State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

A quick recap of the cellular trend watch as of July 2009 shows a total subscriber base of more than 95.5 million as of July 2009. At that time Mobilink and Telenor were leading and month to month subscriber change also showed a consistent increase in subscriber base over the past three months.

With the successful on going SIM Information System 668 campaign, official sources at PTA have revealed that the cellular phone companies have blocked 12.9 million SIMs in two weeks of launch, reported Daily News. Data of around 0.813 million subscribers has been rectified by the relevant mobile phone companies so far, they said while nearly 5 million subscribers have sought verification from the authority so far. PTA officials said that number of blocking of SIM could increase further as the millions of remaining customers will check their SIMs information against their Computerized National Identity Cards (CNIC).

With this it is speculated that the total subscriber base will fall along with reduction in individual operator’s subscribers.

The campaign although a good move by PTA to counter misinformation in data have raised astonishment, concerns and frustration in the customers. Here I am sharing a few comments of consumers at telecompk’s posts on the same earlier this week.

Muhammad Riaz says,

How astonishing to know that 57 SIMs are registered to my CNIC but I have only 2 SIMs of Mobilink. I ask why the phone operator have misused my CNIC. Now no one is paying attention to my request for blocking the SIMs.

Riaz if what you have said is right it has left me astonished too. 57 SIMs on a single CNIC. In this case who takes up the responsibility of misusing CNIC, the franchise or the operator?

On the other hand Zubair Bashir from Norway has a serious concern,

There are a total 31 different company connections on my name which I didn’t know. I used only 3 or 4 of them. I am in Norway, how will I contact customer services.

Zubair could be just one of the many who are abroad and want to know how could they get their data corrected. Many local consumers have also complained about lack of knowledge of the customer service center nearest to them.

Another consumer Muhammad Saeed expresses frustration over not knowing the numbers registered on his CNIC,

I had send a message with my CNIC No. at 668 to know the total numbers of SIMs issued against my name. I was astonished to know that there are 6 Mobilink SIMs registered to my Name. Main jannna chahta hoon keh mari ID par kon kon sa NO. active hain?

This again shows a lack of awareness of the procedure to get the information corrected.

To facilitate, I have played the part social media can play by doing a post on how to get the SIM information corrected and by providing links to addresses of the CSCs/Business Centers but I feel this has to be done on a much larger scale. PTA along with all operators should come up with an TV/Newspaper advertisements to create awareness for the common masses. Advertisement may include knowledge of the procedure to get the SIM information corrected. It may also be helpful for the consumers if CSCs/Business Centers addresses are advertised in local newspapers.

If these steps are taken we are sure to have all the real subscriber base have their information corrected and know their exact count.

Mobile Learning Environment is a product for promoting learning in schools using mobile phones. More information is at GoKnow web site. I will write additional posts about this soon.

Cross post from Basit Ali’s blog

BlackBerry app world is RIM’s official application store. Since its launch, this store has been gaining popularity. Initially, app world was available in a very few countries including USA and UK. Later more countries have been added. Today, RIM has announced support for app world in a few more countries. The newly added countries include:

• Indonesia
• Hong Kong
• Singapore

Moreover, RIM also announces that several more countries will be added to the supported countries list soon. The upcoming supported countries list is as follows:

• India
• Honduras
• Nicaragua
• El Selvador
• Bolivia
• Paraguay
• Uruguay

This is also interesting to note that vendors will not be able to sell there apps in these countries. Only free apps will be listed to users in these countries. RIM is working to make payment processing available in these countries and paid applications will start showing up in the app-world users of these countries once the payment processing mechanism is in place.

I was expecting Pakistan to be one of the country in at least the up-coming countries list but unfortunately that has not been the case. Do you think the number of BlackBerry users or their purchase power is less than that of BlackBerry users in Honduras or Bolivia?

Comedy and joke apps on iPhone meet their equivalent in Pakistan – Warid Comedy Corner is a new service through which you pay to listen jokes and comedy.

The service brings you renowned & distinguished comedians along with their hilarious stand-up comedy sessions and gut-busting jokes in both Urdu and Punjabi. Just dial 420 from your handset.

The cost is Rs. 3/minute. See the list of comedians here. A service like this can be a good break on a tough day … although it may not be “a quick solution to all your tensions & worries”, as claimed on Warid’s web site.

By the way the 420 reminds me of another service by a competitor :)

Easypaisa was launched two weeks ago with the following features.

Today I came across a news item at onepakistan saying that LESCO has not authorised collection of utility bills from its consumers through easypaisa shops. On checking the easypaisa website for utility companies on board a change is found. They now only have PTCL, SSGC, SNGPL, KESC and HESCO.

Easypaisa, being the first big branchless banking solution from Telenor and Tameer Bank, launched with a zeal to bring about a paradigm shift in banking, I believe could not be coming without homework and making such a mistake that will not only harm its current offering but will also create problems for its the upcoming products and services. If this is so then what could be the reason behind this change in Partner Companies at this early stage?

A lot is being expected from Mobile Money since the launch of easypaisa, primarily offering bill payments and promises to offer more services soon. People are looking froward to mobile banking potentials especially the un-banked population for their socio-economic empowerment. According to new analysis from Juniper Research, consumer demand for mobile money transfer services will see users exceed 500 million globally by 2014, principally in developing countries.

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The social media is taking over the world fast and furious. Found out this interesting video on social media revolution. Sharing it with you all.

What do you say, Is Social Media a Fad?

Google officially released the next version of Android this week, bringing what appears to be some solid evolution to the mobile platform.

New features for Android 2.0 include useful-looking improvements to the way contacts can be accessed. Developers can play with the platform now, but the first device expected to have it is the Motorola Droid, which is slated for release in November.

Via Technology Review

PTA has issued a revised framework for MVNOs in Pakistan. Read the official pdf here or read below for highlights. A Daily times article by Muhammad Yasir says that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has finally set $5 million initial licence fee for Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) to be valid for the period of 10 years. Would this mean that we may see some new foreign investment in Pakistan telecom?

A MVNO is a mobile operator that does not own its own spectrum and usually does not have its own network infrastructure. Instead, MVNO’s have business arrangements with traditional mobile operators to buy minutes of use (MOU) for sale to their own customers.

While MVNO’s typically do not have their own infrastructure, some leading providers are actually deploying their own Mobile Switching Centers (MSC) and even Service Control Points (SCP) in some cases. Leading MVNO’s deploy their own mobile infrastructure in order to facilitate the means to offer value-added services.

In this way, MNVO’s can treat incumbent infrastructure such as radio equipment as a commodity, while the MVNO offers its own advanced and differentiated services based on exploitation of their own intelligent network infrastructure. The goal of offering value-added services is to differentiate versus the incumbent mobile operator, allowing for customer acquisition and preventing the MVNO from needing to compete on the basis of price alone.

MVNO’s have full control over the SIM card, branding, marketing, billing, and customer care operations. While sometimes offering operational support systems (OSS) and business support systems (BSS) to support the MVNO, the incumbent mobile operators most keep their own OSS/BSS processes and procedures separate and distinct from those of the MVNO.

The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance 2007 requires some serious revisions before it is passed by the Parliament in coming sessions. A PILDAT forum on the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Ordinance 2007  was held on October 26, 2009. The Forum included as its speakers Mr. Ejaz Khan, techno-legal expert and Partner Aqlaal Advocates, Mr. Tariq Khosa, Director General of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and MNA’s Ms. Anusha Rehman Khan and Ms. Marvi Memon.

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As the SIM information and data correction is in full swing these days, I have found out that consumers are checking on their data via SMS and online at PTA website and reporting it in comments on previous post here. Kindly note that if you find out any discrepancy in your SIM information visit the nearest CSCs (customer service center) or business center of the concerned operator and get it fixed.

For convenience, I am sharing links which give addresses of the CSCs/Business Centers of mobile operators in Pakistan.

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Here are excerpts from a recent article which expressed concerns about mobile data pricing going from a simple fixed price (as offered to iPhone users in the US currently) to a more elaborate usage-based model. As an example, iPhone users get all you can use data plan for $30 which is competitive. I recently ran a poll on data usage and its results showed that many smartphone users in Pakistan consume over 100MB data each month.

Consider: A single YouTube viewing consumes nearly 100 times as much cellular bandwidth as a voice call. In Asia, some 200 million people already watch video on their smartphones. No wonder Google (whose YouTube unit serves up one billion videos a day) is an investor in a new undersea fiber line connecting North America to the Far East.

More omens: Data collector AdMob reports that mobile Web page requests grew 9% from July to August—a 180% annual growth rate. And Motorola recently went public with worries that a handful of mobile Slingbox users (a video streaming device) could wipe out cell service in a whole neighborhood.

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