Echorouk's Forum: CEO says around 3 million mobile phone lines of Algeria's Mobilis may be suspended

CEO of Algeria’s mobile operator Mobilis said authorities had asked his company to settle the situation of unidentified SIM cards before April 30 otherwise they would be suspended.

“The authorities reminded the company of its obligations including the identification of all subscribers,” Lounis Belehrat told Echorouk on Monday. 

Mobilis’ CEO admitted that 20 to 25 percent of the company’s 9 million customers do not have contracts.

“This situation is not in favour of the company neither the State,” he said.

Mobilis has signed contracts with 3 private operators to categorise contracts concluded with customers and it started settling the unidentified SIM cards situation since February 2008.

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Third generation needs huge investments  

Talking on the third generation of mobile phone, Lounis Belehrat said it must be within a complementary strategy vision which needs a clear determination of the added value from this very expensive technology.

“It has not achieved very big results in the world except South Korea and Japan.”

 He added that shifting to the third generation requires huge investments to build a new network which is not easy at present.“The problem is not in the technology but in the use of it.”    

The use of cell phone in financial transfers requires legislation revision 

Lounis Belherat said the process of transferring money from banking accounts to reload Mobilis phone lines is possible provided that the current legislations on financial transfers are amended.

“Technically speaking, it is easy to settle electricity, gas or water invoices using cell phones but banks have to think of that to adapt to technological developments,” he said.

 According to him, current laws and legislations in financial and monetary field do not allow some developed usages in the financial transactions. “Yet, the company reached such a developed level which allows it to meet customers’ demands if there is an appropriate atmosphere for this kind of services.”   

Mobile phone use in Algeria is still limited 

Mobilis’ CEO believes the use of mobile phone in Algeria is limited in simple communication, SMS or data sending. “This helps to make considerable leaps in value-added services.” He mentioned that Algeria’s demographic structure allows a continuing development of mobile phone market.

“This requires more care for developing services quality for customers as it constitute the first challenge to retain them.”    

 Leadership is not priority for Mobilis 

Belehrat revealed his company’s strategy for 2008 which consists in 4 main points in technical, marketing and relations with customers in addition to communication.

 He said to be ranked first in mobile phone market is still no more than an ambition for him and does not constitute a priority for his company. “At present, I am working on improving Mobilis’ image and the relations with customers.” 

“My strategy to reach this goal consists in maintaining a high coverage network and working on covering areas where communication networks are not present. A high maintenance and services of good quality are also included in the strategy,” he added. 

Mobilis is preparing for receiving the third generation in mobile phone and focusing on the aspect of communication and the company’s image.   

Mobilis’ top priorities: improving services and relation with customers 

The Chief Executive mentioned two main priorities of his company: to improve technical services and consolidate the relation with customers.

 “The challenge mobile phone operators in Algeria are facing is how to retain customers by offering the best services. The mobile phone market relies now on services and not on getting new subscribers.”