State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

Have you noticed the common elements between the telecom industry of Pakistan and Bangladesh? Three of the top 4 telecom companies in Bangladesh are also doing business in Pakistan. Telenor is present in all of sub-continent. Regulatory authorities in Bangladesh (BRTC) and Pakistan (PTA) have also worked together and shared best practices. Here’s a short review of the mobile telecom companies in Bangladesh.

1. Telenor Bangladesh – Grameen Phone
2. Bangla Link
3. AKTel
4. Warid

According to BTRC (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission), the total number of Mobile Phone Active Subscribers has reached 52.43 million at the end of December 2009. Note how Mobilink (13.87 million) is trailing behind Telenor / Grameen which has 23.26 million – the opposite of their situation in Pakistan. Warid (2.99 million) is at number 3 both in Bangladesh and in Pakistan – however in Bangladesh, Warid has sold its majority stake. In Pakistan, Warid is still in “talks”.
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About two weeks ago we asked our readers about their opinion on the “limited time offers” by telecom companies. You can view that post here.  An overwhelming majority of 92% responded with dissatisfaction over how companies handle these offers. I think this presents a good opportunity for these companies to improve how these offers are marketed and communicated.

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Wateen, during its recent expansion in southern region, have successfully put RAN sites on-air by sweeping Motorola aside. Internal sources informed us.

Wateen haves a total of 973 RAN sites in Pakistan, of which 243 are in Karachi. The on-going expansion project by the vendor, Motorola, is supposed to add 66 more sites in Karachi.

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Youtube’s been working great all day today but for past an hour or so, when I hit youtube.com, it says “This Site is Restricted” and the title of the page says “Access Denied”. Are you guys facing anything similar?

Note: Youtube is opening fine from all other ISPs.

Update: Youtube is now working fine. It probably faced issue due to network maintenance.

• Warid Denies Sellout of Stakes: Earlier this week, The National, a news paper from Abu Dhabi… http://goo.gl/fb/x2pZ #
• Shopping time: Bashir Tahir, CEO of Abu Dhabi Group reportedly said that PTCL has shown keen interest in Warid Telecom #
• What is the Return on 4G Investment?: The discussions on 3G and 4G hinge on a fundamental… http://goo.gl/fb/MDVz #
• PTCL earnings go up 13% but decides to restrict student discounts – odd! http://bit.ly/aIMek7 #
• PTCL Roundup: Earnings Up 13%, Rs. 5.354 billion Net Profit. Changes to Student Package: PTCL… http://goo.gl/fb/HnTV #
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Earlier this week, The National, a news paper from Abu Dhabi published a story about Abu Dhabi Groups plans to sell controlling stakes of Warid Telecom to any potential buyer. Below are the excerpts from the news item.

“Every operator in Pakistan is looking for consolidation,” said Bashir Tahir, the chief executive of the Abu Dhabi Group. “We are talking to every operator and we know they are also talking to each other.”

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The discussions on 3G and 4G hinge on a fundamental question. Will the investment make sense for the industry in near term? We know that in long-term, 3G and 4G technologies offer great benefits. As this article mentions, LTE, a version of 4G, uses the radio spectrum more efficiently, improving network capacity. That will be crucial as smart-phone use explodes, straining cell networks. Consider the case of Verizon in the US which is pushing for 4G/LTE. Much of the investment for Verizon is around the purchase additional spectrum. It spent $9.4 billion for that in 2008. The same concerns apply to 3G in Pakistan.

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PTCL is in the news as it reported earnings: a net profit of Rs. 5.354 billion for the half year ended on 31st December, 2009. This is a 13% growth compared to same period last year. At the same time, PTCL has withdrawn its high-speed Internet discount for students. In a recent press release, it announced that “PTCL is offering special 30% discount package for the students on 1 Mbps connection on high speed broadband services.” The previous connections of 2MBps and 4Mbps offered to students will be downgraded. To me, this business strategy seems odd. Why would you downgrade a popular package at a time when earnings are good?

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Nokia shared that since the launch of the new version of Ovi Maps with free walk and drive navigation, on 21 January 2010, there have been over 1.2 million downloads with over 20% coming from China. By leveraging its investment in NAVTEQ, Nokia has been able to remove the costs associated with navigation for drivers and pedestrians and is quickly activating a massive user base to which it can offer new location features, content and services. The top five most popular Nokia devices installing the download where: Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N97 mini, Nokia N97 , Nokia 5230 and E72. From next month all new Nokia GPS-enabled smartphones will include the new version of Ovi Maps, pre-loaded with local country map data, with high-end walk and drive navigation and access to Lonely Planet and Michelin travel guides at no extra cost.

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There is a lot of talk about the news that Punjab Government has unanimously passed a resolution banning late night offers/packages by mobile phone operators. Daily times reports it as follows:

Members of the Punjab Assembly (MPAs) on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution banning late night packages offered by mobile networks at cheap rates in keeping with “moral and social values” and to “maintain the youth’s health and prevent vice”.

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The final of the Djuice Redbull StreetStyle competition took place on Sunday at the The Forum in Karachi. Although the event kicked-off late, it had put a good show of entertainment and displayed the talent of Pakistani breakdancers and freestylers. I personally never knew the street fever was so high here in our country and having attended the event, I can say that we are not behind anyone.

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PTA has just released 2009 December mobile subscriber stats. Though it would have been nice if  the industry could hit 100 million mark in calendar year 2009, we are content about the overall progress (7.6 million net additions) of the telecom segment. Mobilink had a good last quarter, ending with 30.8 million susbcribers and retained its market share of 32% from the beginning of the year. Telenor is firm at second spot. Ufone also showed good progress (18.5 M) towards the end of year but overall it fell behind Warid (18.8 M) which became the number 3 in terms of total subscribers.

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