„Glasfaser anbieten kann jeder. Die Qualität macht den Unterschied.“
Stefan Amon, A1 Leiter Wholesale, im Interview mit dem internationalen Branchenmagazin global telecoms business über Potentiale am Wholesale Markt
As wholesale operators seek to make themselves stand out in the commoditised fibre market, Stefan Amon says quality is the selling point
Stefan Amon: Having a clear unique selling point is very important in the wholesale market: because it’s a commodity, everyone can offer fibre
Painting a map of the world red with Telekom Austria Group network footprint isn’t important to Stefan Amon, who became head of wholesale at its Austrian operator A1 Telekom Austria and assumed responsibility for the group’s wholesale business activities, in November 2011. That’s because network footprint isn’t, in itself, a differentiator – the quality the network can deliver is.
“For the first two months in the job it has been easy to look back at the market and talk with customers and the whole industry and the conclusion, from my point of view, is that we’re facing a market where prices are extremely commoditised, especially in voice and capacity,” he says.
He has two official titles, head of group wholesale operations at Telekom Austria Group, and head of wholesale at the Austrian operation, now called A1 Telekom Austria.
“In wholesale, we’re thinking about how we can keep alive and continue our ebitda contribution to the group. Within Telekom Austria Group, we’ve made the decision not to have a very large footprint and to focus on the regions around us where we know the customers and the culture and have existing partners.” Amon has identified five core areas upon which the group’s wholesale strategy will be based. These include VoIP, increasing capacity where appropriate, mobile solutions, satellite solutions and growing the wholesale business within Austria.
He wants to develop the group’s VoIP business to encompass more of its capabilities and synergies to put roaming and VoIP propositions together that make use of opportunities outside the group’s current activity. “We’re discussing new opportunities,” he says but won’t comment further until proposals have been approved by the group’s board.
He also sees potential to increase the group’s capacity in countries that it already operates in. “There are a few white spots on the map that could be interesting to fill,” he adds, “so we’re considering increasing our capacity in the countries we’re already in.”
Satellite and broadcast are further areas that Amon identifies that show promise. “At the moment there are a number of discussions about whether we can really improve average revenue per user for these services in combination with our JetStream network,” he says.
“In the past there hasn’t been so much emphasis on satellite.” He envisages combining satellite offerings with JetStream, a multi-functional fibre optic ring in central and eastern Europe.
The final area Amon has examined is the group’s wholesale market within Austria. “There may well be local market changes in Austria in the coming months with Orange potentially merging with 3,” he explains, speaking before the Hutchison’s takeover of Orange Austria was announced on February 3. “We are thinking now about how we should meet the challenges that [deal] could present in the future.”
Those five areas all inform the continuation of the group’s strategy to differentiate based on quality. “Having a clear unique selling point is very important in the wholesale market: because it’s a commodity, everyone can offer fibre,” says Amon. “You need to be able to clearly differentiate that your customer is buying a little bit extra because of the quality you offer.” That’s consistent with the group’s existing wholesale activity. “From a brand point of view, A1 is definitely positioned as a quality provider,” he adds. “For us, reliability, knowhow, processes and good quality are the most important factors our customers demand.
“International MPLS, for example, is a very interesting product. An international corporation may enjoy excellent quality MPLS service in an operator’s home market but towards [national] borders quality suffers. For example, Romania is definitely a country that suffers quality issues so a corporation that, for example, gets a good service from Deutsche Telekom within Germany suffers quality drops internationally. Customers want consistent, reliable quality of service across borders.”
It isn’t just cross-border opportunities that interest him, though. “Another challenge lies in whether you can offer quality of service to specific sectors such as banking. This is definitely a field where we meet a few others,” he laughs. “Everybody is talking about it but I see it as a real trend. Those that can do it well will be successful.”
Amon has a plane to catch, the day before he reorganised his operation’s structure. “There’s no major change but we will do things a little bit differently,” explains Amon, a serial Ironman challenge competitor. “Yesterday’s reorganisation refocused the sales, marketing and back office functions. It was important for me to build the organisational structure quickly to bring its power to the street.” GTB
Further reading from Global Telecoms Business:
Hutch to acquire Orange Austria for €900m 03 Feb 2012
Telekom Austria boosts speed with vectoring 24 Jan 2012
Mobile payment gaining momentum with real services 01 Nov 2011
Telekom Austria says no to more acquisitions 24 Aug 2011
A1 Telekom Austria rebrands as A1 31 May 2011
