Category: Telecom

Top Challenges Faced by MNOs When Adopting A2P Messaging

The mobile network operator (MNO) landscape is rapidly evolving, driven by declining profit margins in the retail business. This has caused them to explore new revenue opportunities such as the rising use of A2P (Application-to-Person) messaging for customer communication.

This blog explores the current market situation, the rise of A2P messaging due to increasing mobile penetration and the challenges faced by operators when monetizing this opportunity.

A2P Market – The Current Trajectory

This growth is driven by the widespread penetration of mobile devices globally and the increasing demand for secure, instantaneous communication channels. According to Statista, the global A2P market is projected to reach a revenue of USD 77.76 billion by 2027.

Several key factors fuel this market growth. First, the rising number of smartphone users is transforming how businesses engage with their subscribers. A2P messaging enables businesses to send quick, direct messages, such as reminders, deals, and purchase updates, straight to consumers.

Additionally, the proliferation of wearable technology keeps end-users constantly connected to their mobile devices, frequently checking texts and calls. This connectivity has prompted businesses to actively use text messages for customer communications.

Key Trends Influencing the Enterprise A2P SMS Market
  • Rising Demand for Customer Engagement Solutions

Enterprises are leveraging A2P SMS to enhance customer engagement, using personalized and timely messages to build stronger relationships, drive brand loyalty, and improve customer satisfaction.

  • Adoption of Rich Communication Services (RCS)

RCS is an advanced messaging protocol offering interactive media, branding elements, and enhanced security. It provides richer communication channels, making it an attractive option for enterprises looking to engage customers more effectively.

As per Juniper Research, about 50% of mobile users will be RCS capable by this year.

  • Integration with Chatbots and AI Technologies

The integration of A2P SMS with chatbots and AI is gaining traction, enabling automated and intelligent responses to customer queries. This advancement significantly improves the efficiency and effectiveness of customer support services.

  • Focus on Transactional Messaging

Text messages are used for transactional messaging, such as account notifications, payment confirmations, and delivery updates. Its reliability and immediacy make it ideal for delivering critical information to customers.

  • Growth in Mobile Payments and Banking

The expansion of mobile payments and banking services has fuelled its demand in the financial sector. It is widely used for transactional messaging, including account notifications, OTP (one-time password) delivery, and fraud alerts.

Challenges Faced by MNOs While Monetizing A2P Revenues
1. Protecting the SMS Channel
  • Vulnerability to Fraud

While SMS is a trusted communication channel, it is susceptible to fraudulent activity. MNOs must implement measures to prevent revenue leakage from messages routed through gray routes and protect end customers from phishing attacks.

  • Ensuring Secure End-to-End Delivery

MNOs must safeguard their network and customers for secure end-to-end message delivery. This involves implementing strong firewalls and monitoring systems to preserve the trust established over the years.

2. Growing Threat from OTT Players
  • Competition from OTT Messaging Apps

OTT players like Meta have seized a significant share of the market. MNOs face the risk of losing A2P messaging revenues as these players offer enriched messaging experiences, allowing enterprises to reach their consumers directly.

Conclusion

A2P messaging presents a significant revenue opportunity for MNOs amid declining retail profit margins. However, successful monetization requires addressing key challenges, including securing the SMS channel, countering OTT competition, and educating internal stakeholders.

MNOs must adopt secure A2P messaging services to minimize revenue leakages and transition towards richer communication formats. With the right strategies and technologies, A2P messaging can become a cornerstone of MNOs’ revenue growth and customer engagement efforts.

As an MNO be in total control of your A2P business with secure A2P messaging services from Globe Teleservices, to minimize revenue leakages, helping you make the perfect shift towards richer communication formats.

Customer Communication Trends in the Evolving Telecom Industry

The telecom industry is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by the need to place customers at the center of its strategies. With advancements in digital innovation, telecom companies are focusing on offering experiences with human-centric interactions. This evolution is reshaping the customer experience, providing new opportunities for businesses to enhance their services and grow.

The Importance of Customer Experience in Telecom

Customer experience is critical for all, be it enterprises or operators in the telecom industry, which faces high competition and customer volatility. Technological evolution means services quickly become obsolete, leading customers to switch brands frequently. Ensuring a superior customer experience is essential to retain customers and stay competitive.

Here are the latest customer communication trends and what they mean for your future communication strategies.

  1. Digital Channels: The Backbone of B2B Communication

Customers increasingly prefer digital channels for communication, seeking quick and accurate responses without waiting on hold. Businesses using digital channels, such as voice, SMS, and chat apps, are ahead in providing efficient customer service. Rich Communications Services (RCS) is enhancing business-to-consumer (B2C) communication strategies, leading to more engaging and conversational experiences. As per Juniper’s findings, the active RCS user base is anticipated to hit 1.1 billion by 2024.

  1. Personalization: The Key to Customer Loyalty

Personalizing customer experiences is a powerful strategy for building loyalty. Telecom companies are developing customized service offerings, utilizing customer data analytics for targeted communication and mapping customer journeys to identify personalization opportunities. Tailored offers, relevant updates, and personalized marketing messages demonstrate an understanding of unique customer needs, fostering loyalty.

  1. Next-Gen Technology: Enhancing Interactions

Incorporating advanced technologies can significantly improve customer interactions and satisfaction:

  • Advanced CRM Systems:

Manage customer data and interactions effectively.

Ensure a seamless experience across various digital channels, including websites, mobile apps, and social media.

  • Data Analytics:

Understand customer behaviors and preferences to tailor communications.

  1. A2P SMS: A Pillar for Effective Communication

Despite the rise of rich media channels, SMS remains crucial in communication strategies. The worldwide A2P SMS market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.9%, reaching USD 96.9 billion by 2032. Rich media messaging (MMS and RCS) allows businesses to send more engaging messages, while omnichannel messaging strategies and AI enhance the effectiveness of A2P messaging campaigns by personalizing messages, segmenting audiences, and anticipating customer behavior.

  1. Conversational Channels – The Key to Engaging Interactions

Adding the right digital channels to your communication mix is essential for delivering conversational customer experiences. Voice, SMS, and chat apps are top channels for B2C communication. RCS is paving the way for future strategies, meeting the rising demand for conversational experiences. This has become crucial for enterprises planning to develop their omnichannel strategies, creating hybrid digital-physical experiences.

Conclusion

To perfect your communication strategy, assess current strategies to identify gaps and fill them effectively. Automating AI chatbots and adding flexible channels, like WhatsApp, can improve customer engagement. A cloud contact center can manage conversations across various channels, ensuring access to conversation history and efficient responses.

Customer communication in the telecom industry is evolving rapidly, driven by digital innovation and the need for human-centric interactions. By focusing on digital channels, personalization, next-gen technology, A2P SMS, and conversational channels, telecom companies can enhance customer engagement and stay competitive.

Enable innovations with Globe Teleservices to ensure your customer engagement goes from good to great. Perfect your omnichannel communication strategy today with our next-gen telecom solutions.

Harnessing the Power of A2P Messaging to Revolutionize Business Communication

In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses must constantly adapt to stay ahead. One of the most transformative tools in recent years has been A2P (Application-to-Person) messaging. This has revolutionized how businesses communicate with customers, driving engagement and streamlining operations. A2P has become crucial for all enterprises and MNOs. This has driven market growth, with projections reaching a CAGR of 3.9%, reaching an estimated value of USD 96.9 billion by 2032.

What is A2P Messaging?

A2P SMS allows companies to send messages from an application or software directly to a mobile user. With a high open rate of 98% in comparison to emails which is 20%, making it a critical tool for businesses of all sizes. It enables seamless communication between businesses and their target audiences through automated, application-driven messages. Rich Communication Services (RCS) and its multimedia capabilities have further led to personalization, further enhancing engagement.

Check out what experts have to say about the use of RCS for business communications.

(Youtube video link: RCS and Conversational Commerce | MEF India 2024 )

Common Applications for A2P Messaging

It is a versatile platform, supporting various interactions such as appointment reminders, transaction notifications, verification from e-commerce platforms, etc. These include customer service bots, providing customized and relevant content automatically, enhancing customer experience and loyalty.

How Does A2P Messaging Work?

It operates by sending messages optimized for mobile display through specialized gateways that work with mobile carriers. These gateways ensure secure delivery to the recipient’s devices, presenting the text messages in familiar formats. Optional automated responses can further improve engagement. Real-time reporting allows the sender to track progress as needed.

9 Ways to Leverage A2P Messaging for Business Growth
  • Two-factor Authentication (2FA): Send one-time passwords to strengthen account security and prevent unauthorized access.
  • Appointment Reminders: Reduce no-shows with allow easy rescheduling to improve service efficiency.
  • Billing Updates: Notify customers of upcoming dues or changes, creating a smoother billing experience.
  • Purchase Notifications: Provide instant confirmations of online purchases, including event details for tickets complete with links.
  • Reservation reminder: Ensure timely arrival or cancellation for reservations at hotels or restaurants.
  • Shipping Notifications: Keep customers informed about package delivery statuses.
  • Unusual Activity Alerts: Automatically alert customers to potential security threats or best practices, fostering trust and safety.
  • Marketing Notifications: Keep your customers informed about ongoing promotions, sales and special offers, boosting sales.
  • Customer Feedback & Complaints: Collect real-time customer feedback through automated surveys and response prompts to enhance service quality.

A2P messaging is one of the most effective ways to reach your customers, regardless of the services you offer. By leveraging Globe Teleservices’ A2P messaging platform, you can launch secure and impactful marketing campaigns, ensuring enhanced reach and minimal disruptions. Embrace to improve customer service, increase efficiency, and achieve greater ROI in your business operations.

5 Ways CPaaS is Boosting Customer Relations for Enterprises

Excellent customer relationships are the most-used not-so-secret weapon for successful businesses. In this digital age, companies are building excellent customer relationships through  strategic and well-planned methods for personalized communication.  However, this is a time of omnichannel customer contact. The scope for communication extends across telephonic, SMS, Internet-based IM communications, emails, campaigns, and many more mediums. That makes the task of personalized communications a bit more complex.

In the past, businesses had to build their own communications infrastructure to support such initiatives. But fast forward to today, when they have a unified solution available at their disposal via the cloud. We are talking about Communications Platform as a Service or CPaaS.

What is CPaaS?

In simple terms, CPaaS is a cloud-based umbrella solution that facilitates real-time communication through channels like SMS, Voice, Email, Chatbot, etc. The framework leverages APIs through which enterprises can integrate the desired communication channels into their digital applications effortlessly.

For example, if you run an eCommerce business, then all your customer communications can be easily handled through a single CPaaS platform. Different departments like marketing, sales, dispatch, delivery, etc. can initiate the desired notification messages through the solution. It can be configured according to every specific need.

5 ways in which CPaaS is helping enterprises today

Gartner predicts that by 2025, nearly 95% of global enterprises will leverage CPaaS to improve their business communications. This is because CPaaS has the potential to offer some truly exhilarating benefits for businesses that utilize them.

Let us explore the top 5:

Facilitate real-time communications

The major advantage of CPaaS is that it facilitates real-time communication between customers and the business. Traditionally, this was possible only with person-to-person interactions that happened in stores or via telephonic conversations. With CPaaS, there is a huge opportunity for businesses to build autonomous personal communication channels in real-time. They can use SMS, automated voice calls, WhatsApp, or Chatbots to deeply engage with their customers at any time.

The conversations can be triggered in real-time by any desired trigger event. For example, when a shopped product is shipped from the warehouse or when a delivery agent picks up the food ordered via a food delivery app and so on. Every communication sent out can be personalized with permitted data from customers to build a very engaging communication experience.

Empower marketing

With CPaaS, businesses can equip their marketing teams with a direct communication channel with several engagement options. Rich text or media like videos and images can be shared with customers through integrated WhatsApp and other social media messaging applications.

They can also use the CPaaS solution to segregate target customer populations into buckets for more effective targeting through campaigns. Platforms like CPaaS+ from GTS offer even more attractive features like tracking campaigns, analytics on the performance of campaigns, etc. Such solutions can provide real-time visibility into several crucial aspects thereby helping marketers fine-tune their approaches easily and more effectively.

Enhance security

As businesses compete to win customers through best-in-class apps, there are often security concerns that they run into like fraudulent access, impersonations, etc. With CPaaS, enterprises can add additional layers of security to their digital communication approaches. They can use it to deploy authentication mechanisms via SMS OTPs or automated flash call verification, etc.

An additional feature that enterprises can leverage is the ability to offer masked number communications to customers. This helps in protecting against the misuse of the customer’s data.

24*7 availability for support operations

CPaaS solutions don’t just help by enabling communication channels. They can also allow enterprises to automate the operation of such channels. We have already seen how applications like food delivery apps and eCommerce can use CPaaS for real-time notifications. On a different note, the same capability can help set up 24*7 support operations for customers.

This is extremely important when you want to expand your digital business globally as support operations need to be run 24*7. Customer queries can be answered with AI-enabled response systems integrated into your content generation workflows for SMS, Chatbots, etc.

Cost-effective

Irrespective of the business size, having a reliable communication experience with customers is critical for growth. But for smaller businesses, investing in massive communication infrastructure will be a very tough proposition. With CPaaS, this challenge is easily resolved. The solution provides two major capabilities. One is the ability to offer subscription-based pricing since it is a SaaS platform running on the cloud. The second benefit is the modular flexibility it offers for adding communication channels on demand.

Enterprises can use CPaaS as a plug-and-play solution wherein they can add communication channels one after the other depending on the business growth. They can add the desired engagement functionality on specific apps or digital services as per demand. The modular flexibility results in them paying only for what’s needed at that point of time in their business growth journey.

One-stop communication is a competitive advantage

CPaaS is an extremely powerful tool for today’s businesses to revolutionize their customer communication experiences. Building a sustainable competitive edge requires businesses to be able to be closer to their customers, nurturing their interests and engaging them constantly. With CPaaS, all this becomes possible out of a single one-stop solution.

However, making the right call in selecting the CPaaS solution is also equally important. This is where GTS can help make a difference. Our CPaaS + platform is equipped with advanced features that go beyond the traditional capabilities of CPaaS solutions. Get in touch with us for a quick demo and decide for yourself.

Customer Experience Trends For 2024 – Telecom Edition

The role of customer experience in telecom is being radically transformed in the wake of increased digitization. As 5G networks, better infrastructure, and newer markets emerge, the telecom sector is at the cusp of a customer experience transformation. It’s also true that in many ways, the telecom industry has the potential to impact the way other sectors build their customer experience. In fact, recent studies show that nearly 76% of customers still prefer a telephone conversation with customer support. This statistic itself highlights the important role a telecom services provider has in the customer experience lifecycle across sectors.  Clearly, knowing the market pulse is important for improving customer experience in telecom.

Communication is a key driver of customer experience. Hence, a telecom services provider must know what customers expect in every kind of interaction to deliver great experiences not just within their business, but also to support other sectors to offer the same to their customers.

Let us explore the top trends relating to customer experience in telecom for 2024:

1. Hassle-free onboarding

The digital economy is rising globally. People are shifting more of their common activities into digital mode. The changed behaviors that persist even after that pandemic is behind us have accelerated the trend as well. From banking to shopping, education, and entertainment, customers are demanding hassle-free digital experiences.  This is not only a benchmark for any telecom services provider but also a key promise they need to enable for their enterprise customers.

They need to ensure that customers get a hassle-free no-nonsense onboarding experience into their network. Authenticating credentials shouldn’t be a problem. From auto parsing of OTPs to flash calls, there are a host of solutions that telecom providers must deploy to improve the onboarding experience.

Furthermore, they can also act as a gateway agent for other businesses to build similar experiences. For example, authenticating a user’s credentials via OTPs or flash calls can be a standard option for an OTT app or a social media app. Telecom players can be the bridge of trust serving both the customer and the business that wants to engage with them. With platforms like Authentrica, this can be easily achieved.

2. Learning about the customer

Most businesses believe that knowing the customers enables better service delivery. In 2024, businesses will need to deploy more innovative means to capture data from customers and learn from it. In the past surveys about customer experience were the de-facto medium for businesses to gain insights. However, studies say that a typical survey considers less than 7% of a business’s actual customer base for generating insights. The need to go beyond surveys is evident here. This is where a telecom services provider can make a difference.

Telecom providers can capture the preferences or consent of customers for all sorts of communications that happen over the network. That could be permissions for SMS campaigns, WhatsApp communications, emails, etc. It could be to create powerful Customer Data Platforms or first-party data gathered with customer consent. Telecom companies and their customers can leverage platforms like Consentica to manage user consent effectively. Using this information, they can help build better customer experiences based on ethically gathered customer data.

3. Protect personal data

Building trust is a key factor that influences customer experience. As we move deeper into the digital economy, customers are also becoming more aware of the threats that lurk out there. Many of these threats can be addressed if adequate protection is offered for sensitive data. Hence great customer experience demands a more strategic and focused approach towards integrating security features for personal data.

Telecom companies too must follow this trend. However, they have the additional opportunity to become a second layer of protection for customers. As explained earlier, telecom companies can build a layer of trust by collecting consent info from their customers. By building powerful encryption and network protection frameworks, they can ensure that personal data is never compromised by services running on networks. With tools like TxtChain, they can help trace telemarking activity with strict control on how user data is leveraged by 3rd party services. Firewall solutions can be deployed to ensure vulnerable entry points are discovered and neutralized before any incidents happen.

4. Preparing for an exciting journey

2024 will witness further expansion of the digital landscape in almost every sector. Telecom companies have the opportunity to not just improve the customer experience they provide but also drive industry standards across sectors.  They can become the supporting framework for other sectors to push their customer experience initiatives forward at an accelerated pace. However, to do so telecom companies need to have the right technology required to build a powerful service economy on top of their network infrastructure. From security to monetization of assets through expansive partner services, telecom companies have a real potential to transform from their traditional roles. GTS is the perfect partner to ensure success on this path. Get in touch with us to know more.

The One “Platform” To Help You Transform Customer Experience

The one factor that distinguishes great companies from mediocre ones is personalization.

Great companies personalize experiences and go beyond transactional relationships to engage with customers and build long-lasting bonds with them.

So, what’s stopping other companies from delivering these elevated experiences?

According to Statista, 80% of companies acknowledge the impact of personalization on customer spending. 62% admit that it has improved loyalty and retention.

Yet, due to fragmented data from disparate sources, most companies are unable to customize.

It’s apparent that companies need a comprehensive view of their audience to understand their needs and tailor interactions.

However, the increasing touchpoints make it hard for them to gather, analyze, and act on the data.

That’s where the Customer Data Platform (CDP) comes to the rescue.

What Is A Customer Data Platform?

A Customer Data Platform (CDP) is a software solution that collects and organizes data from different sources to build a single customer profile. It collects the customer’s identity, lifestyle, as well as behavioral and aspirational data from sources like CRM, social media, websites, and PoS systems. This detailed data enables companies to create comprehensive customer profiles, individualize experiences, predict trends, and accelerate decision-making. It’s called a platform because it serves as a unifying frame for the entire range of applications and solutions that need to access customer data to drive action.

Why Use CDPs?

A CDP can deliver multiple benefits:

  • Unifies data

CDPs use SDKs and APIs to pull data from disparate sources into a single platform. It creates a customer profile containing Personable Identifiable Information (PII) such as the customer’s name, address, email ID, etc. The unified customer profile can be used by marketing, sales, product management, and customer support teams to improve customer experience.

  • Improves personalization

Besides PII, CDPs also capture extra insights like browsing history, website visits, and social media activity. This valuable information enables the sales and marketing teams to understand preferences and buying patterns. It empowers them to customize product recommendations and create targeted marketing campaigns to increase engagement. More importantly, the support team can leverage this data to tailor customer interactions. A cohesive, hyper-personalized approach can help companies boost customer retention, repeat purchases, and reduce churn.

  • Makes compliance easier

Companies must adhere to regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to build customer trust and avoid legal hassles. The centralized platforms of CDPs can help companies collect and manage all the data in a single location. It will also protect the PII details and audit them regularly. By storing all information in one place, a company can easily grant access to customers to view it upon request. This will help companies improve transparency, protect customers’ privacy, and maintain compliance.

  • Supports data-driven decision-making

In a fast-paced business landscape, companies have to make quick business decisions. For that, they need access to real-time data. CDPs can gather real-time information from different sources and provide timely insights on customer behavior and market demands. Such rich information can help decision-makers forecast trends and behaviors accurately and devise strategies to meet them. CDPs are truly useful in improving decision-making and aiding innovation. It enables companies to accelerate go-to-market strategy and gain a competitive advantage.

How Telecom Operators Can Benefit From CDPs

A telecom operator receives customer first-party data, including PII details, customer usage patterns, travel habits, device preferences, and billing information.

If used correctly, all this information can help improve personalization.

According to McKinsey, telecom operators can boost revenue by 10% and customer engagement by 20-30% through data-driven personalization.

However, only 5% of them are harnessing data to personalize experiences.

That’s why CDPs are so vital for telecom operators. They can gather data about the customer into a unified platform and use it for the following purposes:

  • Personalize subscription plans and offers

Telecom operators can use CDPs to analyze usage patterns and recommend relevant subscription plans. For example, they can suggest unique roaming plans for frequent travelers or internet plans for remote professionals. This will help them deviate from the usual one-size-fits-all offerings and improve retention.

  • Upsell and cross-sell plans

CDPs offer a complete view of usage patterns, allowing operators to cross-sell or upsell relevant packages. For instance, they recommend location-specific data and voice call plans to frequent travelers and higher data plans to streaming users. This helps operators increase sales and drive revenue.

  • Reduce churn and retain customers

With the help of CDPs, operators can categorize users based on their activity and engagement levels and launch targeted campaigns. For instance, they can send renewal notifications to expiring subscriptions and display attractive data and voice packages to new customers. These individualized campaigns can reduce churn and increase retention.

  • Improve compliance

There’s a thin line between personalization and privacy violation. Telecom operators should be careful not to cross that fine line. A data breach or privacy violation could lead to irreparable damages to the operator’s reputation and revenue loss. CDPs can help operators adhere to compliance rules like GDPR. By breaking down silos, it unifies information, improving transparency and efficiency in data management. It can help operators establish data governance standards, improve access control, and track suspicious activities. It acts as a single source of truth and provides more visibility on how data is stored, accessed, and handled. It makes monitoring and tracking efficient.

How Can Telecom Operators Enable Innovation With CDPs?

The telecom industry is evolving rapidly, making it increasingly complex for operators to differentiate themselves. It has become even more challenging for them, with the Millennials and Gen Z becoming the primary user base. They expect individualized experiences from their telecom operators.

Thus, companies need to devise unique initiatives to engage with them. For example, they could offer micro-finance for device purchases or do something as simple as streamlining the digital onboarding process.

CDPs help operators enable innovation #ei, offering valuable insights into customer behavior.

It’s an excellent technology to retain your users, earn more revenue, and grow.

To know more about how CDPs and other technologies can benefit your business, contact us.

 

Top 5 Ways in Which Modern Telecom Solutions Change Lives

Conversations around the evolution of telecommunications, wireless networks, internet services and more, usually revolve around communications and business applications. While the power of telecommunication has indelibly changed that space, it has also transformed other aspects with a far deeper and life-changing impact.

This blog explores how modern telecom solutions are changing lives.

Fostering socio-economic development

Modern telecom solutions have been instrumental in connecting individuals across urban and rural, and rich and poor segments. These solutions have delivered access to information, markets, and services, where its impact can be felt most significantly by the underserved sections of the society.

Telecommunication solutions have also influenced digital inclusion and equality by giving people from all walks of life access to essential digital technology. This has been instrumental in reducing socio-economic inequalities and fostering inclusive economic growth. Mobile phones have represented the first telecom infrastructure in many places and are proving crucial in driving connectivity.

It is through these solutions that people in the underserved areas delivered tangible economic benefits and improved access to information.

These solutions also create employment opportunities and influence economic outcomes. The mobile industry in the Sub-Saharan region, for example, has created approximately 2 million jobs for people directly and created employment for another 1.8 million people in the wider ecosystem in 2019.

Financial inclusion driven by digital payments and mobile money

The rise of digital payments and mobile money can be credited to the maturing of telecommunication networks and infrastructure. This growth has been further fueled by the expanding number of telecom solution providers, and pursuant innovation in this space.

Financial inclusion prompted by mobile money and digital payments has been a game changer for people. This is felt especially in areas where traditional banking services are inaccessible. Almost half of the world’s mobile money accounts come from the underserved Sub-Saharan region. This region also has more mobile money accounts than bank accounts.

The rise of digital payments and mobile wallets have driven financial inclusion in underserved areas and have made payments faster, simpler, and safer across the world. Innovations in the form of e-KYC have further driven financial inclusion by allowing those operating in this sector to acquire reliable and clear documentation.

Enable Small Business to Make a Big Impact

Modern telecom solutions are the cornerstone of the digital economy. Telecom solutions have helped small businesses remain agile, flexible, and responsive to constant change and market disruptions. These solutions have been instrumental in driving e-commerce and have helped many small entrepreneurs start small businesses from their homes.

These solutions improve connectivity and accessibility, allowing small businesses to expand their customer footprint. They also help them manage their customers, partners, distributors, and supplier ecosystem irrespective of their location.

Robust telecom solutions and internet services are driving cost savings and cutting travel expenses. They are delivering access to talent from low-cost geographies for small businesses using teleconferencing and remote work.

Effective telecom data management and real-time analysis provide valuable insights into markets, customers, and operations of a small business. SMS and social media messaging provide opportunities to engage personally with customers and improve customer experiences.

Telecom solutions have become instrumental in protecting revenues by ensuring greater security from grey routes and challenges like data theft, SIM phishing, and other threat actors.

Effective telecom solutions are helping small businesses enhance operations, creating opportunities to improve customer service, increasing efficiencies, and driving their growth and success.

Revolutionizing Healthcare Access and Delivery

Modern telecom solutions have been instrumental in making healthcare services more accessible and cost-effective, across rural and underserved areas. These segments of societies across different geographies can access medical services and healthcare professionals irrespective of geographical barriers.

Telemedicine, mHealth, remote health monitoring, etc. have enabled people to access quality healthcare, especially in places where it has been limited traditionally. The integration of telecom tech solutions in the healthcare ecosystem has improved medical diagnostics, enabled real-time collaboration amongst physicians and healthcare professionals, and enabled remote patient monitoring to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes.

Telecom solutions have been instrumental in enabling preventive medicine too. These have allowed healthcare professionals to provide personalized care plans and make timely data-driven adjustments. According to a study from the National Library of Medicine, telemedicine is as effective as in‐person visits for reducing 30‐day readmissions in patients with heart failure.

Improve education access

Mobile phones and the internet have been a key driving force in improving access to education and changing the lives of people. Telecom solutions in the education space are bringing classrooms online and improving knowledge access.  They are creating pipelines to help learners draw distant information, interact with experts, and engage with students worldwide.

Telecom solutions have ensured that students in underserved areas can access quality information that would otherwise be hard to acquire. These have been instrumental in improving inquiry-based and analytical skills and creating greater access to education.

Wireless connectivity allows learners to access educational content from anywhere and collaborate with their peers and teachers. It democratizes education by increasing learning opportunities and allowing economies to build educated workforces.

Modern telecom solutions have been instrumental in reshaping the world that we live in and have been creating more equity for those in poor, rural, and underserved areas. And technology plays a key role in helping telcos deliver the services that change lives.

For instance, telecom solution providers need to exert caution to prevent incidents like grey routes and ensure greater security of their networks. Small businesses demand greater assurance, low latency, and cost-effectiveness in international voice and messaging services.  Telecom solutions providers and CSPs deliver origin-based routing services for dynamic routing, as well as anti-fraud voice solutions for the best and most secure business communications. Real-time call monitoring and anti-fraud checks also become essential to drive seamless connectivity and secure networks for safer, smarter, and faster communications.

Telecom solutions are essential to spearhead the advancement of emerging economies worldwide. They improve communication access across the underserved sections of society and create opportunities. Underserved regions like Africa are now connected to the rest of the world more than ever before thanks to proliferating telecom networks. Today, telecom solutions have been instrumental in promoting health, education, agriculture, entertainment, business and tourism.

Also, more than 300+ hubs have emerged in the African tech startup ecosystem because of the telecom sector. These are creating more opportunities for economic advancement and social upliftment.

Changing the world isn’t easy but someone has to do it. As we can see, telecom services companies are trying to do just that, with a little help from technology!

 

The Evolution of Firewall: From Legacy Systems to Next-Gen Security

In an industry that prides itself on keeping the world connected digitally, the telecom sector is no stranger to security threats. With the highest number of global DDoS attacks, it has long relied on firewalls as a primary threat aversion mechanism.

Legacy firewalls have been a mainstay for a while

By filtering out suspicious traffic or rogue elements from within their global network through predefined rules, firewalls have safeguarded the telecom sector from several threats. 5G rollout is underway on a big scale globally. As the world prepares for a new dimension of digital complexity, traditional firewalls may not do the job for telecom players anymore.

The challenges of legacy firewalls

They are incapable of supporting modern network complexities. They could also fall short of being able to handle newer operating nuances like cross-protocol integration, security node-based signaling in the place of core network nodes, etc.

However, an even bigger threat lies in the inability of legacy firewalls to counter new-age cyber threats.

The digital world which is growing exponentially is also now one of the major avenues of fraudulent activities and exploitation. From the theft of sensitive customer data to impersonation or identity fraud, the breadth of the threat landscape is immense.

Cybercriminals are even deploying artificial intelligence-driven agents into the digital space to break safeguards and penetrate deeper into enterprise networks. Very often, the entry point they choose to attack is the gateway used by an enterprise to connect with the internet. Suspicious links embedded in SMS text messages can go past legacy firewalls and easily put users at risk.

That’s why traditional firewalls deployed by telecom operators must be equipped with the intelligence or knowledge needed to combat such threat agents.

The shift to new generation firewalls – Why now?

The need to strategically move into the next generation of firewall capabilities is critical given the industry’s role as a key pillar of digital transformation in all sectors. Additionally, here are some of the top reasons why telecom operators must embrace the next generation of firewall technologies to stay competitive:

Rise of cloud

Today, cloud services are used by almost every business irrespective of its size or domain. With the cloud, user authentication becomes a major step of the usage journey. Most businesses rely on traditional methods like SMS-based OTP authentication or call-based authentication to help end-users avail cloud services. However, legacy firewall technologies cannot distinguish between genuine authentication prompts sent by the business and fraudulent signals ingested into the network by criminals.

New age threats

Telecom fraud is a major threat that needs attention. Studies point out that in 2023, telecom fraud has risen by as much as 12%. This translates to billions of dollars in lost revenue.

Similar to SMS frauds, and authentication fraud via missed calls mentioned before, there are a number of diverse network-focused threats in play today. Through fraudulent routing, fraudsters may bypass legacy firewall protection and reach end users with communication scripted as a genuine business message. Other means like bulk malicious SMS traffic may cause legacy firewalls to be jammed and entry into the network automatically provisioned to prevent further congestion. Such threats pose significant risks to telecom operators, compromising network security and yielding negative outcomes.

Growth of IoT

With 5G technology taking off at scale, businesses will look forward to mobilizing their resources around promising technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT). Worldwide spending on IoT is expected to surpass the USD 1 Trillion mark by 2026.

A lot of machine integrations will happen in services traditionally offered by businesses. For example, scenarios like a smart fridge placing replenishment orders to the nearest grocery retailer or an e-commerce service autonomously can become a normal thing soon. There is a catch here. With machine communication over the internet becoming mainstream, it is extremely important to authenticate credentials of control data. Control data could be transmitted in the form of messages, calls, etc. Traditional legacy firewalls are not capable of handling such advanced authentication processes.

The promise of new-generation firewalls

As telecom companies gear up to spearhead digital innovation, they can certainly leverage highly intelligent firewalls like the GTS Armour firewall to guard their progress at all times. Such new-generation firewalls come with a host of features that are much needed in the emerging security and evolving landscape of telecom usage.

One of the striking benefits that telecom companies can leverage from modern firewall solutions is the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in firewall operations. From threat discovery to neutralization, AI-powered continuous analysis of network traffic by modern firewalls holds great promise. They equip telecom players with the much-needed confidence to partner with other businesses for their digital ambitions.

Platforms like the GTS Armour offer protection against high-end security threats like identity fraud. There is a combination of techniques that firewalls use. Some include robo-calling, interconnect fraud prevention guards, virtual machine fraud detection, etc. Such firewall solutions offer peace of mind for telecom players as they seek to expand their business partnership ecosystem. Through powerful contextual analysis such AI-powered firewall solutions can easily identify and block fraudulent or suspicious text messages way before they are delivered to end users.

Telecom companies are perceived as a foundational element of modern digital experiences. Securing their operations is of primal importance for telecom businesses. Investing in state-of-the-art firewall solutions like Armour helps telecom companies improve their trust credentials in the market with proven security. Get in touch with us to learn more about revamping firewall security in your telecom business with the GTS Armour firewall.

 

Top Five Frauds The Telecom Industry Has To Deal With – 2023 Edition

The telecom industry is innovating rapidly.

PWC reports that over 200 telecom companies had already launched 5G networks by the beginning of 2023. It further predicted that 50% of global telecom connections would be 5G by 2025. It is further expected to increase to 75% by 2027.

This year, the telecom industry has also ramped up the focus on AI and IoT and increased attention paid to cybersecurity.

While the constant focus is on improving connectivity and security, the telecom industry is also witnessing an increase in telecom fraud.

Telecoms are losing billions to frauds like Robocalls and SIM Box, impacting profits and customer trust.

Let’s look at these frauds that have kept the industry on edge and find out how they can tackle them.

Top Five Frauds That Telecom Industry Is Dealing With In 2023
  • Vishing scams

Vishing scams rose by 550% in 2022.

In vishing attacks, scammers use AI to clone voices to sound trustworthy. They use call ID spoofing to make the call look reliable. They call and impersonate a government agency representative or a relative and deceive the users into sharing personal details like credit cards and social security numbers. The scammers specifically target the elderly population as they are the most vulnerable group. According to the Cybercrime Support Network, 38% of the reports submitted to the FTC were by users aged 80+.

While users are expected to exercise while receiving voice calls, telecom companies must invest in technologies to prevent it. Technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) can help companies detect and prevent fraudulent activities in voice calls.

  • Impersonating SMS Frauds

Like impersonating calls, people are also falling prey to SMS impersonation. This is especially a concerning scam in the banking industry. According to a 2019 report, there has been a twentyfold increase in text fraud in the coming years, and the trends seem to bear that out. Here’s how it typically works. A user receives a text with a link from a fake bank number. When they click on the link, they receive a call from the alleged bank.

The caller asks for sensitive information. The user eventually loses money if they share sensitive information with the caller. SMS fraud through impersonation has led to a median loss of $3,000 last year.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has directed mobile operators to block robotexts and prevent scams. Mobile operators can use AI/ML or blockchain solutions to reduce fraud and safeguard customers from losing money.

  • SIM Box Frauds

In SIM Box Fraud, a SIM Box device routes international calls as local calls. This helps the fraudsters avoid paying the higher international call rates and earn profits. Since the calls get routed, telecom companies lose revenue from the international calls. Additionally, the routing leads to unprecedented traffic on mobile networks and poor customer service quality.

Telecom companies can solve this problem by monitoring network traffic for unusual activities and blocking or filtering calls that display patterns that are different from the usual. Companies must also develop new solutions that can help them detect and prevent fraud. They must also cooperate with law enforcement agencies and share regular information to thwart all routing fraud attempts.

  • International Revenue Share Fraud (IRSF)

IRSF fraud has been a threat for many years. However, reports suggest that it has significantly increased in the past decade. These scams involve scammers pumping traffic to premium-rate international numbers. It affects the revenue-sharing agreements and the bottom line of telecom operators globally.

Telecoms can use firewall solutions to identify and prevent fraud from local and international markets.

  • SMS Grey Routes

Like artificially inflated calls, scammers are also using grey or unauthorized routes to bypass internationally approved routes and deliver SMS to users. They avoid paying the termination fees to mobile network operators (MNOs), resulting in unnecessary losses.

Operators can combat this issue by implementing solutions like:
  • Monitoring traffic to identify and prevent grey route activities
  • Implementing SMS firewalls to block messages originating from grey routes
  • Collaborating with other MNOs to blacklist potential grey routes and take action against malicious actors

These combined efforts can help operators reduce losses and safeguard their integrity.

How Can the Telecom Industry Combat Frauds?

As frauds increase, 92% of carriers have started prioritizing them to protect customers and safeguard their reputations.

Some telecom companies have started using blockchain for subscriber authentication, detecting roaming fraud, and blocking stolen devices. A few others are using flash calls as a part of two-factor authentication to reduce dependency on One-time Passwords (OTP).

Technologies like AI/ML are helping telecom companies detect and prevent fraud in real-time.

As frauds become more sophisticated, telecom companies must replace reactive and traditional fraud detection systems with proactive ones.

They must invest in anti-fraud solutions that cover various aspects of telecom fraud.

At Globe Teleservices, we have built solutions that help enterprises and telecom operators prevent voice, SMS, and network traffic frauds, allowing them to preserve revenues and maintain customer experience.

To know more about these solutions that can help telecom companies prevent fraud, contact us.

 

How Can Telecom Companies Explore New Frontiers With Blockchain

The telecom industry is widely regarded as one of the key enablers of today’s digital economy. From connecting people to empowering consumer applications through a host of services, the industry plays a vital role in streamlining digital experiences. In fact, several businesses actively consider the health of telecom networks in different regions before prioritizing their digital service spending for that region.

However, the sector is not immune to challenges. Today more businesses and consumers are relying on the telecom sector to build the foundations of new digital experiences. Hence, it is imperative for industry leaders to find innovative and quick solutions for pressing concerns. The pain areas that need attention are fraud, network availability and performance, service experience, and cost efficiency.

As with any other sector, the telecom industry has increased its bets on emerging technology solutions like blockchain to eliminate these challenges and spearhead innovation. The ability of blockchain to hold data without being tampered provides immense opportunities for the telecom sector. From automation of billing to traceability of transactions, the potential outcomes are too good for major telecom players to ignore.

The emergence of blockchain

One of the most promising trends in this regard is the rising popularity of blockchain and its uses in telecom. Studies estimate that the market for blockchain in the telecom sector will surpass USD 14.8 billion by 2030.

Let us explore the top areas where blockchain technology promises to become a huge asset for telecom companies:

Data Security

It is estimated that nearly 9.7 million petabytes of data will be consumed over telecom networks globally by 2027. With so much traffic flowing through their infrastructure, telecom players need more strategic and fault-proof security measures to prevent risks from manifesting in the operations.

Blockchain can be a major influence in this area. Using blockchain’s inherent strengths in encryption and decentralized data management, telecom networks can build autonomous data-sharing funnels to enable secure data transmission.  Our very own TxtChain platform utilizes the immutability and decentralization capabilities of blockchain to secure data. Data from users, MNOs, and other entities cannot be tampered in any way without leaving a trace.

Prevent Identity Fraud

Studies have found that in 2021, the telecom sector lost USD 6.69 billion due to fraud. Fraud hurts the revenues of telecom companies by opening up unauthorized routes and parallel networks that “steal” traffic. These fraudulent practices and hackers operating in the telecom space also often trick innocent victims and gain access to their secure credentials like a business phone number. In other cases, subscription services to apps linked to their phone numbers may also be hacked.

The underlying root cause here is the ability of hackers to manipulate identities illegally. With blockchain, telecom companies can arrest the use of synthetic identities that were created with falsified credentials. Ownership of mobile numbers can be easily established when telecom providers leverage a tamper-proof decentralized ledger for storing user details corresponding to each number allotted in their spectrum. This is exactly what our TxtChain platform does by ensuring that mission-critical data is stored in immutable distributed blockchain ledgers.

By using a decentralized verification process, it becomes easier for consumers to protect their credentials. It can further streamline user authentication across a range of services that are dependent on a customer’s identity linked to their mobile number. This also enhances the onboarding and user authentication process by providing a more modern and seamless experience.

Device Identity Verification

We have seen how the identities of customers linked to their mobile numbers can be a source of vulnerability for hackers to exploit. Today, even devices used by customers are potential targets. And we are not just talking about mobile phones. From televisions to refrigerators and even curtain blinds, the number of devices connecting to the internet via telecom networks is exponentially higher than used to be the case.

Blockchain is a tool that telecom operators can use to bring an additional layer of security and transparency to device management. By storing authentication insights and credentials on the blockchain, it is easier to prevent forced attacks on the network without proper authentication by the actual device user. Also, usage patterns can be autonomously analyzed to see if credentials have been tampered with as all authentication happens via blockchain. As we move into the realms of 5G connectivity, such device management capabilities will help telecom players fuel the growth of IoT-enabled devices.

Stakeholder Registration and Consent Management

One of the most painstaking tasks telecom players must face is maintaining transparency in committed plans for customers. Depending on usage patterns, different customers may subscribe to various data or call plans and packages. However, complaints about plan misfits or erroneous billing are common from customers. Additionally, there are avenues where customers are often bombarded with commercial messages. These could be from services that they have not given their consent to contact. This is a serious issue as it impacts the trust and credibility of the provider.

With blockchain, it is easy to set up smart contracts that capture the right set of user preferences. Be it data privileges, call benefits, consent to promotional or commercial messages, usage terms, or roaming charges, every aspect of a user plan can be captured and recorded in a smart contract. It can be used for autonomously executing the billing and invoicing workflow of a customer. Unwanted commercial messages can be filtered out easily. Solution like our TxtChain collects consent info from customers and stores it on the blockchain. In the event of a commercial message being readied to be broadcasted, the system checks for each users consent preferences before shooting it out.  It minimizes disputes and prevents tampering with plans and terms agreed upon with customers initially.

Summing It Up

Our CMD Ashutosh believes that if there are ways to minimize fraud and revenue leakages in the telecom sector with blockchain, then there is nothing stopping its adoption in the industry.

It will help telecom companies secure their networks, curtail malicious actions, and prevent leakages onto unauthorized networks. That could be a boon for fraud detection and prevention as well.

Combining this with the other benefits we have mentioned above shows blockchain’s position as a technology with immense potential in the telecom sector. Telecom companies need to have the right strategic approach in implementing blockchain solutions to maximize the impact. That includes planning for a resilient and reliable roadmap and execution strategy along with the right choice of skilled professionals, tools, and platforms like TxtChain. This is where a partner like GTS can make a huge impact. Get in touch with us to explore more.

 

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