TURIN, Italy, and Quito, Ecuador - Loquendo, global speech technology provider, and Andinatel, Ecuador's leading fixed line telephone provider, today announced the integration of Loquendo's Text to Speech solution into Andinatel's directory assistance service.

Loquendo has worked in partnership with Seteinfo, service developer and integrator, to provide Andinatel with a state of the art, automated information service.

The information service (dial 104 in Ecuador) is much in demand yet, at the same time, is one of the more expensive services of its type because of the use of highly skilled call centre staff to provide reliable information to subscribers.

To extend its coverage without raising fixed operating costs, and as the first step to an almost complete automation of the service, Andinatel has recently offered its customers an IVR integrating Loquendo's TTS technology. Andinatel now provides an automated yet high quality directory enquiry service, also incorporating a call transfer system, by which the user can dial in a number to obtain the corresponding name and address.
The naturalness and intelligibility of Carlos' voice and the speed with which the TTS engine can respond to enquiries were the main reasons for choosing Loquendo as the ideal technology partner.

The next step will be the introduction of new technologies such as Loquendo ASR (Automatic Speech Recognition), to achieve higher automation levels and an even greater degree of user friendliness and customer satisfaction.

"Technological modernisation of our infrastructure and continuous improvements to our services have maintained Andinatel as the leader in Ecuador's communications sector," says María Alexandra Suárez, the Contact Center Manager of Andinatel. "That is why we have chosen Loquendo Text to Speech to keep our technology at the cutting edge."

"With around one million subscribers and covering half the country's territory, Andinatel is the main fixed line telephony operator in Ecuador," says Rosanna Duce, Vice President of Loquendo. "We are very pleased to have forged this partnership with Andinatel, allowing us to further consolidate our position in the rapidly growing South American markets."

About Andinatel
Andinatel is the leading edge telecommunications provider for the Ecuadorian market, with around 900,000 fixed line subscribers. With its headquarters located at Quito, Ecuador, it offers a broad portfolio of services, such as local and long distance telephone services, broadband internet access, ISP, etc.
www.andinatel.com

About Loquendo - Vocal Technology and Services
With over 30 years of cutting-edge research and development, global speech-technologies leader Loquendo provides all the technologies required for creating the ultimate speech-interaction solutions. Loquendo's best-in-breed technologies - Loquendo TTS, Loquendo ASR, Loquendo Speaker Verification - and the Loquendo VoxNauta Platform enable integrators to rapidly and easily create best-in-breed solutions in 18 languages.

Currently available languages include U.S. and U.K. English, Castilian, Catalan, Mexican, Chilean, Argentinian, American Spanish, Italian, German, French, Greek, Mandarin Chinese, Dutch, Brazilian, Portuguese, Polish and Swedish - in both male and female voices. Many more are under development to give customers expanded reach in today's global marketplace.

Loquendo is a Telecom Italia company headquartered in Turin, Italy. It is the leading technological partner for integrators of speech solutions throughout Europe, the U.S. & Latin America. Many enterprises and carriers worldwide have recognized the Loquendo difference, and Loquendo solutions currently automate millions of calls every day.
For more information about Loquendo, and to hear demos of all the Loquendo voices, go to www.loquendo.com.

About Seteinfo
Seteinfo has been in the Ecuadorian market for 11 years, specializing in providing solutions to the telecommunications industry. It also develops solutions based on Computer Telephony, integrating technologies from Intel, Envox, Loquendo and Interactive Intelligence.
For more information about Loquendo, and to hear demos of all the Loquendo voices, go to www.seteinfo.com.