State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

There are a few major milestones as important as finding your first job and defining a career path. One of the essential role of a good institution is that it provide information and coaching about the huge transition from a student to professional. As any successful professional will tell you, the combination of good academic credentials, well written resume / CV and preparation for interviews is needed to land good opportunities. A talented student could lose an opportunity because of a sloppy resume. So the first thing is that the candidates need to be well informed and well prepared. Once you have a CV ready then you need feedback from recruiters, managers and other experienced people.

I was browsing a social networking site and saw very positive comments about Career Management Workshops by Telenor in many universities across Pakistan. Of course, there are only so many students that one company can hire, but there’s no limit to the education which companies can provide to students. I hope that other companies follow Telenor’s approach and reach out to schools. Here’s a bit of information about Management Workshops (CMW) by Telenor.

The CMW sessions are conducted by experienced HR professionals with the aim to guide students interested in taking up a career in any industry.

The Career Management Workshop session includes a presentation by the university alumni working with Telenor Pakistan, followed by a summary on the hiring process at the organization. One of the highlight of CMW is the Student Excellence Program (SEP). This is an interactive session where the do’s and don’ts of CV writing and interviews are discussed for the benefits of the students. This is then followed by mock interviews with students selected randomly during the session. The workshop is concluded by collecting student feedback via survey forms.

I think that it is very important for students and companies to engage in this two-way communication. The companies get exposure and can spot exceptional talent. These sessions help students to a) understand the hiring process b) learn about the competencies which companies are looking for and c) how to present themselves in the best possible way. It is a shame if talented students lose opportunities to get an interview because of a sloppy CV.

I have been told that students have found these workshops very useful. If you are a student looking for a job, please share your experience of preparing CV and getting feedback on it. If Telenor has been to your university, tell us about it.

Headlines from the major news media are talking about tax burden on cell phone industry. The blogs have been saying this for a while now. The combination of recession, changes in SIM policy and the high taxes have proved to be problematic for the once fast growing cell phone industry in Pakistan. Now that some time has elapsed the negative impact of these policy changes are quite clear in the forms of slow growth, less spending by consumers and lower tax revenues for the government.

As if this was not known to the government, Dawn reports that:

A group of executives from mobile companies recently held a meeting with senior government officials and informed them that there are higher taxes on the industry than any other sector.

The point which the companies and PTA are trying to make is that higher tax rates have resulted in lower tax revenues for the government.

Looking for some ray of optimism? Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance, Shaukat Tarin has stated that the government would not impose new taxes in the budget but rationalise the existing taxation system and widen its base. Yeah, about time.

Earlier it was just Telenor which acquired 51% stakes in the Tameer Microfinance Bank. Now Orascom (The group Mobilink is part of) a telecommunication company having no experience in banking, has also joined the race to win Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) operations in Pakistan, while June 5, 2009 has been set as last date for submitting offers for acquiring local assets of the London-based bank.

The State Bank of Pakistan on Friday allowed Orascom to conduct due diligence. Two largest Pakistani banks, MCB Bank and Habit Bank, are in the forefront to acquire the RBS operations. JS Bank, a relatively small bank, is also interested in buying RBS operations in Pakistan and is conducting due diligence. If JS acquires the RBS, it will suddenly put the JS Bank among the list of large banks operating in Pakistan.

Analysts believe that MCB Bank is the strongest candidate for the RBS and HBL despite being a heavy-weight could not go beyond a certain limit. However, JS Bank, which has strong financial backing, could try to get the RBS operations at the highest cost. With three Banks in the competition where does Orascom stand?

It must be noted here that Orascom (Mobilink) among the Telecos holds a strong interest of Mobile Banking scope in Pakistan and this move can make things easier for them.

Lets hope to see Mobile Banking in Pakistan soon.

[via Dawn.com]