46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
1

Cell phone users cross 46m

By Imran Ayub

KARACHI:** Cell phone subscribers crossed 46 million figure and officials as well as operators see it touching 50 million mark within next couple of months for the first time ever on continued popularity of the service across the country.**

Latest figures compiled by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority suggest cellular phone connections stood at 46.45 million by November 2006, which had crossed 41 million by the end of the first quarter of 2006-07.

“By November 30, 2006 total number of cellular subscribers stood at 46.45 million,” said a PTA official. “It reflects almost a 12 per cent growth in total cellular subscriber base from October 1 to November 30, 2006.”

He said during first five months of the more than 12 million new connections were sold out on the back of comparatively cheaper tariff offers due to rising competition among the cellular service providers.

“So there was over 27 per cent mobile density rate by November 2006,” said the PTA official. “Almost all the four major companies Mobilink, Ufone, Al Warid and Telenor grabbed better market share during the first five months of 2006-07, which also brought different tariff packages for the subscribers.”

The figures gathered by the telecom watchdog, shows by November 2006 Mobilink led the market share with 22.03 million subscribers followed by Ufone, which was serving to 9.6 million people across the country.

With the arrival of UAE-based Al Warid Telecom and Norwegian Telenor both competition and subscriber base grew at much faster pace, as the last year’s entrants attracted 7.3 million and 5.8 million subscribers respectively by the end of November 2006.

The PTA data says by November 2006 Paktel, which offers both AMPS (advanced mobile phone system) and GSM (global system for mobile communications) services enjoyed 1.4 million subscribers and the only AMPS service Instaphone had a share of 0.25 million by November 2006.

The cellular density witnessed phenomenal jump in the last two years as mobile phone grew by staggering 170 per cent during 2005-06, which outnumbered almost six-decade old fixed telephony service by more than 500 per cent in 15-year operations.

Analysts see growth in cellular subscribers in line with expectations, but say the current fiscal the mobile phone service providers may not witness such phenomenal jump in customers’ numbers, which have already reached to a higher level.

“The growth is likely to remain slow in percentage term during 2006-07,” said Anwaar Ahmed Khan, a telecom analyst at Capital One Equities. “The companies may enter into those areas where they have yet to initiate service, which would need network expansion and investment.”

He said a cutthroat competition was expected among the operators during 2006-07, after the mobile number portability (MNP) was implemented by all the six cellular operators across the country.

“The MNP would decide the real market leader,” said Khan. “After the MNP implementation the companies must have to improve their service quality to keep their subscribers intact.”

MNP is a system, which enables a mobile phone subscriber to carry the same number while changing the cellular mobile operator. The project, which requires Rs600 million, was earlier decided to implement in January 2006 but later the deadline was extended to November 2006. The service, however, is not in place yet and no new deadline has been announced.

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=36616

Interesting.. Thats 28% of the country’s total population.

The number will cross 50 million in a few months.

2

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

and the point being is?

pakistan is getting stronger cause more people are using cell phones????

3

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

thas not a surprise waise…even a kaam wali aunty holds a cell fone these days:yawn:

4

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan


economic growth, future prospects for others etc.

5

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

its definitely an indicator of economic growth and increased purchase power of people and making mobiles use in reach of masses.

it also means there is very strong growth ahead for telecom industry as 40+ millions having mobiles in country of 160+m people.

once the craze of pay as you go ends, companies will compete to get more permanent users with attractive deals on phones and tariff.

6

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

Financial Express oct 2006

During 1997-2002 Pakistan's average export growth has been 1.2 per cent per year. In stark contrast to its own past trend, Pakistan experienced an average export growth of 13 per cent per year during 2003-05. About 30 per cent of Pakistan's exports go to the United States and United Kingdom. Both of these countries have increased their imports from Pakistan by 15 per cent in 2003 and 14 per cent in 2004. On the other hand, the government's debt as a percentage of the GDP came down to 59 per cent in 2005 from 82 per cent in 2002. Also, Pakistan government's interest payment as a percentage of revenue collection came down to 23 per cent in 2005 as compared to 35 per cent in 2002. How has it been possible? The United States has led the effort to dramatically reduce Pakistan's official debt through Paris Club rescheduling and bilateral forgiveness. Pakistan's debt to the United States has been cut to half - by $1.5 billion. As the US government puts it, "The United States and Pakistan share a close, long-term partnership. The $3.0 billion, five-year assistance package announced by President Bush in June 2003, demonstrates our commitment to support Pakistan's efforts to strengthen security in the region, help Pakistan's participation in the war on terror, and build economic opportunities for its citizens by reducing poverty, illiteracy and the conditions in which extremism flourishes".
Clearly, Pakistan's economic miracle in the recent past has been a result of its foreign policy, not prudent macro-economic management. General Mosharraf has decidedly and comprehensively supported the United States and the allies in the so-called 'war against terrorism' and negotiated good economic turn-around for this country. The question here is how sustainable is this policy in the long run? How many 9/11s will there be for Mr. Musharraf to prove his worth to the US? We are already seeing signs of a degenerating cohort. In 2005, both the United States and the United Kingdom together reduced their imports from Pakistan by 2.0 per cent. In 2006, Pakistan's GDP growth will recede by half a per cent.
As published by the Asian Development Bank, the first half of FY2006 was marked by a slowdown in both industry and agriculture. Output of cotton declined by an estimated 10.9 per cent from an all-time high of 14.6 million bales harvested in FY2005. Production of sugarcane, another major summer crop, is also estimated lower than last year. The growth of large-scale manufacturing slowed to 8.7 per cent in the first quarter of FY2006 from 24.9 per cent in the same period of last year, primarily due to capacity constraints and the high-base effect. Among individual industries in the first quarter, growth of textiles tumbled to 7.2 per cent from 29.6 per cent year on year. Automobile assembly and electronics, which have shown the fastest expansion among sub-sectors in the last 2-3 years, also decelerated. Inflation accelerated in FY2005 after five years of price stability. Annual inflation, based on the consumer price index, more than doubled to 9.3 per cent from 4.6 per cent, mainly because of higher food prices and rising house rents. Due to a sharp increase in domestic oil prices, transport costs also jumped. Core -- nonfood, non-oil -- inflation also doubled, from 3.7 per cent to 7.4 per cent . In summary, Pakistan's economy is appearing to be in a dwindling state. No wonder, General Musharraf has made an allegation against President Bush of posing the threat of bombing. We do not know the truth in this claim, but it is not difficult to imagine the message Mr. Musharraf is trying to send to the United States, "my economy is dependant on you and if you stop supporting me, I will be mad at you".

7

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

^^^ whats that got to do with mobile usage?? na shukray log!

8

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

insider,
pls provide link for the report in your above post.

9

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

http://www.financialexpress-bd.com/index2.asp?cnd=10/6/2006

10

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

Exactly. :k:

11

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

Thanks insider!

12

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

i am a bit sceptical about the 50 million subscribers as i think they refere this number to the number of SIM cards sold.

these days you can buy a SIM card for 150rupees and there will be a balance of 135 rupess so lots of pple buy a sim card one off and discard it. i personally know of pple who have used 4 SIM cards in the past year. therefore point being that there are much less mobile phone users than the number of connections (SIM cards) out there!!

13

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

More good news

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601204&sid=aV0AFwRmnz2Q&refer=technology

Millicom to Sell Paktel Stake to China Mobile for $284 Million

By Kenneth Wong

Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) – Millicom International Cellular SA, a mobile-phone company with subscribers from Asia to the Americas, agreed to sell its 89 percent stake in its Pakistani unit to China Mobile Communications Corp. for $284 million.

China Mobile, the world’s largest wireless operator by customers, will pay cash for the stake in Paktel Ltd., Luxembourg-based Millicom said today in an e-mailed statement. The so-called enterprise value of the transaction is $460 million, including debt, the statement said.

China Mobile, based in Beijing, is the parent of Hong Kong- listed China Mobile Ltd.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kenneth Wong in Berlin at [email protected] .

Last Updated: January 21, 2007 14:49 EST

14

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

Fast approaching 50 million in fact.

Pakistan reaches 48.21 million mobile subscribers

The number of mobile phone subscribers in Pakistan rose to 48.21 million in December 2006, from 46.42 million in November. Mobilink remained the largest operator with 22.38 million subscribers at the end of the year versus 22.03 million in November. Ufone grew to 10.02 million users from 9.65 million the previous month, while Warid remained in third place, with 7.61 million versus 7.28 million in November. Telenor grew to 6.62 million customers in December from 5.833 million a month earlier, while Paktel’s base fell to 1.33 million from 1.38 million. Over the year 2006, the total number of mobile subscribers grew from 36.78 million in July to 48.21 million in December. The mobile density increased to 31.02 percent of the population in December 2006 from 29.87 percent in November and 23.67 percent in July.

http://www.telecompaper.com/news/article.aspx?id=154924&nr=&type=&yr=

15

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

**Cellular subscribers top 50 million **

Cellular subscriber base has crossed the 50 million mark and experts see the service adding another 10 million users by the end of current financial year. Latest figures compiled by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) suggest the total number of cellular service users stood at 50.75 million by January 2007, which were 34 million by end-June 2006. “In absolute terms, total number of cellular subscribers stands at 50,756,502 (50.75 million), which shows an increase of 47 per cent during the first seven months of the current fiscal,” said an official at the PTA. “There is also a 4.1 per cent increase if we compare such figures with the previous month (December 2006). In fact, there is an exceptional jump in cellular subscriber numbers.” He said in the calendar year 2006 almost 29 million new connections were sold by the six cellular companies on comparatively cheaper tariff offers and increased network reach of the service providers. “So there was over 147.44 per cent rise in the cellular subscriber base in a single calendar year,” said the PTA official. “Four major companies - Mobilink, Ufone, Al Warid and Telenor - got better market share during the first seven months of 2006-07, who attracted subscribers with different tariff packages and incentives.”

The PTA figures show by January 2007 Mobilink led the market with 23.29 million subscribers, followed by Ufone, which was serving 10.55 million people across the country. With the arrival of the UAE-based Al Warid Telecom and Norway’s Telenor, both competition and subscriber base grew at a much faster pace, as they attracted 7.9 million and 7.6 million subscribers respectively by the end of January 2007. The cellular density witnessed a phenomenal jump in the last two years as the mobile phone subscriber base grew by a staggering 170 per cent during 2005-06, outnumbering almost six-decade-old fixed-line telephone service by more than 500 per cent in 16 years of operation.
Analysts see the cellular service growth in line with expectations, but say 2007 appears to be challenging for the cellular companies, when the MNP (mobile number portability) system is expected to be put in place. “The cellular operators may continue such growth for the next few months,” said Anwaar Ahmed Khan, Head of Research at Inter Securities Management Limited. **“In fact, reduced tariff and increased number of destinations have made the cellular service within reach of the low income group.” **The cellular operators expect a cutthroat competition after the MNP system is implemented across the country. “The MNP would decide the real market leader. After the MNP implementation, the companies must have to improve their service quality in order to keep their subscribers,” said a senior official of one of the companies. The MNP is a system that enables a mobile phone subscriber to carry the same number while changing the service provider. The system, which requires an investment of over Rs500 million, was originally due in November 2005 but was delayed for more than a year by the operators. Now the companies have set March 2007 as the new deadline for project completion and seem confident to meet it. “The MNP is almost ready to be launched,” said the cellular company official. “There were some complications in the project, which have been removed and proper service would be available to the subscribers from March 23, 2007.”

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=43574

BRIDAL PICS.
BRIDAL PICS.
16

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

Lahore Ka Cheetah,

I came to Lahore after spending about 6 years in the US. Well, the mobile phone industry has blossomed like nothing else. People are buying mobile phones like we buy chewing gums in the US. If you think I'm kidding, take a look. The guy who picks up trash, the kaam wali, and whatever you think of have a cell phone. They don't know anything about the phone but to answer and turn it off.
Will I be surprised if I see that we cross 55million or even more in a year or so? Not at all. The telecommunication industry is getting a lot of investment due to lenient government policies. Let's give some credit to our "creditworthy" govt. of Pres. Musharraf. Atleast, this is something we saw real tangible development.
Umer

17

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

Pakistan has the highest teledensity in the region, comparable only to the giant China.

18

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

well i thought that it had hit 60 million users last year

19

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

Great news and all.

But...

There is gotta be something wrong in accounting here. For a country of 160 million people, to have 45-50 million cellphone users makes no sense at all. Total population includes children below the ages of 8 (most of whom likely won't have cellphones), a large percentage of our population lives in villages, which are penetrated by cellphones, I assume, but no where will this be a dominant percentage. Carrying cellphone is a big fad in Pak cities, where every doodhwala, rehriwala and gutter-saaf karnay wala is carrying a cellphone, true, but even assuming a 100% penetration of all city population above the age of 10 (and minus women living below the poverty level), you still don't get any where close to 50 million subscribers.

I believe the person above who said that they are wrongly counting SIM cards sold as cellphone user is probably more closer to the truth. Pakistan's bad accounting is also evident in how they add up literacy rates.

20

Re: 46 Million Cell Phone Users in Pakistan

Based on the growth of the last year, I think we will have topped 60 million in a few months anyway. Last year I travelled through many small towns and villages of Sindh on my way north, and practically every person (even the little chai-wala kids) seemed to have a cellphone. From the very richest to the poorest everyone has a cellphone, so I believe the official figures are in fact underestimating the actual number of people who has one.