The partnership will make Telenor Norway the first large scale European carrier to partner with an intelligent call protection service to combat the growing problem of fraud and nuisance calls.
Specifically, Hiya is a call performance management cloud, provides real-time fraud and nuisance call detection to more than 150 million globally.
“Our partnership with Hiya will add another critical layer of security to keep our customers safe from the rising threat of fraud calls,” said Ric Brown, mobile director at Telenor Norway.
“At Telenor, the safety and security of our customers is our top priority, and this partnership will enable us to continue to offer best-in-class service to our customers.”
Fraud calls are increasing in Scandinavia and across Europe. In Norway, residents receive an average of five fraud calls per month, resulting in financial losses, increased frustration and damaged reputation for carriers and businesses.
These fraud calls include emerging threats like Covid-19-related scams where a fraudster offers fake cures or health insurance to solicit personal information, as well as widespread scams like Wangiri, attack where a fraudster tricks victims into calling back a premium rate number.
In a recent study, Hiya found that the Wangiri attack remains popular across Europe and a significant amount of these calls originate from neighbouring European countries like Spain and Switzerland.
“We’re excited to work with Telenor Norway to stop the increase of fraud and nuisance calls,” added Kush Parikh, chief operating officer at Hiya.
“By combining our technology with their capabilities and reach, Telenor Norway will ensure their customers stay protected from scams.”
Hiya already powers Samsung Smart Call on hundreds of millions of global Samsung devices including across Europe. Samsung Smart Call detects and blocks fraud and nuisance calls, including automatic fraud call blocking available on all devices with OneUI 2.5.
