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Lina Vargas Vega – [email protected]
“We are experts in entering the market and changing it dramatically”. This is how Chris Bannister, CEO of Novator Partners, and better known as ‘Uncle Wom’ defines what they will do in the country, after they officially presented the Wom brand yesterday. To achieve this, he said that they will invest heavily, hire a lot, innovate, improve service and lower prices.
Why did they buy Avantel?
We entered Colombia in December, winning the auction and we have been building the organization. Avantel was in reorganization, we started looking at them and felt they would be very helpful. We surround ourselves with them with very good people who will help the organization to look forward. Right now, the organizations are separate, but there is a lot of knowledge that we share.
Yesterday we launched Wom, you can already refer to us as Wom.
What will happen as the Avantel brand?
She will continue to be separated from Wom and we will be monitoring what the consumer wants. During the last weeks Avantel’s performance has been improving, and with that we will see if the two brands work together or if they should remain separate.
How much did they invest in the acquired company?
We cannot give the transaction figures, but I can say that in Colombia we will invest US $ 1 billion and we will employ 2,500 people, which makes us the second most important direct investor at this time. That is key, especially in this situation of the covid-19.
We have already spent US $ 100 million since January when I moved to Bogotá. In addition, we have already hired 1,200 people. I think we are the largest recruiter in Colombia now.
When does the operation really start?
What we are launching is the brand, which is Wom, but the commercial operation is planned for the first or second quarter of next year. The announcement of the brand allows us to start communicating with Colombians, but we will only start the operation when the network is large enough.
Have you already solved the problems you had for the spectrum auction?
We work with all authorities. We hope that it will be resolved quickly and that it will allow PTC (Partners) to give Avantel its capacity so that its clients benefit.
Does Avantel have a good market share?
We are experts in entering the market and changing it dramatically, it is our fourth time. In Poland, for example, we came to compete against three European giants, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone, we invested heavily and, surprise, we are number one. Five years ago we entered Chile to compete with the Latin American giants Claro and Movistar, and today we have 23% of the market.
Avantel entered without experience and they only achieved a couple of percentage points of participation, they failed to bring competition to the market, something in which we are experts: we invest heavily, we hire people, we give a very good service and we lower prices. That is why we are going to be successful, and that is why Claro, Movistar and Tigo are doing everything to slow down our launch and damage our reputation.
How will they pay Avantel’s debts?
It is in reorganization, and part of the agreement is that we will pay all creditors.
What investments will they make in infrastructure?
A very important part of the US $ 1 billion is going to be focused on that. We are going to build 8,000 stations, that will make the network as big as Claro’s. By the end of this year, we will have built 800 points. We believe a lot in Colombia, it is a great country to invest.
How is Colombia compared to other countries?
When we arrived in Latin America five years ago, Chile was the country where cellular telephony was the most expensive. We put in US $ 800 million, we changed the market, we lowered prices and we already have almost a quarter of the share. Next, we look at Colombia: 50 million people with the highest prices in the region. The gigabyte is three times more expensive than in Chile, and 46% of Colombians are dissatisfied with the sector.
That’s where we go to lower prices, provide good service and connect 20 million Colombians who do not have connectivity. Only 10% of the people in rural Colombia have access and they must be connected so that Colombia advances to a digital society.
What will you do to improve connectivity in Colombia?
We have an obligation to connect 674 locations, and by the end of this year we will have covered 300. What you are going to find is that thanks to Wom, the competition will have to invest more as well and will have to improve their service.
Do you hope to be number one?
We want 25% market share, but Colombia is a very concentrated market. With our input, we will all have to fight for users. Yes I want to be number one, but it will be the decision of 50 million Colombians.
What are your expectations for the first year?
Have one or two million customers.
