He shares his experience of the challenges and opportunities in
Botswana’s market ahead of the event.
AfricaCom: What is Orange’s position in
Botswana’s market?
Patrick Benon: Orange Botswana is the
leader in mobile money (Orange Money) in the country, commanding 65% of the
mobile money market share. In totality, Orange has more than 1 million
subscribers, occupying the second position in terms of voice and data market
share. We believe in addressing and answering the ever changing needs and
expectations of our customers by being at the forefront of cutting edge
innovation and technology which is evident from the following;
·
Being the first to introduce 4G
technology in 2015
·
Introduction of a Visa Card linked to Orange Money account in 2013,
·
Being the only Operator in Botswana
to offer airtime credit
·
And the latest innovation which is the launch of the Orange Money mobile
application which allows easy access and management of Orange money account.
A: What makes Botswana a unique market to
work in compared to others in Africa?
PB: In a lot of African markets, the mobile
industry is still growing, however, in Botswana the mobile penetration stands
at more than 150% of the population. The mobile market is mature with little to
no prospects of growth and the voice revenue and traffic is on the decline. Even
though the mobile penetration rate is high, the data market is only starting to
grow, with penetration still below 50% of the population. In this sense the
market presents a unique challenge which requires the operators to adopt both a
growth strategy for data and a mature/declining strategy for Voice. Operators
also have to seek alternative sources of revenue as data revenue is not yet
growing to the extent to which it can replace the decline in voice revenue.
This has resulted in all the operators
shifting their focus towards investment in high speed data and Value Added
Services. The good news is that Botswana has an enabling regulatory environment
which supports the operators’ ambitions of diversifying their business. The
regulators have been able to allocate operators the required spectrum for them
to launch high speed internet such as 3G and LTE as well as authorise the
introduction of mobile money when other markets were still hesitant to embrace
these technologies.
A: What have been you biggest challenges
and best rewards since joining Orange Botswana?
PB: Clearly the biggest challenge is
maintaining and growing the business profitability in a highly saturated market
and finding alternative avenues of revenue to replace the legacy mobile
business.
The country has been experiencing power shortages
which affect the quality of the network. This has prompted operators to find
alternative sources of energy to keep the services working during the power outages.
Rewards: Orange deployed LTE in record time
with excellent quality of service.
A: How important is staff
management in your business?
PB:
Creating
a sustainable and conducive environment for staff is top priority for
operators. As our biggest asset and productivity drivers, employees need the
right frame of mind to deliver the best possible customer experience to our
customers. They need to be motivated to understanding the importance of delivering excellent
service, the impact it has on the business and to love what they do and be
excellent brand ambassadors on a daily basis. Operators can easily achieve this
through not only adapting to the right organisational culture but also through
skill improvement and motivation for employees. It is why becoming an employer of choice is a top priority for us
at Orange.
We experience skills shortages
mainly on the IT and VAS side of business. As technology evolves it is
important to re-skill our people through consistent training for them to be
able to adapt to the new technology skill trends. Therefore, consistent,
relevant, timely training is critical to maintain skills levels in the company.
It is also important to establish training Partnerships with universities and
colleges to create a pool of potential employees.
A:
What new technologies will bring most
benefits to consumers and to operators?
PB:
-
Mobile money: 80% African population is said to be unbanked, so expanding
services for mobile money by building a wider ecosystem and agent network will
greatly benefit the consumers. Mobile money continues to prove its ability to
close the financial inclusion gap and eradicate poverty amongst low income
households. It’s an affordable, safe and convenient method through which the
unbanked can fully enjoy financial services.
Even though opening up mobile money too many players needs firm
regulation and monitoring to prevent fraud and money laundering I am of the
view that this approach provides a profitable diversification strategy for operators
with potential for growth and creation of highest stakeholder value.
-
Improved data speeds: Governments are striving for accessibility and affordable internet
connectivity for citizens, more so that the traditional way of communication is
rapidly shifting from voice and sms to data. It therefore becomes imperative
for operators and government to review bandwidth capabilities as well as
re-alignment of costs for data. The improvement and investment in data speeds
and capacity such as LTE 4G will address needs of the modern African who
heavily relies on data to function on a daily basis (for work, simple
communication, productivity and even trade). Operators in turn will also
benefit from this new revenue stream.
A: What are your priorities in terms of
delivering excellent customer experience in Botswana?
PB: Delivering
excellent customer service is a strategic priority for Orange Botswana. In this
industry, it’s all about customer experience; from the moment a customer enters
our service points to the quality of network coverage. In fact, both innovation
and customer experience are what keeps us relevant, but best customer
experience will help us keep our current customers and acquire new ones. It is
for this reason therefore that we have deliberately put customer experience at
the forefront of our 5 year organisation strategy.
The new organizational strategy,
simply termed Essentials 2020 is a global strategic plan for the Orange Group
which kick-started this year and will run until 2020. To ensure delivery of this strategy, we have introduced a new Customer
Experience Department, whose sole mandate is to look into ways of improving and
enhancing customer experience within the whole company.
A: How can telecom operators support
innovation within their company and within the wider ecosystem?
PB: Given the popularity and penetration for
mobile phones, the world is now looking to telecom operators to support and
cascade innovation to the population. Mobile devices have become important
vehicles that can be used to provide innovative services. And operators have
the right infrastructure and connectivity to facilitate innovation.
The opportunity here exists in various
ways;
·
Leadership through innovation by developing value added services that bring
convenience and solve people’s everyday life challenges
·
Partnering with innovators to provide inclusive technology for innovation
·
Supporting and nurturing technology incubators with potential to completely
shift way of doing things especially for service delivery
Some of the immediate technical assistance
that operators can offer to bolster innovation is to provide integration into
systems such as billing platforms for e-commerce and sms exchange platforms for
those using sms to reach their clientele.
A: What
do you think will be this year’s most game-changing development in Africa’s
telecoms?
PB: The launch of LTE in African countries will change the African telecom
landscape as more people will experience new internet speeds and capabilities
that previous technologies couldn’t reach.
In terms of supporting other industries and
having precise and personalized services, telecoms operators could take
advantage of big data available to them for social behavior campaigns and
marketing.
On sustainability, I foresee e-waste
management policies and reforms being implemented
A: In your opinion what are the most
interesting debates to expect at AfricaCom this year?
Hear more from Patrick Benon in
the Vision for Africa keynote on Thursday 19th November. To view the
programme click here.
