\tKaan Terzioglu, co-COO of Veon (pictured) vowed to drive the development of digital services in the operator’s ten-country footprint, pointing to huge potential offered in its largest market of Russia and targeting financial services across its markets.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Mobile World Live, former Turkcell boss Terzioglu said Russia offered an \u201cimmense opportunity\u201d for his new employer Veon to provide a wide array of digital services. Investment in supporting infrastructure in the country\u2019s ten largest cities is deemed a priority.<\/p>\n
This will be the operator group’s second major drive into digital services [1] after it abandoned its original digital platform [2] effort in January.<\/p>\n
Discussing Veon\u2019s results in its biggest market, where it runs the Beeline brand, he said: \u201cOur performance is sub-par and we can do much more. We are currently putting in plans to make sure our service offerings are meeting the expectation of our customers.”<\/p>\n
Terzioglu noted 45 per cent of Veon’s revenue is generated in Russia and a focus on infrastructure investments in top-ten cities including Moscow and Saint Petersburg and other top-ten cities will allow the company “to be a player in digital services market.\u201d<\/p>\n
Across its wider footprint, Terzioglu pointed to the opportunities in financial services with operators said to be well positioned to offer \u201cinclusiveness nobody has ever seen before at the fraction of the cost of the existing financial market structures\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added the company was already making \u201cfantastic headway\u201d in Pakistan where it operates digital wallet JazzCash. This, he noted, was an opportunity open to all markets subject to regulatory support in each country.<\/p>\n
Innovation
\nFormerly known as VimpelCom, Veon operates in Russia, Pakistan, Ukraine, Algeria, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia and Armenia. It has a subscriber base of 210 million and its footprint covers 600 million people.<\/p>\n
Under the company\u2019s new strategy and leadership team, both announced [3] earlier this year, individual country CEOs report to the co-COOs Terzioglu and Sergi Herrero, formerly Facebook’s global director of payments and commerce partnerships. CEO Ursula Burns leads the operator group.<\/p>\n
Despite the different levels of infrastructure and digital service readiness in each of its markets, Terzioglu is confident the new structure will enable Veon to grasp the \u201ctremendous opportunity\u201d open to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne suit does not fit all,\u201d he added. \u201cOur strategy may involve more partnerships, more curation than developing apps. You will see us on the innovation curve away from basic, boring telco services and to more engaging services focusing on customers\u2019 real needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRather than carving out a proportion of the company and saying this is strategic and the rest is not, we said we have to jointly build this plan and ensure this is not a half-hearted transformation where part of the company expects the failure of the other. Many telcos and many companies fall into this trap. Every person needs to feel there is some digital opportunity and there is a part they need to play in that strategic execution plan.\u201d<\/p>\n[1] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/featured-content\/top-three\/veon-sticks-with-digital-after-earlier-troubles\/
\n[2] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/featured-content\/top-three\/veon-to-shut-down-digital-platform\/
\n[3] https:\/\/www.mobileworldlive.com\/featured-content\/top-three\/former-turkcell-chief-appointed-co-coo-of-veon\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kaan Terzioglu, co-COO of Veon (pictured) vowed to drive the development of digital services in …<\/p>\n
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