Azure Solutions, the global revenue-assurance company, today announced the availability of Certo 2, the latest version of its automated revenue-assurance solution designed to help operators analyze, detect and correct revenue-leakage problems in real time. Certo 2 is designed to meet the demands of high-volume, next-generation tier-one networks while, at the same time, lowering the time and effort needed to deploy and manage an enterprise-grade revenue-assurance program. Azure also announced that two new global tier-one operators, a wireline provider and a wireless carrier, have purchased Certo 2.
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Global Crossing’s UK operation has implemented an interconnect rating system from Azure Solutions, the revenue-assurance company. Azure Interconnect provides Global Crossing UK with an automated and flexible interconnect rating system that works with existing tools and practices for enhanced operational performance and reduced costs. Global Crossing provides a suite of converged telecommunications services over the world’s first integrated global IP-based network. Its core network delivers services to nearly 600 major cities, 60 countries and six continents around the globe. The company’s UK operation offers a full range of managed IP services to customers in the government, rail transportation and corporate sectors.
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Azure Solutions, the revenue-assurance company, today announced that Telenor Pakistan has implemented Azure’s interconnect billing solution to provide billing and rating for its LDI (Long Distance International) services. Telenor secured a licence to provide mobile and international interconnect services in Pakistan in 2004 and subsequently required an effective billing solution. Due to its work within Telenor Global Services and ability to deploy in short timescales, Azure Solutions was selected to provide the operational billing solution for the new Telenor Pakistan business.

Azure Interconnect helps operators to manage their costs effectively by being able to settle quickly and accurately with interconnect partners. The system provides operators with visibility of CDRs (call detail records) and the ability to adapt to rate changes quickly to ensure billing accuracy. Azure Interconnect also provides support for new challenges such as IP or SMS interconnect.

The Telenor Pakistan deal is Azure’s fourth customer announcement in the region over the last 12 months highlighting the need for revenue-assurance solutions in the market. “Pakistan is currently the fastest growing mobile market in the world”, commented Paul Budde from leading telecoms analysts Paul Budde Communications.

Ahmad Sayed, sales director at Azure Solutions in Pakistan, said: “We are delighted to be working with Telenor Pakistan. Azure Interconnect provides Telenor with a best-of-breed LDI billing and rating solution, which will enable it to maximise its revenues. Telenor is a valued customer for Azure as we have already deployed interconnect solutions for other parts of the Telenor group.”

Azure Solutions, the telecoms revenue-assurance company, today warned of the increased risk of fraud over the Christmas period in particular to consumers who buy new mobile handsets and sign up to new service contracts. Telecoms fraud is currently an annual $37.9 billion worldwide problem and Azure has outlined some of the potential threats facing both consumers and mobile operators during the festive season and identified some preventative measures that can help to reduce the problem.

Consumers can start to help protect themselves against fraud by doing the following:

· Set up a pin code on your phone to easily prevent use by other people.

· Consumers should limit service availability, such as international roaming, to only those areas that they use on a regular basis.

· If a phone is lost or stolen, report it immediately – unlike credit cards, consumers are liable for any calls made until the phone is reported lost.

· Treat your phone like you would your computer. Don’t ever respond to unsolicited text and e-mail messages, as this can quickly lead to premium-rate subscription fraud, or you could be signed up to unwanted services or fall victim to phishing scams.

· Apply the same common sense you would use with a traditional telemarketer. Never give personal details to unsolicited callers, as this could lead to identity fraud.

· Don’t be a show off with your new holiday gift! There is no need to advertise you have the latest mobile phone, only to become the target of a phone thief. Treat your mobile phone just as you would your wallet – or you might find it missing in a flash!

As for mobile-network operators, the following advice can help them combat telecoms fraudsters:

· Monitor dealer activations closely to identify potential dealer fraud.

· Monitor premium-rate services closely as fraudulent activity can be hidden in the Christmas volumes of traffic.

· Monitor and limit service availability rather than include them as standard on some packages, particularly over the Christmas period.

· Monitor SMS text messages for spam which can lead to premium-rate service fraud.

· Remind retail and customer-service staff to be extra vigilant as fraudsters may try and take advantage of the Christmas rush to perpetrate card and subscription fraud and service alterations from stolen phones.

Jack Wraith, chief executive of TUFF (Telecommunications UK Fraud Forum), said: “Increased efforts by fraudsters during the Christmas period is well known and an ongoing problem which can have significant impact on customers who become victims of such activity. It is therefore important that as many measures as possible are put into place in order to mitigate such fraud and TUFF welcomes this timely advice by Azure Solutions”.

John Cronin, president and CEO of Azure Solutions, said: “Christmas does provide many fraudsters with an opportunity to exploit telecoms networks due to the proliferation of new handsets and service offers. However, if both mobile operators and consumers work together and follow some basic rules, they can start to ensure that opportunities are reduced, so the fraudsters don’t have a merry Christmas!”

Fraud and new service rollouts continue to pose challenges to operator profitability

LONDON and WESTMINSTER, CO., Azure Solutions, the global revenue-assurance company, today revealed that global telecoms operators are losing an estimated 11.6 percent of revenue (over $170 billion) through fraud and other types of revenue leakage in 2005, compared to 10.7 percent in 2004. The study also shows that North American operators experience more loss than the global average, with an estimated 15.5 percent of total revenue leakage ($70 billion), compared to 14.3 percent in 2004. These are key findings from the annual research Azure conducted in conjunction with telecoms analyst firm, Analysys, into global telecoms revenue losses.

In particular, the ‘Operator Attitudes to Revenue Assurance 2005’ report attributes increased North American losses to several factors, including:

· Higher revenue leakage from call routing,

· Losses arising from carrier interconnect settlements or payments to other partners (e.g. content).

· Leakages caused by poor systems integration.

One common factor behind each one of these losses is the complexity of North American networks and support systems. The requirement to cost effectively route calls over multiple networks and to settle with a large number of partners is less of a challenge in many regions of the world where they have fewer operators. In addition, the Systems Integration problem may also be caused by the requirement to integrate a larger number of state-of-the-art systems to create new services for the North American market.

On the upside, North American operators scored better in stemming internal fraud and with overall credit management.

“The speed and market necessity of rolling out new products and services continues to add to the complexity of OSS programs around the globe and, in particular, in North America,” said Steven Bruny, president of Azure’s North and Latin American operations. “We see an increase in focus and resources being allocated to stem these losses and expect these percentages to decrease in the coming years as carriers take a more enterprise-centric approach to revenue-assurance and fraud prevention.”

The report surveyed more than 100 operators from different regions of the world to investigate levels of revenue loss. The major sources of revenue loss continue to be fraud, credit management, least-cost-routing errors, interconnect/partner-payment errors, and poor processes and systems. The report reveals that fraudulent activity, in particular, has risen since last year and is now the single largest area of revenue leakage (2.7 percent).

Other findings reveal that fixed-line operators continue to lose less than their mobile counterparts and once again there were strong regional differences. Operators in North America, Central and Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, in particular, suffered more revenue leakage than the global average. However, the report did reveal the importance of revenue assurance is continuing to grow. For instance, more than 60 percent of respondents believed revenue assurance to be more important than in previous years.

Azure is the world’s largest revenue-assurance company. It enables operators to reduce losses and safeguard profits from malicious and unintentional revenue leakage, such as billing errors, poor processes and fraud. Azure has more than 65 customers across the world comprising fixed-line and mobile telecoms operators and cable TV companies amongst others. Its heritage can be traced back to BT (British Telecommunications plc), one of the world’s best telecoms revenue-assurance performers.

Danny Dicks, principal analyst at Analysys, said: “This is the fourth year we have carried out the research and it is clear that operators are becoming more realistic about loss levels. Consequently many operators now have dedicated revenue-assurance teams and are investing in external help, in order to reduce their losses.”

John Cronin, CEO and president of Azure Solutions, said: “While revenue assurance is moving up the agenda for many operators, research figures show that there is still a long way to go. The higher value and added complexity of emerging next-generation services mean that operators need to plan for and implement revenue assurance now, otherwise they risk losing significant due revenue.”

The full ‘Operator Attitudes to Revenue Assurance 2005’ report is free to operators. To receive a copy of the report please go to www.azuresolutions.com/survey05

Global operator survey highlights increasing magnitude of losses and the need for better revenue assurance

Azure Solutions, the global revenue-assurance company, today revealed that global telecoms operators are losing an estimated 11.6 per cent of turnover ($170 billion) through fraud and other types of revenue leakage in 2005, compared to 10.7 per cent in 2004. This is one of the main findings of research Azure has conducted in conjunction with telecoms analysts, Analysys, into global telecoms revenue losses.

The ‘Operator Attitudes to Revenue Assurance 2005’ report surveyed over 100 operators from different regions of the world to investigate levels of revenue loss. The major sources of revenue loss continue to be fraud, credit management, least-cost-routing errors, interconnect/partner-payment errors, and poor processes and systems. The report reveals that fraudulent activity, in particular, has risen since last year and is now the single largest area of revenue leakage (2.7 per cent).

Other findings reveal that fixed-line operators continue to lose less than their mobile counterparts and once again there were strong regional differences. Operators in North America, Central and Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, in particular, suffered from more revenue leakage than the global average. However, the report did reveal the importance of revenue assurance is continuing to grow, with over 60 per cent of respondents believing revenue assurance to be more important than in previous years.

Azure is the world’s largest revenue-assurance company. It enables operators to reduce losses and safeguard profits from malicious and unintentional revenue leakage, such as billing errors, poor processes and fraud. Azure has over 65 customers across the world comprising fixed-line and mobile telecoms operators and cable TV companies amongst others. Its heritage can be traced back to BT (British Telecommunications plc), one of the world’s best telecoms revenue-assurance performers.

Danny Dicks, principal analyst at Analysys, said: “This is the fourth year we have carried out the research and it is clear that operators arebecoming more realistic about loss levels. Consequently many operators now have dedicated revenue-assurance teams and are investing in external help, in order to reduce losses.”

John Cronin, CEO and president of Azure Solutions, said: “Whilst revenue assurance is moving up the agenda for many operators, the research figures show that there is still a long way to go. The higher-value and added complexity of emerging next-generation services, mean that operators need to plan for and implement revenue assurance now, otherwise they risk losing significant due revenue.”

The full ‘Operator Attitudes to Revenue Assurance 2005’ report is free to operators. To receive a copy of the report please go to www.azuresolutions.com/survey05