Get the latest announcements from MEF Members across the mobile ecosystem globally in this weekly review of member news…
A2P Messaging Under Threat: Joint Report By Enea and Mobilesquared Reveals 20 Billion Fraudulent Messages Sent In 2023
Investigation into Artificial Inflation of Traffic (AIT) confirms 4.8% of global messaging traffic is fraudulent, putting strain on the widely used application-to-person (A2P) messaging ecosystem
A new report co-authored by Enea and messaging intelligence specialist Mobilesquared has revealed that Artificial Inflation of Traffic (AIT) is now so pervasive in the messaging ecosystem that between 19.8 billion and 35.7 billion fraudulent messages were sent in 2023. The study also underscores the substantial financial toll of AIT, with brands incurring costs of $1.16 billion due to fraudulent messages.
“Understanding the profound impact of AIT on A2P messaging is essential for safeguarding the integrity of our A2P communication ecosystems,” said Simeon Coney, VP of Business Development at Enea. “AIT not only inflicts significant financial damage but also erodes trust in A2P messaging platforms, a cornerstone for brand-consumer interactions. Our report highlights the urgent need for a unified industry response to accurately define and tackle these deceptive practices.”
Coney continued, “It’s imperative that all stakeholders in the messaging ecosystem — from mobile operators to CPaaS and aggregators — collaborate closely to measure the impact of these AIT frauds, develop and deploy robust solutions that can effectively identify sources and mitigate AIT threats. At Enea, we contribute to this work by offering a range of effective countermeasures to AIT in the Enea Adaptive Messaging Firewall, and we continue to invest in our capabilities to protect our customers in the A2P path.”
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LTE-M Connections To Reach 500 Million In 2028
London, 13th February 2024 – New research from roaming and connectivity experts Kaleido Intelligence has forecast that total active LTE-M connections will reach over 500 million in 2028, representing growth of 43% CAGR between 2023 and 2028.
Growth in LPWAN (NB-IoT and LTE-M) connectivity has not reached its potential in markets outside of China to date: during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for 2G/3G technology remained resilient, while a lack of dedicated roaming agreements to support international LPWAN use cases has hampered overall growth.
2024 is set to be a landmark year for eSIM, with initial eSIM IoT specification commercial deployments set to launch. Functionally, this offers improved and much-needed long-term flexibility over the lifecycle of such devices. In the smartphone market, eSIM and iSIM look set to gradually become de facto part of designs from around 2026. Combined, these factors will lead to a 21% CAGR in total eSIM/iSIM shipment growth between 2023 and 2028.
Kaleido’s Research Lead Steffen Sorrell commented: “Average annual eSIM or iSIM shipment growth is forecast to exceed 16% in all global regions between 2023 and 2028. Today, over 1,200 Remote SIM Provisioning platform instances have been deployed globally, with customer sustainability, flexibility, and efficiency demands providing the key drivers towards widespread adoption.”
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Why Does RCS Business Messaging (RBM) Matter for Mobile Operators?
Rich Communication Services (RCS) delivers a significantly advanced messaging experience compared to SMS, allowing features such as the sharing of high-resolution photos, videos, and GIFs, attaching files, as well as chat. It has been designed to modernise the texting experience in line with the likes of iMessage, and over-the-top (OTT) messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Viber.
TOMIA Telarix aids mobile operators in the RBM market with a seamless Google-integrated billing solution. Leveraging years of experience in SMS A2P, we offer automated billing services with flexible rating options on top of Google billable events. Operators can negotiate discounts, bundles, tiered charging models, as well as active user-based pricing for recurring notifications. These flexible options enable mobile operators to take control of the RBM market directly and secure SMS A2P revenues going forward.
To learn more about the RBM market and be prepared to scale up this business, download our white paper written in partnership with Mobilesquared.
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Creating a Healthier Multi-Channel Messaging World with OTTs and Hyperscalers
The roles of Over-The-Top (OTT) players and hyperscalers have transformed dramatically. Transitioning from being the largest SMS volume generators and consumers of SMS for services like One-Time Passwords (OTPs), these entities are now influencing the future of Application-to-Person (A2P) messaging.
But the messaging market is no longer a one-size-fits-all scenario, and a healthier A2P SMS ecosystem must be created. Different use cases and the demand for stronger protection mean that businesses must adopt a multi-channel strategy. This includes a combination of traditional SMS, RCS, and other OTT platforms to meet diverse consumer needs effectively. Operators and technology providers need to collaborate more than compete, in a joint effort essential to developing new solutions that can coexist with emerging technologies, ensuring a comprehensive and effective messaging ecosystem.
That’s why iBASIS commissioned a pivotal ‘A2P SMS: Towards a New Balance of Power?’ whitepaper, written by Global Telco Consult (GTC), to explore the evolving SMS landscape with insights from a recent messaging survey of OTTs, hyperscalers, brands, and MNOs.
It’s clear OTTs and hyperscalers have significantly influenced the explosive demand for A2P Messaging. Their widespread use of SMS for Two Factor Authentication (2FA), for example, has familiarized consumers with SMS for various applications and set a precedent for online security standards. However, as their messaging needs have grown, so too have the challenges of high costs, volatile pricing, compatibility issues, and variable quality.
The whitepaper’s findings were shared in a webinar, entitled ‘Taking the Pulse of the Messaging Market: Is SMS at a Crossroads?’, which delved deeper into the shifting roles of OTTs in the messaging arena, complexities of SMS pricing, commercial models, artificially inflated traffic, fraud, and alternative channels.
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Sinch Partners with Temenos to Expand Their Financial Services Offering on the Temenos Exchange
Stockholm, February 14th, 2024 – Sinch (Sinch AB (publ) – XSTO: SINCH), which powers meaningful conversations between businesses and their customers through its Customer Communications Cloud, today announced its messaging APIs and solutions are available on Temenos Exchange, the partner ecosystem of integrated fintech solutions.
Martin Bailey, Director of Innovation and Ecosystems, Temenos, said, “Temenos Exchange acts as an accelerator for fintechs and software developers, helping them develop, validate and monetize new banking solutions. The integration with Temenos and joining Temenos Exchange means Sinch can write once and be readily available to the thousands of banks globally that run on our platform.”
“Core banking platforms are key partners for Sinch in delivering customer communications at scale. Working together, we can accelerate the transformation towards truly omnichannel banking communication on a global scale,” Petter Bengtsson, Global SVP Partners and Platforms at Sinch explained. “Sinch’s availability on Temenos Exchange further extends our commitment to the banking community and enables Temenos customers to easily reap the benefits of the Conversation and Verification APIs. We look forward to leveraging the power of the Temenos platform to help us achieve our business goals.”
