Millicom is a group of companies offering mobile services to a population coverage of 250 million people worldwide and 169 million people in Africa . It was established in 1990 and has expanded globally, offering voice, cable TV, data and value added services through partnerships and joint ventures. The company is headquartered in Luxembourg and has operations in 13 countries in Africa, Central America and South America. In Africa, its key markets are Chad, The Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC"), Senegal, Tanzania, Ghana and Mauritius. Millicom also started operations on Rwanda in December 2009 after being awarded a license in 2008. The gross mobile subscriber base of the company worldwide was 33.9 million, with 12.2 million subscribers in Africa at the end of December 2009.
In Ghana, where the brand is well known, the company now has a dedicated trade marketing function whose role is to plan visibility in the market with the assistance of the trade marketing team and ensure the deployment of an effective budget. In it's younger markets, such as Chad and the DRC, the company is still focused on increasing basic visibility. Examples of this are the painting of over 2,000 square metres of walls with the Tigo logo in Chad, and sponsoring taxis in the capital city. And in the DRC, the company deployed a further 3,000 point of sale tables and 5,000 parasols to increase brand visibility.
DMS is also at quite different stages of implementation, with Chad and the DRC making their first deployments in their respective capital city areas during 2009. In Tanzania, the focus has been on training employees in the use of DMS to maximize its value to the business. In Ghana it has been used highly effectively to promote ePIN penetration.
Product innovation
With the majority of demand in its African division still for voice and SMS services, Millicom has been seeking opportunities for innovation in the way its services are packaged and branded. While most of its African businesses have developed targeted bundles that stimulate both ARPU and usage, such as discounted calls to one or two other Tigo numbers in Ghana the DRC and Senegal, a range of unique products have been devised to increase customer numbers. Examples include the Xtreme SMS package offered to its customers in Tanzania and Ring Back Tone services which have proved hugely successful in both Tanzania and Chad. In Tanzania, the company pioneered RBT Star Copy to make it easy to copy tunes and subscribe to RBT.Customers. The tunes are copied simply by pressing the star key on their keypads when they hear a Ring Back Tone they like. RBT Star Copy has also acted as a highly effective form of viral marketing for the company.
Improving operations strategy
Millicom is making considerable improvements to its operations strategy in Africa. As a region where coverage remains focussed on predominantly urban areas, capex for 2009 was 51 percent of revenues. However, when it made the decision to outsource passive infrastructure in Africa by sharing tower networks with operators that cover similar regions, Millicom was responding to the difficult economic climate while allowing the business to focus on its sales, marketing, distribution, service innovation and customer care strategies. This decision was put into practise in January 2010 when the company signed its first tower agreement in Ghana and sold approximately 750 towers to Helios Towers Ghana.
Alternative power solutions are another focus for the company's African division, and by introducing LPG, deep cycle batteries and solar energy it is making cost effective steps towards having a more environmentally friendly presence in the region.
