• In October 2025, NEC announced a $2.9bn deal to acquire major BSS vendor CSG
• The deal recently received US regulatory clearance
• It has now been completed and CSG will be merged with Netcracker, with the latter’s CEO Andrew Feinberg leading the combined business
• It creates a much bigger rival to Amdocs 

NEC has completed its $2.9bn acquisition of major business support systems (BSS) vendor CSG Systems International, a deal first announced in October 2025, and, as planned, the Japanese tech giant will combine CSG with Netcracker, the telecom and enterprise software giant that has been part of the NEC portfolio since 2008.  

News of the completion comes only days after CSG reported to investors that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) gave its blessing for the acquisition.  

Netcracker’s long-time CEO, Andrew Feinberg, will be chairman and CEO of the combined company. “Under his leadership, Netcracker will integrate CSG’s capabilities and accelerate the development of a unified, AI-driven digital portfolio,” noted the company in this announcement. 

“This is a significant milestone for our customers and our organisation,” stated Feinberg. “We are creating one of the industry’s most complete digital platforms, connecting customer engagement, monetisation and operations in a single environment. This allows our customers to operate more efficiently, adapt faster and increasingly leverage AI to make better decisions across their business. Together, we are well positioned to support the industry’s shift toward more integrated and intelligent operating models.”

The combined company will also be better positioned to provide even greater competition to Amdocs, the long-time giant of the OSS/BSS sector that has an annual revenue run rate of almost $4.8bn, based on its fiscal second-quarter revenues of $1.17bn announced this week. 

Netcracker’s revenues are not split out by NEC, but various estimates and industry chat puts it at between $2.5bn and $3bn. CSG recently reported first-quarter revenues of $313.7m, up 4.8% year on year, and an operating profit of $35m, up 19.4%, giving it an annual revenue run rate of more than $1.2bn.

As previously reported, the combination of CSG and Netcracker creates a much larger single company, which can address the BSS and OSS needs of telcos, cable operators and, increasingly, large enterprise customers – CSG has developed a healthy line of business in key verticals, such as financial services and healthcare. Developing a broader range of business opportunities in key enterprise verticals is increasingly important for the telecom sector’s software and hardware vendors, as the telecom and cable network sector offers little in the way of significant growth. 

According to NEC/Netcracker, “the integration of CSG with Netcracker will result in a more comprehensive and unified digital platform, enabling customers to manage the full lifecycle of digital services and increasingly leverage AI-driven capabilities to automate and optimise key business decisions. The combined portfolio is designed to support service providers as they evolve toward more agile, AI-driven and cloud-native business models, while maintaining the scale, stability and security required for mission-critical environments.

Takayuki Morita, president and CEO at NEC, stated: “This acquisition represents an important step toward strengthening NEC’s global digital services business. By bringing together Netcracker and CSG, we are enhancing our ability to deliver integrated, end-to-end solutions that support our customers’ growth and long-term transformation. NEC will continue to support the combined business through our global technology leadership, customer relationships and management resources.”

- Ray Le Maistre, Editorial Director, TelecomTV