Mobile telephony service providers (MVNE) are continuously upgrading themselves. They are also improving with the latest solutions and technologies available to provide innovative services. Another important point is the optimization of their overall operations for those who want to enter the mobile market as a mobile virtual network operator or for those companies that want to add a mobile offering to their service catalogs, as is the case with the Poste Italiane group.
In the following Guinea Mobile article we will discuss the case of the Italian company Poste Italiane and its entry into the mobile market as a Poste Mobile (MVNO) thanks to the support of the company Accenture (MVNE).
What is Poste Italiane?
The Poste Italiane group offers postal services and integrated communication, logistics and financial products throughout Italy. Innovation over the past decades has driven the company to improve quality and expand the range of services offered.
Business challenge
Poste Italiane, with an established reputation as an innovative and strong competitor, announced in early 2007 its intention to start selling mobile telephony services as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) under the brand name “PosteMobile”.
With this service, the company planned to expand the number of distinctive services it could make available to the customer, building on the broad portfolio of services they already have. As a virtual operator, Poste Italiane would be able to expand access to its existing postal and financial products through cell phones, while leveraging wireless technologies to offer innovative revenue-generating services.
The mobile market is one of the most lucrative in Italy, but also the most saturated in the world. Although virtual operators have been around for several years, only in some countries do MVNOs capture a large share of the market. Poste Italiane therefore felt that the success of this new initiative was based on several key factors. The company needed to offer differentiated and innovative services through its mobile offering. It also had to move quickly through the planning and launch phases in a cost-effective manner, getting a completely new organization up and running in a very short timeframe.
How Accenture helped
Accenture is a global digital services and consulting, technology and operations firm. In its MVNE role, Accenture built and maintained the major building blocks of the IT (information technology) infrastructure needed to support Poste Mobile’s core business processes.
Accenture provided operations and management services, as well as business process outsourcing services including service configuration and testing of handsets and SIM cards. With this offering, delivered by experienced professionals, Accenture provided support for the core elements required to launch and operate the new MVNO.
These included:
Business Support System (BSS) functions such as customer relationship management, billing, dealer portal and data warehouse.
Network elements, Control Point and GGSN
Service delivery platform, including a mobile portal to enable SIM-based value-added services.
Poste Mobile’s mobile offering
With PosteMobile’s MVNO, Poste Italiane has revolutionized the industry’s traditional postal services and established new lines of competition.
The company is now able to offer customers attractive new mobile services by integrating to its services
by integrating to its services: network of own offices, bank and certification authority, accessible through any cell phone.
PosteMobile enables its customers to perform a variety of financial transactions and communication activities easily, securely and cost-effectively. Customers can check their PosteMobile accounts, make money transfers and bill payments through the easy-to-use SIM menu. They can replenish their accounts easily, and can monitor the movement of funds in both the PosteMobile prepaid card and Poste Italiane accounts.
Poste Mobile and Poste Italiane have achieved significant commercial results; in the first month of operation as a start-up company, Poste Mobile attracted 100,000 subscribers and now has over three million subscribers, making it the largest mobile network operator in Italy.
Up to this point we have outlined the Post Mobile integration process and its mobile offering to provide a wide range of services for Post Italiane’s customers. We hope you have found this information useful.
Mobile telephony services have many niche markets that traditional telephone operators have not yet filled. If you want to create your own phone company as a virtual mobile operator, we at Guinea Mobile can help you with different digital solutions. Contact us if you are interested in increasing customer loyalty, information and revenue through mobile subscriptions.
