Nigeria internet market to hit N1.1trn by 2017 – Alcatel Regional Director

Nick Imudia, Regional Director, Nigeria and Central Africa, Alcatel Onetouch, spoke to Princewill Ekwujuru  on the re-entry of Alcatel into the Nigerian market, its propositions, global position and new phone trends and other sundry issues. Excerpt.  

Market positioning and Nigerians expectation

Alcatel OneTouch is unexpected, down to earth, irreverent and colourful. We believe that what makes technology smart is what you can do with it rather than what it can do. Alcatel Onetouch is a global brand which has redefined the mobile mass market by making the latest mobile technologies accessible to everyone. It is the first to recognize the mass market’s needs and has since brought choice, variety and flexibility to customers – from operators to consumers.



Imudia

By combining its understanding of local insights and control of the end-to-end manufacturing process, Alcatel OneTouch delivers the best user experience with innovative, feature-rich and high performance mobile devices designed with simplicity in Alcatel OneTouch views the device as a hub, meaning that we consider complete home connectivity when we are designing and producing every product.

We are a global base with more than 100 offices in excess of 160 countries, seven    Research and Development,    R&D centres and carrier relationships in all regions around the world.

Alcatel OneTouch is a brand within TCL Communication, an international multicultural company which designs, develops, and markets globally a growing range of mobile and Internet devices. TCL Communication is a public company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (2618.HK) and part of TCL Corporation one of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world.

Alcatel Onetouch produces everything from feature handsets to smartphones, modems and tablets, providing solutions to all your mobile communication needs.   It is the third Telecommunications company to partner with Google in developing the Android Operating System and one of the first to produce handsets that runs the Mozilla Firefox Operating System.

The Nigerian market entry

As the smartphone and tablet markets have grown, especially here in Nigeria we want to bring to the Nigerian market affordable, yet attractive and feature-rich devices in order to meet the needs of our customers.   We recognise that every mobile user needs and deserves a device that offers good performance, beautiful aesthetics and rich functionality. As such, we’ll strive to offer choice, variety and flexibility to consumers irrespective of their budget.

We also wanted to ensure that we had the correct infrastructure in place in order to get these devices into the hands of our customers.  We believe that we now have the correct mix to grow the brand and make an impact in the Nigerian market. Nigeria is a middle income, mixed economy and emerging market, with expanding financial, service, communications, technology and entertainment sectors:

In tech/internet connectivity   in Nigeria has 38 percent population online, which is approximately 67.3million, 94 percent mobile phone penetration, 27 percent   smartphone penetration.  Not only will the internet be the fastest growth area for expenditure, but it will also be the largest market that will   worth US$5.6 billion in 2017, ahead of TV (US$1.1 billion) and sports (US$722 million).

It will be great   opportunity for Nigerian market to migrate from feature phone to smartphone and get access to the internet.

Marketing plans and communications

We have put down fundamental elements in place when launching new products into the market place.   This includes a focus on training of staff, a solid in-store presence with live/dummy devices, point of sale, promoters and the appointment of a field marketing team as well as a competent Advertising, PR and Social Media agency.

This will ensure a good customer experience at store level. Furthermore we have introduced an online purchasing arm which ties into the strategy that sees a large focus on online purchasing and a strong digital approach.  Once this solid foundation has been built, Alcatel OneTouch will embark on an Abov-the-Line, ATL campaign to build awareness with the consumer.

Global overview

Alcatel Onetouch ,one of the world’s fastest-growing smartphone manufacturersis a global brand which has redefined the mobile mass market by making the latest mobile technologies accessible to everyone. It is the first to recognize the mass market’s needs and has since brought choice, variety and flexibility to customers – from operators to consumers.

By combining its understanding of local insights and control of the end-to-end manufacturing process, Alcatel OneTouch delivers the best user experience with innovative, feature-rich and high performance mobile devices designed with simplicity in Alcatel OneTouch views the device as a hub, meaning that we consider complete home connectivity when we are designing and producing every product. We are a global base with more than 100 offices in more than 160 countries, 7 R&D centers and carrier relationships in all regions around the world.

Alcatel OneTouch is a brand within TCL Communication, an international multicultural company which designs, develops, and markets globally a growing range of mobile and Internet devices. TCL Communication is a public company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (2618.HK) and part of TCL Corporation one of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world.

Alcatel OneTouch produces everything from feature handsets to smartphones, modems and tablets, providing solutions to all your mobile communication needs.   It is the third Telecommunications company to partner with Google in developing the Android Operating System and one of the first to produce handsets that runs the Mozilla Firefox Operating System.

Alcatel OneTouch is one of the fastest-growing smartphone brands, which designs, manufactures and markets mobile and Internet products worldwide. The Group’s product portfolio is currently sold in more than 160 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific with Headquarters in Shenzhen, China, TCL Communication employs over 12,000 people

New innovation

Alcatel OneTouch is a global brand which has redefined the mobile mass market by making the latest mobile technologies accessible to everyone. It is the first to recognize the mass market’s needs and has since brought choice, variety and flexibility to customers – from operators to consumers. By combining its understanding of local insights and control of the end-to-end manufacturing process, Alcatel Onetouch delivers the best user experience with innovative, feature-rich and high performance mobile devices designed with simplicity in mind.

Alcatel OneTouch views the device as a hub, meaning that we consider complete home connectivity when we are designing and producing every product Alcatel OneTouch is focused on Nigeria and offering choice, variety and flexibility to consumers irrespective of their budget. We have the brand, the products, the price points and the distribution capabilities to grow aggressively in the years to come