Background
Unisource is a provider of of pan-European and global telecommunications services and is recognised as one of the leading companies in the market. The company was formed in 1992 and is jointly owned by PTT Telecom Netherlands, Telia and Swiss Telecom PTT.
Unisource offers its customers a singe point of contact, thus avoiding the inconvenience of dealing with various telecommunications providers in different countries. Unisource is unique in genuinely combining local presence with global reach by providing pan-European and global services.
To guarantee maximum flexibility, the main activities of Unisource are organised in separate units that can either operate independently as individual businesses or work together to meet customers requirements.
Unisource offers best-of-breed solutions in all key areas of international telecommunications facilities and services:
- Unisource operates a pan-European backbone network for carriers and service providers. Customers include third party carriers as well as Unisource subsidiaries and the Unisource shareholder companies.
- Unisource offers a broad range of services including data, voice satellite, messaging, Internet/Intranet, call centre mobile and card. The services are developed for and supplied to Europe-based corporate customers. Most of these services are being, or will be, offered jointly with AT&T through a range of jointly owned AT&T-Unisource companies.
- Unisource distribution and customer support is handled by the shareholders in the Unisource shareholder countries and by subsidiaries and local partners in the major European markets such as Germany, France, United Kingdom and Italy.
Network provision
The foundation for Unisource operations in Europe is the pan-European network capacity. Unisource Carrier Services operates the the largest backbone network of its kind in Europe - currently covering 21 countries and 25 cities. The network now has a 155 Mbit/s capacity and is continuously developed utilising leading-edge technology for ISDN, ATM and Internet services.
Unisource Carrier Services provides pan-European transmission services to established and emerging European service providers and to non-European service providers needing a European gateway for their international traffic.
Service provision
Most Unisource services are provided through AT&T-Unisource Communications Services where Unisource has a 60 per cent stake. AT&T-Unisource Communications services offers a full range of data, voice and messaging services to international companies and delivers global voice services to the European Virtual Private Network Users Association. The company has an extensive multinational customer base for its voice and data communications services. Global reach is provided through its links with WorldPartners and Infonet, whose data communications services now span 180 countries. Unisource is a partner in WorldPartners while the Unisource shareholder have a majority ownership in Infonet.
Unisource Satellite Services supplies reliable direct satellite for international companies which have special requirements for extended geographical links and flexibility, for example the ore remote parts of Eastern Europe. Unisource Card Services provides pre- and post-paid card solutions to professional people on the move. The card services are marketed through consumer, corporate and partner programs. Unisource Mobile provide consultancy services to the Unisource group of companies as well as to systems suppliers and large user organisations. Unisource Mobile also owns and manages TMG, the number one mobile service provider in Germany.
Distribution and customer support
Unisource supports services in the home country markets - the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland - through the offices of of Unisource Business Networks Netherlands, Unisource Business Networks Sweden and Unisource Business Networks Switzerland. These offices cooperate closely with the shareholder companies and AT&T Communications Services.
In France, the distributor is SIRIS, while in Germany, Unisource's distributor is ARCOR. SIRIS is fully owned by Unisource and is well on its way to become one of the leading service suppliers in France. ARCOR is a consortium together with AT&T, Mannesmann, Deutsche Bahn and Deutsche Bank and is well positioned to become the second operator in Germany. In the United Kingdom, AT&T U.K. acts as the distributor. In Ireland, Telecom Eireann distributes the Unisource services. In other European countries, Unisource sells directly or through co-operation with its shareholders.
