Dialogue Urges Mobile Operators to Drive App2Person SMS Market

Close on the heels of launching three new components to its A2P SMART Hub at WAS#1 Networking & Information Sharing Event in Dubai last month, Dialogue Group’s CEO, Perry Offer, has initiated a plan of action for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to help clean up the market, monetise all A2P (Application-to-Person) SMS traffic and be rewarded with full network control.

Holding a 100% on-net A2P SMS vision

The first step is for MNOs to recognise and accept that illegitimate (grey route) traffic is currently being terminated on their networks and to calculate how much this is costing them in lost revenues. As the leading provider of A2P SMS traffic monetisation software and services, Dialogue is ramping up its campaign to bring this to operators’ attention and encourage them to build a sustainable business model, focussed on 100% on-net (legitimate) A2P SMS traffic.

Offer emphasises that in order to create an “orderly house”, MNOs must first seek to identify any illegitimate routes being terminated on their networks and take the necessary steps to prevent this from happening.

Fewer partners leads to more revenue!

Secondly, operators need to understand that having fewer, trusted A2P partners is good business practice, as having too many connections just creates more price competition between aggregators which drives down market rates for MNOs. There has to be a shift in the mind-set that quantity is better than quality and that more A2P partners equals higher revenues.

In order to provide a good customer experience and reduce the churn rate, MNOs need to also avoid partnering with ‘spot’ buyers who are only interested in selling based on price, as they will be the ones who will be quick to move the traffic from the legitimate on-net route and use the grey routes if they become available.

“What the industry needs is more strategic thinking. It is pointless for MNOs to try and build a sustainable business model with fraudulent activity going on in the background as firstly, it is ethically wrong, and secondly it is not best practice and will not lead to business success,” explained Offer. “If MNOs review the number of partners they give direct connections to and then create a code of conduct for these parties on how they do business, then this is a big acceleration in the right direction towards the sustainable monetisation of their A2P messaging traffic.”

Leading edge monetisation software

Operators need to make sure that the appropriate technology and resources are in place to eliminate fraud and fully monetise their A2P SMS traffic. One of the biggest challenges for MNOs is being able to identify and quantify the extent to which A2P messaging traffic is being disguised and then terminated via their P2P (Person to Person) SMS routes. To address this challenge, Dialogue has recently introduced an extension to its A2P SMART Hub, which includes three new components to help MNOs maximise their A2P SMS revenues and protect their network against A2P fraud by bringing all A2P SMS traffic 100% on-net.

The first of Dialogue’s tool is SMART Sentinel, which is an A2P SMS market analysis tool, giving operators a 360 degree view of their network so they can rapidly monetise their A2P messaging traffic by gaining visibility of, identifying and eliminating unauthorised A2P SMS traffic entering on their network. This includes other areas of network leakage, such as domestic interconnect and misuse of VAS links.

“Regardless of an MNO’s market status, Dialogue’s role is to act as an honest broker and focus on 100% on-net SMS traffic delivery. MNOs can access monitoring, filtering and management tools to quickly increase revenues by monetising their A2P messaging traffic, as well as optimising the use of internal resources,” continued Offer. “For example, by using SMART Sentinel, MNOs can recognise millions of A2P messaging revenues within weeks.”

Robbing Peter to pay Paul?

“Finally, there is a need for awareness at quite a high level within operators of the interconnectedness of their different revenue streams,” says Offer. “With operators continuing to set targets like the sale of SIMS, which can result in the creation of SIM farms that are also cannibalising A2P SMS revenues, MNOs would benefit from looking at the bigger picture when it comes to revenue growth and protection.”

Next steps for MNOs

Offer confirms that the focus for operators for the next 12 months: “Operators need to bring their networks under control and take steps to monetise their A2P traffic by partnering with a small selection of trusted aggregators who have ideally signed up to some form of ethical Code of Conduct.”