Syniverse Technologies has said Saudi Telecom Company (STC) will implement the most advanced roaming fraud protection available almost a year ahead of a GSM Association’s (GSMA) October 2008 deadline for member companies.

STC will deploy Syniverse DataNet, a solution developed in conformance with the GSMA’s Near Real-Time Roaming Data Exchange (NRTRDE) initiative, to ensure data records that track subscriber roaming activity are exchanged more rapidly between home and visited operators. Replacing the existing, outmoded High Usage Reports (HUR) system with the NRTRDE standard reduces data record exchange time from 36 to 4 hours, enabling operators to spot fraudulent activity much more rapidly and reduce potential fraud losses by up to an estimated 90 per cent.
“STC plays a leading role in the growing Middle Eastern mobile market, and we have been proactive in providing the most secure roaming environment that we can for subscribers,” said Mohamed Alageel, general manager of Information Technology at Saudi Telecom.
“Syniverse was the clear choice for this vital project because it has the necessary roaming systems experience coupled with an outstanding roaming fraud solution developed to be the new benchmark for anti-fraud excellence.”
Syniverse Technologies is a leading provider of technology and business solutions for the global telecommunications industry.
 The NRTRDE standard was developed by the GSMA to effectively combat the growing threat of International Revenue Share Fraud and to help operators the world over benefit from a far more accurate and timely view of how their networks are performing against fraud.
With NRTRDE, the visited (roaming) network will be required to forward call data records to the subscriber’s home operator within four hours of the call end time, closing the roaming fraud window that currently is open on operator networks that use HUR.
If the visited operator is unable to get this information to the home operator in time, the visited operator will be liable for any fraud associated with those calls. Eugene Bergen, executive vice-president, EMEA, Syniverse, said reducing revenue lost due to roaming fraud leads to corresponding one-to-one increases in operator profitability for STC and, equally important, a more secure roaming environment for its subscribers.