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IN PHOTO: An engineer shows an app on his smartphone providing control over several functions of a Porsche car registered with the app on the Vodafone booth at the CeBIT trade fair in Hanover March 14, 2015. The world's biggest computer and software fair will open to the public from March 16 to 20. REUTERS/Morris Mac Matzen

In order to increase its share in the $4.7 billion small-scale business market, Vodafone Hutchinson Australia is planning to launch mobile phone products with heavy discounts. It has set a goal for itself to make $1 billion a year by 2019 besides providing network services to the corporate customers.

Stuart Kelly, the new enterprise business executive general manager of Vodafone Hutchinson Australia believes that the small-scale businesses have very high growth potential and is expected to cross the $5 billion mark very soon. He is planning to put Vodafone in the small business scale to ensure higher sale and a boost in the overall profit of the Company. Vodafone currently holds six percent share in the small business market, which it wants to increase to 18 percent by the year 2019.

"That's an aggressive number to go after in the market," Mr. Kelly told Fairfax Media. "I think the value of the Australian (small business) market will continue to grow and it will surpass the $5 billion mark (within four years)."

The decision to enter the small to medium scale business will put Vodafone in direct competition with Optus and Telstra, which too sell mobile phone products for small businesses and have a considerable size of share in the $4.7 billion market.

Vodafone Australia has invested about $3 billion in its mobile networks business over the past few years and is now trying to increase its revenue as well as the market share in order to come to terms with the huge investments already made.

Stuart Kelly was previously associated with Optus and has been roped in by Vodafone in order to provide it with a trajectory that will enable Vodafone to secure a stronghold over the corporate telecommunications market. "The amount of people who have stayed loyal with Vodafone over the years is enormous – it's hundreds of thousands of people," he told. "What we need to do is to serve them as they need to be serviced with world-class care to reward them.

Contact the writer on debleenasarkar26@gmail.com.

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