Mobile Operators: Increasing Profits by Outsourcing International Voice
Big Interview

Mobile Operators: Increasing Profits by Outsourcing International Voice

Dmitry Krasilnikov_995.jpg

Q&A with Dmitry Krasilnikov, CEO Brilliant Telecom.

Q. Can you provide us with a brief overview of Brilliant Telecom’s new business strategy?

Our new business strategy involves the outsourcing of international voice and SMS traffic of mobile operators and MVNO’s. Mobile operators worldwide recognise that international voice and SMS has become a non-core business and is now a commodity. Indeed, it often represents only 1-3% of revenue. Nevertheless, many operators still have a huge number of interconnects, complex routing systems, expensive switches and strong teams in carrier relations departments. It leads to significant transactional, CAPEX and OPEX costs that are no longer necessary. Now is a perfect time to cut costs down by outsourcing international voice and SMS to a big professional wholesaler like Brilliant Telecom. 

Q. When you say “significant” cost-saving, what exactly do you mean?

It depends on the operator. Our experience shows that on average, the following are short-term results for an operator who outsources their international traffic to Brilliant Telecom. Firstly, inbound traffic grows; the outbound traffic bill shrinks 5-25%. The number of interconnects decreases alongside with transactional, CAPEX and OPEX costs. Usually, the saving is measured in millions of dollars per year.

Secondly, focus on the main business is enhanced. The operator focuses on its core strategies, performance and growth and we take care of voice and SMS. Voice and SMS traffic flows directly to network owners with the highest quality.

Q. What other values do you bring to the operator when it outsources traffic to Brilliant Telecom?

We individually approach each mobile operator. Every operator is unique and traffic outsource agreements are a serious decision. We commune and understand the operator’s requirements and evaluate our ability to deliver. In some cases, the operator wants additional revenue streams. For this case, we have our proprietary revenue growth product that helps increase revenues from inbound traffic. We help many operators to achieve their revenue targets.

We also help with marketing in foreign countries for other operators undertaking a big migration abroad. As an example, last year we created a marketing campaign that resulted in 2.5 times traffic growth to one Central Asian operator!

Additional value that we create for an operator is that we greatly reduce “grey” GSM termination. For many regions, this is still a big problem, despite the deployment of expensive anti-fraud systems. The majority of this traffic initiates in calling card platforms; in MVNO’s who market the lowest-priced calls or in APP’s who target the price-sensitive audiences. In the majority of cases, they are existing customers, and we negotiate with the operator on their behalf. Every operator is very interested in getting its international traffic from the “grey” zone and usually, we find a solution that makes all parties happy. In some cases, we return millions of minutes per month to the operator which it may never have seen before.

Q. How many operators are interconnected with Brilliant Telecom today?

Today we have interconnections with more than a thousand operators globally. They are very different in size and business model. We have significant business with more than 100 Tier-1’s.

Q. What market opportunities is Brilliant Telecom targeting over the coming years?

The main opportunity for us is that the operator’s business model is promptly changing. Now the main focus of operators is consumer marketing, IP connectivity, Big Data, content, 5G network development and AI. International voice and SMS are of secondary importance. By all market laws, what is secondary, shall be outsourced to professionals, who will take care of it in the most effective way. It will save money and time for operators. Brilliant Telecom is the recognised voice and SMS expert and we have focused exclusively on this field for 14 years. We aim to be the trusted partner for mobile operators and MVNO’s worldwide for voice and SMS outsourcing.

Q. What are your hopes and expectations for 2020?

In 2019 we hit $100 million in revenue. Historically, we served operators in Europe, the CIS and Russia. Last year we started to expand our operations into the Asia-Pacific, MEA and Latam regions. We hope that the proven model of traffic outsourcing will serve the operators in the regions and make them more profitable and competitive, allowing us to grow together. 

Please contact us for a free estimate to see how much you could save outsourcing your traffic to Brilliant Telecom.

www.br-tel.com

Telephone: +7 495 787 5270

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