New operators dial in
Five basic resellers of mobile services, two existing operators and an obliging TRA. There could not be a better recipe to whip up customer appetite for an exciting ‘SIM war’ ahead, writes Visvas Paul D Karra

In June this year, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of Oman granted Class II licenses to five companies to operate as resellers of basic mobile services in the Sultanate. Effectively, these five Class II licensees will be allowed to provide basic mobile services to subscribers at retail rates with their own brand names and SIM cards by buying airtime from either of the two incumbent mobile operators – Oman Mobile or Nawras.

Injaz International, Kalam Telecommunications, Majan Telecom, Mazoon Mobile and Arabia Connect (FRiENDi Mobile) are the new Class II licencees who are expected to boost the demand for mobile services as they target new subscriber segments through enhanced marketing strategies.

Encouraging trends
The opening up of the mobile telephony market by the TRA has been hailed as a radical step and seemingly, it is going to be an exciting time for consumers as they are going to be spoilt for choice. After the hype created through a flurry of press statements, conferences and advertisements in the media raising the curiosity of the public, things seems to have petered off to an extent leading everyone to ask the question ‘what next’.

Understandably, customers are wishing that the new mobile services resellers begin their operations immediately. A status check of the Class II license holders reveals that all five of them are promising to revolutionise the mobile telephony sector in the Sultanate of Oman with their products and services. There are other positive things that are expected in their track. More players translates into more employment opportunities for the local population. Secondly, more foreign investments will pour into Oman; host operators will benef from selling airtime and last but not least the consumers will have more alternatives.

Support system
But basically, as resellers of mobile services, all the five companies need the shoulder of either an Oman Mobile or Nawras to launch their products from. In other words, they have to sign a contract with the existing operators. At the moment though, only two of the Class II license operators have categorically stated that they have the necessary agreements in place to begin operations.

Niklas Nielsen, CEO of Majan Telecom, when asked to comment on how they are going to face the competition from a total of six operators including the existing two Class I operators, confidently retorts back with a questioning look, “I am not too sure all are launching their services immediately. They need the required permissions and infrastructure in place and they need viable business propositions?” Majan Telecom claims to be the only 100 per cent Omani owned company out of the whole lot of basic resellers as it is backed by some of the most prominent and well known players in the Omani market with shareholders including the Al Yousef Group.

Nielsen, who was previously with Nawras, is all praise for the TRA’s bold move to grant so many licenses while saying that Majan Telecom under the brand name ‘Renna’ will offer easy-to-use, efficient and economical services by providing very competitive products through alternative channels and a customer-driven approach.

In the same vein, Antti Arponen, CEO of FRiENDi mobile, says that an agreement with one of the existing Class I operator is imperative to launch any reseller operations in any country, including Oman. “All resellers requires a large number of various agreements, all of which are necessary to provide services to customers and one of those is an agreement with one of the Class I mobile operators. But with FRiENDi mobile, all that a customer needs to know is that he/she will get top class uninterrupted services right from day one. And that is what FRiENDi mobile is going to provide.”

Jamil Ali Sultan Chairman of Mazoon Mobile particularly thanked the TRA, for awarding the licence to Mazoon Mobile, earlier this year. Mohamed Alhashili, CEO, Mazoon Telecom in his comments says, “Our entry to the market requires an agreement with one of the Class I mobile operators. When this agreement materialises we will be in a position to make a more realistic commitment. As far as competition is concerned, we have to look at it from a customers’ point of view. More competition brings better choice and value to the end user.”

Injaz International Telecom is one of the enhanced mobile service providers in Oman, it is excited about the future prospects of both the Omani consumers and enterprises and welcomes the newly established mobile competitive environment in the Sultanate. “State of the art technologies yielding advanced and innovative services will drive the market in terms of type and quality of service that will benefit the end user providing them with greater choice and a good level of customer service. The people of Oman deserve the best attention and highest quality of service,” says Samir Saade, Injaz CEO.

Slicing and dicing
With the existing Class I operators having consolidated their position in he market, the primary strategy for the resellers is to identify certain segments of the mobile customers which are either not served properly or have been reached by the existing mobile providers. Everyone is slicing and dicing the market to find segments that would be their future target groups. They would then woo them by adding value added services. Over and above this, the first mover advantage will always lie with the reseller company that starts its operations first.

In this regard, all the five companies have been feverishly working to identify their target groups by undertaking surveys among various classes of customers. The surveys apparently also take into account the nationality of people who are staying in Oman, based on which they will provide their services.

Arponen maintains that there is typically a limit how fast a Class I operator can grow. Jumps of 10-15 per cent in customer base growth can easily be achieved by appointing resellers to act as the aggressive customer acquisition company. The success of resellers’ capability to acquire quickly more customers is based on focusing on smaller segments. It’s all about jointly setting common goals between the reseller and the host operator.

Majan Telecom is ready to launch its services this year itself but it does not want to disclose the date. But the company said it has already analysed its position where it will be strong and has identified its customer segments and understood where they can create the value proposition. Nielsen says that since investors have reposed faith in the company, they need to make a viable business case which will succeed. It is important even for the host operator that the buyer of airtime is going to succeed.

Alhashili opines that overall competition is a healthy thing and it brings immense benefits to the customer. But all operators will operate according to their own set of business plans. He believes that Mazoon Mobile would focus on how it is going to differentiate itself from the current options available in the market. On that note, Mazoon is going to focus on the segmented needs of Omani people.

Building blocks
Although, the resellers do not have the burden of setting up the basic infrastructure like erecting towers for signals, but they still need to have other technical equipments like billing equipment, SIM cards in their own brand names etc.

FRiENDi mobile seems to have got everything going for them at the moment. Arponen stated that all the building blocks like its management and marketing team and all other things are in place and there are some interesting dates in the near future that would be attractive for a launch (though he did not specify a date).

“We have set up our infrastructure and all our equipments have been set up by our international team of mobile experts. We also have a brand new office, with a completely different setup in line with FRiENDi’s work ethics, and we are ready with our products, sales outlets, and even our call centre systems are up and running. While we hope to be on the verge of beginning our exciting journey in Oman, the truly unique advantage of FRiENDi mobile is that we can flexibly exchange equipment and human resources between various FRiENDi countries when needed” says Arponen.

Majan Telecom says its forte is expected to be its extensive distribution network which is being put in place at the moment. The other two differentiating factors for the success of Majan and part of its core strategy are going to be its communication strategy and economical packages.

Cannibalisation
Whatever their target group is or whatsoever value added services they provide, ultimately all the players including the existing two will have to be on their toes as the final result may boil down to one parameter – service. As telecom operators fundamentally deal with people, a company will only be as good as the service it provides to its customers. Price will, of course, be a major concern for everyone but most of the resellers agree that this will not be a major contributing factor to their success. Nielsen, matter of factly, states that they will not be a ‘price-destructor’.

FRiENDi says that it is not just one element it will be changing but it will be creating a totally different concept altogether by building a new brand value by bringing in fundamental changes in the consumer’s behaviour. FRiENDi’s products are attractively priced, but they will not be competing against FRiENDi mobile’s host operator, points out Arponen.

“Our brand name is Mazoon Mobile. The name ‘Mazoon’ which has a deep Arabic meaning is also a reflection of our proud Omani heritage. Mazoon is entering the market with the objective to introduce a positive, long-lasting and cost effective difference to the people of Oman with options that will truly be beneficial in multiple respects. Mazoon Mobile will be the model mobile reseller addressing customer’s lifestyles and delivering value with experience,” Alhashili says.

Injaz, an Omani company, will focus on being a responsible corporate citizen that will contribute to the growth of the Omani community by providing direct and indirect work opportunities. The company has an excellent approach to providing tailor-made mobile services to segments of the Omani market. “Customers are our reason for existence and we will do our utmost to provide them with the highest possible standards of service,” the Injaz team said.

One of the highlights of this new scenario is that it will be a win-win situation for the host operator, the basic reseller as well as customers. The host operator, on whom the basic reseller is dependent, can focus on strengthening its their own core target market while gaining additional revenue and traffic; the reseller will have its own niche market; and the customer will have a wide variety of choice.


 

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