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Huawei aims to cut costs of rural mobile connectivity

PHONE

Huawei’s Rural Star is specifically designed for remote parts of the country. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Global Technology firm, Huawei, has announced plans to roll out a mobile telecommunication solutions in Africa called Rural Star that will reduce the total cost of building and running a mobile network site by up to 70 per cent, in an approach targeting its business to business (B2B) market.

The solutions is specifically designed for remote parts of the country that do not have mobile network coverage and will help mobile operators boost ongoing efforts by governments and regulators across the region who are seeking to expand rural coverage.

Huawei as part of its marketing approach to reach out to mobile operators has embraced a different strategy than it would for its business to consumer (B2C) market that involves the sale of mobile phones and other related appliances. It will demonstrate its product, Rural Star, to its target consumers rather than relying on a third party to market its products.

“We will conduct the pilot site in Kenya to show the operators how the Rural Star is different from the other existing solutions, how it works, and to assess the benefits compared to existing solution, for example how much money it saves compared to existing solutions,” said Huawei Technologies Southern Africa Region President Li Peng.

“In our consumer business, the marketing strategy is very different as the target is tens of millions of people: there we work closely with our retail partners and also conduct direct marketing through online and offline channels to specific target audiences and through various means depending on the product and the audience.”

Indeed, B2B versus B2C calls for different approaches as their needs and preference does not match. In the former the objective is to the gauge the interest of the consumer in the product in order to engage them later to buy the product while in the latter it is to get the consumer to buy the product at the point of sale in order to beat the competition.

According to a paper on the differences between B2C and B2B marketing by US analytics and insights for business, Dun and Bradstreet, consumer persuasion does not work for B2B marketing.

“Light consumer methods of persuasion do not score lasting points with the B2B market. Just as a consumer may read reviews and articles before purchasing a laptop, a business to business buyer may read enterprise software reviews and industry news articles but rely on them as one component that factors into a more complex vetting process,” reported Dun and Bradstreet.

“These factors could include talking to past customers, asking for a demonstration of the product, reading case studies, and more. All of this vetting is necessary because few are willing to risk their professional credibility on an impulse purchase.”

Also building relationships in the B2B market is key to winning consumer trust as it plays a critical role in influencing purchase.

The personal relationship between buyer and seller is important as the dialogue between them creates a collaborative approach needed to jointly solve issues and the seller is often valued as a respected peer and trusted advisor, this is unlike a customer and a retailer, according to market researchers, Circle Research in its white paper on the Unique features of B2B marketers.

In the case of Huawei it notes that it has already established relationships with the mobile operators in the country; who are also its customers; Safaricom and Telkom, a factor that has influenced its move in launching the Rural Star.

“We are always listening carefully to mobile operators’ needs and anticipating their future needs based on their business direction and strategy.

This has enabled us to develop relevant services and solutions that the mobile operators will need, explain them, demonstrate them, and hopefully sell and roll-out to them,” said Mr Li Peng.

- African Laughter