Telco Deep Dive: Q&A with the Big 3 (Part 1)
On May 26, Digital News Asia (DNA) launched its first Deep Dive record, which looked at the telecommunications area in Malaysia. Over those next weeks, we can be publishing the articles from the PDF document on our portal, plus other testimonies. To download the Telco Deep Dive, click on here. In this very last article, DNA founder Karamjit Singh places the senior executives of the Big 3 telcos within the warm seat. This reprint consists of responses from Celcom Axiata CEO Shazalli Ramly, which got here too overdue to be included within the initial document.
- Celcom, DiGi and Maxis cognizance on improving community performance
- Believe telco networks offer higher first-rate app experience
NOTICING that a neighbour’s residence alarm had brought on and spotting a few bikes out of doors the house, every other neighbour tried desperately to attain to attain him. But Anthony Umann, the neighbour in question, become calm.
He had already received an alert while his residence alarm went off, and, remotely accessing wi-fi cameras he had set up, he noticed that a lower back-door that was now not close well was the motive of the alarm.
Umann’s cell has in effect become his home safety monitoring centre. He did now not want his telco, in this case, Celcom, to provide him the home security service, He just wished a records line that became reliable.
With many previously bodily offerings turning into digitised and being delivered wirelessly, it consequently comes as no surprise when Maxis Bhd chief govt officer Morten Lundal shares that ninety eight% of the visitors over his business enterprise’s network is now records, with voice and SMS making up the remaining measly 2%.
This is in spite of the fact that round half of Maxis’ clients still use feature phones.
DiGi.com Bhd is experiencing the identical surge in data, which of path is a worldwide phenomenon. As its chief running officer Albern Murty points out, inside the first quarter of 2014, facts visitors expanded 55% 12 months-on-yr.
This records surge has put the strain on telcos in two key regions. The first is to improve their networks and sharply improve community overall performance.
Recent studies with the aid of telco providers indicates that improved community performance results in stepped forward client enjoy, which occurs to be the second one region telcos are under strain to improve unexpectedly.
Albern talks approximately DiGi being “loved by way of customers” as a primary pillar of its lengthy-term method, at the same time as Lundal talks about the lofty ‘Unmatched Customer Experience’ purpose that Maxis has set and how it's miles working difficult to come as close as feasible to accomplishing this ambition.
But in reality, it turned into Celcom Axiata Bhd leader government officer Shazalli Ramly who described what it become all truly approximately, while in advance this yr he defined 2014 on the ‘Year of Battles’ for the Malaysian telecommunications space.
You can study extra approximately their reaction within the following Q&A, where we additionally asked the 3 senior executives approximately how they have been faring in areas like area-based totally offerings (LBS), over-the-top (OTT) offerings, and an replace at the trend of customers using dongles to get admission to the Internet.
DNA: The extent of cellular information traffic we are going to see over the subsequent 5 years, is anticipated to multiply via eleven with respect to 2013, Telefonica president Cesar Alierta stated in February. Based on what you have seen on your personal enjoy, are you able to share your increase projections for quantity of cell data traffic over the approaching five years? Aside from the huge 3 trends of Devices, Mobility and Social, are there any other elements driving this?
Albern (%): We trust the Malaysian market will probably see similar boom tendencies, albeit at a exclusive scale and significance. For instance, DiGi’s Q1/2014 statistics site visitors extended 55% year-on-year (thirteen% area on sector, vs Q4/2013).
This was fuelled with the aid of our more potent statistics community with the expansion of HSPA+/3G coverage to 86% of the population, and a clear plan to construct 1,500 4G-LTE (Fourth Generation/ Long-Term Evolution) websites by end-2014.
Aside from this wider insurance and higher potential, other factors with a view to strongly power information visitors will be extra low priced and applicable Internet services; boom of excessive-velocity virtual service applications; and, the increase in smart tool adoption, specially at the access level.
Lundal: It's tough to see five years beforehand and whether it’s seven, 11 or 15 times today, no person truly can predict with any confidence. But based on the extremely good data increase the last few years and the fact that half of our customers nonetheless use feature phones, we need to count on that the growth could be very, very big.
And, it’s all about information, which constitutes 98% of our traffic, at the same time as voice and SMS comprise 2%.
The key to future information growth is the growth adoption of video streaming, specifically programs like YouTube, at the same time as rising cloud answers (especially for companies) may also power the demand for bandwidth.
Shazalli: At Celcom, we've got visible how statistics visitors these days is driven by using the offerings class or feature – for instance video streaming, stay audio or record transfer – and not by using services purposes or segments together with training, entertainment or social media according to se.
The Ericsson Mobility Report in November 2013 additionally forecast that video streaming will continue to be the main motive force for facts site visitors boom, and once more this is thanks to the emergence of smartphones as dependable gadgets to observe high first-rate content.
Recognising the potential and possibilities that this trend has to provide, Celcom is constantly enhancing our community quality and statistics ability for better facts services.
During the present day financial sector of Q1 2014, Celcom finished sturdy growth in statistics revenue with a 16% Year-on-Year (YoY) increase, driven by using a upward push of cellphone adoption and information usage. The duration also noticed Celcom’s YoY cellphone penetration develop from 24% to 35% inside our network.
DNA: Have you been able to monetise LBS (vicinity-based totally offerings)? With a lot promise touted over it, we don’t listen you talking approximately it an awful lot.
Albern: Location is simply considered one of a whole lot of statistics factors that make up a consumer profile and dictates consumer want.
If you serve something based totally on location on my own, you run the risk of brushing off the patron’s other demographic and psychographic traits – an example of this will be offering a purchaser a live performance price tag for a venue he lives close to, but if the consumer dislikes the style, you would possibly turn out to be dissatisfying him.
All of the demographics (like place, age, profession) and psychographics (values, beliefs, character) make up the complete profile of the client. Once you have constructed these profiles, you could be fairly assured in their contextual want and desires, and start to sell tailored, rather relevant offers.
Lundal (percent): Our location-based advertising and marketing (LBA) offerings are presently being utilised at extra than ninety% of our available inventory at most of our industrial places. The feature provides relevance to the messages and gives our clients go with to receive. But this is not a big sales movement for us.
Shazalli: Yes, we have been able to monetise LBS however it is still in its early days. We see the bulk of the price from LBS coming from its integration with different skills along with loyalty control, marketing campaign control, massive records and greater.
Still, we understand that the biggest undertaking of any new deployment is the improvement of an environment around the service itself. We are taking the stairs to understand the challenges and working diligently to carry all factors of the ecosystem to the forefront.
DNA: Related to Q2, how have you ever been capable of use the information you have on clients to complement their revel in?
Albern: Customers have already been adopting and the usage of LBS packages actively for navigation, taxi requisition, social packages, take a look at-ins, and many others., which drive normal demand for Internet and information traffic.
DiGi has also started its M2M (machine-to-gadget) provider primarily based on LBS generation to support logistics [players’] fleet-monitoring system, and could explore greater opportunities inside the future.
In our view, revel in specifically takes two bureaucracy. First is the bodily experience of voice best, records speed, and many others., and the second is the intrinsic revel in of understanding that my cell operator is aware me.
On the first issue, we consider that we have in location the right network as a way to supply a sturdy customer revel in. On the second thing, we're supplying micro campaigns tailored to the consumer’s choice, and at the same time as we (as in the industry) are nonetheless inside the early days of doing this, we strongly agree with we will become better at providing more applicable products and services as soon as our knowledge of the client evolves.
Shazalli: Firstly, the records may be used to gain insights on aggregated purchaser behaviours and, in flip, enhance our merchandise by means of evolving the statistics in tandem with consumer developments. For instance, we had regarded into the aggregated voice utilization of users in the network and from that have substantially simplified our (prepaid) Xpax voice tariff to allow customers to pay one low fee while not having to worry whether or not they're calling subscribers on the same or different networks.
From utilization patterns too, we goal to enhance our purchaser revel in by way of offering the right gives, to the right customers, on the right time. This is known as ‘contextual marketing,’ which targets to maximize the relevance of our advertising and marketing communications to clients and minimise any unwanted intrusion.
DNA: According to Ericsson’s Annual Mobility survey, for the primary time ever, customers have ranked User Experience / Performance as being greater important than rate. It isn't a accident then that Telefonica has declared delivering consumer enjoy as the important thing pillar for his or her method transferring ahead. We know you have your very own permutation in this, so what is your method in delivering this User Experience?
Albern: Being ‘loved by means of clients’ is a principal pillar of DiGi and Telenor’s lengthy-term method. We additionally accept as true with that it's miles experience instead of charge so as to power consumer loyalty and turn them into lovers of a brand. What we've got began doing is calling at customer revel in as a precursor to taking any decision.
So, we don’t only ask whether or not a certain product or marketing campaign will make financial feel and is viable to be implemented from a technological point of view, we also ask how it will enhance client revel in. Thus we are constructing a ‘Customer First’ mind-set into our everyday work.
As a part of this, we've got put in region a ‘Customer First’ focus across our operations. We have additionally installed location a client satisfaction index or Net Promoter Score (NPS), which is regarded as an important size and is now embedded as part of a employer-extensive overall performance marker.
Another instance is to again have enough insight on the purchaser to understand a way to do the little things right. For example, while is the proper time of day to ship him an offer, whether or not he prefers to get hold of a cellphone name or SMS when we need to inform him of something (rewards, promotions and many others.), what kind of gives he prefers, and so on.
Lundal: As records grows in significance, there may be larger variations among the operators and this will matter an increasing number of to customers.
We also know that there's a massive segment in Malaysia who want the first-rate and are willing to pay a (truthful) rate for it. Here, Maxis has usually been the preferred choice for those maximum traumatic customers and we intend to hold it that way.
We have set the bar as excessive as ‘Unmatched Customer Experience’ and we are running difficult to come back as close as possible to this ambition.
Shazalli (%): Celcom has usually been dedicated to client experience and it's far the core of our business proposition. Our techniques and investments over the past few years and will retain within the years beforehand to deliver on this promise. Some examples of these consist of:
- Large scale IT systems transformation: In the past three years, Celcom has absolutely revamped our Business Support System (BSS), Business Intelligence (BI) and all different associated service systems in partnerships with Oracle, Accenture, IBM and Huawei. Simplifying the architecture and upgrading our skills is fundamental to constructing the right foundation for a customer centric community.
- Single RAN: Delivering single Radio Access Network (RAN) capabilities to lessen congestion, dropped calls and different not unusual purchaser dissatisfactions. From early this year 2014, our community has been completely Single RAN, and we are already seeing enhancements in reliability and excellent.
- Building a state of the art information network: Working with Huawei, Celcom has drastically more desirable its information services abilties via our new packet middle, with included intelligence from coverage management to context aware charging.
- Service and product innovation: In January this 12 months, we launched Celcom First Elite, the priority offerings plan that demonstrates a 360-diploma technique to patron experience, providing our clients an get right of entry to to distinct life-style reports and pinnacle magnificence customer support which cause them to sense special and valued.
Tomorrow: The OTT project, and the dangling dongle
Related Stories:
Celcom CEO: 2014 may be the ‘Year of Battles’
Leading Maxis’ thoughts-set alternate, and the ‘Magic 30’
DiGi to spend extra on capex in 2014
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