Cable & Wireless, Panamá: “LTE will enable new customer experiences that create more complex interactions”

Fortunato Bertello Is Customer Service Executive Director For Cable &Amp; Wireless, Panamá

Fortunato Bertello is customer service executive director for Cable & Wireless, Panamá and is speaking on Day One of the LTE Latin America 2012 conference, taking place on the 17-18 April 2012 at the Windsor Barra Hotel, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. We speak to him about the impact LTE will have on the customer experience and how to educate customers about its benefits.

What are the main milestones you have reached with relation to your LTE deployment?

We now understand the commercial advantages of moving to LTE and the revenue opportunities linked to it. We have identified a network partner and defined our roll-out plans.

What are the main challenges you have faced, or expect to face, as you roll out LTE?

One of the biggest has been identifying the new customer service challenges and commercial opportunities. We have to learn how to translate the new features that LTE brings into revenues opportunities and use them to produce customer service differentiators.

What impact will LTE have on the customer experience?

LTE will enable new customer experiences and will present opportunities for alternative services that will create more complex customer interactions. In this sense, the training process will be crucial, to ensure that the latest and newest information is available for support. Another very important topic is the virtual and self-care channel. They are powerful enablers, which reduce cost and help create a better customer experience.

How do you plan to educate customers on the benefits of LTE over 3G?

According our experience, the crucial point is how well we present and offer the service in term of tangible benefits for customer. Regardless of how the technology works and what it is called, we have to get across what will the new features are, and how it makes it easier to do something. In this sense, we are focused on training our personnel and facilitating access to different customer service channels to be able to show the differences and benefits mentioned.

Is there a place moving forward for unlimited data tariffs? Are they sustainable?

These types of data tariffs are clearly non-sustainable as unlimited consumption will damage the commercial structure of the network.

Is there enough innovation occurring in the mobile network industry? Can you provide some examples?

Innovation in telco market never ends, and we are so far yet to see a stable landscape. New products and services are under deployment, making the customer´s life easier.

What changes would you hope to see in the industry in the next five years?

I would hope to see definitive new solutions from the telecoms industry that contribute to home security, health, corporate efficiency and domestic comfort. These would be services that are important and would always be running on mobile networks.

Why are you attending the LTE Latin America conference and on what topics will you be touching?

I’m attending the LTE Latin America conference to learn more about future applications and new trends. I plan to  speak about Customer Service system management quality and how the new challenges presented by technology such as smartphones, mobile broadband, and social media will  dramatically change the way we interact with our customers.

The LTE Latin America 2012 is taking place on the 17-18 April 2012 at the Windsor Barra Hotel, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Click here to register your interest.