The FINANCIAL — Geocell, a leading GSM operator in Georgia, has been named Brand of the Year 2009.
The company was the first to bring the GSM service to Georgia, starting operations in 1996.
Lai-Lai brand contributes 77.9% of the total sales to the company.
The mostly used services among Geocell subscribers are the Internet, SMS and Geo-Credit.
In 2010 the company plans to continue introducing new tariff plans to its subscribers.
Re-branded Geocell – significant changes at Geocell
Throughout its existence Geocell has made changes to its corporate image several times. Last year it carried out a radical re-branding campaign and presented a new face to the public. The logo, the color and other attributes of the company have been changed. What has remained unchanged are the name and values of the company.
The initiator of Geocell’s re-branding was the Finish-Swedish telecommunications giant TeliaSonera which unites a number of successful mobile operators in different regions of the world.
One of the key components of a company’s corporate design is the style and design of its service centers. Service centers are the things that demonstrate an organization’s corporate image and the specificity of its activities.
Geocell re-arranged and refurbished all of its service centers and offices according to a new set of corporate attributes and standards. Every detail is taken into consideration: coloring, lights, accessories and other interior components that underline the company’s individuality.
The year 2009 was notable for its many successes and awards. For the third time Geocell was named The Best Business Company of the year and the company’s General Director Mr. Osman Turan – Best Businessman of the year. By winning again, the title of the Best, the award – Bolnuri Cross will now stay with the company.
Along with other awards Geocell was granted the honourable titles of Golden and Platinum Brand of the year. It should be pointed out, that it is also not the first time that the company was awarded with these titles.
In 2009 Geocell was the first to introduce the Blackberry smartphones to Georgian customers.
Blackberry technology first became available in the United States and Europe in 1997. Today 351 mobile carriers in about 150 countries employ the services offered by Blackberry. The number of customers who enjoy these services exceeds 21 million. Although Georgia is a relatively new member of the Blackberry community, its huge and rapidly expanding list of users now includes you, the Geocell subscriber as well.
Geocell Projects
Different projects carried out by Geocell are supported by the loyalty of its customers as well as by the loyalty of the whole Georgian population. These projects are first of all Geocell social projects: restoration of Ikalto Monastery Complex, integration of disabled persons in society and their employment.
The image projects, “Geostar” and “Georgia’s got Talent” (“Nichieri”) are extremely popular among Georgian population.
TeliaSonera – Strong Partner of Geocell
TeliaSonera provides telecommunication services in Nordic and Baltic countries, the emerging markets of Eurasia, including Russia and Turkey, and in Spain. TeliaSonera is now in 20 markets with close to 460 million inhabitants.
The number of subscriptions in 2009 reached over 147.6 million. For the year 2009, TeliaSonera’s net sales amounted to approximately 14.3 billion USD and TeliaSonera had around 30,000 employees.
The TeliaSonera share is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm and Helsinki stock exchanges. The two largest shareholders are the Swedish State with 37.3 percent of the shares and votes and the Finnish State with 13.7 percent. Market value as of February 2010 was approximately 30 billion USD.
TeliaSonera provides network access and telecommunication services that help people and companies communicate in an easy, efficient and environmentally friendly way. TeliaSonera creates value by focusing on delivering a world-class customer experience, securing quality in our networks and achieving a best-in-class cost structure. TeliaSonera is an international group with a global strategy, but wherever it operates it acts as a local company.
In the emerging markets of Eurasia, TeliaSonera has majority holdings in leading mobile operators in Kazakhstan (Kcell), Azerbaijan (Azercell), Georgia (Geocell), Moldova (Moldcell), Tajikistan (Tcell), Uzbekistan (Ucell), Nepal (Ncell) and Cambodia (Star-Cell). TeliaSonera is also a minority owner of MegaFon in Russia and Turkcell in Turkey.
Geocell CSR Project of the Century
Charity is one of the most prioritized directions of Geocell as being the socially responsible company. Last year was not the exception in this direction. With the century project for restoration of Ikalto Monastery complex Geocell involved all its subscribers. “To Be Geocell Subscriber Means To Be Philanthropist” – with these words Geocell addresses all the customers within its network, in order to remind them of the importance of this century project they are involved in. The basic works of this project were performed last year. This includes the most important actions for fixing the fundament. Besides, the archaeological excavations were done and as a result, very important historical materials were discovered. At the moment these materials are under further investigations and it is absolutely realistic, that they may become the source of important historical discoveries.
All the above mentioned initiatives involve the significant investments made in this direction.
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