MUMBAI: BSG Clearing Solutions GmbH, the communications service industry's clearing and settlement provider, today announced that its systems are well prepared to deal with the heavy increase in capacity for roaming clearing that will result from the growth in mobile call volume during the weeks of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

"This will be the biggest sporting event in the world and mobile communications will have an unprecedented role in spectator enjoyment this year. As the exclusive roaming partner for virtually all wireless operators in Germany, BSG will be on hand to ensure there are no 'own goals' behind the scenes," said BSG CEO Roland J. Bopp.

An estimated five million fans from all continents around the globe, supporting the 32 nationalities taking part, are expected to visit Germany during the four-week World Cup competition. Mobile phones will be used to relay messages, download content, send pictures and texts to friends and family, as well as to record goals and highlights. Companies are already promoting World Cup-related content, such as player photos, historic video clips, ring tones and games, and operators are expecting intense traffic volumes in largely unpredictable spikes.

All German wireless operators, including T-Mobile and O2, are BSG clients and will be relying on the company to process and clear all roaming transactions.

"Our system ordinarily handles large volumes of traffic and is designed to scale accordingly so that it can easily handle the additional anticipated traffic. Nonetheless, we've taken the cautionary validation steps to ensure our system will continue to operate smoothly throughout this period of expected transaction spike so our customers are provided with the same high-quality level of service to which they're accustomed," said BSG chief technology officer Abie Reifer.

"We're proud to be part of this important, global event and are confident in BSG's ability to fully support us. Knowing they'll be handling the increase in mobile call volume allows us to focus on giving our customers the best experience possible," said O2 Germany vice president carrier and international services Dirk Schmelzer.