beMOBILE plots to wrest market share
Mbongeni Mguni | Friday July 29, 2016 15:27
The ace up beMOBILE’s sleeve will be a renewed push for Mobile Number Portability (MNP), which will allow mobile users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one network carrier to another. MNP is favoured by smaller, upcoming networks, which are challenging for market space, such as Cell C in South Africa, which at one point, said it was raking in 6,000 customers from its rivals every week.
While South African regulators established MNP in 2006, the service is yet to begin in Botswana, where the market remains firmly in the hands of the two main providers, Mascom and Orange.
“We initiated discussions with the regulator a few years ago to consider MNP , but at the time, the cost to deploy here was deemed too prohibitive,” acting Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited CEO, Anthony Masunga told BusinessWeek.
“Restarting these discussions with the regulator is on our agenda because the cost of technology has come down and this is an opportunity to introduce MNP to the market.”
According to Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority data, by March 2016, beMOBILE held 15% market share, while Mascom ruled the roost with 53%, while Orange held 32%.
The data shows that between March 2015 and March 2016, beMOBILE shed a net 29,148 subscribers, while Mascom gained nearly 43,000 and Orange added 40,620 new customers.
Masunga, however, said with MNP in play, an opportunity existed for beMOBILE to capitalise on customers’ experiences with the two major mobile networks.
“From a quality of service point of view, our competitors are not doing that well, frankly speaking, and customers would say ‘if I could keep my number, I would switch.
“The quality of service is something I believe we are already leading on.
“MNP is an area for us to engage with our regulator going forward.”
Masunga, who has set growing beMOBILE’s market share as one of his immediate priorities, said enhancing the network’s competitiveness would involve enhancing its mobile data products by integrating faster connectivity. beMOBILE will be launching its LTE services later this year.
“Customers want their internet to be mobile and fast,” he said.
“Also, we will be revitalising our post-paid products as there’s a perception that they are a bit stale.
“In our distribution network, we want to work on bringing our partners closer to the business so that customers enjoy full support wherever they are.
“Overall, we want to enhance the quality of service for our customers.”