Araxxe is a French-based company that specialises in fraud related services. The two best known services are fraud detection and revenue assurance, typically offered to telecommunication companies. Araxxe is based in Lyon, France, and was founded in 2005.[1]
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecoms |
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Xavier Lesage (CEO) Christophe Scholer (Managing Director) Mehdi Bencheqroun (Financial Director) |
| Website | Araxxe.com |
Araxxe in 2015 were operational in over 150 countries, providing SMS, GSM and 3G fraud monitoring for some of the largest telecom networks globally.
History
editThe company began in 2004 by developing a billing errors detection service, which was launched as Aramis. The system was officially released in early 2005 by Araxxe SAS. The system was one of the first of its kind to really begin to thoroughly protect telecoms companies and users from telecoms billing errors.[2]
In 2007, Araxxe joined a number of companies in the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). The company's aim was to contribute and work at standardizing the quality of services provided to monitor services used for Service Assurance and Revenue Assurance.[3]
The company was a major contributor to ETSI 102 845, a technical standard about billing verification developed for the European Commission as part of the 2009 ICT standardization work permet and participated to its update in 2019.[4]
In 2008, Araxxe became the fourteenth company in France to be awarded the ISO27001:2005, by the International Organization for Standardization. After the companies expansion to Latin America, it was predicted that their service would be made operational by 5-7 clients by the end of 2010.[5]
Black Swan Telecom Journal interviewed Araxxe multiple times (Xavier Lesage who founded the company in 2005, and other experts from the company) in the area of expertise for interconnect Fraud and Billing Verification: following a number of billing developments made by Apple Inc. <.[6][7] At the time, the United States market operated a flat rate billing process and many believed that in the future real-time charging would steadily become the norm. Due to the United States operating a fairly simplistic system up unto that point, Araxxe's CEO was asked to speak about the transition and the problems that the United States telecoms market could face.[8] Araxxe in 2012 became an Associate Member of the GSM Association.[9] During the same period, the company filed and is now holder of six telecom patents.[10]
By 2018, it was stated in an interview that Araxxe robots were influencing protection and monitoring systems for SMS, GSM and 3G telecoms in over 180 countries.[11] During the same year the company received an award locally in Lyon, for its export work as an SME.[12]
By 2019, Rocco Research elected Araxxe as a top provider for SIM box detection three years in a row.[13]
The lawyer firm Cornet Vincent Ségurel was Araxxe advisor when the company raised funds for 6,2M€ back in November 2019.The investors are Crédit Mutuel Innovation and Société Générale. The article mentions that the company counts among its customers the largest mobile telecommunications operators on all continents, particularly in France, Germany, US, Canada, Russia, Philippines, Malaysia, Brazil, Mexico, Morocco and Egypt. [14] [15] [16]
In 2020, Araxxe was the winner of the first “PSPC-Régions” call for projects. PSPC-Régions is a support mechanism financed by the Investments for the Future Programme (Programme d’Investissements d'avenir) whose aim is to select structural research and development projects to promote competitiveness.[17]
Services
editAraxxe offers two main forms of verifications as a service.
Billing verification
editThe first is an End to End Billing Verification service, which is used as a form of monitoring and provides an international network of test robots. These are deployed and operated remotely by Araxxe. One example of this was based on roaming telecommunication traffic in South Africa, prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Additional robots were deployed to check the billing of clients who were attending the competition, in order to minimise fraud.[18] The ISAE 3402 certification owned by Araxxe since 2017 allows its customers to rely on a third-party auditor report certifying their internal controls as part of legal audits.
Fraud detection
editInterconnect Fraud Detection is the second service, which focuses on billing and fraud detection interconnection.[19] Fraud types include simbox, ghost trunks, trunk arbitrage, CLI refilling, SMS arbitrage and also OTT Bypass.[20]
Both services collectively protect telephone users against interceptions and fraud. They ensure that bills are charged correctly and that phone calls and messages sent between different networks remain untouched.[11]
Telecoms fraud takes place due to the overall complexity between differing systems. This typically happens due to three different pressures, value-based pricing pressure, regulatory pressure or competitive pressure. The differing price structures for effectively the same service means that charging customers incorrectly and fraud could be commonplace if systems such as this weren't operational.[11]
Due to the varying number of paths and the creation of new ones, fraud of this nature would be almost impossible to wipe out completely. With intelligent robots, it ensures that common processes are monitored, which in turn ensures fraud is minimised.[11]
References
edit- ^ "A company profile on Araxxe Sas". Bloomberg.
- ^ "Partnership aims to eradicate increasing bypass revenue losses". European Communications. November 30, 2007.
- ^ "A complete list of current ETSI members". European Telecommunications Standards Institute. 2015.
- ^ "ETSI TS 102 845 V1.2.1 - Requirements for Check-up on Metering and Billing Processes" (PDF). ETSI.
- ^ "Araxxe expects to reach 5-7 clients in Latin America by end of 2010". BN Americas. December 9, 2009.
- ^ "Araxxe's Revenue Assurance Consulting, Testing, and High Definition Billing Analysis Service". Black Swan Guide. October 2020.
- ^ "Telecom Fraud & Business Solutions, Services & Strategies 2019". June 2019.
- ^ Baker, Dan (June 2011). "Robots for Hire: Verifying Accuracy In the Age of Complex Mobile Billing/Charging". Black Swan Telecoms Journal.
- ^ "Araxxe - 2012 Associate Member". GSMA.
- ^ "Method and system for monitoring traffic revenue flows for communications companies". Patent Genius. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^ a b c d "Mapping the Interconnect Resale Routes of Fraudsters: How a Global Robot Network Detects Voice and SMS Bypass". Black Swan Telecom Journal. June 2015.
- ^ "Trois nouvelles entreprises labellisées "Pépites"" (in French). Le Progres. July 1, 2015.
- ^ "SIM BOX DETECTION VENDOR PERFORMANCE 2019". Rocco Research. December 2019.
- ^ "Le Monde du Droit". January 2020.
- ^ "Societe Tech". April 2020.
- ^ "Societe Generale". February 2020.
- ^ "New partners for Araxxe!". www.araxxe.com. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
- ^ "Les réseaux informatiques sont sujets à de nombreuses altérations" (in French). Journal Du Net. January 22, 2010.
- ^ "Araxxe introduces interconnection and roaming control service". European Communications. November 30, 2010.
- ^ "The Necessary Reinvention of Telecom Operators". Trusted Advisor. October 2019.