Pakistan Telecom Report 2008

8/9/2019 Pakistan Telecom Report 2008

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PAKISTANTELECOMREPORT2008By Khurram Noon

[email protected]

Recessionisbecomingmorethreateninggraduallyandseemssettoswallowtheeconomiesof

the World. Banks, MNCs and many other industries are watching their inevitable fatality;

companies are cuttingjobs, resulting in high unemployment rates, lower buying power and

resultinglossoffinancialcycle.Thispresentdayrecessionismereactoftimeasitwasboundto

come,almostpredicted,andaswearerelyingoninterestbasedsystemtofinanceoureconomy

andindustryandalsothebuyertobuythesameproduct,actualmoneyseemstobehiddenin

eithermuseumsorcentralreservesbank.ThishappenedatthetimeofGreatDepressionand

thistimelooksnodifferent.

Thisoutcome

is

even

fierce

for

our

great

country,

and

the

matter

of

fact

can

be

worse

than

any

other country because problem is not thejust interest based capitalism but also the corrupt

politicians;American,JewandHindufunded IslamicJihadistsandaseculargroupofsocalled

intellectuals.ItseemsthatthePakistaneconomywillhavetopassthroughthedifficultyear(s).

Theeconomyregisteredgrowthrateof5.8%thisyearasagainstthetargetof7.2%.RealGDPis

as low as 4.2 percent from 6% last year. Government figures of inflation reached at 25.3%,

thoughtherealityismuchworse.Morethan30%ofpeoplearelivingunderthepovertyline.

The FDI in the telecom sector has dropped by 21 per cent this year. According to the third

quarterly report of the PTA, the total FDI in the sector was $1,824.3 million in 2007 which

dropped

to

$1,438.6

million

in

2008.

Onaverage2.3millionsubscriberswereaddedeverymonthduring200607.Butatpresent,the

cellularsubscriberbaseisclosingamaturitystage,thoughthegrowthrateswillcontinuetobe

inthedoubledigits.AccordingtoPTA,thecellularsubscriptionhasdeclinedby69%YOYinSept

2008.Thegovernmenthasstoppedgrantinglicensestocellularoperators,andthisdecisionhas

hadasignificantmonopolisticimpactontheoverallperformanceoftheexistingtelecomsector.

The existing players may experience high growth opportunities as the number of players are

putonhold.

This may trigger major investments from key players, such as Orascom Mobilink, who has

investedin

excess

of

US$2.5

billion

in

its

continuing

network

expansion

program.

This

includes

stateoftheart technology deployed via its own nationwide opticfiber spread and a robust

infrastructure of sales and customer services. Warid plans to invest USD 500mn in cellular

business, whereas Wateen has recently emerged as the largest wireless player and has

launcheditsWiMAXservices.

Thegrowthrateofcellularsubscriberswasrobustbutafterwardsthedownwardtrendstarts


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and continues till date, the main reasons behind are slumping economy coupled with

Governmentalpolicies.Government ischargingtaxesfromcellularsubscribersmorethanany

country in this region. Phone subscribers are paying Rs 33.10 as government tax on Rs 100

scratchcardwhile inIndiaitisRs12.24,inBangladeshRs15,SriLankaRs17.50andNepalRs

23. The cellular companies operating in Pakistan have witnessed eight to nine per cent

reductionin

usage

of

mobile

phone

owing

to

increased

taxation

to

21%

on

telecom

services

aftertheannouncementinbudget200809.

AnotherhurdleisthecrackdownagainstunregisteredSIMs,asmanyaseightmillionSIMshave

beenblocked

*Instaphone

Data

Apr

08

Mobilink Ufone Zong Instaphone Telenor Warid TotalGrowth

Rate%

June200832,032,36318,100,4403,950,758 351,135 18,125,189 15,489,85888,019,812 39.4

Dec2008 28,479,60019,301,1805,503,274 321,134 19,387,956 16,914,05489,907,198 0.6

Mobilinkhadlost3.5millionsubscribersinthisperiodandgoingdownto32%ofmarketshare

from more than 36%.Zong added 1.5 million users showing highest growth in terms of

subscribers.Telenorincreased1.25millionsubscribersandmanagedtograbsecondslot.Even

Warid Telecom, in their time of crises, added 1.42 million. Having spent humongous ATL

budgets, Ufone managed to capture approx 1.2 million subscribers. Noteworthy, the growth

ratewas119percentduring2000to2007.

Cellular mobile numbersnow of eight digitsas PTA has announcedshifting of numbers from

seventoeightdigits.Thedialingcodesofallmobilecompanieshavealsobeenchangedfrom

fourdigits

to

three

digits;

(i.e.

0333

51xxxxx

would

now

be

033

351xxxxx).

Thecontributionoftelecommunicationsectorinnationaltaxrevenuegenerationisexpectedto

increasebetween30to35percentforthefiscalyear200809,owingtothecontinuousgrowth

insectorandincreasesintaxes.

WhilecellularcompanieswerebusyinexpandingtheirInfrastructure,ZTEandCMPakentered

intoaUSD100millionbasestationdeal.Ufoneaddedthehighestnumberofcellsites:1,827.

Next was Mobilink which added 1,817 cell sites, taking its total sites to 7,339, the highest

numberamongalloperators.DetailofcellsitesinPakistanbyoperator:

200304 200405 200506 200607 200708

Mobilink 1,164 2,392 3,935 5,522 7,339

Ufone 327 808 1,094 1,644 3,471

Telenor 403 1,738 3,255 5,017

Warid 505 855 1,930 3,152

CMPAK 248 218 872 1,163 2,328

Total 1,739 4,326 8,492 13,514 21,317

Note:Instaphoneisnotincluded


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SMShasbecomeoneofthemostprofitableservices,theusageboostbyover200%inPakistan.

ReportissuedbyPTAshowsthatover2.5billionSMSsweresentin2008.

PTAreceived4500complaintsagainst5cellularcompaniesin3years,andfineofRs.60million

was imposed against Telenor while other mobile phone companies were directed to further

improvetheirservices.1112complaintswerereceivedagainstUFone,793againstWarid,648

againstTelenorwhile464complaintswerereceivedagainstChinaMobileCompany.

Thesaleofmobilehandsetshasdeclined.Importsshoweda21percentdipinFeb,2008alone,

withtheaccumulatedplungeof68.5percentinsecondhalfoftheyear.CustomsdutyofRs500

perimportedmobilephoneandweakeningrupeevaluesagainstthedollarhasledtoarisein

the price ofmobilehandsets. While the price ofan ordinaryhandset increasedby Rs250 to

500.

Fixed line phones are declining very rapidly. Only PTCL is losing its customers mainly due to

theirQOS,restisshowinggraphupward.PTCLhaslostmorethan14percentor7millionfixed
http://telecompk.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/price-sementation1.jpg


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linecustomersinaspanoftwoyears.Currentfixedlinedensityis2.7%from3.39%in2006.

FixedLineSubscribers

PTCL NTCBrain

Limited

World

Call

Union

Communication

Naya

Tel

Total

2006 5,128,442 92,163 5,880 13,327 200 5,240,012

2007 4,676,204 99,665 6,089 10,748 2,500 11,000 4,806,206

2008 4,405,161 103,059 7,376 11,347 3,500 16,000 4,546,443

SCOFixedLineSubscribersforJune2008are101,168

PTA has directed all Long Distance & International (LDI) operators to maintain approved

settlementratesforinternationalcallsattheleveldeterminedbytheAuthorityanddecidedto

issueshowcausenoticestotheLDIoperatorsinvolvedinillegalcallterminations.

WirelessLocalLoopsubscribersbasehaswidenedby22percentinthecountryduring200708.

PTAreportedthatthenumberofWLLsubscribershas increasedto2.34million in2008 from1.02millionin2006,addingaround658,828subscribersinayear.WirelessLocalLoop(WLL)is

growingatarateofabout100percentperyear,PTCLcoversover11,500cities,towns,and

villages.Itisexpectedthatbythemid2009theWLLoperatorswillbeabletoprovidecoverage

inallmajorcitiesofthecountry.

WirelessLocalLoopSubscribers

Year PTCL TeleCardWorld

Call

Great

Bear

Burraq Wateen MytelLink

Direct

Total

2006 661,532 229,292 115,637 21,407 1,027,868

2007 1,128,272 396,873 273,616 51,311 1,850,234

2008 1,133,462 571,022 551,189 44,821 400 39,310 138 5,183 2,345,525

SCOWLLfiguresforSep2008are40,782

PTA issued 23 licenses to 14 telecom operators for providing fixed line as well as other

telecommunicationservicesinAzadKashmir(AJK)andNorthernAreas.FiveWLLlicenseshave

giventofollowingcompanies:

o PTCLTR1Mirpurfor10MilPKRo

PTCL

TR2

Muzzafarabad

for

4

Mil

PKR

o PTCLTR3NAfor4MilPKRo WATEENTR2Muzzafarabadfor4MilPKRo WATEENTR3NAfor4MilPKR

Mixnewsabout3G licensehauntedmostofthecellularcompaniesthroughouttheyear.The

datesfrommidtoendofyearkeptonchangingandnowitseemsthattheywillnotbeableto


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auctionthis license in2009aswell,politicalandeconomicconditionsonceagainbeingmajor

contributors.

PakistanisrankedfourthintermsofbroadbandInternetgrowthintheworld,asthesubscriber

baseofbroadband Internethas increased rapidlywiththetotalbasecrossing170,000 in the

country.Broadband

penetrates

at

a

briskpace

in

metropolitan

cities,

growing

at

the

rate

of

181.2percent.

PTCLwitha35percentshare isthe leader inbroadbandmarket,added IPTV intheirrangeof

services.OthernotableplayersareWateenwith17percent;Worldcallenjoys14percentofthe

totalandLinkdotnetholding9percent.

Wireless broadband is trying to grab the market. Wateen launched her wireless broadband

services using WiMAX technology on December 16, 2007, this year Mobilink soft launch

wireless

broadband

with

same

technology

in

July

2008,

and

commercial

Launch

on

21

st

October,2008withthebrandnameMobilinkInfinityinKarachi.Worldcallstartedsoftlaunchof

wirelessbroadbandinthemonthofAugust,2008usingEVDOtechnologyinKarachi.PTCLisin

soft launch phase in EVDO as well. Many other players are also planning to enter into the

market,witribePakistanlimited(asubsidiaryofQatarTelecom)andTelecard(Augere)willbe

inthewirelessbroadbandmarketthisyear.DiallogobtainslicenseandplansforEVDO.

Finally laptops take command as the sale ratio of desktop and laptop is 65 percent and 35

percentrespectively.Ontheotherhanddueto levyofsalestaxoncomputers inthe200607

budget,thetotalimportofPCsandserversinthecountrywas630,000units,whichdroppedto

149,000unitsattheendof2007,thusregisteringadeclineof40percent.

AcerComputer

with

amarket

share

of

6.6

percent,

have

been

very

well

received

in

Pakistan.

Acer'syearonyeargrowthfornotebooksforQ3of2007was335.1percent.

Pakistan ranks 62 in the world in the 2008 Information Technology (IT) industry

competitiveness index, falling two places; from its 2007 ranking of 60 in the index. In

comparison,Indiaranked48th,SriLankaranked54thandBangladeshranked60th.


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7/17

Thegovernmenthasplannedtopresentaconsolidatedtelecompolicy inearly2009,thetwo

policiesof telecomsectornamely,mobileand fixed linewouldexpire thisyearand the third

telecompolicyrelatingtoBroadbandwouldexpirein2009.

Letsseewhattelecomcompaniesweredoingthroughouttheyear:

Reduction in market share, highest churn rate ever turns 2008 a rough year for Mobilink as

well.This

is

also

been

said

that

Orascom

is

waiting

aright

customer

to

sell

Mobilink

in

right

price.OrascomreplacesMr.Zohair(onceakingwithoutcrown)withMr.Rashidkhan.Mobilink

earned$378.9millioninconsolidatedEBITDA,alossof5%from$398.3millionintheyearago

quarter. Overall Orascom Telecom reported net income in the second quarter dropped 64

percentto$80.8million,comparedwiththe firstquarteroftheyear, its firstquarterlyprofit

declinesince2007.

Mobilink iscurrentlydeployingavery large,8,500kmfiberopticnetwork inPakistan(already

morethan6,500kmhasbeencovered),whichwillactasthebackboneforitstrafficbytheend

of2008.Mobilinkhasalreadyinvestedabout$2.5BNintelecominfrastructuredevelopmentin

Pakistanand

is

poised

to

spend

another

$500M

this

year.

MobilinkhaslaunchedwirelessbroadbandonWiMAXtechnologyfromthefirstofJuly,2008in

Karachi,withthebrandnameMobilinkInfinity.TheserviceiscurrentlyavailableonlyinKarachi

andmorethan4,000peopleswitchedtothisservice.Therearetechnicalaswellascustomer

servicerelatedissuesandtheserviceneedsimprovement.


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MobilinkInfinityseemstobethestepchildofOrascom,asithasrefusedtoreleaseanymore

fundsfortheMobilinkInfinityexpansioninthenorthandcentralregionsofPakistan.Nomajor

activity isnoticed except fewBTL activities inKarachi.Rumorhas it that theBroadband Unit

within Mobilink looking after WiMAX might be scrapped. The part of the Broadband Unit

lookingafterthelonghaulnetwork(DWDM,NextGenerationSDHetc)willsurvive.

Theproductsandservicestheyareworkingonandwillbeofferingsoonare:

1. Onlinegamingservice(Iwonderhowtheyaregoingtoputupsomanyservers)2. IPVideoSurveillance3. IPTV4. VASPortal(withmusic,moviesandstuff)5. VideoTelephony

Theirsales team is already trying to persuade variousgaming cafes inLahoreandKarachi to

come on board with them exclusively as they will be launching their Online Gaming Service

soon.

Tariffsareasfollows:

DATA(PKR)

256Kbps 512Kbps 1Mbps

15GB 1,000 1,200 1500

5GB 450 700 900

AdditionaldataratewillbeRs.30per100MB.Fairusagepolicyapplies.

UPFRONTCOST(PKR)

5GB 15GB

CustomerPremises

Equipment

(CPE)

3,500

3,500

SecurityDeposit(Refundable) 2,000 2,500

NowwewillseewhatMobilinkdid,andisdoingduringwholeyear.

Mobilinkhascrossedthefiguresofcoveringover10,000locationsacrossthecountry Standard & Poors Ratings Services said that it had lowered its longterm corporate

ratingonPakistanMobileCommunicationsLtdtoBfromB+

Mobilinkunveilsinflightmobilephoneservice Mobilink

would

help

the

Ministry

of

Health

in

enhancing

the

mobility

and

communicationneedsofLadyHealthWorkers(LHWs)inruralareas

MobilinktorepresentPakistanattheUnitedNationsGlobalCompact(UNGC)platform TheCompetitionCommissionofPakistan(CCP)hassaidthatMobilink is involved inan

unreasonablyrestrictivetradepractice,prohibitedundertheprovisionsofMRTPO,1970

bynotallowingitsblackberrysubscriberstootherserviceproviders.


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Mobilinkhaslaunched'MobilinkGenie;thefirsttostartmobilecommerceinPakistan.Thisservicehasbeen introducedwiththecollaborationof Inov8,CitiBank,KASB,Atlas

BankandAdamjeeInsurance.

Mobilink will equip 160 APIS systems at 30 railway stations nationwide which willdisplaythearrivalanddeparturetimingsofalltrainsincludingthestatus.

2008 was one of the worst years in the history of PTCL. PTCL has been losing its fixed line

subscribers,numberdeclinedfrom4.597million inDecember2007to4.405million inMarch

2008, according to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). Employees of PTCL are the

real pain for the company. The profit falls at 20 percent in the first quarter of the year.

VoluntarySeparationScheme(VSS)orIwouldrathersayForced(VSS)costsPTCLfortuneofRs.

35billion,resultantlaidoffmorethan28,000employees(CaseispendingintheCourt).

Anothercase is inTheSupremeCourtofPakistan, inwhichthroughaconstitutionalpetition,

highestcourtwasmovedagainsttheprivatizationofthePTCLandseveralotherstepstakenby

theEtisalatGroup,thebuyerofthecompany.TheAuditorGeneralofPakistanpointedoutthat

PTCL'svaluedeliberatelydroppedfrom$8billionto$2billion.

ThePTCLsworkersendtheirlongperiodstrikeaftertheissuanceofnotificationstoregularize

contractual employees on the New Compensation Pay Grade and increment of 35% in the

salaries.

ThePTAhas receivedover14,000 complaintsagainst thePTCL,which isanover20percent

increasefrom

the

previous

year.

According

to

PTA,

the

main

concern

of

most

of

the

subscribers

wasthestaffbehaviorandpoorcomplainthandlingCRM issues.Theothercomplaintswere

related to poor or no response to requests for new telephone connections, overbilling and

malfunctioning of remote area exchanges. PTA once decided to take severe action against

PTCL, but nothing happened. The charges were Pakistan Package, free nationwide calling

packagesetc.

PTCLlauncheditsDSLserviceinMay2007inaround13citieswiththebrandnameBroadband

Pakistan,nowtheyhaveextendedthisserviceto108cities.Theservice isgrowingataround

5,000 subscribers / month excluding churn rate with the customer base of more 100,000

customers.

Entertainment

portal

was

launched

for

its

broadband

subscribers

in

the

end

of

May

freeofcost.Newbroadbandpackageswere introducedinthefirstquarteroftheyear,where

PTCLdoubledthespeedbutkeptthesamepriceslots,andanother30%discountforstudents

oneverypackage.

PTCLstarteditsSmartTVserviceinfourmetrosinMay.Thisserviceisfreetoitscustomerstill

date.Mostrecentpackageis1monthfreebroadbandand6monthsfreeIPtv.


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Softlaunchofwirelessbroadband(EVDO)withunlimiteddownloadingisinprogress,servicesis

currently offered in 4 metros and only given to customers on referral bases. Enmasse

commerciallaunchwilltakeanother6months.

Otheractivitiesin2008included:

PTCLinvested$50millioninsubmarinecableproject. Introduced Local Call Package offered a landline to landline call, charged at Rs 4.60

(Rs3.99plus15percenttax)whetherusertalks foroneminuteoronehourbetween

4pmand8am.

OffersfreeDialupInternet. PTCL launches three new customized calling packages Pakistan Plus, Value Plus and

BasicPlus

PTCL will deploy fibretothehome (FTTH) technology, announcing that pilot projectswilltakeplaceinKLI.Thepilotnetworksarealreadybeingdeployed.

Call from UK to Pakistan (fixed & mobile): 6 pence / minute: PTCL direct is aninternationalprepaidcallingservicefromPTCL. PTCL introduce plus Call Package, cost 1,000 for 1,200 minutes for international

outgoingcalls.

Naqi Senior Executive Vice President Corporate Development said that PTCL is alsoplanning to introduce WiMAX technology nationwide very soon including AJK and

NorthernAreasaswell."

PTCLselectsAlcatelLucenttodeliverbroadbandaccesssolution.AlcatelLucentwillalsoprovide network integration services including project management,

application/softwareintegration,installation,deployment,andtesting

ZTEwinsWDMdealinPakistan PTCL will provide the Skylink satellite communication solution to enable backhaul of

GSMtrafficfromTelenorPakistan

PTCLsignsagreementwithwitribePakistanlimitedtoofferMETRoWay(r)Services TheLMKRandPTCLrecentlysignedanagreementforthedeploymentofaturnkeyGIS

solution

PTCLandtheUniversalServiceFund(USF)havesignedanagreementofRs324milliontoprovidefixedlinetelephoneconnectionsintheremoteareasofBaluchistan

PTCLwontheBestBankingTechnologyAwardandtheBestStallAwardatthePakistanBankingExpo2008

Having a high retention rate of employees, Ufone is becoming number one choice for

professionalstowork.Notonlythattheyareagoodpaymasters,giveyousufficientworkload

butalsoworkrelatedenvironment.Addingsecondhighestsubscribersbase,Ufone isableto

createhypethroughtheiradvertisementonelectronicmedia.Themoralofthestory:

Topenetrateandgrabholdofthemarketandincreasethebaseofmoresatisfiedanddelighted


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externalcustomers,onehastofirstdelightitsinternalcustomers.

Ufoneisinvolvedincertainactivitiesincluding:

IntroducesmobileinternetUSBwith6monthsfreeunlimitedhighspeedInternetaccess Announcedtoopennewjobopportunitiesin2009forover900younggraduatesthrough

itsnewly

established,

state

of

the

art

three

million

USD

IP

based

contact

centre

LaunchedUExcel,aprogram forundergradstudents incollaborationwith theSchool ofLeadership(SoL).Thisprogramconsistsofaseriesofsessionswherebyspecialteamsfrom

SoLandUfonewillvisit18differentuniversitiesinKarachi,LahoreandIslamabad

SelfServiceKiosksarelaunchedinitiallyinthefourmaincitiesbutwillsoonbeexpandedtoallothercitiesaswell

Launched"QuranonMobile"alongwith translations in EnglishandUrdu through theirmobilephones

Launched"VideoNewsService Tospend200milliondollarsonnetworkexpansioninPakistan LaunchesBlackBerryservice UfoneandWaridsignanagreementforinfrastructuresharing Launched a new product "Ur Number." Through this service, customers will be able to

translatetheirnames,nicks,emailidsetc

Ufone has signed Rs 4.5 billion Syndicated Term Loan Facility agreement with NationalBankofPakistan(NBP)andHabibBankLimited(HBL)

The question arises if Ufone is going so strong based upon its customer base, customer

retention both internal and external and tailored marketing tactics, why isnt Ufone not

financially strong? To me the very reason is poor strategic management and a typical public

sector

approach.

The

direction

might

be

correct

but

financial

spending

decisions

are

not

balancedaccordingtoearnings,samesituationlikerestofthegovernmentsector,withPIAand

PakistanRailwaybeinganotheroutofscopebutveryrelevantexamples.

I would like to quote one example here on how the creative agencies in Pakistan trap the

companiestogetthemaximumdollaroutofthem,creatingawinwinsituation,butbelieveme

in the end the winners are these creative agencies. The concept for the print ad undoubtly

clicks and successfully creates hype across the board, but the heavy amount which Ufone is

paying, does not seem appropriate. This sort of ATL requires heavy spending and is not

advisableespeciallywhenthelifecycleoftheindustryisbeyondmaturity.

Since JonEddyAbdullahjoinedasCEO replacingTore Johnsen,Telenor ismainly focusingon

cost cutting. En masse Telenor is going good and Pakistani market brought fortunes as they

havereachedatnumber2inPakistanandatnumber7intheWorld.


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13/17

2008broughtproblemsforWaridasshe isinseriouscrisis,downsizinghasstarted,andother

strategicdecisionshavetobetakentosurvive inthiscompetitivemarket.Letsseecan$250

millionsaveWarid?

The problem of Warid Telecom is the HR of the company itself related to unnecessary

manpowerinduction,withoutaJDandabsenceofapostinductionappraisalsystembasedon

merit, which are all big question marks. Marketing strategy is the amalgamation of all other

telecos of Pakistan, and heavily playing on price without much of a result, as it is not being

tailoredaccordingtoWaridsVision.MostoftheMiddleEastCompanysfavoritestrategyisthe

pricewar,andtheonlypositioningtheyknowischeaperrates.

WaridTelecomwasinvolvedthroughouttheyearintheactivitiesbelow:

Planning to expand its coverage to approximately 250 more cities. No timeframe hasbeenannounced for theexpansion,butWaridhassaid itaims to include remoteand

ruralareas,focusingontheNorthernAreas(NA),AzzadJammuandKashmir(AJK)and

Baluchistan, which came to me as a surprise, as such areas have already not been

coveredandwhy?

The GM marketing of Warid has resigned from the company fearing questioning oflapsing80%ofthetotalmarketingbudgetinjust3months.

Total investment in Pakistan will touch $1.5 billion by the end of this year while thecompanywillfurther increase its investment inthetelecomsectorby$1billionbythe

endof2009.

One good thing which came concrete this year is change of companys logo tosomethingmore3D.

StarteditscommerciallaunchofinflightconnectivitywithAeroMobile. Ericssonsignspactof$300milliontoexpanditsGSMnetwork,includingitsCore,Radio,

TransmissionnetworkequipmentandVASplatforms

Launched in collaboration with AMESthe entertainment and digital media portal inPakistan

Deployed asolarpowered BTS siteusingHuaweisSolar Powered Macro Base Station(BTS)

LaunchedanewPublicCallOffice(PCO)schemeinZEMPocketPCO Launched Location Based Services. Service enabled subscribers to locate the

whereaboutsoftheirfamilymembers,friendsorcolleagues


14/17

Wateen, sister concern company of Warid telecom and a business unit of Abu Dhabi

Consortium,hadoncebeatenthedrumofestablishingtheWorldslargestWiMAXnetwork,is

inserioustroubletoo,soundedtrulyunprofessionalinsuchacutthroatcompetitiveWorld.

WateenisnotbeenabletomainlysolvehertechnicalissuesandissueswithCRM.Wateenhas

the highest churn rate and customers place their complaints on different blogs on the Qos.

They have been accused of hiring writers to post comment spam on local blogs and use

unethicaltacticstopromotetheirservices.Theyhavechangedtheirentirepackage linetwice

butnothinggoesinfavorofthecompany.MyadvicetoWateen:PleasehireanewCEOanda

newteamofpeoplehavingtrueworkrelatedexperienceinsteadofopeningnewerprojectsand

creatingnichesofthesameproduct/project.

Theactivitiesofthefirmthroughouttheyearare:

WateenwontheawardforthemostChallengingandInterestingWorkatThePSHRMHRAwards2008.

EnteredintoanagreementwithMotorolatoexpandthecompanysWiMAXnetworkinPakistan, enable the company to double the capacity of the network which covers a

populationof30millionacross22citiesinPakistan.

startservicesforbusinessusers,servicesinclude: ManagedSolutions

ContactCenter DataCenter

Security&

Surveillance

PlacedorderforIPbasedtelecomdevicesandConsumerPremisesDevicestoaddtoitsnationwidedeploymentoftheWiMAXnetwork

Prime year for Worldcalls management, as Omantel acquired 65% stakes and paid $193

million. The first milestone attained by Worldcall after Omantels acquisition was wireless

broadband services through EVDO technology in Karachi. The step is a success and strive to

removestainofbadqualityofWorldcallsotherservices.Started theirsoft launch inAugust,

theyarereasonableacquirethecustomershareandmindshareaswell.

Belowisthetariff forsharedconnections:Theresnocapondownloads.

256Kbps1200/ 512Kbps1800/ 1Mbps2500/


15/17

DeviceisADU510A,costRs.4500.

Ontheotherhand,thedeploymentoffiberopticinIslamabadisinfinalstageandeveninsome

area they have started their triple play services. Allow me to give you some brief on this

project;

ThewholeprojectcommencedwithoutanyfeltneedforalicensefromanyAuthority,letalone

telecom infrastructure license from PTA or Cable Television License from PEMRA. The CDA,

amid their unforeseen revenues from a service which is long since existence, stopped all

renewalsofpreviouslyissuedNOCtoexistingandlicensedholdingcompaniesincludingNayatel

etc.Civilworksalignmentswere issuedwhicharenotonconformancewithexistingservices,

due to pressures to complete the project within stipulated time of 30 months, leading to

enormousdamagetoexistingunderlyingservices.

SBUs ofWorldcallPakistanarebroadbandservice,pay phone operations,wireless telephone

and prepaid calling cards in about 40 cities at present and cable TV and VOD in Lahore and

Karachi.

Thedetailsoftheservicesavailableare:

WorldcallisdeployingFiberOptic inIslamabadwiththecollaborationofCDA;theyareplanningtooffertripleplayservicesinfuturethroughFTTC(fibertothecurb).

MightdeployWiMAXinfuture. Morethan550,000WLLsubscribers. Morethan36,000customersforitscablebroadbandservice. DeployedopticalfiberinKarachiandLahore. Obtained a NOC (No Objection Certificate) from Ministry of Information and PEMRA

(PakistanElectronic

Media

Regulatory

Authority)

and

have

deposited

the

required

fee

forDTH(DirecttoHome)satelliteserviceinPakistan.

Issued 53,738,212 ordinary shares of Rs 10/ each to Amatis Limited pursuant to theLoanAgreement

profit aftertax of WorldCall Telecom Limitedhas declined to Rs 76.218 million in theyearendedJune30,2008(FY08)

The Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (Pacra) has removed the entity and TFC ratings ofWorldcallTelecomLimited(WTL)fromtheRatingWatch

wtribe is an emerging telecom operator offering wireless broadband services in the MENA

region.Jordanwasthefirstcountrywherewitribelauncheditsservicesin2008.Pakistanand

Philippineswillbecomingonlinein2009followedbymanyothercountriesinthefuture.

witribe Pakistan has already established an LDI network with POPs in 15 cities, involved in

activities:


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SignedamultiyearWiMAXcontractwithMotorolatodeploythenetworkinthe3.5GHzspectrum,withacommerciallaunchduring2009

Starttheirservicesin2009

TeleCard is rolling out infrastructure in Karachi for WiMAX Service through Huawei. The

companyhaschosenAugereastheprincipalcontractortodesignandbuildthenetwork.The

equipmentdeploymentfortheinitialphasehasalreadycommencedandthecompanyexpects

theservicetobecommerciallyreadybythe2nd

quarterof2009.

TelecardLimitedappointedSyedAamirHussainastheCOOoftheirWirelessLocalLoop(WLL)

Business.

CONCLUSION:

Humannatureseemstoprevailalittlemoreforus,aswedonttendtolearnlessonsfromour

mistakes. Mistakes made in 2008 by telecom sector are bound to be repeated by the

companiesthisyearaswell.Ifeel,thattherehastobesomeonewhoshouldstandalittleaway

fromthetreetolookintothewoodsandcasteapicture,morelikeabirdseyeviewandthen

makestrategicdecisionsforallofus,ratherthanlivingthelifeasitcomes,becauseitiscoming

dirtythesedays.

Economic slump, new SIM verification system and who knows verification of already issued

SIMsthrough

the

same

mechanism,

lower

customer

and

corporate

buying

power,

increasing

advertisement budgets and in turn increasing product cost or an unaffordable product

altogether,allare leadingtowards thesamegreatdepression,amistakewhichwasmadeby

the western world through its financial system and an adhoc approach, but we are still so

reluctant to superimpose any image of the same on our industry and make a change. In

PakistanmostofthecompaniesarenotevenfollowingGOGREENpolicy, letaloneanyother

contribution towards mankind, and seems to be least of the priorities if at all, by the

governmentalauthorities.

For2009Ithink:

PTAwillnotbeabletoauctionany3G license inthisyearowingto itshighpriceandmarket saturation, not through customer density or governmental policies but simply

due to inability of the company to sell such a high priced product, while keeping it

marketcompetitiveintermsofprices.

Cellularsubscriberswilldecreaselikethestockmarket Companies will cut their marketing budgets, and will and should focus on customer

retentionratherthannewcustomers,comingatcomparativelylowercost.


17/17

If same trendsare projected, I feel that byQ4 2009 heavy downsizing in most of thetelecomorganizationswillstartleadingtounemploymentandhiringpeopleata lower

payroll.ThiswillfollowthebelovedruleofGODZILLA

Telenorwillbethemostbeneficiaryin2009 Broadbandwilltakeflightandpeoplestarttakinginterestintheseservices

MajorContribution:

http://www.pta.gov.pk/ http://www.ispak.com.pk/ TariqRahman
http://www.pta.gov.pk/http://www.pta.gov.pk/http://www.ispak.com.pk/http://www.ispak.com.pk/http://www.ispak.com.pk/http://www.pta.gov.pk/

Documents

Pakistan Telecom Report 2008