Telecel scoffs at promo deal claims

an SMS-based quiz competition that attracts prizes, which it had proposed for partnership.
The firm is now claiming US$340 000 in potential net income lost after Telecel allegedly sidelined them from the business initiative. Mobile Connexion is now mulling legal action.
But Telecel argues that it was already working on a similar initiative and that discussions on the proposal were only exploratory to see if that would be more beneficial than its own.
Telecel communications and branding director Mr Obert Mandimika said Mobile Connexion had no legal right over the Mega Promotion, because the concept was in use at its sister companies.
“We did assess the (Mobile Connexion and) Jetcom concept and proposed agreement in the hope of finding out more on their proposed platform which would differentiate the service,” he said.
“These exchanges were merely exploratory in nature and Telecel never accepted these proposals and nothing was signed by both parties.
“The idea of a Mega Promo was first raised for all African operating companies in Orascom Telecom Holding (OTH-Telecel Zimbabwe Holding Company) in Burundi in July 2010. ARPU+ is an OTH sister company that has launched this service in other OTH operations more than 5 years ago to name,” he said.
Mr Mandimika said the Mega Promo was launched in Djezzy Algeria, Mobinil Egypt, Mobilink Pakistan, Wind Italy, Banglalink Bangladesh.
He said the service had been introduced in all Orascom Telecel Holdings subsidiary companies on a recurring and phased approach
ARPU+, he said, was the preferred service provider because they had already run this promo in other countries and had a proven back-end system, needing only minor adjustments to suit local conditions.
Telecel and ARPU+ took time in sorting out feasibility groundwork, but they had already decided on introducing the promotion.
“Jetcom came later and proposed the same Mega Promo concept around the  end of 2011. We told them that we were already working with someone from our holding company who was working behind the scenes in provisioning the service on their platform,” he said.
While admitting the concept did not originate with Mobile Connexion, the firm said the missing link to Telecel being able to run such a promotion was the backend platform on which it rides.
Mobile Connexion is the sole and exclusive agent of Jet Telecomm in Zimbabwe. Jet Telecomm is a member of Groupe Digital Afrique, which offers a range of value-added telecomm services.
Jet Telecomm, which is jointly claiming the US$340 000 from Telecel with Mobile Connexion, was going to provide the platform on which the Telecel would run the Mega Promo competition.
But Mobile Connexion chief executive Mr Peterson Tengende insists an agreement had been reached in principle, judging by assurances Telecel gave and its input on what it wanted included in the initiative.
“An agreement was reached. When we submitted the proposal, they said company policy required a 50-50 sharing of proceeds as opposed to the 70-30 (in favour of Mobile Connexion) we had wanted.
“They also told us to convert all cash prizes to non-cash prizes as they did not want the burden of registering with the lottery board.
“So when you look at the final proposal we submitted on February 2 this year, it is clearly marked ‘Revised’,” said Mr Tengende.
“In fact, we had come up with two proposals: the Mega Promo and SOS Credit where subscribers could by airtime on credit and pay the next time they top up airtime. They immediately told us that for the SOS credit they were already working on it and would introduce it in the following few weeks and sure they did,” he said.
Said Mr Mandimika: “We are currently putting final touches to a service which equates to your (Mobile Connexion) SOS Credit. We are calling it Emergency Credit and this is already fully provisioned on our platform.”
Mr Tengende argued that if Telecel was working on a similar project (Mega Promo) they would have immediately turned down the proposal.
He said Telecel requested they submit a detailed proposal of the Mega Promo, which they did. In all the communication they had, he said, Telecel would allegedly assure them everything was on course.
“We are also working with another partner on the provision of Mega Promotions but nothing is finalised yet,” Mr Mandimika said.
Mr Tengende said they felt cheated after an unnamed Telecel source later told them the delays were a result of an external expert which the firm had engaged to devise a system on which to run the promotion, which would be more beneficial and cheaper to Telecel.
What was baffling was  the striking similarity between Telecel’s Mega Promo and virtually every aspect of Mobile Connexion proposal.