The FINANCIAL — Orange Armenia, 100% subsidiary of France Telecom, has sold about 550 iPhones since its introduction to the Armenian market in March 2010. The company offering iPhone, BlackBerry and HTC smartphones in Armenia, says it has no plans to bring these popular products to Georgia.
550 is not a huge number for iPhone sales, but Bruno Duthoit, CEO of Orange Armenia says that this is an important figure for the Armenian market.
“We introduced the iPhone 3 in March in a period when this device was already known in Armenia and a lot of users had already bought it in other countries. Still there was interest in the device, especially because of the offer we combined it with, the warranty and after-sale service. iPhone 4 was officially introduced in Armenia at the end of September, only several weeks after its launch in the USA and Europe, and only a few weeks after the launch we were out of stock,” Duthoit revealed.
“Orange is one of the main partners of Apple in the world for the distribution of iPhone, and Orange Armenia has also benefited from the global contract between FT Group and Apple. I cannot disclose all the elements of the contract. I can add though that we are managing the market promotion and after sale service of this device,” Duthoit added.
Orange made total investment of 140 million USD in the Armenian market during the year 2009, and 50 million USD was invested by the end of 2010. In Armenia Orange has officially introduced iPhone, Android-based HTC as well as BlackBerry Solution.
Orange has had a license to operate in the Armenian market since 2008. Currently the telecommunication market is covered by 3 companies – Orange Armenia, Karabakh Telecom and ArmenTel.
Q. Orange Armenia has been operating in the Armenian market since November 2009, what was the main vision and goal of the company in launching services in Armenia?
A. When the Government of Armenia launched a tender for the license of a third operator in 2008, Orange was very much interested in it, because we believed that Armenia had real potential for economic growth. We started a large network, covering already 95% of the population today, a large portfolio of services, with a solution for every need, and a wide sales network, to be close to our customers in all regions of the country.
After the launch of our operations in Armenia we saw how responsive and reactive the market was, and were pleased to experience such a great welcome for our brand. Telecommunications and the internet market in particular changed drastically in a very small period of time. The transformations of the internet market were really spectacular: the usage of internet traffic increased around threefold and the number of users increased around threefold too. The most important assets are our commitment to quality, our commitment to deliver our promises, friendliness in our relationships with clients, and of course the large 3G coverage that brought broadband internet to a number of remote areas.
Q. The company brought Android-based HTC to the Armenian market, how would you evaluate its demand and popularity in Armenia?
A. As well as iPhone, Orange was the first operator to introduce HTC phones to Armenia. This brand was not very popular when we first presented it to the market. But I can say that in a very short period of time, HTC also became a favourite and trendy smartphone for advanced users and has its own fans, so that is why we didn’t stop at one model and now present a whole portfolio of HTC models.
Q. Orange introduced Blackberry to Armenia, what are the services which mainly differentiate Blackberry from iPhone?
A. We actually offer BlackBerry Internet Solution in Armenia, with the device and a special offer. The most important difference between these two devices is that the Blackberry smartphones, combined with the BlackBerry solution, are interesting mostly for business people, whereas iPhone is mostly an entertainment and multimedia device and is not only focused on business.
Q. In your opinion, what is the future of mobile phones in the world?
A. I would prefer not to talk about the future of mobile phones, but perhaps instead about the present trends. The trends are that people now prefer to have a smartphone rather than an ordinary phone, especially because of the easy use of internet and different applications they can get with a smartphone. Different research reports show that in two years in many European countries and in the USA more than 50% of the mobile market will use smartphones.
Q. How has the introduction of Smartphones changed the mobile market in Armenia?
A. I would say that smartphones were not unknown by Armenians before we officially introduced different brands like iPhone, HTC and BlackBerry. What Orange changed with its offers was the actual use of the smartphones, as people now have access to the official application stores of the respective brands and can really make the most of their phones.
Before we officially introduced for example BlackBerry smartphones, the users of this device were mostly using it as a traditional phone, because the service was unavailable. Now they can really use them not only as objects of luxury, but also as real tools and that’s to my opinion an important change. Of course, the greatest change is that now all these brands are officially represented in Armenia, so that users have full service, including warranty and after sale service, as well as thanks to our special offers, with most of these devices, they can do savings for internet traffic, and therefore the device becomes more affordable.
Q. Does your company plan to bring authorized iPhones to the region and conduct sales in Georgia and Azerbaijan?
A. We are not planning to start sale of smartphones in other countries in the region, for the simple reason that Orange is first of all a mobile operator and our main activity is provision of services. When we can offer more to our customers, which is a combination of service and device, we are enthusiastic to do so, but we are not just distributors of phones or other devices.
Q. In your opinion how attractive are the mobile markets in the region for the world?
A. The different countries of the region – Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan – can be very different from the perspective of mobile services, even if in a number of other perspectives they might be very close. But I am not an expert in the telecommunications markets of Georgia and Azerbaijan, and that’s why I wouldn’t like to make any assumptions.
Q. What are the services and the prices (in USD) which you offer to clients?
A. Starting from the very first day of our operations, we offered a large and complete portfolio of services to our clients, including mobile offers for the mass market – prepaid and post-paid, business solutions for corporate clients, mobile internet for individual clients and small companies and families. We offer also a very diverse and rich portfolio of multimedia services, such as ring back tone, TV on your mobile, information services and other value added content. The cost of our mobile services is between 0.0027 USD per min to 0.1 USD per min. Our internet services monthly subscription price start at about 17 USD per month up to 87 USD per month.
Q. The number of your clients reached 500,000 in 2010, in your opinion, what attracts customers to Orange?
A. It’s not really up to me to make such statements, but I think that our customers like first of all the simplicity of our tariff plans, the friendly communication and understandable structures of our offers. Of course, we also offer the best combination of price and service; our customers know that with Orange they will have the most innovative services for a reasonable price. We are also an operator which is listening to its customers, and I think that’s very much appreciated by the market.
Discussion about this post