Direct Carrier Billing industry consolidates in Africa and the Middle East

The 2022 edition of the DCB Index by Evina & Telecoming was released today.

Evina, a cybersecurity for carrier billing company and Telecoming, a tech firm developing DCB experiences, released the 2022 edition of the DCB Index today. This initiative is part of the strategic alliance between the two companies to place direct carrier billing at the forefront of the payments industry and reinforce their commitment to developing a transparent, secure, and stable mobile economy. The DCB Index provides insights into the direct carrier billing market of countries in the Middle East and Africa region (MEA), ranking them according to their current DCB status and potential to further develop this growth-boosting mobile payment method. 

Direct carrier billing is a payment technology that allows mobile users to pay for any service by charging the purchase to their carrier bill. 

The classification ranges from 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest DCB potential. The ranking is based on 4 main factors: mobile players’ actions to prevent fraud on DCB, their bent to innovate in DCB, the country’s overall DCB penetration and the DCB growth potential.

Download the complete DCB Index here.

For ready reference, the results of the Evina & Telecoming DCB Index reveal that South Africa is the leading country in the ranking, with the highest score (3.4 out of 5). All mobile operators are deploying DCB, and there is an overall increase in fraud protection compared to last year. 

In the Middle East and North Africa, Morocco and UAE steal the show, surpassing last year’s leader Bahrain. Morocco (3.3) has significantly increased DCB deployment and invested in cybersecurity measures to protect this payment technology, while in UAE (3.2) all mobile operators offer end users DCB to pay for various types of services yet major organizations still have to implement adequate protection.

Nigeria (3.1) and DR Congo (3.0) follow close behind, differentiating themselves by opening more opportunities for DCB deployment and increasing their level of protection against fraud attempts on direct carrier billing. 

“The DCB Index seeks to provide the market with a standard indicator of an industry we know well. MEA is an extraordinarily dynamic and very mature region regarding mobile payments. In fact, the average level of innovation in DCB has increased by 13% compared to 2021 with the enlargement of new uses of this payment technology, such as sports subscriptions, that has grown considerably during the last year” said Roberto Monge, Chief Operations Officer at Telecoming. And he added, “we want to go along with operators and brands that wish to develop the market in a safe, sustainable, and profitable way. The countries analyzed have demonstrated their commitment to direct carrier billing as a strategic growth lever for the so-called mobile economy in the region.”

David Lotfi, CEO of Evina explained that “the overall fraud prevention of mobile players across the Middle East and African region has increased by 0.2 compared to 2021, showing a collective willingness to safeguard the powerful payment tool that is direct carrier billing. Businesses have yet to understand that DCB can become even more powerful than credit cards and that mobile operators already have all the advantages to elevate DCB and become the biggest fintech companies. DCB is without a doubt a major opportunity for the African continent alongside mobile money, if protected with the right cybersecurity solutions. This DCB Index has been created with the sole purpose of giving mobile players an overview of the development of DCB in the MEA region in order to better understand how to improve their business in their own country, or what conditions to consider when deploying in these countries.” 

About Telecoming

Tech company specialized in developing and distributing mobile experiences for sports and entertainment. Telecoming has been deploying monetization technologies in partnership with telcos since 2008. The company is currently present in 27 countries. Its portfolio includes the official licenses of the leading soccer clubs in Europe and Africa, as well as the main competitions of 13 sports disciplines. Leader in the digital content economy since its beginning, the company has been recognized by the London Stock Exchange as one of Europe’s most inspiring organizations. In addition, it is one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies, according to Morningstar’s 5000 Inc. ranking. For more information, please visit: www.telecoming.com

Telecoming’s press contact: Bárbara González / [email protected] M. +34 603 578 654 

About Evina

Evina offers the most advanced cybersecurity technology for carrier billing and mobile money. Evina’s solutions increase revenues and decrease complaint rates by protecting +20 million transactions in +80 countries each day. The global company boasts over 19 nationalities and has offices in Paris and Dubai.  Evina received the Golden award for Best Financial Clearing Solution in 2021 from Juniper Awards and Best DCB Anti-Fraud Solution in 2020, 2021 and 2022 at the Global Carrier Billing Summit. More info at: https://www.evina.com/ 

Evina’s press contact: [email protected]

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