Personal Mobile Users in Argentina Will Be Able to Report Unsolicited Messages by Typing ‘7726’ or ‘SPAM’
15 April 2013, Buenos Aires: The GSMA today announced that Argentinean mobile operator Telecom Personal has launched the GSMA Spam Reporting Service, powered by Cloudmark, a system that will help it to proactively address messaging threats to its mobile network. As the first mobile network operator in Latin America to adopt the GSMA Spam Reporting Service, Telecom Personal and its customers will benefit from collaborative, real-time global insight into threats against mobile networks and subscribers.
With more than 19 million mobile users in Argentina, Telecom Personal observed mobile spam from senders and sought to protect its subscribers from abusive traffic. As an active GSMA member, Personal saw an opportunity to demonstrate leadership by being the first Latin American mobile network operator to roll out the GSMA Spam Reporting Service.
The 
GSMA Spam Reporting Service is the industry standard for gaining actionable intelligence on mobile network traffic. It provides mobile operators with the insight that they need to detect SMS spam, terminate originating numbers and develop preventative policies and procedures to protect their networks and subscribers.
“As consumers have made mobile devices an integral part of their everyday lives, attackers are increasingly turning their attention to mobile networks and as such, operators are committed to protecting consumers from this global mobile pandemic,” said Sebastian Cabello, Director of GSMA Latin America. “By joining this initiative, Personal becomes an active participant in the Spam Reporting Service, ensuring that spammers and fraudsters will find it even more difficult to target mobile subscribers in Latin America.”
The GSMA SRS collects spam data from subscribers who forward the unwanted messages using a shortcode such as ‘7726’ or ‘SPAM’. The messages are aggregated, analyzed and incorporated into spam “fingerprints” by the system. These fingerprints give operators important details about origination, size, intent and growth pattern of the attack. All participating mobile network operators can share attack information with each other to ensure an attack detected on one network can be quickly isolated and prevented on others.
“When consumers receive unwanted messages, regardless of the source, they look to their mobile operator to address the problem, and we wanted to be proactive in protecting our subscribers,” said Ignacio Nores, Marketing Director of Telecom Personal. “With the GSMA Spam Reporting Service, we benefit from collaboration, both from our reporting subscribers and from other participating operators worldwide. With this information, we can better understand abusive traffic and eliminate the inconvenience and annoyance of unsolicited messages for our customers.”
New Visibility into Mobile Messaging Threats
Personal customers are responding to the opportunity to join the fight against spam through the GSMA Spam Reporting Service service. Over the last 30 days alone, the operator has received nearly 10,000 reported messages from approximately 4,500 unique reporters. The reports have provided Telecom Personal with new visibility into the messaging use and in particular, threats on its network:
- Personal users send more than 192 million SMS daily;
- There has been a significant increase in unsolicited automobile messages, with 1,600 unique senders detected as sending automobile spam; and
- 99.9 per cent of spam reported by Personal users originated within Argentina.
“Through their adoption of the GSMA Spam Reporting Service, mobile network operators like Personal are empowering their users in the fight against spam, and contributing to the protection of mobile subscribers worldwide,” added Cabello.
ENDS
Notes to Editor:
About Personal
Personal is the largest mobile communication company in Argentina with more than 19 million customers. “Each person is a world” is the concept that leverages its business strategy and promotes diversity as a universal value. Personal provides flexible services and offerings that contribute to enhance the mobile connectivity experience for each client, integrating into each one’s lifestyle.
Personal has operated since 1996, and its shareholder is Telecom Argentina S.A. For more information: www.personal.com.ar.
About the GSMA
The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide. Spanning more than 220 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world’s mobile operators with more than 230 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem , including handset makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as organisations in industry sectors such as financial services, healthcare, media, transport and utilities. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as the Mobile World Congress and Mobile Asia Expo.
For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com or Mobile World Live, the online portal for the mobile communications industry, at www.mobileworldlive.com.