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a result, there are excellent opportunities for the cutting edge
technology solution providers to develop and sell their products
in the region. However, many potential providers have failed to
maximize the opportunity through a lack of understanding of the
cultural and market conditions that exist in some countries. For
example, one supplier was keen to sell online gambling solutions
to the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The local partner was
able to advise that this product would be culturally unsuitable,
but the supplier was able to explore opportunities for the rest of
its portfolio.
Buyer behaviour is a key element when looking at regional
markets. In Europe and the USA, credit cards are a way of life,
whereas cash is king in the Middle East. The operating models
that are developed for domestic markets will not necessarily fly
elsewhere, and this should be considered when selecting poten-
tial countries in which to operate.
National security is often an issue. Location-based services
(LBS) are a way of life in Europe, albeit with potential concerns
of human rights and ‘Big Brother’ being able to watch the indi-
vidual. But in some potential markets, LBS is strictly forbidden
on national security reasons. The daily culture has to be consid-
ered when seeking new markets. For example, many of the
wealthy individuals who can afford value-added services would
not need some that are very popular in Europe. A direction-
finding application would be of little interest to the high net worth
individual who has a driver, and the driver does not need it as he
knows the streets like the back of his hand.
Perhaps the best example of the clash of culture in the univer-
sal mobile telephony field is the ban on camera phones that has
recently been lifted in Saudi Arabia. Almost 100 per cent of
mobile phones today are fitted, as standard, with a camera. These
were strictly forbidden in Saudi Arabia, although widely available
through the neighbouring United Arab Emirates. Many a content
developer and handset provider would learn that the market for
photos was nil, until late 2004.
One market that is burgeoning is the entrepreneurial sector,
where individuals are seeking to make their fortunes with the
opening of developing regions. The state-control has started to
diminish, and the entrepreneur can potentially flourish.
However, these customers have a universal requirement wher-
ever they are operating. Cash is king, and wherever they can
reduce their overhead and their OPEX, they will try to do so.
Mobile telephony has allowed entrepreneurs to work on the
move, with limited office overheads, and to plan their working
lives better.
It is interesting to note that the maturity of the mobile market
positively affects the efficiency of business in all countries, but
in the wealthier countries, where individuals are cash-rich but
time-poor, individuals have become less disciplined in the
management of their diaries. Only fifteen years ago, when pocket
organizers and diaries were carried by most Europeans, and
fixed line phone boxes were accessible to all, a group of friends
would meet for a drink and arrange the location, day and time
for the next convivial gathering. Everyone would arrive at the
right place on the right day at about the right time. Today, there
are endless calls, asking “where, what day, when, with whom?”
and at least 20 per cent of the potential attendees will be notice-
ably late. More advanced societies have become personally more
inefficient, as their inefficiency is compensated by the flexibil-
ity offered by mobile telephony. In developing countries, the
mobile phone is still the tool of efficiency, whereby meetings
and business can be arranged through the new-found flexibil-
ity of the mobile phone.
Applications that are increasingly popular for those with invest-
ments in the burgeoning markets are business information
applications, whereby the subscriber can browse breaking market
news and business information on their mobile. Such applica-
tions enable the investor and entrepreneur to stay close to the
dynamic Middle East financial markets.
Other potentially useful products include: a push e-mail
product, that pushes office and calendar items to the user’s
mobile and synchronizes the contact lists and task lists with the
head office; and instant messaging services that enable teams to
stay in contact with each other and pass information wherever
and whenever it is required.
As the economic boom of the Middle Eastern region contin-
ues, there will always be a need to have a field force that will carry
out maintenance and repair tasks. Field services applications
enable a field service company to manage its workforce remotely,
allocating jobs and resources, managing active tasks, controlling
parts allocation, reviewing service status and generating reports
and invoices. This will bring a whole new working ethos to many
service companies and ensure that efficiencies can be driven
through the implementation of such a service.
So, how will the market look in five years’ time? Notwithstanding
a macroeconomic slump, the pace of change and liberalization in
the Middle East is set to continue, driven by the global demand
for oil. The large industrial conglomerates have helped build the
region, and continue to help the development, but the markets are
becoming more service orientated and the consumer is beginning
to have a choice. The natural development from the current posi-
tion is that niche markets will start to develop, with consumers
and commercial organizations seeking services that exactly match
what they are looking for. Before, a square peg would be fashioned
and forced into a round hole, but now there are many shapes and
sizes of holes, and the smaller, more agile suppliers can bring their
products and services to exactly fit those holes.
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Cellucom is one of the strategic partners with Sara Telecom