SA`s cellphone industry continues to grow nearly a decade after the first networks went live. Most analysts had predicted that growth would flatten significantly five years after the industry`s inception but nine years down the line, some service providers are reporting good growth in numbers of subscribers as well as revenues from services.
Michele Kember, Customer Relationship Manager of cellular services at communications firm, Tiscali (formerly known as World Online), says the figures are exceptional.
Tiscali has concentrated on the top "Talk" packages and as a result, its average revenue per user (ARPU) is higher than that of the average across the Vodacom network. Tiscali`s cellular revenue has also more than doubled in six months. These figures clearly reflect that Tiscali is in a strong growth phase.
Kember says the Tiscali business unit strategy is proving to be correct. Tiscali`s target market is aimed at the high-end corporate customers is proving successful as quality outweighs quantity.
"Mobile communication is now `mission-critical` to the day-to-day operations of business and a good relationship with the technology supplier is important," says Kember.
In the future, Tiscali is expecting to see much activity around developing data solutions.
"Data traffic over cellular networks continues to grow but the vast bulk remains voice-based," says Kember.
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Tiscali (previously World Online) is a premier communications company offering Internet and cellular services to home, business and corporate users. In addition, Tiscali has a popular portal with over 2 million visitors every month. Tiscali is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tiscali International, which is listed on the Paris and Milan Stock Exchanges and is the second largest Internet service provider in Europe, providing access and a wide variety of content, applications and services to its customers. It has the largest geographical footprint of any European Internet provider with local operations in 15 countries and 7.3 million active users.
The company is set apart from other market players through its customer-focused solutions offering unique, value-added services. These include voice and data connectivity, e-commerce solutions, VPNs, server and application hosting, e-mail solutions, Web site development and hosting, portal advertising and security applications. Tiscali seeks to provide holistic communication solutions delivered over both fixed and mobile telecommunications networks.
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