With no existing subscriber base when it launched service in 1996, Mobistar wanted to become the preferred provider of premium quality mobile services to individuals and professionals in Belgium.
Done.
Today Mobistar is one of Belgium’s best-known brand names, with 33 percent of the market. Its services and streamlined operations produce mobile revenue growth of 20 percent and growth in Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) of 6 percent from mid-year 2003 to mid-year 2004.
When two companies work together for a long time, a friendship develops—especially when those companies have worked in tandem, through all kinds of industry challenges, to deliver highquality mobile services.
In the case of Mobistar and Unisys, that teamwork has produced a stream of new, revenue-generating services with broad subscriber appeal. Mobistar was the second mobile operator to enter the Belgian marketplace and was determined to successfully compete with the incumbent operator, Belgacom-owned Proximus.
Through effective collaboration, open communication, and a shared vision, Mobistar and Unisys were able to design and launch one of the first prepaid services in Europe, called Tempo, in less than two months. Since then, Unisys and Mobistar have continued to work together, delivering new features and functionality to subscribers. The focus is on introducing services that bring a fast Return on Investment for Mobistar and value for its customers.
“Mobistar’s strategy is to increase voice services revenue and Unisys is seen as a key partner to achieve that objective,” Stephan Doucelin, voice services product line manager for Mobistar.
Mobistar’s voicemail solution runs on the Unisys communications platform, which today supports more than 140 million voicemail subscribers around the globe for many of the world’s largest communications companies. Unisys voicemail is provided to Mobistar’s subscribers for both personal and professional use.
“The Unisys-provided voicemail solution provides performance, reliability and functionality and is one of the most reliable services on our network,” according to Serge Vanderpoorte, voice mail project leader for Mobistar.
New ideas. More revenue.
Among nearly 20 revenue-generating services provided by Unisys to Mobistar are Memo Service, Wake-up Calls, and Friends and Family (a pricing package). Most recently, Celebrity Greetings, Clip+, and Call-back were launched. “Call-back,” which allows for an immediate return call to the last incoming number, has been available for professional subscribers for some time and has recently been introduced to the entire subscriber base.
Upon listening to a message, subscribers press a pre-defined key to call the person leaving a message; they can return to their Unisys mailbox at anytime. Call-back stimulates greater usage of the network by encouraging subscribers to make an additional call. “Clip+”, also known as Empty Calls Capture, lets the subscriber know that someone has called without leaving a message. The service identifies the caller, the number of calls and the date and time of the calls with an SMS to the subscriber.
The objective is to stimulate a return call or SMS, which brings additional revenue to Mobistar. Celebrity Greetings gives voice messaging users personalized ring tones and logos for their handset, along with fun greetings when the user cannot take the call. Subscribers select a prerecorded greeting to put into their mailbox, or to use a “karaoke” function where they can record their message with background music.
Smart design. Better customer service.
The same elements of respect, trust, and communication that are so essential between Unisys and Mobistar apply to the relationship between Mobistar and its subscribers. This means delivering high-quality service reliably and at a fair price.
The complexity of the Belgian marketplace demanded that Mobistar offer services in four languages: English, Dutch, French, and German. Since phone handsets are not subsidized as in other European countries, according to Belgian regulatory policy,Mobistar has focused on attracting subscribers with their quality of service. The Friends and Family pricing package is an innovative pricing package designed for prepaid subscribers. This complex integration project required a wide range of skills to implement since it involved interfaces between multiple systems with differing requirements and levels of complexity.
A seamless part of Mobistar’s infrastructure, Friends and Family offers an attractive way to help subscribers remain close to the people they care about most. Mobistar’s call center system was significantly improved to provide better support of customer inquiries. Unisys installed a unified desktop that lets Mobistar’s call center staff interact with background services using a common interface, despite the complexity of the systems running in the back office.
Centralization of the call center improved customer service and made outbound marketing campaigns easier. It also let Mobistar easily accommodate expansion to new locations, while having the call center continue to appear as one logical unit—giving Mobistar more agility in a highly competitive marketplace. Experience, expertise and friendship—together Mobistar and Unisys bring improvements, innovation and profitability to mobile services.
