“We want to position Belgacom-Telindus-Tango as a new player in the market which combines a telecoms offer with an ICT offer for enterprises,” says Gérard Hoffmann, Chairman & Managing Director of Telindus in Luxembourg. “We want to look at end-to-end solutions as an operator in Luxembourg, in both ICT and mobile, from a strong position”. The development is a significant one: while Telindus have had a strong ICT presence in the corporate environment for several years, it is, to a certain extent, new ground for Tango, which was only acquired by Belgacom from Swedish Telecommunications group Tele2 in June 2008. However, as Hoffmann points out, Tango is not going to be firing any shots in the dark as the “commercial teams have been merged for the enterprise market. We now have one single team covering the B2B market for sales”. On the surface, the two companies are keeping their identities separate, but behind the scenes there is a definite coming-together in strategy as Tango benefits from the business to business sales experience possessed by Telindus. Hoffmann himself has been appointed an executive director of Tango, enabling that company to divide its residential and commercial enterprises into two more separate variables. Of Tango’s commercial strategy, but also that of Telindus-Tango as a whole, Hoffmann highlights three key strategies and areas of consideration for expansion: “our plans to expand have been structured into three parameters. The first is to develop the new position in the market. The second is how we organise and the third is to try to develop a lot more cross-border business: we have a presence in several European countries, but we will be running some operations for the entire group out of Luxembourg. The remote operating centre platform will be here”.

Welterweight build, heavyweight punch

“Our value added is the integration of a complete offer, with an international flavour,” insists Hoffmann, when asked what sets the Telindus-Tango partnership apart from the competition. He stresses the difference between global operators, such as Verizon and BT, and national ones, such as P&TLuxembourg. “We fill a niche between such operators as a regional provider with a presence in neighbouring countries, and 80% of our business is with those neighbouring countries: Belgium, France... There is no other regional operator like us in Luxembourg”. This seems like a strategic fit on a macro level, but what about on a client by client basis? Christian Haux, head of the combined sales team for corporate fixed-line, mobile and ICT solutions says “At this moment, we are capable of providing each client with the infrastructure they need and telecommunication support, be it fixed or mobile”. But the company is not stopping there. Haux further highlights that the position they occupy in the marketplace enables them to offer services “at a medium scale that were previously only available at the large scale. And we can offer these large scale services to medium scale companies. No one else can do that. Before, global operators could offer these services to a global clientele.”

While they do not own their own fixed-line infrastructure in this country, they do possess mobile, and that is where the future is, according to Hoffmann. Trends in nations with highly developed ICT sectors corroborate his claim that “the world is going mobile” and while fixed-line is unlikely to be redundant any time soon, mobile is where the next big strides are being taken on both a product and provision level. Telindus-Tango are in a good position to take advantage of this. At present, however, it seems that what they can offer clients in terms of efficiency and cost-saving will be vital: that Telindus-Tango together are opening doors to mid-scale companies to adopt large scale technologies is their unique selling point. No other provider who can offer the services they can would target the same client base. Boundaries are being broken down both in terms of the ICT industry and the potential opportunities for Luxembourg’s businesses. Competition will arise, but Telindus-Tango have a right to feel bullish about their commercial opportunities. As things stand, they stand alone.