Preventing revenue leakages caused by cyberthreats

INTERVIEW Preventing revenue leakages caused by cyberthreats

It helps retain revenue in A2P SMS by blocking threats such as spam messages and flash calls.

Monetising international application-to-person (A2P) short message service (SMS) contributes to the earning streams of mobile network operators, but threats like fraud and spam messages should be blocked to avoid revenue leakages in earnings.

Razan Itani, product manager of Monty Mobile, said that to monetise A2P SMS, it is crucial to bring a “solid network” or a firewall into the network that will secure them from such threats.

Monty Mobile’s Smartwall monetises SMS traffic and shields networks from fraud including sim farms and grey routes. It also filters spam messages and blocks unwanted texts in real-time. This leads to preventing revenue leakage as it protects and monetises SMS traffic.

“Our system is capable of protecting against all in addition to our experience and how to customise the rules, protect any network from any types of threats,” Itani told Asian Telecom.

“We are always putting in new technologies in our system, we are always adapting to protect the network from any type of threats. We are introducing machine learning, and artificial intelligence techniques, in order to ensure the full production of any mobile operating network,” she added.

Monty Mobile earned three recognitions in the Asian Telecom Awards hosted by the Asian Business Review, two of which were for the International A2P SMS Monetization of the Year for Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

The company won the award in Indonesia as the judges recognised its achievement of having four of the top Mobile Network Operators in the country as its clients. Monty Mobile was also acclaimed for offering good service for a reasonable price, and its quality customer service.

For Sri Lanka, it won the same award as the judges took note of its exclusive partnership with the national mobile network Operator in the country which signed the exclusive SMS Gateway management deal with Monty Mobile in 2021.

Preventing flash calls

Another type of threat network operators face is flash calls, which are automated missed calls used to verify the users when they download an application and enter their mobile operator by default.

Applications and over-the-top services used this method with the last few digits of the number to bypass the typical SMS verification code. Flash calls not only pose security risks but also lead to revenue loss and non-monetised channels for international A2P verification traffic as there are no charges made through the calls.

“[Our solution] is based on smart criteria. It is based on an advanced criteria protocol to protect, against any flash calling threats, to maintain the monetisation of international A2P SMS and to maintain the revenues that the mobile operators are conducting from the International A2P SMS,” she said.

Monty Mobile’s solution for flash calls also won Asian Telecom’s Technology Innovation of the Year - Indonesia.

Retaining clients

Sarah Barakat, Deputy Operator and Partnership Director, said the Asia Pacific region plays an important role in their operations as they have deals with mobile network operators in Indonesia and Sri Lanka to monetise their A2P SMS.

Despite innovating its services, Monty Mobile is facing a challenge in retaining its client, Barakat said.

She said that it is vital to be always on top of technology development of solutions that are required to maintain network stability and security.

“We retain our clients by ensuring that they are always getting the best maximised possible revenues. We also retain them by maintaining the security of the network by developing any new solution needed to keep them protected,” she said.

Our system is capable of protecting against any types of threats (Photo: Razan Itani, Product Manager, Monty Mobile)

We retain our clients by ensuring that they are always getting the best maximised possible revenues

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