MNO TAKES MULTIBRANDING ONE STEP CLOSER TO PERFECTION IN CONSERVATIVE SWISS MARKET Sunrise Communications AG – a Swiss MNO – really understands the huge potential of the constantly evolving telecom world and the many possible constellations of MVNEs, MVNOs, SPs, ISPs and hybrids in-between. Sunrise is one of three major players on the Swiss market, currently with a 20% market share (2008). It was launched in 1997 and has been ground-breaking in many ways. Currently, Sunrise has 1600 employees and ultimo 2007, more than 2.2 million customers. The Swiss mobile market has developed constantly since liberalisation, but mobile service prices have not dropped as fast as in many other European countries. And since the dynamics of competition have stagnated recently, Switzerland still has by far the highest expenditure on telecommunication services. This is indicated in prices offered by individual providers, and these prices have remained stable for some time. Furthermore, in the Swiss telecommunications market there is a tendency to stay loyal to the well-established brand of the incumbent operator, which consumers already know and feel comfortable with. Mixing only the best Not too long ago, Sunrise was the first operator in Switzerland to launch a mobile discount brand (yallo) and the first MVNO to target the ethnic market (Lebara). Branded resellers and MVNOs became main drivers for growth, especially for prepaid services. Over the years, Sunrise has built up or merged into a strategically well-planned "web" of diversified sub-brands and MVNOs. By diversifying brands like this, Sunrise can fill multiple market positions to maximize its relevance for addressable segments. Sunrise sub-brands currently include ALDI mobile, yallo and Tele2, while among the independent MVNOs are Lebara, TalkTalk mobile, and SYMPAC. And with regard to the future of the Swiss Telco business – as voiced by Sunrise itself – there is no doubt that more MVNOs and sub-brands are going to enter the market. The ingredients of a mobile success... Most of these sub-brands, MVNOs and Sunrise itself, run on Sunrise’s own proprietary CRM/billing platform. But with Lebara and ALDI mobile, Sunrise decided to build up a dedicated platform to operate the multibrand business. As a result, Lebara Mobile runs on and Aldi Mobile utilizes Rator – the far more flexible all-in-one billing and customer care platform from CDRator. So when it was decided to enter the Swiss market using the Rator platform, Lebara was implemented in just three months. Sunrise offered Lebara a full Telco solution, taking complete operational responsibility, thus allowing Lebara pretty much to concentrate on sales and marketing. For ALDI mobile, the use of the Rator platform is limited to operating Sunrise-owned services, while giving Sunrise responsibility for all ALDI mobile processes, including Customer Care (through the Sunrise call centres), enabling of online self-care and refill for end-consumers, and provisioning of new customers for the sales front end.    The imposing Sunrise headquarters in Zürich where the successful multibranding adventure takes place. Dedicated to finding the right recipe The Rator system was selected to support the Sunrise multibrand setup after careful screening of the market and potential suppliers. The purpose was to acquire a flexible multibranding and enabling platform that could serve as an alternative to the Sunrise proprietary platform. Sunrise made several RFQs and after a final round, and a very positive reference from an already satisfied Rator customer, CDRator was the clear winner. With the Rator platform, it became obvious that Sunrise had found the flexible, lean partner they were looking for! In future, Sunrise will implement the Rator platform whenever they need a flexible CRM and billing system for new projects. And everybody in the organisation involved in the Rator project feels confident that they can all run on the current Rator platform. Never afraid to try new flavours and constellations To embark upon a 100% multibrand strategy takes imagination and a deep insight into the many options in multibranding and enabling platforms. It also takes a very good knowledge of systems like Rator to understand in how many ways enabling platforms can actually support different business scenarios, be it a small start-up, an MVNE, an MVNO, or an MNO like Sunrise doing a bit of each. A lesson learned from the Sunrise case is also that integrating Rator with a proprietary platform like Sunrise’s is seamless, causing no problems at all. Furthermore, such integration allows providers to utilize all – or just the best suitable part(s) of – available platforms for any brand. And in this way, it is possible to find and employ the optimal mix of supporting systems and workflows for individual businesses/brands and their needs. And the service is excellent too! Sunrise also say the post-implementation support works perfectly. "Interaction with the support-team is flawless, no problems whatsoever! CDRator’s response time is always fast and development is carried out quickly." And to quote a Sunrise employee – that’s a BIG plus for CDRator! Sunrise project members also stress that communication is easy and direct, and the teams provided by CDRator are knowledgeable, experienced and enthusiastic about the continuous development of the Rator system and how best to utilize its full potential. For information about Sunrise please visit www.sunrise.ch. For more information about CDRator please call +45 7025 1411 or e-mail sales@cdrator.com.