Network Norway is Norway’s third Mobile Operator and launched commercial services in the beginning of 2007. Network Norway’s strategy is to become a leading player in the Norwegian Mobile Market and challenge the duopoly created by the established operators. After just two years of operations, Network Norway has acquired 8% market share, achieved through a series of mergers and acquisitions in the service provider MVNO market and organic growth in the B2B market.

In September 2007 Network Norway launched a dedicated suite of services targeted towards enterprise customers. The flagship service is the “Mobile Enterprise” product, based on the Easy Virtual PaBX solution from Gintel.

Easy Virtual PaBX is a comprehensive framework allowing operators to host and offer advanced virtual PaBX solutions for enterprises and SMEs. The service controls the behaviour of internal, outgoing and incoming calls to all employees, switchboard and common numbers, adding functionality for both the caller and the end user. Easy Virtual PaBX implements the corporate telephony plan with special charging and number plans for all types of traffic.

Easy Virtual PaBX features private numbering plans for voice and SMS, screening/barring schemes based on different criteria, any-to-any calls, hunting lists, corporate and user defined rules, call forwarding, call capture, call transfer and calling line presentation. A net-centric web based switchboard operator solution is also provided offering employee status monitoring, call capture, call transfer, etc. A set of user-friendly tools and typical scenarios addressing call flows, provisioning and charging aspects are available for solution design and service deployment. Crucially, the service does not require any special handset upgrades or rely on client software that is delivered to the mobile. This makes implementation and service activation very simple and does not introduce hidden costs as the service can be accessed on any mobile handset.

With Easy Virtual PaBX, Network Norway has been able to make a dramatic impact on the Norwegian mobile market. At service launch, as a new entrant, Network Norway did not have a legacy subscriber base, but had high expectations of rapid growth. The initial system architecture was conceived for 250,000 subscribers, with licenses activated for up to 10,000, enabling Network Norway to scale from an entry level platform to a market-leading position. “From the outset, it was clear that there was a huge opportunity to meet the needs of businesses, but we needed to be able to address all levels of the market – including SoHo and SME users, which have typically been underserved by operators. Gintel’s Easy Virtual PaBX allowed us to create differentiated packages that supported that focus, enabling us to gain market share rapidly”, commented Rolf Paulsen, Director of Product Management at Network Norway.

Between September 2007 and August 2009, Network Norway grew to offer services to 40,000 subscribers, making it the fastest growing operator for enterprise services in the Norwegian market. By year-end 2009, 50,000 subscribers are predicted. This dramatic growth has been achieved through a combination of superior product offer, sophisticated marketing and exceptional customer support. Currently, Network Norway has licenses to support 50,000 subscribers, providing head-room for continued growth. The flexibility of licensing Easy Virtual PaBX has contributed significantly to Network Norway’s business planning, allowing them to provision capacity in line with actual growth and to forecast acquisition to match the results of their growth.

Network Norway’s success has been underpinned by marketing and sales campaigns, leveraging a broad mix of communications media. Advertising has been widely used, across traditional print channels as well as via Internet portals. Additionally, Network Norway targeted business travellers via in-flight promotions with Norwegian Airlines, and dedicated customer events and road shows. Network Norway invested heavily in developing a supporting brand for the Mobile Enterprise product that could be used consistently across a range of media.

In addition to marketing programmes and campaigns, Network Norway developed a direct sales strategy to support its promotional efforts. With the right sales personnel and direct account responsibility, Network Norway has been able to build relationships with actual and prospective customers. To ensure the broadest reach, Network Norway also invested in a complementary dealer network, allowing it to access all segments of the enterprise market.

To date, customer satisfaction has been high, with a wide range of users adopting Mobile Enterprise. These range from companies in the SME segment, but also extend to classical enterprises, some with many hundreds of users, demonstrating the attractiveness and easy scale of offer based on the Easy Virtual PaBX platform.

Network Norway also launched a variety of packages, allowing users to select a bundle suited to their needs. With a base price of approximately €7 per user per month, there is considerable flexibility. In all packages, internal calls between employees are free, but users can also select options to include up to 3000 external call minutes per month for just over €30 per month. With each package, additional features are offered, including options to include the switchboard functionality and to add data rates. “It’s the flexibility of Gintel’s system that has allowed us to achieve this – traditional offers have neglected certain elements of the market. We saw the potential to grow market penetration of these services by being competitive and listening to what our customers wanted”, added Mr Paulsen.

Network Norway has introduced flexibility and clarity to the enterprise market, allowing users to gain the benefits of a mobile IP Centrex solution, based on Easy Virtual PaBX, supported by a range of attractive offers and packages, designed to ensure there is a bundle to attract users from segments of the business community.

The iPhone has attracted tremendous coverage throughout the media and has captured popular imagination. It’s hardly surprising – it’s a great device with some fabulous features. In addition to the evolution of the App Store model, the iPhone has had an impact on the wider smart-phone market, proving to be a catalyst for innovation as rival manufacturers strive to regain the initiative. And yet, in overall terms, while smart-phone sales continue to grow, they still represent a relatively small proportion of the handset market – around 10%, if our estimates are correct (we used comparative figures for 2007 from Gartner and Strategy Analytics). Notwithstanding growth since 2007, smart-phones are still in the minority.

Why does this matter? Well, one myth about Mobile PBX applications is that they require enhancements to the handset or the most sophisticated multi-functional devices; in other words, deploying a Mobile PBX service forces mobile customers to upgrade to smart-phone handsets. That’s clearly an economic impediment to the success of such services. With smart-phone penetration still relatively low – and largely confined to mature markets or the wealthiest subscribers – it would be a significant barrier to the successful launch of such a service.

Except that it is a real myth. At least as far as Gintel is concerned. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of users have standard mobile handsets, not smart-phone devices, however desirable they might be. Mobile PBX is an application that needs to be seamlessly available to all users who select the service, without any need of upgrade to either their handset device or the software it runs.

That might not be the case with some solutions, but Gintel’s version of Mobile PBX is designed to be available to any mobile user, irrespective of the handset they possess. This is essential, as the benefits of mobile PBX applications should not be restricted to the relatively small proportion of the mobile user base that has the latest (and most expensive technology). Not only is that rather a hard sell, it’s also economically untenable in a global economy.

Mobile operators can use Mobile PBX applications to offer enterprise services cost effectively across all segments of their market – from corporate customers with hundreds of users to the SME market. In most countries, more than 90% of people employed in private enterprise work in companies with fewer than 20 employees. To reach out to all of these potential customers requires a solution that can be deployed economically, without disruption and with minimal user intervention.

One of the great advantages of the mobile PBX is that it allows mobile operators to offer enterprise services to just about any customer. It’s not just about the extension of PBX functionality to mobile users, but it’s also about growing market share and taking such features to users for whom a classical PBX is not a viable proposition. Imagine an enterprise with 12 employees, but with a single incoming line – not an uncommon situation. Perhaps they are considering a new telephony solution, but the high start-up costs of a traditional PBX present a significant barrier. If instead of providing a solution with a high initial CAPEX, the mobile operator can offer a service with the features they need from a PBX but with no CAPEX and only monthly service charges, this could well prove a compelling proposition. A mobile PBX is all about market growth and development, not just about a winning proposition for users already familiar with the benefits of PBX services. Any solution that adds in CAPEX by demanding adoption of costly smart-phones for deployment simply isn’t viable and certainly won’t help mobile operators extend their market reach. Such a solution would be a solution for the rich, not the masses.

That’s why it’s essential that such a solution be available across any device, whether it is the latest gadget, such as an iPhone, or the humblest 2G handset. For rapid market penetration, in any economy, Mobile PBX has to be a pure service that leaves the device unaffected, requires no CAPEX on the part of the customer, and can be adopted en masse by enterprise users. At Gintel, we really understand this – why not talk to us and share our experience?

Tore Saeter,
September 2009

According to a recent report from Analysis Mason, the recent economic downturn will “boost demand for hosted voice services that eliminate the need for infrastructure investment and deliver short-term cash benefits”. Enterprises are recognising the benefits of leveraging voice as a service, hosted by operators in the “cloud”. This is a real opportunity for mobile operators to increase fixed-mobile substitution and to attract enterprise and SME customers with the promise of a full package of voice services, supported by the rich set of PBX features that will be familiar to current users of premises-based equipment.

Not only can mobile operators increase the breadth of services they offer, but they can increase their share of the enterprise wallet. How can this be achieved? Gintel’s Easy Virtual PaBX is a full mobile PBX solution, allowing mobile operators to deploy advanced PBX functionality directly to mobile handsets. More than a VPN, Easy PaBX supports connectivity to legacy signalling such as IN and CAMEL, allowing operators to leverage existing network assets and triggers, while delivering advanced new capabilities directly to enterprise users. Learn more here.

Gintel’s Easy PaBX is a feature rich application, offering everything you need to deploy a complete mobile PBX service. In addition to al the features you would expect in a classical PBX, such as call transfer, call parking etc, Easy Virtual PaBX supports advanced functionality that allows each mobile operator to differentiate their offer. Different customers can be offered different feature sets, with full separation between public and private functionality, allowing handsets to be used for work and leisure. Want to know more? Why not arrange a demonstration?

One of the myths surrounding mobile PBX applications is that they require either an upgrade to the latest smart-phone handset, or the installation of a client on the mobile handset, or even both. This may be true of some solutions, but not Gintel’s. Easy Virtual PaBX can be deployed in any mobile network and does not require any change to existing client devices. This makes it a cost-effective solution to deploy as it reduces the cost of rolling out the service to the widest possible customer base. Easy Virtual PaBX is a truly net-centric solution and can be deployed gracefully and without disruption. Find out more.

We’ve also blogged about the importance of ensuring Mobile PBX solutions are available to the widest possible user based, including the huge SME market here.