State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

Short answer is: No, especially if you are afraid of commitments.  As you may have noticed in the newspaper ads or billboards, Ufone has partnered with Habib Bank to offer free handsets to new or existing customers of HBL credit card who agree to get a Ufone post paid connection package for a two year commitment. Customers will have to pay their bills through HBL credit card. This seems to be a departure from the usual deals, in a market where people are used to switching phones freely and after relatively short period of time.

It looks like someone in Ufone has taken this straight out of the playbook of a US telecom company. The business practice of giving free (or subsidized) handsets to lure customers into long contracts is pervasive in the US. Most consumers like getting free handsets of their choice but no one likes the accompanying contracts and the terms and conditions. There is usually a fee associated with early termination of the contract. Recently there has been plenty of consumer resentment against these contract based offers and more mobile carriers have started offering more month-to-month packages.

In this particular of Ufone and HBL, there are a few things which the buyer should be beware of. First, I would strongly caution anyone against getting one more credit card just for the sake of a free phone. Now let’s analyse the offer. The total cost of the two year line commitment can be so high that it may not be worth the free phone.  There are five plans to choose from with line rents varying from 599 to 3499 Rs and include airtime and sms buckets. The handsets range from Nokia 1680, 2630 to Samsung M150, G800 to Blackberry models etc. Higher the line rent, better is the handset. Customer’s monthly charges will appear automatically on the HBL Credit Card statement.

The customer will be required to adhere to the terms and conditions of the contract for a two-year period which is a very long time for Pakistani market. If you change your mind before you complete the two year contract, there will be a penalty.

Consider this example of package number 5 which has line rent of Rs.3499. Over two years, it will be almost Rs. 84000. Then there are the details of included minutes and sms …. the usual stuff which goes along with these packages.

Unless you have performed the calculations and are convinced that this is a good deal for you, I would not advise going along with this kind offer. You are probably better off living the free life which you are already used to.

Mobile and related modern information and communication technologies are making a big impact on how you and I receive information. Whether its breaking news, some interesting piece of information, a consumer tip or opinions and views, we are no longer dependent on the large media organizations.

I have written previously about activism through mobiles, blogging and other new media. There is a common thread in all of these: empowering the common person on the street in ways which were not possible before. Anyone with access to nothing more than a mobile phone can be a reporter, thanks to solutions provided by interersting startups such as See n Report.

Some of the high profile reporting has been powered by evidence captured through mobile phones. For example, see this report about Kashmir on BBC. It is obvious that this trend will only grow and there will be more formal processes and tools to incorporate this user generated content to the existing media. the growing popularity of social networks and location based services will serve as another catalyst for this trend.

Of course there are plenty of details which need to be figured out – such as validation, trust and verification of the content. For those who have captured important footage and reported it, it can be the start of a lifelong activity.

Chasing events on mobile phones have now become an obsessive hobby with these young men – they charge their phones regularly every night and hit the road next morning looking for some action.

A young journalist says the mobile phone chroniclers are usually internet-savvy students, who shoot clips and upload them on the internet. 

See this great tutorial about wireless technologies, via Communications Blog. The pdf file is over 6MB and registration is required for download.

This comprehensive tutorial is designed to benefit both the technical and general telecom audience. Brough Turner reviews the history and evolution of mobile radio, evolving network architectures, services, applications, and business models; considers alternative 4G paths and the potential for convergence of GSM/LTE and WiMAX; and discusses the longer term impact of new WiFi standards on fixed and mobile wireless services. In this wireless tutorial, Brough also covers core network architectures and their evolution to all-IP, new wireless applications and application frameworks, spectrum licensing and more.

Recently I switched DSL broadband service at my home in Defence (DHA) Lahore from Wateen to Link dot Net. I wanted to share the reasons for making the switch and my experience with Wateen over the last few months. I am quite happy with my current experience with link dot net but I had to go through a few months of pain to get there. I hope that others can use this post as a helpful guide.

The Abu Dhabi Group launched Wateen Telecom in Pakistan in the year 2007. It claims to have the most wide spread of services throughout Pakistan. This company is providing their customers (in DHA Lahore) with Internet, telephony and cable television. There are other wide spread activities that they offer such as online gaming, digital television etc. Outside of DHA they are providing their customers with WIMAX and Telephony.

In year 2008, Wateen Telecom was well established in the market and was catering to a sufficient number of customers in Lahore. But soon after their beginning this company was not providing with sufficient quality of the product that they promised earlier on. This is also clear from the comments on the previous posts about Wateen on TelecomPk.net.

I signed up for Wateen’s DSL service in March. I paid Rs.1500 and got the CPE. The problem started with the billing. There was no bill for the first few months, perhaps because Wateen did not have a billing systemin place. The first bill hit me with a surprise because it was a combined total of three months. There are other hidden charges such as the modem they provide, they charge for it on the monthly basis. But the most regular complaints Wateen Telecom is dealing with are of the overcharging and details of what so ever the customer has down loaded and how has he downloaded. There is no record available to the customer how much internet is available to him, nor does the company seize the account after the download cap has been breached out of the limits for particular package.

There is a huge communication gap between the franchises and the main offices. There are number of complaints still lined up, hundreds of customers yet to be answered. Most of the customers had not paid their bills of subsequently bigger amounts, because no one is ready to accept that they have over used so much of internet. Wateen Telecom has over invested in Lahore and the time is close that it will become a major flop in the industry.

Other then Wateen Telecom if we see the other competitors in the market, such as World Call, PTCL and Link dot NET, among them all the most suitable DSL broadband Internet provider is Link dot Net. Choosing Link dot Net is surely a safe and secure investment. With the most suitable rates in the market you get unlimited downloads. Whereas Wateen Telecom is providing with download cap of 2 GBs/ 4 GBs depending on the package. World Call provides cable in internet, the money they charge at the time of the installation is not affordable for customers like students etc. PTCL has fair rates and number of packages including DSL broadband, cable Television and telephone, but the services provided is not at all up to the standards.

Among these entire Link dot Net is providing with the latest gadgetry at the lowest prices in comparison with its competition and is strongly increasing its market share. The cost is a total of Rs 1300. In which they provide you with 512kbps with unlimited downloads. The modem has a built in wireless router and can be connected to WLAN and operated round the house. There is no need of a cable connection and meters worth of cable entering the room, what you need is just a PTCL connection and on that line you can connect your modem. The performance rocks! I am completely satisfied with the customer services and my choice.

Picture taken at Lahore airport. Interesting idea to promote their brand but I think that Warid is not using this as effectively as it could be used. It was kind of quiet and for a minute I thought that there was no one inisde. Knocked on the window and there was a customer service person inside. Nokia has used this approach for a while with their colorful vans which have been photographed at many place such as rural India.

Wireless broadband is the ultimate connected service. With the recent commercial launch of Mobilink Infinity–Mobilink’s WiMAX Internet and voice services – folks in Karachi have one more choice. For Mobilink this is an important milestone: they started off as a GSM telecom company and now they provide complete telecommunications services. Obviously the service coverage is limited but its a matter of time before the coverage is widened.

The tariffs are competitive. Interestingly, just after a couple of days of announcing the original rates, Mobilink decided to waive the one-time installation fee and security deposit — total of Rs.4K. The CPE cost is 6K and data plan rates range from Rs.450 (5G/256kbps) to Rs. 1500 (15G/1Mbps). This may start another price war with WiMAX competitors which will benefit consumers, many of which have expressed frustration with other wireless broaband services. This is a big test for WiMAX technology as well and I am sure there are many industry analysts watching this closely.

But there is one thing which is more important than rates: execution and customer service. It seems that Infinity has done its home work and is ready to deliver on the promises mentioned on its website. But the only way to know is to find from the actual users in Karachi!

A few aspects of modern Pakistani culture are as prominent as the practice of intentional missed call. The calling party pays rule has defined the communication protocol: if you need to talk to me, you better return that call and pay for it. In brief – the rich guy pays. I’ve noted that a lot of housewives end up using this technique to make their husbands call back.

Last year LIRNE Asia published a report on the strategy of missed calls. The post showed that this strategy of missed calls is extremely common among the countries which are usually included in a group known as “bottom of the pyramid” because of the large number of low-income users. Of course the idea is to save money and missed calls is one of the common ways – sms is another.

Another interesting question to ask is that if the billing is per second (as opposed to per minute) will it reduce the number of missed calls? For the telcos who implement the sub-minute pulse, this can be a good source of revenue which might have been lost.

Here’s a recent article on this from MobileActive. The full paper is on this site by Jonathan Donner.

Missed calls are upward of 25-30% of network traffic in some markets. Operators don’t get paid for those calls or now, more often, USSD call-back messages.  Originally just a cost-saving mechanism missed calls and call-me texts have evolved to a rich communication system that people use to communicate at low cost.

Donner notes: “People use this repertoire in very nuanced ways. They know whether a missed-call means ‘call me back’, ‘pick me up’, or just ‘I’m thinking of you’.

I spotted this while travelling through UAE last week: a special plan for those who are visiting UAE. Offered by DU, the first competitor to Etisalat’s stronghold in UAE. This kind of “visitor mobile phone plan” can make life easy for Pakistanis who live abroad and want the same number everytime they visit. The idea makes sense for many emerging markets as these countries tend to have a large number of expats.

In the absence of a customized plan for visitors from abroad, many people end up getting a prepaid service but prepaid SIMs are deactivated after 3 months of inactivity and the number is gone. The work around is to You to get a postpaid account and suspend/activate the service everytime you leave/enter the country. If there was a MVNO, this is one of the service which they can offer. See below to get an idea of what DU is offering.

Visitor Mobile Line is our prepaid mobile service which has been specifically tailored to suit your needs – whether you’re a tourist, business traveller or employment seeker visiting the UAE.

* Lowest price – pay AED 49 activation fee and get AED 20 recharge card free
* Pay by the Second – pay only for what you use and nothing more
* You can choose to get 15% more credit on every recharge – You have the option to choose ‘more credit’ or ‘more time’ every time you recharge.
* Me&Mine – enjoy attractive rates on all your calls to two international and two national numbers of your choice for a small monthly fee.
* Get more for your money with these incredible national SMS bundles and data bundle
* We will give you two, one- minute out of credit calls so you can always make that emergency call when you’ve run out of credit.
* Flexible – a 90 day validity which is renewable so you can use the same line next time you’re in the UAE.
* Exclusive travel kit – a free tourist map and mini-guide to the UAE plus a handy travel folder.
* My World – Unique portal on every SIM including
the visitors dedicated section ‘Get to know the UAE’ that allows you to
find sites to see, shopping, places and much more.
* The very latest Next Generation Mobile Services such as video calls, video mail, mobile TV & mobile broadband

Chanuka Wattegama writes about his presentations to World Bank about disaster risk management and the role played by information and communication technology. Via LirneAsia Site.

“We must realize the fact that disasters threaten sustained economic growth of the society and the country.”

These were the words of Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani addressing the opening ceremony of the first National Disaster Risk Management Conference. The function, reported Associated Press of Pakistan, was organized to mark the Disaster Awareness Day observed annually after the catastrophic earthquake which struck country’s northern areas in October 2005, killing 73,000 people and leaving 3.5 million homeless.

More or less the same sentiments but in a more action oriented manner were expressed at Washington DC at the two day workshop on ‘Disaster Risk Management in the Information Age on Oct 8-9.

I made two presentations. The first one, the opening remarks, was more a panoramic view how ICTs can be used in different phases of disaster management, while the second one focused on two projects, Sahana by Lanka Software foundation and our own Haz-Info – a pilot for a Community based Early Warning System.

More details with presentation slides of all speakers are available here.

There has been a lot of discussion around the customer service quality and the fact that now some phone companies charge you a nominal amount when you call for service. I believe that it is not a good trend for consumers that they have to pay for a genuine service call. But there’s another factor: all the time you spend on the phone, especially when you have to deal with the IVR system.

These automated call flows are a necessity of modern businesses. For any large business which runs a call center, operational efficiency in call centers is critical and a down time of a few minutes is a huge issue. Keeping calls brief and using automated systems allows companies to keep the costs under control. Providing online information or other ways of avoiding calls (by using online chat etc) is important as well. For consumers however, it is a big pain go through the IVR maze.

Telenor takes an interesting approach: on their website they publish a number of IVR maps. See above for talkshawk map. I am sure this is helpful for some people but some of these maps can be so complex that it can be a discouragement for callers. What do you think?

I wrote about the Legatum center before, where research on Pakistan telecom is being carried out. Here I share view of some of the world’s top economists who got together for the one year anniversary of Legatum Center for Development & Entrepreneurship. The topic: how entrepreneurship can help poor countries to come out of the vicious cycle. Very interesting read.

Celebrating the inauguration of MIT’s Legatum Center for Development & Entrepreneurship, a panel of five Nobel laureates in economics, including Institute Professor Paul R. Samuelson, spoke on “the role of entrepreneurship in development” as part of a daylong symposium.

“Most development so far has targeted those in the middle class, and has hurt the poor and the ultra-poor,” Samuelson said.

That’s the kind of pattern that the Legatum Center hopes to change. By encouraging entrepreneurship in developing countries around the world, it aims to foster a self-sustaining pathway out of poverty for the regions that need it the most. “I commend your organization,” Samuelson told center Director Iqbal Quadir and an audience that included the center’s first group of a dozen Legatum fellows, “because you’re giving some attention to something that had been neglected.”

Eric Maskin of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, a 2007 laureate, asked “why inequality has actually increased in so many poor countries, when the theory of competitive advantage predicted just the opposite — that globalization should have led to a decline in inequality in poor countries.”

The problem, he said, is that globalization has helped those with relatively high skill levels by opening them up to international markets, but those without the skills have been left behind. “The answer is not to stop globalization,” he said, “but rather to bring the people at the bottom to a point where they too can participate in global markets.” That’s not easy, he said, but requires a bottom-up approach of focusing foreign aid on education and skills development.

The Legatum approach of fostering local entrepreneurship, he said, has many advantages. “Entrepreneurs do have an incentive to get it right, to help those at the bottom,” because they need “a well-trained, well-educated labor force.” As a result, “the investment spills over to benefit the society in general.”

Edmund Phelps of Columbia University, the 2006 laureate, said “innovation is behind a thriving economy,” so it’s important to find ways to encourage the development within a given country of “new ideas for new kinds of commercial goods, or new ways to produce commercial goods.” But it’s not necessarily new technological products that bring benefits, because those can simply be copied by other countries.

But even in a very poor country, he said, “there can be changes made at the lowliest levels of production. There can be changes, improvements, and a deep satisfaction from discovering a new way to do something.”

Robert Merton of Harvard University, a 1997 laureate, said that one thing that can foster such a culture of innovation is a wide-ranging education, providing a more flexible and adaptable workforce. Rather than focusing on specific job training and technical education, “maybe it’s worth it to expend the resources to have a broader education,” he said, because that leads to a population that’s more able to adapt to a rapidly changing work environment.

As mentioned in the comments to my last post about smart phones, HTC is on a roll, drawing great reviews in Europe and Asia. This picture is of a poster of TyTN II,  from Hafiz Center, Lahore.