A2P messaging, a vital revenue stream worth over $80 billion annually for mobile operators, faces significant revenue leakage due to reliance on legacy networks and exploitation of price differences between A2P and P2P messages.
A2P messaging is a vital revenue stream for mobile network operators worth over $80 billion per year. This service involves charging aggregators, enterprises, and messaging providers termination fees for delivering A2P traffic on their networks, making it a high-margin and essential revenue source. When you ask a revenue assurance professional how they track and route traffic through their network, you’d expect a clear and precise answer. However, not all telcos have this clarity, leading to costly revenue leakage.
Revenue Leakage Explained
The problem arises when this crucial revenue stream faces compromise. The root of the issue lies in the industry’s reliance on conventional messaging networks, often referred to as “Legacy Pipes”. While these networks are excellent at message delivery, they lack the intelligence to discern the intricacies of messaging traffic, making it difficult to differentiate between A2P and P2P messages, which opens avenues for revenue leakage.
Why Operators Need to Tackle Revenue Leakage
Network operators face several critical issues that impact their ability to manage and optimize revenue streams effectively. These challenges stem from both technical and market dynamics and require proactive strategies to mitigate revenue leakage.
Common issues faced by network operators include:
These issues can lead to:
Addressing these challenges requires network operators to implement robust traffic monitoring systems, enforce stringent routing policies, and develop comprehensive fraud prevention strategies. By doing so, they can safeguard their revenue, enhance operational efficiency, and maintain trust with their enterprise clients.
Case Study
Mobile Network Operator, South East Asia region
Problem: SIM Boxes / Grey Routes are impacting the international A2P revenue.
Customers complaining on delayed or non-received OTP messages.
Solution: Openmind Networks implemented AI-based revenue assurance and successfully managed this project
Result: 400% growth of international A2P messaging revenue in one year
How Openmind Networks Mitigates Revenue Leakage
Machine Learning and Neural Networks
Machine Learning (ML) and Neural Networks are artificial intelligence systems that improve performance on specific tasks without being explicitly reprogrammed. They are highly effective at discovering patterns in large datasets, making them ideal for categorizing large volumes of mobile messaging traffic based on content similarity.
For A2P Revenue Assurance, we use our ‘Smart Control’ technology to process message CDRs (Call Detail Records) and identify common classifications of messages, such as One-Time Passwords, Banking Messages, and Password Resets.
These classifications are called Cohorts. Over time, the process can be refined to expand the number of categories. For example, instead of one “Password Reset” category, it could be further expanded to “Password Reset from Google,” “Password Reset from Facebook,” etc.
A tag identifying the Cohort is inserted into the CDR associated with each message, enabling the business intelligence platform used on the network to provide appropriate visualizations to end users. Openmind Networks offers these visualizations as a separate service, though customers can use existing systems where appropriate.
Example Cohorts include:
- Targeted Financial Service Messages
- Broadcast/Informational Messages
- Messages that could not be immediately classified by software but could be classified over time with the input of a Managed Services Engineer
- One-Time Passwords from Financial Institutions
- Targeted Informational Messages
- Two-Factor Authentication Messages
- Password Reset Messages
- Machine-to-Machine Messages
Stopping Revenue Leakage
The solution involves enabling an SMS Firewall in a network to implement smart, intelligent rules about how different types of A2P messages are delivered.
Any SMS Firewall that supports Diameter can be integrated with the Openmind Networks solution. The Firewall should be configured with appropriate rules to enforce business policies for each message category on various network routes. Typically, messages categorized as International A2P will only be allowed from designated International Hubs. All A2P types can be blocked from mobile-originated and mobile-terminated routes unless explicitly allowed. For example, SIMs sold under M2M packages can be permitted to send specific A2P types.
Services Provided by Openmind Networks
Openmind Networks’ Smart Control technology is supported by a team of experts who ensure the correct implementation of message classifications with the customer so they can be enforced by the network SMS Firewall. Continuous training of the Smart Control neural network ensures it can correctly classify message types even as formats change over time.
Tools & Software Used
- Openmind Networks’ Smart Control Machine Learning Technology
Openmind Resources
- Engineering & Operations
Customer Interfaces
- A2P Business Owners (International & Domestic)
- Revenue Assurance
Customer Outcomes
- Increased International A2P Revenues
- Prevention of revenue leakage due to the use of low-cost routes
By addressing revenue leakage with advanced technology and expert support, telecom operators can protect and enhance their crucial A2P messaging revenue streams.
To learn more about the topics covered in this article, or to discuss how Openmind Networks can help you navigate your revenue leakage issues, please get in touch or contact our team of messaging experts online here.
