Global Voice Group at hand to assist Cameroon with telecoms governance

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Dec. 9, 2015 - PRLog -- With 735 million mobile subscribers at the end of 2012, Africa is the fastest growing mobile market in the world and the second largest behind Asia. Unfortunately, this market size has brought with it a huge opportunity for abuse.

Annually, telecoms fraud is costing operators an estimated US$40 billion in losses globally[1]. Cameroon is no exception and the Cameroonian economy pays a high price for international telephone calls made through the fraud system SIMbox. SIMbox fraud is a set-up where fraudsters connive with partners abroad to route international calls through the Internet using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and terminate those calls through a local phone number to make it appear as if the call is a local call.  These activities result in a huge loss of revenue to the State and the legitimate telecoms operators.

In this way, international traffic is converted to local traffic. For a user who receives a bypass call in this manner, the conversation is often of poor quality lots of interference and disruptions.  The dialled number displaying on the phone screen is often a local number rather than an international number and the correspondent cannot receive call-back.

There is no law in Cameroon that specifically deals with the phenomenon of SIMbox fraud.  In the absence of a precise definition of this activity, it is difficult to establish the materiality of the evidence.  However, the Deputy General Manager of MTN Cameroon has warned: “It is urgent to act against fraud SIMbox because the progression is exponential from one year to another.[2]”

Besides the loss of revenue, there is a widening security threat posed by the radical Islamist militia Boko Haram (BH) based in Nigeria. The threat is stifling cross-border trade[3], hurting livelihoods, causing price increases and raising fear among civilians.

Global Voice Group (GVG), the world leader in telecommunications governance technologies, provides telecommunications regulators with anti-fraud technologies that have the capacity to identify grey routes and detect fraudulent lines in less than an hour, enabling legal operators to disconnect them promptly.

GVG has contributed to disconnecting hundreds of thousands of suspicious or fraudulent lines in countries like Ghana and Guinea. The same anti-fraud system has been implemented in the Republic of Congo and more recently, in Liberia and Rwanda.  Furthermore, GVG has contributed to capacity-building by assisting the regulation authorities to set up anti-fraud units in cooperation with the judiciary system and the local operators.  The company has taken part in investigations that have led to the dismantling of several clandestine networks.

GVG’s anti-fraud programme was developed specifically for the benefit of the regulation authorities wishing to coordinate the fight against bypass fraud themselves and to optimise the collaboration between all stakeholders.  On the basis of this new approach, the fight against fraud is no longer the sole responsibility of each African operator’s internal management; it is now increasingly the result of collaboration in a climate of consultation, under the leadership of an authority which possesses the appropriate competence and independence.

GVG’s revenue assurance programme and its integrated anti-fraud component aim to protect the revenues of the telecoms operators while ensuring sustainable conditions for the optimal enforcement of the pricing or tax policies of African States. Cameroon, too, could benefit from this expertise.

According to a recent study[4] “bypass” is a global telecoms phenomenon. Cameroon’s local telecoms operators lose US$ 3 billion each year and State revenues of more than 4 billion CFA francs in State revenues are lost.

The Social Progress Index[5] indicates that Cameroon’s developmental imperatives are water and sanitation and access to advanced education.  The State revenues that are fraudulently diverted from the State coffers could be used for improvements in these fields or other government priorities. No developing country can afford sustained losses to the extent experienced in the telecoms sector.

Cameroon is a country with a good development potential but has yet to be fully exploited by investors.  Despite its very significant endowments in natural resources, economic growth has lagged behind the rates achieved by more dynamic African countries. Large parts of the country remain very poor.  However, the government has understood that creating awareness is important in boosting business and investments.  Unveiling the country’s business potential is continuing with the latest initiative the publication of the ninth edition of the bilingual “Les atouts économiques du Cameroun[6]."

Visit the GVG website: http://www.globalvoicegroup.com/en

[1] Kroll Annual Global Fraud Report 2011.

[2] Serge Esso, Deputy General Manager of MTN Cameroon

[3] Cross-border trade sustains the local economy in the far north region which sells onions, rice, maize, livestock and other agricultural goods to Nigeria and imports sugar, cement, textiles, electronics and the inferior quality   locally known as “zua-zua” which is smuggled in from Nigeria and on which the region is dependent.

[4] US-based Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA)

[5] Social Progress Imperative, Cameroon

[6] An English/French spotlight on Cameroon–its economic assets and strengths