Smart starts regional services

BY KENAN KALAGHO & BAZ WAISWA, EAST AFRICAN BUSINESS WEEK, KAMPALA, UGANDA March 24th, 2014

THIS IS IT: Bouziani said their company is here to stay and they want to offer a different level of service across the region. (PHOTO BY BAZ WAISWA)

The East African countries of Uganda, Tanzania and Burundi, last week saw a new telecommunication service provider enter their respective markets offering voice and data services.
The new company, Smart East Africa (Smart Telecom), is partly owned by Industrial Promotions Services (IPS), a subsidiary of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED). The firm, officials say, will focus on innovation and customer care.
Speaking at the Kampala launch, Abdellatif Bouziani, Smart Telecom Group CEO said the new telecom firm will expand its unique and proven social enterprise business model in the three countries.
The launch in Uganda was followed by a similar one in Tanzania last Wednesday and Burundi will be this week.
Speaking in Dar es Salaam, Bouziani said Tanzania had a good environment for conducting business.
He said, “We discovered in our market survey that the telecom project investment in the region will have more value and will attain the required growth.”
Already in Uganda Smart has indicated that it is braced for the competition by launching with the lowest price anyone can encounter in the country.
For example a Smart customer in Uganda will only pay Ush74 per each call without time limitation, this is the lowest when you compare to the existing billing of Ush4 per second which adds to Ush240 a minute or unit.
Bouziani said in Dar es Salaam, their company wants to offer a new telecommunication service to serve the people of East Africa region at a very competitive rate of Tsh79 ($0.048) per call.
He said their firm had been involved in survey to determine both the market and sustainability of their investment and found out that the region had more value for their investment.
“We discovered in our market survey that the telecomm project investment in the region will have more value and will attain the required growth,” Bouziani said, adding that lower costs of their services will likely attract many customers.
Bouziani told his Kampala audience their expeditions in Afghanistan with Roshan, a 40% shareholding in Tcell in Tajikistan and their investment adventures in SEACOM submarine gives them the necessary experience to grow a commendable telco in the region.
He said: “We are here for the long term. There will be a product for every segment, we are listening to people and designing what they need.”