Emerging Market Saturation Forcing Telcos to Move to Segmentation
SINGAPORE, Nov. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Until recently, telecom operators in emerging markets had a clear, single strategy: customer acquisition. Relatively low penetration in most markets and benign competitive environments meant that all players were focused on the expansion of their networks and the capture of market share as fast as possible.
And Amjad Khan Pathan, Senior Loyalty-Retention Manager for Afghanistan's Telecom Development Company, explains that today the situation has dramatically changed.
"Many emerging markets are reaching saturation, competition is fierce and ARPU is under pressure. Creating returns on significant investments in network deployment seems more difficult than ever. Increasingly, operators have realized that they do not sufficiently understand the real drivers of value creation -- 'Are my new acquisitions profitable?', 'How does churn affect company value?', 'How do different segments contribute?' and 'What is the true bottom line impact of marketing and sales tactics?' are questions often heard," said Pathan, who is speaking at the 7th Annual Prepaid Mobile Summit(http://www.prepaidmobilesummit.com/Event.aspx?id=609450&MAC=PR ).
Asher Yaqub Khan, Chief Commercial Officer of Banglalink, also believes that segmentation could be the key to reduce churn.
"It is generally tempting to simplify your tariffs and carve out one package that everyone will love. However that package, in a competitive environment, will mean lowest charge for all levers. Having a broad range of well-defined packages allows one to play with various components of tariff and attract different segments by making their preferred levers more appealing," said Khan, who will also be speaking at the Summit.
About the 7th Annual Prepaid Mobile Summit 2012:
Prepaid Mobile Summit 2012( http://www.prepaidmobilesummit.com/Event.aspx?id=609450&MAC=PR ) has been running for 7 years and is the only dedicated prepaid mobile event in Asia for leading prepaid professionals from network operators and service providers. For more information on the conference, contact [email protected] or call +65-6722-9388.
SOURCE: International Quality & Productivity Center (IQPC)