ALKHOBAR, 5 November — I continue to be amazed as to how companies that I thought I knew and trusted have betrayed me and have become caught up by the lure of online direct marketing. For years I have been a member of the Six Continents Club at the Inter-Continental Hotel chain. Since membership in Six Continents is on an annual fee basis, I thought that the club’s management would be above some of the crass marketing schemes that “free” rewards clubs sometimes sponsor. I was wrong.
At the end of August I received a promotional offer, which ran through October. The deal from Six Continent’s Club was phrased like this:
“Simply send us the names and e-mail addresses of your colleagues and friends. Six Continents Club will then e-mail your nominees, confirming that you provided their contact details, offering them the opportunity to join the Six Continents Club. For each colleague or friend that you recommend, who enrolls online in the Six Continents Club, we will send you a Complimentary Weekend Night Certificate.”
It’s a good thing for Six Continents that I already belong to the club because if I had heard about their group through a recommendation from a “friend,” I definitely wouldn’t join. More importantly, the individual who supplied my name and e-mail address to Six Continents would no longer be thought of as a “friend.” These days, companies are desperate to create marketing lists of live, verified e-mail addresses. The Six Continent’s promotion is one way of developing such a list. Even if a person didn’t join the club after being recommended by a “friend,” Six Continents could be assured that it had a viable e-mail address that could be used for numerous other marketing purposes in the future. What a windfall!
And speaking of windfalls, those companies that have been benefiting from installing illegal VSAT connections in the Kingdom, may find that their futures are in doubt. The Saudi Communications Commission (SCC) has announced its intention to award VSAT Service Licenses. Once licenses are granted, methods could be put in place to prosecute illegal VSAT operators and those firms supplying them.
The SCC was founded with a mission, “to ensure the provision of high quality universal telecommunication services at affordable prices.” Its foray into the area of VSAT will be an attempt to regulate the expansion of communications services in the Kingdom in order to benefit both investors in VSAT and the eventual consumers of such services. Currently Saudi Telecom Company (STC) is the only company licensed to provide VSAT in the Kingdom and they have proved woefully inadequate. SCC is hoping to create competition in the area of VSAT through the licensing of more providers.
Specialized independent Saudi companies and specialized Saudi companies in association with foreign companies are being encouraged to participate in the two-stage VSAT licensing process. The first stage of the process is pre-qualification. Any firm may collect the pre-qualification information from SCC. To actually become pre-qualified, firms must submit the required documents and a fee of SR20,000 by Dec. 14, 2002. Once the decision is made on which firms are eligible for the second stage of the licensing process, those firms will be able to pick up the requirements for that phase upon payment of a fee of SR40,000. The bottom line is that at the pre-qualification phase, SCC wants to weed out any “shawarma stand” operators trying to transform themselves into VSAT providers before it takes a serious look at the technical and business plans of candidates in the second phase. It is anticipated that upward of 40 firms may be interested in becoming VSAT providers. Predictions are that fewer than five will actually succeed.
VSAT providers would be licensed to set up a network and sign up customers. Right now, simply because they feel there is no other practical choice, companies are doing VSAT on their own, although such technology is far removed from their core business. It is thought that while the market for VSAT is likely to remain small, more companies will sign up once there are affordable, licensed providers. In addition to meeting technical and business requirements, the SCC will also consider any provider’s abilities to deliver VSAT to rural areas of the Kingdom as well as major cities. Interestingly, Saudi Telecom will still play a prominent role in all VSAT operations because there must be a method to connect calls coming through VSAT to STC’s network.
In a bold move, SCC has announced that it would like to hear a wide variety of knowledgeable views on issues relating to VSAT. Interested parties, both local and international, should click to scc.gov.sa. The website has been functioning for only a couple of weeks and it is very much a work in progress. However, click on the entry “SCC announces its intention to award a number of licenses for the provision of VSAT Services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” and comprehensive information for all the issues that SCC is considering in regards to the VSAT licenses will be presented. Comments must be forwarded to SCC by Nov. 26, 2002. The commission is particularly interested in hearing from any organization that may have done research in VSAT operations or from any firm or individual willing to provide comments based on actual field experience with VSAT, backed up by supporting documentation.
I must commend SCC. An attempt at transparency and inclusiveness from a government organization is definitely a move to be recognized and applauded. And please, take a look at the Saudi Tech Tracker column today. It appears that STC has discovered that potentially there are such things as positive customer relationships. It must have been an astonishing concept for them. Another organization in the Kingdom that recently made a move to be commended is the Eastern Province Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which invited Lubna Al-Qasimi, CEO of Dubai based B2B marketplace, Tejari, to come and address their members. While it is wonderful to have a woman, any woman, asked to speak to local businessmen, I just wish we’d give such opportunities to our talented Saudi women as well as to those experts from outside the Kingdom. Here’s what Lubna Al-Qasimi had to say about her experience at the conference:
“Thus far, Tejari has done education in the region at many seminars, exhibitions and conferences. Purposely we have not made a commitment in any country except Jordan. Our first agenda or priority has been to raise awareness of the Tejari name in the region. My visit to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry conference in the Eastern Province went extremely well. I admire the Saudis and the Saudi market because when I was there what was apparent to me was the good learning process under way. There were many initiatives under way.
This means that the readiness of the Saudi market and interest in the Internet, outside of banking, and the desire to mobilize and create new online initiatives is very good. The Saudi market is now looking into e-commerce, B2B, Internet banking, basically mobilizing all kinds of things on the Internet.
“I was very proud to be invited to the conference at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry because when I looked at the names of the other speakers I found out that I was probably the only speaker coming from outside the Saudi market. This meant that they had consideration and respect for the Tejari brand and that they felt that the UAE’s initiatives in terms of e-commerce were important for them and respected. I also got a lot of positive feedback right after the conference. There was a lot of learning on both sides during and after the conference. For me it was a particular advantage to be there to learn about some of the positive developments and projects that had taken place at Saudi Aramco and in the banking sector and in the moves toward e-government.”
Let’s hope the will to mobilize in the Saudi market that Lubna Al-Qasimi has mentioned is translated into fruitful action rapidly. Before I leave everyone this week, let me put forward one last point. The holy month of Ramadan is upon us and I have heard much criticism recently about the way television is being viewed as a distraction from spiritual activities that add value to the month of fasting. Thus, I urge parents to turn off the boob tube and log on to the Internet in order to help their families find constructive ways to embrace the holy month and its meaning. I have surveyed what’s out there online and I recommend visits to: Ramadan on the Net (holidays.net/ramadan/), The Ramadan Information Center (islamicity.com/ramadan), Submission.org (submission.org/YES/child2.html), Play and Learn.org (playandlearn.org/ramadan/index.htm) and see the many links through kidsturncentral.com/links/ramadanlinks.htm. These sites provide everything from basic information on the holy month to recipes, crafts, poetry, stories and many other activities that families, both Muslim and non-Muslim, can enjoy together. Ramadan Mubarak.
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