MACH, a Luxembourg-based company that provides 650-odd mobile network operators (of the 850 GSM operators globally) with roaming, interconnect, messaging and direct billing solutions, is gearing up to support the deployment of third-generation (3G) services in India. Chief executive officer Morten Brøgger shares with K Rajani Kanth the company’s plans for India, including investments and its newly-launched data clearing platform, to open new services to mobile operators with 3G. Edited excerpts:
What is the potential you see from the 3G rollout in India, in terms of roaming?
From our point, it is still in an early stage but will increase with the penetration of modern smartphones and with high bandwidth roaming access. People doing more emails and the younger generation using Facebook much more while travelling will steer the growth in roaming. But, here, we do see a global challenge. Approximately 42 per cent of all users using international roaming do not use data but only voice. When it comes to roaming, you are charged per megabit and it is very difficult for a normal person to understand how to use a megabit of data. It is, actually, virtually impossible. This is preventing people from using that because of fear of bills. It (India) is a big untapped market that goes in here.
Are you lining new products and services for India?
At the Mobile World Congress 2011, held recently in Barcelona, Spain, we had launched the ‘Data Roaming Engine’, which combines our ability in business intelligence, tracks what subscribers use while travelling and where they are, and allows the user to say ‘I would like to use $2 worth of email roaming per day.’ We also combine service-specific roaming. For example, if I would like to have email access while travelling and nothing else or I would like to have access to Twitter or Facebook, we facilitate that. This can be used for domestic roaming as well. We do business (financial clearing settlements) with 95 per cent of the operators in India. We have introduced this (Data Roaming Engine) to the Indian operators and are having prototypes. In the second quarter of 2011, we will launch it globally.
Can you throw some light on your Data Express Fraud Protection solution?
We have built global managed services called a fairly advanced fraud protection system in a near real-time scenario that analyses unusual roaming behaviour or suspicious roaming patterns. We then generate the report automatically, analyse and send it to the operator. This helps the operator detect whether it (roaming fraud) is in an early stage. Roaming fraud is a huge revenue leakage problem for mobile operators in general. It is undoubtedly an organised crime and can hit very abruptly at hundreds of thousands of dollars in a matter of half an hour. We are in discussion with Indian operators in this regard. It is like you have a new car with an air bag and you still put your seat belt.
What is the investment you have made in your MDSi in Hyderabad?
We have invested $6 million in the MDSi and are discussing the migration plans of our customers. We will migrate all our customers by the end of this August. The new MDSi platform is location-agnostic and complements the company’s existing global data clearing platform in Europe. Both platforms together can process billions of call data records from around the globe.
Where does the MDSi stand in MACH’s overall research and development (R&D) story and are there any hiring plans?
The MDSi is 460-strong. There are 40-odd positions, including support and R&D, for which we are looking to recruit shortly. India actually is our creative centre (as we call it) and it has a lot of focus on new innovations. Our innovation is born in India and then becomes a global product. In fact, 80 per cent of our R&D functions out of India, from Hyderabad and Bangalore. We don’t share our revenues. However, India contributes 10 per cent to our global revenues. Over the past few years, it has been one of our growing territories.
Are you looking at acquiring companies in India?
Over the past six years, we have acquired six companies globally. In November 2008, we acquired a fairly small company called Roaming Service Bureau (RSB), which has presence both in India and North America. RSB has a technology called inter-standard roaming, which allows a subscriber to roam in a different network (CDMA to GSM or GSM to CDMA). In 2010, we were the first one globally to enhance that platform to support prepaid. The platform is very well-proven and enabled us to build four-five interesting products. These are the kind of technologies that we are always looking for, for acquiring.