MTN Nigeria improves network security, efficiency by 98%

The announcement was made this week during the Enterprise Ireland trade mission to South Africa, led by the Minister of State for Trade and Development, Jan O'Sullivan TD.

The AdaptiveMobile Network Protection Platform is reducing network load, protecting the operator's IP reputation from the growing threat of spam-related IP blacklisting and is reducing customer complaints.

MTN's collaboration with AdaptiveMobile is aimed at protecting subscribers across all its network services to counter current and emerging mobile network threats, as well as combat the small number of subscriber numbers that were being hijacked by criminal groups and used to send email spam over the mobile network. AdaptiveMobile's Network Protection Platform provides network-based protection across a range of service bearers and enables MTN to:

• Drastically cut spam - AdaptiveMobile's email and unique webmail filtering solution is identifying 96% of email coming through the network as spam and blocking/quarantining as appropriate
• Remove MTN's IP addresses from blacklists - the reduction in spam levels means MTN is being removed from IP blacklists, enabling legitimate users access to services and improved network speeds
• Reduce customer care costs - the reduction in users unwittingly sending spam across the network and freed-up network capacity is leading to a reduction in call-centre complaints
• Block access to illegal sites - users are protected from unsuitable content whilst MTN is able to build its brand image and meet legislative requirements
• Identify the source of viruses - AdaptiveMobile's anti-virus technology identifies infected handsets and PCs, enabling MTN to on-sell solutions to subscribers and make cost-savings on bandwidth

"The roll-out of AdaptiveMobile's Network Protection Platform is enabling us to improve customer experience and achieve significant operational cost savings through protecting our network and our subscribers," says Obinna Nweje, general manager of MTN Nigeria. "As with many operators globally, the shared nature of mobile IP addresses means that attacks from unscrupulous spammers can have a huge impact on IP reputation and potentially result in innocent subscribers' emails being unnecessarily blocked."

"MTN is highlighting the value of addressing mobile Internet safety," says Gareth Maclachlan, COO of AdaptiveMobile. "By using our solution, operators can differentiate their services for both consumers and enterprises whilst ensuring a secure environment for their subscribers. Network operators across the world are increasingly accepting a service responsibility to subscribers, whether to protect vulnerable users such as children, or to help corporates fulfil their duty-of-care to employees and it is organisations such as MTN that are forging the way in keeping one step ahead of the criminals."