Under One Management, Iusacell, Unefon to Maintain Separate Brands"
Under Grupo Salinas ownership, merged Mexican mobile operators Iusacell and Unefon will maintain separate commercial brands, Iusacell's 3G product director Gustavo Guevara told BNamericas.
Grupo Salinas has a 90% stake in Unefon, having bought a 45.6% share for US$300mn from former partner the Saba family last September. The group immediately set about integrating the two operators' commercial, administrative and technological systems.
The administration is still analyzing how to take advantage of operational synergies and optimize the use of infrastructure.
The decision to maintain both brands was based on the strong brand loyalty each operator has, Guevara said.
Although both brands will continue to offer postpaid and prepaid services, Iusacell will focus more on postpaid and Unefon on prepaid. This model fits the current subscriber make-up and planned marketing efforts, rather than being based on technical considerations, Guevara said.
Through the merger the two operators can have national coverage, greater economies of scale and can eliminate redundant expenses.
Together, the two operators account for 7% of Mexico's mobile market, and expect to bill 11bn pesos (US$995mn) in 2007, ending the year with some 3.4mn subscribers.
The consolidated company will still be behind Telefónica unit Movistar México, which according to Mexican consultancy The Competitive Intelligence Unit controlled 15.1% of the US$13.3bn mobile market in 2006. Telcel, a unit of América Móvil, is by far the dominant operator with a 76.2% market share in terms of subscribers.
However, Iusacell is not competing for market share, but is targeting users with higher ARPU by offering a wider portfolio of 3G data services, Guevara said. The company has a variety of products available, from mobile TV to broadband internet, available over its CDMA1x EV DO platform."
Posted to the site on 24th May 2007