At LATRO, we are passionate about delivering value to our clients. Return on Investment (ROI) is arguably one of the best indicators of value. Customer ROI is a common theme that we emphasize on our team. We strive to provide clients with an ROI that positively impacts their business. I am proud to share some of our 2019 highlights and our plans to deliver even more value to clients in 2020. Considering the current COVID-19 pandemic the world is facing, I think delivering value through positive ROI is more important than ever.

 

I am proud of our team for protecting revenue and delivering value to more than 60 clients across the world in 2019. We detected 1 Million SIM Cards the moment fraudsters inserted them into SIM Box devices. We refer to these pro-active detections as “Pre-Call™.” Pre-Call detections mean fraud is stopped before revenue loss occurs. The faster fraud is detected and blocked, the more revenue protected and the higher our client’s ROI.

 

We also worked with mobile operators, telecom regulators, and local law enforcement in almost every continent during 2019 to locate, bust, and confiscate 4,000 wireless modems which are part of illegal SIM Box or SIM Gateway devices. That is more than 130 E1’s of grey route capacity stopped. Stopping grey routes means traffic is returned to legitimate international gateways resulting in increased revenue to telecom companies. Again, big and major ROI.

 

In developing markets alone, we helped the telecom industry recover a (conservatively) estimated USD 20M of revenue. While this clearly powers ROI to our clients, we take pride in the investment this represents to those markets. Millions of dollars returned and protected directly translates to hundreds of jobs and new development infrastructure.

 

So, how do we top this in 2020? How do we continue delivering value and ROI to our customers?

 

Innovation
The LATRO brand represents unique and innovative RAFM solutions. We don’t aspire to deliver basic fraud controls, like just Test Calls, that bolster misleading “KPIs.” Our goal is not to be another commodity in the FM vendor pool. We would rather be the first (and still the only) company to provide network signaling-based fraud detection and pinpoint geolocation capabilities.

 

In that vein, our team has been busy innovating to deliver unique solutions. Our latest system software upgrade detects and blocks artificially inflated traffic attacks such as Wangiri and traffic pumping. As a result of our latest innovation, LATRO lead other vendors in contributing to the RAG Wangiri Blockchain initiative. The RAG Wangiri Blockchain initiative is a shared database of detected numbers facilitated by Orillion, accessible to any interested telecom operator.

 

We also launched an active off-net blocking solution which is a SIP and CAMEL based solution. It performs in-call blocking of off-net bypass and refiled voice calls. Many operators suffer abuse from external companies exploiting least cost routing plans by manipulating A-Number values. The LATRO off-net blocker enables blocking of these revenue damaging activities.

 

Infrastructure
Our growth requires scalability in infrastructure and support resources. As we’ve grown, our 24×7 service delivery network has expanded across multiple IPX’s and Data Centers. We are investing in our service delivery network during 2020 in order to continue rapid provisioning of services from on-premise, to cloud, and hybrid hardware and software systems. This year, we are adding even further availability and security to the service delivery network in order to better meet the demands of our growing customer base.

 

I am excited about the changes that we will be making, and ultimately believe that it will help us to provide more dynamic and agile support to our clients.

 

Individuals
When clients choose to partner with us — not only do they receive an innovative and customized hardware and software solution — they also receive a team of industry experts and dedicated professionals. Our operations support teams exist to help our clients solve dynamic and complex RAFM problems. Our team of analysts provide broad and in-depth insights based on years of experience working with mobile operators and telecom regulators all over the world.

 

We regularly invest in technical training and professional development for our team. Our goal is not only to provide best-in-industry service to our clients but also challenge our team members to personal growth and achievement. Like all technology-oriented sectors, RAFM demands continuous learning and development. It is non-negotiable and a key part our company’s commitment to employees and customers.

 

I am proud of the value that provided to our clients in 2019, and I am excited about the enhancements to our innovation, infrastructure, and individuals coming in 2020. If you are interested in learning more about how we help mobile operators and telecom regulators beat fraud and recover revenue, feel free to reach out!