database software giant moves further into telecoms space with latest acquisiton

Oracle has announced its intention to buy billing software vendor Portal Software in a deal worth approximately £225m.

The deal is expected to close in June subject to regulatory and other approvals. Until the deal closes, each company will operate independently.

Charles Phillips, president of Oracle said: “The combination of Oracle and Portal delivers the first end-to-end packaged enterprise software suite for the communications industry. We supply technology and applications to over 90 per cent of communications companies worldwide today, and billing is a logical and complementary addition for those customers.”

Dave Labuda, chief executive of Portal said: “This is exactly the kind of combination our customers have been asking for. Bringing together Oracle’s ERP, CRM and infrastructure software with Portal’s global billing and revenue management into an integrated solution is a huge win for our customers.”

Eirwen Nichols, analyst at Ovum said: “At a time when an increasing number of service providers are moving away from the traditional billing systems approach, towards using billing ERP modules, the Portal acquisition could strengthen Oracle’s position in the telecoms area.”