Garry Radcliffe, Products & Services Director, Vivatel, talks about the
company’s first months on the market and its future plans
How would you describe Vivatel's presence on the Bulgarian market during the past six months?
Vivatel has made a significant impact on the market by gaining over half a million customers since launch. Vivatel’s presence has created greater competition in the market resulting in better value and fairer pricing for Bulgarian mobile users. Today, Bulgarian consumers enjoy about 50 per cent lower prices for their mobile communications compared with the times before Vivatel was launched.
What are your goals for the forthcoming months?
Our simple goal is to continue to grow by offering customers great value and innovative products at fair prices.
What is Vivatel’s marketing strategy?
Vivatel promotes value, fairness, innovation and trust and targets its services at the market as a whole as we believe these are values everyone can appreciate, both consumers and businesses alike, and benefit from. Vivatel positions itself as the young and vibrant newcomer, a positive alternative for mobile communication needs.
What kind of surprises and new services can Vivatel clients expect?
Existing and potential Vivatel clients can always expect new services and surprises as we strive to drive further competition in the market. For instance, in only the last six weeks we have launched our 4 Play product for prepaid clients, Viva Broadband, the first product combining broadband internet and mobile for consumers, and the new Traffic plan offering unrivalled rates for GPRS data. However, if I told you what was next, it wouldn’t then be a surprise!
How is Vivatel superior in comparison with its competitors on the market?
Vivatel ‘s strength lies in its commitment to value and fairness. Not only has Vivatel stimulated the fall of prices but it has also remained true to being fair. For instance we are the only operator that has maintained a 30 second minimum call charge across all our tariff plans.
What kind of solutions does Vivatel offer in connection with wireless internet?
Vivatel launched a data-only package called Traffic at the International Fair at Plovdiv at the end of September. This plan offers a whole 1 Gigabyte of usage a month for an unrivalled price of 36 leva including VAT. Vivatel clients also have access to our WAP Portal with the opportunity to download various wallpapers, ring tones, videos etc.
According to your data, which Vivatel services are mostly preferred by the clients?
In general, our customers enjoy the full range of services on offer, however it is notable that services such as SMS and Voicemail do not yet enjoy the same popularity in Bulgaria as they do in the most of Europe.
What is going on with the development of the Vivatel network?
We are continuing to roll out our GSM network, which currently covers 95 per cent of the population. We have also begun to build our 3G network, which we will look to launch in the first quarter of next year.
What do you think about the development of the mobile communication market in Bulgaria?
The development in the market is encouraging and it has certainly embraced the increased competition brought about by the entry of Vivatel. The market certainly has more growth potential in terms of both volume and usage as new services become available.
What will be changed in Bulgaria after the country's EU accession in 2007?
We believe that EU accession will influence the Bulgarian market by the adoption of EU principles on competition. One important factor in this is the timely introduction of Mobile Number Portability. This will allow customers to seek the best offer for their mobile needs and still keep the number that has become so important to them.
