Call for Expression of Interest for the Telecom Commercial Landscape Assessment

BBC Media Action is the international development charity of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), working in over 25 countries across the world. BBC Media Action works in partnership with local media agencies, civil society organizations, and governments to achieve long term development goals. We produce creative media content to Inform and engage audiences, and strengthen the media sector by building professional skills and technical capacity.
 

Call for Expression of Interest for the Telecom Commercial Landscape Assessment

BBC Media Action will begin producing separate content on Pneumonia and Diarrhoea, using radio and, potentially, mobile platforms. As part of the development of the potential mobile platforms, a mobile sector analysis is now being commissioned as a full scoping exercise to look at the feasibility of delivering Pneumonia and Diarrhoea messaging services in Nigeria to low-income care seekers and care givers, 15-49 in the states of Bernie and Kebbi from a mobile technical, commercial and service-design perspective.

The consultant will seek knowledge sharing with the Media Action Bangladesh and Indian teams given their prior experience and successes with mobile telephony projects; as well as with the Afghan and Nigeria teams given their recent mobile scoping studies.

The consultancy will involve desk research and face-to-face interviews with key industry players in Nigeria. The consultant will be responsible for identifying who they should interview and for setting up interviews (although logistical support will be provided by BBC Media Action’s team in Nigeria).

Scope of Work

The objectives for this formative work on a telephony component would be:

• Assessment of the feasibility of delivering pneumonia and diarrhoea education and calls to action at affordable tariffs using appropriate technology to low-income, 15-49 mobile users in urban and rural areas of Benue and Kebbi, including illiterate and low-literacy people.
• Articulation of a clear benefits case for using mobile phones to deliver pneumonia and diarrhoea education and calls to action in Nigeria

Assessment of number and type of players in the mobile VAS industry in Nigeria, including:

• Operators: market share, strengths and weakness of each operator, network type, coverage and quality, and any concerns about financial viability
• Aggregators/mobile platform providers: how many operators each is integrated with and what kind of integration they have; product range, strengths and weaknesses
• Content providers; number of content providers in the market; whether content is developed in- house or outsourced; type and quality of content; their relationships with the operators (revenue share models etc)

Assessment of existing mobile VAS infrastructure and capability in Nigeria, including:

• What VAS is available and how reliable are the services?
• Short codes -do any pan-operator short codes exist in Nigeria? And can derivatives of short codes be configured to XX digits?
• Voice Service Delivery Platforms
• Out Bound Delivery (OBD) systems
• Content management, reporting and billing systems

Assessment of existing billing models, pricing structures and revenue share models and marketing responsibility:

• Standard tariff per minute (or pulse?) for peer-to-peer voice and SMS, inbound and outbound IVRs?
• What is the standard data tariff (and packages available)?
• What kind of typical pricing structures exist for VAS services at what costs?
• What revenue share models and splits exist between the mobile operators, aggregators/mobile platform providers and content providers?
• Who typically promotes VAS and how?
• If BBC Media Action wanted to contract an aggregator to deliver mobile services as a fully managed service—what would the likely capacity rental and support charges be?
• What toll free services exist?

Assessment of existing mobile subscribers:

• Who uses VAS in Nigeria (i.e. is it primarily male/female, urban/rural, what age group) and do operators have any idea of who is using their services — i.e. do they have different segments they target?
• What is the average ARPU in Nigeria? What is the high and what is the low?
• What is the average expenditure on VAS as opposed to peer-to-peer usage (i.e. what percentage of monthly ARPU is spent on VAS)?
• Do the operators use IVR for their customer care lines? if yes, what percentage of customers use these?

Based on all of the above information, provide comprehensive recommendations on the overall feasibility of using mobile phones as one part of a programme to deliver pneumonia and diarrhoea education and calls to action in Nigeria:

• Which technology/technologies should be used?
• What should the tariff/s be and much of a reduction to the standard IVR tariff would this affordable tariff represent?
• Would it be possible to negotiate a toll-free service with telecoms companies, and if so how?
• Would it be possible to negotiate a revenue share with the operators, in addition to a reduced tariff?
• Will it be possible to get a common tariff and short code across all operators? If not what are The options for a long code number or other alternatives?
• What is the take up amongst the project’s target audiences likely to be if an appropriate technology and an affordable tariff are used?
• Should the services be delivered via an aggregator or directly through individual mobile operators (what are the pros and cons)?
• If it makes sense to work with an aggregator-what financial model should be adopted?
• What are the costs incurred by BBC Media Action in delivering one in-bound IVR,

The applicants need to also provide an indicative Quotation for the stated work. The method which will be used to arrive at the final quotation is as under:

• Total period of contract will be 6 weeks (inclusive of weekly holidays)
• The applicable per day rate will be levied only for Working days in a week and not on weekly holidays
• Local travel, appropriate accommodation will be provided/paid for by BBC Media Action Nigeria in most cases. In the case of this not being provided directly by BBC Media Action Nigeria, then the selected candidate will be reimbursed as per BBC Media Action policies.

Closing date: 13th February, 2014
 

Method of application:
Interested candidates should please send in their application/cover letter with an introduction and capability statement stating how their experience, skills, qualifications fit with the required deliverables, a detailed CV (word document please) with names and addresses of at least 2 professional referees (including their telephone and email addresses) before the closing date to: hrnigeria@bbcmediaaction.org Or with the role applied for clearly stated on the application cover letter.

Note:
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.