Revenue Sharing Fraud An ‘Emerging Threat’

In the wake of the police crackdown on an illegal telecom activity called the International Revenue Sharing Fraud (IRSF) last week, telecommunication companies here have foreseen an emerging threat to their relations with their international counterparts.

IRSF, said to be one of the most critical telecommunication crimes, was tracked in Nepal for the first time, with two Pakistani nationals found using the gateway of Ncell to make calls from SIM cards issued with UK-based companies Vodafone and T-Mobile. The duo had been making telephone calls to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the countries with high telecommunication tariffs. In the past couple of weeks, they had made calls for over 13,333 minutes using the roaming service of T-Mobile alone.

In roaming service, the home network (T-Mobile or Vodafone in this case), has to pay a certain amount of revenue to the visited network (Ncell) based on the talk-time. The visited network then shares the revenue with the carrier service providers (CSP) to whom it passes the call. The CSP again passes the call to another such service providers to route the call to the destination country, according to telecom companies. The longer the talk-time, the higher the revenue that the CSPs and the destination network get.

Nepal Telecom officials said such crime is possible with the involvement of CSPs that route the calls and destination networks. Therefore, racketeers look forward to increase the talk-time from the home network by misusing various high-cost services, preferably roaming.

Last week’s crackdown has revealed that IRSF, the biggest telecom crime, is also taking place in Nepal, according to Sanju Koirala, corporate communication director of Ncell.

“The high revenue charge for the home network is just one side of the coin,” she said. “In the larger picture, such instances are very much likely to spoil the relations of trust between two international telecommunication companies.” If such instances keep happening, international telecom operators might stop their outbound roaming services to Nepal, experts say. Such a move will take a toll directly on the revenue generation of local telecom companies and indirectly on other related businesses like tourism, the say. Spokesperson for Nepal Telecom Guna Keshari Pradhan echoed Koirala, and called for efforts from all related quarters to avoid the illegal operation of such “telecommunication pirates”.

“IRSF is already the most feared telecommunication crime, which often goes unnoticed, as the sharing of revenue goes in the legal channel,” he said. The two-week-long coordinated search carried out by Ncell and the police, which ended on July 16 with the arrest of Nabid Ur Rahman and Mohammad Asif is both a major success and a new challenge for police units looking to curb telecommunication crimes. Such crimes were so far limited to call by-pass and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

Police seized a laptop, 26 UK SIM cards, 17 Spain SIM cards, a Pakistan SIM card, three Ncell SIM cards and 20 cell phone sets from the Pakistanis.

According to SSP Subodh Ghimire, Head of the Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Range, Hanumandhoka, the recent arrest is an encounter that has opened up ways for other similar investigations.

“The ones we arrested are just a part of the huge trans-national racket,” he said. “Investigations to get further clues and to trace the larger racket are under way.”

Related Sites:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Crown-Management-4782511

http://thecrownmanag.livejournal.com/

ADB Ready to Fund Alternative Energy in Azerbaijan

The Asian Development Bank is ready to allocate some $40 million to Azerbaijan for developing alternative and renewable energy sources, ADB reported on its official website on May 10.
According to the report, the Project aims to promote renewable energy development in Azerbaijan through developing two pilot renewable energy projects (biomass cogeneration) with a total installed capacity of 16 megawatt (MW) for efficient electricity and heating supply in Oghuz and Agjabedi regions.
The project outputs will consist of construction of two biomass cogeneration plants in Oghuz and Agjabedi regions, construction of heating supply systems in Oghuz and Agjabedi regions, and project management and supervision, including consultancy services for project supervision, safeguards compliance, reporting, and capacity building for the executing agency.
According to the Bank, experiences from many other countries demonstrate that biomass power generation is an effective and economic solution to convert biomass fuel to electricity and heat. With the project, it is estimated that about 95 million cubic meters of natural gas will be saved per year for export, thus increasing the government revenue by at least $5.6 million per year. The project will also result in avoidance of GHG emissions, and a reduction of 24,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year.
The Government of Azerbaijan is committed to promote renewable energy and sustainable development to ensure environmental safety. Azerbaijan s total electricity production in 2011 reached 19.2 terawatt hours (TWh), of which 82% was generated from thermal power (gas-based) and 18% from hydropower.
Currently about 38 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions comes from thermal power generation plants. With increased renewable energy, the government could reduce GHG emissions, as well as increase export revenues and reduce gas subsidies.
Azerbaijan has a large potential for renewable energy, which to date remains largely untapped. The existing legal and regulatory framework supports renewable energy development where the government targets an increase to 20 percent capacity by 2020.
The project has potential for scaling up in the two agriculture-based regions of Oghuz and Agjabedi, and for replication in other regions in Azerbaijan with similar resources and conditions.
The use of other sources of bio-energy may also be explored such as the 2 million tons of solid and domestic wastes generated in the country annually.
At present, the ADB has seven active projects in Azerbaijan with a portfolio of $990 million. 46 percent of the portfolio falls to the transport sector, while 16 percent to the energy sector. Another 36 percent is made up by urban services, i.e., improvement of water supply and sanitation.
According to the updated business plan of the bank's operations in Azerbaijan for 2012-2014, the total amount of funding for approved ADB projects in Azerbaijan in this period will amount to $575 million. The projects approved under the business plan, as expected, required $250 million in 2012. The figure is expected to be $155 million in 2013 and $170 million in 2014.
Azerbaijan has been a member of the ADB since 1999. ADB's operations in Azerbaijan are undertaken in line with the government's own development strategies to reduce poverty and promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth.
The country's participating share in the bank's capital is 0.5 percent.