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.”