Evina, a cybersecurity company for a Carrier Billing company and Telecoming, a tech firm developing DCB experiences, released the 2022 edition of the DCB Index. 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.
By charging the purchase to their carrier account, mobile users can use the payment method known as “direct carrier billing” to pay for any service. The Direct Carrier Billing Index (DCB Index) ranks nations in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) area based on their existing DCB status and their potential to further expand this growth-promoting mobile payment mechanism.
The index has a classification range from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. There are 4 factors on which the rankings are based:
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.
Morocco and the UAE outperform Bahrain as the leaders in the Middle East and North Africa. While UAE (3.2) offers end users DCB to pay for a variety of services, all mobile operators in Morocco (3.3) have significantly increased DCB deployment and invested in cybersecurity measures to protect this payment technology. However, major organisations in UAE (3.3) still need to put in place 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.
Roberto Monge, Chief Operations Officer at Telecoming said “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.”
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 “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.”
