Category: Technology

Pete Cashmore, CEO and founder of Mashable once famously said that attention is the new currency. Every business is vying for the customer’s attention. In a world where the average consumer is glued to the smartphone, the mobile has become the new battleground for brands in this quest for customer connection.

Businesses reach out to customers through various channels such as social media platforms, Facebook messenger, and instant messengers such as WhatsApp. However, contrary to what some may believe, SMS communication is still alive and thriving. That said, if the aim is to connect and engage, businesses need to think beyond sending plain text SMS. They need to send rich texts to gain customer’s attention. Enter RCS!

Rich Communication Services (RCS) create messaging touchpoints that are more engaging and provide a rich experience to customers. RCS adds that value in Application to Peer (A2P) SMS.

No wonder brands are willing to spend $18.04 billion on RCS.

RCS enables businesses to send multimedia and experiment with different types of content such as hyperlinked texts, rich images, and even polls and quizzes through A2P SMS.

The results are evident too. According to mGage’s research, RCS achieved a 14 times higher engagement rate and a better response rate than other methods used previously.

While businesses are expected to benefit from RCS, how do mobile operators stand to benefit from it?

Let’s delve into the subject to know more.

How Can Mobile Network Operators Benefit From Rich Communication Services?

1. Better customer experience

With the help of rich communication services, businesses can send high-resolution pictures and heavy files to their customer contacts, share locations and add emoticons and features to their messages to make them more interactive. Such messages will improve customer engagement by virtue of being more interesting and inviting. Businesses can also brand their messages to give them a distinct identity. These features enable mobile operators to strengthen their connection with the customer by being consistent across all the channels they use to communicate. This is a remarkable difference from the current fragmented experience offered to them. Most importantly, the transition from SMS to RCS is seamless. Studies show that customers are already overwhelmed by the number of channels being added to the ecosystem. They don’t want to download an additional messaging app to interact with businesses. However, RCS does not require the customer to download another app. They are automatically upgraded to RCS. So, they can leverage the benefits provided by apps like WhatsApp and Signal from the default messaging app available on their smartphone.

2. New revenue-generating opportunities

RCS provides a unique opportunity for mobile operators to generate more revenue beyond their traditional revenue channels. Businesses are forever on the lookout for new digital channels to reach out to new and existing customers. Some channels are effective, while some do not offer the kind of ROI expected. For example, a banner ad generates an average of 0.1% CTR. As SMS is more personal and sent to the in-built messaging app, the CTR and open rates are much higher. Add to that the power and engagement of RCS and the brand campaigns promise to outperform by 207%. According to Gartner, the interoperability of SMS and its better reach to customers makes it an extremely viable marketing channel for businesses. They know that it’s a channel that customers will use regularly. In fact, operators are expected to generate $52.5 billion from RCS messaging by 2028.

3. Improved customer retention

Some messaging platforms have come under the scanner due to data privacy concerns. SMS and RCS are still considered safer options as they are known to protect customer’s data by default and are permission-based. This helps businesses to communicate safely with their customers and retain them. Apart from helping businesses, RCS messaging can also be useful for mobile operators to retain their customers. Instead of sending plain text SMS to their customers, operators can send rich communication with capabilities to enable customers to respond to messages. They can use rich templates to create brand recall for customers. Most importantly, they can reduce customer churn by creating an engaging and consistent experience for customers across the entire communication ecosystem the customer uses.

Conclusion

RCS provides many benefits to both businesses and subscribers. The future of RCS messaging looks positive as carriers like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile are planning to embrace RCS from 2022. Also, considering that SMS is still the most used form of communication in many countries and does not require an app to be downloaded, RCS messages have a scope to reach out to more customers than the new messaging platforms.

However, there are also a few shortcomings, such as both the network and texting apps must support the protocol. Otherwise, the customer might not be able to use RCS across all networks. Also, some regions such as Europe and France are still slow in adopting RCS. The other bottleneck in adoption is that only 8.9% of global mobile networks support RCS messaging.

Unless these challenges are resolved, businesses and operators cannot realize the full potential of RCS. However, operators can partner with trusted solution providers to optimize the usage of RCS messaging and gain a competitive advantage.

To know more, contact us.

As enterprises and individuals both embrace digital transformation, telcos are also being pushed to innovate to meet market and subscriber demands. Value-added offerings that leverage the capabilities of technology solutions like 5G connectivity and A2P SMS for enterprises promise telcos the ability to generate revenue and thrive in a competitive market. For example, Ericsson predicts that telcos will generate additional revenue of $3.7 trillion by 2030 through various 5G-driven options.

However, as telcos get more innovative with their offerings, they have to be careful about opening the doors to new problems. One major concern in that context is the need to prioritize subscribers’ privacy.

Over the last few years, subscribers have become increasingly aware of their right to privacy. Studies have shown that 60% of subscribers are concerned about how their data is used. 47% of them believe that the apps they use gather their data through GPS, microphones, etc. There is a general uneasiness about privacy because of a lack of trust about the intent of businesses that have access to their data. It’s not just about the privacy of course. People are also worried about safety and security as cyber crimes have increased by 600% in 2020 alone.

As technologies get more sophisticated and operations more high-touch, telcos need to find ways to protect the privacy of their subscribers. They need to do this to regain the subscribers’ trust.

Here are some ways to safeguard their privacy.

How Can Telcos Protect The Privacy Of Their Subscribers?

In 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was initiated across the EU to protect people’s privacy. Telcos were also covered under this regulation. This means that telcos were equally responsible for safeguarding the subscribers’ privacy and data.

To safeguard subscribers from data breaches or privacy threats, telcos are implementing solutions such as:

1. Content filtering

A2P SMS has become a popular communication channel for enterprises to reach out to subscribers. However, subscribers have been receiving an overload of SMS. Many of these messages are spam. To ensure that subscribers receive only genuine messages, telcos have started using content filtering options to identify and block spam messages. These filters look for messages with specific keywords or certain types of content, which could be considered spam, and block them before sending them to subscribers. Many countries in large telecom markets have already initiated a process where the messages are scrubbed, standardized, and sent in a specific template to safeguard subscribers from spam messages.

2. SMS firewall

Considering that SMSes are vulnerable to suspicious malware attacks and spams, telcos use SMS firewalls to block illegal SMS traffic. When a message comes to the telecom operator’s network, the firewall immediately scans them for its originator, source, and route. It analyzes the messages and classifies them. The messages are immediately blocked, and the sender is informed if found to be suspicious. Telcos can also set intelligent firewall rules to determine which messages are authorized and unauthorized and also allow or reject SMS traffic accordingly. An SMS firewall protects the subscribers’ privacy and protects the telcos from losing their reputation and revenue over spurious messages.

3. Direct routing

Grey routes have always been a concern for telcos as the messages are sent through unauthorized networks. As there is little control over these unethical routes, telcos stand to lose an estimated $62 billion of their revenue. Also, considering that these SMSes are sent through unethical networks that are inherently subject to less management and oversight, they could pose a privacy threat for subscribers and expose them to vulnerabilities. The solution to this problem is direct routing. Telcos can directly connect with operators in different countries, so the messages are sent directly to the subscribers in that country. Telcos can also set up re-routing or test the routes to ensure that the messages are sent through reliable networks. Telcos can also identify and fix routes that are suspicious to safeguard the data and privacy of subscribers.

Conclusion

Although telcos use sophisticated tools to bring transparency in their solutions, they cannot combat privacy breaches alone. Safeguarding the subscribers’ privacy requires combined efforts from Governments and enterprises too. Governments have started implementing regulations such as GDPR. As for enterprises, they are also developing products that have privacy firmly integrated into all phases of development. Ericsson says that even telcos must implement privacy by design to ensure that security and privacy policies are followed.

Innovative solutions will become a mainstay in the future. Subscribers will widely use technologies like 5G and connected devices. By making privacy a default element, telcos, enterprises, and governments will be able to safeguard the subscribers from vulnerabilities and ensure that they receive the best service and experience. Telcos and enterprises must also work with a trustworthy telecom solutions provider to ensure that their solutions are safe.

2020 made the enterprise universe fundamentally reassess ways of working. The push towards digital transformation, something that had been growing over the years, accelerated as the pandemic forced everyone to work from home. Organizations had to realign their IT budgets, modernize infrastructure, and identify digital channels. They turned to digital means to drive customer experience, accelerate revenues, improve operational excellence, and enable collaboration and innovation while ensuring business continuity.

Digital transformation has now become crucial to sustaining growth. However, while digital transformation depends on technology that can improve the capacity to chase new revenue streams or business models, technology alone does not guarantee digital transformation. Organizations have to reshape how they strategize and learn to utilize technology in newer ways. This isn’t always about adopting cutting-edge technologies. It’s equally about how to leverage the omnipresent technologies of the day, like the mobile phone.

Let’s look at the starring role for the mobile in enterprise digital transformation and the opportunity this creates for telcos and communication service providers.

Mobility and its role in Digital Transformation

Enterprises looking to leverage digital technologies to transform their organization have to employ mobile to drive company-wide transformation.

Research suggests that 82% of executives agree mobile technologies are the face of digital transformation. This can’t come as a surprise given the growing smartphone proliferation and deep adoption in the enterprise space. Today, 80% of executives believe that workers cannot do their jobs without their smartphones. 70% of access to enterprise systems is via mobile devices.

Digital transformation conversations are thus incomplete without adequate focus on mobile. When people regularly use enterprise software from a mobile device it indicates that the system has become the lifeblood of the business. The enterprise mobile app allows employees to connect to core processes from anywhere, at any time, and be productive, free of locational constraints.

The objective of digital transformation is to infuse a wave of efficiency across the length and breadth of the organization. By incorporating mobility as an integral component of digital transformation, organizations can unleash significant latent potential by empowering a new level of employee performance. They can gain the capacity to redistribute access and intelligence all through the ecosystem, drive productivity and collaboration, and improve customer experience.

Mobility is central to the enterprise digital transformation narrative because it assists enterprises to develop the capability to:

• Improve customer experience and customer satisfaction, build rapport with overseas clients and connect with clients more efficiently across boundaries and time constraints
• Increase productive time by providing “always-on” access to systems and processes
• Improve the amount and quality of information captured because of multiple data touchpoints on the mobile application
• Drive employee enablement at work irrespective of where work happens
• Reach out and engage with customers on a channel of their choosing
• Improve data and process portability and enable smooth content sharing to enhance collaboration and communication experiences
• Increase time efficiencies and improve timely decision-making by providing access to vital data. This also increases cost efficiencies as storage and retrieval of data become synchronized along with complete access control of all the systems.
• Reduce costs by eliminating paper-based workflows, enabling remote work, and helping employees do more work in less time.
• Drive business process optimization and increase operational flexibility

Since the smartphone has cemented itself firmly into our lives, it’s no wonder that we are seeing similar trends in the enterprise. Given the power of mobility to enhance digital transformation initiatives, it makes abundant sense to adopt a mobile-first approach when embarking on the digital transformation journey.

The role of mobile operators and CSPs

The mobile is driving the ‘anytime, anywhere, and always available’ culture that these dynamic times demand. That’s why, we cannot discount the role of telcos, mobile operators, and CSPs in making this digitally-powered work environment a success.

Mobile operators and CSPs become important enablers of time and cost efficiencies especially as drivers of unified communication. Enabling retail quality routes, high clarity Voice using low-latency routes, and ensuring connections over IPX, multiple SIP protocol/codecs, or Managed IP become important enablers of connectivity to drive direct interconnections globally.

CSP’s and mobility carriers also must ensure that they have the right firewall solutions in place to protect themselves and block illegal traffic. They have to ensure that no A2P traffic reaches subscribers via the grey route to avoid monetary losses and unwelcome network congestions from spamming.

Enabling the right security protocols, system-level filtering, Intelligent SMS firewall rules, and guarantees of uptime with heartbeat redundancy become important consideration points to optimize the mobility experience.

In Conclusion

The role of mobile in the digital transformation narrative is only going to get stronger. Even companies like Microsoft have experienced ‘two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months”. McKinsey further notes that while the pace of the pre-COVID world was fast, the luxury of time has completely disappeared now. All along digital transformation emerges as the antidote to the crisis and an imperative for the new normal. Given the proliferation of smartphones and the app economy, enabling digital transformation without a focus on mobile is almost like wanting to bake a cake without an oven. As is apparent, telecom companies, mobile operators, and CSPs have a crucial supporting role there too.

As the world turns into a global village, connectivity has become important among businesses and people.

To help businesses and people stay connected irrespective of geographic locations, telecom companies have been offering attractive options to their users. One of them is virtual roaming numbers.

A virtual roaming number is a telephone number that is not limited to a specific phone device, area code, or line. Unlike traditional landlines that are physically connected to a location and designed to work over a single phone line or a mobile number that is typically tethered to a specific mobile service for coverage; a virtual roaming number is more flexible and devoid of physical constraint. So, even a company that is based in Asia can show its local presence in the US or UK by using a virtual number.

A virtual roaming number is flexible and saves costs on hardware and maintenance.

Considering that the virtual roaming number offers so many benefits to businesses and end-users; it makes a strong case for telecom companies to extend it as one of their services.

Here’s how telecom companies could benefit from the virtual roaming number.

Value Of Virtual Roaming Number For Telecom Companies

Opportunity to expand to new markets and expand penetration onto existing markets

The telecom industry is a fragmented industry that struggles to find ways to create revenue opportunities and new business models. Virtual numbers can help provide an attractive option to address that.

A virtual number is an online number. So, there are more opportunities for operators to expand and penetrate new and existing markets. In many ways, it may also be easier to get a license for operating a virtual number. Virtual number operators (VNO) can offer unique services and unique value propositions to a specific group of users in new markets to gain a competitive advantage. It can help them to acquire new subscribers for their service. For example, they can offer low-cost connectivity to people living in developing countries. A virtual network operator can also help in solving the teledensity issues in remote areas by investing in them. This can help them to gain more subscribers and penetrate deeper into existing markets where reach is less.

Attract more inbound roamers

According to a study, mobile operators earned$21 billion from roaming. Inbound roamers have captured the fancy of telecom operators for a long time. This solution enables them to offer competitive pricing and unique services to these users. It also enables them to capture loyalty if the user visits the place frequently for business or to meet their family or relatives. Virtual numbers are useful for frequent travelers as they can enjoy the benefits of a local number and make and receive calls effortlessly. As soon as an inbound roamer enters a place, they can obtain a prepaid local number roaming (PLNR) without changing their SIM. Once they activate the prepaid number, they can avail of all the local services until their stay. They can top up the virtual number easily and also use it for their future visits. Considering the value and convenience it offers to inbound roamers, operators must consider offering these services to gain more subscribers.

Minimal to zero investment in infrastructure

Virtual network operators do not have to duplicate infrastructure. Network Service Operators (NSO) who invest heavily in spectrum licenses can enter into a sharing model with virtual network operators. It creates a win-win situation for both. The VNO can minimize additional expenditure on infrastructure. If they are a new entrant, they can expand their services easily. The NSO, on the other hand, can earn a recurring income from the VNO and optimally monetize its resources. This helps them to minimize the losses incurred due to high operational costs.

Better service to users

In continuation with the point above, by sharing the infrastructure costs, the telecom operators can reduce the cost of service delivery. This benefit eventually gets passed on to their customers in the form of attractive pricing. Typically, a virtual roaming number works on an all-in-one model, i.e. it offers all types of services such as calling, messaging, VoIP, video conferencing, and data services. Considering that it blurs the lines between network and services, it will soon be able to offer better-bundled services to the users. It will give the power of choice to users.

The virtual roaming number plays well into the themes that are relevant to the future of the telecom industry by being more customer-centric. We have attractive and easy-to-deploy solutions for innovative and future-focused telecom operators who wish to offer . These solutions will help them acquire more users and stay a step ahead of the competition.

5G promises a future of technology-enabling innovation and a host of benefits. The technology underlying 5G marks a break with 4G in many ways, especially when demanding a fundamental reconceptualization of the communication networks. The previous mobile technology generations were built on a physical architecture while 5G, a completely virtual network, enables the convergence of networks and makes wireless communication a fundamental truth.

5G promises to support transformative applications, becoming a driver of a new world of intelligent factories, autonomous cars, and smart cities. We expect lightning-fast speed, increased capacity, and reduced latency. 5G is expected to be 100 times faster. Downloading a two-hour movie, for example, may take merely four seconds with 5G. Given its potential, some studies show that 5G can be expected to pump 12 trillion dollars into the global economy.

Just as 5G becomes the enabler of a totally connected world, it also raises concerns about enabling a larger surface area for cyberattacks. This is primarily because 5G networks connect more devices than previous technologies at a “fatter” bandwidth and with lower network latency. This means more endpoints to attack and an enabling network capacity that may make “brute force” attacks practically possible.

However, as with any new technology, an introduction of 5G requires revisiting cyber-security strategies. Building greater resilience by identifying and countering the risks specific to 5G can enable this technology to become a powerful force to generate revenues and drive profits.

The security challenge

Security is one of the major stumbling blocks to the adoption of 5G. Until now, navigating the security chasm was difficult because many standards that could govern its implementation and management hadn’t been fleshed out. Reliable estimates of the kind of new threats that could emerge were missing. While this could influence multiple aspects, its impact on security could be disastrous as it risks providing more elbow room for malicious elements to break down the defenses.

Clearly, keeping 5G networks secure and keeping them safe from malicious intent and activity for businesses and society alike will be essential for ensuring the safety of the end-users. With these concerns in mind, recent announcements of 5G specifications being updated and aligned with zero-trust tenets is good news.

Why zero-trust works in favour of 5G

A vital point to secure any network is to understand where vulnerabilities could arise. Usually, risks transition from one network to another at the point of interconnection. As such, it becomes essential that all the companies involved on each side of these transitions need to adopt a coordinated approach to ensure effective end-to-end security.

By aligning 5G specifications with zero-trust tenets, the telecom industry assumes a strong position to create a zero-trust architecture that everyone can “subscribe” to. The zero-trust security model becomes effective in the 5G scenario as it never makes any assumptions towards trustworthiness.

A zero-trust architecture facilitates secure network access to resources (data, devices, and services) and ensures that it is restricted to only the authorized and approved subjects ((users, devices, and services). This approach assumes an identity-centric approach based on the execution of policy-based authorization decisions in runtime in conjunction with traditional in-depth security principles. The right zero-trust architecture mitigates the risk of external attackers elbowing their way into the network or moving laterally in case of a security breach. The key areas where this zero-trust architecture needs implementing could be to:

• Secure digital identities are the key factor that determine whether an access request should be accepted or not. A zero-trust architecture establishes protocols after assessing the environment, which includes virtualized deployments, multi-tenant environments, and the hardware ecosystem, to deliver secure identity lifecycle management.
• Secure communication transport of user and signaling data across 3GPP interfaces. A zero-trust architecture ensures that all data is secured with cryptographic algorithms thereby delivering integrity protection and confidentiality
• Manage the relationship between the host of logical and physical entities across the telecom network and create a capable policy framework that captures the access rules and requirements to determine eligibility requests. These policies enable the enforcement of micro-perimeters with fine-grained access control based on roles, credentials, and environmental attributes
• Establish the right security posture of network assets and ensure compliance with security policies. Monitor and evaluate subjects, resources compliance, trustworthiness, and state to design access controls.

The journey towards zero-trust must be carefully calibrated and augmented with methodical decisions on when and how to implement the new security processes and deploy the new security technologies. Adopting the zero-trust principle improves the management of security risks to deliver a secure network and services.

However, the capability to implement a zero-trust architecture also depends heavily on the technologies, prioritizations, and policies considered. Successfully implementing zero trust can be a cornerstone of a holistic defense strategy to manage the risk of the infrastructure that has migrated to zero-trust and the infrastructure that hasn’t, both.

While this transition towards zero-trust is a major change in the telecom industry, 5G’s built-in compatibility with the zero-trust architecture will make it easier to define security practices and strategies applicable in different scenarios. As of now, the new functionalities and requirement specifications align with many zero-trust elements. This should help drive up the confidence of successful 5G implementations without worries over security concerns clouding the benefits. That is great news for the telecom sector and the world at large.

The telecommunications industry is responsible for keeping the world connected. Telecom operators build, operate, and manage the complex network infrastructures required for all communications. Obviously, these networks deal with enormous amounts of sensitive data. This makes them attractive targets for attacks from malicious entities. The World Economic Forum in its Global Risks Report 2019, reported that the risk of cyber-attacks was among the top 5 fastest growing threats in public perception.

Telecom operators need to arm themselves against this growing risk. This post is an attempt to drive that point home by looking at where the threats could emerge from and their possible impact!

Telecommunications providers are under fire from two sides:

1. They face direct attacks from cybercriminals intent on breaching their organization and network operations
2. Indirect attacks from those in pursuit of their subscribers.

Main Network Security Threats Include:

Supply Chain Threats

As theGSMA has also said, telecom operators rely on numerous external suppliers to deliver infrastructure, products, and services. It represents a complex supply chain where downstream links inherent risks and vulnerabilities. Attackers need not address their planned target directly. In several cases, they can achieve their aim by compromising the supply chain where it is least secure.

Instances of supply chain threats are common including tampering with chipsets,vendors releasing devices in an insecure state<, and government decisions impacting supply chain resilience. This highlights the significance of understanding how products are developed and introduced into the ecosystem and managed throughout their lifecycle. The software supply chain is arguably more complicated. According to the 2018 evSecOps Community Survey, there was a 55% increase in breaches caused by vulnerable open-source software.

A failure to secure the supply chain can result in erosion of brand and trust, regulatory action, and high costs to the operator. The onus is on telecom operators to examine the products, toolsets, and technologies that form a part of their infrastructure from the security perspective.

Data Privacy

Mobile Network Operators specifically and telecom operators, in general, must gather, process, and store customer data to operate efficiently. Privacy concerns have triggered onerous regulations like GDPR in several locations. An inability to understand these laws or poor implementation can curb the flow of data and curtail the operator’s overall view of their network. Obviously, this can trigger inefficiencies for the network and create openings for attackers to go undetected, and pose a threat to the privacy and security of citizen’s data.

Such a failure to consider consumer privacy, regardless of legislative requirements, can also result in stiff fines, penal action, and even a brand-killing backlash, as seen with the LocationSmart service in the US.

Signaling Threats

As those in the telecom sector know, a signaling exchange establishes/maintains a communication channel or session on mobile telecommunications networks and assigns resources, and manages networks universally. 2/3G leverages SS7 and SIGTRAN, while 4G depends on Diameter. All generations employ SIP and GTP. Several essential services, such as short messaging service (SMS), are managed by these protocols.

While tried, tested, and trusted, many of these protocols are dated. They were often applied without an authority model but depended on implicit trust within a closed industry. Now look at the inherent insecurity of this approach in the context of the role in operating several network functions, and it will be clear that any security threats identified against these services will have a high impact. Many will remember that in 2017 an incident in Washington DC, close to the White House, saw attackers use a fake base station and SS7 access to obtain subscriber information.

Predominantly these attacks target consumers and cause a breach of privacy with all the ramifications of potential regulatory action and reputational damage.

Cloud Threats

The network perimeter is blurring, and the cloud is being regularly leveraged to facilitate operators’ operations. The cloud is where network, storage, and compute resources often reside these days. And yes, an external supplier manages all these applications.

The loss of direct control of such critical operations may diminish the operator’s level of control over the network performance, optimization, data, and quality of services. The operator also loses the capability to assess and alleviate security threats directly. They are forced to depend solely on contractual or service level agreements with the cloud provider. Seen in that light, cloud services pose a potential combination of risks concerning network availability, supply chain, and privacy.

The IoT Threats

This year has seen a major IoT thrust. And obviously, security threats are emerging. The industry has identified that several customer device manufacturers have little consideration for, or competency in, security. It’s not uncommon for them to hand over the accountability to secure the device to the uneducated customer without security instructions. These devices, when deployed, are also attached to the operator’s network. Attacking the network by leveraging these devices could potentially harm operators.

Most IoT threats come from attackers exploiting factory default settings or poorly configured devices. IoT devices are a desirable target. The significant volume of devices means many potential access points. The attacker can employ the same technique to attack different devices regardless of their primary function, leading to a large surface subject to attack with minimal effort. For eg., in 2016 the Mirai botnet, the mother of many modern IoT botnets, hijacked over 600,000 devices. The initial attack took down OVH hosting and DynDNS services.

Of course, in these cases, attackers don’t want to disrupt the network. They desire continued access to the network for information disclosure and that’s just as disruptive in the long run.

Human Threats

Having said all that, it’s unfortunately true that network attacks usually succeed due to human nature. Humans make mistakes; these are often taken advantage of by attackers to gain a foothold into the operator’s network. Employees may become disgruntled, leading to a desire to attack the operators. Internal human threats come in many forms, some malicious, others not.

Device Threats

Not all customers comprehend the threats their devices bring to the operator and network ecosystem. However, suppliers of the device, software (app) developers, and over the top service (OTT) providers are aware of the threat to the device. Because of the long-term nature of such customer relationships, several operators take over and address several device threats.

In April 2018, the WikiLeaks hacktivist group leaked a suite of hacking tools believed to belong to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The leak exemplified to what extent nation-state level technologies are thought to be used in the fifth generation of cyber-attacks.Nokia reports that Android devices were responsible for 47.15% of the observed malware infections in 2019 and are the most targeted OS.

Why Revenue Protection Becomes a Mandate?

In this competitive world, revenue leakage is one of the most significant worries affecting telcos around the world. For operators, who are also distressed by deteriorating margins from the conventional voice business, protecting the existing revenue sources becomes crucial. Over the years, several research reports have highlighted the massive loss to the industry due to inadequate fraud protection and poor revenue assurance processes.

The critical challenge with revenue protection is the long gap between revenue leakage detection and fixing it. Considering the enormous volume of transactions produced in the present-day customer-centric world, telcos cannot afford such gaps. With the new problems brought by IP networks and the sophisticated interconnection frauds, detecting, and redressing the glitches becomes even more important.

Obviously, lessening the leakage exposure time can result in significant savings. Also, revenue protection is linked to multiple processes, including data collection, billing, settlement, and operations. Thus, coherent strategies for revenue protection can give telcos increased visibility into all aspects of subscriber data and help them to improve the Quality of Service (QoS). This could help improve the subscriber experience and drive up loyalty.

Subscriber management is a crucial element of revenue protection as it facilitates operators to handle customer attrition. The operators require to have visibility into subscriber’s usage and billing patterns. Such insights will enable them to introduce the right mix of services that enhance customer value and ARPU. Subscriber management proves crucial to remove billing errors and disputes.
Vulnerabilities exist on several levels in the telecom landscape: hardware, software, and human, and attacks can come from many directions. Telecom operators need to start considering security as a process that encompasses threat prediction, prevention, detection, response, and investigation. Intuitive revenue protection systems can further help in stemming the tide of lost revenue by making it possible for operators to view all potential revenue leakages in real-time for every process.

A comprehensive, multi-layered security solution based on the latest technology is a vital element to achieve this, but it is not sufficient on its own. The technology becomes a vital first step that must be followed by collaboration, employee education, and shared intelligence.

The telecom industry is evolving rapidly. Changing conditions have compelled telecom operators to shun their legacy business models and adopt new ways of operating. One such model catching the eye is the telecom service hub.

To keep pace with changes, telecom operators worldwide have started coming together strategically to form a telecom hub that connects their local service providers. The goal is to become global carriers that carry internal data and signaling traffic worldwide.

A telecom hub is cost-efficient as it reduces the costs of maintenance, deployment, and hardware. But more importantly, it gives them a wider reach to global subscribers. They are also able to implement global security practices and innovate more frequently to meet the subscribers’ changing demands.

No wonder the telecom hub is rapidly becoming a preferred model for operators.

However, a telecom hub can function seamlessly when there is trust among the different operators and local service providers. That’s possible only through improved security and concerted efforts to prevent revenue leakage.

Let’s see how the telecom hub can achieve these goals.

How Can Telecom Hubs Prevent Revenue Leakage And Build Trust?

According to the Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA) study, around 1.74% of global frauds were telecom frauds.

Some of the common frauds that occurred in the industry included traffic pumping schemes, vishing calls, Wangari, International Revenue Sharing Fraud (IRSF), and call forwarding fraud. However, one of the leading factors for revenue leakage is the Application to Person (A2P) SMS. Companies send SMS to subscribers across the world to promote their offerings. However, a study by Mobilesquared revealed that out of the 2 trillion SMS sent by 2024, around one-quarter of them would be sent via grey routes. If this occurs, the telecom industry will be staring at a cumulative revenue loss of $37.1 billion.

Grey routes are not legal as direct routes and this has implications in the telecom hubs discussion too. In direct routes, the telecom hubs have conversion platforms. The operators have complete transparency on SMS delivery. However, when an SMS passes through a grey route, the operator and the company that sent the SMS lose track of it. The message passes through legal and illegal routes exposing the SMS to security risks. That apart, the operators also lose on the critical interconnect fees. Eventually, the SMS sent is delivered late or not delivered at all, this hurting the cause of the business that sent the messages in the first place. Also, given that grey routes fail to obey the rules and regulations between operators, there is a risk of trust deterioration with the telecom operator too.

Mobile operators earn a significant chunk of their revenue from SMS. Hence, plugging this revenue leakage is critical.

The perfect antidote to grey route messaging is SMS firewall.

An SMS firewall helps telecom operators prevent fraudulent SMS activities. It can be beneficial for various purposes.

It ensures that the subscribers do not receive any fake, spoofed, or spam messages and protects them from security breaches.

It closely monitors every SMS to check its source address, destination address, and the route that’s used to deliver the message. It ensures that there is no A2P bypass, global title bypass, or any other illegal bypass.

The firewalls can also be customized for different partners in the hub. Operators can customize the firewall rule for specific partners, income traffic sources, and sender IDs.

Most importantly, it ensures that every SMS terminating at the operator’s network is charged correctly. It helps the operators plug the revenue leakage and maximize their profits by identifying untapped sources of revenue.

SMS firewall has become so important that it is expected to grow into a $3 billion market by 2025.

Conclusion

The telecom industry is critical for a country’s economic progress. Sadly, as the telecom industry progresses, the incidents of fraud will also increase. Hence, the onus lies upon the telecom hub to establish strict measures to prevent revenue leakages. Fraudulent messages will break the subscribers’ trust and damage the operators’ reputations in the telecom hub. As the number of A2P SMS increases over the next few years, telecom operators will have to take the lead and work in collaboration to monetize it. To combat such telecom risks, the telecom operators must work with a trusted telecom solution provider who has the right capabilities, expertise, and technologies to prevent losses.

Globe Teleservices is at the forefront in providing revenue enhancement solutions to telecom operators. Our SMS firewall is an intelligent system that’s built on AI and ML. It checks for unwanted content such as fake or spoofed messages, spam, etc., and filters it. The firewall also identifies and blocks the grey routes to ensure that the SMS traffic is directed through the legal routes and the operators receive the agreed fees. As telecom operators examine solutions like telecom hubs, it’s only apt that they focus on well-rounded solutions that provide utility, functionality, and security for everyone in the ecosystem.

According to Statista, the application-to-person (A2P) market is poised to reach the heights of $45.93 billion this year. But that may just be the beginning. There’s no doubt that enterprises across different industries such as banking, healthcare, and travel are increasingly using A2P SMS to communicate with their customers. With that push, it’s no wonder that some reports suggest the A2P SMS market will grow to $64.24 billion by 2028.

A2P SMS is an ideal method for enterprises to connect with their customers. However, mobile network operators (MNO) face several challenges with SMS delivery and monetization.

These challenges could include – grey routing, unregulated networks, messages getting lost or delayed in the route, revenue leakage, an inability to terminate the SMS at the endpoint, and inability to block inappropriate content.

The operators have to take proactive measures to address these challenges and ensure timely delivery of A2P SMS.

How To Ensure A2P SMS Delivery?

1. Reliable routing

An enterprise pays for the number of messages they send and not for the number of messages received by their customers. Hence, operators have to ensure that the SMS is delivered to the right person at the right time. Often, the operators have no control over the routes. Service providers may use grey routes to deliver the SMS. Grey routes are unauthorized networks. It only results in revenue loss for operators, but it also exposes the end-customer to spam messages and potential security risks. The only way to address this issue is by ensuring that the SMS travels through a reliable and authorized network. Operators can either re-route the SMS over tested routes or do proactive route testing to identify suspect routes and curtail them. Alternately, operators can also opt for direct routing. In direct routing, the operator can set up a direct connection with operators in other countries. This will help them send a large volume of messages to customers of that country on time and protect them from malware and other security issues.

2. Monitoring and filtering content

In most countries, messages are subject to the oversight of the Government. The operators are expected to be stringent with compliance and filter or block suspicious messages. In other countries, operators are expected to monitor and block content to safeguard the customers from fake, fraudulent, and potentially dangerous content. Operators must have an active mechanism to blacklist and filter such content and ensure that customers are not bombarded with inappropriate or potentially illegal messages. Countries like India have already started taking initiatives to scrub and standardize SMS content and send it in a specific template to protect customers from spam. Monitoring and filtering content proactively will help operators safeguard the enterprise’s reputation and improve SMS delivery.

3. SMS termination

Typically, SMS termination means that the A2P SMS has been successfully delivered to the customer. Mobile operators must know about every message terminating on their network. However, in most cases, operators lose revenue due to illegal A2P routes. Sometimes hackers get access to the network and flood it with irrelevant messages without paying appropriate fees. That’s why it’s important to have a direct termination agreement with operators across different countries. This will enable the local operators to terminate messages on their network and ensure effective SMS delivery. However, ensure that these operators are reliable and will deliver the SMS safely. Reliability and trust are the foundation of the relationship between the mobile operators to function smoothly.

4. SMS firewall

SMS firewall protects the mobile networks from frauds and vulnerabilities. The messages are routed through the firewall to ensure that they are not fraudulent or suspicious in nature. The firewall automatically blocks the messages that are not compliant and protects customers from receiving them. It saves the operators’ reputation and overhead costs and also ensures safe SMS delivery to customers.

Conclusion

Some challenges, such as the recent TRAI regulation, may not be within the operator’s control. Over 600 million messages did not reach the customers because it required operators to register their entity, SMS header, and content template, leading to several technical glitches. However, solutions such as reliable routing, content scrubbing, firewall solutions, etc., are within the operator’s control. They can use these solutions to deliver A2P messages on time. It will help in building trust with enterprises. To ensure smooth delivery of A2P SMS, operators must partner with a telecom solution provider with the right expertise and experience in SMS delivery.

Globe Teleservices provides mobile network operators with powerful solutions for enabling high-quality A2P SMS delivery. We offer API connect for A2P messages, direct interconnection with more than 100+ carriers, and leading operators and direct SMS termination in 35+ countries globally. Operators can also leverage our high-quality direct routes to send A2P messages to end customers and prevent further revenue leakage.

Telecommunication networks have become an integral part of major national operations. Apart from the evergreen popularity of Voice and Messaging, we now have a new national obsession; data! As of 2021, about 60% of the world’s population (4.66 billion) actively uses the internet. Of course, the criticality of the telecom network and the high disruptive potential raises the stakes. There is a risk of potential misuse or disruption and that can be a major threat to the national security of any country. So, it won’t be an understatement to say that telecom networks now hold utmost importance in national security.

In light of such fears, many nations have implemented changes with immediate effect to ensure network safety. For example, many countries (including India) have imposed a ban on the use of China-manufactured products and applications. The National Security Directive on Telecommunication Sector (NSDTS) of the Indian government has also banned the use of any unauthorized telecom networks. But the nature of security threats continues to evolve and so must the security stance.

One key element of the security stance is the growing focus on country gateways. Think, for instance, what would happen if a rogue actor created malware that flooded the data network of a major telecom carrier in an emerging country? Genuine users would face problems with using their data networks, business operations that relied on the internet would grind to a halt, and critical functions like remote education and telemedicine would get crippled. This could prove devastating. That apart, there are deep-rooted challenges to address. For instance, SS7 and Diameter signaling protocols in telecommunication can pose a potential threat to the banking system if hacked. Countries across the globe are therefore looking at building a secured country gateway for telecommunication networks.

In this article, we will discuss why a country gateway is crucial to ensure cybersecurity in the country. We will also highlight the key features offered by country gateways to support the argument. But before getting into the details, let’s understand what a country gateway is.

What is a country gateway?

A country gateway acts as a robust barrier that enables secured networking for data transmission across countries. It establishes a set of administrative procedures which are mutually accepted by interacting networks. In telecommunications, the country gateway regulates the incoming and outgoing data from one discrete network inside the boundary to those outside.

It serves as a checkpoint where all the data is screened for any malicious activity. This helps protect the data from potential breaches and cyber threats. It also avoids any unauthorized traffic in the network.

The country gateway usually follows more than one protocol to connect multiple networks. This provides multilayered protection against malware. These gateways are usually automated and are capable of decision-making, based on a defined set of rules. This advantage provides an edge to a country gateway over a conventional firewall.

How does a country gateway provide security?

A country gateway serves as an entry and exit point into a secured network. So, whenever data is received, it first goes through the gateway. The gateway ensures that the incoming information does not violate any of the nation’s security policies. If no issue or malware is detected, the country gateway then decides the routing path of these data packets. The gateway works for outgoing information or requests similarly. This way the country gateway acts as a firewall to avoid any unauthorized or unwanted actions.

A country gateway can either be hardware, software (cloud-based), or a combination of both. Of late, cloud-based gateways seem to be providing more flexibility with remote networks.

Why is a country gateway essential to security?

With advancements in technology, cybercriminals have also grown sophisticated. It has become difficult to differentiate genuine data from malware. As digitalization has spiked exponentially, the establishment of a secured country gateway has become essential to prevent malicious data from entering the safe system and crippling it. Let’s discuss the key features of a country gateway that makes it ideal for security:

1. Malware scan and control: Country gateways do not allow any viruses or malware to corrupt an operating network. The gateway scans all the data that passes through and matches it to existing or known malware. Some gateways also run the code of suspected malware in a controlled environment to see how it behaves; also known as sandboxing. This helps in detecting hidden threats. So, if any malware is detected, the gateway blocks it right away.
2. Decryption: Most of the internet traffic is now encrypted by HTTPS which makes it difficult to identify a threat. Many gateways can decrypt HTTPS to search for malware. After scanning, if the network is found safe, the gateway re-encrypts it and forwards it to the recipient. In addition, country gateways can also translate one data format to another. This helps in smooth networking without compromising the integrity of the information transferred.
3. URL filter: Although HTTPS is the standard protocol for most IT operations, still some of the networks support HTTP and FTP protocols. The country gateway scans all types of internet protocols and allows only the approved traffic to connect. These lists are maintained as a part of the national security policies. So, any network that is not in compliance with the approved list gets blocked by the gateway. Furthermore, the gateway can also block individual data packets within a network. This is called content filtering. The policies for content filtering are usually customized based on the requirements.
4. Data loss prevention (DLP): A secured country gateway also protects sensitive information such as confidential documents from flowing out of a network. This means that a gateway will not allow any intellectual property or data to leave a system without approval. This process is called exfiltration. For example, if an application requires documents to be uploaded, the data in those documents will be screened for confidential information. It will be approved only if it does not violate any of the security policies. This way DLP protects the crucial data against cybercrimes such as hacking.
5. Application control: This function enables the country gateway to control the applications used by any citizen. With the increasing popularity of social media apps, the risks involved are also growing sharply. The country gateway can therefore be used to regulate resources that an application can access.
6. Cross-layer function: The country gateway provides cross-layer services which aim to improve the CIA triad (confidentiality, integrity, and availability) of transmitted data. A cross-layer function also enables the country gateway to interoperate between all seven layers of data transmission, as proposed in the open systems interconnections (OSI) model. This makes the country gateway a one-stop solution for all security concerns.

How to choose a secured country gateway?

Choosing a country gateway is a crucial decision. As it deals with highly confidential data, it can compromise a nation’s economy if mishandled or leaked. The chosen country gateway should also provide high-risk management. It should be able to detect early threats such as state or non-state hacks and take immediate actions.

Although most gateways are customized based on the requirement, it is important to search for a flexible solution provider who understands the world of telecom, is an expert at the security aspects, and has a clear focus on new and emerging technologies like AI and ML.

Conclusion

Currently, digitalization and cyber threats are progressing hand-in-hand. Hence, it’s important to deploy country gateways to enhance security. The right gateway provides a nation robust security and a clear vision for the future. This helps the country gateway be ready to respond at speed with an automated call of action in case of any breach; today and tomorrow.

Globe Teleservices offers a comprehensive suite of solutions designed specifically to meet all the requirements of the global telecom industry. If you need any help with the gateways, you can reach out to us at www.globeteleservices.com.

Until a few years back, blockchain was only discussed in relation to payments…that too, primarily in the context of Bitcoin. To be fair, that’s how blockchain started. Over the years, the number of non-financial use-cases of bitcoin has been on an accelerated rise. Today, this technology is gaining traction in the telecom sector as technologies such as IoT and 5G start coming into this space.

Blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that enables information to be recorded in a shared database. This technology has been gaining traction owing to the rise of the digital economy and the promise of potentially transforming industries such as telecom and help them succeed in an environment of heightened competition using blockchain-powered applications.

Telecom in 2021 – how things stand

The way the telecom industry connects people has evolved but not changed considerably. Sure, SIM cards have become smaller and now we transmit audio, video, and text over the internet in different ways. Despite this, the core telephone logic based on SIM cards continues to be the same as when they were developed in 1991.

In all of this, what has undergone a complete transformation is the way we treat data.

The speed of transfer has increased phenomenally over the years. This trend will continue with the advent of 5G technology. With 5G comes the promise of low latency, higher volumes of data transfer, and a huge network of interconnected devices. This will also drive the accelerated proliferation of IoT devices and applications and allow us to achieve a variety of previously unimaginable use cases.

Whenever a new technology or capability emerges, the associated vertical sectors decide how, when, and where to leverage its capabilities. IoT technology use, for example, will become increasingly more talked about in the telecom sector as 5G networks mature. The hope is, new opportunities will emerge for operators to offer innovative products and services such as built-to-purpose consumer applications, wide-area IoT network solution, and IoT managed services.

It can be used for remote system monitoring and asset management, be a part of cloud migration strategies, or as an avenue to open up new revenue streams by providing edge computing infrastructure for over the top (OTT) service providers and application developers. CSP’s can use IoT to drive software-defined networking and network function visualization as well.

Both 5G and IoT see a lot of data moving across the network. And it is the capability to use this data appropriately and ingenuously that will help the telecom industry solve existing pain points and become future-ready.

Adapt Business Support Systems for the digital era

Telecom companies need to adapt their BSS for the digital era. They need to capably support the demanding and digitally native customer who wants a consistent and personalized experience delivered instantly. Of course, they must do so while considering all dimensions of the engagement lifecycle. Additionally, there is the challenge of addressing under-pressure traditional revenue sources, caused by the decline of voice services, data commoditization, and pressure from over-the-top (OTT) players.

To drive up profitability, telecom companies need to capably monetize all that 5G enables today and what it can tomorrow. Apart from connectivity to new applications and services, and to drive efficiencies such as Network slicing, private networks, partnerships, and IoT, BSS has to be more agile and secure.

Blockchain can help BSS become digital-era ready and help these internal systems become more collaborative and enable use cases that allow CSPs to eliminate intermediaries in inter-carrier settlements, prevent fraud during roaming and mobile number portability processes.

Fraud prevention

When there is IoT there is data. Unfortunately, where there is data, there is potential for fraud. Deloitte calculates the annual fraud costs for telcos at USD 40 billion.

Network security can be a challenge with the growing proliferation of IoT devices. With blockchain, every element in the IoT environment gets assigned with a unique identity that can be replicated across elements thereby making it harder to access by a third party.

Even if the network is compromised, blockchain manages to put in additional layer security that prevents attackers from using fraudulent ID within the system.

Drive compliance

Telecom operators have to enable technologies such as IoT and drive high connectivity. However, maintaining compliance with relevant laws and maintaining data and security regulations can be a challenge especially when there is a need for the international transfer of personal data.

CSP’s have to maintain compliance and can do so easily with a permissioned ledger system that the controlling party can leverage and place restrictions to prevent nodes from joining the network in certain locations. They can also use this ledger to ensure that the appropriate measures are in place with participants outside the region to ensure compliance

Overcome viability issues of IoT with Blockchain

Blockchain also makes IoT more viable and secure. Using blockchain, CSPs can provide highly secure peer-to-peer self-managed mesh networks employing a large number of nodes. Each of these nodes can be represented by single embedded IoT sensors and can verify every block within the blockchain.

Initially, they can create private networks with relatively low investment and then set up public networks once these are established thereby driving seamless connectivity and security. This is an essential consideration point especially with the growing interest in smart cities that run on IoT devices.

Improve digital asset transactions

CSP’s can use blockchain to implement micropayment-based business models for digital assets such as gift cards, loyalty points, purchase of music, mobile games, OTT, etc. This can drive revenues for CSPs by helping them enable the user and drive monetary transfer services, help them lower transaction costs, and also increase the speed of processing as compared to cash or debit/credit cards or cheques.

Enable smart contracting

CSP’s can capably automate their internal processes using blockchain and make processes such as billing, roaming, and supply chain management more streamlined, transparent, efficient, and error-free. Blockchain can automate the contracting process and eliminate the need for present transactions to undergo a clearinghouse to get approved.

Smart contracts enabled by blockchain guarantee the settlement between the participants and increases transparency to the end customer by routing the settlement from one operator’s Blockchain to another operator.

So, for example, when a subscriber on roaming dials out of the phone network this entire transaction (from the time the call connects up to its end) gets logged and saved on the blockchain network. The smart contract rule defines the charges and accordingly registers the payment. The complete transparency of this process ensures transaction integrity.

Our verdict is that IoT and blockchain will influence the telecom sector considerably. With leading telecom providers such as AT&T, Airtel, Deutsche Telecom, and more exploring blockchain and the maturing of IoT, we can expect faster adoption and deployment of blockchain to bring in the future of telecom. Is your telecom enterprise ready for blockchain?