Author: Abdul Rahman Alieh

What could possibly make a regular Lebanese social media user share a post? Let’s consider Roadster Diner’s facelift, an identity refresher that revolves around a journey. It’s still unclear how people -and particularly loyal customers- are reacting to it. Rebranding can potentially revitalize the brand, but apparently messing with something so emotional, so engraved in people’s hearts and minds can potentially take a turn to the worse.

Is Roadster Diner’s new refresher, a classic “New Coke rebranding failure”? That’s why we believe the blog post “An Open Letter to Roadster Diner” is gaining traction and is on its way to becoming viral! read it here.

Did you know that July ☀ is witnessing the highest search volume for the keyword “Travel” in Lebanon with Nakhal occupying the top Google search query for 2016! click below to view our exciting infographic!

Mobile technologies have changed the business landscape forever. They made product information ubiquitous and have pushed marketing experiences even further. Driven by faster connectivity and better-designed online spaces, mobile devices empower customers by creating digital environments accessible around the clock. Customers can now stream a movie, receive breaking news alerts, and settle banking bills through their smartphones. Given this unprecedented shift in market dynamics, Lebanese consumers have no choice but to embrace mobile commerce. Back in 2011, the Lebanese m-commerce market witnessed the launch of its first mobile payment app, PinPay. Since then, the app has established itself as the leader of its industry and has even paved the way to other similar services. But, how did PinPay eventually come to revolutionize m-commerce in Lebanon in a time where the mobile market is suffering from bad quality of network coverage, data and Internet services?

Hurdles to Mobile Penetration

Lebanon experienced an impressive growth in terms of ICT development in 2012. Following the substantial investments made back then, the Ministry of Telecommunication’s policy had plans to transform the country into a regional digital hub. Four years later, the mobile market remains far from performing at full capacity.

The Internet connection is evidently slow. Internet speed in Lebanon ranks 125th globally with an average of 3.19 Mb/s. That’s attributable to the limitations of the infrastructure currently in use, which is mostly made of copper allowing for a maximum speed of only 8 Mb/s. While Lebanese Internet users wait patiently for the $55 million fiber optic network to be switched on, Lebanon’s Global Competitiveness suffers, with inadequate infrastructure being one of the top problematic factors for doing business.

According to a recent report by BlomInvest Bank, the cost of accessing the Internet and the speed of the Internet are hurdles to the e-commerce industry in Lebanon. Though the Telecommunication Ministry has planned to slash prices of DSL services and increase service speed in June 2014, some analysts note that the cost of accessing the Internet in Lebanon is four times higher than other countries abroad.

Moreover, some 300 villages in the outskirts of Keserwan, Batroun, Nabatiyeh, and Bekaa still lack access. Rural areas in particular have experienced constant cuts to telecommunications services due to poor infrastructure, harsh weather conditions and electricity cuts.

These factors combined, resulted in a poor mobile penetration in Lebanon. It recorded a rate of 93% as opposed to the neighboring countries’ record of 133% (Telecommunications Regulatory Authority 2014).

Against All Odds

Despite these obstacles, PinPay, a mobile payment and bill aggregation platform in Lebanon thrived. It was able to successfully position itself as the most convenient tool to purchase services and pay different types of bills through its mobile application. Just think of the growing numbers of dual-career couples, single parents and elderly households with various resource constraints. This convenience mitigates to some extent, the relatively high mobile data fees and other costs associated with Internet access. Who would want to disrupt their work, search for a parking space and stand in a checkout line with a long queue to pay a bill?

PinPay has partnered with Bank Audi and Bank Med (5 more in the pipeline), along with the telecom duopolists, transportation services, media companies, educational institutions, along with many other professional services. According to PinPay’s CEO, Mr. Omar Badr, the scope of services gives PinPay more exposure, and helps it overcome the challenges posed by user awareness and acceptance of mobile payment. Last year in August, PinPay had a total of 55,000 users, 40,000 of them are regularly active.

From transportation to grocery shopping, PinPay is designed to provide customers with seamless m-commerce experience anytime and anywhere.

Given its leading market position, high growth potential and devoted following of clients, PinPay attracted investments from Middle East Venture Partners, Audi Bank and Bankmed. Most recently, Fransabank announced that it would invest $2.5 million in PinPay, and stop operating the Simba mobile payment application. Fransabank’s $2.5 million stake will increase PinPay’s capital to LBP 13 billion ($8.6 million).

A local business source said that five additional banks would join PinPay’s payment service before the end of 2016, further establishing the brand as the leading mobile payment gateway in Lebanon and the region.

Lebanon’s Online Users

According to the Pew Research Center (2015), 92% of Internet users or smartphone owners in Lebanon access the Internet on a daily basis, constituting the highest percentage among countries worldwide.

Age, education and income are three factors contributing to m-commerce readiness in Lebanon. The same source revealed that 90% of Lebanese who access the Internet occasionally or own a smartphone have a high education while only 34% of those with less education do so. Additionally, 92% of occasional Internet surfers or smartphone owners have a high income as opposed to 41% of their lower income peers. Finally, 89% of young people, particularly those between 18 and 34 years of age access the Internet occasionally or have a smartphone, while only 50% of users older than 35 do so.

These findings ring true with other insights published by State of Payments, which revealed that 35% of Lebanese m-commerce adopters are between 18 and 35. Interestingly, two other age groups recorded high adoption rates. Users between 36 and 40 years, along with those older than 51 years recorded 25% each. Additionally, respondents with high income recorded the highest m-commerce adoption rate.

Kicking Off a Cashless Trend

PinPay has undoubtedly played a role in shaping Lebanon’s digital landscape. The room for growth is exponential. Although the infrastructure is still underdeveloped in many areas, mobile has become an integral part of transacting online for many Lebanese users.

The coming few years will witness greater number of Lebanese turning to m-commerce, as businesses and marketers continue to design better online experiences for their customers.

Article by: Abdul Rahman Alieh, Director & Founder at SocialWeTalk SARL

Wait a bit,” said the tortoise to the hare. ‘I’ll run a race with you, and I’ll wager that I win’.

Challenges make everything interesting, especially those between unequal contestants. When Kyle Whitehill took over as CEO of Vodafone Qatar in April 2013, he must have felt what David felt when faced with mighty Goliath, an incumbent the size of Ooredoo.

No one doubts the struggles Vodafone had to go through to face Ooredoo’s long-established market presence. In a recent interview, Vodafone CEO Kyle Whitehill explains that the telco has been excluded from around 500 legacy sites in its sharing agreement.

“We’ve been excluded from quite a few sites where strategically it’s important for us to have some physical presence. That’s where we’ve had a little bit of frustration. You want competition, so give us full access to network coverage.”

Nevertheless, Vodafone has been relatively successful servicing the lower end of the market. In fact, its PR initiatives have focused primarily on embracing this segment. Earlier this year, Vodafone worked with Park House English School under its ‘World of Difference Campaign’ to help students passionate about charity work start up their projects. Vodafone ended up donating funds to provide food items to laborers across Doha.

In the wake of substantial upgrades and expansions of its 3G & 4G network, Vodafone bluntly announced that it offers the fastest data network in Qatar. Outdoor ads along with movie spots, TVCs and social media engagements started flooding out. The telco even launched the hashtag #QatarsFastestNetwork on Twitter.

It instantly came under fire by some residents and local influencers.

Is Vodafone really Qatar’s Fastest Network?

Let’s look at the data. Ookla’s Net Index Explorer offers a comparison of all broadband and mobile data from nearly every country down to the city-level. It’s based on the concept of crowd-sourcing, which enlists the services of a multitude of users to obtain its results. On an international level, it deploys data from more than five million tests per day, on more than 3,500 servers. It’s inarguably one of the most accurate providers of data readings.

In June 2015, the average speed tests of mobile broadband for Qatar’s internet service providers were:

Ooredoo: 19.02 MBps
Vodafone: 16.57 MBps
For fixed broadband:

Ooredoo: 17.07 MBps
Vodafone: 20.84 MBps
The readings show that Ooredoo has a higher average speed on mobile broadband, while Vodafone prevails in fixed broadband. Does this make Vodafone faster?

Vodafone has a very limited fixed broadband reach (basically The Pearl-Qatar and a few compounds across the city). This makes their services restricted to an elite stratum of the community as opposed to the mainstream Ooredoo. One can also argue that “fast” in this sense doesn’t benefit the community at large since it’s restricted to very few areas.

Furthermore, Ooredoo offers both ADSL (the basic package with a minimum speed of 1 Mbps) and Fiber (typically starts at 10 Mbps), so the average speed drops considerably when compared to Vodafone which only offers Fiber.

This doesn’t make Vodafone the fastest network in Qatar.

In a statement, Ooredoo announced: “We know that customers want a bigger, faster network and Ooredoo is striving to bring the latest and best technology so that we continue to record the fastest speeds.” In fact, Ooredoo repeatedly stated that it’s the only operator to combine 20+10 MHz bands on its 4G+ network, enabling its users to reach the higher maximum top speed of 225 Mbps.

But is 225 Mbps Achievable?

According to Vodafone, it’s not. It retaliated by launching the #225Challenge on Twitter, promising free data and a new phone to anyone who could reach 225 Mbps speeds on any network in Qatar. No one was reported winning the challenge.

Who Eventually Won the Race?

I have to say, the tortoise lost the wager in our fable. Vodafone made a bold move, but not in the least honest. Their message left people skeptical and failed to reflect their commitment to deliver a speedy service. Some believe it did more harm to their brand than good. As for Ooredoo, we’re all waiting for someone to break the sound barrier of 225 Mbps…Don’t hold your breath.

What are your thoughts?

Article by: Abdul Rahman Alieh, Director & Founder at SocialWeTalk SARL