Interview Felix Ngome / Orange Cameroon

What made you decide to try Calltic?

• Well, Guy Van der Meeren visited us end of 2017 and presented Calltic’s methodology which was, quite frankly, revolutionary. In the decade I’ve been active in SIMbox fighting, Orange Cameroon has had solutions based on Test Call Generation and CDR-analysis but never we had had a solution based on signal-analysis. This revolutionary approach was the first trigger that encouraged me to start up a trial with Calltic. The second trigger was that with the previous solutions installed we detected a lot, but these detections weren’t followed by positive change on the international incoming traffic. So they lacked efficiency. The more technically advanced fraudsters, who tried copying human behavior, were detected far too late and it was my belief that Calltic’s solution would have much better results, especially with those more advanced fraudsters.

How was the cooperation with Calltic, service-wise?

• I particularly appreciated the flexibility and availability of Calltic’s promoter. And also whenever there was a problem Calltic never got defensive telling us we were wrong. Calltic was receptive, listened, analyzed profoundly and together we found solutions. The Calltic team has large technical skills and is always thinking customer oriented. I can even say the professional relationship became a friendly one.

What is the difference in results between your previous solution, the current market leader, and Calltic? And what was the evolution of the SIMbox detections on your network once Calltic started?

• Well, for a significant period the detection levels had been stagnated. There was an increase in the number of minutes diverted due to Simbox with a significant impact on revenue lost. So, I realized there was a problem with efficiency. We weren’t able to eradicate the SIMbox problem. We were lagging behind the fraudsters instead of the contrary. And that was the biggest difference Calltic brought us. You really attacked the fraud, you were pro-active instead of retro-active. We noticed an immediate declining effect on the number of detections. The bypassed minutes and the international incoming revenue stabilized. We hope that Calltic will keep the level of efficiency observed during the testing period.

You work in close collaboration with the fraud teams of your competitors in Cameroon. What was their reaction to Calltic’s results? Did it change anything regarding their own fraud levels?

• The moment we decided to trial with Calltic, our competitors ridiculed me a bit. They asked what I expected as a result. For them putting SIMbox fraudsters out of business was an utopia. But once I showed them the first results, how drastically our SIMbox fraud graphs were declining and once they noticed how massively the SIMbox fraud problem on their network had increased they realized they had a big problem. At that moment they contacted Calltic as well to have the solution implemented as soon as possible. During the first months of Calltic’s services the differences in fraud levels on our own network and that of our competitors was so large that our own CFO contacted me because he thought we were failing on detecting the SIMbox fraud. I had to explain to him it was due to Calltic’s efficiency.

Overlooking the whole collaboration period, are you happy you’ve teamed up with Calltic?

• I see it as an Orange-Calltic joint project. And I wanted it to be a success to proof to my management as well as our competitors that the direction we had taken was in fact the right one. I was also happy for Guy, who invested a lot of time, energy and money in this new solution, that it became a big success.

As a final question: what would your advice be for any other Telco operator out there that has a significant SIMbox problem?

• As I have done to telco operators in Cameroon, I have equally recommended Calltic within the orange group basing their efficiency and results. And as I believe that SIMbox fraudsters are well advanced in Cameroon I’m convinced Calltic’s solution will work very well in other countries too. I can only advice other operators who have a big problem to contact Calltic and ask for a Try-and-Buy to see the efficiency and service for themselves.