Starhome’s Anti-SoR Detector defeats Anti-SoR Attempts and Safeguards Operator Revenue
Zurich, Switzerland, April 21, 2010 – Starhome®, the leading provider and acknowledged driving force of roaming services for mobile network operators are leading the way in combating illegal Anti-SoR practices still being employed by some operators.
Anti-SoR (steering of roaming) is defined as any tool that can block update location messages from reaching the steering platform by sending misleading signalling to deceive the steering application. Anti-SoR practices not only result in a substantial loss of revenue for operators, it also disrupts subscriber services by not supplying the optimum services given by the home network operator. The continued and widespread use of illegal Anti-SoR practices has led operators to block roaming agreements if Anti-SoR practices are being employed.
To identify potential Anti-SoR activities, the home network operator must instigate a lengthy three-phase manual process that includes a daily examination of roaming revenue distribution, signal tracing and testing.
The Starhome® Anti-SoR Detector™ continuously monitors traffic statistics and allows the operator to detect potential revenue leakage by identifying Anti-SoR activities such as the blocking of update-location messages from reaching their steering of roaming platform, locking roamers into a network, and simulation of manual selection. Starhome’s Anti-SoR Detector has built-in logic to identify exceptional drops or peaks in traffic statistics as well as unexpected signaling. Upon detection, the Anti-SoR Detector has the ability to apply resistance signaling to defeat Anti-SoR attempts as well as trigger the appropriate alarm to the operator. Starhome’s Anti-SoR Detector solution interoperates with Starhome's NG-IPN (Next Generation Intelligent Preferred Network) solution).
Shlomo Wolfman, co-founder and COO of Starhome commented, “The roaming market is an extremely competitive market, and, unfortunately, illegitimate tools, such as Anti-SoR, are still being used to steer traffic away from preferred networks, which, of course, results in a substantial loss of revenue for the operator. Starhome’s Anti-SoR Detector detects potential use of Anti-SoR activities to protect the operator’s business.”
On user request, the Anti-SoR Detector displays the top 10 networks with the highest gaps. Operators can then focus on these networks and generate detection reports to discover whether Anti-SoR techniques have been employed.
Mr. Wolfman continued, “Starhome keeps abreast of all the new SoR and Anti-SoR developments in the market. This information is used to enhance the Anti-SoR detection capabilities and will be made available and incorporated into the Anti-SoR Detector solution.”