Ethio Telecom is so far the only active telecom operator in Ethiopia, with more than 50 million mobile phone subscribers and 21 million subscribers to mobile financial services. The company wants to guarantee the security of its network and its subscribers in a growing market.
Ethiopian telecommunications operator Ethio Telecom has outsourced the upgrade of its fraud management system to Subex Limited, an Indian enterprise software company. The company will deploy its own artificial intelligence (AI)-based fraud management solution to replace the incumbent’s current system, which focuses on a traditional approach.
The capabilities of the new system will enable the operator to take a proactive approach to detecting and countering cyberattack threats. These include SIM Box, spoofing (identity theft attack), SMS fraud, roaming fraud, subscription fraud, device fraud, mobile money risk, credit risk management.
This investment comes in a context marked by the acceleration of digital transformation, which leads to the multiplication of threats of cyberattacks across Africa. According to the Ethiopian Information Network Security Agency (INSA), the East African country recorded a record 5,586 cyberattacks in the first nine months of the 2021/2022 financial year.
The upgrade of the fraud management system may also be part of the actions undertaken by the incumbent operator to strengthen the quality of its services and its position on the Ethiopian telecoms market, in response to the trade war which has sprung up. announcement with the forthcoming launch of the commercial activities of a second player. The company notably launched pre-commercial 5G. It has also adopted the traffic management solution from the Israeli company Allot and the “Business Assurance” solution from Subex.
“ Subex’s AI-driven fraud management system will be critical to protecting our business and our customers. We see this as an investment in the future that aligns with our digital service initiatives ,” said Tsegaye Emmanuel, IT Security Manager at Ethio Telecom.