March 8th, 2010 — Issue 17 February 2010
‘Explosive’ is a word that best describes the growth of Africa’s mobile ecosystem. Demand for mobile broadband, with 400,000 new HSPA connections added every month, as well as competition among large, established operators and a wave of new market entrants, has created one of the most competitive markets in the world. Africa truly is a region burgeoning with opportunities for those who look beyond their network’s borders.
Eugene Bergen Henegouwen is Syniverse’s executive vice president, EMEA
February 4th, 2010 — Issue 16 January 2010
It is no secret: we are operating in turbulent markets, and the telecom sector has shown resilience in 2009, despite being not totally immune to the overall economic conditions as initially hoped. Compared to other industries, the sector has performed much better and the rate of growth in the Middle East continues to outstrip most regions in the world. Much of this resilience comes from the fact that telecom services are increasingly being seen as essential purchases. Fixed voice and broadband access services are perceived as an indispensable staple in people’s lives.
This article was contributed by Zoran Vasiljev, partner at Value Partners
August 19th, 2009 — Issue 12 July/August 2009
With the markets suddenly awash with people, is it easier or actually more difficult to hire true talent in recessionary times?
The Chinese character for crisis is the same as the one for chaos – and includes two elements – one meaning ‘danger’ and the other ‘opportunity’. For the savvy organisation, the current economic downturn has created a unique opportunity to attract high level key personnel, the likes of which would not otherwise have been available in a more buoyant market.
Craig Coverman believes now is definitely a good time for organisations to ask themselves if they can really offer candidates compelling reasons to join them
July 12th, 2009 — Issue 11 May/June 2009
Qatar is on the verge of market entry by Vodafone, one of the world’s leading mobile players. Qtel, the incumbent monopoly, will face a formidable challenger in Vodafone. Aglobal presence and vast product and services innovation experience across developed and emerging markets are just some of the advantages Vodafone can leverage in its market entry strategy. Vodafone has the capacity to deliver targeted value propositions to the very diverse customer segments found in Qatar, from the labour force to the local large enterprises and branches of multinational firms.
Given the near saturated mobile market and the well-serviced fixed-line arena, Vodafone will likely target the incumbent’s existing customer base to capture market share. The challenge for Qtel is to retain the high value segments, thereby allowing the inevitable churn to be within the lower segments. The enterprise segment is one of the key contributors to revenue and profitability for Qtel’s domestic operations. In any customer retention effort by Qtel, these customers should rank at the very top of the priority list.
Should Qtel be worried about churn in the enterprise segment?
April 21st, 2009 — Issue 10 April 2009
The mobile industry is adopting green policies in line with global initiatives to focus on sustainable and renewable power sources and lessening climatic impact on the environment. Developing markets have been quick to trial and adopt these new initiatives – both from a corporate social responsibility perspective, as well as in order to reduce OPEX associated with maintaining off-grid base stations (BTS) in challenging environments. Green Giraffe’s Michèle Scanlon reports
Markets such as India and Nigeria are often cited as examples
of the high cost of power as related to the operation of diesel-powered generators. In 2008, Indian operators used an estimated two billion litres of diesel to power their networks. OPEX splits from operators indicate that on average a third of OPEX is directly attributable to power and fuel consumption whilst in rural areas this exceeds 50 per cent of OPEX. Similar issues face most operators in developing markets. Caribbean and South Pacific operator Digicel reports it spent US$11 million on diesel in 2008 to power its Haitian network, though a generator/ battery hybrid solution has already proven to show 35 per cent savings in diesel OPEX in trials in the country.
© Pursuit Mode Initiatives
