Robi Axiata: Unleashing the power of digital service in Bangladesh

Pradeep Shrivastava, who has extensive experience in emerging markets, is currently the CMO of Robi Axiata in Bangladesh. He believes that telco provides a lifeline to people in markets such as India and Bangladesh. Whether its mobile life insurance, mobile radio, or SMS-based social networking, when talking about how digital services are changing people’s lives in Bangladesh, we see passion and aspirations sparkling in his eyes.

Although the country is facing challenges in terms of infrastructure and poverty, Shrivastava still see it in a positive way.

"It is challenging to create a range of digital services, because it has been a 2G market, so we are providing services that are possible for a 2G network. You will be amazed to see that once you offer a service, which are affordable and relevant, a very large number of people are willing to take it. Bangladesh has recently awarded 3G licenses to four private telecom companies and Robi is one of them. There will be an ecosystem that is arising where a large number of people will actually get access to knowledge that is available globally. I would like to believe that we can do significantly more with the 3G on mobile health and education, not just as a company but also as an industry.

It is a very exciting phase. I mean, we are at a moment in the history of Bangladesh, whose youth are aspiring to become more globally connected. We are bringing in the data era to the country which will change the way people work and live. "

By Joyce Fan

Pradeep Shrivastava, who has extensive experience in emerging markets, is currently the CMO of Robi Axiata in Bangladesh. He believes that telco provides a lifeline to people in markets such as India and Bangladesh. Whether its mobile life insurance, mobile radio, or SMS-based social networking, when talking about how digital services are changing people’s lives in Bangladesh, we see passion and aspirations sparkling in his eyes.

Bangladesh: Fascinating & challenging

WinWin: You’ve been a CMO in both India and Bangladesh for the past ten years. How would you compare the two markets?

Shrivastava: What is fascinating about all emerging markets, including India and Bangladesh, is that there are three waves of growth concurrently happening – voice, data and digital services. For voice, it is because there are large number of people who still don’t have access to mobile telephony. Data is just an emerging area and there is a massive potential, especially when infrastructure is very weak in rural areas, since people want access to global knowledge. The third is the entire emerging field of mobile digital services, where again, people just don’t have any option for quality education, quality health services, and quality access to entertainment.

There are very subtle differences that you would see between the two countries in terms of the stage of industrialization, the state of urbanization and the ambition of the youth. Just like any country being unique in its own way, Bangladesh is unique in terms of the aspirations of its people, its demographic profile, and its own challenges in infrastructure and poverty. Bangladesh unfortunately to date doesn’t have very strong opportunities within the country for millions of its youth, and because of that one out of every sixteen Bangladeshi lives abroad. Ten million plus people are working overseas right now, from low-paid construction workers, to absolutely cutting-edge technocrats working in global giants, who send money to the family back home.

WinWin: How does it feel to operate in such a market?

Shrivastava: Emerging markets are very complex to deal with. I think it is very important to accept those complexities rather than sulk over them, because in each complexity there is a huge opportunity waiting for you. What is fascinating about Bangladesh? I came from India, where the average age is 27, and now I have landed in Bangladesh and the average age is 24. You have to look at how nearly two million people are getting added to a productive workforce in Bangladesh every single year. We are really talking about a very young nation where people are keen to do something more - contribute to their family and society, create prosperity for themselves, and express themselves on a global platform.

So just to summarize, what you need to see beyond complexities, is the spirit of the youth. This is a country full of complexities and challenges, with a young population who have global aspirations and connections with ten million Bangladeshis living abroad. This is a country brimming with energy, hope, dreams, and aspirations.

WinWin: What typical challenges do you have in Bangladesh?

Shrivastava: In Bangladesh there are challenges caused by infrastructure, poverty, regulatory framework, etc. Although ARPU in Bangladesh is among the lowest in the world, there are still millions of people who are willing to use small sums of money to buy your services because telephony is enriching their lives and giving them anytime-anywhere connectivity with their loved ones or their business partners. But at the same time, they can’t afford big amounts of money. So if somebody has to take a mobile recharge of prepaid, they would typically pick USD0.1 or 0.2 and they will do so every day. This has implications because you have to do repeat servicing for those small needs, whether through scratch card or electronic load, and the entire logistics management becomes much more complex.

Also, it is not really a world where you put something on social media and everybody knows about it. There are pockets of media darkness in Bangladesh. You have locations where TV or FM radio are unavailable, and people are either not literate or newspapers are not reaching those locations. Communication with those people through road shows or strong and continuous brand engagement programs is a big challenge.

WinWin: Given the low ARPU and income level in Bangladesh, what pricing strategy do you think is viable?

Shrivastava: Ultimately, we are part of a larger ecosystem where you are trying to add value to the lives of people, and in return the society and citizens are giving you certain money. I know there is competitive pressure where people chop the price but you should realize that in societies such as Bangladesh and India, telco provides a lifeline to a very large number of people. It is a lifeline because if you want to have access to a good doctor’s advice, or reach someone in an emergency, mobile can actually connect people by giving timely information, by providing access to people who can provide them better advice and guidance. Once data becomes more prevalent, it brings information to their fingertips, and adds entertainment and other aspects in their lives where they may not have much choice otherwise.

If you are looking for a USD30 or USD40 ARPU market, don’t come to countries like India and Bangladesh, but if you are looking for over 100 million customers, come to Bangladesh, because the customers are very excited about telco services, about the unlimited possibilities that go beyond voice to data and digital services. So I think it is a re-engineering of thinking and cost structure, giving them what is relevant for them at a price that is affordable. Everything here is low, low, low. But, it is still viable.

Digital services: Lifeline & lifestyle

WinWin: How does Robi Axiata actually change local people’s lives?

Shrivastava: It is challenging to create a range of services, because it has been a 2G market, so we are providing services that are possible for a 2G network. You will be amazed to see that once you offer a service, which are affordable and relevant, a very large number of people are willing to take it.

In order to ensure the utilization of assets, we said, “Why don’t we start a dynamic tariff initiative with Huawei?” Within one year, millions of customers have opted into a dynamic tariff service. On one hand, we benefit as underutilized assets have been given to the customer at a special offer and discount. On the other hand, the customers are getting surprises, because they get special offers and save money when they go to different sites. It has been a very good and strong offer in the market offered by Robi Axiata.

I will give you another example since we talked about lifelines. Together with a European company, we launched a new product Bima Life Insurance, with cumulative life insurance coverage, offered for free to Robi pre-paid subscribers who register for the offer. Subscriber earns insurance coverage for each calendar month depending on his/her airtime usage; the more airtime used, the more insurance coverage earned. I have over three million customers registered for this. So, with just one life insurance on mobile offered by Robi Axiata, the life insurance coverage in the entire population of this country has increased to over 5% now.

Because of regulatory constraints, mobile banking services in Bangladesh are a bank-led model, not a telco-led model. Robi Axiata was the first company who tied-up with a local license holder for mobile banking. We participated in it as a distributer of mobile money rather than as an owner of the entire process. Despite that, we have several million customers on the Robi network who are using this licensed operation. So mobile money/domestic money transfer is a high growth business here. We still haven’t done a complete job, because there are over ten million Bangladeshi overseas sending over USD1 billion per year back home. So we are hoping, over a period of time, that we will be able to create an infrastructure for international mobile money transfer, which is minuscule at this stage compared to the scale at which the money gets into the country.

There are huge possibilities that exist. We are very keen to look in at what is really needed by society in terms of mobile education and mobile health. BBC services are very popular here for learning English. Robi has recently exclusively launched British council content for local subscribers. And of course after that entertainment comes in because people will be entertainment-hungry with very limited options within their small towns and villages.

WinWin: Tell us more about your practices in entertainment and lifestyle.

Shrivastava: Social media is becoming increasingly popular. We have started a social networking service over SMS, which unlike other social media is a paid service. Subscribers can chat with each other either thru private messages or in chat rooms. Would you believe that we have over five million subscribers in that service now, five million subscribers out of our subscriber base of 25 million? You give a service, even a paid one, and suddenly you have got a group of people because they have similar needs. They want to network with their friends; they want a group chat with each other, and they want many messages going, even via paid text.

I’ll give you another example. CRBT is already a very popular service, but we have a service that is even more popular than CRBT in Bangladesh – mobile radio. In the rural market, people just don’t have access to FM radio. We have set up a portal and put songs from where people can listen to the songs, paying through a weekly or monthly subscription. They can enjoy quality songs, new releases, and promotional songs. So Robi Radio, a paid broadcast, has higher penetration and usage than CRBT.

Digital services are in a very nascent stage. It is early days for mobile commerce. There is also a great long term potential for mobile entertainment, mobile health and mobile education. These are early days, but early movers have a certain advantage. The sky is limit when you look at a market that is infrastructure hungry, as long as you are willing to go for affordable prices and attractive product offers.

WinWin: How do you see the future of digital service in Bangladesh?

Shrivastava: Our partners for those services are as excited as we are about market opportunities and how we can unleash the potential beyond voice call.

Bangladesh has recently awarded 3G licenses to four private telecom companies and Robi is one of them. Obviously 3G will have its own challenge in return on investment, but we are quite hopeful that there will be more and more data access available to consumers, and more and more affordable devices. There will be an ecosystem that is arising where a large number of people will actually get access to knowledge that is available globally. I would like to believe that we can do significantly more with the 3G on mobile health and education, not just as a company but also as an industry.

It is a very exciting phase. I mean, we are at a moment in the history of Bangladesh, whose youth are aspiring to become more globally connected. We are bringing in the data era to the country which will change the way people work and live.