Are you ready to tackle new interconnect fraud schemes, such as OTT Bypass?
We know how to help you!

Over-the-top (OTT) players are currently a real headache for the telecom operators: OTT messaging competing with SMS, excessive pressure on bandwidth due to OTT data transactions.... But OTT providers are also changing the traditional interconnect scenarios.

Are you ready to tackle new interconnect fraud schemes, such as OTT Bypass?
We know how to help you!

Over-the-top (OTT) players are currently a real headache for the telecom operators: OTT messaging competing with SMS, excessive pressure on bandwidth due to OTT data transactions.... But OTT providers are also changing the traditional interconnect scenarios.

For instance, connecting a voice call (or an SMS) usually leads to the payment of a termination fee: the price paid by the calling operator to the called operator for terminating a call on its network.  As smartphone sales and OTT usage increases, a growing part of termination revenues are at risk: when a mobile user sends a Whatsapp message (instead of an SMS) or when he performs a 'Viber to Viber' call (instead of an international voice call), there is simply NO termination fee. And now OTT providers even enter the carrier landscape with only 1 goal... terminating regular voice calls on OTT applications and thus further reducing your interconnect revenues!

►►► Our experience in helping you fighting OTT bypass - Araxxe OTT Bypass Audits

Over a period of more than one year, we have delivered audits to especially detect OTT bypass and we gathered following insights:
Fraudsters are everywhere: we detected OTT bypass in all regions around the globe
We have detected OTT bypass in ALL Audits
Our sample shows an infection rate which is different from one region to other - see graph
Viber is risk #1

What about you? What are you doing to fight OTT Bypass?
We help you understanding the new threat of OTT bypass : we can quantify the potential revenue losses
Thanks to our extended knowledge and expertise, we use test campaigns especially designed to detect OTT bypass.
You take advantage of Araxxe its global test platform, including a large portfolio of routes and international telecom subscriptions amongst them OTT players
We operate -on your behalf- flexible test campaigns delivered in an industrialized way.
We team up with you to further integrate all your bypass detection solutions in order to create new synergies out of them.
You leverage Araxxe its unique expertise in both test campaign design and bypass fraud detection.

Fierce competition and increasing customer expectations are encouraging telecom operators to focus more on enhanced customer experience. On the one hand, operators want to be the first in the market to launch new innovative offers and to differentiate from competition. On the other hand, the customers are more and more demanding: any billing error directly impacts either the operator revenues, either the company reputation.

Quick time-to-market means high risk of incurring billing errors. Unfortunately the communication networks, the information processes & systems are not the flawless network components most people think they are! The reduced time for test cycles leads to higher risks of billing errors when launching new offers and new rate plans. This is why operators need to perform tests in a timely, proactive and targeted way. Simply to detect billing errors before they turn into customer complaints or revenue leakages.

Fierce competition and increasing customer expectations are encouraging telecom operators to focus more on enhanced customer experience. On the one hand, operators want to be the first in the market to launch new innovative offers and to differentiate from competition. On the other hand, the customers are more and more demanding: any billing error directly impacts either the operator revenues, either the company reputation.

Quick time-to-market means high risk of incurring billing errors. Unfortunately the communication networks, the information processes & systems are not the flawless network components most people think they are! The reduced time for test cycles leads to higher risks of billing errors when launching new offers and new rate plans. This is why operators need to perform tests in a timely, proactive and targeted way. Simply to detect billing errors before they turn into customer complaints or revenue leakages.

From friendly user testing to automated comprehensive testing. When launching new offers, it is a common practice for the operators to perform Friendly User Tests (FUT). However FUT are manual tests with a limited functional coverage (e.g. roaming services are usually not tested).

Automated testing enables you to both save time and to perform comprehensive testing.

• Why Araxxe is the right partner to help you secure the launch of new offers in the market? 
• We offer revenue assurance monitoring services to support telecom operators with the introduction of new offers:
• We design advanced test campaigns focusing on your new offers: we build tailor-made test plans allowing to fully test your new rate plans.
• We operate test campaigns in an industrialized way: testing is automated and based on test call generation.
• We check that every single transaction generated in the test campaign is properly billed.
• We deliver quick results: new rate plans are being validated pre & post launch
• We offer a flexible managed service which minimizes the effort required on the operator side during the launch of the new rate plan
• You leverage Araxxe unique expertise in both test campaign design and billing verification.

SMS vs OTT: has the match really started?

SMS is a $100+ billion business - Messaging is the biggest 'non voice' mobile service and it is growing. SMS accounts for almost half of the revenues generated by mobile messaging: it is a $100+ billion business for at least the next 3 years according to Portio Research. We now have 6.9 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide. The OTT messaging platforms, put all together, have a consolidated base of 2.3 billion users. WhatsApp, which is a massive success story, has “only” 450 million users!

SMS vs OTT: has the match really started?

SMS is a $100+ billion business - Messaging is the biggest 'non voice' mobile service and it is growing. SMS accounts for almost half of the revenues generated by mobile messaging: it is a $100+ billion business for at least the next 3 years according to Portio Research. We now have 6.9 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide. The OTT messaging platforms, put all together, have a consolidated base of 2.3 billion users. WhatsApp, which is a massive success story, has “only” 450 million users!

SMS termination revenues are high - When wholesale revenues derived from voice termination keep on decreasing, SMS termination revenues remain high: the average SMS termination rate in Europe is €2.8 cents per terminated SMS; up to €7 cents per SMS for international SMS in some countries.

But the SS7 network is not so safe anymore - When used solely by trusted members, this network used to be a safe area. Nowadays many new players have an easy access to SS7 (MVNO, Hub providers, SMS aggregators, HLR lookup service providers...) while fraudsters / hackers have found new ways to get access to this network.

Conclusion: SMS termination should now be carefully monitored to tackle fraud and revenue assurance issues.

Why Araxxe managed services can help you maximizing your SMS termination revenues?

We design specific test campaigns focusing on the detection of the main fraud schemes (e.g. SIM box, SMS faking, SMS spoofing...) and revenue assurance issues (e.g. unbilled incoming SMS, wholesale arbitrage...).
You take advantage of Araxxe global test platform in 160+ countries: our international network of robots and our large portfolio of international telecom subscriptions.
We operate -on your behalf- test campaigns delivered in an industrialized way.
We deliver actionable reports enabling to quickly fix revenue leakages.
You leverage Araxxe unique expertise in test campaign design, interconnect fraud detection and revenue assurance.