The 2022 edition of the Direct Carrier Billing (DCB) Index released by Evina, a cybersecurity for a Carrier Billing company and Telecoming, a tech firm developing DCB experiences has shown Nigeria lagging behind Morocco in the African region.
While Morocco is rated (3.3) and has significantly increased DCB deployment and invested in cybersecurity measures to protect this payment technology, Nigeria comes closely behind (3.1) and DR Congo (3.0) follows close behind, differentiating themselves by opening more opportunities for DCB deployment and increasing their level of protection against fraud attempts on Direct Carrier Billing.
Commenting on the rating, David Lotfi, CEO of Evina explained that “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.
“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,” he said.
He stated that 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 company. “DCB is without a doubt a major opportunity for the African continent alongside mobile money if protected with the right cybersecurity solutions,” he added.
Also providing insight, the Chief Operations Officer at Telecoming, Roberto Monge noted: “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, which has grown considerably during the last year.
He added that Telecoming wants to go along with operators and brands that wish to develop the market in a safe, sustainable, and profitable way.
Key points from the rating show that the global rating of the region keeps stable at 2.8 points; 4 countries enter the DCB Index for the first time and data shows promising DCB potential for countries such as South Africa, Morocco, UAE, Nigeria, and Congo.
The 2022 DCB Index 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.
The DCB Index provides insights into the Direct Carrier Billing market of countries in the Middle East and Africa region (MEA), ranking them according to their current DCB status and potential to further develop this growth-boosting mobile payment method.
Direct Carrier Billing is a payment technology that allows mobile users to pay for any service by charging the purchase to their carrier bill.
The classification ranges from 1 to 5, with 1 being the lowest and 5 the highest DCB potential. The ranking is based on 4 main factors: mobile players’ actions to prevent fraud on DCB, their bent to innovate in DCB, the country’s overall DCB penetration and the DCB growth potential.