Business, Sarawak News - Saturday, May 17, 2008 10:00 - 0 Comments

Celcom performs extraordinarily

Telco wins two service provider titles at 2008 Frost & Sullivan Malaysian Telecom Awards

KUCHING: Celcom was recently awarded the Mobile Service Provider of the Year and Mobile Data Service Provider of the Year at the 2008 Frost & Sullivan Malaysian Telecom Awards.

Coming off a record-breaking year in 2007 in terms of revenue, Celcom has more reason to celebrate this year’s World Telecommunication and Information Society Day today.

“We at Celcom are ecstatic and grateful to have been given the recognition from Frost & Sullivan in the form of such prestigious awards.

“We are not claiming to be the best, we are the best,” said its CEO Datuk Seri Shazalli.

“Celcom has made great strides over the past few years and we are proud to be where we are today.

“Winning these awards will motivate to work harder and to achieve greater results this year.”

Shazalli also added that 2007 was by far Celcom’s best year as the company outperformed its business targets and witnessed a customer growth of 18.5 per cent, bringing its total customer base to 7.2 million.

Celcom also foresees itself to achieve greater performance this year with more opportunities arising from the implementation of the mobile number portability in August.

Celcom’s resurgence in 2007 saw its mobile services revenue growing by 13.1 per cent to RM5.2 billion.

Other areas of strong growth included a noteworthy turnaround of postpaid acquisition with a net addition of 52,000 customers, and a significant increase in mobile data and non-SMS revenues.

Celcom also consistently registered three to four million hits per month on its Channel X mobile content portal.

Celcom also improved its segmentation exercise with an understanding of the various demographics within its subscriber base, complemented by its re-branding efforts.

To address its brand position, Celcom adopted co-branding tactics, with targeted marketing efforts such as its partnership with Vodafone, and compelling marketing campaigns that featured world-famous football icons, John Terry and Ryan Giggs.

Last year, Celcom also launched its ‘Branded Customer Service’ initiative aimed at providing a total customer experience.

To widen its reach and take advantage of new business opportunities, Celcom also formed alliances with several major corporations.

In 2007, Celcom became the first and only mobile operator in Malaysia to join forces with various Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) such as REDtone, Merchantrade, and TuneTalk.

Celcom also recently signed Malaysia’s first-ever nationwide domestic roaming agreement with U Mobile Services Sdn Bhd. Under the agreement, U Mobile customers are able to roam on Celcom’s superior 2G network.