OMT: Growing up with Our Clients

Outremer Telecom (OMT) is the leading alterative telco in France's overseas departments and regions. It has a presence in Martinique, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Réunion, and Mayotte. OMT has been cooperating with ZTE since 2006 to provide fixed line, mobile, and Internet services to residential and business customers in these territories. Together, the two companies have built 2G and 3G networks in the Caribbean and on islands in the Indian Ocean. In a recent interview, Gregory Burlinchon, chief technical officer of OMT, talked about the telecommunications environment in France, challenges for OMT, and his expectation for future cooperation between OMT and ZTE.

Q: Can you introduce your company and its business?

A: Outremer Telecom was founded in 1986 and has since established itself in the French overseas departments and regions. We are the leading alterative telecom operator in these regions and can offer fixed line, mobile and Internet services for residential and business customers.

Capitalizing on the success of our offers in the French West Indies and French Guiana, OMT introduced its mobile activities to Mayotte at the end of 2006. Fixed telephone and Internet services were provided in February 2007, and mobile services were offered in Réunion in April 2007.

OMT seeks to reinforce its position as the leading alternative operator in the overseas departments by significantly expanding its Internet and mobile subscriber base. We also plan to bring together our offers and provide innovative services by evolving our networks.

Q: Could you tell us something about the telecommunications environment in France and in the French regions? What are the challenges for OMT?

A: In France, telecommunication markets are owned by groups such as Orange and Vodafone with an international dimension. National operators such as Orange and SFR are also present in the French regions. SFR provides services in La Réunion, and Orange provides services both in the Caribbean and Indian Ocean islands. Local operators mainly offer ADSL.

The challenge for OMT lies in its ability to continuously propose offers that are innovative and competitively priced.

Q: In the face of fierce competition, how does OMT differentiate itself in the overseas regions of France? What is the key to OMT's sustainable growth and development?

A: OMT has developed its own telecommunication and distribution network and has a marketing strategy for innovative communication. This allows us to assume an aggressive challenger position in markets with strong growth. The company relies on its unique “ONLY” brand, which is now well-known in all overseas regions. The brand conveys a modern image of quality and proximity.

OMT continues to invest in the latest-generation technologies. OMT's team has depth. This allows us to adapt our offers to subscriber needs much more rapidly than our competitors can do.

Q: What is important in a successful business model? Does OMT have an innovative business model?

A: High reactivity and an attacking spirit allow OMT to efficiently compete against other operators. We have recently revised our commercial offers for mobile and fixed lines. This change has only occurred within the last three months and has allowed us to offer innovative services such as unlimited voice, SMS, and data to our subscribers.

Q: OMT has been cooperating with ZTE since 2006. OMT and ZTE have jointly built 2G and 3G networks in the Caribbean and on islands in the Indian Ocean. Why did OMT choose ZTE as a partner?

A: OMT has chosen ZTE for many reasons. First, ZTE provides carrier-grade technologies that are comparable to solutions proposed by Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei, and NSN. Second, ZTE can provide solutions that are well-suited to the size of our territories. Finally, ZTE fits in with our high-reactivity philosophy and can rapidly deliver projects. ZTE can organize and re-organize a project according to OMT’s constraints.

Q: After almost six years of cooperation, what's your view of ZTE and its project team?

A: ZTE has been able to fill a gap with its main competitors in the areas of radio access and core network. Progress is still expected in value-added services. In terms of after-sales support, ZTE is quite reactive when it comes to fixing major incidents on our networks, but progress is still expected in documentation and validation. This will enhance the reliability of provided solutions.

Q: ZTE helped OMT swap its networks in Martinique, Guadeloupe and Guiana. What were the difficulties of swapping networks in these locations? What impressed you about the project? How are the networks running now?

A: The main difficulty in these swapovers was to avoid affecting our subscribers and to complete the swapovers in an extremely short timeframe (less than six months). This challenge was successful for both project teams. After the swapovers, the enhanced service quality met our expectations. OMT needs to keep working with ZTE for better performance.

Q: What do you think about the upcoming LTE and FTTX deployments in France?

A: In the short term, there are no obvious projects on the horizon in France’s overseas regions and departments. Unlike metropolitan France, FTTH projects in the overseas departments are really in their early stages, mainly for financing reasons.

Q: What's your expectation for future cooperation between OMT and ZTE?

A: OMT and ZTE teams have to work closely for permanently enhancing the quality of service delivered to our subscribers. Quality of the network also needs to be greatly improved. In the coming years, programs for 3G diversification are going to continue and will require strong reactivity from ZTE so that ZTE delivers services in the shortest possible time. We are seeking reinforced cooperation to develop innovative services based on the latest ZSmart and PCRF platforms that have been acquired by OMT. We also expect ZTE's product lines to play a prominent role in allowing OMT to become a leader in value-added services.