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This is a follow up to my recent post in reference to F. Darmon's interview published by Telesemana at Futurecom (From Futurecom: Interview with Franck Darmon, VP Senior Comverse LATAM) where he addressed the many challenges of Latin American operators, including low SMS usage in Brazil.

I have posted before about messaging in Latin America, and about low SMS usage in countries like Brazil and Colombia (LATAM 2009: A Mosaic of Opportunities) and about call completion, one of the biggest challenges for operators in Latin America (Repackage, Reposition, Reinvent VAS services in 2009).

This is a huge problem in Brazil, where the average slamdown rate for calls diverted to voice mail is 70%.

To address this issue, operators have taken steps to deprovision subscribers from voice mail, effectively leaving them without a call completion strategy. This is one of the biggest areas of opportunity for operators in Latin America; even though voice is perceived as a service that will not grow anymore, the fact is, operators are leaving money on the table.

The solution, however, might not be in finding ways to increase MOU or SMS usage per se -as Darmon's interview seems to imply - but rather in offering subscribers solutions that meet their needs.

A solution to low call completion rates, for example, can be replacing missed calls with messaging.

In Latin America, subscribers have found ways around paying for incomplete calls: if a call goes unanswered for four rings, they hang up before the calls transfers to voice mail. They know that the called party will receive a missed call alert, prompting them to return the call. This service is offered at no cost to the calling party, effectively replacing a voice deposit with a text message.

While this may have been an unintended consequence for operators, since it generates no revenue for them, it does have the potential for connecting the called party with the calling party in several ways and missed call alert is just one of them.

Operators can consider, for example, options targeted at the calling party such as missed call alert for A party, where the calling party receives a notification when the called party is available (on busy or out of range/phone off scenarios).

Low SMS usage in countries like Brazil and Colombia can be explained in large part by the low cost of placing a call. Therefore, it makes sense that subscribers prefer to place a call rather than an SMS. However, messaging can be a solution for subscribers when the called part is not available, as usage of missed call alert clearly shows.

The best option, therefore, to address low SMS usage in countries like Brazil is in understanding user behavior and providing the right solution for their needs, rather than simply enticing them to increase usage per se.

Update on Sunday, November 1, 2009 at 8:41PM by Raul

 

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