The mobile industry lost over $58 billion last year due to inadequate fraud management and revenue assurance processes, a research firm has warned.
Juniper Research estimates that unless remedial measures are put in place, the scale of losses could rise fivefold by 2016.
Based on the 2011 figures, around 6% of global mobile revenues are disappearing through such leakage, the research firm found in a report.
Operators' existing billing systems and processes have been unable to keep pace with spiralling cellular traffic.
The complexity of the billing environment has magnified the scale of revenue loss and left operators more vulnerable to fraud, according to the report.
But it adds that operators can minimize these losses with automated fraud management and revenue assurance systems.
With sustained investment into tackling the problem, Juniper forecasts that leakage can decline to 4% of global revenues by 2016. This would translate to a nearly $15 billion improvement on 2011.