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Fraud prevention and revenue assurance

With each new value-added service that the operator offers to its customers, opportunists are presented with an open interface and therefore an open door for fraud that must be protected. The same goes for roaming and interconnection agreements with partners in the TIME (Telecom, IT, Multimedia, Entertainment ) industry.  

From the moment the service provider shares his network or access channels, he should protect the value chain with proper revenue assurance mechanisms. Some operators may still rely on counting and amounting traffic, but there is more pressure from content providers to dispose of correct accounting measures. Without the proper tools the service provider will not be able to produce an audit justifying his settlement statements. However, it is the real-time or near real-time validation and verification of these rules that ensure an operator is not cheated in this business model.

This is true for the content provider as well as for the customer to whom the content is delivered. To maintain customer confidence, the monthly bill must be accurate every time. The higher the value of content, the more need there will be for a real-time credit/fraud check.  Operators must be very strict on charging on-line and authorisation during content transfers and downloads. The operator has to know the content player, prevent any 'hitchhiking' of a new content player with an existing known player.

The need for very efficient Fraud Prevention & Detection mechanisms will also increase with the rise of new business models linked to m-payment and m-commerce. In terms of security, operators are not as trusted as banks, but MNOs may look to use well established systems and/or processes from the financial industry.

There are very complex pricing and delivery models with third parties. Today, fraud prevention around content is harder to provide because of these complex models, as well as less mature than for the traditional voice services.  

The Sicap Revenue Assurance Programme (RAP), part of the Price Broker Suite, helps operators reduce fraud. Proven on the a major European mobile network, it supports every possible revenue assurance rule.

The Revenue Assurance Programme is a rules-based software tool that compares and cross-checks CDR (call detail record) data with billing data for both B2B revenue sharing agreements and B2C billing checks.  It ensures complete and real- time rating capabilities and supports a large number of different file and CDR formats. The Revenue Assurance Program can handle large capacity CDR processing and set up a schedule of revenue processes off-line.  

The RAP Can access external rating and pricing configurations and can also function as an adjunct real-time or batch rater. It enables operators who have difficulty upgrading legacy billing systems a way to quickly launch cross-platform fraud prevention schemes. Price Broker Suite provides flexibility and high performance as well as open interfaces, giving the operator the possibility to customize the solution to their individual needs.

Customer Care Benefits of the Revenue Assurance Programme are not negligible for operators intent on avoiding churn. In terms of customer service, it supports "Bill Reconciliation". When the bill is generated from the billing system, it is checked again by the RAP against the appropriate CDR to avoid mistakes occurring on the monthly bill.