Do you have the feeling that your A2P revenues are leaking even if you have a top technology SMS firewall?

[Guen_Rossi]

Enforcing control on traffic can prove more difficult than you may assume. In fact, even most efficient technical solutions might fail if not constantly updated: spam and cost bypass are moving targets with fraud techniques being continuously evolved.

A Firewalls performance over time, fully depends on the dedication of A2P and P2P experts that tune parameters and rules on a daily basis to capture new bypass and fraud scenarios.

With many Mobile Operators’ primarily focused on 5G implementations, only a few carriers have the necessary knowledge and resources to maintain a Firewall efficiently.

The potential impact on A2P traffic volumes of a poorly maintained firewall is shown below:

A2P volumes evolution after SMS firewall implementation: poor vs. efficient tuning

Case 1 depicts how traffic evolution could develop in case a firewall (even a high technology one) is not regularly tuned.

The launch of an SMS firewall normally coincides with a significant increase in A2P traffic: all bypass over P2P routes is stopped thanks to initial configuration that we assume to be ‘state of the art’. But fraud evolves over time and new fraud techniques find ways to bypass old filters. This reflects in a fall of A2P traffic that can be as low as 80% loss.

Case 2 shows the implementation of an efficient, vendor-based SMS firewall solution with managed services.

Usually this solution includes valued add services such as threats prevention measures that cannot be provided in-house. For example, some reputable providers host a global threats database that automatically updates customers’ firewalls whenever an attack occurs worldwide. This can prevent fraud and bypass even before they occur on the network.

Software based SMS Firewalls with managed services are a recommended choice for Operators willing to fully monetize A2P, despite any manpower constraints.

Read my blog to learn more about anti-fraud features: 10 ways mobile network operators can combat SMS fraud.

Learn about Sinch SMS Firewall, which allows you to improve SMS security, combat fraud and monetize enterprise messaging in one easy solution.