-stock transaction, estimated at about $36 million (Rs 240 crore). Founded in 2008 by Rajesh Razdan, mCarbon started off focusing on core network value add services, provides innovative revenue uplift and customer value management products for telecom operators.
Dan Faulkner, SVP, communications service provider business, Nuance Communications told ET that mCarbon will also help the company solidify its presence in markets like Latin America, Middle East Africa and Asia, including India.
Faulkner said these markets are now getting matured with revenue shifting over to data from voice, thereby driving a change in customers’ needs. “So, our intention is to serve the changing needs of everyone. The large growth markets are still seen large prepaid market and dynamically suited. Our ambition is to enable Rajesh and his team accelerate their growth not only in India but in international expansion as well.”
The executive said that mCarbon has a good portfolio to accelerate Nuance’s vision, which is focused around revenue generation for telecom operators. “We will add something to mCarbon portfolio and the same mCarbon will add to our portfolio.”
Indian telecom operators in India are now looking at new services beyond just voice and data like content, payment banks to create new revenue streams.
Razdan, who is now VP and GM, APAC of CSP Business at Nuance said that the company is now in talks with Indian telecom operators for the deployment of Nuance Loop, which is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data analytics-powered marketing platform.
Nuance Loop offers revenue-generating services to pre-paid subscribers across mobile advertising, mobile messaging and mobile financial services. It is offered as a managed service under a revenue share model that eliminates capex and associated maintenance costs for the operator.
Nuance has strong legacy in smartphone business solutions based on text capabilities and speech technology. It also has a powerful distribution relationships globally.
“We have intelligent virtual systems, chatbox, voice biometrics. We also have Dragon TV, which delivers a seamless user experience for the home customers, improving content discovery. This has been very popular in North America and keeps on exploding in Europe. This also generates revenue of CSP. We will bring all these technologies to the Indian market,” Faulkner said.
Source: Economic Times