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Zeinal Bava with East Timor’s
prime-minister, Xanana Gusmão |
Through its East Timor subsidiary, PT pioneered investment in East Timor where it has developed an infrastructure and telecommunications system from scratch. A robust, diversified shareholder structure turned the operator into a strategic asset for the Timorese economy, enabling communications access and expanding its customer base exponentially, currently around 220,000, aiming to reach 300,000 until year-end.
PT presented today a new strategy for Timor Telecom: an ambitious strategy that seeks the continuous improvement of the services available on the market and subsequent customer satisfaction, aiming to make the country a reference in terms of mobile penetration and internet use.
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Bishop of Baucau, Basílio do
Nascimento, Zeinal Bava,
and vice prime-minister,
Mário Carrascalão |
The reinforcement of the telecommunications infrastructure in East Timor by extending the fixed and mobile coverage, namely the expansion of the 3G coverage to every urban centre, the reinforcement of the distribution strategy and store network, or building a submarine cable that will connect East Timor to the international data network will be supported by a new management team and will fulfil old ambitions of the Timorese. The new strategy also comprehends massified internet access by launching Community Information Centres, enabling information technology access for every Timorese, especially children. Timor Telecom will thus make a decisive contribution to developing Timor’s Information Society.
The company plans to kick off several initiatives that will facilitate the access of a larger number of Timorese to telecommunications services, namely pay-as-you-go tariffs, recharge cards of reduced value or new offers and tariffs for broadband internet access.
A new strategy, a new brand
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| Timor Telecom’s new brand |
Apart from the presentation of its new strategic plan, Timor Telecom also disclosed its new brand, marking its new ambition. There is a natural evolution suited to the new positioning of the company, which is required to be more dynamic, and a rejuvenation of the brand ready to assert itself as operator of reference.
Strong growth ambition
Portugal Telecom is an operator of international dimension with a strong growth ambition. It has currently over 65 million customers in 13 countries, namely in Africa and Brazil. Its international investments, mainly in the mobile business, represent 85% of its customer base and circa 50% of its revenues.
The Timor Telecom investment is part of an international strategy in partnership with local institutions. By means of this new strategy, Timor Telecom is betting on a new development phase of its telecommunications sector, through service and infrastructure improvement to make them available for the country and the population at large.