LIVE FROM GSMA MOBILE 360 SERIES – DIGITAL SOCIETIES, BANGKOK: Different countries are at varied stages of their digital evolution, with the process made more challenging by each requiring diverse paths and investment levels, a Telenor executive explained.

Given the variety within the Telenor Group, Praveen Rajan, chief digital officer at the group’s Malaysian operator Digi (pictured), said its parent company hasn’t taken a cookie-cutter approach to rolling out digital services.

“We have not been successful taking one thing that works in Pakistan and replicating it in Malaysia. The characteristics of the countries are very different, so that makes it very challenging. Myanmar and Pakistan have seen much greater success on mobile financial services than Malaysia, for example.”

Enterprise focus
For its core business, Digi started digitising its salesforce, so “anyone with a smartphone and an app can sell a Digi product, which not only benefits us but allows them to generate income”, he said.

Rajan added the operator has the opportunity to lower the entry barriers for a lot of digital services because of the scale of its distribution network. It is now working directly with enterprises using mobile payment terminals, fleet management services for logistics providers and e-commerce for SMEs. The common element is that the mobile number is the identifier.

“The impact on the businesses is they don’t have to invest a lot to start generating new revenue,” he said.

Rajan said the group is also spending time helping students build digital skills, because it found primary-school students can only use smartphones and have no idea how to use a PC. It also is taking steps to combat cyber bullying as “we are indirectly part of this problem because we are giving mobile and internet [access]. No one is talking about it, so we’re championing this now.”