29th October - Ericsson today announced a new hosting agreement to provide real-time charging services for AT&T's popular GoPhone wireless pre-paid service in the US and Puerto Rico.

GoPhone has been hosted on Ericsson's convergent real-time charging system for the past several years and this new contract adds a further three-and-a-half years. As the leading alternative payment service in the US, GoPhone continues to grow in popularity among AT&T's wireless subscriber base.

Judy Cavalieri, Vice President, Marketing, for AT&T Mobility, says: "The rapid growth of our GoPhone service offering over the past four years has exceeded our expectations. Our new, multi-year contract with Ericsson provides AT&T with a hosted pre-paid solution that ensures that we have a scalable, proven, feature-rich charging platform that meets the needs of our end users."

Under the contract, Ericsson will be responsible for hosting, systems integration and management of the day-to-day operations of the pre-paid service for AT&T.

Angel Ruiz, President of Ericsson in North America, says: "We are delighted to continue working with AT&T to meet the growing need for pre-paid services. Ericsson has had a long, successful relationship with AT&T, and it is immensely satisfying to know that we have helped them grow this line of business and that they are pleased with our hosted pre-paid solution."