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Bayantel Public Calling Offices: A Case Study on the Provision of Communications Services to Micro and Small Enterprises in the Philippines


This case study is part of a series of papers that aims to explore the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the development of micro and small enterprises (MSEs). The papers review several business models and assess the extent to which information and communication services have been and can be offered to MSEs in a demand-led and sustainable manner,The Bayantel Public Calling Offices (PCOs) were chosen because they are profitably providing basic telecommunications and related services to low-income people, including MSEs, throughout the Philippines Bayantel's strengths are: * demand led * rationalisation: Bayantel may have increased profits but also has increased attention on market feasibility of PCOs as shown by the process of rationalising criteria for opening a new office * professionalism: enabling Bayantel to increase volume costs effectively and improve the capacity to meet local variances in demand * emphasis on profits: Bayantel has reduced its redundancy in operations across the board and lowered personnel costs * wide outreach: the high volume of transactions maximises economies of scale in the development of systems Yet Bayantel also has weaknesses. It lacks outreach in remote areas and faces threats from substitute products and competing providers, such as pay phones

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