Where Is PTCL IPTV?
Eager consumers in Pakistan have been waiting for months to get specific details about the pricing and availability of IPTV by PTCL. No official word yet but launch date has been moved several times. Various online forums have been reported a limited trial going on in select cities and PTCL has started advertising IPTV on their website and broadband portals. This teaser website tells you about the “mouth-watering features” but all the links there are non-functional.
I have been using IPTV service by Verizon at my home for a while and I have come to like it. Of course many of the interesting features come with additional price tags. The performance and usability may not be that great in the beginning. As we have talked here in the past triple play is a powerful opportunity for PTCL to stabilize its position — only if it executes well.
There are other practical considerations as well. At telecom grid pakistan, there was a question about how lack of electricity will impact the IPTV service. Well, if you are into personal video recorders, you better arrange for the uninterrupted power supply as well.
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I think in the end it will all come down to the quality of service provided. As most of us here have experienced the nightamre of DSL service we can surely expect how will the IPTV services be like.
In the end I am hoping as a customer that it will be at least better run and managed than DSL.
It has been launched in Islamabad and PTCL is offering it free on test basis to DSL customers.
I read this report on IT Insight (itinsight.info) as well:
“PTCL to shake telecom market, launches IPTV
Pakistan’s largest telecommunication company – PTCL – is following an aggressive rollout plan of its IPTV service which is a new technology not just in Pakistan but also worldwide. PTCL’s launching of IPTV over its largest land-lined telephony infrastructure is taken as a big threat to cable operators and other telecom players in the country which are investing heavily in TV technologies like triple play over fiber by Nayatel.
Being a telecom giant with largest market share in home telephony, PTCL has many advantages. Currently, PTCL is offering IPTV for free to its customers in Islamabad for a period of 2 months. Surprisingly, the equipment (worth of 250$ approx) is being provided totally free.”
There are certain organizations that have a huge footprint, like PTCL and WAPDA. There mistakes especially willful mistakes (some may call such willful mistakes a crime, but I haven’t) effect not one or two but tens of millions of ordinary Pakistanis. And in this regard, what people have to say about WAPDA is no hidden story.
However, PTCL, a behemoth, is acting or at least trying to act like a silent assassin. Since most govt organizations have been privatized, PTCL and it’s dedicated employees have taken up the task of maintaining the corrupt, inept, degrading and abusive reputation that has been built up by the govt sector with so much effort, over the years. It’s employees are lazy, inept, disobedient, unruly, uncommitted and disloyal, who are better of at verbally abusing everyone or engaging in physical assault upon their opponents. It’s management is arrogant, stubborn, corrupt and inconsiderate. And who gets to bear the brunt of their faults. It is the ordinary customers. Having the unfortunate honor of briefly working at PTCL, I have seen first hand examples of all the above and being an ordinary customer, I am still witnessing the hell thrown down upon us by this prestigious organization. They are fed with the money, from those very customers who they abuse, abuse, abuse.
Examples, I feel, would be redundant but still just to drive the point home, I will give a few, even though my writing fails to express the emotional scars. Leaving aside my painful job experience as a management trainee, a couple of good examples of PTCL exploiting it’s hegemonic position on the Pakistani fixed line communications network would be the following:
First of all, the automatic activation of “PTCL Pakistan Package”, which made it more like “PTCL Hindustan Package” trying to squeeze Rs.200 automatically out of every poor, innocent consumers. And then having the audacity to have their HR staff call people up (people who were well informed enough to de-activate this nuisance) and trying to deceive them into reactivating the said package.
The automatic activation of voice mail on all the numbers is another example of above pattern.
Next up is the exorbitant call rates, PTCL is maintaining. Pakistanis still consider phone as necessity, not a luxury (74% of the people live on less than a dollar a day) and use it only when needed. To make the basic call rate so high is outrageous.
Finally, the case of wrong billing. Why is it that they always err on the higher side? Why has it never happened that a consumer made a 1000 calls in a month and got a bill of only 100 calls??? While on the other hand, it is a daily story that, customers make 10,20 calls in a month and the bill they receive is for 500calls. PTCL has no record of local calls. So they can present any bill they want to, for some particular consumer. In doing so they take care that 50calls are exaggerated to 100 calls or more to make the struggling dinosaur live for one more day. Over billing is not a million rupee issue, it’s a multi billion rupee question and PTA so far, very conveniently for PTCL, has looked the other way as PTCL and it’s staff carry on this onslaught on the general public. To all the people who earn their livelihood through hard work, and give value to their money, you can test my point, by maintaining a record of the land-line phone calls yourself and then compare it with the bill. The result will be as clear as daylight.
And to the educated youth of my nation, engineers like me or other qualified technical staff, I would like to say just one thing; do not waste yourself in PTCL. There is no merit in that organization. They will destroy you.
Allah willing, this dinosaur rotting as it is, has not much time to live.
Well am not quite fimiliar with the features of PTCL IPTV and it might be bit off topic today .. However, somehow i am sure you guys might enjoy it as I have and ….
Well lets just say that there is no argument about the “PTCL Customer Service being the worest CS that I could come across… and this is not just one time thing … if you guys might search over the internet or watch some of my previous videos on the same topic
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UCyAS0EEYjY
its quite funny every time they top the previous predicament.
Anyhow, I have asked for upgrading my DSL Service have an office in F-7 Markaz in the heart of Islamabad, Pakistan and have asked them to upgrade my DSL Packege to 1 MB as previously was using 512 , anyways I put forward the request for the same almost 1 month ago. Have been following up for it almost everyday as I need that upgrade to happen and fast.
But first nobody knew what is happening and who is goign to do it. And now for last 2 weeks I was hearing that cause PTCL is about to launch ‘ IPTV” so everyone is busy there and its the reason for delay and you have to wait.
I hope you guys see the irony in this … as its JUST PERFECT EXAMPLE OF QoS that I was talking about in previous comment.
I don’t hate PTCL or any other company its just that they have to start focusing on providing Real Time Customer Service.
Tirmizi
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Hey Babar
Check this website out
http://telecom.1pk.asia/2008/05/20/where-is-ptcl-iptv/
Regards,
-pkpingu
We are told through papers that Syed Gillani, the PM has inaugurated PTCL’s IPTV services on May 17…. for instance http://www.onlinenews.com.pk/details.php?id=128067 also has similar info….but PTCL website has not released any PR or any other information for general public
Maybe they are still in alpha phase for this service… But i dont understand what Mr. Gillani was doing there if it is the case?