Proximus : Who refuses the small, is not worthy of the great

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07 October 2022| Blog

Who refuses the small, is not worthy of the great

People often ask me what my job in Wholesale is all about. That's because they can't rhyme 'wholesale' with the business of connectivity. In their eyes, wholesale is about selling goods in bulk. But there's only one Proximus network … and it's not something you can see or touch - like grain, oil, or car parts. So, what is it we're selling, then? The answer is both simple and complex.

Jeroen Degadt
Director Carrier & Wholesale
Mijn LinkedIn-profiel

Simply said, we sell large volumes of network capacity to a limited number of 'resellers' of fixed and mobile services. Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO's) for instance, who offer telecom services to their customers without having to invest in building and maintaining their network.

Easy, right? Well, not exactly, since selling network capacity is not like delivering a bulk product like gas!

Different users, different needs

The complexity of our business has everything to do with the customers of our wholesale clients. These end users turn to other brands than Proximus for their fixed or mobile subscription.

Think of a student who just needs plenty of data to message friends and consume content, or people with family abroad who want a suitable tariff plan to stay in touch with their loved ones. Or even a small business looking for an alternative provider for their travelling salespeople. All of them are end users with different usage patterns and needs.

But they do have one thing in common: they are familiar with the convenience of e-commerce, so they want smooth service from the brand they trust - and they want it now.

This means that the challenge for us at Proximus is not just to grant our wholesale clients access to our network, but also to provide these brands with an intelligent interface layer that connects their commercial activities to our network. This allows autonomous customer management in real-time.

Simplification is the ultimate sophistication

I guess you're starting to see what I meant with complexity. For other telco brands relying on our network, a satisfying e-commerce customer journey and user experience start with us. Even if the end users are not our customers.

Imagine that, on behalf of our wholesale clients, we would have to manually flip a switch when one of their customers joins or leaves our network. Or that we would have to intervene for every tariff plan upgrade, 5G activation of address change request or a mover. That would be the very opposite of wholesale.

But guess what: our entire wholesale team goes to great lengths to simplify the experience of every single end user. After all, we're convinced that simplification is the ultimate sophistication. And today we can count on advanced digital services for over 30 wholesale clients who rely on fiber, and about a dozen of MVNO's counting on the Proximus mobile network.

It's the software layer on top of our network that makes the complete unburdening of our wholesale customers possible. Add to that the personal dedication of our people, and delight is in sight.

To me, wholesale, along with digitization, is a key piece in building the best open gigabit network - enabling critical services and unparalleled user experiences. So, whenever someone asks me what large volume wholesale has to do with even the smallest end user, I tend to answer with an adage: "He who despises the little is not worthy of the great".

Interested in this topic?

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• Proximus Carrier & Wholesale Solutions

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