The global A2P (Application to Person) SMS market is predicted to surpass $70 billion by 2020, with 66% forecast to reach subscribers through grey routes – unbilled by carriers and operators.
To help fix revenue leakages, Airtel will offer a firewall solution that has seen a return of $500,000 per month when deployed in India, by screening and bringing all traffic into the network that was being lost to grey routes.
It will form part of the messaging suite that also consist of Message Hub, and a gateway to enable the exchange of SMS messages between mobile operators.
Airtel said it will roll out the firewall to new markets, including African and APAC carriers, to help its partner’s monetise their traffic, which it claims can add substantially to bottom-line revenues. It recently provisioned the service for Airtel Bangladesh (now Robi Axiata) which monetised 100% of A2P traffic to its 10 million customers.
“Before partnering with Airtel business, Airtel Bangladesh was facing revenue leakage in A2P SMS traffic. This solution has enabled Airtel Bangladesh Limited to monetize 100% A2P traffic and ensure completely spam- free traffic” recommends Mr. Jayesh Patel, chief supply chain officer for Airtel Bangladesh.
