State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

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.

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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.

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.

I discussed the WiMAX evolution in Pakistan earlier. The recent launch of wi-tribe has definitely elevated the level of competition in WiMAX market in Pakistan. Now the latest news is the expected launch of Qubee an Augere brand for WiMAX services in Pakistan.

Qubee is a new and exciting company providing fast, reliable and competitively priced broadband internet services to residential and business customers across Pakistan. We believe that everyone should be able to enjoy trouble-free access to the internet and the world of opportunities that it brings. Our aim is to make a magical internet experience available to everyone, everyday, without exception.

Qubee is the creation of a group of global telecoms professionals who saw that a new technology called WiMAX could really change the internet experience for millions of people worldwide.

The details of the tariff and packages offered is not yet mentioned on their website, www.qubee.com.pk.

They are starting in Karachi, but quickly plan to expand thier network and cover other cities nationwide. The current coverage area for Qubee can be seen on the following link.

Qubee’s launch right after the launch of wi-tribe reminds me of the year 2005 when at the GSM front we saw Warid following Telenor’s launch. Nevertheless Qubee will bring on-air the fourth WiMAX operator of Pakistan, the other three being Wateen, Mobilink Infinity and the recent Wi-tribe. Will this start a price/data-rate war among the WiMAX operators? This will only become clear with time.

Wi-Tribe has now officially launched its Wi-MAX services in Pakistan. The official launch press release is as follows.

Launches largest wireless broadband Internet service in Pakistan

Doha, June 30, 2009: wi-tribe, a Qtel Group company, today announced the official launch of its wireless broadband service in Pakistan, its largest market to date. The launch phase will include the cities of Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore, and Rawalpindi.

“Today, a new milestone is achieved in the evolution of wi-tribe and the realization of our vision to become one of the top 20 telecom players by 2020,” said Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani, Chairman of The Qtel Group. “Following our launch in Jordan, Pakistan marks a major stepping stone towards our expansion strategy and our intention to leverage the scale and strengths of The Qtel Group in order to deliver the latest technologies to our customers and continue to enhance services across our operations,” added Sheikh Abdullah.”

Dr. Nasser Marafih, CEO of The Qtel Group and Chairman of wi-tribe, commented: “Consumer broadband is at the heart of the Qtel Group strategy and a major pillar of growth. The launch of wi-tribe in Pakistan is a very important moment for all of us at The Qtel Group as it reflects a major stepping stone towards our commitment to bring broadband wireless access to more people, to connect individuals and businesses more easily and to improve access to the internet in all new and emerging markets.

“Broadband penetration levels in new emerging markets are currently very low compared to markets in the region. However, consumer demand for wireless services is growing at a fast pace. So we will continue to focus on this area in the future as we see good business opportunity and significant growth potential,” added Dr. Nasser.

Shaikh Abdulrahman Ali Al Turki, Chairman and CEO of A.A.Turki Group A.A. Turki Group of companies (ATCO), commended on the growth and success achieved by the wi-tribe group stating, “At ATCO we are extremely pleased with wi-tribe’s developments since its establishment in 2007. The addition of Pakistan to our tribe is proof of our firm commitment to bridge the digital divide and bring to emerging markets the best in connectivity and ease of access. It is about time these markets got excellent quality service.”

“wi-tribe uses WiMAX technology to provide customers with the advantage of broadband internet access wirelessly, giving them the option of accessing the internet whenever and wherever they choose within the network area,” commented Sami Hinedi, CEO, wi-tribe Group. “We strongly believe in improving the lifestyle of our customers by understanding their needs and offering them the best personalized customer experience. We want to provide solutions that are simple, easy and valued by individuals, businesses and the Government,” he added.

wi-tribe is a focused and dedicated consumer wireless broadband provider and will offer instant connectivity with applications tailor-made and simplified to accommodate the needs of every customer. The wi-tribe service will deliver broadband internet access through the ‘plug in and play’ option offering speeds of 256Kbps, 512 Mbps, and 1 Mbps. The process of becoming a wi-triber is extremely simple and beneficial. The wi-tribe service uses an efficient and highly effective plug and play modem which provides online access on the go. Internet users in Pakistan will experience the best in consumer wireless broadband service and wi-tribe’s unique customer care experience.

The official website has details for packages that wi-tribe is offering in Pakistan.

With this launch the WiMAX competition will definitely boom in Pakistan.

Those who have used the wi-tribe services, do share your experience with us.

[Press release via Zawya.com]

Not really, I am joking. But if you were to look at this screen shot from PTA site, this is what you may think about Wi-Tribe. I thought it was amusing enough to share with you all. Oh by the way there’s subscriber info about the WLL subscribers. As you can see all the customers of Wi-Trib(ut)e went on vacation from Feb to April of 2009 and magically doubled in number after that. Does anyone has a better explanation for this?

Augere, a European telecom company, had plans to offer WiMAX in Pakistan. It needed frequencies in the 3.5Ghz and struck a deal with Telecard in 2008 to get these licenses. Later on, it was discovered that there were disputes about these licenses between Telecard and Wi-Tribe. In a recent court decision, Telecard is said to have lost, causing a sever blow to Augere’s plans of WiMAX service. Wi-Tribe will continue with its WiMAX plans. The situation will become more clear when the details of court decision come forth.

This contention has lifted the value of 3.5 GHz licneses up significantly from the previously mentioned figures of US $22.5 million. After all, this is the basis on which WiMAX service can be offered. As mentioned at Telecom Grid Pakistan:

According to the agreement between Telecard and Wi-Tribe, Telecard was to have the licenses split in such a manner that 14 of the 28 newly issued licences would be assigned to Telecard the 3.5 GHZ band frequencies. These 14 licenses were then to be transferred to Telecard subsidiary Broadband Services (Pvt) Limited, 90 percent of which would have then been bought by Wi-Tribe.

According to Tariq Qureshi, an expert on licencing matters, resolution should be achieved as rules are in place already. Tariq makes the following points.

There is provision in WLL licenses of use-it-or-loose it. Stipulated period to go into operations was 2 years – later extended to 12/07. All who didn’t start operations and can be send cancellation notices to make spectrum available for the serious players (like Augere and Witribe).

Many license holders would like to get a refund in USD for the amount paid. The smart ones sold off their companies at 10X-20X. This is what Telecard is trying to do and what DVCom, Dancom and others did.

Augere & Witribe need 21+21MHz FDD or 42MHz TDD to have a commercially feasible network. The following companies are not utilizing the allocated spectrum: PTCL and Worldcall are amongst the few, and should surrender the spectrum and get refunded.

PTA will be able to recover the 2.5G spectrum from SunTV that was allocated for MMDS as the 15-year license should be expiring in 2010. The 190MHz license was issued can be used by 6 separate operation.

Editor’s Note: Please join me to welcome Arsalan Mir. Arsalan is an undergraduate student in final year Telecommunication Engineering at FAST-NUCES (Karachi). He is the Vice-Chairperson of IEEE student branch at NUCES. Arsalan can be reached at arsalan.tmir@yahoo.com.

WiMAX in Pakistan emerged commercially with the launch of Wateen in August 2007. Recently, Mobilink has come up with its WiMAX brand ‘Infinity” and now it looks like the competition will soon elevate with Wi-tribe and TeleCard entering the WiMAX service race in Pakistan.

Wi-tribe is a joint venture of Qatar Telecom (Qtel) and A.A. Turki Corporation for Trading and Contracting (ATCO) in partnership with Clearwire. Wi-tribe is already offering services in Jordan and in Pakistan it has emerged out of the acquisition of majority stake in Burraq Telecom that occurred more than a year ago. They plan to showcase the real world benefits of Wireless Broadband to Internet community in Pakistan.

We will be offering high-speed Internet that is simple, affordable, and a portable alternative to fixed broadband. The Motorola WiMAX solution frees customers from the fixed line services.
Mohammad Sadiq
CEO, wi-tribe Pakistan.

Motorola has signed a multi-year WiMAX contract with wi-tribe Pakistan limited. Motorola has commenced deploying wi-tribe’s WiMAX network in the 3.5GHz spectrum. Commercial launch is expected during 2009.

TeleCard, a fixed wireless operator renowned for its Go-CDMA service, will also roll-out WiMAX under their current brand Supernet which is already offering internet services.

Newest development at the TeleCard will further enhance the Company’s profitability and will be a significant contributor to stakeholder satisfaction on an ongoing basis.
Aamir Niazi

Vice Chairman, TeleCard

Augere,an European company focused on broadband delivery in emerging markets, has been selected by TeleCard as the principal contractor to design and build the network such as to position a great offering / value proposition for the growing and very quality sensitive internet user community in the country. The equipment deployment has commenced in initial phase and the company expects the offering of service commercially by next year.

References:

[i] http://witribe.pk

[ii] http://daily.pk

[iii] http://www.telegeography.com