SMS Firewalls Expected to Save Operators Over $4.4 Billion in Lost Revenue by 2027, says Juniper Research

SMS firewalls are expected to save mobile operators over $4.4 billion in lost revenue over the next four years, as they become more efficient at detecting fraudulent traffic.

According to Juniper Research, the operator revenue loss to SMS grey route traffic will decrease by 66% as SMS firewalls are able to identify fraudulent traffic and block it in real-time. By 2027, the report predicts that less than 1% of business messaging traffic will be attributable to grey routes, compared to 4.3% in 2023.

The report recommends that firewall vendors must tailor fraud detection and mitigation services to the emerging Rich Communication Services (RCS) messaging technology. As the role of business messaging evolves, operators should also develop messaging firewalls to be deployed as part of a larger security value chain that protects operators over more channels than SMS alone.

The report anticipates that RCS messaging will be a crucial technology over the next four years, and firewall vendors must compete on the completeness of their multi-format firewalls, including the efficiency of AI-based fraud detection solutions over multiple messaging technologies. The Security-as-a-Service model was identified as a key strategy for future firewall development, which includes providing managed security tools over multiple operator-led technologies. The report concludes that operators must have the most effective tools to identify and mitigate future methods of messaging fraud, regardless of messaging channel. However, they must outsource fraud detection services to experienced third-party solutions providers that benefit from the wealth of data that they derive from the traffic over multiple operator core networks.

For the most part, the report highlights the growing importance of SMS firewalls in detecting fraudulent traffic and the need for firewall vendors to tailor their services to emerging messaging technologies such as RCS. As operators develop messaging firewalls, they should also deploy them as part of a larger security value chain to protect operators over more channels than SMS alone. The Security-as-a-Service model is a key strategy for future firewall development, which includes providing managed security tools over multiple operator-led technologies. It is important for operators to have effective tools to identify and mitigate future methods of messaging fraud, and they must outsource fraud detection services to experienced third-party solutions providers to benefit from their wealth of data.