NEW DELHI: Mumbai-based iAcuity that offers financial fraud prevention and forensic investigation solutions and telecom software aims to raise its revenue to Rs 35 crore in FY 2024, and is looking to expand in multiple countries. The company that has successfully deployed a lawful interception solution into the state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) network, is eyeing to market its 5G-enabled products and develop analytics-driven products for the Internet of Things (IoT) market. In an interaction with the PageOneAsia, iAcuity Telco founder & CEO Ajay Batheja talks about online fraud trends, the company's capabilities, and roadmap. Edited excerpts.

How iAcuity Telco Solutions transformed over a course of a few years?

iAcuity Telco Solutions formerly Xalted Information Systems is a telecom software product company, founded in the year 2001, and headquartered in Mumbai. We provide Business Support Systems and regulatory compliance solutions for telecommunication service providers such as network intelligence, revenue assurance, and fraud management and a lawful interception for the last two decades.

We are now maintaining a cost-effective, efficient network, and comply with regulators and law enforcement agencies. Maximizing revenue is a major challenge for communication service providers today. Our advanced solutions enable communication service providers to make the right decisions at the right time by making sense of oceans of data and creating actionable intelligence.

iAcuity Telco channelizes years of research, innovation and expertise to design domain-specific solutions that effectively manage huge volumes Data generated by today’s data-centric traffic, by employing advanced techniques of collecting, filtering, curating and analyzing this data to provide valuable insights that transform communication service provider’s operations, reduce fraud, and maximize revenue.

What is your product portfolio?

We have a proven portfolio across lawful interception, network intelligence, secured connectivity, and revenue assurance and fraud management.

What do you mean by lawful interception?

Lawful interception (LI) is obtaining communications network data pursuant to lawful authority for the purpose of analysis or evidence. Such data generally consist of signaling or network management information or, in fewer instances, the content of the communications. If the data are not obtained in real-time, the activity is referred to as access to retained data.

Governments require phone service providers to install legal interception systems, along their network elements, which allow them to intercept in real-time phone calls, SMS messages, emails, web access and some file transfers or instant messages. These LI measures for governmental surveillance have been in place since the beginning of digital telephony. We have deployed for MTNL and BSNL.

iAcuity’s Lawful Interception System (iLIS) is an ETSI/3GPP-compliant solution with a modular architecture, amenable to integration with future technologies. iLIS is a comprehensive solution for network vendors to offset the burden of cost-intensive investments required in a comprehensive surveillance system. Using iLIS, CSPs can intercept targets on a near-real-time to real-time basis from legacy to 5G networks and Broadband without spending a fortune on upgrades.

Fraud management is one of the areas that remains a focus for many consumer-centric companies. What do you have to offer?

Today's fraud landscape needs solutions that hit the ground running. Fraud detection technologies must sift suspicious activities on a near-real-time to real-time basis. iAcuity Telco’s iFraudPrevent offers a 5G-ready real-time telecom fraud management solution. Its ready-to-use, off-the-shelf adapters work with any network, including fixed line, wireless, or IP. iFraudPrevent adapts with any third-party OSS/BSS software application to bolster fraud detection and plug revenue loss.

iAcuity's iRevAssure is a comprehensive business assurance solution touching all the business units of the service provider. It captures vital information to plug revenue leaks. Our future-ready solution integrates with emerging technologies to offer a future-proof investment with high ROI and low TCO. iRevAssure’s in-built fraud control system aids service providers to roll out new services with minimal fuss.

Our iRoamAssure is a complete and comprehensive NRTRDE and TAP roaming solution for effective real-time fraud detection and reporting. It provides an alert mechanism for reporting the customers' activities to the VPMN (Visited Public Mobile Network) networks and enables the HPMN to detect high network usage and several other fraud issues on a near-real-time basis.

How have you been observing online fraud trends especially post Covid-19 pandemic?

Post Covid, there is a surge in the rate of conducting online transactions across the globe. Some industries impacted by cyber fraud include travel and leisure websites selling counterfeit airline tickets, hotel rooms, false vacation packages, and vehicle rentals. In addition, fraud activities across financial services, insurance, telecommunications, e-commerce and gaming sectors are becoming common.

Online frauds that are rampant in the Indian market include third-party seller scams, phishing, stolen credit card or fraudulent charges, identity theft and unemployment scams

Name a large enterprise where you have deployed your network intelligence solution. What are its benefits?

Our network intelligence solution, iPCAPTrace, is deployed at BSNL (via Nokia). It is a single platform solution for CS and PS (Voice and Data Both), giving a unified view of telecom network protocols across technologies, 2G/3G/4G/LTE/VoLTE. Multi-topology architecture not only eases deployment and also reduces capex. It further helps the service to reduce network OPEX with troubleshooting of L2/L3 faults much faster thereby managing the network with much lesser maintenance staff.

The solution provides insight into the data traffic being handled by SGSN and MME for validation tests, data session processing and managing networks within contractual SLAs. It captures traces of data sessions of test mobile numbers, across all sixteen interfaces of the SGSN/MME nodes for node validation tests, and to analyze success/failure rate and call handover failure reasons. iPCAPTrace is a user-friendly solution to make provision of target mobile identity MSIDN/IMEI/IMSI on the GUI, to view protocol and interface-wise messages of the data session with archiving facility.

Share your roadmap for revenue, growth, and new geographies in the next 2 years.

We want to market our 5G-enabled products aggressively and develop analytic products for the Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. We have a revenue target to reach Rs 35 crore in FY 2024. We are also transitioning from a project company to a product company and expanding our geographical presence to Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.