Tekelec deployed its TekMedia AntiSpam Firewall solution

Jul 24, 2008 08:05 GMT  ·  By

Tekelec, a US-based network intelligence company, and Mobilink GSM, a leading mobile operator in Pakistan, have announced a new collaboration set to fight "new-age spammers".

Following the agreement, Tekelec is using its TekMedia AntiSpam Firewall Solution in order to protect Mobilink's customers against SMS spam attacks, which have flourished lately. With Tekelec's help, the millions of Pakistani mobile subscribers who use Mobilink's network do not have to worry about unsolicited SMS messages, thus enjoying a spam-free wireless experience.

"SMS spam is a growing problem around the world and it's directly affecting our customers today," stated Yousaf Allah Dad, senior manager of engineering at Core Value Added Services Group, Mobilink. "We've chosen Tekelec's SMS Firewall solution to help us fight the problem because it allows us to use rules-based filtering to stop the delivery of unwanted messages, and protects our network and customers from costly viruses, flooding and spoofing attacks."

Wolrad Claudy, Tekelec's senior vice president of global sales, added: "SMS spam is quickly becoming the next big problem for service providers. There has been rapid development of technology that allows relatively cheap ways to send SMS spam using the Internet. We've worked directly with Mobilink to deploy an anti-spam solution that will not only meet their demands for more efficient network operations, but also provide a better experience for their customers."

It's estimated that, worldwide, about 72% of the total number of mobile users rely on SMS messages to communicate. SMS spamming is now a global problem, and Tekelec's TekMedia solution is intended to free users of the whole annoyance associated with it.

With about 32 million subscribers, Mobilink GSM is the largest mobile operator in Pakistan, ahead of Telenor, Ufone, Warid, ZONG, and Vfone. As you can see, there are lots of carriers in Pakistan, and there's even room for more, as the Asian country only has about 88 million mobile subscribers, at a total population of almost 180 million.