Since last month Ufone has started BlackBery service in Pakistan (see my previous post on this topic). Ufone had been working on it for a while and it must be a big achievement for them to make this milestone. So Mobilink is not the only one and Ufone rates are a tad better (monthly rates are Rs. 900 for individuals and Rs. 1350-1500 for business). What is Telenor waiting for?
BlackBerry is particularly valuable for mobile companies as it brings high arpu business accounts which are sticky … it is called Crackberry for a reason. I can’t tell you how many people I see walking around in office hallways with a BlackBerry in their hand. Yeah, it looks funny when you see others but seems perfectly fine when you are doing it!
There was plenty of recent discussion about Zong launch and what will it mean for mobile companies in Pakistan. Let’s start with the net increase to Zong’s subscribers in April 2008. According to recently released numbers by PTA, Zong added 1,004,298 subscribers in April. and finished up with 3.15M total. Pretty good but certainly they have a long way to go. By the way that report about 12M users for Zong in a month was obviously incorrect. Here are the total subscriber numbers (excluding Instaphone) at the end of April 2008:
31,935,624 Mobilink
17,539,457 Ufone
17,323,169 Telenor
14,760,593 Warid
3,146,763 Zong
A good write-up from PTA on mobile number migration work
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.
The implementation of 7-8 digit mobile number migration will be carried out in four stages as per the international practices which include Public awareness campaign [Jan-March 2008], parallel operation [April-June 2008], announcement phase [July-Sep 2008], & sterilization process.
During parallel operation the subscriber shall be able to dial both old & new codes and the facility of dialing of both codes (parallel operation) would be available from all telecom service providers. During parallel operation new numbers of CMPAK, Instaphone, & SCOM shall appear on called party’s CLI and this will enable the subscriber to memorize & store the new numbers. The old numbers of CMPAK [0304], Instaphone [0320], & SCOM [0335] will be inaccessible from 1st July 2008 and the standard announcement shall be run by all operators when the old code is dialed.
The ported out numbers of CMPAK & Instaphone under Mobile Number Portability (MNP) system, will also change from 0304 to 031-4 & 0320 to 036-4 respectively. The necessary changes are made in the centralized database that is maintained by Pakistan Mobile Database Guarantees Ltd. Furthermore, only new numbers of CMPAK & Instaphone will be ported out from 1st April 2008. The modification of existing databases inline with new mobile numbering plan was carried out in all Fixed line, Wireless local loop, Long distance International, & Mobile networks for the successful implementation of 7-8 digit mobile number migration plan.
The 7 to 8 Mobile Number Migration Plan has number of advantages. Each single NDC (one per operator) has a capacity of 100 million numbers. The NDCs of only three mobile operators i.e. CMPAK, Instaphone, & SCOM (AJK & NAs) have changed effecting only 2 million subscribers out of an existing more than 80 million. The four digit codes of all mobile operators have been reduced to three digits. Dialing format remains the same 11 digit dialing as before. The capacity expansion in mobile numbering plan is sufficient for next two decades.
First Global TeleCON conference was held in Karachi Sheraton on April 29-30. The organizer’s website has full agenda details and the summary is provided below. The organizers, Shamrock Conferences, deserve credit for sharing the agenda and making the presentations available online. The impressive thing about this conference was that there were many senior level speakers representing all stakeholders (industry, government, academia, consumers) in Pakistan telecom. The discussion was organized along the following tracks:
- Policy & Regulatory Framework
- Connectivity & Mobility
- Putting Customers First
- Converging Technology & Infrastructure into Business
- Preparing Today for Tomorrow
- Role Playing in Telecom Industry
I browsed through a few presentations and found the presentations on policy issues, consumer protection and challenges for emerging markets to be educational and interesting. In the coming days I’ll write more about them. There were of course some other talks (for example by PTA and mobile companies) which fell in the category of self-promotion. I wonder if this conference was a mere networking event or was there some other purpose to it?
This post is referring to the service you use on your mobile device, which is powered by your location at the moment in time. It could have GPS working behind it or could be the network operators Base Stations ( Antenna Towers ) where your location is being calculated.
In the recent past, operators have a hard time deciding whether to offer Location Based Services or not. Arguments in favor of the debate include,
1) Large Subscriber bases
2) Increasing mobile penetration
3) Availability of more advertisement real estate
and against the debate,
1) Substantial infrastructure cost
2) Market readiness
3) Driving safety
There are more arguments on both sides but these could be taken as primary ones at the moment. Looking a the arguments in favor, the only point which will effect the service for the end-user is the where it will enable operators to use it as an advertisement real-estate. Subscribers will be bothered every-time they pass by a pizza outlet, which has placed its advertisement with the respective operator. An SMS on your handset every time you pass near a boutique, can become quite irritating.
Arguments against the service keep in view that market may have become quite large but it is not ready to take on complex services at this moment. It will be sometime before market matures itself to the point of absorbing this service.And then the disturbance it will cause while you are driving, could be significant enough to mark an increase in road accidents.
While keeping all of this in view, it would be worthy to find out what the readers of this blog feel about this service, if introduced into the market.
Please feel free to post your comments about the possible pros and cons of this service.
Umar Farooq is currently working as Director at a telecommunication services and consulting company. He has worked with Ericsson in the past, with its Systems Integration unit. Umar is a graduate of Ghulam Ishaq Khan Insitute.
It looks like the Telenor legal department had to work late night to write the disclaimers (below) about their new service TeleDoctor. Telenor, we expect you to show some responsibility on your part when it comes to health matters. Please think twice before making grand claims that “TeleDoctor will revolutionize the medical industry by eliminating any doctor patient barriers that might exist due to language, lack of education, lack of mobility, etc.” This kind of marketing speak is both misleading and dangerous. Here are the disclaimers:
- Telenor neither gives secondary medical advice directly nor engages in the practice of medicine.
- In all cases Telenor is not accountable for the malpractices, genuineness or authenticity of the advice/information given through this service or for the credentials of the medical experts giving the information/advice
- Telenor shall not be liable for any loss or damage caused to any subscriber or any other party as a result thereof.
- This service is designed for the subscribers solely for the purpose of providing easy access to doctors in order to obtain secondary medical advice if and when possible.
Go to www.Telenor.com.pk
