Country snapshot : Hungary

Birthplace of our industry’s industrious globetrotting photographer ‘FUBAR’ JFK, Hungary came to be regarded as one of the most prosperous emerging European countries after the fall of communism back in 1989.

Indeed, my initial reaction after having visited it for the first time was that I was experiencing a dose of Übercapatalism, with well-known Brands competing for attention in the newly built shopping temples that would put many in richer countries to shame, together with casinos in practically every neighbourhood. I recall thinking that Lenin must me turning in his grave.

However, it would appear that Hungary’s fall in light of the global credit crisis has been just as swift as its rise, and it recently became the first European Union country to finalise an emergency rescue by securing $25 billion from the International Monetary Fund to avoid it going bankrupt.

Hungary has a population of about 10 million people, 42% of which have access to the internet at this time.

Pre-credit crunch, Hungary had the fifth largest payment card market in Central and Eastern Europe in terms of cards in issued. However, both the issue and use of credit cards are expected to slow down considerably this new era of austerity, making phone billing practically the only viable billing mechanism if you are to continue making money from such countries.

Indeed, Hungary was one of the first ex-communist countries to liberalise its telecoms sector and introduce pay-per-minute and pay-per-call premium rate phone billing, with rates to up to FL720 per minute/call billable. That’s about US$3.57 as I write, but this figure will probably decrease as the value of the Forint continues to tumble.

We serve the less expensive FL288/Min numbers to Pay-per-minute Hungarian surfers, and FL 432/Min. ones to all pay-per-access customers, all in their native language of Hungarian - considered to be one of the most difficult languages for speakers of English to learn well.

Hungary was one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world in the past decade, with its capital Budapest widely regarded as one of the most beautiful in the world. And as any red-blooded male who has visited there can testify, its women are not too shabby either!

The countless models in Budapest’s numerous sex-clubs bear witness to this, with a red-light area to rival that of Amsterdam. Sex sells, and Budapest knows it.
Another thing that struck me whilst I was there last time was the amount of couples openly kissing one another. Sign of a wonderful place I thought, and look forward to one day returning to this amorous country.

Country snapshot : Iceland

Seeking inspiration for the next country to cover as part of my range of country 'snapshots' was not too difficult. As Iceland's banking sector implodes, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has undiplomatically condemned the handling of the collapse of its banks and its failure to guarantee British savers' deposits; blaming the Government and describing it as "effectively illegal."

Furthermore, it has emerged that over a hundred U.K. local councils had more than £800m deposited in Icelandic bank accounts. Harsh words. Large numbers. Extraordinary times.

Iceland boasts the world's highest Internet penetration rate, which stands at an astonishing 84.8 percent of its population of just 300,000 people; thus confirming what we had long all suspected — hostile climates are great for our business!

Being located between North America and Europe, I have flown over Iceland several times, but have never had the opportunity to visit it. I was therefore delighted to learn a couple of years back that a webmaster gathering was to take place there, and so I made arrangements accordingly.

Turns out that a rape victim's help group learnt of our industry's forthcoming jaunt; and not only branded pornography as demeaning to women, but also likened us to drug traffickers and child molesters. Charming. Especially when one considers that (most) porn actually celebrates all women, unlike mainstream media, which does not.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the convention and its opponents made headline news in such a tiny country. This put pressure on Reykjavik's mayor to do something about it. This, in turn, lead to the Radisson Hotel Group cancelling our rooms and therefore the event — demonstrating breathtaking double standards and hypocrisy when one considers the money that they make from pay-per-view porn in their hotel rooms throughout the world — including in Iceland.

At this juncture of my snapshot, I would normally research what the credit card penetration levels are in their banking system. However, given that they no longer have one, this renders that particular statistic irrelevant anyway.

On a more positive note, their telecoms infrastructure is still alive and well — so if you want to start making money from these Internet obsessed people, then phone billing is no longer an option — it is a necessity.

Country snapshot : Spain

Since Spain is my current home, I write this particular country snapshot outlining its Internet and telecoms characteristics with a degree of practical experience.

Specifically, I live in the middle of nowhere; on a vacation island called Tenerife off the northern coast of Africa, which is actually 1600km away from mainland Spain, but administered by it.

Upon arrival here five years ago, I had no other alternative than to approach the state incumbent Telefonica for my Internet connection, which never arrived.

After eight months of waiting, we moved to another part of the island where it was installed the next day; reflecting a trend that I have noticed: service here tends to be either top-notch, or miserable — alas often the latter.

About 25 million Spaniards have access to the Internet at this time; some 63 percent of its 40 million strong population — and the web therefore features in most households.

However, as I have learnt the hard way, most Spanish people do not speak English; and why should they? It stands to reason therefore that if you are to start making more money from Spain, you should start communicating with them in their native language.

Doing so will help convert not only traffic from Spain itself, but also from the 20 predominately Latin American countries that speak Spanish as their primary language, not to mention the vast Hispanic market within the U.S. itself. It is estimated that there are approximately 500 million Spanish speakers worldwide, making it the third most spoken language after English and Chinese.

Remember though that card penetration in most of these countries is still relatively poor, so phone billing is a prerequisite if you are to start making money from these emerging markets.

As for Spain proper, whilst card usage here is more commonplace, the Spanish like the anonymity and convenience of paying you via a device that practically all of them have access to — the phone.

Despite being a Catholic country, Spain retains an overall tolerance to porn and remains the headquarters of one of adult's best known hardcore brands: Private. Born in the same year that I was way back in 1965, their magazine acted as the catalyst for my subsequent lifelong appreciation of hardcore erotica, and is still available at Spanish newsstands to this day.

As for being online, Spain has caught up with the rest of Europe and the surge in Internet usage whilst being based here has been noticeable; with the local PC store often being the busiest in town.

As Spain enters into a period of pronounced economic uncertainty, more Spanish people will be staying at home this winter to entertain themselves by checking out your web offerings.

Thankfully, a picture really does say more than a thousand words, but if you want to convert a curious Spanish surfer into a paying one, remember to do so en Español.

Country snapshot : Poland

When Poland first joined the European Union in 2004, many workers there left to work in other EU countries — particularly the UK — because of high unemployment; which was the second-highest Europe at that time.

However, with the advent of the credit-crunch overseas and rapid growth of the salaries and booming economy 'back home,' the exodus of Polish workers seems to be over: thus far in 2008, people who came back to Poland outnumbered those leaving the country.

The Poles have a justified reputation for working hard and demonstrate a keenness of spirit which seems to be sorely lacking in the U.K. and elsewhere.

Poland has a population of 38.5m, some 14m of which — or 36 percent — have access to the Internet at this time. Whilst the percentage of Polish Internet users is still lower than in Western Europe, it is growing at a fast and consistent rate.

Furthermore, the Polish payment card market is small but growing quickly. However, Polish consumers tend to primarily use their payment cards as cash acquisition tools, rather than for paying for goods and services directly at a POS terminal or over the Internet.

This might help explain the popularity of Password by Phone's phone billing solution, which communicates with these surfers in their native language of Polish — and because Poland has its own domestic pay-per-call infrastructure, payouts from there are higher than from most other countries.

Poland is considered to have one of the healthiest economies of the post-communist countries. Since the fall of communism, Poland has steadfastly pursued a policy of liberalising the economy and today stands out as a successful example of the transition from a state directed economy to a privately owned market economy.

To capitalize on this growth, you should include marketing to Poland as part of your globalization strategy.

Country snapshot : Belgium

guess the catalyst for this particular country snapshot was a rather unflattering thread that was recently posted on GFY entitled: What the hell is the point of Belgium?

As I write, the thread itself has drawn no conclusions, but instead had several references to chocolate, beer, waffles and Jean Claude Van Damme. Thus far, no-one has pointed out that Belgium is in fact a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters in its capital city of Brussels; as well as those of other major international organisations, including NATO.

Not that this instils any patriotism. I vaguely recall in a survey conducted a while back that something like seven out of ten Belgian youth wished they were a different nationality. And after having driven through it on countless occasions, I can concur: Belgium does seem to be spectacularly unspectacular. But, hey, it's not all bad: it's the only country in the world to have a fully lit freeway road network at night.

Belgium has a population of some 10.5m people; just over half of which have access to the Internet at this time.

Since the country is bilingual, you will need to communicate with these surfers in two languages, not just one, if Belgium is to be features as part of your globalization strategy.

Belgium's two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north, with just over half of the population; and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels region, although officially bilingual, is mostly French-speaking.

With this in mind, Password by Phone serves both French and Dutch language texts to Belgium surfers and as with all countries, offers a 'revert to English' feature to capture any expatriates or businessmen visiting there.

Phone billing remains a popular way for Belgians to pay for web content, thanks in large part to the ease, convenience and anonymity of this "buy now, pay later" payment method.

As for credit and debit cards, the adoption of Maestro in Belgium is expected to increase transaction opportunities within Belgium for both consumers and merchants. Two operators, Visa and MasterCard (under the Maestro brand), continue to account for the majority of transactions across all sectors of the industry.

The number of financial cards has increased tremendously over the past two to three years in Belgium, reaching an all-time high in 2007. As most credit and debit cards are directly linked to a bank account, the major financial institutions benefit from the acquisition fees on all transactions; and these cards have become a prosperous revenue stream for the banking industry.

By offering both telephone and debit card billing in Dutch and en français you will be able to maximise your revenues from this small but relatively rich country.