Multi-Factor Authentication to Generate $27 Billion for Mobile Operators

Operators will generate $27 billion from the termination of SMS messages related to multi-factor authentication in 2022; an increase from $25 billion in 2021, according to a new study by Juniper Research. The research predicts this 5% growth will be driven by increased pressure on digital service providers to offer highly secure authentication that reduces the risk of data breaches and protects user identity.

Multi-factor authentication combines two or more credentials to verify a user or transaction. This includes sending an SMS that contains a one‑time password or code to a user’s unique phone number. The new research urges operators to capitalize on the growth in demand for multi-factor authentication SMS traffic, by leveraging firewalls to monitor and identify SMS traffic specifically used for multi-factor authentication. In turn, operators will then be able to charge a premium on this traffic and further increase business messaging revenue.

The research predicts there will be over 1.7 trillion multi-factor authentication messages delivered globally in 2022; representing 60% of total SMS business messaging traffic. Operators must develop machine learning algorithms that automate the monitoring of this vast amount of traffic to efficiently identify messages that can be charged at a premium.

“Automating traffic detection is crucial for operators as we expect multi-factor authentication traffic to grow to 2.1 billion messages by 2027. SMEs have typically not invested in messaging for security in the past. However, rising pressure to implement greater security for users will drive adoption amongst SMEs over the next 5 years, and increase global traffic,“ remarked research co-author Keith Breed.

To manage this increase in demand for multi-factor authentication SMS messages, the report urges operators to partner with CPaaS (Communications Platform-as-a-Service) platforms. These platforms offer the necessary user interface to SMEs to manage authentication processes and subsequent traffic from which operators will attain additional SMS business messaging revenue.