A new report from Juniper Research reveals that the mobile telecommunications industry lost more than $58 billion (£36 billion) last year due to inadequate Fraud Management and Revenue Assurance processes. That’s over 6% of global industry revenue.
The report goes on to propose a ‘nightmare scenario' that would see losses rising five-fold by 2016 if operators fail to implement any remedial measures. It notes that billing systems haven’t kept pace with the variety of new devices and increased network traffic.
Developing regions are being hit particularly hard by revenue leakage. Investment in new automated systems would enable network operators to cut ‘leakage’ to 4% of revenue in 2016, saving almost $15 billion per year compared with last year’s losses.
Dr Windsor Holden, co-author of the report, said “As the industry moves more aggressively into a 4G/LTE environment, telcos risk undermining any revenue actually earned from value-added services by continuing to not invest in appropriate business support systems. Despite their initial costs, RA and FM systems demonstrate a strong case for return on investment.”
[Whitepaper; report]