The FINANCIAL — Geocell, one of the leading mobile communication companies, has offered Blackberry solutions to local customers, enabling easy access to email, the web, multimedia, a phone calendar and other services. Besides Blackberry features, the company has introduced two popular models of smart phone: Blackberry Bold 9000 and Blackberry Curve 8900. With this Geocell has become an official representative of Blackberry in Georgia, but without exclusive rights.
Blackberry brings several enhancements to the Smartphone. It supports pushing e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, internet faxing, web browsing and other wireless information services as well as a multi-touch interface. It is an example of a convergent device.
“We already have customers in Georgia who have Blackberry phones, but the problem is that they were not previously able to use their functions fully,” Osman Turan, General Director of the company Geocell, told The FINANCIAL.
David Mizandari, Business Development Manager of Geocell, underlines the two main advantages of Blackberry phones.
“You receive your email directly on your phone. Sometimes it even receives mail faster than outlook. If the received mail is of a large size then it will be received on your phone first. Another main advantage of a Blackberry phone is that it can compress large sized attached files. Compared with the example of Turkey, where 1 megabyte costs USD 12 and you receive a file of 3 megabytes, in Turkey you need to pay for it all. Meanwhile on a Blackberry the file will be compressed by 70%. That will help you save money. Therefore Blackberry is a good way to save you costs in networking as well as in roaming.”
The activation of Blackberry services is free of charge for a month. “We can predict that the demand for Blackberry phones will rise, because Georgian customers can now use the Blackberry system with ease,” Mr. Turan declares.
The company has offered two popular models of Blackberry, which cost 15% more than in the US.
Mr. Turan says that Geocell will offer customers the different types of Blackberry packages. “The prices will be diversified in special packages. There will be monthly fixed tariffs and also an additional fee according to service,” he notes.
“Blackberry is very important today especially for businesspeople, because time is crucial for them. Blackberry is most used by executives and managers. They can easily control their work thus,” Mr.Mizandari says.
“We have already launched the complete service of Blackberry. Delivering information is not free of charge, but Geocell customers can use the newly offered economical package and use the service at seriously reduced costs,” Mr.Mizandari notes.
Blackberry phones are mostly for the business segment. “It is not a mass-market product,” Mr.Turan notes. “We predict that this new service we are offering will recruit thousands of customers rather than just hundreds,” he says.
Georgia is the 150th country to have switched to the Blackberry system. “Blackberry is a serious project and the connection of Georgia to this system has required lots of works. Presently only small sized mobile companies are not yet switched to the Blackberry system,” Mr. Turan informs us.
Geocell is an official representative of Blackberry in Georgia. “We do not have exclusive rights of presenting this service to Georgian customers. Blackberry may not be a mass-market product but fulfilling the comfort for our customers, even just a small part, was our original ambition. I am not excluding the possibility that our competitors will also start offering the Blackberry service to their customers in the future,” Mr.Turan says.
“Blackberry is for customers for whom even a minute is important,” he mentions.
For its clients Geocell is offering packages with reduced tariffs.
According to Mr. Turan the total number of Geocell calls has reduced by 20% so far this year. Demand has also declined for the service of roaming. Mr. Turan explained why the service of roaming is so expensive.
“Any service which provides one with comfort is connected with expense. The system of roaming is such that it is expensive. Customers most often complain about the fees for dialled and received calls. The reason for this is that when a person calls abroad from Georgia he needs to pay the fee of an international call. In this case we are ensuring those customers who are making the call, from any extra fees, as the customer might not know where the other person is and therefore otherwise could incur unwanted charges. Meanwhile a customer travelling abroad can control received calls or even switch off their phone if needs be,” Mr. Turan explains.
“Compared with previous years August was more active for us, but we cannot at this stage make any accurate forecasts for the future. Usually August is an active period for our business. Customers become relaxed and do not control as much the number of calls they are making. The results which we will get in September will be useful for making prognoses,” he says.
Written By Madona Gasanova
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