StreamWIDE chosen by the new Moroccan telecom operator

Published July 18th, 2007 - 06:46 GMT

WANA is a new Moroccan fixed-line and mobile telephone operator whose ambition is to instil a new dynamic into the local telecoms market. This 450-strong company, a subsidiary of the kingdom's largest private group, is "determined to do all it can to democratise access to telecommunications for all Moroccans through its Bayn brand," as Sophia Lahlou, its Marketing Manager, explained.


Two months after launching this prepaid home mobile telephony offer using CDMA (code division multiple access) technology, WANA has already positioned itself as a serious challenger to the already established players, like Maroc Telecom and Meditel.

With 100,000 subscribers already signed up in the first three days, it is the third most successful launch in the history of the telecoms industry according to experts.

This commercial offer was packaged so as to democratise not only access to telecommunications but also their use. "WANA designed Bayn so that the customers could phone from home or while moving around daily outside their home. With Bayn, it's the phone shop in your pocket and at home, with all its advantages but without the disadvantages", explained Sophia Lahlou.


With just 1 dirham (€0.09), the customer can recharge, put a ceiling on his or her calls and communicate, at the same time having a permanent view of all his or her expenses and credit.

The services contained in this offer enable the customer to enjoy the advantages of phone shops, the most frequently used means of phoning in Morocco due to the low cost, without having to go to them.

 

New-generation solutions

WANA has chosen CDMA technology because "it is the only mature technology that allows for the implementation of fixed-line telephony" according to the Marketing Manager. CDMA is an alternative technology to European GSM and is used in the United States, Japan, India, China and the Middle East. Furthermore, CDMA2000 (1) is the leading international third-generation technology: more than 240 operators have adopted it and it has more than 325 million users worldwide.

Since its launch at the end of March 2007, more than 40,000 Moroccans have opted for WANA's Bayn offer. "The commercial objectives have been revised upwards following Bayn's excellent performances. Indeed, the sales have reached record figures, strongly affecting the development of fixed-line telephony in Morocco, with +27.24% growth at the end of March 2007", specified Sophia Lahlou.

To deal with this rapid development, WANA has opted for the new-generation technological solutions from the service provider StreamWIDE.

 

"Quite obviously, Bay n's success is based on the innovative character of its marketing. The fact that we were able to market such an innovative product so quickly was due to the new-generation services technology supplied by StreamWIDE", Karim Zaz, the President of WANA, pointed out.


The StreamWIDE product is a prepaid services (data, mobile and fixed-line) management software solution. Its main functionalities are the management of prepaid credits, a rating engine, voucher management and a media server application.


WANA has integrated progressive functionalities into its prepaid offer: the dirham beep (a beep is triggered each time a dirham is spent), credit transfers from account to account by simply sending an SMS, a prepaid access to the Internet via a USB modem connected to the CDMA network and an advanced convergent messaging system.

The quick and integrated roll-out of all these functionalities was made possible by the flexibility and the highly interoperable nature of the StreamWIDE Prepaid solution.

 

A revolutionary business model

Due to its revolutionary business model based on a software technology that runs on standard non-proprietary IT servers and its concept of "evolutive maintenance" (the maintenance offer includes automatic access with no extra charge to the solution's upgrades and therefore its new functionalities), StreamWIDE helps to reduce the initial investment whilst at the same time keeping maintenance and operating costs very low. The total cost of the service platform acquired by WANA is extremely competitive and perfectly predictable over its whole lifetime.

"StreamWIDE naturally beat its competitors due to its ability to reduce the cost of our service platform whilst at the same time proposing powerful and upgradeable solutions" confirmed Karim Zaz.

In the next few months, WANA's Bayn product should offer total mobility and video access in 3G mode.

The new operator's growth potential is considerable, because only 4% of Moroccans are connected to the fixed-line phone network.

Its objectives over the next five years are ambitious: capturing 4 million customers, amounting to 15% of the market. A commercial onslaught which will be able to highlight the adaptable and upgradeable character of the StreamWIDE solution.

© 2007 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

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