History

1996

The Belgian incumbent Belgacom creates its Carrier & Wholesale business unit with the goal of serving national and international operators.

1997

Launch of the Voice hubbing product and start of the hubbing business.

2000

First steps in becoming a ‘global player’ by focussing on the emerging markets. The first region of expansion has been Asia Pacific followed by the Americas and the Middle East region. Our vision here was - and still is - clear: ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’.

2002

Creation of the 'Global Mobile Village', a unique portfolio of services targeted at Mobile Operators, to help them reach their growth targets, while building on profitability.

2003

Belgacom Carrier & Wholesale has been awarded at the World Communication Awards 2003 in the category of ‘Best Wholesale Carrier’.

2004

100 mobile operators connected.

2005

  • January 1st: Creation of Belgacom ICS as an independant affiliate of Belgacom. In an extremely competitive environment, this spin-off made it possible to provide the flexibility to conduct negotiations and perform prompt and transparent transactions with potential partners.
  • Joint-venture with Swisscom. This joint venture gave us the opportunity to move up in the hierarchy of international carrier operators and to strengthen our impact on the international carrier market.
  • Belgacom ICS has been recognized as ‘Best Wholesale Carrier’ at the World Communication Awards 2005 in London.

2006

  • A revolutionary insourcing project with the MTN Group further strengthened our market leadership in Africa.
  • Deployment of our new IMS compliant NGN architecture.

2007

  • Strategic partnerships with Omantel (Middle East) and the Digicel Group (Caribbean & America).
  • Belgacom ICS is the world wide GRX leader with over 100 customers connected. We tripled the number of MMS: with a market share of 22% we are the second largest player in this domain.

2008

Belgacom ICS was awarded for the third time 'Best Wholesale Carrier' at the World Communication Awards 2008 in London.

2009

  • Joint-venture with MTN ICS, the international carrier business of the MTN Group, Africa's largest Mobile group. This merger results in a company ranked within the Top 5 voice carriers worldwide and reinforces our leadership as a provider of international connectivity services to mobile operators.
  • Launch of the pioneering HomeSend solution, a global hub service that provides, for the first time, a mobile-centric approach to international remittance. It represents a significant evolution in mobile payment that allows any mobile service provider in any country to access and benefit from the international remittance market.