Marketing Plan: Telecommunication Company [ DU]



Table of Contents

Executive summary 3

Current Market Situation analysis 4

SWOT Analysis 10

Objectives and Issues 12

Marketing Strategy 13

References 17

Executive summary

Du is the second telecommunication company operating in the United Arab Emirates. Du was first launched in 2006, starting with providing mobile services which later developed in providing fixed telephony, broadband connectivity and IPTV services for businesses, individuals and homes. Du also provides carrier services for business and satellite up/downlink services for TV broadcasters. Above all that Du offer value and enhances their services every now and then.

By October 2011 over 5 million people and over 40,000 businesses have chosen to use Du’s services and become their customers.

Du’s objectives are driven and stem from the company’s vision and mission, which are:

Vision: To enhance your life, anytime, anywhere.

Mission: We want to delight our customers, be the employer of choice for the best talent, create optimal value for our shareholders through business excellence and innovation, and proudly contribute to the transformation of our community. We work to deliver our vision by using our talent, skills and energies to connect, inspire and reward all we touch, every day.

1. Market Situation Analysis

Current Marketing situation:

The telecommunication industry has widened with the strong potential, and determined marketing strategy and services that are more effective to attract more customers. Du is a telecommunication industry that was founded in 2006. It offers mobile and fixed telephony, broadband connectivity, and IPTV services to individuals, homes and businesses. Du consist of over 2000 employees, with more than 50% locals in the seniors management teams and customer-facing staff, and have around 4 billion revenue. It has flourished the UAE market by acquiring around 40% mobile market share within five years of its entry, and maintaining an annual growth rate of more than 32% in a saturated market. A statistic that was done in October 2011 shows that over 40,000 businesses have chosen to use du services and become a regular customers (Du, 2011). The high care in enhancing the life of the customers with all honesty and creating innovations that pleases them has made the competition intense.

Price strategies are made by keeping the competitor price strategies in mind to provide the consumers with a competitive price. Comparing the pricing strategies of competitors is very important topic for marketers. The UAE telecommunication market consists only of two cellular companies, which are Du and etisalat. A few years ago, Du entered a 100 % penetration market, taking the risk to compete with etisalat, a pioneer and leading company in this region. Etisalat offers a good quality of service with high pricing whereas, du offers low prices that has attracted many customers.

Market description:

The Telecommunication company Du considers the target audience as a priority, and they consist of residential and business customers. Those audience have different preferences, such as products and services that enable communication and entertainment of a high quality and at good prices. Du's creations focus on providing the target market segment innovative and new services to assure a better experience to the categories that range both socially and professionally. Du has the broad target segments that are : Consumers, Businesses, and carriers.

The patrons of du have a variety of products and services to choose between. Du provides packages that are more convenient for local and international communication, such as using landline benefits, as payment is by seconds, simplified tariff on international calls, and around the clock off-peak international rates . Moreover, Du offers a unique entertainment experience through du TV+ with a selection of features; such as instinctive channel browsing, pause, rewind and record of live TV. Also, there’s no missing out on HD and 3-D television plus ”Movies on Demand “ and “On Demand Club” with your desired TV shows while at the comfort of your own home. The customers of du can enjoy the vast handset products, including blackberries, iPhones , Nokia, and Samsung galaxy with many exclusive offers. Du performs at high consideration of the targeted market, and improve alongside the technology to assure their comfort and satisfaction.

The emergence of a new Telecommunication company that targeted both the nationals and the emergent citizens has indeed increased the competitive power. The different offers and lower prices provided for messaging, phone calls, Wi-Fi, and different entertainment systems are major factors that increased competition. The key, and only competitor of du in the United Arab Emirates, is Etisalat.

|Targeted segments |Customer Need |Corresponding feature/Benefit |

|Consumers : | |present mobile and fixed voice calling, |

| |To have improved entertainment technology |Internet, data services and television. |

|Households |to stay in contact with the world in cheaper |Provide internet services that are more |

| |prices |convenient such as the Mobile Broadband Data |

| | |Card that provides with internet everywhere. |

| | |moreover, the television services that |

| |to carry less devices rather than many |assures movies on demand, controlling with |

| |Express individualism through new |forward pause and record of live TV, and high|

| |technologies |definition of many packages. |

| | | |

|Individuals | | |

|Business: | |business voice that allows users to benefit |

| |search for ease, support, simplified solution|from inbound and outbound services to ease |

|Small and medium business |where all their telecommunication |your communication needs |

| |requirements are met at one stop shop |business mobile that provides flexible mobile|

| | |strategies and mobility products to outfit |

| | |the business needs. |

| | |business managed services help enhance the |

| | |business IT investment value |

| | |business access is committed to secure and |

| | |reliable point-to-point connection for |

| | |offices countrywide or globally that are |

| | |there when needed. |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

| |Aim for growth | |

| |enhance relations | |

|Enterprise and Government | | |

|Carriers: |Develop business analytics an product |Provide international data networks and |

|Blue color workers | |wholesale services to international |

| | |operators, multinational corporation and |

| | |telecommunication carriers. |

Product Review:

Our company provides products and services for businesses such as:

• Business mobile are flexible mobile plans and mobility products that suits the business needs

• Business voice allow businesses to gain advantage of inbound and outbound services to fulfill their communication needs.

• Business broadband is an internet service that allows companies to communicate with their customers and provide reliable source of information with a lower cost that helps drives the overall business productivity.

- Symmetric high speed/ redundancy/ highly reliable

- Unlimited internet up to 1Gbps with attractive prices

Our company provides different mobiles products and services:

• Handsets: gives the customers the chance to choose the mobile phone that suits them.

- Blackberries: provides email service that automatically delivers email message/manage multiple accounts/ get online/ view documents

- Nokia phones with du: offers 1 GB data free per month for 1 year

- Samsung phones with du: offers 1 GB data free per month for 1 year with elite super plans

- XPERIA arc with du: buying new Xperia arc with any of du’s elite plan allows the customer to get 1 GB free data every month for a whole year.

• Mobile broadband: enables consumers to enjoy faster mobile internet browsing, music downloading, and other applications that require high speed mobile broadband access.

- internet key: supported by du’s state-of-the-art HSPA+ data network/ high speed data connectivity/ managing contacts and sending and receiving SMS laptop/

- Micro Data SIM: high-speed data connectivity/ provides variety of attractive and unbeatable data bundle rates, tailored to individual needs.

- data bundles: surf the internet, watch videos, chat and many other entertainment using mobile device more reasonably by subscribing to the data bundles.

• Traveling abroad: du has tied up with over 430 telecom operators worldwide to ensure for their customers to stay in touch and enjoy a full ranch of services

- Passport: calls within the GCC be charged at only 90 fils per minute that allows customers to enjoy talking longer for less.

- One world one rate: offers an attractive and unified price of AED 1.25/ minute for all incoming calls while roaming abroad.

Our company provides different home products and services:

• Landline: pay by the second/ flat rates for national destinations/ off-peak international rates around the clock to all countries

• Broadband: easily connect to the internet by just plugging the computer into the socket without the use of modem or a passwords and usernames. Several packages from 24 Mbps to 256 Kbps with various speed is available to chose from.

• TV: contains advanced features such as simplified search and display, superior channel browsing, instant channel change capability, high definition TV, and the option of pausing, rewinding and recording live programs.

• Real broadband packages: offers premium home services at an attractive price with fast speed.

- Talk: call the world with 1 fils per second using the home landline.

- Surf: offers up to 16 times more broadband

- Watch: offers intuitive channel browsing, pause, rewind, record live TV, and 3-D movies on demand and TV shows.

The service that we are focusing on in this paper is the On world one rate:

• Offers one unified and attractive rate of AED 150 per 50 KB for mobile internet and 1,25 per minute for all incoming calls while roaming abroad.

• Charges for outgoing calls and SMS are set based on areas of the world.

• Calls to any number of the visited countries starts from AED 1,25 per minute in GCC up to AED 5 per minute according to the rest of the world.

• Calls back to the UAE begins from AED 3 per minute in GCC up to AED 9 per minute according to the rest of the world.

• SMS charges are AED 1 per SMS in GCC and up to AED 2 per SMS according to the rest of the world.

• Data roaming is AED 1 per 50 KB in anyplace in the world.

• Outgoing and incoming calls are charged on a 60 seconds unit basis.

Competitive Review:

The emergence of a new Telecommunication company that targeted both the nationals and the emergent citizens, has certainly increased the competitive power. The different offers and lower prices provided for text messaging, phone calls, Wi-Fi, and different entertainment systems are major factors that increased competitiveness. The foremost, and only competitor of du in the United Arab Emirates, is Etisalat.

• Etisalat: is the leading telecommunication organization in the UAE market, etisalat offers a good quality of service using allowance, promotion, and segmented strategy. It uses promotional strategies rather than reducing the prices. Their packages are more complex and a bit tricky for a normal customer, and are overall more expensive than du. Moreover, Etisalat has invested in 17 countries worldwide and caters around 94.7 million customers. Thus, the telecom will grow in the competitive market according to the increase in profits and revenues (Naeem, 2010).

Despite this strong competition, Du can carve out a definite image and gain recognition among the targeted segments. In the Bond Prospectus at the London Stock Exchange, etisalat stated that “the introduction of Du in 2007 led to significant changes in Etisalat’s mobile tariff structure, including segment-targeted promotions and tariffs. In addition, the significant number of new promotional offers introduced by Du and Etisalat during the period from 2007 to 2009 and through 30 September 2010 led to a decline in effective tariffs” (Naeem, 2010). Additionally, du has attracted over 159,800 customers in the last quarter and a total mobile market of 37 percent. Du is the economical service provider, it attracts its customers by providing lower prices than etisalat, but unfortunately provide lower quality. Du offers bundle, allowance and discount, and segmented strategy. It offer per second pricing, thus a majority of user prefer to call from du.

2. SWOT analysis

Strengths

Du has three important strengths:

       Talk, Surf and Watch package. This package offers premium home services at an attractive price. The benefits of this package are users can call the world for as low as 1 fils per second from their home landline, where they pay by the second. Users can also enjoy up to 16 times more broadband and get free 5 e-mail accounts with 1 GBmailbox each plus free antivirus and anti spyware software. Users can watch whatever they want, whenever they want.

       Du TV+.  This feature that can be experienced with an array of advanced features such as intuitive channel browsing, pause, rewind and record live TV. Users can enjoy HD and 3-D television plusMovies on Demand and On Demand Club with their favourite TV shows from the comfort of their homes. 

        Loyal customers because of fair prices. Du charges local and international calls by the second. Therefore, people are more interested in Du and trust it more than Etisalat. Du has a large number of loyal customers. Unlike Etisalat, Du is more customer-oriented and 80% of Etisalat customers shifted to Du because of their prices.

Weakness:

Since Du is a new telecommunication company, it has learned from the mistakes of Etisalat, which was the only telecommunication company in the UAE. However, it still has some weaknesses:

Lack of signal. Du’s signal is still not available everywhere in the UAE.

Services not used by everyone. Not a lot of people use Du’s services because it is still new to the market, and the public doesn’t really know the products and services that Du is offering.

Opportunities

Increasing demand for cheaper telecom services. There are only two telecommunication companies in the UAE, which makes the market have an oligopolistic competition between Du and Etisalat. There is an increased demand for the cheapest telecom company. Du is trying to keep ahead with the fair prices by creating packages and services that are cheaper than the other telecommunication company.

Better technology. Being in the 21st century a wide range of technologies have evolved with lower cost. Therefore Du can bring better services with the advanced technology at a lower cost and therefore offer value-added prices.

Threats

Downward pressure on pricing: increased competition between Du and Etisalat has lead Etisalat to use some of the same pricing strategies du is following, causing a downward pressure on pricing. For example, Du follows the pay by second theory while Etisalat used to use the pay by minute. But after Du’s success Etisalat started using the pay by second theory.

Future competition threats. Competition in the market for telecommunications systems is highly competitive and the company expects this competition to increase. It is expected that continued growth and competition in the telecommunications industry, and new competitors will enter the market.

Alternative pricing arrangements. Alternative pricing arrangements may be required to cultivate relationships with new market entrants, and to a lesser degree with established companies. Even though Du’s prices are reasonable, they still need to have alternative prices to stay ahead of the telecommunication company.

3. Objective

 First-year Objective

The market of telecommunications was a monopolistic market which was controlled by Etisalat. Du’s aim is to be stable in the market, to have a strong and professional relationship with customers.

      Second-year Objective

To increase Emiratization, which is by employing UAE nationals in the company, develop training programs for UAE nationals, supporting projects of UAE nationals, and advertising for the company “du” throughout the UAE cultural places around the UAE.

      Third-year Objective

Du’s third objective is to go globally, to open du branch in the Middle East countries such as Egypt, KSA, Bahrain, Algeria, and other countries too.

-          Issues in general

Since the company is entering a monopolistic market, du needs to spend a lot on the marketing procedure. Also, another issue is to form a confident relationship between customers and the company, since the company is new and needs a lot of support.

4. Marketing strategy

Du’s marketing strategy stems from first analyzing the current market, and later developing marketing objectives which influences the products design offered, and du’s overall marketing approach.

Du’s marketing strategy is based on a positioning of product differentiation. Their primary consumers are both women and men from age 18 and above who need good telecom products and services at good prices. Du’s secondary consumers are expats who are from the lower level that come work in the UAE and need cheaper prices to contact their family and friends back home.

the UAE telecommunication industry in the past has always been product oriented, meaning Etisalat being the sole telecom provider will provide the customers with one product, catering to the whole entire mass of people in the UAE. For example for mobile services etisalat use to offer two kinds of mobile plans either prepaid or monthly plan with no rewards or special offers. One product that is not custom made catering to the entire country. With no competition in the market, and no options for the consumer, lead to the lack of creativity in the product offered.

Positioning

Du is positioning their market as the most up to date, convenient and value-added telecommunication company in the UAE. Their marketing strategy is to focus on the consumer’s need rather than just launching a product in the marketing. This could be established by segmenting and later designing a product or an offer which this segment require or would be interested in. Du continually hunts for new and innovative plans that sends importance and value to all their customers and build a long lasting relationship meeting their expectations and needs. Since most of the customers travel between their work area and home , du looks for great solutions by offering voice, messaging, data and increasingly fixed line services to meet consumers needs..

Product Strategy

Du recognized how much the internet and phone calls is increasing in everyone’s daily lives and decided to create a new international roaming offer. This offer is called One World One Rate which is a flat data pricing rate for its subscribers who are able to use mobile internet while travelling anywhere in the world. It provides unified prices for all incoming calls while roaming abroad, anytime, anywhere. Plus instead of charging you for outgoing calls and SMS depending on the country you’re visiting Du have made things simple by setting up charges based on areas of the world instead. One World One rate will enable customers to enjoy more value, simplicity and convenience than ever before.

Pricing strategy

One World One Rate costs AED 1.25 per minute for all incoming calls and AED 1 per 50 KB for data. Du will introduce a more affordable service in the upcoming years if this type of service became highly demanded. Their prices reflects Du’s strategy of attracting new customers as well as maintaining their loyal customers. This offer provides customers with peace of mind, rather than having to worry about hidden international costs.

| |

Distribution strategy

Du’s distribution strategy will be using both direct channel and indirect channel. The One World One Rate services can be obtained from a variety of ways such as retail locations, by telephone or through our website online. During the first months of providing this service, du will advertise in promote areas where large numbers of expats and other individuals who will be interested in this service. These areas will be in Airports and malls across the UAE. Advertisements in tourism and booking websites will also be part of distributing this service since the internet is an important key channel to promote services.

A third party service provider and distributors will be part of the indirect distribution. This will allow the service to expand and offer top quality and uncomplicated roaming services to cater the needs of both national and international customers.

This is the advertisement that will be distributed:

[pic]

Marketing Research

Since Du is committed to providing elite, affordable and, simple roaming services, marketing research will take place to support development and evaluate The One World One Rate service. It will start by creating surveys and focus groups to analyze the consumers opinions and attitude towards the service. This will help in developing The One World One Rate service. The second step will be researching the awareness of this service. This will be done by analyzing the effectiveness of the advertisements. Throughout this research du will be able to know the degree of satisfaction of their consumers

Marketing Organization

Du’s senior president of marketing and customer experience is responsible for all the marketing activities in the company. The figure below shows the top level employees whom are in charge of different aspects of the marketing department in Du.

[pic]

References

Analyzing your market situation. (2011). Dummies. Retrieved December 3, 2011, from

Dam, R. (2009). Du: The next level. Huawei. Retrieved December 13, 2011, from

Du. (2011). Retrieved December 11, 2011, from

Inamuddin, M. (2010). Comparing pricing stategies Etisalat vs Du. Slideshare. Retrieved December 11, 2011, from

Marketing action plan. (n.d.). Physical activity strategy. Retrieved Dec 3, 2011, from

Marketing Action Plan. (2010). E-moonlighting. Retrieved Dec 3, 2011, from

Market situation analysis. (2011). WikiAnswers. Retrieved December 3, 2011, from

Naeem, W. (2010). Du crushes Etisalat. Newz globe. Retrieved December 13, 2011, from

Situation analysis. (2011). Business dictionary. Retrieved December 3, 2011, from



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Marketing Plan: Telecommunication Company [ DU]

Group members:

Nouf Al Janahi 200920194

Hessa Al Ghaith 200923012

Shamma Yousif 200921539

Noora Abdulla 200920449

Reem Fahad 200920235

Habiba 200920245

Instructor: Li Sun

Course: Bus 310-502

Date: Dec 5 2011

Ashok Israni

Vice president

Consumer Segment

Souhail Haddji

Vice president

Marketing Fixed

Mark Briers

Vice president

Strategic Marketing

Subhra Das

Senior President Marketing and Customer experience

John Lincoln

Vice president

Enterprise Marketing

Saleem Mohbani

Vice president

Digital Marketing & Entertainment

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