Africa: Are you satisfied with just 10% mobile data uptake?
15.11.2011
Is 10% mobile Internet usage enough?
Is pickup of your data services poor? Do mass-distribution campaigns fail? Do standard device management offers seem way too complex and expensive?
Let’s face it. Why should you have to invest several hundreds of thousands of dollars each year just to let your subscribers use your network if you make less than 10 USD per subscriber per month and your subscriber base is less than 2 million? And why can´t you just get an instant view of the revenue potential of your subscribers?
Apple who?
Few if any operators in Africa are interested in all the Apple and Windows devices that are now flooding US and European markets. Although some Android devices are starting to appear in Africa, operators prefer to focus their attention on making money from the explosive growth of local brands from China and India. But the fact is, many use invalid IMEIs.
Instead, operators prefer to focus on the success of the dual-SIM devices from Nokia and the cool Blackberry brand with their excellent reception, low data consumption and trendsetting Blackberry Messaging service (BBM).
Today, operators want business advantage from the lack of PC-based self-care options due to insufficient fixed Internet access and the need to service their customers without spending big budgets on customer call centres. They aim to generate significant revenue streams from emerging 3G and MMS services in their networks.
That’s why the device management needs of African operators are unique and differ significantly from operators in Europe and the US.
Africa - the first post-PC region?
Africa seems destined to become the first post-PC region because of its sheer size, its many rural areas and the lack of PC infrastructure and fixed Internet coverage.
This means that the mobile Internet is an even more vital part of Africa’s future than other parts of the world. But what if the mobile Internet devices are not able to connect?
This is the role of Mobilethink … to connect these devices is the simplest way possible. Simplicity creates results. Simplicity solves problems easily. Simplicity makes decision-making easy for you our customers.
Within device management, simplicity is created by the ability to scale the business to the needs of the individual customer – each and every one of them.
There is no “perfect solution”
The options most commonly mentioned in the global telecom market for tackling escalating customer care costs caused by the “Smartphone explosion” are often over-ambitious, highly technical and require significant bandwidth between a PC (server) and the mobile device (client) to present an acceptable user experience.
These options will soon prove too expensive and ineffective as device fragmentation increases. Sales pitches often fail to tell you about the lack of mass-market device support and the fact that traditional solutions still require highly-educated customer care staff.
In short, such solutions are NOT SCALABLE enough for an operator’s real-life device install base. Not in Europe or the US, and certainly not in Africa.
Quality, Convenience and Cost-efficiency
Mobilethink’s Device Management System (DMS) is singularly focused on providing you with tools to make your customer care processes successful ... tools that are based on quality, convenience and cost-efficiency.
There is no doubt that African operators need to prioritize simplicity and efficiency to boost data services and pick-up in a PC-less market.
This can only be done by combining proven, world class technologies specifically for a PC-less market. Examples:
- Automatic Device Configuration (ADC): Broadly applicable, proactive configuration solutions that ensure data usage pickup from day 1 through automated configuration of devices when subscribers are motivated to start using services
- On-device self-care: The convenience of providing anytime-anywhere on-device self-care through SMS, USSD or app-based services will be key to lowering your call centre costs by up to 95% and create the brand loyalty necessary for increasing ARPU.
You need to select solutions that eliminate the need for you to maintain your own in-house device team. You need to minimize your risks and investment and really work the potential assets of your network.
After all: isn’t that why you’re in business?
Get Ahead with Device Intelligence
Many operators struggle to get a simple view of the mobile devices in their networks and their capabilities. This lack of clarity especially becomes visible with the launch of 3G services (network planning), the launch of Blackberry services (target all MSISDNs with a non-activated Blackberry), as well as any other VAS aimed at rural or urban customer groups.
Over the past decade, Mobilethink has built compelling software (Mobilethink Analytics), which captures hundreds of features and capabilities from thousands of mobile devices with special focus on operator specific and Chinese devices.
A dynamic web portal has also been developed to provide daily updates with a graphical interface. The portal is readily available and dispenses the need for anyone to waste time sifting through databases or static excel spreadsheets to obtain specific information.
Device-knowledge is key to unlocking more revenue. It’s all very well looking at what the business is achieving today, but planning for the future and matching forward decisions using Mobilethink’s Analytics software is really what tomorrow’s networks are all about.
Being able to measure the success of targeted marketing campaigns and catering for customers’ needs will ensure that you stay ahead in a highly competitive market.
Invalid IMEIs Explosion
Mobilethink has been deeply involved in solving the costly problems that invalid IMEIs represent for African operators. We’ve even established that 12% of an operator’s network has invalid IMEIs and this problem can only escalate as device population continues to explode.
Mobilethink Analytics identifies those MSISDNs with invalid IMEIs, which allows operators to run campaigns urging subscribers to change their handsets to those that support on-device self-care, and have revenue-generating data capabilities.
Mobilethink strongly believes that African operators should voice their concerns about invalid IMEIs much louder and really get the attention of the GSMA, the vendors and the entire mobile industry. It is clearly in the interest of operators that GSMA policies and prices associated with the issuance of a valid TAC range change and quickly.
Decision-Making Made Simple
Thanks to Mobilethink, operators no longer need to break the bank in maintaining their own database or struggle to make business decisions in the absence of correct device information. Information for the entire device population of OS versions, Java versions, networks, uplink and downlink speeds, GPS, onboard memory, browser, and much, much more is now readily available for each department to use.
Different departments have different needs, but Mobilethink’s reporting system is designed to be transparent and valuable for any job function, not just device technicians.
Examples:
• Senior Management – expansion & benchmark
• Marketing – campaigns & brand management
• Product – concept development & innovation
• Pricing – subsidy & promotion management
• Network planning – capacity & rollout alignment
• Procurement – vendor negotiation & portfolio
• VAS – content & application negotiation
Our powerful device intelligence capability engine just needs a TAC or IMEI file from the operator or integration with our DMS product and the world of information is ready for effective decision-making.
With Mobilethink on board, benchmark and device comparison has become the easiest task imaginable.
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