We had recently talked about Telecordia facing a hard time for its entry in India and facing scrutiny by Indian government. As mentioned earlier, Telenor also had to go through this. The latest is that Telecordia will be getting entry on the same conditions entry Telenor was allowed. The excerpts of the news item from The Economic Times gives the details.
This WSJ article on Telcordia shows how telecom is also getting caught up in the intense politics of South Asia. Telcordia had helped with mobile number portability and now that has come under scrutiny by Indian government. Quite funny. We had heard the same kind of concerns about Telenor. Is this an isolated instance or does this mean more trouble for telecom vendors who are doing business in South Asia?
Telcordia Technologies Inc. sold its software to several cellphone companies in Pakistan a few years ago, just as it has done in 14 other countries. Now that fact is making life difficult for the U.S. company in Pakistan’s archrival, India. Telcordia makes back-end software for wireless and fixed-line networks.
Millions of Indian cellphone users are awaiting the chance to switch wireless providers while keeping the same phone number. Telcordia, which is based in Piscataway, N.J., was one of two companies the Indian government selected to provide crucial services to carriers in the transition to so-called number portability.
But in recent months, India’s Home Ministry has raised objections that partnering with Telcordia could compromise national security, effectively putting the company’s plans on hold.
The Indian ministry noted its concerns that Telcordia “has presence in Pakistan,” according to notes from a January meeting of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, the government body that reviews foreign investments.
Read more about this after the break.
Many people think that mobile number portability process is hard and cumbersome. Not any more. To persuade subscribers to switch over, Warid has launched a special 24×7 helpline 321-321-321-1. Other network users can dial this number and they will be provided thorough personalized consultancy and support regarding the process of porting-in, its prerequisites and details of packages and tariffs, along with special MNP offerings. Upon successful verifications the customer will be contacted by Warid representative for documentation processing and a new SIM for just Rs. 50 having balance of Rs. 65 will be provided to the customer in 4 days.
Zong’s book your number (BYN) is among the popular feature offered by Zong. I think that the combination of book-your-number and mobile number portability (see the my number my network ad above) has contributed immensely to Zong’s growth. With the introduction of new numbering series Zong’s BYN will continue to attract subscribers. BYN is a good example where technology and marketing can help a company with direct growth and customer retention.
Note the limitations set by Zong:
I’m an unhappy customer.
This all starts when I mistakenly decided to port my existing number to Warid Telecom. Yes you heard it right. It is MNP request.
Attempt 1 – March 2nd
I simply walked into a Warid Franchise (Balcom Ltd. Main boulevard, Defence lahore) near my house on a busy Monday evening (That ws 2nd March). I was greeted with a few people occupying the counter and not letting me through, though I succeeded in almost shouting and asking “Can I get my number ported in to Warid from this franchise?” and a nod was the answer. Then I was asked to sit down and wait. I sat down and waited and as I had nothing else to do, I started listening to the requests being made. There were 3 customers on the counter, 2 getting some usual stuff done, and the 3 one was a “Peer” (yeah, peer in urdu). The guy who was talking and helping peer sahib appeared to be the manager or the senior franchise guy, while the other guys were clearly junior.After a painful wait of almost half an hour on the bench for me, and same for my wife and son in the car outside, I found a chance to come to the counter and talk to the rep. At the same instance, the manager took the peer sahib and his fellow into his cabin and I was the only one on this side of the counter.
Denial of service and a fight back
To my sheer surprise, when I asked the rep to give me the form for port-in request, he simply refused saying “we are out of forms, please come tomorrow morning”. I decided for a moment to simply forget about porting in, but that was just for a moment. The charm of the bundle sms and mms pushed me again to pursue the chance. I simply walked into the manager’s room and complained about the time I had to waste sitting and waiting just to listen that they don’t have the forms. Well, I was a little loud too. This worked, the manager walked out of his cabin, whispered stuff to the reps out there and instantly everything started working fine, the forms were available, the guy started filling my form, I gave him my NIC copy and showed him the original one, paid Rs. 100 (never got a receipt), showed him my current sim and walla! I got the new sim. I was told that it will be active within a week but it may take a few more days than a week too, so be patient.
I walked out of the franchise with this new sim and got busy with my life.
A never ending delay
I was very patient for 2 weeks and eventually on 15th of March, I called Warid customer support to check the status. I had to wait for a long time ( I did’nt use a stop-watch, must be 15 mins or so) and finally my call got answered. I was told that as an SOP it can take around 15 days to port a number in. So I was told to be patient for a few more days.
Waited Further
I went into patience mode again. And then I was too busy for a couple of weeks to pursue that.
Attempt 2 – March 28th
On Saturday, March 28th I called the helpline again to check the status. This time I had a stop watch and it took only 17 minutes to get through to a rep and it really flared me up when he told me that they don’t have any port-in request against this number. What the heck? The helpline told me to simply go to the nearest business center, and not to the franchises to get MNP done. I asked about the franchise nearby and if it will be open and available or not. I was happily guided to Gulberg franchise and I was told that it is open for the service till late evening. I decided to simply go to the business center and complain about this franchise, though I complained to the telephone guy too.
Denial of service, yet again! and yeah a fight back too
I drove to Gulberg business center though I wasn’t that angry by then. I was security screened at the door and when I entered, I was greeted by a well dressed person. He was supposed to help and guide me to obtain a queue-ticket form that machine but when I told him that I’m here to get a number ported-in, he simply excused and told me “We don’t entertain MNP requests on Saturdays, you should come on Monday”. What the heck again???
I told him that the helpline sent me in but he continued arguing. Then another guy came in to get something done to his Blackberry. He was sent in by the helpline as well and he was refused service on Saturday too. When he saw himself getting cornered by two guys who were actually sent to the business center by helpline, he changed his mind and guided us both to respective reps.
I got the ticket, waited for a good 15 minutes and I got my turn.
Finally got the service I was looking for
I was greeted by a very helpful young guy. I told him my story and the first thing I wanted to do was to launch a complaint against the franchise. Apparently the guy knew some people at the franchise and he eventually convinced me not to launch a complaint. He was a nice fellow who excused and apologized for the trouble, filled a new form, saw my documents, took the payment and issued me yet another sim. As it was Saturday evening, he promised that it will be activated on Monday or Tuesday max.
Another promise broken!
Even wednesday’s gone, there’s no sign of number port in. Am I fooled again? Am I asking for a wrong service? Is that how a Telco should behave to the new customers (I don’t care if It is a franchise or not)? Can somebody suggest me where I should complain that actually creates a stir?
In short, if you are looking for some good customer service, my experience is VERY BAD with Warid.
I welcome your comments and feedback and please do share if you had a bad experience with Warid.
My previous posts about Zong received a lot of queries about how to get a desired number from the new Zong series. For all of those who are still looking for that special number, Zong has started offering Book Your Number feature online. You can check the availability of numbers online and if the number is available, fill out the form, attach your CNIC and then pick up the SIM from Zong office. The site also gives ideas on what numbers to get:
Update: Comments are closed – please go to Zong website for more information about how to book your number.
A good write-up from PTA on mobile number migration work, currently in progress. See my previous posts here and here.
Pakistan follows International Telecommunication Union (ITU) -T standards E.164 for geographical national numbering plan that includes local loop & cellular mobile operators. The cellular mobile numbers are identified by means of 4-digit separate access code which is known as NDC (National Destination code) i.e. 03xx (x=0-9). The first 50 codes are reserved for Cellular mobile operators. Each access code has the capacity to accommodate 8-million subscribers excluding level “0” & “1”. This means that subscriber number consist of 11-digits i.e. NDC & 7-digit number starting from 2 to 9. In Pakistan cellular mobile numbering plan is based on geographical boundaries that limit the utilization to 50-60% of the numbering space available against each NDC. In this scenario, each cellular mobile operator requires multiple NDCs to accommodate their growing subscribers.
To provide more numbering space, a public consultation process for 7 to 8 mobile number migration was started in 2007. The consultation paper was circulated to all stakeholders and it was decided that the current mobile numbering plan i.e. 0300-xxxxxxx will be changed into new mobile numbering plan i.e. 030-0xxxxxxx. The mobile number migration is planned to alter minimum changes in the existing mobile subscriber numbers, as there is shift of 1-digit from mobile NDC code to the subscriber number. Except CMPAK [031], Instaphone [036], & SCOM [035] the numbering plan of remaining cellular mobile operators will remain the same from subscriber point of view. The dialing format of Mobilink, Ufone, Telenor, & Warid will remain the same but the changes are implemented in core network. This will increase the current numbering capacity by 10 times which is enough for next two decades in Pakistan.
With the monthly additions average around 2.5 million subscribers, 2007 has been a phenomenal year for the mobile market growth in Pakistan. Here’s a look at the numbers (from PTA site) for the first 8 Months Of 2007. A quick analysis of this data reveals few trends about market leadership.
Mobilink gained the most subscribers (5.45 million) in this period. Its market share has been decreasing gradually but that’s expected with the increase in competition and teledensity.
Telenor was the fastest growing company, 45% of their current subscribers (5.35 million) were gained this year. No doubt that Telenor has emerged as a strong contender. It took a small lead over Warid in March and has been able to maintain it.
The rate of growth for Ufone has been impressive as well. It gained 5.32 million of the approx 20 million new subscribers in first 8 months of this year in Pakistan. Paktel has been barely able to reverse the negative trend of subscriber losses.
Here’s the month-to-month change analysis.
Some of the reasons for Mobilink’s continued success include useful services such as Jazz Advance and smart marketing moves which has reinforced its brand. Mobile number portability – for one reason or another – did not do much to impact its subscriber count.
Mobile Number Portability service was introduced in Pakistan in March 2007. MNP facilitates the customers to switch to any service, package or operator while without changing their existing mobile number, thus providing customers with freedom of choice. MNP was part of the regulatory mandate under which mobile companies were awarded licences to operate. The MNP implementation was a large and costly undertaking.
However, according to Pakistan Mobile Number Portability Database Company Limited (PMD), so far approximately 20,000 subscribers out of 58 million have availed the facility. According to industry experts, “The incidence of switching from one cellular company to another in Pakistan has been much lower than the world average of 3 percent”.
The Unique Selling Proposition of MNP aims at increasing buyer’s bargaining power, which is viewed as a potential threat by service providers. The threat of buyer’s bargaining power is already high in Pakistan’s Telecom Market characterized by stiff competition. MNP does provide some justification from customer services and regulatory perspectives and due to this, operators will have to struggle further to minimize service switching and to retain the customers.
From service provider’s perspective MNP poses a potential threat of LOSS, especially for new entrants who are already struggling with market penetration, regulatory issues and inadequate infrastructure platform available in Pakistan.
However, very slow acceptance of MNP is providing much time to the service providers to craft their business development strategies accordingly. One of the reasons for the slow acceptance for MNP is lack of awareness. PTA so far has not been much effective to actively promote the service and it is not wise to expect the service providers to do so as “BRAND” and then the bottom line of business which is “Revenue” matters most for the market players. However, all the operators have allocated space for information regarding MNP on their websites. Further, the process to avail this service is also not very simple. From customer to recipient operator to donor operator to verification and then till activation of MNP is much time consuming. The switching cost is also there. Companies are charging Rs50 to Rs200 for MNP activation. In comparison to this it is far easier to purchase a new connection with free minutes, SMS etc in no time and informing all contacts about the new number through SMS.
From service perspective, customers have complained about the inability to receive incoming calls. Customers have also reported that PTCL callers have faced difficulty calling to their mobile numbers. The process can be slow and discouraging. In some cases it even took a month to get the MNP service activated.
PTA may have checked off another task on their “To Do” list but MNP in Pakistan cannot be described as a success so far. Only market forces will decide the long term prospects for Mobile Number Portability.
Added Oct 4, 2007: Mobile number portability: The Case For and against – LIRNEAsia
Now that MNP is available in Pakistan and all the companies are trying to win customers from their competitors, lets review the implementation of this $80 Million effort in bit more detail. For an overall summary of MNP please see my post at Pakistaniat.
How MNP was Implemented in Pakistan
Number portability implementation in general requires the ability to deploy number portability successfully, with minimal service disruption to existing customers in a timely fashion, thus complying with regulations. Number portability readiness planning is an important early phase activity to achieve flow-through of processes, transition to a centralized solution, implement standard interfaces to reduce costs, maintain minimal service disruption to customers, and incur minimum costs during ramp-up and service launch.
In Pakistan, an independent body – Pakistan MNP Database (PMD) – was setup by Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA), with the specific purpose of managing the implementation of MNP. The PMD is set to have a 14 member dedicated staff, with the entire project costing Rs. 4-5 billion (US$66 million – US$82 million) with US$10 million –US$12 million contribution from each mobile operator, reports ITP.
PMD is utilising Telcordia’s Number Portability Clearinghouse solution as its centralised repository for number porting. The solution automates ordering, provisioning, notification and administration and allows service providers to rely on the same set of rules for handling port requests, so number exchanges can occur quickly and accurately.
According to Telcordia website:
Telcordia Number Portability Managed Services is a turnkey solution comprising Telcordia Number Portability Clearinghouse application software, integrated with an in-country data center, help desk facilities, and staff to implement and operate numbering-specific services among operators who choose to outsource the implementation, deployment, and operation of services and focus on core competencies. The Number Portability Clearinghouse managed service facilitates centralized, automated ordering, provisioning, notification, and administration for porting numbers between operators. The Number Portability Clearinghouse software supports both fixed and mobile Number Portability.
Mobile Number Portability (MNP) has finally started in Pakistan during this week of March 2007. For background and history see my earlier posts on this topic. Now the interesting battle to win and retain customers has started. In part 1 of the guide I’ll review how service providers and PTA have played their role in educating consumers and helping them through the transition. First a basic review of the process of MNP. After that a review of how service providers have conveyed MNP information on their web sites.
1. Perform some basic checks for your number – such as: proof of ownership, no conflict due to existing agreement, number has been in service for at least 60 days etc.
2. Fill out a form and present it to the provider to which you wish to port.
3. Pay the porting fee (upto a few hundred rupees)
4. A Number Portability Request (NPR) is launched by your new provider (called Recipient Network) and you are given a SIM and a tentative time (at least 4 days - but could be up to 21 days) to when you can start to use new mobile provider network on this SIM.
I was hoping that PTA will provide a clear link to MNP guide on the MNP section of their web site but as of this writing I have not seen that (see my comments below for updates and see the PTA subscriber MNP Guideline). I am sure that very soon their will be some info posted there. But PTA really needs usability experts to imporve their site … despite all their hard work on getting MNP rolled out they did not update their site on time. In general it is not easy to get useful information from PTA site – see the cellular tariffs page for instance.
Mobilink provides a page on its site to help consumers move to its service! As they put it: It is now very easy to become a part of Pakistan’s favourite cellular family. It is indeed ironic because as many readers of this blog have been quick to point, Mobilink stands to lose the most with MNP.
On Ufone’s site I was unable to find ANY information about MNP. What? I leave the comments to the readers.
Telenor presented a very well written guide and also provided a list of frequently asked questions (FAQ). Telenor has set the bar in terms of quality of information, clean design and a fast web site. Good job Telenor!
Warid’s site has also decent MNP FAQs, under customer service menu. They could have made it more prominent. Overall Warid’s site has plenty of room for improvement.
This is the start of a new chapter in Pakistan’s telecommunication industry. I bet the call centers of mobile companies and the advertising agencies will be kept very busy in the next few weeks if not months. It will be interesting to see the competitive dynamics and the change in attention to customer service. I hope it will be worth all the investment.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has asked different institutions to remove mobile phone jammers by January 30. Previously issued licences for the jamming devices have been cancelled. Reason? The cellular companies contended that jammers were hampering the quality of service. As mobile portability comes near, mobile companies are forced to think about customer sastisfaction but they have started with pointing blame to external factors! Read full PTA directive here and business recorder coverage of this here.
What are mobile phone jammers?
There are times and places when and where a phone ring is not desirable: Cinemas, places of worship , exam venues, libraries etc. A cell phone jammer is an instrument used to prevent cellular phones from receiving and transmitting the mobile signals to a base station. By broadcasting on the same frequency as a mobile network they block signals, leaving phone users with a “no signal” message. Effectiveness of a jammer ranges from a few meters to kilometres. A portable mobile phone jammer is shown on the left, courtsey of BBC.
PTA has directed all the institutions to off load all the mobile jammers as the deployment of such equipment is causing interference and blockage to the service in vast areas even outside the authorised premises. The policy also suggested a separate process to be adopted, in which an inter-ministerial committee will decide on future authorisations in the context of national security.
In US and UK jammers are illegal. France allowed jammers to be used in movie theaters and performance venues. In India Government and school use jammers.
Silent Communications is a company which caters to this problem. As reported here, Silent Communication estimates that “lost calls” are worth $20 billion per year worldwide, and that use of their product will drive up operator ARPU significantly.
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