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Prepaid Mobile Services - Using New Business Models to Boost Profits
Pyramid Research, Inc., March 2010, Pages: 57
Prepaid Mobile Services examines the success of prepaid operators in developing markets. The prepaid platform has encountered resounding success around the world and is the preferred billing plan in most developing markets. Its success, however, goes beyond the mere adoption of a popular billing plan — it is the outcome of a comprehensive rethinking of the mobile business model.
This report identifies the characteristics of successful prepaid players and suggests a number of core drivers for their profitability. It makes a number of observations on the impact of ARPS on profitability in a competitive prepaid market context as well as on the core strategies successful prepaid operators rely on to boost revenue. The report also looks at the dynamics of the cost base and trends emerging in the management of network opex. In terms of the next phase, selling mobile broadband, the report details trends in pricing schemes and discusses the challenges operators will face with subsidies. Finally, it examines in-depth the operator models of four prepaid players: MTS Russia, Safaricom Kenya, Turkcell Turkey and Grameenphone Bangladesh.
Key findings include:
The main conclusions of the report concerning prepaid and profitability include:
- Prepaid platforms are not an obstacle to profitability. Nearly all operators in emerging markets are predominantly prepaid operations; many are profitable, and some boast some of the highest operating margins in the world.
- There is more to the success of prepaid operators in developing markets than merely the popular adoption of a billing plan. It is the outcome of something larger — a comprehensive rethinking of what the mobile business model has historically been and how it has historically worked.
- Successful prepaid operators have scale. Because of the fluidity of the prepaid segment and the high churn inherent to prepaid, the ability to build scale quickly has become a critical part of profitability. The most profitable players generally have the largest networks and boast the widest distribution systems. They use their size to offer more flexible on-net pricing, using club strategies to attract and retain customers.
- As for churn, they have above-average performance, using a variety of retention tools, from continuous demand stimulation to club-building through unique applications. In a context in which many customers move across networks or carry multiple subscriptions, the most profitable players manage to keep customers active on their networks for as long as possible.
- They control the bulk of their traffic flows. The most profitable prepaid players generally control the entirety of the infrastructure on which their traffic is running.
- They have superb data performance, with a focus on content and connectivity. With voice revenue already slowing, a strong performance on the data front can cushion the decline on the voice side and, optimally, keep revenue growth stable.
- They are competitive without being the cheapest. They use their size and scale to stay competitive on pricing and complement aggressive pricing with attractive brands, extensive distribution networks and other assets to drive up subscriber acquisition.
Key Questions Answered
- What are the key drivers of profitability in a prepaid-heavy context? What characteristics do successful prepaid players have in common?
- How does ARPS affect profitability in a competitive prepaid market context? What new revenue pathways are mobile operators looking to as competition drives down ARPS?
- What are the core strategies successful prepaid operators rely on to boost revenue?
- What dynamics are at play in the cost base of a prepaid mobile operator? What trends do we see emerging in the management of these costs and in network opex?
- What effect does churn have on mobile operator performance in a prepaid context? How do successful prepaid mobile players combat churn?
- What sort of pricing schemes are operators relying on to sell mobile broadband? What challenges will they face in the evolution of mobile services?
Target audience
Mobile Operators:
This report will help you optimally position your prepaid model and choose the strategies that have proven successful with the most profitable prepaid players. Understand why shifting your focus to data performance, particularly content and connectivity, can cushion decline on the voice side and keep revenue growth stable. Learn how to stay competitive on pricing without being the cheapest, and discover the importance of using promotions to aggressively encourage usage and of adding subscribers by offering an attractive brand and an extensive distribution network. The report also analyzes services and promotions that make a subscriber less likely to leave your network and helps you evaluate whether various price-cut tactics will stimulate usage without damaging your bottom line. Evaluate your future with 3G broadband solutions, which are less cumbersome and more flexible than wireline alternatives.
Equipment Vendors:
Learn to recognize the signs, particularly among newer entrants, of network expansion and infrastructure buildout. Understand the dynamics of the prepaid operator cost base to help develop partnerships, potentially on handset or device subsidies.
Investors:
Assess whether equipment and software vendors are addressing the actual needs of particular markets, including whether they are creating market-specific products and services that will boost usage and keep subscribers active on a network. Discover how successful mobile operators take advantage of their economies of scale. This report also analyzes the strategies newer entrants employ to gain the requisite scale as well as the strategies of operators that target the youth market and emphasize mobile data services. It will also show you the importance of considering the overall weight the regulatory bill has on the cost of sales.
Case studies
MTS in Russia
Safaricom in Kenya
Turkcell in Turkey
Grameenphone in Bangladesh
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