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