A rose by any other name?
On Tuesday, Maltacom chairman Sonny Portelli told the gathered press that he had something "very exciting to announce". In a nutshell, Maltacom, Multiplus and Maltanet are no more. They have been replaced by one brand - GO - which will tie in nicely to...
On Tuesday, Maltacom chairman Sonny Portelli told the gathered press that he had something "very exciting to announce". In a nutshell, Maltacom, Multiplus and Maltanet are no more. They have been replaced by one brand - GO - which will tie in nicely to GO Mobile, creating a seamless image.
The re-branding is comprehensive - from the obvious things like stationery to merchandising and the website, to others like the creation of a flagship outlet at Psaila Street which will handle billing for fixed line, mobile, broadband and television.
Mr Portelli stressed that this was the first "tangible" installment but that changes have been underway since the government sold its shareholding just over a year ago.
"The pace of change since then has been relentless. With this new brand, we want to present a fresh, clean, youthful image," he said.
The staff were reported to be very enthusiastic about the move. GO CEO David Kay said that the rebranding was not going to adopt a big bang approach but would make changes gradually.
"Where it makes sense, we will bring things together. If we find that there is duplication, we will have a communication process to enable us to find the best solution, always with the customer as our primary focus," he said.
Keith Fearne, CEO of the former Maltanet, said that the same approach would apply to the outlets. By the end of July outlets at Pavi Supermarket and at Bay Street would be "GO" outlets, while GO Mobile outlets would for the moment retain their range of services and products. Maltacom outlets will switch to GO Plus, aimed at residential telephone, broadband and television.
"But once we see how Birkirkara works, we will re-evaluate the situation," he said.
What does it all mean to the customer?
One customer care number for telephone, television and broadband
The possibility - eventually - of a single bill for different services
A new website for all the four services, www.go.com.mt
New bundled packages and offers
New television content and nationwide coverage.
20070614-business--interview2.jpgThe new GO brand values are "simple", "creative", "brilliant" and "honest". Things have certainly come a long way since the inflexible bureaucracy associated with Telemalta in the past. But what's in a name? Vanessa Macdonald spoke to GO CEO David Kay about the implications.
Will rebranding help you to face challenges like the changes in the operating environment, falling prices, reduced demand for fixed line and so on?
It will help us in terms of our products and it will help if our customers can identify us as one brand. One single brand will be stronger than four separate ones.
We will also be able to bundle our services much more easily. It will also help our employees to focus on customer service for all our products and services, rather than just the one that they were associated with.
Why did you go for "GO" as the new name? Isn't Maltacom more established and recognisable - or is that in fact the very reason you moved away from it?
Our researchers asked our customers about all the brands and although all of them were strong in their own right, GO came out the best.
Maltacom was a strong brand but a more traditional one. We wanted to move on and we thought that GO was the right choice. Besides, research showed that we could not afford to lose out on a name like GO.
You are the first operator to offer quadruple play. It sounds very exciting but is it really going to be that popular?
We started bundling products and services last year with a certain degree of success. Recently our offer of television combined with broadband was much more successful, I have to say. Certainly, we see it as the future, as has happened in other markets. But it will take time to build up momentum. What is multiple play about at the end of the day? The customer getting more value for every lira spent.
One of the advantages of multiple play is single billing but you are not going to start offering that yet. Why not?
We have distinct billing systems which are a legacy from our different companies. We will merge the television billing system with the old Maltacom one within a few weeks.
Having said that, there are problems associated with billing systems and it is not easy, but we will be moving forward. We want to give the customer the choice of having one bill; of course if they do not want one, they can retain separate bills.
When you bought Multiplus recently it only had a few thousand subscribers. It is probably the weakest part of your offering. Will bundling help to boost the numbers?
It has already improved. The set-top boxes we purchase from an overseas supplier consistently run out - we never seem to have enough as a result of the strong demand from customers!
Multiplus was an excellent purchase and the television offering is doing very well, especially when combined with other services. We are actually very happy with it.
You haven't done much to improve content yet - if anything, you lost the football. What are your plans?
We are new to the TV business but we are learning very fast. Content is all about contacts and knowing who to talk to. We are getting better but we are also getting outside help with this. We will see some changes - but in the medium to long-term rather than in the short to medium-term.
ISPs were already wary about the possibility of cross-subsidisation. Will the changes announced mean less transparency?
The regulator dictates the transparency. There are rules and we comply with them at all times and respond on time every time there is a query. Some of our competitors do not...
What does the rebranding mean for your shareholders?
It will boost the number of customers we have in all four areas. Obviously fixed voice is under very heavy competition but we hope to maintain and improve our market share in mobile; television we are increasing very rapidly and broadband is growing very healthily. On the whole, we would expect the company to continue to grow.
The re-branding is comprehensive - from the obvious things like stationery to merchandising and the website, to others like the creation of a flagship outlet at Psaila Street which will handle billing for fixed line, mobile, broadband and television.
Mr Portelli stressed that this was the first "tangible" installment but that changes have been underway since the government sold its shareholding just over a year ago.
"The pace of change since then has been relentless. With this new brand, we want to present a fresh, clean, youthful image," he said.
The staff were reported to be very enthusiastic about the move. GO CEO David Kay said that the rebranding was not going to adopt a big bang approach but would make changes gradually.
"Where it makes sense, we will bring things together. If we find that there is duplication, we will have a communication process to enable us to find the best solution, always with the customer as our primary focus," he said.
Keith Fearne, CEO of the former Maltanet, said that the same approach would apply to the outlets. By the end of July outlets at Pavi Supermarket and at Bay Street would be "GO" outlets, while GO Mobile outlets would for the moment retain their range of services and products. Maltacom outlets will switch to GO Plus, aimed at residential telephone, broadband and television.
"But once we see how Birkirkara works, we will re-evaluate the situation," he said.
What does it all mean to the customer?
One customer care number for telephone, television and broadband
The possibility - eventually - of a single bill for different services
A new website for all the four services, www.go.com.mt
New bundled packages and offers
New television content and nationwide coverage.
20070614-business--interview2.jpgThe new GO brand values are "simple", "creative", "brilliant" and "honest". Things have certainly come a long way since the inflexible bureaucracy associated with Telemalta in the past. But what's in a name? Vanessa Macdonald spoke to GO CEO David Kay about the implications.
Will rebranding help you to face challenges like the changes in the operating environment, falling prices, reduced demand for fixed line and so on?
It will help us in terms of our products and it will help if our customers can identify us as one brand. One single brand will be stronger than four separate ones.
We will also be able to bundle our services much more easily. It will also help our employees to focus on customer service for all our products and services, rather than just the one that they were associated with.
Why did you go for "GO" as the new name? Isn't Maltacom more established and recognisable - or is that in fact the very reason you moved away from it?
Our researchers asked our customers about all the brands and although all of them were strong in their own right, GO came out the best.
Maltacom was a strong brand but a more traditional one. We wanted to move on and we thought that GO was the right choice. Besides, research showed that we could not afford to lose out on a name like GO.
You are the first operator to offer quadruple play. It sounds very exciting but is it really going to be that popular?
We started bundling products and services last year with a certain degree of success. Recently our offer of television combined with broadband was much more successful, I have to say. Certainly, we see it as the future, as has happened in other markets. But it will take time to build up momentum. What is multiple play about at the end of the day? The customer getting more value for every lira spent.
One of the advantages of multiple play is single billing but you are not going to start offering that yet. Why not?
We have distinct billing systems which are a legacy from our different companies. We will merge the television billing system with the old Maltacom one within a few weeks.
Having said that, there are problems associated with billing systems and it is not easy, but we will be moving forward. We want to give the customer the choice of having one bill; of course if they do not want one, they can retain separate bills.
When you bought Multiplus recently it only had a few thousand subscribers. It is probably the weakest part of your offering. Will bundling help to boost the numbers?
It has already improved. The set-top boxes we purchase from an overseas supplier consistently run out - we never seem to have enough as a result of the strong demand from customers!
Multiplus was an excellent purchase and the television offering is doing very well, especially when combined with other services. We are actually very happy with it.
You haven't done much to improve content yet - if anything, you lost the football. What are your plans?
We are new to the TV business but we are learning very fast. Content is all about contacts and knowing who to talk to. We are getting better but we are also getting outside help with this. We will see some changes - but in the medium to long-term rather than in the short to medium-term.
ISPs were already wary about the possibility of cross-subsidisation. Will the changes announced mean less transparency?
The regulator dictates the transparency. There are rules and we comply with them at all times and respond on time every time there is a query. Some of our competitors do not...
What does the rebranding mean for your shareholders?
It will boost the number of customers we have in all four areas. Obviously fixed voice is under very heavy competition but we hope to maintain and improve our market share in mobile; television we are increasing very rapidly and broadband is growing very healthily. On the whole, we would expect the company to continue to grow.