Get the latest announcements from MEF Members across the mobile ecosystem globally in this weekly review of member news…
Iconectiv launches PortData Validate platform
Mobile phone numbers now rival social security and driver license numbers as the personal identifier that consumers use to register for products and services. That ubiquity makes mobile numbers an attractive and powerful tool for identity thieves, who stole $14.7 billion in 2018 from 14.4 million U.S. consumers.
Now, with the introduction of PortData Validate from iconectiv, financial institutions, healthcare providers and other authorized businesses can leverage telephone number porting data as part of their assessment when verifying a customer’s identity, approving a transaction or disclosing information.
“Recognizing the key role that number porting data plays in helping businesses verify the authenticity of telephone number-based transactions, this data can now be used for fraud mitigation and risk assessment purposes,” said Kathy Timko, Head of the Local Number Portability Administration (LNPA) Services at iconectiv. “This new access to porting data will further help protect customers and businesses against fraud.”
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Robocalls Could Mean the End of the Phone Call, Hiya Says
If the increasing flood of robocalls doesn’t change, it could mean “the death of the phone call,” according to Hiya, a mobile caller identification firm.
Jonathan Nelson, director of product management, told Cheddar Friday that nobody wants to pick up the phone anymore, according to his company’s data. Many consumers simply don’t answer if they don’t recognize the number, which is what Nelson said companies are trying to avoid.
“The industry is really trying to make it so that you do want to answer the phone because the only calls that make your phone ring are ones that might matter to you,” Nelson said. “The goal is if we can get these bad actors out, then these calls could be from your doctor, from a bank, or from your school; there’s many legitimate reasons to receive a call. The trouble is none of us trust the phone ringing anymore, so we usually just let it go to voicemail. But the hope is to fix that.”
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Zeotap’s Alex McIlvenny on the ID Conundrum for Brands in the Privacy-First Era
In this episode of TraderTalk TV, ExchangeWire’s Ciaran O’Kane interviews Alex McIlvenny, country manger UK, Zeotap, to discuss the ID conundrum for the industry in the privacy-first era, from the brand perspective.
McIlvenny discusses:
On a global scale, SAFR technology has already detected, identified and delivered results on millions of faces for customers and partners who sought facial recognition on the Macintosh, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android platforms—where RealNetworks has deployed its core technology.
“Our partnership with Seventh represents a significant step for RealNetworks in our endeavor to build key partnerships for the marketing, sales, integration, delivery, and support of our facial recognition solution across the globe,” said Jose Larrucea, RealNetworks Vice President, Latin America.
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SME owners should have private number: Route Mobile CEO
Cloud communications platform service provider Route Mobile Limited (“Route Mobile”) MD and Group CEO Rajdipkumar Gupta, said that today’s business owners should go for private number as privacy issues have become more frequent with businesses and business owners, with a surge in the use of smart devices.
Customers/subscriber privacy/confidentiality is of the utmost importance to operator networks, yet one of the key concerns raised by their customers. Route Mobile’s Instant Virtual Numbers solves this problem in terms of privacy.
IVN serves consumers with an option to have additional numbers on their existing sim card and works exactly the same way as that of their primary number. There is effortless switching between the primary and virtual numbers, flexibility to maintain shared or separate payment methods for both numbers. One can also schedule the use of virtual number during a set time period, maintain call/screening lists and reassign the last used virtual number within a certain period of time.
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ImImobile completes acquisition of 3CInteractive Corp
Cloud company ImImobile said it had completed the acquisition of 3CInteractive Corp for a total of $53.2m.
‘We are pleased to complete the Acquisition which brings complementary product capabilities and a blue-chip customer base with significant opportunities to cross and upsell IMImobile’s enterprise CPaaS product set,’ ImImobile said.
The company said that $10m of the total consideration of $53.2m would be deferred for up to two years. Shareholders who were unable to demonstrate accredited investor status would receive a deferred cash payment rather than shares.
Upon completion of the merger, expected to complete within two business days, 3C would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of ImImobile.
