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Cellcom's success in Africa depends on quickly and cost-effectively providing its prepaid mobile subscribers with a steady stream of new services and promotions. The Amdocs Compact Convergence solution supports Cellcom's strategy with a rapidly implementable, end-to-end service enablement platform that lets the company design, create, deliver, and charge for new services in a matter of days and even hours in many cases. Having rapidly become the second-largest provider in Liberia and Guinea, the company will now extend the Amdocs Compact Convergence solution to support fast, cost-effective launches into other African markets.
"The Amdocs Compact Convergence solution provides us with everything we need to compete effectively from day one."
Ami Sadeh, CEO of Cellcom Group
| Cellcom Telecommunications Limited |
| Location: |
Africa (multinational) |
| Website: |
www.cellcomgsm.com |
| Lines of Business: |
Mobile |
 |
| Market share: |
#2 provider in Liberia and Guinea (330,000 and 650,000 subscribers respectively) |
 Read Case Study | As typical for emerging markets, the vast majority of Cellcom's customers rely on pre-paid phone cards, and average revenue per user (ARPU) is lowtypically under $10making it essential for Cellcom to keep its costs low while offeringand charging fora competitive array of converged voice, mobile data, and SMS services. For Cellcom in Africa, these common traits come with their own unique twist: customers have grown accustomed to a steady stream of new services and promotions. Providers who are unable to satisfy this demand for constant innovation and novelty simply cannot compete.
"It is our vision to be an essential part of the everyday life of people in motion, setting the standard with the power of one company truly devoted to the needs, challenges, and dreams of our customers," said Ami Sadeh, CEO of Cellcom Group. "That is the heart of communication. The Cellcom Corporation provides communication to the heart of Africa, connecting thousands of people every second."
"As our long-term strategic partner in the African market, Amdocs will play a central role in increasing our share of every market we operate in and plan to penetrate."
As Cellcom prepared to launch its service in Liberia, these market characteristics only added to an already daunting challenge: winning market share from the well-established incumbent, a former government monopoly. But the potential rewards were equally striking: given the rapid growth of usage in the region, market share earned in the near term can translate into even greater revenue in the future. To take advantage of the opportunity, Cellcom needed to get its business up and running quickly, then build its brand and drive sales through a rapid pace of new offers and value-added services. To support this strategy, the company needed to implement capabilities for both service creation and charging while keeping startup and operating costs low.
A Fast Track for a New Service Provider
Cellcom's past experience with Amdocs gave them confidence in the business value delivered by the company's solutions. Now, they turned to Amdocs for a solution with the flexibility, agility, and fast time-to-market needed to succeed in Liberia, Guinea, and any other African country.
The Amdocs Compact Convergence solution combines a complete service delivery platform with real-time convergent charging, customer care, and self-care, enabling Cellcom to deliver and support pre-built services that are available out-of-the-box, as well as create its own innovative new services for voice, SMS, and mobile data in days or even hours, versus the months typically required. With the Amdocs Compact Convergence solution, Cellcom can easily define any billing parameters and implement virtually any pricing plan for these new services, and enable its subscribers to easily personalize their services to maximize value and utility. Inexpensive, rapidly implementable, and easy to use, the Amdocs Compact Convergence solution is based on a highly efficient, state-of-the-art architecture which can be managed and maintained in-house, contributing to vendor independence and a low total cost of ownership.
"The Amdocs combination of prepaid charging and service creation with network connection is perfect for emerging markets like ours."
Said Sadeh, "In the fast-moving markets we target, we can't afford to spend months building out infrastructure and services. The Amdocs Compact Convergence solution, with its flexible charging system, service creation and delivery, and customer care capabilities, provides us with everything we need to compete effectively from day one. As our long-term strategic partner in the African market, Amdocs will play a central role in increasing our share of every market we operate in and plan to penetrate."
Bringing Attractive Services to Market Quickly and Easily
Cellcom implemented the Amdocs Compact Convergence solution in only two months, and was soon taking full advantage of the system to penetrate the Liberian market. "The Amdocscombination of prepaid charging and service creation with network connection is perfect for emerging markets like ours," said Sadeh. "We've been able to launch any service we can think offast. The average time to design, create, and launch a service is two days, but it's often much faster. I can think of a service or promotion at 15:00, and launch it by the end of the day at minimal cost. That kind of agility translates into powerful competitive advantage."
Cellcom now uses Amdocs Compact Convergence to support a constantly-evolving array of offersan average of one new service, deal, or package every two days, including Multi-Wallet, Virtual PBX, Ringback Tone, Voice and USSD-supported Balance Query, Electronic Top-Up and Money Transfer, Caller Groups, Zone Billing, Tele-voting, Music Channel through IVR, and a host of different tariff packages.
"With Amdocs, I can think of a service or promotion at 15:00, and launch it by the end of the day at minimal cost. That kind of agility translates into powerful competitive advantage."
"Our multi-wallet service has been very popular, given that the ARPU in Africa is relatively low, and people are trying to save money," reported Sadeh. "This service enables you to divide your account and charge separately for business and private usage, so businesses can give their employees a company phone but pay only for work-related calls." As a tool for customer retention, the company offers bonuses, prizes, and discounts that can be applied to different wallets as long as customers remain in the network. Top-up and transfers of money and air time have been received enthusiastically by customers, who also use the call back service when traveling outside the country to avoid roaming charges. To win new customers, Cellcom offers promotions such as the chance to buy a new Cellcom phone for $29, then get the entire amount back once subscribers continuously use the Cellcom network.
Building Market Share while Keeping Costs Low
With the Amdocs Compact Convergence solution in place, Cellcom quickly became the #2 provider in Liberia, operating profitably with an ARPU of $5 $7.50 across 330,000 subscribers. Cellcom followed up this success with a rapid launch in Guinea, where the connection of a new Cellcom system to the company's platform in Liberia made it possible to roll out the same services already defined and proven successful there into a new market without additional development time and cost. This fast start has helped Cellcom become the second-largest provider in Guinea, with 650,000 subscribers within 10 months. Constant innovation and novelty help Cellcom maintain an active market presence, as customers tap into new offers on a daily basis, while immediate responsiveness to its subscribers' needs and characteristics ensure a superior customer experience.
As Cellcom acquires operating licenses in additional African countries, its single-vendor, end-to-end platform for real-time charging, service enablement, self care, and customer care can easily be extended into new markets to offer the services already proven popular in Liberia and Guinea. As new services are created, they can be introduced in any or all of the markets Cellcom serves at no additional cost or effort, further enhancing profitability and time-to-revenue. The company will soon extend its business into other African countries. Although these markets represent different languagesEnglish and French, respectivelythe multi-language support of the Amdocs Compact Convergence solution will enable a similarly efficient, rapid, and cost-effective launch which leverages Cellcom's investment and development elsewhere on the continent.
"The Amdocs Compact Convergence solution is a complete platform to launch highly competitive cellular communications businesses in high-growth emerging markets."
"The Amdocs Compact Convergence solution is more than just a piece of technology. In simple terms, it's a complete platform to launch highly competitive cellular communications businesses in high-growth emerging markets," said Sadeh. "Our experience proves just how effective it is; no other solution comes close."
About Cellcom
Established in 2004, Cellcom operates in Liberia, Guinea and very soon in other countries throughout Africa, providing high quality communication services to a constantly growing number of satisfied subscribers. As a leading provider of communication services in West Africa, Cellcom offers cellular network access, high-speed cellular internet and business solutions, with full coverage and affordable prices. Our host of services range from high-quality voice calls, SMS, MMS, international communication services, a wide selection of advanced content and tailor-made business solutions. With Cellcom, your cellular phone is a powerful multimedia device. We believe in freedom of choice, and strive daily to remain the choice of people who wish to communicate freely and affordably.
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