State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

Interesting study about the telecommunication trends in Asia reveals that there’s still a lot of unmet demand in the low-income population. The report is from The Straits Times and available here.

Some of the conclusions from this focus study are included below.

New research on the use of telecommunications among low-income groups in India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand challenges the conventional wisdom that, in developing countries, customers for high- technology goods are to be found only among high-income groups.

According to a multi-country survey, the poor are already accessing telecommunications and form a large untapped market with significant unmet demand. This wide and deep client base offers vast opportunities for enterprising telecommunications companies if they can develop appropriate business models to cater to them.

The survey was undertaken by Lirneasia, a Sri Lanka-based research organisation, and focused on the lowest two socio-economic quintiles, as defined by the chief wage earner’s educational and occupational status. More than 8,650 people between the ages of 18 and 60 were interviewed about their access to, and use of, telephones. Half of those interviewed kept a diary of their telephone use over a two-week period, and focus group discussions were held in each country.

The study’s first finding was that the majority of the poorest people have access to telephones, even if they do not necessarily own them. More than 90 per cent of respondents reported having used a telephone in the past three months. In fact, over 75 per cent said they could access a telephone in under 10 minutes (either a fixed line or cellphone they own, borrow or which are available for public use). Surprisingly, access rates in rural and urban areas were more similar than expected.

That said, there are significant differences in how telephones are accessed. In South Asia, about 30 per cent of respondents in Pakistan and Sri Lanka and 70 per cent of those in India used a public telephone. In South-east Asia, more than 70 per cent and 55 per cent of respondents in Thailand and the Philippines, respectively, had their own cellphones. While cellphone penetration is lower in South Asia, it is still significant. Slightly more than 20 per cent of respondents in Pakistan, 18 per cent in Sri Lanka and 8 per cent in India reported owning a cellphone.

Read the full text at LIRNE Asia.
http://www.lirneasia.net/2007/06/straits-times-low-income-telephone-users-in-asia