Wireless Local Loop (WLL) growth slowed down in 2009 significantly. In December, the overall number for WLL dropped after a long time. PTCL which has the major market share, lost 56,000 subscribers in December. Wateen, on the other hand, almost doubled its customer base to 151K . Here are the stats for 2009, from PTA.
Wateen, during its recent expansion in southern region, have successfully put RAN sites on-air by sweeping Motorola aside. Internal sources informed us.
Wateen haves a total of 973 RAN sites in Pakistan, of which 243 are in Karachi. The on-going expansion project by the vendor, Motorola, is supposed to add 66 more sites in Karachi.
Recently my father wanted internet connectivity at his work site in the vicinity of Port-Qasim (Karachi), I suggested him to go for wireless broadband. So, my father asked me to get the best wireless broadband connection. This was not an easy task and above all my finding surprised me even more.
When compared with cellular phone growth, Broadband has been slow to take off in Pakistan. However the last two years show some progress in terms of growth (a little over 20K subscribers per month), more choices of services in more places and most importantly a significant drop in cost for broadband access (~Rs.1200 per month on average). Another welcome trend is to move towards unlimited broadband.
PTCL has taken the lead with its DSL and EVO offerings while WorldCall, Mobilink Infinity, Wateen / WiMAX, Qubee, NayaTel and Wi-Tribe have also offered their services.
According to PTA, “broadband subscriber base grew by 146% adding 245,727 subscribers during July 2008 – June 2009, while broadband connection charges for 1Mbps connection dropped below Rs. 1000. There were 413,809 Broadband subscribers in June 2009 as compared to 168,082 in June of 2008.”
At the current rate of broadband growth we can cross the half-million mark by December 2009. We need to get to 1 million much faster.
Daily Times recently wrote about broadband, excerpt below.
The Sustainable Development Policy Institute’s (SDPI) Study Group on Information Technology and Telecommunication in its 56th meeting discussed the problems that hinder broadband growth in Pakistan. Relevant stakeholders participated in the meeting. Wahaj ul Siraj of NayaTel and Zamir Bhatti of Wi-tribe reviewed the existing policy and infrastructure sharing issues.
On my way to Karachi, I got a chance to use internet on Wateen Kiosks set-up at Islamabad Airport. I would have really appreciated Wateen’s attempt to put on the complimentary kiosks for travelers and providing them services. But as I got over with my work and closed the browser, I saw something that can not be expected from a recognized broadband company while promoting their brand.
Universal Service Fund of Pakistan continues its initiatives to award substantial funds for rural connectivity in Pakistan. Recently USF awarded telecom contracts worth Rs. 1.25 Billion for providing Broadband Internet in the un-served urban areas of Hazara Telecom Region (HTR) with PTCL and Wateen Telecom and Optic Fiber connectivity to un-served tehsils of Central Balochistan with Wateen Telecom. Read more »
While browsing Wateen’s website www.wateen.com I noticed a number of usability issues and lack of attention to detail. Telecom is a complex business and a god website is a must for companies to provide information and service to their customers. A website which fails to provide the right information and a good user experience is a business failure. I wanted to highlight a few issues found on Wateen.com in the hope that others will use it for learning on what NOT to do.
Wateen and Naksha.pk have partnered to provide an interactive WiMax coverage map at www.naksha.pk/wateen. You can choose a city and available point of interest (POI) from the drop-downs at the very top right. You may also click on the map to choose the POI. Once you have made these selections, the site will give you coverage info at the top in terms of availability indoor or outdoor. Neat but a few quick fixes are needed.
I have 2 suggestions for improvement. The interactive map page should have links back to the Wateen site. Second, the WiMAX availability information is displayed towards the top without proper context and help text. At first glance, it is hard to tell where the results are and what is their meaning. There should be annotation to explain the meaning of terms listed below.
USB: Available/Unavailable
Ground Floor: Available/Unavailable
1st Floor: Available/Unavailable
Outdoor: Available/Unavailable
Here are two sample views from www.naksha.pk/wateen, showing coverage in cities of Lahore and Quetta. I’d suggest playing with the site and observing how the WiMAX coverage varies from area to area. You might find some interesting patterns!
For Lahore.
For Quetta.
Qubee – ‘An Augere Brand’, we discussed earlier, have now been officially launched in Karachi. Qubee has become the fourth player offering WiMAX services in Karachi, the other three being Wateen, Mobilink Infinity and Wi-tribe. The website says that services also are expected to be launched in Lahore, Islamabad, Hyderabad and Quetta in 2009.
Qubee Packages
Qubee offers variety of packages to home users.
| Package | Speed | GB | PKR/month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discover 6 | 512 | 6 | 750 |
| Discover 12 | 512 | 12 | 1,000 |
| Explore 8 | 1024 | 8 | 1,000 |
| Explore 12 | 1024 | 12 | 1,250 |
| Explore 16 | 1024 | 16 | 1,500 |
Business users have a chance to customize their package on basis of their needs using the qubee tariff planner.
For more information visit their website here.
Wateen has launched the WOW Packages. As reported by industry insider at TGP, here are the detailed new prices. These prices, if correct, are quite impressive. It looks like no cap, unlimited Internet is becoming an affordable reality in Pakistan. I am sure people will debate the download speeds and performance but offers like these give consumers a chance to compare and choose. Package details are below.
Monthly Charges
1Mbps: Unlimited Rs.1,399. 10GB Rs.1,099. 5GB Rs.699.
512kbps: Unlimited Rs.1,299. 10GB Rs. 999. 5GB Rs.599.
256kbps: Unlimited Rs.1,199. 10GB Rs. 899. 5GB Rs. 499.
One Time Fee (Including CPE)
1 Mbps: Rs. 1,000/- with zero security
512 kbps: Rs. 1,000/- with zero security
256 kbps: Rs. 1,500/- with zero security
Notes:
1. Available both on pre-paid and post-paid.
2. In case of post-paid, security against credit limit of Rs.2000 will remain the same.
3. The promotion (mentioned here) will start from August 14th, 2009 and end on August 31st, 2009, both dates inclusive.
4. The new upfront will be applicable on rental model only.
Wateen is also offering UPS (750va) in Rs. 1000/- with new connection.
Wateen Telecom is a sister concern of Warid Telecom and a fully owned venture of Abu Dhabi Group. Wateen, with the collaboration of Motorola, deployed nation-wide WiMAX network in Pakistan and pioneered its deployment globally (actually this was the very first post on this blog in 2006). I remember attending the ITCN in August 2007 when it was launched with a zeal of making Broadband a reality and promising exceptional quality over WiMAX. Now, after two years, it is rather sad that Wateen has laid off around 550 employees.
What went wrong with Wateen that it had to let go of around 50% of its employees?
Few of my friends had an opportunity to do internship at the RAN Department of Wateen. When they joined on day 1, they were handed a some vendor manuals to study. At the end of the day I called them up to ask how did their day go? They told me that Wateen has more people than work. I said that you can’t decide this in just one day.
Now with this 50% slash in number of employees the picture is clear, they did have more employees than needed. This could be because they hired more manpower during the initial network roll-out. Now what they have on their lists is some upgradation and O&M of the current network. The O&M is outsourced to the vendor and upgrades generally requires less manpower . So the ‘more manpower’ was just not needed.
I leave here for the reader to decide. Did this happen because of the global recession or mismanagement by Wateen’s senior management?
This August everyone is doing the best in their capacity to mark celebrations for the 62nd Independance Day. The ‘Go Green’ campaign is doing a great job, turning the Social Networks (Twitter/Facebook) Green. Not just this but the Nation’s Tweeples aim to get #Pakistan in to Twitter Trending Topics on 14th August.
This post takes a look at how are the major Telcos contributing to the Independence Day Celebrations.
PTCL, the national land-line operator is giving away cash prizes on new land-line connections this August.
At the broadband front PTCL has come up with another Independence Day offer, giving away laptops on new broadband connections.
For Pakistanis abroad, LocalPhone is offering 50% off their regular rate: To mark 62 years of Pakistani independence you’ll be able to call any landline or mobile in Pakistan for just 3.95¢ per minute from 18:00 GMT on Thursday 13th until 18:00 GMT on Friday 14th August (midnight to midnight in Pakistan).
Mobilink has not come up with any offer/promotion but celebrating in its own way, their website have got an Independence Avator. Patriotic song from their last year’s Independence campaing ‘Aye Watan’ plays in the background and the cursor gets green with crescent and stars.
Ufone no offer/promotions to celebrate Independence. Should we expect an Independence TV Commercial from them :).
Telenor, although arranged bloggers meet-up in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad to launch the Persona Weblounge, but nothing particular for Independence Celebrations.
They could have scored by launching the Persona Weblounge on 14th August.
Warid, once again nothing special for August Celebrations.
Wateen, well at one end they slashed on their rates but at the other downsized - reportedly fired around 500 employees. No time for celebrations here.
Zong, the china mobile company could have come up with something on pak-china friendship but ‘SAB KEH DOU’ squad have nothing to say this August.
Telenor has started on its Independence Campaign on the evening of 13th. The focal points of the activity will be Lahore. You can be a part of ‘Telenor Float’ which will travel on the roads of Lahore. Karachi would be having Telenor’s Azadi Carvan on Tariq road. Hyderabad Gym khana would be having a Family Concert by Telenor. In Rawalpindi touch-up points will be palced in different parts of the city.
Warid has come up with a not so popular offer (not highlighted properly on thier website) is an Azadi Package for Rs. 2999. Offer includes a Trend mobile phone along with an exclusive 0321 Code Warid post paid Sim with 75 free minutes every month and Rs 500 security waiver.
Wateen, Independence gift comes on 14th August, waiving 60 percent on Subscription charges.
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