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Telecom Fraud on the rise: 2021 CFCA Global Telecommunications Fraud Loss Survey

During World War II, Winston Churchill famously quipped, “You never let a good crisis go to waste.” Fast forward to 2020, when the Covid-19 virus caused a global economic shutdown. For a time, the amount of fraud impacting our industry decreased significantly. But, as workers shifted to a “new normal” of working from home and as the global economy has reopened, so has the amount of fraud and abuse impacting our industry.

In 2021, total global telecom revenues[1] are estimated to be approximately USD 1.8 Trillion. The total amount of telecom revenue loss due to fraud is estimated to be 2.22% of revenues or $39.89 Billion.

Compared to 2019, fraud losses increased 28% or approximately USD 11.6 Billion. To put that increase into perspective, it is the market value[2] of US companies such as TD Ameritrade Holding, Hartford Financial Services, O’Reilly Automotive, and ADT.

There are many factors that are contributing to this increase in fraud. The primary reasons are due to:

Increase in cross-industry targeted social engineering schemes (Wangiri, SMS Phishing/Pharming, Social Engineering, Robocalls)
Increase in financial services impersonation frauds using stolen credentials from data breaches
Use of faceless transaction portals to commit Subscription Fraud and Account Take-overs
Increase in the theft of stolen equipment and services
Compromise of network, device, or configuration weaknesses associated with voice-over-IP technologies
Abuse of Voice & Data Service Terms & Conditions

The increase is also associated with a rise in demand and consumption of telecommunications services. The shift to working from home has fueled insatiable demand for network connectivity and infrastructure. Similarly, the temporary shutdown of entertainment complexes and outdoor entertainment venues due to social distancing requirements has greatly increased the usage of various digital platforms, including social media, gaming, video conferencing, and OTT applications. Mobile voice traffic has also increased, with many prominent communications service providers reporting an enormous escalation in voice traffic since the outbreak of the pandemic. The increase in usage is also driving the increase in the amount of reported fraud loss.

Fraudsters also use the Covid-19 pandemic crisis to take advantage of unsuspecting victims through targeted social engineering methods such as CLI/ANI Spoofing, Wangiri call-back schemes, SMS Phishing/Pharming, Email Phishing/Pharming and Robocalling. They also harvest personal identifying information to commit subscription fraud and take over victims’ accounts.

Rahm Emanuel, an American Politician, former Mayor of Chicago, recently echoed Winston Churchill when he said: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” I agree with this sentiment. As an industry, I believe we can take the recent changes within the telecom industry to better secure and protect our business from fraud and abuse. We have an opportunity to re-frame what good fraud management and security looks like for our industry. By working together, we can make a difference in protecting our customers and our businesses.

Highlights from the 2021 CFCA Fraud Loss Survey

Top Fraud Methods Reported in 2021

Fraud Method	Description	$USD (Billions)
Spoofing (IP or CLI/ANI)	Manipulation of the IP address/CLI/ANI to hide someone’s true origination or identity.	$2.63
Wangiri (Call Back Schemes)	Call back fraud schemes	$2.23
SMS Phishing/Pharming	Theft of personal info or credentials via SMS hacking, phishing, vishing, etc.	$2.03
Subscription Fraud (Application)	Creation of false details to gain access to goods and services with no intention to pay	$2.03
IP PBX Hacking	Compromised IP PBX used to make fraudulent calls	$1.82
Abuse of network, device or configuration weakness	Exploitation of a configuration weakness to gain access to a network or device; Includes VoIP equipment such as a modem or router	$1.62
Account Takeover	Manipulation and utilization of existing customer’s account to gain access to a device or service	$1.62
SIM Swapping / SIM Jacking	Replacing a new SIM card to gain access to the device or service	$1.62
Phishing / Pharming	Theft of personal info or credentials via email hacking, phishing, vishing, etc…	$1.62
Robocalling	Use of computerized auto-dialers to deliver pre-recorded messages to perpetrate fraud	$1.62

Top Fraud Types Reported in 2021

Fraud Type	Description	$USD (Billions)
International Revenue Share Fraud (IRSF)	Artificial inflation of traffic terminating to international revenue share providers	$6.69
Traffic Pumping (includes: Domestic Revenue Share, Toll Free Traffic Pumping and International Toll Free Traffic Pumping)	Abuse of Carrier Interconnect agreements through such things as Traffic Pumping, Switch Access Stimulation, 8yy Dip Pumping and CNAM Revenue pumping schemes	$4.54
Arbitrage	Exploitation of the differences in rates between different countries	$3.82
Voice Interconnect Bypass (e.g. SIM box)	Unauthorized insertion of traffic onto another carrier’s network. This includes Interconnect Fraud and GSM Gateway Fraud or SIM Boxing	$3.11
Theft / Stolen Goods	Equipment theft	$3.11
Domestic Premium Rate Service (In Country)	Artificial inflation of traffic terminating to domestic premium service providers	$2.39
Commissions Fraud	Schemes used by dealers to collect additional commissions and spiffs	$2.15
Data Charging Bypass	Exploitation of network and protocol misconfigurations to bypass charging. For example, interjecting voice traffic onto Viber, Skype or WhatsApp	$1.91
Voice Service Reselling (e.g.: Call Selling)	Resale of voice services.	$1.91
Device / Hardware Reselling	Resale of equipment such as handsets, tablets, IPTV devices, routers, etc.	$1.67

About the CFCA Fraud Loss Survey

The CFCA conducts the Fraud Loss Survey to capture a broad view of how much revenue the telecommunications industry is losing, where it is being lost, and what the future holds for fraud losses and fraud management. The full details of the survey results are available to the CFCA membership and related associations that participated in the survey. To learn more, contact the CFCA at fraud@cfca.org.

References

[1] Global Telecom Services Market Size Report, 2021-2028 https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/global-telecom-services-market

[2] Market Values: https://www.economywatch.com/forbes-global-2000-americas-largest-companies

December 17, 2021

Everything you need to know about Spectrum Refarming

The deployment of 5G promises to help Communication Service Providers (CSPs) with new revenue streams by enabling them to bring new use cases to the end-users. However, they need to go for spectrum refarming to bring down their cost and ensure optimum utilization of the spectrum resources.

What is Spectrum Refarming?

In simple terms, spectrum refarming refers to the repurposing of spectrum bands to more efficient technologies and/or new services. For instance, a service provider may be using 900Mhz to provide 2G services. However, with the ever-growing demand for data services, it might want to free some of this 900MHz spectrum for LTE services. The process by which this is done is known as spectrum refarming.

GSMA defines spectrum refarming as a process governing the repurposing of frequency bands that have historically been allocated for 2G mobile services (using GSM technology) for new generation of mobile technologies, including both third-generation (using UMTS technology) and fourth-generation (using LTE technology).

Why is Spectrum Refarming important?

Spectrum is a scarce and expensive resource, and there is a growing need to ensure its optimum utilization.

Mobile radio communications have evolved over the last three decades. From initially carrying only voice, now the networks use UMTS, HSDPA, and LTE to provide mobile broadband services. Typically, 800-900MHz is allocated to GSM bands while UMTS uses 1900/2100 MHz spectrum, and 700MHz, 1900MHz, 2100MHz, and 2400MHz frequency bands are used for LTE services.

Requirement for additional spectrum for LTE and 5G has led to increased spectrum cost, thus driving the need for spectrum refarming. As of 2016, 49% of 4G deployments globally used reframed 2G/3G spectrum, according to GSMA.

At the same time, the number of 2G users is declining in all geographies, opening up an opportunity to use this spectrum for 4G and 5G. In addition, some service providers have already shut down 2G networks as the subscribers have moved to advanced technologies.

Technology neutrality is crucial to allow Communications Service Providers (CSPs) to use the spectrum as per the evolving technologies and markets. The CSPs in different geographies have different technology roadmaps to meet the changing consumer demand. Technology neutrality empowers the CSPs to upgrade from legacy to 4G or 5G deployments and the services delivered as markets develop.

Why is spectrum refarming critical for CSPs in 5G?

The deployment of 5G is crucial for service providers to address the growing data demand and to leverage the ever-increasing pervasiveness of the digital ecosystem. Combination of ultra-high-speed and low latency of less than one millisecond, 5G will enable several innovative use cases in three key categories of enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC), and Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (uRLLC).

Further, 5G is a more spectrum-efficient technology and allows telcos to connect a greater number of people using the same spectrum. Unlike previous communications standards, 5G requires a combination of spectrum in low, mid, and high-frequency bands to deliver on the promise and vision of 5G use cases. A large amount of mid-band spectrum is required to support the effective operation of 5G mobile networks. Most of this spectrum is currently being used for 2G and 3G, thus driving telcos to explore refarming to free up spectrum for 4G and 5G services.

Most of the frequency bands allocated to 5G are mid and high bands. However, to enable wide-area 5G coverage with required cost economics is a challenge. This demands the use of 5G in lower frequency bands as well. The use of spectrum in low-frequency bands is not always possible since most telcos use it for 4G or LTE services. Spectrum refarming is then crucial to realizing the vision of 5G.

Spectrum refarming is a massive opportunity for the CSPs as it helps them bring down the CAPEX by 15-20% in the medium-term while enabling them to maximize the utilization of the available spectrum resources.

What are the challenges associated with spectrum refarming?

There are several challenges associated with spectrum refarming. To begin with, the CSP needs to ensure that there is no service interruption or service degradation as a result of the spectrum refarming initiative. In addition, some devices don’t work over multiple frequency bands and will need to continue on the legacy network.

Before initiating spectrum refarming, the CSPs need to thoroughly analyze the type of devices on the network and the end-user behavior to decide how much spectrum needs to be allocated for different technologies without impacting the quality of services. The service provider will also need to ensure there is no channel interference. Further, a sufficient contiguous spectrum is required to support the simultaneous operations of two or more technologies in a frequency band.

What is the role of AI in spectrum refarming?

There are essentially two methods for spectrum refarming: static refarming and dynamic refarming, also known as Dynamic Spectrum Sharing. Static refarming involves dividing the existing spectrum band into two halves to deploy 4G and 5G with depleted bandwidth. Unfortunately, this is not conducive to providing an enriched user experience since the bandwidth is reduced.

Over the last few years, Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) has been growing in popularity as it allows service providers to use the same spectrum band to provide both 4G and 5G at the same time. A crucial advantage of this is that the service providers don’t need to partition a spectrum band. It allows service providers to use the mix of both the legacy and the new technologies without compromising on the network experience of the users.

Further, with DSS, the telcos can continuously increase the proportion allocated to the new technology (5G) as the demand increases. Another crucial advantage is that it is cost-effective since DSS doesn’t require any new hardware and can be deployed as a software upgrade. This way, this approach helps the telcos accelerate the 5G coverage. DSS also allows service operators to upgrade from 5G non-standalone to standalone deployments easily.

Over the last few years, service providers and regulators have started using Artificial Intelligence (AI) for more efficient spectrum management. From spectrum allocation, planning, sharing, and monitoring for traffic load analysis, AI plays a crucial role in overall spectrum management.

Subex Approach

Subex’s solution uses AI/ML-trained models to perform network analytics and capacity management to identify resource usage. The solution analyses network usage on several parameters, including the types of devices on the network, the user behavior, load levels, and data requirements, among others. It is also able to forecast capacity crunch points along the way.

Unlike the traditional solutions, Subex solutions consider various network dimensions like capability and limitations of devices, spectrum efficiency, and network utilization. It analyses the available spectrum bands in the network and suggests what chunks need to be carved out, along with forecast usage and revenue post-spectrum refarming.

Subex’s AI/ML-based service solution helps CSPs improve spectrum management and ensures fast investment returns.

Learn how Subex’s Capacity Management solution can help CSPs optimize their investments and enhance customer experience

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December 15, 2021
Blockchain for Billing & Charging Evolution (BCE) – Cultivating Trust in a 5G World
For many years, the telecom industry has been following a traditional approach to roaming billing and settlement, which involves exchanging Transferred Account Procedures (or TAP files) between the roaming partners. With new technologies like 5G arriving on the scene, traditional roaming settlement is set to become more complicated due to increased subscribers, partners, and traffic. As per a study by Juniper Research, the global number of roaming subscribers using 5G services will increase from 4.5 million in 2021 to 210 million in 2026.

As proposed by GSMA, the Billing and Charging Evolution (BCE) is a next-generation approach that simplifies the settlement process. In this approach, TAP files or raw call detailed records (CDRs) do not need to be exchanged. Instead, Billing and Charging Evolution is driven by new formats like Usage Data Report (UDR), Usage Summary Report (USR), and Billing Statement Report (BSR), among others. The serving party shares these Billing and Charging Evolution reports to the served party, which are then used to generate the invoice by the serving party.

Apart from simplifying complex multi-party settlement processes, Billing and Charging Evolution also supports new generation use cases brought on by latest technologies like 5G. This is enabled through characteristic features such as eliminating the need to exchange raw files within specific timelines as well as the need for special editors to read different TAP file formats like ASN1. Reports generated in Billing and Charging Evolution are in XML format, and these can be seamlessly exchanged to support settlement as well as reconciliation processes.

Types of BCE reports for 5G roaming settlement

As per GSMA guidelines, operational and financial reports should be generated and exchanged periodically. Some are mandatory, others are optional. However, all of these reports ensure the smooth execution of BCE process for 5G roaming. The types of Billing and Charging Evolution reports are:
1. Detailed Data Report (DDR) – These are mediated records that are exchanged only in case of a dispute. In cases where all parties are in agreement, DDR is optional.
2. Usage Data Report (UDR) – This is an optional report that can be exchanged daily or weekly. However, UDRs are mandatory for testing purposes to ensure reconciliation of detailed data.
3. User Summary Report (USR) – This is another optional report that should be shared only after rating the traffic for the whole month but before generating the invoice. It is a prebilling aggregated summary and is mapped to the Billing Statement Report. USR can be used to reconcile both usage of as well as charges applied to network traffic.
4. Billing Statement Report (BSR) – This is a mandatory report that should be shared monthly. It should support the charging document or invoice. Applied charges must mandatorily be available on BSR.
5. Charging document or invoice – This is an invoice based on usage. It may also be a debit note or credit note based on dispute settlement.
Streamlining BCE Reports with Blockchain

Blockchain is a technology known for its immutable auditing and distributed ledger system that captures and shares information accurately among numerous verified partners. Considering the complexity expected to be brought on by 5G roaming billing and settlement, blockchain serves as a tactical solution to simplify the sharing of reports – confidentially, securely, and on time.

Figure 1 – Application of blockchain to BCE

Here are some ways by which blockchain brings in further efficiencies to Billing and Charging Evolution:
- Scalability – Blockchain can easily handle millions of transactions every day in 5G roaming scenarios with its enhanced transaction processing system (TPS).
- Efficiency gains – The exchange of UDR, USR, and BSR over blockchain will support automated reconciliation. Apart from significant cost and effort savings, faster invoicing leads to efficient settlement processes. Moreover, with BCE reports being periodically exchanged through the blockchain, operators no longer need to wait for the closure of month-end activities to reconcile or raise a dispute, if any.
- Smart contracts – All alerts and notifications can be coded as business logic within smart contracts and triggered automatically. Smart contracts can also capture the agreed timelines and SLAs, providing a single point for monitoring.
- Information exchange – Relevant parties can be notified and stay aware of common fraudulent traffic, which can be transparently adjusted accordingly into invoices. Further, reconciliation output can be broadcasted to relevant stakeholders or parties on a blockchain-based dashboard using APIs.
- Real-time capabilities – Dispute findings and reconciliation reports can be shared with respective parties over the private channel in near real-time.
- Tighter security – Transactions over blockchain ensure data security due to its immutable features.
Conclusion

Billing and Charging Evolution is a new generation solution for the settlement of 5G roaming. Implementing BCE over blockchain provides a platform where all participants can have their own node, thereby simplifying the settling and reconciliation processes. Using blockchain for BCE will also ensure transparency of transactional data, better scalability due to improved TPS, and provide an immutable platform that brings trust among telecom partners and blockchain network members.

How our blockchain-based settlements solution can help your organization

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December 7, 2021
How to enhance accuracy and efficiency of Network Analytics for 5G
As 5G gains traction, CSPs will look to unearth its potential benefits. However, what 5G will also bring in is a compound effect of the challenges that CSPs face already.

The Three Challenges CSPs face

The first of these challenges pertains to the increasing capex intensity which is plaguing the telecom industry, which currently stands at 16%, the highest among any other sector in the world. The second challenge comes from the growing network complexity which is quickly as CSPs continue to pursue network-wide densification and virtualization. The final challenge comes from the fact that customer expectations, as it historically has, is rising in multiples, and with the number of connected devices and subscribers being added to the mix increasing, and leading to the an increase in data volumes, the expectations of customers is rising manifold.

The above challenges are ones CSPs need to deal with in a 4G environment, and the 5G landscape is only set to accelerate these trends further.

How will 5G change things

One of the better-known advantages that come with 5G is the fact that it opens up CSPs to operator in a new arena beyond the usual consumer space: Enterprises. With 5G CSPs will play an integral instrument for driving newer use cases around IoT, industrial automation, smart cities, autonomous vehicles, robotic surgery and a lot more. What this means is that, for CSPs, 5G use cases will now bring in 3 larger use cases:

1. eMBB (Enhanced Mobile Broadband) – which is designed for better user experiences on consumer devices, providing extreme network speeds and capacity

2. mMTC (Massive Machine-type Communication) – which aims to provide connectivity to a huge number of devices whose traffic profile is typically a small amount of data (spread) sporadically.

3. URLLC (Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Services) – which focusses on low latency, high reliability and high availability aspects

With a focus around these three overarching use cases, 5G promises to deliver superior experience to not just subscribers but enterprises also. From a consumer angle, for close to 60% of smartphone users, the highest expectation for 5G is to deliver speeds faster than current mobile networks. Across the globe, data consumption is increasing by more than 40 percent every year. Video in particular will account for 75 percent of network traffic by 2024, up from 55 percent today. Networks will need to adapt from Standard and High Definition video resolution to 2K and 4K, placing higher requirements on speed and quality. Further into the future, services like AR/VR applications will put even higher requirements on network performance. This demand for better customer experience means that operators must continuously adapt and expand network capacity.

From an Enterprise standpoint, with 5G having the capability to reduce latency to sub-milliseconds, businesses can start to consider the nexus between cloud, mobile and enterprise applications. More features and functionality can be extended to the mobile fleet and frontline employees. The use cases for ultralow latency apps can be vertical specific. This can include the financial services for high-frequency trading, as well as mining and energy companies rolling out autonomous fleets that are highly responsive to their environments. Moreover, 5G complements other emerging technologies such as AI/ML, robotics and IoT to further drive enterprise digital transformation both internally within an organization as well as externally in customer engagements. Of course, at the end of the day, 5G is a telecom technology, and hence CSPs will be at the heart of driving 5G within the enterprise. However, this will also mean a new area where CSPs will need to direct capacity.

What all the above add to is the need to build Superior experiences, which will be the main driver to generate new revenue stream in 5G era.

The Need for Intelligent Capacity Management

The main enabler to provide a superior experience will be an approach based on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. With capacity as the main enabler for raising speed to the 10x Gbps mark an Intelligent Capacity Management approach will in-turn help to meet the future growth requirements of massive device volumes.

In line with this, an accurate capacity management process will help CSPs to differentiate themselves from the competition. Why Accuracy? Accuracy is key in any capacity management process as it directly impacts the Capex and ROI. An Intelligent Capacity Management solution built on Intelligent Data Management, Advanced Automation, and Domain-Driven Data Science, can help network planners achieve accuracy in each phase of capacity management process of Assessing, Planning and Optimizing capacity augmentations.

Intelligent Capacity Management for Better Network Planning

To succeed in the 5G journey, CSPs will need to make the right investments to gain competitive advantage and enhance end-user experience. However, such investments are highly cost intensive, both in terms of Capex and Opex. Any inaccuracies in the overall network investment planning can lead to unintended impacts on company financials and can create significant network inefficiencies. Hence, an Intelligent Capacity Management can help ensure accuracy to make the right Network Investment Plans.

Intelligent Capacity Management for Better Customer Experience

5G will also enable CSPs to increase revenues due to its potential of not only transforming mobile communications, but also completely replacing broadband internet. Considering most 5G deployments are focusing on FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) as the first use case, this is clearly the intent among most telecom operators. However, this will demand a dramatically broader capacity than CSPs are generally used to providing. This can only be achieved through an Intelligent approach to Capacity Management.

Business Benefits of Intelligent Capacity Management

An Intelligent Capacity Management Approach can bring about a:
- 70%+ Increase in Accuracy
- 80%+ Increase in Operational Efficiency
- 7%+ Increase in Capex Efficiency
- 10%+ Increase in ROI
Read a case study on how we helped a Tier-I telcos increase their revenues by over 12% through intelligent network investment planning.

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December 1, 2021
Measuring how Telecom Risk Has Changed between 2020 and 2021

Insights from RAG Digital Trust Survey, in collaboration with Subex

On October 26, 2021, Subex hosted their 17^th User Conference where Eric Priezkalns, CEO of Risk and Assurance Group (RAG) gave viewers and participants a sneak-peek into the RAG Digital Trust Survey 2021.

Sponsored by Subex, this year’s survey was the biggest and one of the most comprehensive industry surveys, covering 185 risk professionals working for telecommunications providers across Business Assurance, Fraud Management, and Cyber Security. The survey comprised 16 carefully defined questions, selected by a global panel that included risk experts from every continent. Last year, a similar survey was conducted by RAG on revenue assurance and fraud.

An interesting observation from this year’s survey is that telecom providers are increasingly diversifying their services. A sizeable number of responses came from telcos that are fixed-line providers, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and direct-to-home providers. On another note, among all the mobile network operators that responded, over 80% also provide mobile money services.

This year’s survey threw up some other interesting trends compared to last year, which are highlighted below:

1. 4.9% increase in total operational leakage value

This year, the total operational leakage suffered by CSPs is US $149 billion across all fraud and non-fraud leakages, which was US $142 billion last year. As per the S&P Global report, digital transformation is expanding risk areas for CSPs due to the following reasons:

Demand for data is rising with the introduction of new-age products and services

Competition and complex product structures limit profitability improvements

Capex is rising with the launch of new technologies and digital disruption

In 2020, telecom providers suffered losses equivalent to 2.92% of revenues as a result of errors and mistakes that did not involve fraud. 2.59% of revenue was lost from frauds and other crimes and 2.80% of revenue from frauds related to customers of CSPs. Comparatively, the chief culprit of revenue leakage in 2021 is security breaches, contributing to about 3.3% of total revenues while cost leakages accounted for 2.7%. Fraud and similar abuses are responsible for 1.6% of losses. The cost of fraud to customers of CSPs stood at 1.8%.

2. Investment in technology emerges as a top challenge for CSPs

In terms of challenges, this year’s responses were evenly balanced four areas for technology investment, executive sponsorship, finding skilled people to work in our team, and connecting with people in other departments. Still, 34% of respondents marked technology investment as the topmost challenge in the 2021 RAG survey, a jump from its second position in last year’s survey. Executive sponsorship had dipped from its peak of 37% in 2020.

According to IDC, the big data and analytics market is expected to grow at a five-year CAGR of 12.5%. The analytics market size is expected to become a US $500 billion industry by 2025. Currently, around 32% of new enterprise applications are cloud-native. The offerings of the 5G universe like virtual sports, video gaming, AR packages, virtual studios, etc., can be potential game-changers in an operator’s revenue mix. But, the multi-layered impact of digital transformation is evident in the fact that digital 5G business models have much shorter revenue cycles – and higher risk – when compared with traditional telecom offerings!

Thus, with technology investment being a top challenge, how committed are CSPs to enabling technologies such as ML, RPA, and blockchain for their evolving business models? The next trend tells us more.

3. Machine learning usage has doubled.

Compared to last year, telecom providers using machine learning as an established technology has more than doubled, increasing to over 14% from 6%.

A 2020 TMForum RA survey showed the different ways in which telecom providers are improving risk coverage. One finding is that more than 32% want to use AI/ML for predictive and descriptive decision-making, and to manage challenges related to incident management, automatic creation of business rules, thresholds, process mining, and more.

This year, as per the RAG survey, more than twice the number of communication service providers are maturing their use of machine learning in the risk function. Overall, 26% are in some stage of implementing ML. However, 45% do not deem machine learning useful or affordable, while around half have surefooted plans to leverage ML to mitigate operational risk.

The important point to note here is that half (45%) of the risk functions as per the responses that are not planning to use machine learning is higher than last year.

4. Telecoms are losing revenue due to bad debt.

Improper revenue assurance is costing telecoms sizeable revenues. Out of all RA areas, bad debt is ranked as the main avenue of revenue and cost leakage for 31.7%, a hike of over 3% from last year.

While major system and operational challenges lead to bad debt, these also affect the recovery rates and the treatment of subscribers. According to one study, addressing the challenge of customers not paying their bills requires high follow-up costs in collection efforts and acquisition commissions that become a tremendous overhead for a telecom operator.

Other leakage areas like usage, rating/tariff, and subscription fee errors are similar to last year, with an average of 10% responses. On the other hand, the leakages like excess operating cost, stranded assets, and network/system outages have meagre impact.

5. IRSF, bypass, and SIM-box are the biggest fraud areas

IRSF fraud is the main contributor to the increasing fraud leakage for CSPs as well as customers. Compared to the last year, the proportion of fraud has also increased across areas like network asset/equipment fraud and denial of service attacks. Closely trailing IRSF are other top frauds like bypass, sim boxing, and commission fraud.

On the bright side, the costs of fraud arising from piracy of digital content, subscription and identity fraud has dropped since last year.

Opportunities for Telcos

Comparing the differences in fraud and revenue trends between 2020 and 2021, it is clear that telecommunications providers have significant room for improvement across areas of customer service, regulatory compliance, and operational savings. In the 5G era, there are already high industry investments and programs to define, develop and deliver systems and specifications for the fifth generation (5G) of mobile systems and services.

The quantity of data passing through 5G networks is exponentially higher, increasing the complexity of correlating this data across multiple data points for customers, service, and usage. Adding to this is the challenge of managing different user identities, Network and SLA adherence, and the differentiated quality with network slicing and API integration services coming with 5G. All of these demand an evolution of the existing Risk mitigation methods to mitigate the vulnerabilities in 5G-based models. The AI-led Risk mitigation in the 5G era will open avenues of innovation and breakthroughs through automation and machine learning-driven Decision-making. This will empower Telecom operators to be effective and achieve Operational excellence, uninterrupted service experience, and profitability.

See how Subex helps telecom stay ahead of risk with its cutting-edge business assurance solutions

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December 1, 2021

The Agile Way – A Strategic Move of Planning by Subex

Why Agile?

Agile methodology is based on 4 values and 12 principles.

Agile values: It explores better ways of developing software

Individual interactions over processes and tools
- People and interactions are valued.For instance: In estimation work, we value interaction and conversation more than the actual estimate.
Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Create a shared understanding by having more conversations with the stakeholders
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Collaborate more with the customer. Work with the customer and client throughout the project to create a win-win situation.
Responding to change over following a Plan
- We need to be able to respond to change as they happen in complex situations.

What are the 12 principles of Agile project management?

SCRUM | KANBAN|SCRUMBAN

The framework follows different AGILE Methodologies which can continuously improve the product, team, and working environment.

SCRUM- Framework which lets us execute different AGILE Processes, SCRUM can continuously improve the product, team, and working environment. SCRUM framework consists of associated roles, artifacts, events, and rules.
KANBAN– It works on lean principles; it helps deliver orders continuously with efficient use of resources. It is simply whiteboards, paper cards, or post-it notes.
SCRUMBAN– It’s a hybrid of Scrum and Kanban. Scrumban is an Agile management methodology that is a hybrid of Scrum and Kanban. The name Scrumban comes as a combination of [Scrum + (Kan)ban]. Scrumban was developed to make it easier for existing Scrum teams to transition to Kanban and explore lean methodologies.
Scrumban combines the structure of Scrum with the flow-based methods and visualization of Kanban.

Features of the methodologies

Features	SCRUM	KANBAN	SCRUMBAN
Rule	Very descriptive	Not descriptive	Descriptive
Board	Reset of each sprint	Used Continuously	Used Continuously
Role	Scrum Master, Product Owner & the team	Specialized team	Specialized team
Iteration	1-4 weeks sprint	Need based	Need based
Planning	Sprint Planning	On-demand & release planning	On-demand & release planning
Task estimation	Done before each sprint	During planning (Optional)	Optional
Task assignment	Assigned to the team	Taken by team members	Taken by team members
Prioritization	By Refining Backlog	By priority columns	By Priority Columns
Task Limits	Limited by Sprints	Limited by WIP	Limited by WIP
Meeting	Planned & Mandatory	On-demand & Optional	On-demand & Optional
Performance Metrics	Burndown Chart	Lead & Cycle time Cumulative flow	Lead & Cycle time Average Cycle time

Waterfall and Agile: The key differentiators

Waterfall methodology has been followed for ages where project deliverables occurred in succession. In the waterfall development project, each of these represents a distinct stage of software development, and each stage generally finishes before the next one can begin.

There is also typically a stage gate between each; for example, requirements must be reviewed and approved by the customer before design can begin.

The key differentiators:

Waterfall	Agile
Deliver result only at end of the project	Deliver result early & often continuously
Perfect for long term projects	Perfect for IT & SW Projects
Change must be managed & controlled; it impacts projects negatively	Enable Change more easily on projects
End project is defined & fixed	Support changing request either in market or technologies
Deliver by task in succession	Deliver in sprints

The benefits of Agile methodology

We all are aware by now AGILE delivers value on an incremental basis. It does match the dynamic business requirement. However, it does come with certain challenges. The possible challenges with respect to using AGILE include:

It changes the Org Structure
Teams need to be reframed
It works heavily on collaboration and needs less documentation

The key Agile metrics

Although the specific criteria to look for will vary depending on the size, maturity, and goals of your organization, be sure that your Agile software solution includes the following aspects:

Visual management
Lean and Agile metrics
Hierarchical structure
Ability to integrate with existing tools
Enables communication
Easy to update and interact with

The flow of Agile Methodology

How Subex uses the Agile process to drive customer success?

Subex has adopted a hybrid model of delivery to assess the requirements and deliver the project on or before the stipulated duration. A significant benefit Subex is experiencing on account of the transition from Waterfall to Agile is Revenue Realization into the corresponding Sprints. Here are some of the key benefits:

More Focus
Reduced Cost
More Transparency
Better Quality
High Productivity

Agile methods generally allow for faster iteration and more frequent releases with subsequent user feedback that can be worked into future development. Waterfall methods tend to greatly lessen the number and severity of errors that will affect the end-user.

So, in many cases, the optimum project combination incorporates significant planning and QA input early in the development process to mitigate errors while introducing Agile processes to the release schedule and user feedback opportunities, allowing for faster and more controlled improvements.

At Subex, our customers are at the heart of everything we do, and we utilize every opportunity to empower them to succeed. Our agile approach enables our customers with the speed, agility, and rapid innovation required to get the desired business results. With a structured and iterative agile approach, we, at Subex are committed to delivering winning solutions that inspire trust and help our customers succeed.

Want to know how we empower leading telecom operators to drive growth? Get in touch with us!

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November 25, 2021

Augmented Analytics Platform vs. Fragmented Tools
Gone are the days when the most experienced person in the room made the big decisions. Today, it’s data, and not instinct, that drives most business decisions. And the growing volume of data and its complexity mandates harnessing it for quick and sound decisions. According to an IDC survey, the total amount of global data creation will grow by over 163 zettabytes by 2025. So, leveraging data by organizations and individuals to make strategic business decisions has now become more critical than ever!

According to BARC survey, the organizations that are reaping the benefits of Big Data see:
- 69% chance of better strategic decisions
- 52% better understanding of consumers
- 8% average increase in revenue
- 10% reduction in costs
It requires immediate attention from all the organizations across all industries. But although Big Data is critical to an organization’s ability to make efficient business choices, most businesses fail to gain compelling insights. Data usually comes in different types, shapes, sizes, and formats from multiple sources. Many companies use multiple point solutions to handle the various steps in the data to insights journey, creating silos across the organization.

Traditionally, point solutions are built to solve a single problem. Whether providing automation, data-related activities, etc., these tools put their complete focus on offering an effective and efficient solution within their area of expertise. Each point solution requires the development and management of an integration that lets it work with other solutions and the core line of business applications. Flipside, each solution will result in higher maintenance and training costs. Also, point solutions aren’t easily adjusted to scale up and can struggle to adapt to new factors that add additional layers to processes.

According to IDC, data workers are using four to seven different tools to perform data activities. Variety of data sources, diversity of data types, data volumes, multiple targets for analytics, and data science outputs results in multiple, complex point solutions. Proliferating points solutions can make data analytics even more complex than it already is. There are three challenges with this approach:
- To extract value from the data, proficiency in using each of these individuals’ tools is an absolute necessity.
- Integrating various points solutions costs a lot of money!
- Acquiring these points solutions demand individual ROI for each solution.
The need for a unified platform consolidating various tools in a single solution help eliminate the number of point solution across the data value chain. Current spectrum consists of various solutions across the entire data value chain.

This is where an augmented analytics platform comes to the rescue! Consolidating tools into a unified end-to-end platform gives end-users a frictionless experience, reduces the total cost of ownership, and provides consistent answers to what-next and what-if questions across the data value chain. Gartner states that Augmented Analytics is the future of data and analytics, and by 2025, it will facilitate the most widespread way of consuming analytics. Augmented Analytics platforms (such as Subex HyperSense) can step in with machine learning and AI capabilities to assist with data preparation, insight discovery, and insight sharing to augment how enterprises explore and analyze the data. It also automates data science and ML model development, management, and deployment. Augmented Analytics platform couples together different capabilities of data processing, data management, artificial intelligence, and data visualization into one unified platform. This eliminates the need for multiple point solutions for different data needs across an organization.

Augmented Analytics plays a critical role in addressing the first challenge. Augmented Analytics platform (like Subex’s HyperSense) provides automated data engineering and ML modelling capabilities, which goes a long way in alleviating the need to be proficient in multiple point solutions. It democratizes data analytics for the less business-savvy users, i.e., Citizen Data Scientists. It empowers them to build complex AI models without specialized training in data science or programming. Platforms like HyperSense, i.e., no-code AI, provide advanced automated data management, data visualization, ML modelling, and multi-data source integration capabilities in a single unified platform.

With two more challenges of a point solution, let’s see how they can be addressed. The cost of integrating multiple point solutions is quite high. As individual solutions have their own specific IT requirements, release policies, and support windows, these can add to a lot of costs and demand individual ROI for each solution. With accumulating point solutions, you ultimately pay for the same thing multiple times. For example, hard costs to the software vendor (accounts, server space, cost of sales, support, overheads). These costs are passed on to the company and the user. That’s why many companies prefer the concept of one unified solution as it reduces the number of existing point solutions and eases the maintenance of systems lowering the total cost of ownership. Augmented Analytics platform like HyperSense is a cohesive end-to-end platform that contains data management, business modelling, data science, business intelligence, and case management capabilities in a single unified data analytics solution. Augmented Analytics platform provides a single source of truth for all the data that easily aggregate data from disparate sources, turns data into insights by building, interpreting, and tuning AI models, and sharing their findings across the organization. Having one unified data analytics platform eases data maintenance, ensures consistency and data quality, and supports better reporting and more extensive analyses.

Augmented Analytics platforms (like Subex HyperSense) with their explainable AI capabilities help remove biases and ensure transparency in decision-making. Compared to a point solution, the augmented analytics platform is easy-to-use, delivers more transparency, control, and reliable information. It will change the way analytics is consumed across the organization. The platform will help in reducing data to insights journey and improve decision-making through enterprise-wide democratization of analytics.

Is your organization still using multiple point solutions for different data needs? What are the challenges associated with it? Is there any plan to adopt a single unified data analytics solution across the organization? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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November 24, 2021
Regulators train their sights on SIM Swap. What should telcos do?
In April 2018, Gregg Bennett, an entrepreneur in Bellevue, Washington, noticed something odd happening across his email account, after which his phone connectivity immediately zeroed out. Fearing a hacking attempt, Bennett, unfortunately, could do little as the fraudsters took control of his phone number via his SIM, therein gaining access to Bennett’s Amazon, Evernote, Starbucks, and even his Bitcoin account, whereby he lost 100 Bitcoin.

Greg Bennett was a victim of SIM swapping.

SIM swapping is a form of digital identity theft that banks on ‘social engineering.’ Often recognized as the second phase of a fraud attack, SIM swapping happens when fraudsters take control of a victim’s mobile number and from there obtain verification codes like OTPs and URNs that give them unfettered access to protected accounts.

The trick: How does SIM Swapping work?

I’ve often likened the finesse of SIM swapping to the sleight of a hand seen at a magic show. One moment the magician directs your attention to the object, perhaps a bird cast in flight. The next second, it vanishes, and as your eyes remain distracted trying to fathom the disappearing act, the real magic trick unfolds in the shadows: The bird pops up into existence somewhere unexpected – a pleasant surprise, a round of applause, a delighted audience.

But unlike the joy audiences feel at seeing the friendly flutter of feathers again, the ripple effect of SIM swapping is unpleasant and notably sinister.

Scammers take control of a replacement SIM that is replaced through spurious methods such as reporting a handset lost or stolen, placing requests for SIM replacement, or producing fake documents to get a duplicate SIM. Today, mobile phones are the nerve center of authentication for myriad transactions. So, it doesn’t take more than a few steps thereafter to grant hackers access to personal accounts.

How SIM swapping works. Source Europol

Fun, Funds, and Fame – Motives of SIM Swap Crime

Money, certainly, is a driving factor. In the UK alone, SIM swapping cost telecom operators £2.9 million, with over 3,000 cases registered in 2018. In their 2019 IC3 Report, the FBI notes how arresting a leader of a SIM swapping group leader led to the seizure of over US $18 million, five vehicles, a US $900,000 home, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in jewellery. Which.co.uk reported a story about Garth Pollard, a victim of a SIM swapping attack where the attacker spent £13,000 over 48 hours.

But some hackers engage in SIM swaps simply for the fun of it.

Take the case of Ruby, whose Instagram handle @ruby was much desired by some of the platform’s users. When Ruby turned out many requests to sell her handle, one hacker decided to scam it off her using a SIM swap. Her provider, AT&T, took note of her complaint and restored her phone number, but it took Ruby much longer to regain her beloved Insta-handle.

No matter the motive behind the fraud, SIM-jacking is a menace for customers. It also exposes telecom providers to a series of negative effects through lawsuits arising from non-compliance and inadequate consumer protection.

Seamlessness versus Security – The Telco Dilemma

It almost makes you wonder why telecoms aren’t doing more to stop this fraud. A chief research officer and expert in the field holds the view that higher security barriers for SIM registrations detract from the ‘seamless experience’ telcos wish to provide their customers. In an effort to make customer acquisition easier, telecoms just might be leaving a window open for SIM swappers to manipulate the system and create trouble for existing customers.

There is light at the end of the tunnel! Just like how a magician’s repetitive tricks force us to bypass the legerdemain, regulators are now training their sights on SIM swappers.

The loophole lies in mobile number portability vulnerabilities, which is what the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hopes to fix with its new slew of rules. Some of these include introducing a ‘port freeze’ whereby customers can opt to disable SIM duplication requests to avert ‘port out fraud.’ As stated in its recent press release, the FCC proposes that phone carriers be required to securely “authenticate a customer before transferring a phone number to a new device or carrier.”

African telcos are adopting countermeasures, too. Safaricom, the Kenyan telecom provider, has created an API that alerts banks when a customer’s SIM has been swapped, allowing the bank to decisively protect the customer’s commercial accounts from fraud attacks. African telecoms have also attempted to tighten SIM registration processes in the hope of dissuading scammers. But in emerging markets where standardized national identities are owned by far fewer citizens than there are mobile users, enforcing such dictates (and the efficacy of it) is yet to be known.

So, how do you begin to protect yourself?

Creating awareness, protecting privacy, and fostering healthy scepticism among end-users in the online world is a good place to start.

What does this look like? Think about being cautious when installing apps from non-trusted sources. Refrain from clicking on non-verified links, check before downloading files from unknown senders, and use protocols to keep data private. These are actionable guidelines and advice everyone can follow by default.

As end-users, here are some tips from Europol (in the infographic) that we can use to minimize the risk of becoming a victim of SIM swaps:

What can we do to avoid being a victim of SIM Swap? Source: Europol

For telecom organizations, a robust defense strategy with multi-layered defense mechanisms, as listed below, can help stay ahead of SIM swap:
- Features such as link analysis in fraud management systems can analyze, in a visual manner, the different events that are under investigation. This helps anti-fraud analysts understand data patterns from the records and take faster action against fraudsters.
- AI/ML capabilities support understanding subtle differences in user behavior, thus averting instances of SIM swap fraud before they escalate.
- Implementing strong process controls such as:
Subex Fraud Management has built-in capabilities that handle different types of fraud, including SIM Swap, per regional compliance norms.

Discover more about how Subex Fraud Management helps you sidestep SIM swapping

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November 22, 2021
O-RAN: The Next Big Thing in Telecom

As seen in Pipeline Publication

Fast, reliable, and low-latency data services are essential deliverables from telecom operators today. Realizing them is pushing operators to enhance infrastructure, expand network capacity and mitigate service degradation. Unlike other industries, though, telecom networks are vast monoliths comprising fiber optic cables, proprietary components, and legacy hardware. Because of this, there is less enhancing—and more shoring up the creaking infrastructure.

The evolution of RAN

Radio access networks (RAN) are the backbone of the telecommunications industry. However, the industry’s propensity to incubate and evolve newer, cost-effective, and energy-efficient technologies has been slow due to monopolization by RAN component manufacturers.

Throughout the history of mobile network evolution, innovation has been driven by the need to ensure a superior customer experience. This calls for an evolution from legacy systems to alleviate shortcomings and address rising demand. The same can be said for the need to evolve the RAN ecosystem to revolutionize the mobile communication industry, as we now move to a new technology like 5G.

Breaking the monolith

To truly appreciate the significance of Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN)—a RAN interface that supports interoperation between vendors’ equipment—one must first understand how RAN architecture has evolved through the years.

Traditional RAN architecture

A typical RAN consists of the baseband unit (BBU), the radio unit (RU), and antennas. Traditionally, all RAN hardware was housed on-site within a mobile tower. These sites were controlled by a base station controller (BSC) residing in the backhaul space and connected to the core network. This type of RAN architecture was more suited for a technology like 2G, the first technology designed for digital mobile communication.

Distributed RAN (D-RAN)

To overcome the coverage limitations of traditional RAN, radio units were split from the rest of the hardware (BBU) while maintaining a single wired connection between the two. The split part, known as the remote radio unit (RRU), was housed closer to the antenna to improve wireless coverage. Vendor monopoly persisted, and hardware design changes were always a vendor choice. This type of RAN architecture was used extensively for 2G, 3G, and 4G technology.

Single RAN

As network technology evolved, co-location of multiple technologies led to the need for new radio units for 2G, 3G, and 4G. At the same time, innovation to support multiple technologies in the same software stack led to the consolidation into a single RAN. This model helped operators modernize their older systems at a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

Cloud RAN (C-RAN)

The next evolution came with the emergence of Cloud RAN, marking a redistribution of functionalities. The BBU and its software components were now hosted in a centralized cloud environment, while the RRUs remained on-site. Because these could be co-located, the evolution to C-RAN delivered resource efficiencies and minimized costs.

Virtualized RAN (vRAN)

Virtualized RAN represents a decisive shift in RAN innovation by disaggregating the BBU software from BBU hardware. This opened the possibilities of using any COTS hardware, making it vendor neutral. Through network function virtualization (NFV), operators can rapidly deploy new applications and services, scale resources, and improve reliability.

A New Era Unfolds: Open RAN

Historically, RAN vendors used proprietary equipment with tightly coupled hardware and software. Because they controlled the distribution, use, access, service, and maintenance of the RAN, operators were heavily dependent on their vendors for advances and upgrades. This hindered their ability to innovate as proprietary RAN cannot sync with other equipment, leading to vendor lock-in and higher TCO.

The good news is that today, radio access networks are on the cusp of change thanks to the Open RAN movement that brings together vendors, software developers, telcos, and more to develop new RAN prototypes based on open-source, open architecture, and open networks.

According to the Telecom Infra Project, “OpenRAN is a vendor-neutral disaggregation of RAN at both the hardware and software levels on general-purpose processor-based platforms.” It breaks all proprietary bonds between hardware, virtualized components, and even software, exposing all interfaces and connections. This deconstruction provides an open playground for true innovation.

Potential opportunities

Despite investing in network upgrades and greater data throughput, the revenue from data services has increased only marginally over the past few years. To remain profitable, operators must reduce operational and capital expenses (OPEX and CAPEX), an opportunity afforded by O-RAN in the following ways.

Enhance service agility

O-RAN provides a commonality among heterogeneous resources, allowing operators to take advantage of market trends and user behavior by deploying services quickly.

Elevate network management

O-RAN orchestration supports automation by allowing programmable creation and deployment of containerized resources to meet service-level requirements of ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC) and enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) slices. As deep intelligence penetrates RAN architecture, it will create AI-based closed-loop automation to support faster decision-making to enhance the overall network-management process.

Eliminate proprietary vendor monopolies

With vendors free to produce flexible future-proof hardware, operators can further exploit the spectrum. They may section spectrum for different industries or dense user hotspots and provision this dynamically for greater quality of service, quality of experience, and customer stickiness.

CAPEX reduction

Open RAN primarily involves disaggregating traditional fit-for-purpose solutions into off-the-shelf hardware and open-standards-driven software, thereby enabling a larger ecosystem of vendors and improving vendor diversity. The combination of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware and standards-driven solutions is expected to offer operators a significant gain in CAPEX reduction. Studies indicate that the traditional RAN domain is easily the most expensive part of a mobile network, representing 65 to 70 percent of its total cost. According to Deloitte, Open RAN can reduce CAPEX by 40 to 50 percent. The open standard promotes faster innovation cycles, improves supply chain diversity, and encourages automation of network operations to enable a lower overall network TCO.

However, it is important to note that the diversity and larger ecosystem afforded by O-RAN can create integration challenges if not well-orchestrated or limited by hardware choices. As the network becomes increasingly software-driven, it becomes imperative to look at integration challenges from a software-driven system view.

AI and ML in Open RAN RIC

Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) will have a much more comprehensive and transformative impact on the end-to-end network in an O-RAN environment. The O-RAN Alliance specifications provide a framework to use AI and ML to optimize radio resources in LTE and 5G networks. The framework heavily relies on AI/ML technologies to improve performance and operation automation through intelligent algorithms that improve the system continuously. This is done through applications hosted on the RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) platform, which can be implemented for near real-time control and non-real-time control. AI-enabled policies and ML-based models generate messages in non-RT RIC and are conveyed to the near-RT RIC.

RIC is evolving, and projects are ongoing

RIC is evolving, and a number of new initiatives have come to the fore. For example, at the end of August 2020, the Open Networking Foundation (ONF) introduced a software defined radio access network (SD-RAN) project to develop an open-source Near Real-Time RAN Intelligent Controller (nRT-RIC) that is compatible with the O-RAN architecture. In September 2020, Samsung and KDDI demonstrated a network slicing use case involving an RIC to manage radio resources to guarantee required service levels.

The TIP OpenRAN 5G NR Project Group is also active, with the launch of its RAN Intelligence and Automation (RIA) subgroup to develop and deploy AI/ML-based applications (as xApps) for a variety of RAN use cases, including radio resource management, massive MIMO, quality of experience, optimization, and more.

AI/ML-based closed-loop automation

Because Open RAN provides flexibility in terms of disaggregation and interfaces, it can optimally use AI/ML for optimization and automation in a way that these actions are not guided but are fully closed-loop automation. Open RAN provides multiple touchpoints in terms of open interfaces to perform data collection and enrichment information, which can be used for model training to enable intelligent feedback mechanisms to enable AI/ML-based closed-loop automation. Open RAN supports open APIs like xApps and rApps for real-time and non-real-time model implementation and decision-making, which allows the accommodation of multiple models and the selection of the best-suited solution for the use case.

The overall approach drift and AI/ML-enabled closed-loop automation would help in reducing OPEX through advanced and adaptive self-managing capabilities, which would help in accelerated time-to-value and reduced risk of human errors.

The O-RAN future

The RAN ecosystem has evolved significantly at each stage of mobile network technology transformation, from the days of 2G, to now, the inception of 5G. As 5G moves toward becoming mainstream, Open RAN at the network edge is expected to benefit applications, including autonomous vehicles and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions.

ABI Research has predicted that Open RAN CAPEX spending will overtake traditional RAN spending by 2028. Leading European telecommunications operators, including Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica and Vodafone, have already committed to deploying Open RAN as part of their 5G rollouts. The open standards promoted by the O-RAN Alliance will allow the development of open interfaces and faster deployment of radio access networks by leveraging technologies such as AI/ML and real-time analytics. Additionally, Open RAN brings considerable innovation potential to the telecommunications industry by creating an open ground for innovation, not just for traditional RAN vendors but also for new players and startups, ensuring revolution in network economics as we know it today.

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November 16, 2021
Subex takes home two TM Forum Catalyst Awards

We are very excited to announce that Subex has been announced as a winner across two categories in the prestigious TM Forum Catalyst Awards 2021. The Catalyst project, Measurements of Trust in AI Environment, a joint initiative with Dialog Axiata, Ncell Axiata, Axiata Digital Labs, BolgiaTen, Brytlyt, and AWS was recognized in the Sustainability category. Similarly, the Catalyst project, 5G Digital Marketplace Phase II, with Colt, Verizon, Cognizant, AWS, Servicenow, and STL was selected for the Best use of Open Digital Framework Category.

TM Forum’s Catalyst Awards recognize the world’s leading companies for their outstanding proof-of-concept solutions to challenges facing communications service providers and their technology partners. The award for Sustainability recognizes the team whose project demonstrates the greatest potential to make our world a better place, based on the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs). On the other hand, the Best use of Open Digital Framework award recognizes the team that shows the most powerful use of TM Forum’s Open Digital Framework (ODF) assets in their solution and can quantify the benefits of using these assets.

Steffen Roehn, Chairman of TM Forum and [StR] Partner of Bain & Company comments: “Throughout the past 18 months, the tech communications industry has mastered the challenge to keep the world connected. This meant to overcome a multitude of obstacles to ensure success for customers. We were extremely impressed by the incredible standard of the demonstrations and true innovation throughout the Catalyst projects this year as we reviewed the creativity of the teams in developing solutions to evolve our industry. I was privileged and proud to be a part of the process and I extend my congratulations to all the winners.”

John Gillam, Chief Digital Officer, TM Forum comments: “Through the power of collaboration, we can connect, inspire, and ignite change for good to tackle some of the biggest barriers in telecoms. The TM Forum Catalyst Awards are a chance for us to honor the innovative and creative minds within our industry. This year, through the 41 Catalyst teams, we have seen evidence of the way in which we can unite to drive transformation within society, business, and the wider world. I’m delighted to congratulate this year’s Outstanding Catalysts, and the proof-of-concept solutions they have developed together.”

To see the winners from this year’s TM Forum Catalyst awards, please visit the website here

About the Catalyst Programs:

Measurements of trust in AI environment

Subex joined hands with Catalyst champions, Axiata, Ncell Axiata & Dialog to address the trust issues in AI systems by building a comprehensive framework to measure trust. As part of the catalyst program, the team explores how to bridge the AI trust gap across three use cases: Churn Prediction, Maintaining Model Trust in Real-Time Analytics, and Credit Rating.

5G Digital Marketplace – Phase II

Subex collaborated with Catalyst champions Colt and Verizon to demonstrate a digital marketplace involving cross-industry service compositions and the provisioning of appropriate 5G network slices to provide low-latency services faster. As part of the project, Subex’s Capacity Management solution will provide its proprietary predictive Machine Learning models to predict capacity needs. It will also apply advanced analytics on network slices to understand the impact on QoS (quality of service) and QoE (Quality of Experience) and provide an immersive customer experience.

November 12, 2021