Jean Latute:”Expect a giant leap in the nature, quality and pricing of telecommunication services in Yemen” [Archives:2006/971/Business & Economy]

Interviewed By: Raidan Al-Saqqaf
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The Telecommunications Industry in Yemen attracts considerable investments especially within the last few years. YemenTimes spoke to Mr. Jean Latute, Chief Executive Officer of TeleYemen – the largest telecommunications provider in Yemen, with regards to the recent developments in the Telecommunications Industry in Yemen.

TeleYemen is the flagship Telecom operator in Yemen. How did you get where you are today?

The original objective of TeleYemen was to provide customers in Yemen with reliable international telecommunications. TeleYemen is a trade name of the Yemen International Telecommunication Company, formed in January 1990. It's a joint venture company between the government-affiliated Public Telecommunication Cooperation and the Cable & Wireless Corporation, who were the major shareholder and was also managing the company until it sold its shares to its Yemeni Partner in December 2003.

In 2004 TeleYemen restructured and 25% of its shares were sold to the Postal Deposits Authority. Additionally, a 5-year management contract was signed with France Telecom to manage TeleYemen until December 2008, in order to bring the company up to date and provide excellent international telecommunications as well as the Y.net Internet services. TeleYemen also provides corporate telecommunications and Internet solutions for companies operating in Yemen.

Tell us a bit about yourself, when did you join TeleYemen?

I joined TeleYemen In November 2004, before which I was the Chief Information Officer in the Jordan Telecom Group, where I was based in Amman for over three years. Technically I am a telecommunications engineer and a business management graduate, and I have considerable experience in various domains of Telecom including wireless telecommunications and Internet services.

How do you evaluate the telecommunications industry in Yemen, with three mobile phone operators and a fourth upcoming?

We are very optimistic about the growth potential of our industry in Yemen, it is the fastest growing mobile phone market in the region and we believe the growth of the industry in Yemen will increase with the overall growth of the national economy within the next few years. New technologies will play a major part in developing the industry, and you can expect to witness a giant leap in the near future with regards to the quality and pricing of services especially to corporate solutions and international communications. For example, we have allocated over $36 million for a project called FLAG, aimed at connecting Yemen with four continents utilizing advanced technology to enable TeleYemen to offer services considerably cheaper compared to our current rates. We are also introducing a new advanced 'International Switch' to meet the expected annual increased traffic of around 20 percent from the introduction of the FLAG project. This project was already announced by His Excellency the Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology, and also by Director General Manager of the PTC in the local media, and the project will be operational in September.

How profitable is TeleYemen compared to the rest of the industry?

As a whole the telecommunications industry is enjoying a boom period in Yemen. TeleYemen's revenue in 2005 has increased by 16 percent from 2004 and reached YR22.4 billion with a net profit of YR 2.3 billion representing 10.2 percent of revenue.

Additionally, we were able to reduce costs by 8 percent after taking strong measures to control piracy – also known as BY-Pass. Our current performance is in line with the 5-year business plan administered by France Telecom running to December 2008. However, we are still in midway in our plan and we expect the upcoming financial results to be very satisfactory and to exceed the expectations of our shareholders – The Public Telecommunications Corporation and the Postal Deposits Authority.

You mentioned something about BY-Pass, what is BY-Pass and how does it affect your operations and services?

It is a global threat affecting all countries and it refers to an illegal method where the caller undertakes an international phone call which registers in the system as a domestic phone call and hence charging only the domestic rate for the international call. We are tackling this issue with two methods. One method is through the BY-Pass Committee, relying on the help and the support of the official bodies where we manage to discover the criminals and force them to close their unlawful practice.

The second method is to provide our customers with best quality service for a very reasonable price, for example the cost per minute to gulf countries at off peak is only 82 Rials (62 Rials with my Best Number), and this allows consumers in Yemen to enjoy the cheapest telecommunications rates amongst Gulf countries.

You mentioned that TeleYemen was able to score good financial results. How does that reflect on human resource aspects such as development and training of the staff?

The social and human aspects are not forgotten, in fact we have a very generous policy in that regards, for example the training and development budget was doubled in 2006 because we believe that people are the most important asset of our organization and we are keen to invest in our human capital especially as we look forward to upgrading our technology and provide a better service for our customers.

Employees of TeleYemen enjoy a very reasonable compensation package with various benefits and promotion schemes, we even have a voluntary early retirement package for those wishing to enjoy an early retirement.

What are TeleYemen's future growth plans?

We have recently started to market Yemen Mobile products and this is quite normal as both companies are in one group. This style is inherited from France Telecom in order to build the 'Integrated Operator' image offering convergent services for our customers.

Other plans follow the successful introduction of “My Best Number” and “The Booster,” and ADSL services in addition to three international tariff rebalancing schemes: we are launching shortly “Blad Asham and Egypt Region” and the “Horn of Africa Region” promotional campaigns. These campaigns will offer our customers cheap rates to call any country in these two regions. We always think of ways and means through which we can offer customers good services at lower cost. With regards to our Corporate Customers we are revising TeleYemen product rates and we are working on volume discount offers.

Another prospective plan is for France Telecom to raise its relationship to partnership status in TeleYemen if conditions allow. We have expressed this desire to our employer the Public Telecommunication Corporation and to his Excellency the Minister of Telecommunication & Information Technology.
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