NOVEMBER 2015www.endeavourmagazine.com

INSPIRED BY YOUR SUCCESS

Botswana Telecommunications CorporationIt’s Good To Talk

Providing telephone and internet services for customers throughout the country, Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Ltd has in excess of 100,000 lines in service, with the majority located in Gaborone and Francistown. Endeavour Magazine spoke with company CEO, Paul Taylor, to find out where the company plans to go from here.

WRITTEN BY AMY TOCKNELL

IT’S GOOD TO TALK

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BOTSWANA TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATIONWWW.BTC.BW00267 3958000

BOTSWANA TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION

Having undergone such radical changes in just a small space of time, many other companies may have buckled under the strain of maintaining reliable, high quality services, but not

BTCL, who have consistently strived to carry on wit their vision and mission statements clearly in their mind. Paul Taylor, CEO of BTCL expanded on these statements,

“Our vision is to be simply the best and we delight our customers by providing world-class communication, information and content services.”

It sounds easy enough, on the face of it, but customers can be notoriously hard to please and retain, so what factors does Taylor think really sets the company apart?

“We are one team, the success of one is the success of all and we take responsibility. It’s our problem to solve until someone else on the team accepts it as his or hers. We respect deadlines and ensure that our customer, whether internal or external is aware we are “on the case” and we get things done. Within the bounds of reasonable risk and relevant governance, we take action on our own initiative and use our knowledge, skills and judgment to resolve challenges.”

That all makes for a very forthright and defiantly professional company, but then Taylor adds something unexpected; a human touch,

“Most importantly though, we are easy to do business with. We take complicated things and make them easy to understand and act upon and take pride in what we do, who we work with and who we work for. We also manage to have fun, because a happy team makes for happy customers.”

BOTSWANA TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION

Initially founded in 1980, as the result of an Act of Parliament to provide Botswana with national and international telecommunications services, The Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) enjoyed unrivalled market access until 1996, when other service providers were given permission to tender for contracts in the area. With improved efficiency and competitiveness established in the industry, BTC debuted its mobile network in 2008, called beMOBILE, before finally being converted from a statutory body into a public company in 2012, turning it into Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited (BTCL).

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Can telecommunications really be a ‘fun’ industry to work in? Well, if anyone should know, it’s Taylor himself, as with more than 30 years experience in the sector, throughout various countries, if he hasn’t seen something before, he will quickly develop a strategy to deal with it. His impressive CV aside, Taylor is extremely personable, something we would like to think is necessary within the industry, yet is demonstrably lacking in a number of competitor management structures. Perhaps it is this personable nature and expert knowledge of the industry that helps to retain a loyal and dedicated body of staff over at BTCL.

Offering services to such a wide range of clients, there can be little doubt that the team in place has been specifically selected in accordance with their abilities and genuine commitment. How else could one company seek to serve everyone from SMEs to large enterprises, all the way through to residential customers? That’s not the kind of pressure you place on the shoulders of an amateur customers services structure, but thankfully, BTCL is at the top of its game when it comes to ensuring client satisfaction.

Comprehensive support infrastructure ensures that every client, regardless of classification, has a direct and easy method of communicating concerns for a quick resolution.

This is how companies move forward, safe in the knowledge that they will always have a large and happy client base.

Looking to the future, there is one collaborative agreement that is particularly exciting for BTCL and that is a partner market agreement with Vodafone. Official statements reveal just how beneficial this partnership will be for both parties,

“Under the non-equity partnership agreement, BTCL becomes Vodafone’s preferred partner in Botswana and the two companies will jointly offer business and consumer customers a range of products and services. BTCL will benefit from access to Vodafone best practice and will be able to enhance its customer proposition in Botswana with Vodafone’s products and services. Vodafone’s multinational corporate customers will benefit from the addition of Botswana to their existing contracts for international managed services, while continuing to be serviced via a single point of contact. As a preferred partner, BTCL will benefit from Vodafone’s scale as the largest international voice carrier, with access to its global data reach and a competitive cost base for its customers’ international calls.”

Unless you are ‘in the know’, it could be easy to assume that only BTCL will experience a significant benefit from the

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BOTSWANA TELECOMMUNICATIONS CORPORATION

VoIP: +27(0)87 805 9648Office: +27(0)11 818 2020

Fax: +27(0)11 818 1958

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arrangement, due to the gravitas that Vodafone holds within the global marketplace, but Vodafone Partner Markets Chief Executive, Stefano Gastaut, was quick to dismiss this notion and allude to what BTCL are bringing to the table,

“This strategic partnership with BTCL for Botswana will enable us to expand the reach of our products and services within Africa and extends our footprint to 55 markets worldwide. It will also deliver enhanced roaming benefits for BTCL’s consumer and multinational corporate customers.”

Keen to make a similarly positive statement, Taylor, on behalf of BTCL commented that,

“We are delighted to have entered into the non-equity strategic partnership with a global player of Vodafone’s standing. The partnership will allow us to better differentiate against competition, delivering innovative communications solutions for the benefit of our customers and visitors to Botswana. Vodafone, on the other hand, will draw on BTCL’s extensive network coverage.”

There can be no doubt that when two companies of such impressive stature combine, great things are on the horizon and for BTCL, this heralds a new era of growth and industry domination that we look forward to watching, appreciating and talking about.

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