Re: Pakistan cell phone subscribers tops 70 million
Mobilink to invest $500m more in Pakistan
By Romail Kenneth
KARACHI: Mobilink GSM has so far invested $2 billion in Pakistan and in the coming years it is planning to further invest $500 million. This was stated by Omar Manzur, Public Relations Manager, Mobilink Pakistan during a media training workshop for the journalist in Istanbul. “Currently we have laid 6,000 km fiber optic lines in different cities of Pakistan and after lying additional 500 km fiber optic lines Mobilink GSM will become a complete telecom service provider in Pakistan,” Manzar added.
He said, after completion Mobilink will divert its traffic on this fiber optic network, which would be available to the other operators also for their traffic. Mobilink has always wanted to take the lead in all the sectors and in term of infrastructure it would not be relying on any other companies. “Currently our network is based on 2.5 generation and we will upgrade this according to the requirement of our subscribers.”
Currently more than 28 million customers are using Mobilink services across the nation. With more than 5,000 cities, towns, and villages throughout Pakistan on its network, it will be covering the entire length and breadth of Pakistan, he added.
Mobilink Pakistan organized journalist training on the telecommunication industry in Istanbul. The trainer Ms. Eileen M. Wallis, Managing Director of the Portsmouth Group, one of the Middle East’s leading communications consultancies, conducted the workshop. The workshop covered all issues related to quality of service, call tariffs, upcoming technologies, consumer reaction, role of regulator and connectivity problems in the telecom sector. Print and electronic media journalists from all over the country covering the beats of IT and Telecom participated in the workshop. The workshop focused on the telecommunication industry especially the mobile phone sector progress rate and the challenges faced by the operators and its solution. To improve the performance of telecom reporters different suggestions and advices were forwarded and at the end of the workshop Mobilink shields were presented to the participants.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\11\16\story_16-11-2007_pg5_9