The Institute of Direct Marketing of Nigeria (IDMN) has named Starcomms Plc, Nigeria’s foremost CDMA network as the best 3G Mobile Network of the Year 2009 in the CDMA category.
The award certificate was presented to the marketing team of Starcomms during a ceremony held at Lagos Sheraton Hotel, Ikeja.
The Institute of Direct Marketing is a professional body that caters for practitioners involved in salesmanship and the regulation of direct marketing as an integral aspect of business, especially ones that are targeted at the mass market. The award is recognition of Starcomms aggressive marketing of its product and services in the Nigerian market.
This is another feather in the cap of the first and the only telecommunications company listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), coming on the heels of the recognition of its efforts in the fight against internet fraud and scam.
The aggressive marketing is evidenced by the practice of the company to launch its network in new locations with Starcomms Smart Centre; an innovative concept aims at revolutionizing the pay phone business in Nigeria. The programme is an effort of Starcomms to fish out the entrepreneurial spirit in young Nigerians by empowering them to launch a business of their own.
The Starcomms Smart Centres provide more profit and more opportunity entrepreneurs to tap into the cutting-edge technology of Starcomms. With two models in place: Smart Centre for the youth and business people, the company aims to make the entrepreneurs to earn more profits without lowering standards.
Starcomms also backs up its marketing efforts with a lot of promotions that make the sales of Starcomms brands smoother for direct marketers.
Major among these is the money back promo for subscribers who choose to buy any of Haier D2000, Huawei C288s and Huawei ETS8521 Cordless phones. The company offers them their money back within a period of six months in a unique promo that is fast changing the scope of telephone usage in the country
This category of subscribers who choose to use the Haier D2000 or Huawei C228s for their roaming lines, both of which phones cost N4,499 will get N3,000 back over a period of six months with a regular on-net credit of N500 monthly for every N250 usage
The 100% money-back offer on fixed lines is even more rewarding. This is available only for subscribers who chose the Huawei Cordless Talkie Phones. The Cordless Phone is now priced at N7,500 in another of Starcomms’ commitment to offering new and innovative products to its customers. A subscriber who purchases the cordless phone gets N1000 worth free Starcomms-to-Starcomms calls every month for six months with the recharge and usage of a minimum N250 airtime. This will give the subscriber free N6,000 on net airtime within the six months. This is in addition to the free off-line N250 airtime for six months which will give the subscriber N1,500. Within the first six months of activation, the subscriber would have earned back all the initial amount of N7500 paid for the phone only with diligent usage of at least N250 recharge monthly.
The IDMN award is a testimony to Starcomms leadership in the penetration of the Nigerian market with clear understanding of the needs of the subscribers.