Investing In Mobile Phone Companies in Pakistan
Pakistan’s telecommunication market is one of the hottest in the emerging economies. This post will briefly review the mobile phone players in Pakistan and discuss how to evaluate and invest in these companies. In future posts I’ll review the major companies in more detail. See this page for the most recent numbers about mobile subscribers and companies.
As the number of mobile subscribers climb up in Pakistan to over 40 million, so does the competition and that makes it hard to tell which companies will do well in future. What are the success factors and the upcoming changes such as mobile number portability (discussed here)? FirstI’ll present the snapshots of the companies. Then I’ll go over some of the indicators and performance metrics which can be used to evaluate thse companies.
About Pakistani Mobile Companies & Their Foreign Connections
First lets look at the market share of the 6 mobile players in Pakistan. I took the subscriber numbers (in millions) from PTA site a few weeks ago.
At the top is Mobilink, the Pakistani unit of Egypt-based telecom company Orascom. It has been in Pakistan since 1994. With 19.2 million subscribers it has the largest market share. Its shares are listed on the Egyptian and London stock markets as GDRs. My next post will focus entirely on Orascom and its performance.
Ufone, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pakistan Telecommunication Co. Ltd (PTCL), is now under the control of Etisalat group of UAE. With 8.4 million subscribers it is the runner up. For those in Pakistan it is the one company where they can easily invest locally.
Warid, owned by the Abu Dhabi group of the United Arab Emirates and sister of Wateen group is number 3 with 5.6 million subscribers, that is 14% market of subscribers.
Norway’s Telenor, a recent entrant with about a billion US dollar invesment in Pakistan has been doing well, based on its recent earning report. It has about 4.26 million subscribers or 11% of the market. Telenor stock is listed in the Oslo stock market (TEL) and Nasdaq NY (TELN).
Paketl was owned by Millicom International Cellular (listed in Nasdaq as MIC) at the time of writing of this post. (Later it was acquired by China Mobile)It has 3% of the subscriber share in Pakistan.
Total Telecom in July 2006 acquired Instaphone - a cellular business of Luxembourg’s Millicom, in the first ever sale of a mobile business in Pakistan by a foreign company. It has 0.3 million subscribers.
How do you tell the winner?
Put another way if you decided to invest money in one of these companies how would you make the choice? The actual investment logistics will be discussed in additional posts.
When you look at the performance and results of the mobile companies, here are some useful industry indicators to look out for (in addition to the financial results):
- Growth rate: how many net subscribers has it added in the quarter/year?
- What is the churn rate (customers who leave) ? Low churn indicates customer loyalty.
- What is the average revenue per user ARPU (what does average subscriber spend) and what is the profit margin per subscriber? How much of ARPU is voice vs data (eg sms)?
- What is the percentage of pre-paid subscribers (considered less loyal than postpaid)?
- How much does it cost to acquire a new subscriber?
Pakistan is still an unsaturated market and with the falling cost of handsets there are plenty of new subscribers to go for. But eventually as in saturated markets, if mobile operators want to avoid simply competing on price, they will have to compete on superior service, innovative features and ease-of-use. As an example of new trends there were so many text messages (SMS) sent on this Eid that the networks of all 6 companies were kept extremely busy!
Look for future posts for more detailed analysis and performance discussion of the major players.
Created by Babar Bhatti, TelecomPk.Net is a leading source of information and analysis about Pakistan Telecom industry. 
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[...] State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan on industry statistics, which companies are likely to do well and competition in a volume-heavy market. “But eventually as in saturated markets, if mobile operators want to avoid simply competing on price, they will have to compete on superior service, innovative features and ease-of-use. As an example of new trends there were so many text messages (SMS) sent on this Eid that the networks of all 6 companies were kept extremely busy!” Neha Viswanathan [...]
I just wanted to make a small correction in the blog above.
In the Warid area it says
“Warid, part of Wateen group (owned by the Abu Dhabi group of the United Arab Emirates”
The thing is that Wateen is a sister concern of Warid telecom. Both Warid and Wateen are two different companies offerering different services and both are owned by Abu Dhabi Group, which also owns Al Falah Bank and few other companies as well.
Warid is not part of Wateen Group. Warid is owned by Abu Dhabi group.
Thanks
Junaid - thanks for the correction, I’ve updated the post to reflect this.
Dear Babar!
I dont think you can invest in Warid Telecom or its parent group in any way. The group is very strong financially and hence they dont need any equity investment. As far as Bank Alfalah and United Bank are concerned, they are both listed banks and owned by the same group, so you can invest in them.
May be in future, if Warid or any other company, is listed on the stock exchange or they issue TFCs, you might be able to invest but till then you can just wait.
I hope this information is helpful to you.
Thanks
Recently Warid obtained a USD 500 million loan from ABN AMRO for network expansion. I think it was easier for Warid to get that loan instead of raising funds through taking the company public. Of course by keeping the company private they have a lot more control of how they run their business and they do not have to share profits :)
http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/11/04/10079831.html
Hi,
I am Anandi Pendse, a graduate student pursuing my masters in Human-Computer Interaction at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, U.S.A. I belong to the college of computing (http://www.cc.gatech.edu/). I am writing a research paper on the Effectiveness of blogs in promoting and raising awareness about development activities such as women’s issues, conflict resolution and education etc under the guidance of Dr. Michael Best ( http://www.inta.gatech.edu/~michael_best).
I am focusing on blogs written by residents of developing countries or blogs about developing countries. I am trying to cover as many countries and development issues as possible.
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I assure you that the information you give will not be used for any purpose other than this paper and your identity will not be revealed to anyone. There will be no mention of your name or nationality or any other personal information in the paper. The information you provide will be used to generate statistics and only these statistics will be used in the paper.
This survey is divided into 2 parts. Following are the links to the 2 parts.
Please do respond to both the links
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=231122912261
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=87962927704
If you go to this link and respond to the survey it means that you are voluntarily consenting to be a part of the survey and allowing the information you provide to be used to compile statistics for the research paper. If you are a minor i.e. an individual who is less than 18 years of age the please seek parental permission before taking the survey. I would once more like to make it clear that no personal information you provide will be revealed to any person or organization.
If you have any other questions or would like to share any other information please email me at anandi@gatech.edu. I would be glad to answer.
I am hoping that you can be a part of this survey,
Anandi Pendse
Masters in Human Computer Interaction
College of Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology
Wateen has 7 million suscribers….
hi,
nice effort…..i need them for my research report on “changing trends in mobile phones”…thanx to u…ur blog helps me alot…
chk my blog too its jus my starting
http://febgirl.wordpress.com
Hi,
Does anyone knows what is the HQ contact tel of Warid Telecom? It’s website only show a toll-free no. which is not workable outside Pakistan.
Any assistance is very much appreciated.
Teresa
Kuala Lumpur
Hi Teresa,
try calling +92 42 5715750. This is the main number and then operator can help getting you through with the required person.
Cheeers
sir kindly i would like to know abt the i.t infrastructure of or difernce between i.t infra of ufone and telenore..i would highly appreciate ur help on this …plz reply at
mujtabasharif@hotmail.com
sincerely yours
[...] This post and the blog has moved to a new site - please read the rest of the story here. [...]
Please keep me update about all issues relating to pakistan telecom sector
[...] I have written before, it is not easy for individual investors to invest in Pakistan’s telecom sector as majority [...]
Paktel is the best
I am very hurt with the hipocracy of our people. Before the telecom comapies in Pakistan we used to hear a lot of taunts, what pakistan makes ??? we drink pepsi because this country cant make even a good drink.
Now when we have Mobilink and Warid from Middle Eastern origin people still fall for other telecoms and even Telenor, where Norway Govt committed the religious crimes against Islam… some people dont seem to bother that and i believe the mojority of telenor’s customers will be minority sects in Pakistan specially shiaets and similar.
Companies in Pakstan
Mobilink (largest by both, revenue and connections wise)
Warid (less connections than Ufone but way larger in revenue, strange aeh !!!)
Ufone (too government-ish)
Telenore (like Telecom-”KFC” in Pakistan)
Paktel (good independent but still seem government-ish, killed ownself by not upgrading from AMPS to GSM some years back)
i want fresh data about market share of Pakistan’s mobile companies.
can u give us the approximate data of Mobilink,telenor,warid,ufone,and paktel’s consumer in Pakistan.and what is the tax deduction procedure on every SMS.
waiting for ur anticipation
shumaila
This is the latest data (4 month old) about connection numbers.
http://www.rncos.com/Blog/2007/05/mobile-phone-craze-takes-pakistan-by.html
Regarding Paktel, it was monster some 7 years back when Mobilink infront of Paktel, used to look like todays UFone. They had the largest coverage and it used to warm our blood whenever we heard the prays of its coverage and competetion with then Mobilink. But Paktel’s (bought out now by ChinaMobile http://www.chinamobileltd.com/doc/pr/2007/20070122.htm) late move to GSM made Paktel a sheep from lion.
In future i see a competion between Warid and ChinaMobile (yes Mobilink being just visible). Mobilink has seems to have hit its saturation level. There aclaimed GPRS also very restricted for load reasons.
China Mobile or CMCC, is the largest mobile phone operator in China. It is the world’s largest mobile phone operator ranked by number of subscribers, with over 296 million customers.
sir i m doing a project, in which i have to sort out the difficulties relating to credit face by any multinational company,if it wish to start its business in pakistan,in short i have to do credit analysis but with respect to top mobile companies in pakistan, plz sir if u can help me in this context i wil be greatful, plz reply at
nadiaanwaar_mba@yahoo.com
Ufone is best!!
Thats a really informative website
thanks
hello and aslam o alikum ,
i m a student of b.com ,
I have a commercial plot in faisalabad , samanabad , i want to give any company for rent , will u guide me about it ?
that is in good location between banks ,
you can also use for your company
thanks ,
umar 03006642599
03218520052
Dear Sir,
I am a student of Bradford college (University Center) U.K. Sir i am conducting a research, on the cellular phone companies in pakistan. I need up to date information regarding their market shares and their subcribers. Waiting for your reply.
Thanks.
This is good site
With the help of this site
i like to say some thing to you
i am student who newely compleet his diploma in computer hard ware and net working
i want to start my on moblie and computer repairing shop any one who can support me.
give me a loan
or
like to doing a partnership please contect me
Rana Muhammad Amir Rashid
Bure Wala
Pakistan
0092-321-9169665
nae g joo warid he oh warid he ye
ASLAMO-o-ALIKUM
i am small buisness man in sialkot.i have many plot, i want to install any moblile compny tower.but i don,t know how i don.
please give me a sugestion how i show plots for rent for tower.
FAISAL MUGHAL
0333-8767736
We the management of Milton Guest House in islamabad.we have (15)fifteen luxury room with afforadble tariff for your esteemed companies.we all 4star facitaly in our guest house.Free facilaties incloded your room rent.1,,break/fast.2daily news paper..3.inter net(DSL).shoe shine.wellcoem drink
your sencerely.
sajid ali.03005040928
i want to know that if there is any new compney coming in the telecom industory in pakistan
thanx
dear sir ,
i want to buy telenor franchise in sargodha .
plz tell me ……………..
how can i get franchise and how much does it cost. thnax
if any business oppertunities in pakistan
plz plz tell me 0321-4070450
Hello
Respected Authority
I want to know the service using packages of your launched/buyed company i-e Paktel or direct for the center in Pakistan
Thanks
SUCH A NICE AND INFORMATIVE MATERIAL ON HOT TOPIC OF PAKISTANI MOBILE SHARES AND SUBSCIRBERS. KEEP IT UP!
Dear Sir,
Kindly provide me the data of Mobile handsets users in Pakistan.and which company hold more market shares in Pakistan
Sir my name is Tanveer Ahmad i am working in PTCL and residing in Lahore in the area of Baghbanpura. I have a plot and location is Behind Baghbanpura Bazar. I want it to give on rent for Mobile Tower.
My contact number is 0346-4506632. If your goodself is interested so please contact me on the given cell number any time.
Tanveer Ahmad
House No. 93, St. No. 188,
Deputy Yaqoob Colony,
Bhogiwal Link Bund Road
Baghbanpura, Lahore
0346-4506632
Sir my name is HANIF GHANCHI residing in KARACHI in the area of ghass mandi ranchorline. I have a terrace and the height of the building is nearly 70ft. I want it to give on rent for Mobile Tower.
My contact number is 0322-2567141-. If your goodself is interested so please contact me on the given cell number any time.
HANIF GHANCHI
6th floor nadir building,
near PSO petrol pump,
SIddique wahab rd,
Ghass mandi,Kaarachi
0322-2567141
It’s hard to imagine, how people have guts to write comments like that. I would never write anything like this, because I would have thought what other would think of me after that. I know that it doesn’t matter who you are in Internet, you can act however you want, but anyway I would remember that a man should act nice and polite, no matter if he is online or offline
i want information about buying a zong franchise.how much does it cost and the requirements.i m in faisalabad.
Dear Sir,
Kindly provide me the data of Mobile handsets users in Pakistan.and which company hold more market shares in Pakistan
Dear sir,
My name is asghar khan maseed, and i live in karachi. I have a commerical plot and location is mangopir road marbel factory 240 yards islamia goth. I want it to give on rent for Mobile Tower.My contact number is 0345-3379704. If your goodself is interested so please contact me on the given cell number any time.
Maseed House
Asghar khan maseed
house no. 1192 street no. 19
azam basti karachi no. 44
pakistan.
mobile number.0345-3379704
Dear Sir,
This is Hanif Khan from Pakistan, Karachi. I want to invest money in ZONG CHINA MOBILE COMPANY, so please tell me the process of Invesing money.
Thank You
Regards,
Hanif Khan
Mobile: 92 345 212 3147
Email: hanifkhan87@gmail.com
Hi All,
Any Body intrested in working as sub contractor of warid CM PK Ericsson or Huawei for Tower Installation work, Plz contact me.
Br
Abid Hameed
Project Manager
Eltek Valere
Asalam alikum sir I have a plot location in sammanabad lahore pakistan which is very good for mobile tower I want it to give on rent for mobile tower MY cellular no is 03004408423 if your good self is interested so please informed me on the given address&no at any time.
MUHAMMAD YAQUB CHAUDHARY
HOUSE NO 63 IFTIKHAR STREET NEW SAMMANABAD LAHORE PAKISTAN
CONTACT NO 0427577097
OFFICE NO 0427565103
CELL NO 03004408423
THANK YOU
i want to invest money in zong china mobile company n want to take a franchises in different cities so plz tell me the way to invest if any one or the any officier of zong company then he can contacct me pls if any one can help than pls conact me
m0obile nm 03314438828
mobile nm 03217169842
03216970061.044.2514255
salam sir!
i m Hassnain from lahore.I am doing CA.For a side business, I want to purchase franchise of any mobile company to do business with them.I dont know the procedure that should be followed for this effort.I want u to guide me in this way, so that i might be able to get connected.I hope u will give me a resonable answer to my question.My contact ID is ,
pakistaniboy18_4u@yahoo.com,
decent_genius18@hotmail.com,
and my cell #s
03454442856,
03014686362
i need this no. 03134455666
AOA.
For the first time i have seen this kind of site, which is a sign of bright future.Sir keep it up and make it more interesting and useful for the students.
your well wisher.
sohail alam jan
0300-5830693
0346-9184677
Assalam-u-alikum,
i’m searching for parties in Lahore particularly in Barkat plaza who deal in mobile tower construction.
i’d be great ful if anyone could help me !
Regards,
Kamran
Hi! would you know what is the latest data on the total number of SMSes sent in Pakistan.
Tried as i might, this is one data that is beyond me.
Anyways, great job on the site.
i want to invest in tower construction. i have no experience in this field.
can u give me some suggestions.
thanks
Hi, All M working in a Telecom Company. By Chance i got visit of this page n I,ve had a nice experience of this site .
0321 5168871
Assalam-o- Akaikum,
I have 2 plots of 80 Sq Yards each in saeedabad, karachi, Sector 8-A, frony side 50 feet road and back side 24 feet street. The boundary wall of both plots is one.
Rcc pillars of both plots are filled, big water tank, no water problem with Commercial electric meter.
I want installation of “Phone Tower” from any cellular company on these plots on rental basis, any one can contact me.
Cell #. 0300-2925449
E. Mail: muhammad_aziz63@yahoo.com
aziz_awan63@hotmail.com
hoping for a reply.
Thanks
i want to make an assigmnet on manager role so will you help me. please tell me about your manager that how he manage all the problems please reply me soon
i have plot Khanewal I want installation of “Phone Tower” from any cellular company on plot on rental basis, any one can contact me.
tahir mahmood 0333-5172807
thanks
To,
The Manager
uFONE
SUBJECT:–OFFER FOR INSTALLATION OF OVERHEAD MOBILE TOWER AT MY ROOF TOP
Dear Sir,
I am residing at (newly purchased) R-56, Pioneer Bungalows Super Highway Scheme No. 33, behind first Shell Petrol Pump on Super High way, Karachi, which is situated at a distance of about 3 km from main Sohrab Goth. There has been a mobile phone signal problem in our area and reception is not very clear. Due to low signals, call gets disconnected frequently and users have to dial in again and again. This may cause nuisance for U Fone users and many of them are switching to other cellular phone services.
In view of above situation, I would like to make an offer for the installation of overhead mobile tower at my roof top at competitive rates and mutually agreed terms and condition. Kindly note that my house is RCC double story, corner, 130 Sq.yds, leased by MDA and is registered under my name.
You may please contact me on my number 0300-2162492, 0333-3155359 (Temporarily off) Looking forward to hear from you soon
Yours sincerely,
( Muhammad Mansoor Durrani )
House# R-56, Pioneer Homes, Super Highway, Karachi.
Telephone : 0300-2162492
A.A
SIR,I VISITED UR SITE 1ST TIME,IT SIMPLY SUPERB……………..
Nice, concise and very informative post. Excellent Job.
Kind Regards,
Waqas
hello for all
i am working in saudia arabia for mobile company for fiber optic cable splicing and testing
i have place for mobile tower it is place on highway road
contact me 0302-7440917
hi………i brought my blackberry pearl from united states of america…………it was not working…so i contacted its manufactures there for onlocking code…….they sent it to me via email……..now i have a problem relating its software………….so can u please tell me place in lahore from where i can install that…..ill be very thankfulllllllllllllll
waiting for reply
Hi Every one.. Can any one tell me the website from where I can get final accounts of PMCL (Mobilink).
I m a student of MBA at Bahria University.I making report on cellular companies and their snatching ration. Can u please help me by providing latest data on market share of mobile phone companies in Pakistan and their snatching ratio.