The Hindu : `Cell-phone firms have not exploited corporate market'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 01, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

`Cell-phone firms have not exploited corporate market'

By Our Special Correspondent

Bangalore Jan. 31. Mobile-phone service providers are under-exploiting one of the industry's most profitable user groups — corporates. This at a time when service providers are reducing rates and newcomers are entering the scene.

This is the finding of SmarTrust, a leading provider of infrastructure solutions to mobile subscribers. Research by the organisation shows that a many mobile operators have been unable to exploit the revenue generating potential of the corporate market.

While accounting for only 20 per cent of the mobile subscriber base in Western Europe, corporate users there generate over 50 per cent of all service revenues. Of this figure, corporate value-added services account for only three per cent of an operator's ARPU (average revenue per user) and 20 per cent of data traffic. This suggests a huge growth potential. However, value-added services for corporate customers have fallen far short of those offered to individual subscribers, limiting opportunities for data traffic.

Mobile operators here have launched value-added services such as news, infotainment, including cricket scores, and banking to attract new users and increase revenue beyond basic voice traffic. This is because all these entail some charges. In the corporate market, this has been largely under-exploited with corporate users generally targeted with simple discount/call rate incentives. With ARPU from voice traffic falling, operators may have to offer tailored services that will stimulate an immediate growth in data traffic.

Research by SmarTrust, a Swedish company with offices here, shows that corporate users are looking not only for better call control and service management but also for services that allow them to integrate mobile devices with existing enterprise data and applications. These could allow remote employees access to live data from the handset. An autoparts salesman, for example, can access stock levels on his handset instead of having to use a computer, when dealing with small town shops.

In its study, SmarTrust identified three problems that have so far limited the operators: the small to medium enterprise (SME) market requires a different approach from large enterprises. There is a sizeable difference in the level of users and system sophistication and the need for integration with backend IT systems. SMEs are particularly price-sensitive, and the complexity and cost of using value-added services puts them off. Many operators have not had the means to offer flexible solutions that enable their corporate customers manage and control individual user phone costs and usage patterns.

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