February 2015

Making the Retail Operator Case for Anti-Fraud Protection via Wholesalers

interview with Jan Dingenouts

Small retail operators are highly vulnerable to fraud, so enlisting the anti-fraud assistance of wholesalers is a great idea.

But will the idea gain critical mass? Is the idea strong enough to overcome the powerful vested interests of the status quo? And what can retail operators do to persuade their wholesalers to help them?

Well, attending the Capacity Wholesale Fraud Forum in London, I met Jan Dingenouts, an industry consultant with a proven record of helping retail operators win the anti-fraud support of wholesalers. At the conference, Jan was a vocal and persuasive advocate for retail operators. You can bet that many of the wholesalers in the audience sat up and listened when Jan challenged the audience to take greater responsibility.

Shortly after the conference, I held this interview with Jan over the phone. Jan gives some great examples here of tactics that work for the smaller operator. He explains the trouble fraudsters are causing them, why retail operators often fail in systems implementation, and how wholesalers can lend support and grow their business at the same time.

	Dan Baker: Why are you so passionate about anti-fraud and the cause of helping the smaller operators defend themselves?

Jan Dingenouts: Dan, for one thing, I just hate fraud. To me, it’s as if a burglar came into my home and stole my television. They are supposed to stay off my belongings and my customers, because they’re precious.

Plus, I’ve seen the damage fraud can do at mobile operators. And I’ve worked for pure retail operators — and before that I worked for iBasis (when it was KPN Wholesale). And you can see how defenseless the small to mid-sized operator really is.

When I worked for a large mobile telecom group, I always said: don‘t touch my OpCo’s because I am responsible for them. I have to defend them.

The goal of an anti-fraud operation then is to make it simply not worthwhile for the fraudsters. And you do that by creating a protected loop traffic stream. Sooner or later the fraudsters have no choice but to attack someone else.

	What is it about the way small operators work that makes them so vulnerable?

A retail operator looks around, buys some equipment, and thinks they are now covered, but they often don‘t have the proper procedures in place. If you put the wrong things into the system, you get the wrong things out.

That’s the main issue and frankly most operators don‘t have a clue. The secret is to do a combination of things well. That’s why I’m happy with iBasis. I have spoken to BT. I spoke with Tata. It seems these wholesale players are trying to work out something that is beneficial to smaller retail operators.

When you look at small operators, they have one or two people in the revenue assurance team. But if it’s Vodafone UK, there are perhaps 15 or more people in the revenue assurance team, so they can afford to dedicate several persons to manage fraud in international traffic.

But a smaller carrier with one or two staff is over-loaded and can forget important things.

	What steps should retail operators take in negotiating with wholesalers?

A retail operator should carefully look at his interconnect partners and try to add an addendum into the existing interconnect contract covering him for fraud. Now if the wholesale operator refuses to sign it, you might rethink your relationship with that wholesaler.

If a wholesaler operator is smart, it will accept this responsibility and take the necessary steps to protect the retailer in their own network or help close down specific number ranges.

One measure that can be taken, for example, is to allow call traffic to fixed and regular mobile network numbers, say to Latvia, but block all calls to Latvia Special Services numbers.

But today, many of a retailer’s end users are being hurt because the retail operator or their wholesale supplier is blocking legitimate traffic. Their fraud screen is not specific enough.

	What can a retail operator do if its number ranges are being blocked?

Well, let me give you an example. When I was at Cable & Wireless we had the OpCo Sure South Atlantic (now part of Batelco) who serves the Falkland Islands, Ascension Island, and St. Helena. And CYTA Cyprus was blocking traffic to Saint Helena. In fact, relatives living abroad in Cyprus who tried phoning family back home couldn‘t get through because the number range was closed.

When I got word of that, I contacted CYTA and was told, “Yes, we had some fraud problems so we shut those numbers down.” And I said, “If we guarantee you that by routing through iBasis there won‘t be any further fraud problems, will you open those routes?” Later iBasis sent a formal email to CYTA to that effect, CYTA agreed, and the problem was solved.

On a larger scale you’ve got a country like Estonia which has three main mobile operators: Estonia Elisa, Estonia Tele2, and EMT. In addition there is Estonia Top Connect, a mobile operator who has worldwide customers because they sell a travel SIM: people traveling abroad can avoid high roaming charges by using their travel SIM.

But all these Estonia operators and their customers are hurt because operators block their number ranges for fear of fraud. So how do they get around this issue? Well, it starts by finding wholesalers to help. Three wholesalers have stepped up to help Estonia: iBasis, Elisa International in Finland, and BT. So these core operators are ensuring no fraud can happen if the traffic is sent to Estonia through them and they terminate it with either Elisa and/or Top Connect in Estonia who have access to the numbering plan database in Estonia and can block all calls to fraudulous ranges or numbers .

Now it’s true that Estonia has a lot of dodgy number ranges, but if carriers route their traffic through these wholesalers, the problem is solved. And the beauty is that if something does happen, the underlying carrier doesn‘t have to pay for it. So this is the way to get the chain working for you.

	All of this sounds reasonable. So what’s preventing wholesalers from moving forward with such programs?

There are many reasons, but often the problem is obscured by having high level discussions. People need to be willing to put their feet in the mud and pursue easy fixes to issues. And one of the biggest aids is getting a wholesale operator to commit to protecting the retail operator.

Now I know there are details to be worked out. For instance, I’ve spoken a lot to the iBasis people and understand their reservations about not committing too much. For instance, routing management could make a mistake that causes fraud to get through. So it’s a sensitive problem.

My worst experience in fraud was in 2011 when I worked at Monaco Telecom and we had some PBXs hijacked. We discovered it within 2 hours and raised a ticket with iBasis. I think iBasis split the loss 50/50 with us, so we ended up paying only 50% as they already paid their supplier.

On the other hand, we had a dispute with Telia Sonera for almost 9,000 Euros for traffic going to Latvia. And we knew Telia Sonera routed this traffic onwards. When we got the invoice, we disputed it, but they just said we had to pay although we alarmed them 2 days after the fraud happened with all the required police reports.

Well, that made me furious. So what we did is remove Telia Sonera completely from our routing. And I told them the reason we did this.

Maybe my approach sounds harsh, but this is the only way a retailer can move forward. It must call its wholesaler to task for fraud. I see now a positive trend is happening that the wholesalers have begun to change.

	When you come in as a consultant to advise operators, how do you work?

I just present myself as someone not writing 5-year plans. I make a visit to your carrier department, your routing department, and your quality and technical department. I see what is good and I see what is not so good. Then I write a white paper describing my observations including a SWOT analysis, recommendations, and specifics on how to make changes.

So it covers routing, numbering plans, quality of traffic, interconnect partners and the like. But the big item, of course, is fraud — both inbound and outbound traffic. So this is how I work. To get known, I go to conferences such as the Capacity Fraud forum because as an independent consultant, you can‘t sit on your hands.

	Thanks, Jan, for your valuable advice. One final question: do you think we can really make progress against the kind of fraud that small to mid-size operators are experiencing?

Yes, we definitely can make significant progress, but retail operators must get their act together and start being more firm towards their wholesale suppliers.

If that happens, then wholesalers will then see the wisdom of not trying to make quick money on fraud business, and start protecting their retail operator customer instead. The bonus is they’ll build long-standing relationships.

I see that Tata, BT and iBasis are moving in that direction. So the word should get out around the world that there are a few good wholesalers with whom a retail operator can safely work.

Of course, a retail carrier cannot eradicate fraud 100%. But by collaborating with a wholesaler it can at least greatly minimize it.

And it all begins by having a frank discussion between every carrier relationship manager (together with the revenue assurance director) and their wholesale supplier. Something like, “Instead of talking about rates Mr. Wholesaler, please bring your fraud expert because we want to make a deal that covers our back. What can we do as a retail operator and what can you, as our wholesale supplier, do to help us?”

If this discussion starts happening, then it can lead to a big leap forward.

Jan Dingenouts

Jan Dingenouts is an independent consultant with an in-depth anti-fraud expertise. He has 27 years of experience in Telecom Sales and Business Development. His most recent 14 years were in International Voice and Carrier Relations.

Jan also has a successful track record coaching highly motivated teams to exceed their revenue, margin and cost targets. His consulting and negotiating skills leverage the excellent contacts he has with International Carriers across the Voice & Mobile Data Business. He also has experience working in multi-cultural organizations.

Jan operates out of his home in Monaco. Contact Jan via

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SHAKEN / STIR Calling Number Verification & Fraud Alerting — iconectiv — SHAKEN/STIR is the telecom industry’s first step toward reviving trust in business telephony — and has recently launched in the U.S. market. This Solution Guide features commentary from technology leaders at iconetiv, a firm heavily involved in the development of SHAKEN.
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The Value of an Authoritative Database of Global Telephone Numbers — iconectiv — Learn about an authoritative database of allocated numbers and special number ranges in every country of the world. The expert explains how this database adds value to any FMS or fraud analyst team.
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The 2021 State of Communications-Related Fraud, Identity Theft & Consumer Protection in the USA — iconectiv — This 49-page free Report on communications-related fraud analyzes the FTC’s annual Sentinel consumer fraud statistics and provides a sweeping view of trends and problem areas. It also gives a cross-industry view of the practices and systems that enable fraud control, identity verification, and security in our “zero trust” digital world.

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Hadoop and M2M Meet Device and Network Management Systems — interview with Eric Wegner — Telecom big-data in networks is more than customer experience managment: it’s also about M2M plus network and element management systems. This interview discusses the explosion in machine-to-machine devices, the virtues and drawbacks of Hadoop, and the network impact of shrink-wrapped search.
The Data Center & Cloud Infrastructure Boom: Is Your Sales/Engineering Team Equipped to Win? — by Dan Baker — The build-out of enterprise clouds and data centers is a golden opportunity for systems integrators, carriers, and cloud providers. But the firms who win this business will have sales and engineering teams who can drive an effective and streamlined requirements-to-design-to-order process. This white paper points to a solution — a collaborative solution designs system — and explains 8 key capabilities of an ideal platform.
Big Data: Is it Ready for Prime Time in Customer Experience Management? — interview with Thomas Sutter — Customer experience management is one of the most challenging of OSS domains and some suppliers are touting “big data” solutions as the silver bullet for CEM upgrades and consolidation. This interview challenges the readiness of big data soluions to tackle OSS issues and deliver the cost savings. The article also provides advice on managing technology risks, software vendor partnering, and the strategies of different OSS suppliers.
Calculated Risk: The Race to Deliver the Next Generation of LTE Service Management — interview with Edoardo Rizzi — LTE and the emerging heterogeneous networks are likely to shake up the service management and customer experience management worlds. Learn about the many new network management challenges LTE presents, and how a small OSS software firm aims to beat the big established players to market with a bold new technology and strategy.
Decom Dilemma: Why Tearing Down Networks is Often Harder than Deploying Them — interview with Dan Hays — For every new 4G LTE and IP-based infrastructure deployed, there typically a legacy network that’s been rendered obsolete and needs to be decommissioned. This article takes you through the many complexities of network decom, such as facilities planning, site lease terminations, green-safe equipment disposal, and tax relief programs.
Migration Success or Migraine Headache: Why Upfront Planning is Key to Network Decom — interview with Ron Angner — Shutting down old networks and migrating customers to new ones is among the most challenging activities a network operators does today. This article provides advice on the many network issues surrounding migration and decommissioning. Topics discussed include inventory reconciliation, LEC/CLEC coordination, and protection of customers in the midst of projects that require great program management skills.
Navigating the Telecom Solutions Wilderness: Advice from Some Veteran Mountaineers — interview with Al Brisard — Telecom solutions vendors struggle mightily to position their solutions and figure out what to offer next in a market where there’s considerable product and service crossover. In this article, a veteran order management specialist firm lays out its strategy for mixing deep-bench functional expertise with process consulting, analytics, and custom API development.
Will Telecoms Sink Under the Weight of their Bloated and Out-of-Control Product Stacks? — interview with Simon Muderack — Telecoms pay daily for their lack of product integration as they constantly reinvent product wheels, lose customer intelligence, and waste time/money. This article makes the case of an enterprise product catalog. Drawing on central catalog cases at a few Tier 1 operators, the article explains the benefits: reducing billing and provisioning costs, promoting product reuse, and smoothing operations.
Virtual Operator Life: Enabling Multi-Level Resellers Through an Active Product Catalog — interview with Rob Hill — The value of product distribution via virtual operators is immense. They enable a carrier to sell to markets it cannot profitably serve directly. Yet the need for greater reseller flexibility in the bundling and pricing of increasingly complex IP and cloud services is now a major channel barrier. This article explains what’s behind an innovative product catalog solution that doubles as a service creation environment for resellers in multiple tiers.
Telecom Blocking & Tackling: Executing the Fundamentals of the Order-to-Bill Process — interview with Ron Angner — Just as football teams need to be good at the basics of blocking and tackling, telecoms need to excel at their own fundamental skillset: the order-to-cash process. In this article, a leading consulting firm explains its methodology for taking operators on the path towards order-to-cash excellence. Issues discussed include: provisioning intervals; standardization and simplicity; the transition from legacy to improved process; and the major role that industry metrics play.
Wireline Act IV, Scene II: Packaging Network & SaaS Services Together to Serve SMBs — by John Frame — As revenue from telephony services has steadily declined, fixed network operators have scrambled to support VoIP, enhanced IP services, and now cloud applications. This shift has also brought challenges to the provisioning software vendors who support the operators. In this interview, a leading supplier explains how it’s transforming from plain ol‘ OSS software provider to packager of on-net and SaaS solutions from an array of third party cloud providers.
Telecom Merger Juggling Act: How to Convert the Back Office and Keep Customers and Investors Happy at the Same Time — interview with Curtis Mills — Billing and OSS conversions as the result of a merger are a risky activity as evidenced by famous cases at Fairpoint and Hawaiian Telcom. This article offers advice on how to head off problems by monitoring key operations checkpoints, asking the right questions, and leading with a proven conversion methodology.
Is Order Management a Provisioning System or Your Best Salesperson? — by John Konczal — Order management as a differentiator is a very new concept to many CSP people, but it’s become a very real sales booster in many industries. Using electronics retailer BestBuy as an example, the article points to several innovations that can — and are — being applied by CSPs today. The article concludes with 8 key questions an operator should ask to measure advanced order management progress.
NEC Takes the Telecom Cloud from PowerPoint to Live Customers — interview with Shinya Kukita — In the cloud computing world, it’s a long road from technology success to telecom busness opportunity. But this story about how NEC and Telefonica are partnering to offer cloud services to small and medium enterprises shows the experience of early cloud adoption. Issues discussed in the article include: customer types, cloud application varieties, geographic region acceptance, and selling challenges.
Billing As Enabler for the Next Killer Business Model — interview with Scott Swartz — Facebook, cloud services, and Google Ads are examples of innovative business models that demand unique or non-standard billing techniques. The article shows how flexible, change-on-the-fly, and metadata-driven billing architectures are enabling CSPs to offer truly ground breaking services.
Real-Time Provisioning of SIM Cards: A Boon to GSM Operators — interview with Simo Isomaki — Software-controlled SIM card configuration is revolutionizing the activation of GSM phones. The article explains how dynamic SIM management decouples the selection of numbers/services and delivers new opportunities to market during the customer acquisition and intial provisoining phase.
A Cynic Converted: IN/Prepaid Platforms Are Now Pretty Cool — interview with Grant Lenahan — Service delivery platforms born in the IN era are often painted as inflexible and expensive to maintain. Learn how modern SDPs with protocol mediation, high availability, and flexible Service Creation Environments are delivering value for operators such as Brazil’s Oi.
Achieving Revenue Maximization in the Telecom Contact Center — interview with Robert Lamb — Optimizing the contact center offers one of the greatest returns on investment for a CSP. The director of AT&T’s contact center services business explains how telecoms can strike an “artful balance” between contact center investment and cost savings. The discussion draws from AT&T’s consulting with world class customers like Ford, Dell, Discover Financial, DISH Network, and General Motors.
Mobile Broadband: The Customer Service Assurance Challenge — interview with Michele Campriani — iPhone and Android traffic is surging but operators struggle with network congestion and dropping ARPUs. The answer? Direct resources and service quality measures to ensure VIPs are indeed getting the quality they expect. Using real-life examples that cut to the chase of technical complexities, this article explains the chief causes of service quality degradation and describes efficient ways to deal with the problem.
Telco-in-a-Box: Are Telecoms Back in the B/OSS Business? — interview with Jim Dunlap — Most telecoms have long since folded their merchant B/OSS software/services businesses. But now Cycle30, a subsidiary of Alaskan operator GCI, is offering a order-to-cash managed service for other operators and utilities. The article discusses the company’s unique business model and contrasts it with billing service bureau and licensed software approaches.
Bricks, Mortar & Well-Trained Reps Make a Comeback in Customer Management — interview with Scott Kohlman — Greater industry competition, service complexity, and employee turnover have raised the bar in the customer support. Indeed, complex services are putting an emphasis on quality care interactions in the store, on the web, and through the call center. In this article you’ll learn about innovations in CRM, multi-tabbed agent portals, call center agent training, customer treatment philosophies, and the impact of self-service.
21st Century Order Management: The Cross-Channel Sales Conversation — by John Konczal — Selling a mobile service is generally not a one-and-done transaction. It often involves several interactions — across the web, call center, store, and even kiosks. This article explains the power of a “cross-channel hub” which sits above all sales channels, interacts with them all, and allows a CSP to keep the sales conversation moving forward seamlessly.
Building a B/OSS Business Through Common Sense Customer Service — by David West — Delivering customer service excellence doesn‘t require mastering some secret technique. The premise of this article is that plain dealing with customers and employees is all that’s needed for a winning formula. The argument is spelling out in a simple 4 step methodology along with some practical examples.

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