Panamax: Delivering Innovative Solutions that bring True Value to Clientele Globally

“We are one amongst the global leaders in ICT (Information & Communications Technology) sector. All our products & solutions are highly scalable and easily cope up with the latest technology.”

Positioned as a leading Telecom & Mobile Financial Technology company with a well-planned & empirically designed roadmap, Panamax Inc. is the technology unit of Bankai Group, offering market-proven telecom switching, carrier business automation, and mobile financial solutions.

Delivering excellence since 2001, the company is widely known for offering first-class, turnkey telecom and technology solutions – BSS Interconnect, Fraud Management, Payment Gateway, Content Management System and more to Telcos, Banks, Financial service providers, carriers, aggregators and telecommunications service providers across various verticals and geographies.

Panamax’ Telecom & Mobile Financial Technology is enabling the Telcos, BFSI & service providers to expand their realms by leveraging effective solutions in telecom and finance operations across the global networks. Their state of the art & innovative solutions keep them way ahead of their competitors.

The company takes credit in rendering services to few big names, some of which are Tigo Millicom, QCell, Salnet, Sudatel, Videocon, KDDI Global, Smart Cambodia, Yappingo, Interswitch, Mectel.

The company sees more prospects in MFS vertical because in today’s age, people all over the world are connected through mobile phones. Smartphone and data connection penetration is also increasing fast, and is ushering an era of mobile convergence. In this scenario, MFS is empowering people and is the biggest enabler for financial inclusion.

Panamax has pervasive experience in developing telecom technology and mobile finance solutions platforms leveraging mobile interface. They have a global foot print with 100+Customers served in countries of Latin & Central America, Africa, APAC to South East Asia.

Understanding the Current Landscape
Mobile devices and related broadband connectivity continue to be more and more embedded in the current structure of society and they are key in driving the momentum around some key trends such as Unified Communications, SBC (Session Border Controller), BSS (Business Support System) Interconnect and mobile payments. The Mobile Finance Solution initiatives are driven majorly by MNOs, Banks, Governments & Fintech innovators and eco system service providers. Based on the current frame work, the global markets can be segmented as Banks and MNO led markets.

With Unified Communications becoming talk of the town, the increasing demand for IP Telephony with unified messaging, Conferencing, Group video systems, Premises-based video infrastructure, and associated product support services are conquering the existing NSS Domain. The trends do not limit to this, the converged services – 2G, 3G, LTE/4G, Data, etc., Wimax Solutions, Wireline or Broadband Solutions are also cherishing the fraternity of Business Support Systems for telecom operators.

The industry today is plagued by challenges like increasing frauds, and revenue leakage due to discrepancies in prepaid/postpaid billing and charging. All these challenges are true to both retail and wholesale business. The landscape today is such that it calls for effective billing/charging systems, FMS and Revenue assurance.

…..A Little behind Panamax’s Inception

The foundation of Bankai started in 1989 and the company in its initial years got a kick-start with a stepping stone project Panamax. Under the leadership of CEO Bankim Brahmbhatt, the company grew from a group of 5 people to a team of 100 professionals, and diversified 2 times within the telecom field till the year 2000. In 2001, the company was officially registered as “Bankai Group”; Panamax became its technology wing and is scaling the international market since last 16 years. And today, it is a name to reckon in the industry, with voice business through their home grown interconnect technologies. This is their third year as full-fledged Telecom Software Technology Company, and now grown to a strong team of 400+ employees.

Serving the respective sector from last 15 years, the company has enriched their technological expertise with each passing phase and completion of projects. In addition, over the years they have established state-of-the-art IT infrastructure and brought on board an expert and qualified team of IT professionals to deliver world class solutions to clientele across the globe. Well that’s not enough to their credit; the company has also won many awards and accolades for their products, which purely makes them the market leader and differentiate them from others in the domain.

Panamax’s Varied Service Offerings
The services offered by Panamax Inc. are categorized into three sectors such as Telecom Solutions, Mobile Financial Solutions, and Managed Services.

Telecom Solutions (BSS/NSS)
Panamax offers best-in-class telecom solutions tailored for global telecom operators, service providers, carriers and telcos. Their state of the art system architecture, BSS wholesale interconnect solutions and Class 4 & 5 switching capabilities play a crucial role in enabling telecom players to achieve financial and operational excellence. They unlock opportunities at various market levels and segments, be it SIP Trunking, Calling Cards or other services like IP Telephony, Billing, Routing and more.

• iMax – iMax is a class 4 soft switch integrated with call routing, network management, policy management, billing, monitoring, intelligent firewall, SIP and H.323 handling functionalities. The switch helps beat the complexities of carrier business; it aids optimization for a hassle free prepaid/post-paid VoIP business through carrier web self-care portal.
• BillCall – BillCall is a BSS (Business Support System) Interconnect Solution which offers a unified billing platform for prepaid and postpaid Roaming, Voice & SMS Interconnect Services. The solution easily integrates with 3rd party Telecommunication Switches, Accounting Software, and CRM, leveraging the existing infrastructure to offer new & enhanced services.
• Bridge2Call – Bridge2Call is an extremely versatile platform that enables ISPs or ITSPs or MNOs or MVNOs to deploy and manage VoIP service easily. Bridge2Call Soft-switch helps them build, customize and rapidly launch complex VoIP solutions and manage them with ease. It is an ideal ‘Service Delivery Platform’ to configure and launch the feature rich services quickly; with minimum CAPEX and optimize the OPEX costs that results in quick ROI.

Mobile Financial Solutions
Panamax’s mobile financial solutions empower telcos, mobile money service providers, banks and retailers to seize this opportunity with their scalable and secure solutions. Their omni-channel mobile banking, money, wallet, top-up & bill payments solutions integrate e-commerce, m-commerce and proximity gateways into a single robust platform, which offers greater flexibility and scalability to businesses.

• MobiFin – MobiFin is an all integrated and modular mobile finance solution that empowers mobile network operators, MVNOs, Mobile Money Service Providers (MMSPs), Merchants, Banks and Financial Institutions to deliver innovative, targeted and localized mobile financial services. These services are spread across a wide range of user access points, mobile devices, POS terminals and telco channels. This helps open up new revenue streams, increases customer stickiness and reduces churn.

Managed Services
Panamax’s Managed Hosting & Business Support services are tailored to meet the functional and operational challenges of customers. They constantly monitor and manage the routine tasks within the business through our 24×7 NOC and onsite team. Their SLA driven approach helps the customers to focus on their growth and revenue whereas we manage the end to end business and technical operations. This helps in reducing CAPEX and OPEX for customers and provides better services to end consumers.

Being their ‘Best’ at Clients Service

The company is widely applauded for adopting a special service approach where client’s requirements are of prime importance. Be it Telcos, banks or financial institutions, solutions are both converged and fragmented based on the specific requirements of clients. Each product is carefully developed with a Modular, Open & Scalable architecture, hence can be tailored to give solution that perfectly fits the bill. With innovation and technology at the helm, Panamax stresses on building automated business processes that translate into reduced TCO (Total cost of ownership) and faster TTM (time to market).

Mitigating the Challenges

The key challenge for MFS or telecom service adoption today is creating compelling customer value proposition. Additionally, commercial sustainability and generating new revenue streams with existing Infrastructure are other pain points of the industry that need to be cured. Panamax products help heal these ailing areas of the industry through product innovation, commercially viable business models supporting long gestation periods. The company offers faster time to market and help also reduce total cost of ownership. Their products are scaled to offer effective fraud management and revenue assurance and help in saving huge Capex and Opex by improving operational efficiency. They offer seamless management of technology convergence from legacy implemented systems.

Plotting the Future

For long-lasting successful future, the company has listed different plans for its different verticals listed below:

Mobile Financial Services- The company is planning to develop a secured and compliant MFS platform that can help them penetrate new emerging markets. They have in their plan the diversification of Mobile Financial services usage through innovative consumer and enterprise use cases.

Network Switching Subsystem- Panamax plans to offer next level of switch solution that can cope with the changing industry trends & technology. Design robust, scalable & feature rich switching solutions which can cater to all the verticals of telecom industry. Virtualize the network functions to radically transform & modernize the telecom industry.

Business Support System- Interconnect Routing Optimization & Data Billing are the milestones ahead for their BSS solutions. They are planning to offer centralized enterprise product catalogue, omni channel subscription and cloud Support for retail BSS.

This is what their clients have to say about them!

“We’ve been in a business relationship with Panamax for their MobiFin software solution since long and the journey so far has been very good and rewarding. Panamax team provides us with a perfect technology platform and exceptional customer service. I am sure our business relationship will flourish to greater heights in the future.” – Managing Director – VPS Tanzania Limited.

“We’ve been using Billcall from approximately 1 year and the application is very intuitive and easy to follow, their support always is available with the “Yes we can” attitude. Simple additions to their reports make a complete reference for our billing targets and administration processes. If any error is detected, BillCall is very easy to correct it with the help of their knowledgeable support with a very short time response. BillCall is an affordable tool for all type of companies and I’m sure that will grow with your company on features, capacity and reliability for the years to come.” – From a renowned mobile operator.

Meet the Man behind Panamax Success

Bankim Brahmbhatt, President & CEO, Bankai Group – The man holding the position of President & CEO of one of the renowned telecom industry leaders – The “Bankai Group”, carries rich experience of more than 30 years, unparalleled business acumen, ingenious leadership, and foresightedness has enabled the Group to scale global footprint through leading telecom & technology companies of Bankai Division – Broadband Telecom Inc., BridgeVoice Inc., CallnRoam Inc., and Panamax Inc. All these Bankai Group companies are globally recognized leaders and flourishing in the Information Communication Technology (ICT) and services sector. Bankai Group of companies comprises of several strategic business units, located in different countries globally and serving various business verticals in the domain of Telecom Technology and Services.

In 1989, Bankim set the stage for Bankai Group with the manufacturing of Electronic Push Button Telephone. Under his leadership the Bankai Group was recognized as Commission India’s First Private Group Telephone Exchange in 1994.

A Telecom Engineering scholar, Bankim has received several awards and recognitions in the business community. After concept development and introduction of telecom products in Indian market, he entered into the sector of Telecom Software Technology development and services in the year 1999.

With the strategic move over past 10 years, by adding various products, service portfolio, business verticals, acquisition and partnership, he has successfully managed to create multinational business operation. He has been instrumental in establishing strategic relationships worldwide with the help of core professional management team members and with a dedicated team of 400+ employees.

An early opportunity identifier, Bankim worked closely with multi-functional teams to develop, launching new products and gaining leadership positions in fast-growing segments of communications systems and software markets. The business model of Bankai Group is constantly fetching revenue through their several diversified businesses worldwide, with a clear vision of catering reciprocal relationship with operators, carriers and retailers globally.

“Competition is tough, but we believe in creating agile business models that can help our clients boost margins and also generate new and sustainable revenue streams.”

Case Studies!!

1. Helped QCell launch a mobile money wallet, and catalyse financial inclusion in Gambia. Panamax developed a full featured mobile money wallet for QCell, a popular mobile operator in Gambia. Overcoming low smartphone penetration in Gambia and including people within the financial ecosystem through a mobile wallet solution was a challenge. However, powered by MobiFin, the mobile wallet earned 11k subscribers within the first 15 days of its operation and generated a transaction amount of $50 k.
2. Developed Customised Class 4 Soft Switch Solutions with LNP lookup support and TDM gateway features for Salnet. Panamax  delivered iMax, an integrated carrier switch to fulfill client requirement and helped Salnet connect all operators on their network. With this solution Salnet replaced their 12 rack legacy system with just 2 racks. Requirements like LNP lookup support and TDM gateway features were also deployed successfully within stipulated time frames. Now Panamax is on board for two more projects with the client!

“While our competitors cut costs in an attempt to win customers on price, we continue to win them on performance and competence.”

QUICK FACTS

Company- Panamax Inc., a Division of Bankai Group

Founding Year- 2001

Office Locations- New York, USA & Ahmedabad, India

Investors- Privately held

Competitors- Panamax Inc. has three primary business verticals – BSS (Business Support System), NSS (Network Switching Subsystem) & MFS (Mobile Financial Services).

The competitors for each domain are as follows:

BSS- a) BSS Interconnect: Telarix, Subex, ECS b) BSS Retail: Amdocs, Sterlite, Opennet.

NSS- Genband, Sonus, Squire Technologies.

MFS- Utiba, Mahindra Comviva, Oberthur.

Revenue Model-

1. Perpetual License – Pay once for the license and own it forever.
2. Term License – Right to software for only a fixed term, generally for a 1 to 5 year timeframe.
3. Revenue Sharing – A piece of the revenue pie, from the revenue gradually generated by the clients using Panamax’s products or services.