ICT Projects
A mobile operator was awarded the second mobile telephone license in South Africa by industry regulator ICASA; the license award was significantly delayed compared to that of its incumbent competitor. ICON’s established reputation for the successful delivery of complex projects led to the award of a contract to fast track the rollout of this operator’s network to achieve parity in network coverage. Continued professional services included:
- Implementation of project management methodologies in Marketing and Corporate Sales;
- Project management and business analysis to launch new marketing Products and Services;
- Policies, processes and procedures; the design and launch of E-Bucks, Pre-Paid and Customer Service Centres;
- Provision of project management and business analysis resources in Nigeria to assist in the establishment of an Operator’s business operations after the successful award of a mobile license;
- In line with international ITU trends, ICASA made the implementation of mobile number portability compulsory for licenced mobile operators in SA; the development of a two-tier number portability strategy;
- Implementation of a strategic projects group to continually prioritise, structure and plan its CAPEX projects to ensure reliable delivery, accurate cash flows and effective use of limited critical resources;
- Project management and technical resources to establish the first-ever integration of a mobile access solution that gives mobile users access to information on corporate exchange servers; a unique combination of airtime, SMS and IT (VAN) services, based on the Ericsson Moso platform and Microsoft MMIS server functionality.
Subsequent assignments focused on specialist industry-specific knowledge and expertise, applied to a wide variety of confidential strategic assignments for top management teams in mobile operators. Key assignments delivered include:
- Industry Analyses (with an international focus), conducted on a quarterly basis over several years, to inform the strategic thought processes of an operator’s top management team;
- Development of Industry Scenarios as inputs for strategic options to ensure relevant, resilient all-inclusive strategic plans as well as extraction of an internal strategic agenda;
- Preparation of various business models for a Mobile Operator’s initiatives in targeting opportunities in the wider African market.
- Facilitated the preparation of an Operator’s Bid for a second network license in Uganda;
- Prepared the entire Bid Application (all Legal, Technical, Financial and Product/Market aspects) on behalf of two Under-Serviced Area Licenses, to regulator ICASA; both bids succeeded in the award of licenses.
- Conducted a confidential assignment to advise a new mobile market Entrant on a cost-driven strategy to capture expanding data market opportunities.
