Month: December 2021

Focusing on operator readiness for next-gen messaging

The world of business messaging has evolved greatly. A2P messaging is seeing steady growth and enterprises are recognizing immense value from strategically adding SMS to their omnichannel strategies. This growth in A2P messaging has also offered MNO’s compelling growth opportunities as volumes and applications grow. OTT messaging apps have also gained traction, especially in the enterprise communication market. While OTT messaging platforms are steadily integrating into enterprise omnichannel strategies, challenges associated with rolling them out on a global scale, limited reliability and privacy concerns have discouraged enterprises from leveraging this medium to exchange critical and sensitive information.

Given the universal applicability, A2P messaging will continue to be a part of the enterprise messaging strategy. MNO’s however have to now gear up to enable next-gen messaging services such as RCS or Rich Communication Services, M2M communication etc. to meet with the enterprise needs to enable next-gen messaging.

The growth of next-gen messaging

By enabling RCS messaging, MNOs will be able to deploy an enhanced native messaging experience for their enterprise customers (and their end customers!). RSC messaging promises to deliver an elevated and seamless experience using personal and interactive messaging and rich media to drive customer engagement. While OTT platforms offer elevated messaging experiences, mobile operators provide ubiquity, reliability, and trust thereby making them more suitable to the enterprise narrative.

That apart, there is also an incremental incline in the usage of M2M (Machine to Machine), communication. Technologies such as Big Data and AI are working in M2M to improve customer experiences by ensuring maximum speed and deliverability. M2M messaging also makes it easier to schedule bulk message delivery and helps businesses stay top of the mind of their customers. Applications are also growing in the context of enterprise automation and autonomous actions driven by M2M capabilities.

5G is also poised to become a mainstay in the mobile mix sooner rather than later. While 5G promises to enable the interconnected world and make business messaging even more personalized and effective, it also opens up the surface area of cyber-attacks demanding greater and more airtight cybersecurity standards.

Given the forces of change and evolving market dynamics at work, focusing on operator readiness will assume paramount importance to enable next-gen messaging. A few of the things MNOs have to evaluate are:

Capacity to address the grey route challenge

Revenue leakage due to grey routes will lead to a cumulative loss of $37.1 billion, or an annual average leakage of $7.69 billion between 2020- 2024. Next-gen messaging is attractive to MNOs because it comes with the promise of greater profits thereby placing paramount importance on addressing the grey route challenge.

While mobile operators are proactively trying to address this issue and thereby securing messaging revenues, fraudsters and non-compliant SMS aggregators are working hard to identify loopholes and other methods to deliver SMS’. Advanced firewall solutions and integrating traditional firewalls with big data and advanced analytics can assuage this problem by identifying fraudulent patterns faster and hence become imperative capabilities to develop to enable next-gen messaging.

Building zero trust networks

With M2M communication coming into the messaging mix coupled with the rise of 5G, operator readiness also involves establishing zero trust networks to keep the network safe from malicious intent and activity.

Aligning 5G specifications with zero-trust tenets helps in establishing a zero-trust architecture. A zero-trust architecture ensures secure network access to resources (data, devices, and services) and provides access to only the authorized and approved subjects ((users, devices, and services).

Securing digital identities, and the communication transport and of user and signalling data across 3GPP interfaces, along with designing the right security posture of network assets contribute towards creating a zero-trust architecture.

Plug leaks and increase monetization opportunities

The mobile playing field is only set to become more competitive with next-gen messaging entering the channel and services mix. Mobile operators have to develop their capabilities to deliver differentiated and more personalized experiences while identifying monetizing opportunities. While doing so, they also need to ensure that there is no revenue slipping through the cracks.

Operators thus have to employ the right anti-fraud solutions to actively monitor and block fraud and SPAM. Intelligent AI and ML-based firewall solutions become critical enablers of 360-degree network protection of messaging traffic. Such intelligent solutions protect subscribers against fraud by proactively monitoring security breaches with contextual analysis to block fraudulent messages.

The added advantage of using intelligent solutions is the access to advanced analytics that provide insights into usage and consumption patterns and help MNO’s identify revenue-generating opportunities and gaps.

In Conclusion

As next-gen messaging evolves, the focus has to be on improving the security posture. Concerns on network security, grey routes, SIM jacking, and SIM phishing have to be addressed and there has to be an increased focus on data security. Mobile operators will have to develop their capabilities to proactively deal with security threats that are increasing in scope and complexity. Partnering with experienced telecom solutions providers to access robust solutions that improve monetization and performance will become inevitable to enable next-gen messaging services. Let us help you get ready for the next-gen of messaging solutions.

 

 

Is Pricing The Achilles Heel Of SMS?

Any marketing leader for a consumer brand would agree that today one of their most successful customer approach channels for conversion is SMS. With an open rate of 98%, SMSs, are still among the most trusted sources of information that sparks customer interest worldwide.

The worldwide trend in digital adoption has seen traditional incumbents being massively disrupted or even displaced from their very existence by new-age startups that have sought to leverage technology to beat customer expectations. Another scenario we have seen is the poor fate of protectionist policies against digital alternatives in industries like music and software. For years, brands tried to chase down online portals and channels with labels of piracy, but for every website or illegal channel they tried to curb, thousands more sprang up in a matter of days. Ultimately, the leaders in these segments realized that rather than try to fix the rest of the world, their pricing and business models were the inspiration of such a huge illegal market booming.

The solution to the problem arrived when the music and software industry took to the cloud and came out with their streaming avatars. Today the SaaS, music streaming, and OTT industry are worth trillions of dollars worldwide. This business model innovation has enabled billions of consumers to access services that they would have never been able to afford earlier owing to large upfront license or ownership costs.

Businesses moved into a consumption-based subscription model of pricing that spreads their revenue generation cycle over a period of time rather than tied to an upfront fee. This allowed them to book recurring revenue and eventually profit from economies of scale with more users. As often happens, this also reduced piracy because the risk-reward ratio was no longer in favour of trying to circumvent the legal channels when the cost was so minimal.

Now, coming to the SMS industry, one of the biggest pain points that brands face today when leveraging SMS as a key marketing tool is the high pricing bands that they have to deal with from providers. In an age where a variety of options exist to bypass the telecom providers and adopt admittedly grey routes, the temptation of cost savings may prove too great.

Let us examine 3 ways in which pricing can hurt the industry critically and set the grounds for the untimely demise of SMS as a whole:

Unaffordable Mass Communication

As businesses today transition into a volume-based economies-of-scale model for deriving revenue, their messaging services need to cater to hundreds of thousands or even millions of customers daily. Traditional SMS price points would result in brands incurring massive operational costs that will easily overwhelm the savings they achieve through lower customer acquisition or retention costs with SMS.

Rise of Illegal Services

If providers aren’t willing to consider a restructuring of their SMS pricing strategies, there will be a rising number of illegal and incompetent players in the market that will partner with businesses offering lower costs. The problem here is that these services will ultimately put customer information and credentials at risk as they will have first-hand access to important A2P messaging services between brands and their customers.

Spamming and Fraud

Another big challenge that illegal SMS service provider partnerships will result in is that they will also open a whole new dimension of cyber fraud which will cost the industry dearly. To offer lower costs to businesses for SMS services, they will leverage the SMS message and append ads or promotional links for added revenue. Criminals and fraudsters can intercept these communication lines and compromise the appended links and message information. They can then use it to plug malware and other high-risk threats into end-user devices of unsuspecting consumers.

What these 3 major drawbacks of higher pricing do for the SMS industry is that it makes SMS a less trusted entity from a consumer perspective. More spam, fraudulent activities, and threats will result in customers eventually deciding not to avail SMS-based alerts and notifications from businesses. This has the potential to lead to the demise of the industry’s revenue prospects soon.

With so much potential for customer engagement and opportunities to diversify usage scenarios with each guaranteeing higher conversion, it will be a huge blow for the industry to let SMS die a slow death solely because of traditional and hidebound pricing problems.

SMS providers and businesses can collaborate on ideas to restructure pricing options that are meaningful for both stakeholders. One of the key factors that providers and businesses cite for costly SMS services is the need for enabling secure communications and fortifying their infrastructure to prevent spam and fraud. Rather than leveraging costly manual efforts to solve this problem, providers and businesses can leverage modern technology solutions to enable a more secure and integrated SMS communication channel. Over time, these solutions will reduce the manual effort, deliver scale, and create more secure channels. This will also lead to better cost control and management that could translate to better pricing options.

Using technology, businesses can also enable borderless communication strategies through SMS services. What they need is the right guidance and the aptest digital tools to enable this experience. This is where our expertise can help make a difference. Get in touch with us to explore more about building an amazing customer experience through SMS engagement without compromising on security or worrying about scale or geographic expansion capabilities.

 

5 Telecom Technology Trends To Keep An Eye On For 2021

The telecom industry has been at the crux of the global pivot to remote operations. Lacking robust and resilient connectivity, most of the world’s industries would have run aground during the pandemic!

Of course, telecom has always been a dynamic industry and sensitive to technological developments. So, what can the telecom industry look forward to in 2021?

From 5G to cybersecurity, here are five trends around telecom technologies to consider in 2021.

#1. 5G and IoT

5G and the Internet of Things are set to create a much bigger and broader backdrop for the telecom industry’s enterprise offerings.

2021 and beyond, 5G will be much more than high-speed downloads. Its combination of high-bandwidth connectivity, low latency, and universal coverage will facilitate smart vehicles and transport infrastructures like connected cars. 5G will allow telcos to create differentiated value-added offerings by embedding connectivity with products and services.

With 5G, telcos are all set to emerge as connected industry orchestrators. This implies trading fully connected industry solutions, embracing sensors, connecting value chains, cloud connectivity, and device as a service ecosystem. Telcos have changed the world around us by connecting phones, tablets, and other mobile devices, but connecting and managing increasing numbers of cars, meters, sensors, and consumer electronics lucratively will demand innovative business models.

Presently, most telco’s IoT revenues are derived from connectivity, but future revenue will also come from service enablement platforms, apps, and services. Telcos that can build and manage an ecosystem of service partners, filter data from their IoT platforms, and convert bulk data into smart data will build incremental revenue based on the data’s value rather than their ability to transport it.

#2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Advanced Automation

Artificial intelligence is likely to impact the telecommunications landscape as it will all other sectors. As the telecom industry multiplies its networks faster, service configuration, customer support, and billing processes become increasingly complex. In the face of customer demands for superior quality services, telcos are seeking useful innovations and applications to cater to their customers with delightful customer experience and service.

The chief driver for AI growth in the telecom industry is the rising demand for autonomously driven network solutions. With networks expanding rapidly, they become increasingly complex and challenging to manage. AI could profoundly impact several areas – most critical being traffic classification to reduce network congestions, enhancing network quality, anomaly detection and prediction in networks, resource utilization, network optimizations, and network orchestration. Furthermore, AI will also help to improve customer experience with virtual assistants and bots.

With advanced automation, telcos can automate back-end activities like data entry, reconciliation, or validation, streamline customer support, and carry out cross-sell and up-sell via AI-powered assisted calls. Advanced automation will help telcos lower costs, improve accuracy, enhance efficiency, and deliver better customer experiences.

#3. Blockchain

Driven by stories around BitCoin, Blockchain has captured the popular imagination. The telecom industry is looking at Blockchain too. In this context, 5G could become a powerful enabler for a blockchain-led wave of telecom disruption empowering many cross-industry applications.

Blockchain is could help streamline processes, deliver cost savings, provide new revenue streams, enhance collaborations, and drive real-time transparency. Blockchain can help telcos in 2021 and beyond in areas like:

  • Roaming and settlements frauds, human errors, absence of transparency can be eradicated using smart contracts on Blockchain
  • Identity management can be fetched from multiple 3rd party agents and employed safely with Blockchain, passing greater control to individuals
  • SLA monitoring can be made tighter with Blockchain’s smart contracts, which builds ‘one version of the truth.’
  • Prevention of phone theft by storing unique device or SIM data on Blockchain which can potentially help find devices instantly
  • Mobile number portability can also be accelerated with Blockchain wherein telcos can review and action requests easier
#4. Edge Computing

Edge computing, commonly known as Mobile Edge Computing, or MEC, is set to radically reshape telecom networks, with a little help from its allies 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT). A study revealed that edge computing would power roughly $7 billion in revenue by 2025. Whereas as much as two-thirds of this revenue will accrue to cloud players, telcos, neutral hosts, and enterprises will play critical roles in hosting sites and facilitating connectivity.

Until now, edge computing was only building up use-cases. In 2021 and beyond, novel business models will come up that power the deployment of the edge in production. Organizations will find new ways to leverage the enhanced computing power and storage available closer to where the data is being generated and will appreciate the network saving achieved by not having to transmit data continuously between the cloud and the devices on the frontlines.

#5. Cybersecurity

Today, the telecom industry has become an enormous data repository with access to uber-sensitive customer data. They are also the platforms upon which digital lives revolve so that any service outage or loss of data can trigger significant inconvenience for the end-users and a large-scale disruption of business operations across industries. These aspects make telcos lucrative targets for cybercriminals looking to tamper with data and networks at scale.

With strict policies like EU-GDPR now in action, telcos – whether in India or abroad – can’t afford to regard cybersecurity as anything less than a critical function. With data security becoming a vital business mandate, a large-scale shift within the telecom industry is predicted towards a security-led method.

In the coming years, we will witness players prop up their defenses against direct threats, like distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, along with indirect vulnerabilities like data breaches and internal leaks. The IT frameworks facilitating telecom networks will become more robust. There is also the probability of telcos pushing cybersecurity solutions as part of their service offerings to assure better threat defense for their consumers.

Looking Beyond the Present Landscape

After undergoing numerous years of sluggish economic growth, the telecom industry, as we know it today, is enthused by these tech trends and the opportunities presented by digitization. To thrive in the long run, telcos need to drive customer value while reducing costs and differentiating themselves. It is irrefutable that the success or failure of telcos relies on their adoption of technology. In 2021, telcos can attain a competitive edge, flexibility, agility, and capacity to gain more opportunities with technology.

 

 

What Are The “Must-Have” Features Of A Cutting-Edge A2P SMS Platform?

A quick scroll through the multiple SMS alerts on your mobile phone will show you just how much businesses have been using SMS to reach out to their customers. Whether it is sending promotional messages, transaction alerts, OTPs for security, or personalized messages like a birthday discount on products, businesses have been using SMS to connect with the customers. This type of SMS is called Application to Person (A2P) messaging and it has become a go-to tool for businesses.

Unlike social media channels, paid ads, or emails, A2P messages are more personalized and engaging as they communicate directly to the customer. 98%of SMS messages are opened as compared to 20% of emails. The click-through rates are 19% as compared to  2% for emails’. Businesses have been constantly increasing their adoption of A2P SMS. No wonder the A2P SMS market is touted to be a $77.1 billion market by 2026.

Every business is looking for a cutting-edge A2P SMS platform that can help them reach out to their customers better and improve their conversions.

However, to be considered effective, the A2P SMS platform must possess the following features.

Must-Have Features A Cutting-Edge A2P SMS Platform Must Possess
Rich communication services (RCS)

Conventional SMS’ are plain texts. However, instant messaging platforms paved the way for media-rich communication. Businesses realized that using media-rich messages can help them capture the customers’ attention and engage them. They can send website links, QR codes, images, ticket or boarding passes, product carousels, etc., through A2P SMS. This helps businesses to build long-term customer engagement and create a unique identity of their brand. RCS support is one of the first things that businesses must look for in an A2P SMS platform. The platform must support all types of rich communication. The platform should allow businesses to share geo-targeted texts, photos, and video notifications to customers. The platform should also allow businesses to have a two-way interaction with their customers through interactive functionalities such as chatbots, quizzes, and polls. The objective is to help businesses build an effective and direct communication channel with their customers.

API connectivity

An A2P SMS API enables businesses to connect to a reliable SMS gateway so that they can send bulk promotional and transactional messages to their customers around the world securely. These messages are sent and received through applications, webs, or systems. Businesses prefer API connect as it helps automate the messaging process. So, businesses don’t have to send messages manually to every platform. They can automate this task so that thousands of messages are automatically sent within seconds. This is especially useful when businesses do SMS campaigns. API connect also offers integration with CRM, so businesses can receive and maintain customer data efficiently. They can produce regular reports on how each integrated platform has generated traffic or met business goals. This enables the business to gauge each platform’s effectiveness and create data-centric campaigns. The flexibility and effectiveness make API connect a must-have feature in an A2P SMS platform. Businesses prefer it as it eliminates hard work and enables them to manage the campaigns efficiently.

Uses direct routes to send messages

Most often, businesses unknowingly send A2P messages through grey routes. So, when a business sends a message to a customer residing in the same country, it bounces across different global carriers and then sent to the recipient. In the process. it tries to hide the source of the message to the mobile networks. The stated aim is that the message is transmitted for a much-reduced cost. The attraction of the low cost encourages the businesses to send more bulk promotional messages. However, grey routes have their limitations. To begin with, it is unethical. It can also expose the recipient of the message to malicious attacks and expose the receiver to unnecessary risk. Secondly, there are no delivery receipts in grey routes, so businesses will have no trace of whether the messages were delivered. Finally, if a host network identifies a grey route, they will shut it down, and all the messages that were intended to be sent to the customer will never get delivered. Although direct routes may be comparatively more expensive, they are ethical, secure, and can quickly transmit a high volume of messages to customers. The A2P SMS platform must offer a direct route to transmit messages. They should be compliant with the wholesale roaming agreement. This will enable the businesses to send messages to their customers knowing that they will get delivered.

A2P SMS termination

A2P SMS termination presents a great opportunity for revenue growth. Businesses normally lose millions due to lost termination fees. It occurs because of the prevalence of grey routes that don’t charge transparently for message transmission or delivery outcomes. The business can be safeguarded by partnering with global OTTs, and A2P aggregators. Businesses can ensure that the SMS termination happens directly with them, so they can earn revenue from it. That’s why the A2P SMS platform must have direct interconnection with carriers and operators worldwide.

Conclusion

As we have understood by now, businesses are keen to use A2P SMS more frequently to communicate with the customers. Hence, it’s essential to keep pace with the changing ecosystem of A2P messaging and include these must-have features in the platform they choose. This will not just help in meeting the business needs, but will also keep them safe.

At Globe Teleservices, we offer international messaging services that provide businesses with a competitive advantage. We offer:

  • API connect for A2P bulk SMS campaigns
  • Direct interconnection with 100+ carriers and leading operators in more than 35+ countries for direct SMS termination
  • Direct routes and high-quality routes to safely send the messages to customers
  • Flexibility to send rich-media messages to customers

 

Will mobile security threats grow in 2022 (and can anything be done about that)

Mobile security is on top of everyone’s mind and for good reason – mobile phones are now seamlessly integrated into everyone’s personal or professional lives. Nearly all businesses allow employees to access corporate data from smartphones. This trend has become more prominent during the pandemic and is only expected to increase. Hence the focus on mobile security.

The mobile security market is poised to grow from $3.0 billion in 2019 to $7.2 billion by the end of 2024 driven by the increase in mobile payments and the rising security needs of the enterprise as they enable BYOD programs. The growing reliance on mobiles demands mobile operators to look at the security loopholes and threats that still exist in this ecosystem.

Here is a look at some of the mobile security threats that we are likely to hear more of in 2022

The grey route challenge

Grey routes continue to be a point of attention when it comes to security. One of the most common problems for MNO’s, grey routes can lead to huge losses to the operators. SMS grey routes are expected to lead to revenue leakages amounting to US$37.1 billion between 2020-2024. The total opportunity for A2P SMS stands at $27.48 billion in 2024 based on white route traffic. The revenue leakage to grey routes continues to be exceptionally high with an anticipated annual loss of $7.69 billion.

Next-gen impenetrable, robust, and resilient SMS firewalls will thus become imperative to block grey routes and prevent revenue leakage. Such firewalls also help in blocking illegal SMS traffic by active monitoring of Mobile Originated, Mobile Terminated, and Application Originated SMS and all entry points.

Real-time monitoring, System-level filtering & Intelligent SMS Firewall Rules can help MNO manage the grey route menace, prevent revenue losses, and improve customer faith by assuring their safety.

Network security attacks remain a point of concern

MNO’s will continue to improve network security in 2022 especially as Openness becomes a double edge sword. As technologies such as IoT and AI proliferate and 5G promises to mature, network operators have to protect their current network by improving their security architecture. As connected devices and data exchange promises to only increase, legacy networks may struggle to meet present-day security needs.

MNOs can look at network virtualization to support today’s complex security needs. Network Virtualization enables operators to leverage strategies such as network slicing to separate network resources and guarantee greater security. Since each of the network slices has an individual authentication process detecting changes in behaviour patterns or traffic becomes easier to identify and mitigate proactively.

SIM jacking and SMS phishing remain concerns

Telecom fraud such as SIM jacking and SMS phishing is not uncommon and won’t go away in the coming year as well. If anything, the hackers are only going to get smarter and more sophisticated.

Proactive route testing, home routing, and re-routing help operators analyze the information sent and received between two parties. Any discrepancy could reveal suspect routes which could then receive proactive attention.

Home routing helps the operators curtail faking and SMS spoofing by giving them control over the traffic generated abroad. Re-routing ensures that A2P messages are rerouted across tested routes to senders who do not allow A2P content termination.

Spoofing

SMS spoofing will continue to plague MNOs. SMS spoofing allows the sender to manipulate information. It disguises a user that has roamed into a foreign network and is submitting messages to the home network.

SMS spoofing is quickly evolving and is one of the fastest-growing methods to penetrate mobile operators. This challenge needs to be mitigated fast since mobiles are being used extensively for corporate marketing and branding and mobile advertising. SMS spoofing becomes a threat since it can be achieved easily since almost all phones today have access to and can be accessed from the internet.

Robust SMS firewall solutions with features such as global tile blocking, legal interception, blocking messages based on system-level filtering, intelligent SMS firewall rules, map operation codes, Live GUI and CDR for analysis, etc. can help MNOs tackle the spoofing menace.

Refiling, A-Party Refiling, A-Party Caller Spoofing are also security areas of focus to prevent revenue leakage owing to voice fraud. These are methods through which clearinghouses or transit carriers terminate traffic to an operator, spoof the CLIs (Calling Line Identity) of calls to a network. False answer supervision allows the call to be answered but not reported back to the caller. This drives up the minutes and cost of the call, while the MNOs don’t realize the revenue.

AI-ML-based voice firewalls can prevent these threats and protect operators and enterprises from all kinds of voice fraud from both incoming and outgoing traffic. They can identify suspicious inbound and outbound traffic streams based on behavioral patterns and anomalous traffic. This also protects subscribers from fraud, quality fluctuation, and surprise bills.

Data security

The focus on data security is only going to increase in 2020 especially with the proliferation of financial services into the mobile space. As telecom companies add value-added services and integrate digital payments into the mix of their offerings, elevating data security assumes primary importance.

Enabling e-KYC solutions that are comprehensive and secure and capably create digital identities will improve the verification and authentication processes while delivering a higher degree of security and data privacy. GPS and OCR technologies coupled with AI and Machine Learning can optimize the KYC process and make it more secure and trustworthy.

AI-based identity and document validation and verification coupled with geo-location identification become essential technologies that help MNOs balance regulatory requirements without compromising security and customer experience.

The rise of the mobile as a tool to drive and foster better customer engagement can also be credited to mobiles becoming an extension of our lives and our workplaces. Given this, keeping mobile security top of the mind not only makes sense but becomes essential in the wake of rising cyber threats and attacks.

 

 

How Africa’s Telecom Companies Are Ushering in A Revolution

Worldwide, the traditional telecom industry has witnessed traditional revenue streams shrink but as the industry seeks further development and growth it’s turning its attention to Africa.

The mobile revenue in Africa is predicted to grow to $68 billion by 2022. While voice revenues in all likelihood will be flat as cheaper OTT services remain popular among cost-conscious customers, mobile broadband and digital services revenue are all predicted to double over the same period. The pressures on conventional revenue streams have started an industry-wide push for innovations that can utilize the massive infrastructure and data most telcos possess.

In the context of Africa, some new influences are visible and some of the same conditions apply as do in the rest of the world.

Modern customers want greater convenience and enhanced experiences and are open to engaging with their service providers via increasingly complex omnichannel initiatives. ‘Sculpting customer experiences’ is the mantra today. Providing connectivity and digital access remains the essential part of the telcos’ offering, but there’s so much more for them to do now and plan for in the years to come. As technology evolves rapidly, ubiquitous connectivity will become table stakes and the game will be all about what more can telcos offer?

Innovation-fed transformation across the telecoms value chain is driving African telecom operators to plan for these new value propositions. Digital technologies have brought several new aspects to light. The growing ubiquity of smart devices has catalyzed customer demand for new services and increasingly personalized experiences. New entrants intensify competition creating downward pressure on pricing, and regulations are becoming stronger. To maintain a competitive edge and relevance, telcos must look for newer ways to differentiate themselves, get and hold customers, and power top-line growth.

There are four aspects where investment in digital technologies will be particularly valuable.

  1. Networks of tomorrow
  2. New digital offerings
  3. Reimagining customer engagement
  4. Bridging the gap in innovation

For African telecom companies, the ‘new’ journey will be a harmonizing act: they need to safeguard their primary offerings while rotating to the new—identifying, developing, and releasing new digital offerings — to drive revenue growth.

While African telecom companies are looking to contain costs, they are also seeking revenue growth. Utilizing its large customer base, each telecom company has developed diversification plans based on data services, digital services, mobile money services, and Value Added Services (VAS).

Data Services

Mobile handsets are perhaps the leading sources of individual customer data available currently. Telcom companies are at the forefront of data custodianship as subscribers use various data-generating apps and services connected to their mobile devices. These present considerable opportunities for telecom companies to mine enormous amounts of individual customer data, build complex and multidimensional customer profiles, and develop individualized customer offers and experiences to deepen brand affinity and increase wallet share.

Africa’s data revolution is rolling in full swing, and telecom companies, both old and new, embrace a range of strategies – from cheap smartphones to the roll-out of fast speed networks – to maintain and grow their data revenue, while not neglecting voice completely.

The increased affordability of data-enabled devices is driving the data explosion. With the rise in data use, simple voice calling handsets are losing their luster, and several African operators are now selling cheap smartphones via partnerships with Chinese device manufacturers such as Huawei and Tecno.

Also, there is a batch of exclusive LTE entrants arriving in Africa. With no history of offering voice services, these new entrants have bypassed 2G and 3G networks and directly built LTE networks in Africa. For instance, Surfline Communication launched Ghana’s first LTE network in 2014. African governments have been granting data-only licenses, wherein telecom companies can only begin providing voice when they have hit certain penetration levels with data.

Value-Added Services

Telecom companies can decide to own the customer rather than the network. This model places telcos higher up the value chain through a customer-centric lifestyle platform. Use cases like content streaming, banking services, and gaming, can give telecom companies revenues by adding and diversifying the present mobile services–reliant ARPU. Building an ecosystem that caters to end-to-end apps will allow telcos the opportunity to monetize both transaction and subscription fees, besides higher data consumption.
This is great for telecom companies, as they own a ready-made platform for seizing additional customer spending. They can build 360-degree profiles of their customers, that companies can collect, act on, and monetize. Mobile money, is a valuable entry point for telcos to grow, as Safaricom did with M-Pesa.

Mobile Money

Globally, there is no other continent that moves more money on mobile phones than Africa. The continent is presently responsible for an astounding 45.6% of mobile money activity in the world—an estimate of at least $26.8 billion in transaction value in 2018 alone—this number excludes bank-operated solutions.

Africa’s telecom companies are at the forefront of plans to bring banking to millions of Africans, in some cases for the first time, after the coronavirus dramatically accelerated the use of digital financial services.

By offering customers frictionless payment options besides other mobile financial services, telecom companies add considerable value and play a fundamental role in driving change. Technology firms (old and new), retailers, mobility companies – and others – are all looking for ways to incorporate mobile financial services into their business models. The timing is perfect for telecom companies that are looking to capitalize on their reach in remote villages and urban slums to pivot to financial services and banking.

 

Adapting to New Landscapes

Telcos looking to improve outcomes and eliminate inefficiencies are running a comprehensive analysis of the state of their operations, utilizing a customer-centric lens. Where are their fundamental capabilities most potent? Are they tactically employing resources to support the right competencies? Where are they falling short on delivering an exceptional customer experience? Where must operations be reinforced—and where should they be restructured?

Revolutionary telcos must decide what they are – a utility or a tech innovator? Either choice has extensive tactical implications that will impact everything from leadership down to the frontline operating model. In many cases, it could overturn how these businesses have been run for decades.

Regardless of the approach, African telcos will require to shift their trajectory quickly if they want to stay in the game. By investing in a customer-centric approach, they will be better placed to enhance customer loyalty, reduce churn, increase ARPU, and capture more spending even as their markets mature. But these changes demand time, calculated focus, and investment—all of which will be limited if telcos wait too long to make their play.

 

 

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