Empowering Connectivity: Alexey Yanson about LANCK Telecom’s Vision for GCCM Magazine

We are thrilled to announce the release of GCCM Magazine’s interview with Alexey Yanson, Managing Director of LANCK Telecom. 

The interview highlights the company’s achievements and strategic direction in the telecommunications market.

Key topics discussed include the shift from traditional voice to enterprise services, our initiatives in Direct Inward Dialing (DID), international roaming, eSIM solutions, and the challenge of combating artificially inflated traffic (AIT) through an AI-powered Fraud Management System (FMS).

We thank our partners and the Carrier Community for their support and invite you to read the full interview for more insights and our future plans.

In this CC-Webinar.Live Executive Interview, we’re pleased to welcome Alexey Yanson, Managing Director at LANCK Telecom, in conversation with Wida Schmidt. Join us as we explore the company’s journey, its role in changing telecom market, and its vision for the future.

Wida Schmidt: It’s hard to believe it’s been over two years since you last spoke to us. And we’re eager to learn about LANCK Telecom’s latest news. Could you share some updates with us?

Alexey Yanson: Absolutely. It’s been a busy and transformative period for us. LANCK Telecom continues to grow, now with 19 points of presence in major interconnection hubs—including new locations in Nairobi, Dubai, and Kuala Lumpur, and reaching almost 400 employees worldwide. We’ve also launched several exciting initiatives.

While the global voice market has long been viewed as declining, we’re seeing continued growth in traffic, especially across Africa, LATAM, and MENA. From our perspective, the market is evolving, shifting from conversational to enterprise traffic, and we’re aligning our strategy accordingly. This transformation involves internal restructuring, and our team is fully engaged in making it happen. 

Alongside the change in traffic types, customer demands are evolving as well. We are prepared to offer an expanded range of additional services. For instance, we are actively developing DID as a highly sought-after voice service for our clients.

We’re also expanding our international roaming and eSIM solutions, now offering more destinations. Partnering with a broad network of leading roaming sponsors, we ensure top-tier service and exceptional global coverage.

Wida Schmidt: What about messaging, what is your focus in this area? 

Alexey Yanson: We notice a slight decline in SMS traffic on our end, similar to what other market players are experiencing. As you know, the cost of international A2P SMS has doubled since 2021, with 90% of mobile operators raising their rates. As a result, enterprises are now actively seeking more cost-effective alternatives for verification services.

We adapt to market demands by offering a wide range of verification channels, such as Voice OTPs, OTT messengers, and more. This way, our clients can choose the option that best fits their goals, whether they prioritize cost, conversion rates, or specific business needs.

We believe that all alternative channels—even those not currently accepted or recognized by operators as revenue opportunities—should be reconsidered. Operators need to shift their mindset and start monetizing all available channels, even ones as questionable as flash calls. We’ve developed a solution and are already working with several operators to detect and monetize this channel effectively. 

We’re also firm RCS believers; it’s a game-changer, especially now when it’s available on both Android and iOS. The potential is massive—7.2 billion smartphone users globally—and it’s still growing. So we’re encouraging operators to embrace it, as enterprise interest in this marketing channel is getting bigger. 

In line with this, we’re developing BLINK by LANCK Telecom—an omnichannel CPaaS platform offering a wide range of safe, protected channels, continuously monitored by our expert routing team. BLINK provides businesses with a streamlined solution for everything from authentication to marketing at competitive prices, helping them build the best communication strategy for their needs. 

Wida Schmidt: Great news! One more question about messaging—how are you addressing the challenge of Artificially Inflated Traffic (AIT)?

Alexey Yanson: AIT is a severe issue. As MobileSquared reported in 2023, in some regions, up to 80% of OTP requests for international business traffic were fraudulent. Our AI-powered Fraud Management System (FMS) identifies AIT with high precision, and we’re still seeing a significant percentage of this fraudulent traffic to some destinations. And it affects everyone—enterprises lose money to fake users, their analytics get distorted, and operators are pulled into disputes and lose revenue from unpaid legitimate traffic.

We’re convinced that only an industry-wide, collaborative approach can tackle this. Partnerships between enterprises, operators, and anti-fraud platforms are crucial.

Advanced AI and machine learning are essential to our approach. They help us detect and block fraudulent traffic in real time, without disrupting legitimate communication.

As SMS remains a vital channel for OTP delivery, we’re committed to investing further in FMS development. We strive to be transparent and provide our vendors with as much analytical information as possible. That’s one of the key reasons many clients choose us as their preferred SMS provider.

Wida Schmidt: What are LANCK Telecom’s main priorities moving forward?

Alexey Yanson: Last year, we earned platinum at the Future Digital Awards by Juniper Research (Best AGT/AIT Fraud Solution) and CC-Global Awards 2024 (Customer Experience Excellence). We also achieved 100% GLF Code of Conduct compliance in Voice and SMS.

So we’ll continue working in this direction—developing secure, efficient communication solutions with a strong customer focus, and keep expanding our AI capabilities to optimize routing, operations, and strengthen the company’s overall performance.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our partners and team members for helping us stay ahead in this ever-changing market, with all its challenges: competition, fraud fight, and developing new solutions. 

And of course, a special thanks to the Carrier Community. It has always been a valued partner and an outstanding platform for exchanging insights and ideas. We look forward to deepening our collaboration.

Wida Schmidt: Thank you, Alexey. It’s inspiring to see LANCK Telecom’s evolution. We appreciate your time and wish you continued success.