Nepal Telecom to hire int'l marketing consultant

KATHMANDU:

Nepal Telecom (NT) is gearing up to come up with an aggressive marketing strategy to sell its products from next fiscal year. In this regard, the state-owned company is preparing to hire an international marketing consultant to help enhance its business.

In the expression of interest (EOI) called last month, altogether nine foreign firms have applied to work for Nepal Telecom as a marketing

consultant. According to Guna Keshari Pradhan, spokesperson of NT, three to six consultants with partners in Nepal will be shortlisted before the request for proposal (RFP) is issued.

Nepal Telecom’s idea of hiring a marketing consultant has come as the best solution to improve its overall marketing strategy amid increased competition with private telecom companies. “We are focusing on a new strategy for aggressive marketing from next fiscal year to sell our products,” said Pradhan.

Nepal Telecom has already started evaluating the EOIs. The shortlisted consultants will have to submit their technical and financial proposals as part of their RFPs. Detecon Inc (USA), KPMG (India), Roland Berger Strategy Consultants (Singapore), and China Telecom (China) are some of the applicants in NT’s call to work as consultants for marketing its services.

As per the eligibility criteria set by Nepal Telecom, prospective consultants should have provided business and marketing consultancy services in at least three different countries in the last 10 years and have garnered the experience of providing marketing consultancy services to at least three different telecom companies in the last 10 years.

Similarly, the consultant firm’s annual turnover has to be at least $5 million in the last three consecutive years. As for the local partners of the applicants, local firms should have worked as a marketing consultant for at least two companies in Nepal over the past five years.

In the initial phase, Nepal Telecom plans to draw a one-year contract to work with the marketing partner. “The contract period can be extended by one more year, based on the performance of the consultant,” said a high level official at NT. He added that the decision to hire a marketing consultant was reached as a result of the company not being able to sell products effectively due to lack of proper marketing strategy in the competitive environment.

In terms of services it offers, NT has more products both in voice and data services. Still, the company has managed to attract less customers and is listed in the second position when it comes to voice segment. In data segment, it has covered more than 50 per cent market share with increased subscription, particularly after the launch of Sky Pro data service based on IP CDMA technology, according to Nepal Telecom officials.

As of mid-April, Nepal Telecom’s total subscriber base in voice reached 10.4 million (including 8.7 million in GSM mobile). Similarly, it has 4.3 million data users. The private telecom company, Ncell, has 3.9 million data subscribers and 11.3 million GSM mobile customers.

In a bid to be a competitive company, Nepal Telecom has also been working over a plan to bring a strategic partner for long. However, even though it has received EOI for the same, NT Board is yet to form an evaluation committee to shortlist the potential consultants. A consultant to be hired after evaluation of RFP will help NT find a strategic partner by preparing NT’s due diligence audit report and bid documents to call for global tender.

Source: THT