Aepona, a telecom provider in Northern Ireland, announced its purchase of Valista, a provider of payment, settlement and service lifecycle management solutions to mobile and broadband operators worldwide.

Al Snyder, CEO of Aepona, says “For some time now, operators have recognized the need to adopt a more collaborative approach to working with organizations such as Enterprises and web-based service providers…The rise in Over-the-Top services has made them realize that in order to compete effectively, they need to leverage their assets to the fullest extent possible, and this means opening up these assets towards third parties in a secure, controlled and billable manner.”

Kevin McGrath, CEO of Valista, commented: “This is a major step forward in the evolution of Valista’s business. The combination with Aepona creates significant benefits for the customers of both companies, providing them with a more complete solution from a single, independent entity that has the operational scale to serve our large operator customers at a global level. In addition, the combined company’s competitive position will be greatly enhanced in the emerging Telco 2.0/NaaS marketplace, as the only independent vendor capable of delivering a complete solution”.