State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

In its latest report on the handset market, Strategy Analytics forecast that global shipments in the final quarter of 2009 will rise 3% from the previous year to reach 300 million units.

“We believe this will be the first time the industry has returned to positive growth since Q3 2008, signaling an end to the handset recession after four quarters of decline,” it said.

In the third quarter, Nokia maintained its market-leading position even as its market share fell to 37%, its lowest level since the first quarter 2007, Strategy Analytics said. Apple, meanwhile, hasn’t yet cracked the top ranks, but reached a record 2.5% market share helped by strong shipments of its iPhone. Apple earlier this month reported a 47% jump in quarterly profit led by better-than-expected sales of iPhones, Macintosh computers and iPods.

In the third quarter 2009, global shipments of mobile phones fell 4% from a year earlier to 291 million units, Strategy Analytics said, also a significant improvement compared with an average decline of 11% for the last three quarters. “Once again, the rate of decline slowed in comparison with the previous quarter, bolstering our belief that the industry is edging towards recovery,” it said.

In my earlier post about the change in utility bill partner companies by easypaisa I asked what could be the reason behind this change in Partner Companies at this early stage? Telenor Pakistan and Tameer Bank have clarified their stance on the issue in the press release that follows saying that they are authorized to collect bills and deposit them through KASB aggregator service as per their agreement with KASB.

Recently, media has reported that IESCO and LESCO have asked their customers to not deposit their bills at Tameer bank’s easypaisa retailers. IESCO and LESCO have taken the position that they do not have an agreement with Tameer bank for bill collection through this channel.

Tameer Bank has a contract with KASB authorizing it to collect bills and deposit them through KASB’s aggregator service. Tameer Bank entered into an electronic bill collection arrangement with KASB Bank under their “eUBS” service in 2007. This Service Level Agreement was enhanced in February 2009 to cater for its Branchless Banking approval. The channels covered under this arrangement include IVR, ATM, Call Center, POS and other Over the Counter (OTC) modes. We would like to highlight that all utility companies, which have electronic billing arrangements with KASB have been made available to member banks as well. Therefore, Tameer Bank rightly availed this electronic collection under its umbrella agreement with KASB.

As per contract, KASB is responsible for all negotiations and arrangements with utility companies, and we are asking them to resolve this issue with IESCO and LESCO as soon as possible.

In the interest of our valued customers, Tameer Bank and Telenor Pakistan have decided to temporarily suspend the service from IESCO at easypaisa merchants. This service will be resumed as soon as the agreement issues between IESCO and Tameer Bank are resolved.

Tameer Bank and Telenor Pakistan would like to reassure all easypaisa customers who have already paid their IESCO and LESCO bills that their amounts have safely been deposited with the relevant utility companies. Furthermore, our dedicated helpline, 111-345-100 is available 24/7, to address any customer concerns related to easypaisa or previous transactions. Customers are requested to contact with their transaction ID.

One many wonder what took so long for this clarification but nevertheless lets hope that the issue gets resolved soon and we explore more branchless banking solutions from Easypaisa.

With the recent introduction of iPhone to China, there has been plenty of discussion about the high selling price. One must wonder what is the real price of popular smart phones such as iPhone and Blackberry. I extracted this info from an article.

• According to Shaw Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Bros, The iPhone’s average selling price is $611, and the carrier pays a subsidy that brings the price down to $99 or $199. He estimates that the iPhone’s gross profit margin is about two-thirds, so the device costs about $200 to produce.
• BlackBerry phones in the most recent quarter had an average selling price to the carrier of $345—and cost about $150 to make, Mr. Wu estimates.
• The new Palm Pre costs roughly the same as the iPhone to produce but sells on average at $455 to the carrier, Mr. Wu estimates. The customer pays $149.99.