telecom quarterly review - pta · khawar siddique khokhar , member (technical) pta to move forward....
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Telecom Quarterly Review20112011December
www.pta.gov.pk
C O N T E N T SC O N T E N T S
Regulatory Review01
Telecom Economy19
Cellular Mobile Services24
Basic Services
Telecom service in AJK & GB
Complaint Handling
Broadband Services
30
35
41
43
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Pakistan Telecom Authority
2011Dec
Consumer Protection and
REGULATORY REVIEW Spectrum Auction for 3G & Defunct
Instaphone LicenseThe Government of Pakistan announced spectrum
auction for 3G & Instaphone license on 24th November
2011. The Prime Minister chaired a high level meeting in
which it was decided that Pakistan will start the long
awaited 3G licensing process and auction the spectrum
of 3G and remaining spectrum for WLL services in next
few months. The 3G licensing in Pakistan was long due
and the Government was waiting for the right time to
announce the licensing, keeping in view the market
readiness and technical barriers. The sector is now
moving towards enhanced telecom services via 3G.
The Federal Cabinet constituted a Committee of Federal
Ministers to recommend to GoP the Policy for 3G
frequency Auction and licensing. The Committee after
deliberations with all the relevant stakeholders,
including MoIT, MoF, PTA and FAB has made its
recommendations to the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
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The Ministry of Information Technology
issued Policy Directives for compliance of
PTA, including:- I) Auction would be transparent and
competitive; the allocation will be
technology neutral and usable for any
available or upcoming technology.II) Auction of three blocks of 10 Mhz each
out of currently available 3G spectrum
(1.9 GHz/2.1GHz band) shall be
announced.III) License of defunct Instaphone along
with allocated frequency will also be
auctioned immediately. IV) The auction process will be overseen by
joint professional group (Auction
Supervisory Committee ASC) with
representatives from Ministry of
Finance, Ministry of IT, PTA and
FAB.
The Committee will work on terms of
reference including base price determination,
auction methodology and management of the
process. The sharing of infrastructure will be
considered as a matter of first priority and 3G
operators will support manufacturing
facilities for equipment and handsets in
Pakistan.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has
been entrusted with the responsibility of
execution of Policy Directive under Section
8(2) of Pakistan Telecom Reorganization Act
1996, issued by the Federal Government. PTA,
therefore, initiated the process for auction of
3G spectrum and Defunct Instaphone License.
A committee has been formed headed by Dr.
Khawar Siddique Khokhar , Member
(Technical) PTA to move forward. The
committee is mandated for the preparation of
Information Memorandum (IM) for potential
licensees, determination of Base Price, Media
Campaign and publishing of Expression of
Interest.
PTA has prepared two Information
Memorandums (IMs) which contain all the
information required by investors to
participate in the Auction for 3G spectrum and
Defunct License. The IMs elaborate the criteria
for pre-qualification of Auction, tentative
timetable of the auction; and provide
information on the regulatory environment,
geo-economic situation, taxes and investment
policy in Pakistan. The documents also
contain information on legal framework of the
telecom sector.
The IMs states that the license period for 3G
spectrum shall be 15 years whereas auction of
the Defunct Instaphone license shall be for 8
years. Both existing and new operators are
allowed to bid for the specified spectrum.
Base-price for the auction of 3G spectrum and
defunct license has been set at US$ 210 million
and US$ 155 million respectively.
The IMs also contain the draft licenses for
potential investors to know their rights that
Information Memorandums (IMs)
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would be given to them as operators. The IMs
contain other issues including spectrum fees,
interconnection with other operators, right of
way and commercial issues including Tariffs
and SMP. IMs are available on PTA website
PTA has invited Expression of Interest for the
hiring of the consultant of international repute
to assist in the Auctions of 3G spectrum and
defunct mobile cellular license. The consultant
shall advise, assist and provide support to
PTA on steps necessary and critical to make
the auctions a success, ensure the participation
of credible telecom operators in the auction
and fetch optimum value from the auctions.
The consultant should have expertise and
experience of consultancy services in
telecommunications and spectrum valuation.
PTA has invited the potential investors, to
secure license /spectrum for 3G services
through open bidding and an advertisement
for Expression of Interest (EoI) in National and
selected International print media. According
to the EOI, applications are invited for three
Block of Spectrum in 1.9/2.1 GHz and one
license/spectrum (i.e. the Defunct Instaphone
License) in 800 MHz band. The EOI was
published on 23rd January 2012.
The Authority has planned a comprehensive
www.pta.gov.pk.
Hiring of the Consultant
Expression of Interest
Media Campaign
media campaign in order to have a successful
auction of 3G spectrum & defunct license. The
media campaign that includes both the
national and international conferences, targets
all possible potential investors. The Authority
has also planned awareness campaigns within
and outside the country to attract the foreign
investors. The first of its series of domestic
conferences was at Islamabad on 17th January
2012, followed by Karachi on 21st January
2012. The first international soft marketing
was carried out at Geneva on 14th February
2012 during WRC meeting. Detail of all the
awareness campaigns is given in the following
paragraphs.
The first Investors Conference was
held in Islamabad on January 17, 2012
where the Federal Minister for
Finance, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh was
the Chief Guest . During this
Conference, Chairman PTA gave brief
resume’ about performance of telecom
sector of Pakistan, market potential for
3G services in the country and
highlights of auction process.
Ms. Nargis Sethi, Secretary Cabinet
addressed the Conference and
highlighted the achievements of
telecom sector and the potential that
exists in the market for new operator to
Investors Awareness Conference in
Islamabad
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j o i n i n . S h e h i g h l i g h t e d t h e
government's efforts for provision of
quality telecom services to the people
of Pakistan and that the government
wishes to introduce the latest and
modern technology in the country. She
also highlighted steps taken to attract
investment in the country for
investment.
Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the Federal
Minister for Finance, who is also the
Chairman of the Auction Supervisory
Committee, in his address to the
conference said that the telecom has
come a long way in Pakistan. Today
we have the world class services,
however, we need to keep on
introducing new technologies which
are changing very rapidly. He then
personally invited the potential
investors to put their faith in the
country and its economy and invest.
He also encouraged the existing
operators to join the auction process to
have benefits of new technology and
the revenue streams attached to it.
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The Conference was attended by
s e n i o r g o v e r n m e n t o f f i c i a l s ,
dignitaries, representatives of
stakeholders and potential investors.
S e c o n d i n v e s t o r s a w a r e n e s s
conference was held at Karachi on 21st
January 2012, Federal Minister Finance
Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was the chief
guest at the occasion. Addressing the
conference, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh
assured the investors that bidding of
3G License would be transparent, fair
and all Rules and Regulations would
be followed accordingly. He said that
process of license auctioning would be
conducted in professional manner.
The Federal Minister said that this will
Investors Awareness Conference in
Karachi
increase opportunities in education,
health, agriculture and banking
sectors of the country, which will
definitely yield to the people of
Pakistan.
Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammed
Yaseen while briefing about the
performance of telecom sector and
Auction process said that with the
launch of 3G, Pakistani cell phone
subscribers will be able to transmit and
receive high speed data through their
mobile phones. He elaborated that the
video calls, internet browsing and
downloading at a much higher speed
which also includes usage of data
intensive applications.
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Chairman International Chamber of
Commerce Karachi Mr. Tariq
Ragoonwala said that today's event
marks historic achievement of PTA,
the technology which is available in
many countries would now benefit
Pakistani consumers as well. He said
that 3G licensing is one of the most
important business prospects in the
history of Pakistan. Introduction of 3G
license will boost-up social and
economic growth and will increase the
revenue of operators as well as
government.
Director General (Strategy &
Development) PTA, Mr. Waseem
Tauqeer highlighted the salient
features of Information Memorandum
(IM). At the end of session, Member
(Technical) PTA, Dr. Khawar Siddique
Khokhar answered the questions
raised by the participants of the
Conference. Large number of
representatives from telecom sector
and media were also present.
The World Radio Communications
(WRC) Conference, which is an
important world event for the radio-
communication and frequency
management, was held in Geneva
during 23rd January to 17th February
Investors Awareness Campaign
during WRC Conference, Geneva
2012. A large number of represent-
atives of international telecom
companies and regulators participated
in the meeting from around the world.
PTA availed this opportunity for the
international awareness campaign of
3G spectrum auction and a delegation
of PTA which participated in the WRC
meeting also arranged an investors
awareness conference on 14th
February 2012 in Geneva where Dr.
Khawar Sidique Khokhar Member
(Technical) PTA, briefed the audience
about 3G opportunities in Pakistan
and related process of auction. A
question and answer session was held
afterwards. While answering to the
questions raised by the potential
investors about the technology
neutrality of the existing 800MHz
license, Member (Tech) informed that
all the cellular licenses already issued
or to be issued will be technology
neutral and more spectrum will be
available in future after spectrum
r e f a r m i n g . P T A d e l e g a t i o n
highlighted the salient features of the
Information Memorandum (IM).
During the de-regulation of telecom sector in
2004-05, significant portion of frequency
spectrum in 1.9 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands was
auctioned for WLL licensees. However, with
WLL Spectrum Auction in 1.9 GHz
and 3.5 GHz Frequency Band
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unprecedented growth of wireless broadband
services and introduction of new players in the
market, it became imperative for the
Government of Pakistan to allocate more
spectrum resources to WLL operators. In this
regard, PTA has been entrusted with the task
of carrying out Auction of the WLL spectrum
as per guidelines provided in the Policy
Directive issued by Ministry of IT on 16th
December 2011 for spectrum auction of
available frequency in 1.9 GHz and 3.5 GHz.
According to the Policy Directive, PTA will
conduct region-wise frequency spectrum
auction in 1.9 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands. The
block size for 3.5 GHz spectrum will be
21/22/23 MHz in the Time Division Duplex
(TDD) mode depending on the region wise
availability of the spectrum. The directive
allows existing WLL and LL, and CVAS
licensees to participate in the spectrum
auction. PTA will ensure that spectrum
auction winners pay 50% of bid price as up-
front payment on acceptance of the bid before
assignment of spectrum and remaining 50% of
bid price in equal annual installments over the
next ten years.
Information Memorandum for WLL auction is
available at PTA website. Base price for 3.5
GHz band is set at USD 28.2 million (covering
all telecom regions) and base price for 1.9 GHz
band is set at USD 88.75 million (covering all
telecom regions).
Mobile Banking in PakistanFinancial services are one of those areas where
use of mobile services can bring in revolution
in Pakistan. Provision of banking services to
the financially excluded poor is an
unprecedented opportunity when traditional
branch-based banking cannot reach to the un-
served/poor in rural areas. Introduction of
efficient mobile banking services in the
country can utilize the strengths of mobile
networks to provide financial services to
unbanked (rural, poor) population as well as
increase the overall efficiency of the banking
sector in Pakistan.
For the promotion of branchless/mobile
banking in Pakistan, the State Bank of Pakistan
introduced the Branchless Banking
Regulations in March 2008. Subsequently,
Ministry of IT issued Policy Directive (May
2008) to support the technical implementation
of mobile banking in the country. Government
of Pakistan under the Policy Directive states
that a relevant telecom sector policy
framework is required to complement SBP
Branchless Banking Regulations. For “any to
any” case involving multiple financial
institutions and multiple cellular mobile
operators, the Policy Directive considers that
there will be a Third Party Service Provider
(TPSP) for settling such transactions, which
will have a regulatory oversight of PTA. The
Policy Directive covers both the mobile
operators and the TPSPs. Therefore, under the
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Policy Directive, Pakistan Telecommunication
Authority (PTA) was mandated to frame
regulations for implementation of framework
for mobile banking services in the country.
For implementation of Policy Directive, PTA Prepared draft Regulations for Technical
Implementation of Mobile Banking 2012. A
consultation process was initiated to
incorporate observations of all stakeholders
on the regulations. The draft Regulations
cover the obligations of the operators, TPSPs
and financial institutions offering mobile
banking and provide a framework for the
mutual agreements, network conditioning
and dispute settlement between/among the
parties engaged in mobile financial services.
The technical framework of mobile banking in
PTA's draft Mobile Banking Regulations 2012
provides a platform for all the operators and
all the banks to interconnect and provide
banking services to all mobile users. The
solution will be beneficial for all, including
mobile operators, financial institutions and
consumers. Some of the benefits to financial
institutions and mobile operators include
network effect, operators synergy, avoid
duplication of cost, bank the un-served and
reducing cost of provision by replacing more
expensive channels (branches, call centers)
and devices (ATM, Card machines) with the
cheaper mobile solution.
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PTA is collaborating with the State Bank of
Pakistan (SBP) and all stakeholders to provide
necessary framework of mobile financial
services in Pakistan. Joint Regulatory
Committees of SBP and PTA held several
meetings to draft Regulations and move
forward.
In order to provide enabling regulatory
environment and develop cooperation for
having a simplified mobile banking
framework that can allow license holders to
take on branchless banking activity and to
harness full potential of such services, the
PTA signs MoU with SBP
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and
the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on
11th January, 2012. The MoU was signed at a
local hotel in Karachi after a meeting of all
stakeholders to highlight the objectives and
potential benefits of mobile banking in
Pakistan. Governor SBP was proactive and
supportive to introduce innovations in
Pakistan's financial sector with the
collaboration of PTA and telecom operators.
Mr. Farooq Ahmed Awan, Secretary
(Incharge) (IT), Mr. Yaseen Anwer, Governor
State Bank of Pakistan and Dr. Muhammad
Yaseen, Chairman PTA presided over the
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ceremony. Senior management of the
commercial banks, cellular Mobile operators
as well as senior officers from PTA and SBP
also attended the ceremony.
With this MoU, both the institutions have
shown their interest and commitment in
stimulating mobile banking services in the
country. SBP and PTA would act as facilitators
for third party service providers for mobile
banking in Pakistan.
In the current regime, PTA has observed
forbearance regarding regulation of
tariffs/prices of mobile operators. However,
the operators are required to inform the users
in advance about change in tariffs. Due to intense competition, the mobile tariffs
had gone very low due to which the operators
have been incurring losses. In order to have
more stable mobile tariffs and reduce losses,
the operators started levying different
charges.
Due to the mounting complaints of unjustified
and frequent increases by CMOs and levying
new fees with novel names, all CMOs were
directed on 22nd November 2011 to refrain
from making any increase to the existing level
of charges for assistance services. Any CMO
intending to increase these charges will have
to seek Authority's prior approval by
Telecom Tariffs
Changes in Tariffs of Cellular Operators
providing complete justification for the
requested increase. Cellular operators have
appealed to the Authority against the
Directive and the matter remains under
process.
PTCL, vide its letter dated 17th March 2011,
submitted proposal for revising tariff of
Pakistan Package. While the Authority was
reviewing the proposal, PTCL launched the
revised Pakistan Package through media
advertisement on 19th March 2011, without
waiting for the Authority's approval.
Therefore, a Show Cause Notice (SCN) was
issued to PTCL on 5th July 2011 and hearing
took place on 22nd September 2011. The
Authority is in the process of finalizing its
decision on the matter.
With the increasing competition in Pakistan's
telecom industry and new tariff packages
being introduced into the market on regular
basis by telecom operators, Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority prepared
"Tariff Awareness Guide" for facilitation of
telecom consumers. This guide is aimed at
providing the customers , essent ia l
information of telecom operator's obligations
and rights with regards to tariff packages,
educating the consumers on making well
informed and deliberated choice of tariff
package, and informing them about ways of
seeking remedy should they feel the operator
has not fulfilled its responsibility. The guide is
PTCL Tariff Changes
Tariff Awareness Guide for Consumers
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available at PTA website for the information of
telecom consumers.
PTCL proposed to decrease the pulse duration
to 30 seconds and the charge to be set at Rs.
1.25/30 seconds (exclusive of taxes). PTA
approved the proposal. PTCL also submitted a
proposal to increase the tariffs of three of its
Vfone Prepaid packages which Authority did
not approve.
The significant increase in subscribers' base in
recent past, due to the unprecedented growth
in the telecommunications, posed a challenge
not only for PTA but also for the mobile
Automation of Pre-sale
Documentation for SIM
Activation
operators, in terms of effectively managing
authentic subscribers' antecedents. The factors
such as misuse of CNIC copy at retail outlets,
unregistered sales outlets and lack of
monitoring and control, were the main factors
of lapses in the past. This resulted into non-
verified subscribers' antecedents which
invited increased concerns of law enforcement
agencies as well as the general public. PTA
rose to the occasion and launched online
verification system (789) in collaboration with
Mobile Operators and NADRA in 2009.
Successful implementation of the system
resulted in blocking of around 12.6 million
active SIMs and rejection of over 11 million
illegal activation requests. Another step
included launching of ICT enabled system 667
and 668 for cleaning of irregular antecedents'
data which have also borne promising results.
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To further strengthen the verification system,
PTA and all cellular mobile operators of the
country signed a joint framework on 19th
January, 2012. PTA and mobile companies
have formulized a framework for the
successful implementation of a project called
Automation of Pre-sale Documentation. The
new framework, which is likely to be launched
commercially by the end of 1st quarter of 2012,
will eliminate the need of paper document-
ation at the sale points by automating the Pre-
Sale procedure. New project of the Automa-
tion of Pre-Sale Documentation will transform
manual pre-sale procedure to online pre-sale
procedure thereby linking pre-sale with post
sale procedure which is already online. In this
procedure, all the sales outlets will be assigned
Unique IDs which will be mapped to existing
789 database. New SIM will be sold on display
of original CNIC by the customer at the sales
outlet without any other documentation.
Activation process would be same i.e. by
calling 789, however, only SIMs sold through
registered sale points would be activated.
The new system shall not only help to
eliminate the misuse of CNIC copy but also
facilitate in keeping real time record of sale of
SIMs thereby enabling track of sale channels in
case of any misuse. The system will further
strengthen the processes of SIM verification.
Moreover, transition of existing CSAF to e-
CSAF will help in maintaining an authentic
subscriber database.
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Studies Conducted at PTA
Phase-II Study on the Inter-cellular
Network Utilization for SMS Traffic
With a view to make prudent Regulations in
line with new technological trends and
changing dynamics of telecom markets, PTA
sets annual targets and goals for its
departments. This practice has helped the
Authority in making effective Regulations
and invoke best practices in the telecom sector
of Pakistan. Some of the studies carried out
during the last two quarters are given below:
This study provides an in-depth analysis of the
SMS traffic for year 2010 of all the cellular
mobile operators in Pakistan. It includes the
total SMS traffic being generated in Pakistan,
monthly usage trend, inter-operator and intra-
operator traffic volume. During the year 2010,
the total SMS generated in Pakistan were 175.4
billion, a 15.7% growth from the year 2009.
Nationwide, Ufone has generated the
maximum number of SMSs per month,
although the subscriber base of Ufone is less
than Mobilink and Telenor. Ufone has also
highest international SMS exchange count as
compared to all other operators. The report
recommends that operators in Pakistan should
introduce mechanism for a feature of delivery
reports and other delivery assurance. The
report also recommends that Application-to-
Person (A2P) & Person-to-Application (P2A)
must flourish in order to increase the revenues
from SMS. A2P & P2A SMS must be counted
and maintained separately from Person-to-
Person (P2P) SMSs. International SMS traffic
must be enhanced through some attractive
packages.
As part of PTA's initiatives on licensing
reforms for development of a more conducive
telecom regime in Pakistan, this study
explores the implications of merging 14 Local
Loop and 1 Long Distance International
License to form a consolidated license. With
the availability of non-geographical (IP
oriented) access solutions, the restriction of
services within the local loop regions is neither
a technological trend nor could easily be
enforced. The scope and ease of LL operators
getting involved into the LDI business has
increased. Keeping in view the global impact
of Value Added Services (VAS) on operator's
ARPU, the study explores the possibility of
including the existing CVAS under the
umbrella of proposed consolidated license.
The standalone existing regime of CVAS will
remain intact. In order to introduce a unified
licensing regime through a new policy, the
study provides the requisite inputs to Ministry
of IT & Telecom. The study also suggests a list
of telecom services to be under the proposed
consolidated license.
Study on Merger of 14 LL and One LDI
License
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Regulatory Reforms Impact on Economy This study assesses the impact of telecom
services reforms and development on
Pakistan's economy with empirical support. In
particular, the contribution of telecom services
on the growth of overall economy and major
sectors has been analysed with the support of
econometric estimates. The econometric
estimates show that the telecom developments
are significantly and positively impacting the
economic growth in Pakistan. The most
important finding of the econometric exercise
is that telecom is contributing relatively less in
agriculture compared to high contributions of
telecom in the growth of manufacturing and
services sectors. In order to increase the
contribution of telecom infrastructure and
services in the overall economic growth, the
study suggests productive use of telecom
services in the society and recommends for the
introduction of telecom solutions, e-commerce
and mobile applications in the agriculture
production processes.
Telecom Activities
Inauguration of Transworld Data Centre
in KarachiPakistan is connected to the international
media via three submarine cables, one of
which is owned by Transworld Associates
(TWA). Recently, TWA established a data
centre in Karachi which was inaugurated by
the Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen.
The event was also attended by telecom
e x e c u t i v e s , m e d i a a n d c o m p a n y
representatives.
Chairman PTA appreciated the role of
Transworld in bringing high quality
international data connectivity solution to the
country and assured the audience that PTA is
fully committed to the task of regulating,
issuing new licenses and to introduce new
spectrums and technologies with the help of
private sector.
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Transworld's new data center is unique due to
its location and state of the art technology
where new applications and content can be
hosted with minimum capital expenditure.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
launched “National Rabta Portal” in
December, 2010 to provide a single source
facilitation web portal. Through this portal
information and content is made accessible to
the general public via www.pakistan.pk.
Building on the success of the earlier initiative,
PTA launched a local search engine “Raftaar
Pakistan” which will fetch the relevant
information from websites registered under
.pk ccTLD. It is first of its kind online search
platform offering filtered and Pakistan-based
content.
Launch of Local Search Engine on
National Rabta Portal
In addition, PTA also launched various other
application services on Rabta Portal to assist
local Internet users in retrieving information
specific to Internet and local content of the
country. Some of them include: -
National Whois Application that will help
the user to access ownership and
management information of an IP address
of Pakistan. The Whois service is linked up
with APNIC (Asia Pacific Network
Information Center) database.
ICT Rabta Pages will assist a user to
retrieve contact and general information
about ICT industry of the country
Educational Portal will help the students
and general community to access
information regarding public & private
educational institutes, scholarships and
skill development programs available in
the country.
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th 7 International Information Security
Conference “Info-Sec 2011” Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen
announced that PTA has drafted “ICT Security
Guidelines” for telecom, Government of
Pakistan and general users after detailed
consultation with all the stakeholders. He was
addressing a gathering at the 7th International
Information Security Conference “Info-Sec
2011” as Chief Guest of the event on October
18, 2011 at Karachi. Mohammad Kamran
Shahzad, Deputy Governor State Bank of
Pakistan and others also attended the
conference. Chairman PTA said that
Information Security is emerging as one of the
most critical factors behind effective IT
implementation, but it is also promising that
public awareness about the information
security has risen with the passage of time and
Asia now reports higher maturity levels across
more capabilities than any other world region
and has more vigorous focus on strategic
issues such as alignment of security with the
business and the crucial need to protect data.
The emphasis of PTA on standardized
information security procedures and
techniques by individuals and businesses
highlights the need for drafting the subject
guidelines. It is pertinent for the telecom
companies to initiate information security
awareness campaigns in order to educate their
staff about importance of securing the
information resources.
Launch of Consumer Perception Survey
System (8899)Consumer protection and satisfaction are one
of the major focus areas of PTA and new
initiatives are regularly devised to gauge the
performance of telecom companies against the
user satisfaction levels. In this regard, PTA
launched “SMS based consumer perception
survey system (8899)” aiming to sought
consumers perception about performance of
their respective cellular mobile operator. This
free of cost system sends SMS to mobile phone
users inviting them to participate in the survey
by sending response through SMS ranging
from 1 (lowest) to 10 (highest) as per his/her
perception. Mobile phone users can also
participate directly by sending SMS to short
code '8899' about his/her perception for the
quality of service of their respective mobile
phone service provider. The results of the first such Survey were
released by PTA in November, 2011 for
awareness of general public through print and
electronic media. According to Survey results,
Mobilink was termed as excellent by 30% of its
responding users, while Warid was marked as
excellent by 29% of its customers. Similarly,
22.5% respondents of Telenor marked it as
excellent while 20% of Zong respondents
voted their company as excellent. Ufone's
respondents were comparatively less happy
with their service provider as only 16%
customers rated the company's service as
excellent.
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16
Seminar on 'What's Ahead in
Telecommunication for Pakistan'PTA as a regulator has always endeavored to
ensure continuous expansion of broadband in
Pakistan. Regulatory actions and strategies
regarding broadband reflect in the form of
expanding access, enhancing citizen digital
skills, promoting local content and increasing
value addition inside the network (Intelligent
Network) and services. In this regard, PTA
and Huawei Pakistan organized a Broadband
Seminar & Road Show in Islamabad. The basic
theme of the forum was proliferation of
broadband technologies for creating new
opportunities across all segments of society,
along with its associated challenges and
strategies. Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammed
Yaseen, was the Chief Guest of the event while
Dr. Khawar Siddique Khokhar Member
(Technical), PTA, Mr. Leo Xu, Vice President
of Middle East Region, Huawei, telecom
experts, representatives of telecom companies,
academia and media representatives also
attended the Seminar.
Speaking at the occasion, Chairman PTA said
that broadband is surely an important area of
consideration for the industry in future as
people are interested in mobility and
connectivity at the same time. He also
emphasized on improved quality of telecom
systems and services in future, and focus on
telecommunication not only as an element of
support but also as a driving force of economic
growth. In order to promote wireless
broadband dissemination in rural areas, PTA
would plan ahead to devise national spectrum
re-farming strategy. Among other speakers,
Mr. Fan Yunjun, CEO CMPak, Mr. Adil Rauf,
CEO Alcatel-Lucent Pakistan, Mr. Naeem
Zamindar, CEO Wateen Telecom, Mr. Zia
Imran Managing Director PSEB, Mr. Wilson
Wang, Deputy CEO Huawei Pakistan, Mr.
Faisal Ansari, Head of Customer Team NSN,
Ms. Anjum Nida Rehman, Director Corporate
Communications Telenor and Mr. Adnan
Shahid, CIO Ideogeny also shared their expert
thoughts on areas of mobile technologies,
broadband, consumer lifestyles, smart weiv
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Pakistan Telecom Authority
TelecomQuarterly
Review 2011Dec
17
phones, mobile content, services and
applications.
In order to support social entrepreneurship
and innovation in ICT, Pakistan Software
Houses Association (P@SHA) under the
patronage of PTA, established a PKR 20
million “Social Innovative Fund”, sponsored
by Google. Objectives of this fund are a new
beginning of reaping the associated business,
entrepreneurship and social benefits of this
exponential ICT infrastructure of Pakistan.
The fund will help finance the projects/ideas
of the youth of Pakistan by providing them
with a limited amount of capital to get the
ideas off the ground.
Inauguration of P@SHA Social
Innovation Fund
Chairman PTA inaugurated the subject fund
at a ceremony held at PTA Headquarters,
Islamabad on 14th July, 2011, which was
attended by Member (Technical) PTA, Dr.
Khawar Siddique Khokhar, Ms. Jehan Ara,
President of P@SHA, Mr.Badar Khushnood,
Country Consultant for Google, MD PSEB
Mr.Zia Imran and other senior officers of the
Authority.
Chairman PTA congratulated P@SHA team
on the announcement of “Social Innovation
Fund” and said that the future of ICTs are
likely to evolve two fold in the shape of
internet, where everyday objects can make
online communication for dynamically
exchanging resources, applications, services
and knowledge.
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TelecomQuarterly
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Pakistan Telecom Authority18
TELECOM ECONOMY
State of Pakistan EconomyThe economy of Pakistan is expected to perform better
in the FY2012 compared to a slower growth last year. A
target GDP growth of 4.2 percent was set for the FY2012;
however, according to the State Bank of Pakistan, it
looks difficult to achieve the target due to floods in the
beginning of this fiscal year, dengue epidemic in
Punjab, softened global prices of agriculture and
unavailability of alternate energy sources. Wheat and
rice production improved in the country, however
farmers could not get a reasonable price of their
products in the international market due to fall in global
prices. Fortunately, large scale manufacturing (LSM)
has been unaffected by floods and is expected to achieve
a target of 2 percent growth. Major LSM sub-sectors
including textile, food, cement and pharmaceuticals
have shown reasonable growth rates. Consistent with
LSM growth, credit demand (advance, investment and
bill discounted) by the private sector increased by 2.5
percent during Jul 2011-Nov 2011 compared to
corresponding period last year.
Pakistan Telecom Authority
TelecomQuarterly
Review 2011Dec
19
On the fiscal front, government has been
making some progress and the fiscal deficit for
the first quarter of FY2012 was 1.2 percent of
GDP compared to 1.5 percent during the same
quarter last year. This reduction was caused
primarily by the rise in tax collection and high
growth in taxes on imports. On the monetary
side, State Bank followed a rather less
expansionary monetary policy during the first
half of current fiscal year to contain inflation;
however, this would mean less economic
growth. Further, monetary expansion is
mostly due to flow of liquidity to government
papers and less money left for the use in actual
economic activities.
Despite continued slow economic growth,
telecom sector indicators
showed positive growth:
teledensity improved to 69.2
percent at the end of Dec 2011,
telecom revenues reached
over Rs. 193 billion during the
last six months compared to
Rs. 178 billion in Jul-Dec 2010,
and total investment increased
in the second quarter of
FY2012 to US$ 96.1 million
after showing a dip in the first
quarter. PTA has vision to
make the telecom sector a
driving force for the rest of the
economy.
TeledensityThe total teledensity including cellular mobile,
local loop (LL) and wireless local loop (WLL)
increased to 69.2 percent at the end of Dec
2011, showing a year on year growth of 6.1
percent. This is more than double the yearly
growth between Dec 2009 and Dec 2010, which
shows a resilience of the telecom sector to the
slow economic growth and vibrant efforts of
the telecom operators to expand their
subscriber base. Again, the major chunk of
growth in teledensity came through the
increase in cellular subscribers, whereas, LL
and WLL teledensity remained almost the
same over the last few quarters.
Pakistan Telecom Authority
56
58
60
62
64
66
68
70
Dec 10 Mar-11 Jun-11 Sep-11 Dec-11
61.7
63.9 64.8 65.0
65.8
1.9
1.8
1.8 1.8 1.8
1.6
1.6
1.6 1.6 1.6
WLL Density FLL Density Mobile Density
67.4
68.268.5
69.2
65.2
eg atn ec re
P
Total Teledensity
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Quarterly Review2011
Dec
20
Telecom RevenuesQuarterly revenues of the telecom sector have
reached to all time high of Rs 99.4 billion
during the second quarter of current financial
year registering a growth of 9.1 percent over
the corresponding quarter in previous year.
This is a healthy growth keeping in view stiff
competition in the market while offering low
tariff rates and decreasing ARPUs. Telecom
Dec 2011 showing year on year growth of 30
percent. Overall, the share of data revenue in
total telecom revenues has increased from 11.1
percent in Oct-Dec 2010 to 12.4 percent in Oct-
Dec 2011.
Pakistan Telecom Authority
Pe
r centa
ge
90,475
91,338
98,13098,271
99,415
4.3
1.0
7.4
0.1 1.2
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
86,000
88,000
90,000
92,000
94,000
96,000
98,000
100,000
102,000
Oct- Dec -10 Jan -Mar-11 Apr - Jun 11 Jul - Sep 11 Oct- Dec-11
Telecom Revenues Growth
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Telecom Revenues
operators are striving to improve their
financial health through new value added
services, subscribers addition and expansion
of data services. During the last quarter,
cellular operators have also levied additional
service charges on pre-paid accounts to
generate extra revenues. The impact of steps
taken by operators is expected to reflect in
their revenues in coming quarters.
The revenues of telecom sector can be divided
into voice and data. With the increasing use of
data services in the country, estimated data
revenues of telecom operators are on the rise
and have reached Rs. 12.2 billion during Oct-
With increasing number of broadband
subscribers in the country, estimated quarterly
data revenues of LL and WLL companies have
reached Rs. 5.4 billion in Oct-Dec 2011,
showing a significant year on year growth of
52 percent. On the other hand, cellular mobile
revenues from data services have shown a
growth of 19 percent during the same period.
It is expected that after the launch of 3G
services in the country, data revenues of
cellular mobile operators will increase
significantly.
Over the last four years, annual telecom sector
contributions in the national exchequer
remained over 110 billion rupees on account of
fees, taxes and duties. During the first six
Telecom Contribution to National
Exchequer
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Data Revenues of Telecom Operators
9,402 10,050
8,868 9,906
12,217
11.1
9.8 10.2
12.5 12.4
-
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
14.0
-
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
Oct- Dec-10 Jan -Mar-11 Apr -Jun 11 Jul - Sep 11 Oct- Dec-11
Data Revenues Share in Total Telecom Revenues
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Estimated Data Revenues of Cellular, LL and WLL for their Data Services.
months of the current fiscal year, telecom
sector contributed Rs. 58.1 billion compared to
Rs. 56.9 billion during the corresponding
period last year. FED and other taxes have
increased whereas PTA deposits have
dropped to Rs. 2.2 billion partly due to low
established most of their networks, therefore
investment have been not increased during
last two years. On a healthy note, telecom
investment rebounded in the second quarter
of FY2012 and crossed the mark of US$ 96
million after being low at US$ 41.2 million in
Pakistan Telecom Authority
payments on account of initial license fee of
telecom operators. With increasing trends in
the revenues of telecom operators, expected
fee payments in the next two quarters and a six
monthly growth trend in FED/other tax
contributions, it is expected that the total
contributions in this FY2012 will be over Rs.
120 billion.
Telecom sector of Pakistan attracted
substantial investments after the deregulation
of the sector. During the last six years, over
US$ 12 billion have been invested in the
telecom infrastructure and new technologies.
As telecom companies have already
Telecom Investment
Telecom Contribution to the National Exchequer
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
Jul-Dec 10 Jan-Jun-11 Jul-Dec 11
Others PTA Deposits Activation Tax GST
23.37
3.27
10.76
19.53
29.23
3.911.20
25.92
24.10
3.95
2.17
27.88
(56.9)(60.3) (58.1)
no i ll i
B .s
R
Source: Central Board of Revenue and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. Note: PTA's contributions comprise of all its receipts including Initial and Annual License Fee, Annual Spectrum Administrative Fee, USF and R&D Fund Contributions, Numbering Charges, License Application Fee, etc.Others include custom duties, WH Tax and other taxes.
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Quarterly Review2011
Dec
22
Telecom Investment (US$ Million)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Oct-Dec 10 Jan-Mar 11 Apr-Jun 11 Jul-Sep 11 Oct-Dec 11
128.2
148.9
85.3
41.2
96.1n
oi lliM
$S
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the first quarter of FY2012. This increase is
solely due to an increase of US$ 53 million in
the investment by cellular mobile operators
during the last quarter, whereas investments
by LL, WLL and LDI segments did not show
any increase. The investments in the telecom
sector are expected to increase in future due to
upcoming 3G auction and network up-
gradation.
Foreign Direct Investment
440.7
287.9
450.5
263.3 267.9
50.5
(43.9)
11.9
(96.8) (35.8)
(200.0)
(100.0)
-
100.0
200.0
300.0
400.0
500.0
Oct -Dec 10 Jan - Mar 11 Apr - Jun 2011 Jul - Sep 11 Oct - Dec 11
Total FDI (US$ Million) FDI in Telecom (US$ Million)
noil li
M $
SU
Telecom Imports (US$ Million)
Pakistan Telecom Authority
tripled reaching US$ 104 million during the
last quarter. The demand for cellular mobile
handsets is on the rise since government has
allowed the import of cheaper Chinese brand
mobile handsets. With huge telecom market of
over 112 million subscribers, telecom
companies and the government of Pakistan
may put efforts for the telecom manufacturing
in the country. PTA is encouraging existing
and new companies to initiate telecom
manufacturing in the country while 3G
services are also expected to come soon,
creating new business opportunities in the
country. Government of Pakistan and PTA are
willing to provide all possible cooperation to
facilitate this process.
The inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI)
in the telecom sector were to the tune of US$
6.4 billion during the last six years and had
significant (30%) share in the total FDI in the
country. After investing heavily in
establishing basic infrastructure, telecom
companies have reduced their FDI inflows in
the sector over time. According to the State
Bank of Pakistan, net inflows of FDI remained
negative during the last two quarters on
account of dis-investment by some operators.
Tele
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Imports
Cellular Mobile sets with Battery
Jul-Sep 10
55.58
Telecom ImportsTotal telecom imports have increased during
the last two quarters mostly on account of
sharp increase in the imports of cellular mobile
handsets. In particular, telecom imports
during the second quarter of FY2012 remained
at US$ 216 million compared to US$ 191
million during the corresponding period last
year. During the same period, the quarterly
imports of cellular mobile sets have almost
Telecom Imports
CELLULAR MOBILE SERVICES
Pakistan Mobile sector kept growing consistently in the
first two quarters of the fiscal year 2011-12. The sector
remained active during the year where both operators
and regulator kept putting their best and the results are
obvious in the growing indicators. Like rest of the
economy, the cellular sector also faced heavy taxes,
power shortage and damages from floods but timely
measures like infrastructure sharing, alternate energy
source (solar BTS) and exciting Value Added Services
improved revenue streams of the operators. The
Authority kept a close watch over the quality of service
and national security through regular surveys and by
s t rengthening subscr iber ver i f i ca t ion and
authentication systems. Similarly, the Authority also
launched a multitude of technical measures to purge out
'obnoxious and fraudulent' communication, Anti-Spam
filters, common Short Code allocation, SMS blocking,
Pre-NPR Data and other such facilities.
During the reported period, all five mobile operators
kept introducing new Value Added Services (VAS) on
regular basis, specifically targeting SMS offers. Other
Pakistan Telecom Authority
TelecomQuarterly
Review2011Dec
24
Pakistan Telecom Authority
than SMS, the VAS mainly includes voice
messaging, chatting and wireless music
products such as color ring. However, recently
the operators have started to introduce more
sophisticated VAS specially catering to the
needs of high-end corporate segment of
Pakistani society. For example, the mobile
users are now subscribing to stock market
updates, movie alerts, online magazines,
comedy boxes, mobile internet, music
channels, paying utility bills, mobile banking
and listening to the radio.
The Pakistani mobile users are already using
advanced Value Added Services and with
upcoming auction of 3G licenses will ensure
that cellular sector is cultivated further,
bringing improvements to existing services
through faster data speeds and also offering
new services currently unsupportable over the
existing 2G networks. The operators however,
have to momentously work on educating their
customers on the availability of advanced VAS
services and how best to access them. It can be
concluded that the VAS market is only just
warming up and with introduction of 3G, a
much more aggressive stance by operators is
expected.
Mobile penetration, which constitutes major
part of the teledensity of the country, stands at
66% at the end of December 2011. When
comparing the current penetration with
Mobile Penetration
corresponding period of the year 2010, there is
3.1% increase. However, comparison of
cellular mobile penetration with last quarter,
1.5% drop is observed. Drop in mobile
penetration is mainly attributed to decline in
subscriber base of Warid in the last three
quarters due to churn.
The spread of mobile penetration across the
country is tilted towards Sindh and Punjab
provinces where the penetration is over 80%
and 66% respectively. However in Balochistan
and KPK, it is less than 50%.
The penetration is bound to grow in future,
owing to rural expansion the operators are
working upon. However, the cost of rural
expansion may outweigh the benefits of
acquiring the low end rural subscribers. The
impact of launch of 3G services seems to be
insignificant as the services will go through
the Technology Adoption Lifecycle.
Mobile Penetration
eg
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59.0
60.0
61.0
62.0
63.0
64.0
65.0
66.0
Dec-10 Mar-11 Jun-11 Sep - 11 Dec-11
61.7
63.9
64.8 65.0
65.8
Cellular Subscribers Market Share
Mobilink31%
Ufone20%
Zong8%
Telenor24%
Warid17%
Mobilink30%
Ufone19%
Zong12%
Telenor25%
Warid14%
Dec 2010
Dec 2011
Pakistan Telecom Authority
Subscribers Mix Mobile subscribers in Pakistan reached 112.8
million at the end of December 2011 showing a
growth momentum as compared to previous
quarters of the year 2011. The subscribers grew
by 2.3% in the last quarter as compared to 1.3%
growth in the quarter ending September 2011.
Warid kept losing its subscribers during the
whole year but rest of the operators gained
good number of subscr ibers . Zong
outperformed and added over 5 million
subscribers followed by Telenor which added
3.4 million subscribers. Mobilink and Ufone
had slow pace with 2.4 million and 1 million
of handsets with dual or no IMEI number. It is,
therefore, concluded that the market will
adjust with numbers once the blocking of
unregistered SIMs is over.
Mobile market over the years has become
more stable due to intense competition.
Market shares are now more balanced among
the five operators with almost insignificant
changes over the year. Mobilink had led the
market for a long period but other operators
are catching up on its market share such as
Zong and Telenor. Warid also lost market
Market Share
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Cellular Mobile Subscribers by Operator
-
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
120.0
Dec-10Mar-11
Jun-11Sep - 11
Dec-11
31.8 32.7
33.4 33.4
34.2
20.3 20.4 20.5
20.7 21.4
8.5 9.8 10.9 12.6 13.9
24.7 25.8 26.7 27.3 28.1
17.5 17.8 17.4 16.3 15.3
Warid Telenor Zong Ufone Mobilink
additions respectively. Zong is operating very
aggressively in the market and the impressive
growth momentum is reflective of the support
of China Mobile - the world's largest mobile
operator. Telenor is also growing at a stable
pace, and concentrating to increase postpaid
subscribers. A downside pressure is felt on
overall growth of the sector due to the blocking
of unregistered SIMs and prohibiting the sale
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102.8 106.5 108.9 110.3 112.9
Pakistan Telecom Authority
share in the reported period from 17% (Dec
2010) to 14% (Dec 2011). At the end of
December 2011, Mobilink had a market share
of 30% followed by Telenor with 24%, Ufone
with 19%, Warid with 14% and Zong with 12%.
Zong is the only fast pace operator that gained
4% market during the year 2011.
Cellular mobile revenue shows 12.2% growth
during first half of the FY2012. Quarter wise
analysis shows a continuous increase in the
mobile revenues with unusual growth from
March to June 2011 i.e. almost 7% which
normalized in the subsequent quarters. This
unusual increase in revenue was mainly due to
improved revenues of Mobilink and Telenor
during the said period. Although Zong
showed exceptional growth in terms of
subscribers but the revenue growth was stable
over 2011.
Mobile Revenues
Average Revenue per User Average Revenue per User (ARPU) of the
industry kept hovering over a figure of US$ 2.5
and US$ 2.45 in the reported period. The dips
and rises of the ARPU over the year shows
market adjustments in both upward and
downward directions either through
improved revenues or through increased
dollar rupee exchange rates. It is expected that
operators will continue to work on expanding
their networks and acquiring more customers,
however, the cut throat competition especially
in voice services keep the operators worried
over stable ARPUs.
Since the market has matured over the years
therefore the operators and subscribers are
now looking for quality over quantity while
operators are looking for a recipe that may pull
them out of lower ARPU levels and give
improved returns over their heavy
investments.
Cellular Mobile Revenues
64,730
65,621
70,639 70,851
72,652
60,000
62,000
64,000
66,000
68,000
70,000
72,000
74,000
Jul-Dec-10 Jan-Mar 11 Apr-Jun 11 Jul-Sep 11 Oct-Dec-11
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Cellular ARPU US$/month
2.39 2.46 2.48 2.50 2.53
2.39
2.51 2.46 2.43
1.50
1.70
1.90
2.10
2.30
2.50
2.70
Dec - 09 Mar - 10 Jun - 10 Sep - 10 Dec - 10 Mar - 11 Jun - 11 Sep - 11 Dec - 11
$S
U
Pakistan Telecom Authority
A boost to ARPU is also expected with launch
of 3G services, which will be concentrating
more on provision of data services thus
enhancing non-voice revenues. Similarly the
operators have now started to raise the tariffs
of voice services of specific packages aiming
mainly on quality and increase in returns.
Network expansion is often termed to be the
main indicator of a mobile operator's growth.
Number of cell sites is a gauge that depicts the
presence of the operator network around the
country. However, with infrastructure sharing
getting popular among the operators, erecting
cell sites have become financially unviable for
operators especially in the areas where there is
already a network available. Infrastructure
sharing is also a positive move towards
environmental friendly telecom networks.
During the reported period of six months
(July-Dec 2011) a total of 1,384 cell sites have
Network Expansion
been added to the current network by all
operators. In the preceding period the
addition was 886 cell sites from Jan June 2011.
The operators are still focusing on the areas
that do not have network access or where the
network has been damaged due to floods.
SMS by large is the major data service in the
emerging markets around the globe. Since
most of Pakistani mobile subscribers can
easily communicate through text messaging,
therefore, a large number of services including
Banking services, money transfer and
information services are delivered via SMS.
The operators have been introducing bulk
messaging offers and SMS buckets to their
subscribers which resulted in heavy reliance of
subscribers on SMS service. Telemarketing is
one segment which has increased the SMS
usage many times and looking at its
popularity, PTA introduced measures for
misuse of services. During the first two quarter
Traffic
Cellular Cell Sites
30,417
31,081 31,303
31,769
32,687
29,000
29,500
30,000
30,500
31,000
31,500
32,000
32,500
33,000
Dec-10 Mar-11 Jun-11 Sep - 11 Dec-11
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SMS by Cellular Mobile Operators
51,214
59,770 62,429
66,565 67,331
-
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
Jul-Dec-10 Jan-Mar 11 Apr-Jun 11 Jul-Sep 11 Oct-Dec-11
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Pakistan Telecom Authority
of FY2012, a total of 133.9 billion SMS were
recorded by cellular mobile networks of
Pakistan showing a continuous increasing
trend. According to Portio Research, a UK-
based telecom research company, the heavy-
texting Pakistani market is ranked sixth in
terms of SMS traffic in Asia-Pacific, only
behind China, the Philippines, Indonesia,
India and Japan, in 2010. The research says that
on average, a Pakistani subscriber generates
approximately five SMSs per day.
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Quarterly Review 2011
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29
BASIC SERVICES
Basic Services comprises of Local Loop (fixed and
wireless) and Long Distance International services
which, although technologically different, combine
together to form the basis of telecommunication
infrastructure of Pakistan. History of basic services is as
old as the history of Pakistan itself yet the importance
and demand for fixed line connections remained high
throughout the years. Till 1990, it took one to seven 1years on average to acquire a telephone connection and
now Pakistan stands among the most mature and
developed telecom markets in the world. However, the
technological revolutions mainly wireless services had
a major impact on Fixed Local Loop business since
mobility, coverage, quality of service and negligible
maintenance requirement shifted consumer focus from
fixed to wireless services. Another factor in the low LL
Teledensity has also been the fact that till 1996, only 2.37
million fixed connections were rolled out by the
incumbent after being in operation for almost 50 years.
Pakistan Telecom Authority
1History of Pakistan Telecommunications (June 1999) by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
TelecomQuarterly
Review2011Dec
30
1.94 1.82 1.79 1.76 1.81
1.69 1.62 1.60 1.62 1.64
-
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
Dec - 10 Mar-11 Jun-11 Sep -11 Dec-11
WLL FLL
(3.63)
(3.44) (3.39) (3.38)(3.44)
eg
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Global ICT Developments
Mobile-cellular Telephone Subscriptions
Internet Users
Fixed Telephone Lines
Active Mobile-broadband Subscriptions
Fixed (wired)-broadband Subscription
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
*Estimate
Pe
r 1
00
In
ha
bita
nts
2001
Pakistan Telecom Authority
The next and most important development in
te lecommunicat ions was the global
phenomenon of mobile cellular services which
completely swept away local loop business all
over the world including Pakistan. Figure
below shows the declining trend in global
fixed line subscriptions over the last ten years
as per ITU data2.
Local Loop services are predominantly run by
few major companies in Pakistan PTCL being
the leader followed by Telecard, WorldCall,
Wateen and NTC. Ample competition in the
local loop market was introduced by PTA
through de-regulation in 2004-05 but the state
of the basic services remained in the hands of
improved marketing and customer-centric
initiatives, revamped one stop shop (OSS) and
Easy Load facility etc. Wateen also announced
major changes in its logo, marketing, network
optimization and customer service with
promise to introduce attractive offers to the
customers and innovative new products.
Teledensity of fixed and wireless local loop
services stood at 3.44% as at the end of second
quarter of FY2012. Figure shows the quarterly
trend in local loop teledensity since December
2010. A slight drop in teledensity can be
observed in the last two quarters of FY2012,
however, the trend has reversed in the second
Local Loop Teledensity
2http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/
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few big companies. The performance of Local
loop companies over the last few quarters has
been encouraging as the industry bounced
back from declining subscriber trend in the
first two quarters of FY2012. PTCL undertook
major steps to break from the stereotypical
image by introducing new packages,
Local Loop Teledensity
quarter of FY2012 bringing the overall Local
Loop Teledensity to 3.44%. Rising penetration
figure at the end the first two quarters of
FY2012 are due to increase in both FLL and
WLL Teledensity. FLL has performed well in
the second quarter of FY2012 owing to PTCL's
positive numbers. FLL Teledensity stands at
Pakistan Telecom Authority
1.81% at the end of December 2011 as
compared to 1.79% at the end of FY2011.
Similarly, WLL penetration stands at 1.64% as
of December 2011 from 1.62% a quarter ago.
Increase in WorldCall subscribers has
stabilized the WLL teledensity during the last
quarter.
Distribution of market share in local loop
services is almost equal where WLL services
have 51% share and FLL has 49% stake in total
local loop subscriber base as of December 2011.
Local Loop subscriber base of Pakistan
consists of 5.9 million fixed and wireless
subscribers by the end of second quarter of the
FY2012. Compared with 5.7 million at the end
of FY2011, overall subscriber base has
increased by 3.9% with 222,957 net additions
over the first two quarters of FY2012. Sector-
wise analysis reveals that FLL subscriber base
grew by 2.7% to reach 3.09 million at the end of
reported period compared to 3.02 million as of
Local Loop Subscribers
June 2011. WLL sector also grew slightly to
reach 2.8 million subscribers as of December
2011 up from 2.7 million (June 2011) showing
5.1% growth.
The rise in subscriber base can be attributed to
positive net additions by PTCL which holds
over 95% share in the FLL and 53% shares in
WLL subscriber base.
Major players in the Local Loop market have
performed well at the start of new fiscal year.
PTCL's total Local Loop subscriber base stood
at 4,393,031 out of which 2,961,915 belong to
FLL sector while 1,431,116 are WLL
subscribers. On the whole, PTCL has managed
to add 157,824 subscribers during the first two
quarters of FY2012 and holds 74% share in the
Local Loop subscriber base. WorldCall has
525,886 subscribers combining fixed and
wireless services. WLL subscribers of the
company were declining till the end of FY2011
due to subscriber churn, however, the
company managed to turn around and post
rising numbers in the first two quarters of
FY2012. The current WLL subscriber base of
WorldCall stands at 515,962 whereas its FLL
subscribers have reached to a figure of 9,924.
Telecard is a wireless based operator having
588,056 subscribers and shows steady growth
over the last five quarters. Wateen also
suffered heavily due to subscriber churn till
the end of FY2011; however, the company
exhibited positive net additions standing at
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0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
Dec - 10 Mar-11 Jun -11 Sep -11 Dec -11
3.2 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.1
2.8 2.7 2.7 2.62.8
WLL FLL
6.05.7 5.7 5.6
5.9
Local Loop Subscribers
n
oilliM
which in turn will not only help the national
exchequer but will also improve LDI operators
returns. The Traffic trends therefore depend
largely on gray traffic activities which mean
lesser gray traffic and increased international
traffic of the country. The Figure shows total
international traffic (Incoming + outgoing) by
new LDI operators including PTCL). During
the reported period (July-Dec 2011) total
international traffic (incoming + Outgoing)
stood at 9,449 million minutes. The
international traffic in the preceding six
months (Jan-Jun 2011) was 6,622 million
minutes. When compared, traffic on the LDI
networks increased by 42%.
The revenues of new LDI operators showed
slight drop during the reported period i.e.
from July-Dec 2011. One of the reasons for
revenue decline is the fact that there is a
continuous drop in accounting settlement
Revenues by new LDI Operators
Pakistan Telecom Authority
238,908 as of December 2011 a compared to
214,831 as of June, 2011.
With 14 Long Distance and International
service providers including PTCL, the
Pakistani international and nationwide
market has now grown mature. The sector has
gone through different phases and
experienced many challenges. The regulator
has been assisting operators on industry issues
in order to maintain level playing field. Illegal
traffic has been a major hurdle in the growth of
LDI business activity as illegal traffic results in
a huge unrecorded traffic, uncompetitive low
tariff and financial loss to government.
Long Distance & International
With nationwide dialing being provided at
lowest possible rates, LDI service providers
are concentrating on international traffic for
better returns. The Authority and law
enforcing agencies are playing key role in
abolishing the gray traffic from the country,
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800 999 1,123 1,231 1,192
1,609
1,872
2,628
3,092
3,934
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
Oct-Dec 10 Jan-Mar 11 Apr-Jun 11 Jul-Sep 11 Oct - Dec 11
International incoming Traffic
International Outgoing Traffic
(2,409)
(2,871)
(3,751)
(4,323)
(5,126)
LDI International Incoming and Outgoing Traffic
se t
un i
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oil liM
9,078.00
8,258.308,572.03 8,470.91
7,429.34
0.00
1,000.00
2,000.00
3,000.00
4,000.00
5,000.00
6,000.00
7,000.00
8,000.00
9,000.00
10,000.00
Oct-Dec-10 Jan-Mar 11 Apr-Jun-11 Jul-Sep 11 Oct-Dec-11
.sR
noilli
M
13,842
13,325
14,229
14,483
14,856
12,500.00
13,000.00
13,500.00
14,000.00
14,500.00
15,000.00
Oct-Dec10 Jan-Mar 11 Apr-June 11 Jul-Sep 11 Oct-Dec11
.sR
noilli
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Pakistan Telecom Authority
rates and thus the tariffs of international calls.
Total revenues of 13 LDI's operators from July-
Dec 2011 are Rs. 15,900 million, showing a
decline of 5% compared to revenue of Rs.
16,830 million during Jan-Jun 2011. PTCL which is the largest telecom operator in
Pakistan and the SMP operator in LDI market
has the highest share in total revenue of the
Local Loop and LDI services. PTCL performed
well during the reported period as revenues
kept growing during Jun-Dec 2011. During the
reported period, PTCL revenue was Rs. 29,339
million, which shows year-on-year growth of
5% when compared to the corresponding
period of 2010.
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PTCL Revenues
Pakistan Telecom Authority
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BROADBAND SERVICES
OverviewGlobal recognition of broadband and its importance is
an undeniable fact, both for developed and developing
countries. According to a recent report published by
Broadband Commission on Digital Development (set
up by ITU and UNESCO), targets have been set for
countries around the world. By 2015, countries are
encouraged to develop a national broadband plan,
make broadband affordable, connect 40% of households
with internet, increase penetration to at least 50%
(developed countries). Keeping the above targets in
mind, broadband in Pakistan is well on course with
rising penetration, increasing competition, wide variety
of technologies, wide range of tariff packages and
facilitating regulatory initiatives. PTA being the
regulator of the telecom sector provides maximum
possible regulatory assistance by devising technology-
neutral licensing and negligible barriers to entry. The
upcoming 3G licensing will surely provide the much
needed boost to the broadband proliferation figures in
the country. With more spectrum in hand , mobile
Pakistan Telecom Authority
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36
broadband will be the major focus area for
cellular mobile operators which will push the
traditional broadband providers to enhance
quality of service, increase coverage area and
bring more incentives to ensure their customer
equity remains intact. PTA also took up the
task of identifying the bottlenecks/ reasons
behind slow penetration growth in the country
by conducting an in-house study in
consultation with the broadband operators
and held forums/seminars on this subject.
Broadband subscribers stood at 1,794,467 at
the end of December, 2011 as compared to
1,140,781 at the end of same period last year
depicting a 57% growth over the last calendar
year. The broadband industry posted good
numbers in terms of subscriber addition as
653,686 new additions were made to the
broadband subscriber base as opposed to
Subscriber Mix
496,889 in the previous calendar year. This
translates into 12% average quarterly growth
and 0.16 million average quarterly net
additions during the calendar year 2011.
Broadband penetration of Pakistan rose
steadily owing to relatively slow subscriber
growth as compared to population growth.
Penetration stands at 1.04% at the end of
December, 2011 with 51% growth as
compared to 0.69% penetration in Dec 2010.
Broadband subscriber growth and penetration
is dependent on a number of other factors as
well which fall beyond the capacity of
operators and regulator. Factors such as
income level, literacy rate, computer skills,
religious and cultural values regarding
unethical content on internet and lack of local
content have substantial impact on the
broadband proliferation in the country.
Broadband Subscribers
1,140,781 1,292,897
1,491,491
1,656,800 1,794,467
15
13 15
11
8
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
-
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
1,400,000
1,600,000
1,800,000
2,000,000
Dec-10 Mar-11 Jun-11 Sep-11 Dec-11
Subscribers Growth
Pe
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sre
b ir cb
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Broadband Penetration
eg
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ecr
eP
0.69
0.78
0.89
0.97
1.04
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
0.80
0.90
1.00
1.10
Dec-10 Mar-11 Jun-11 Sep-11 Dec -11
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Major Broadband PlayersDespite having a liberal policy, Broadband
market of Pakistan is not yet fully competitive
since the incumbent still holds 58% share in the
market. Quarterly analysis of the last calendar
year shows that PTCL, has further
strengthened its position in the market despite
competition from existing and new players.
With inherent infrastructure deployed across
the country, ownership of international fiber
links, availability of both fixed (DSL) and
wireless (EvDO) broadband services and
economies of scale attached to it, PTCL is
showing growing in the broadband market.
PTCL subscriber base consists of 1,048,550
subscribers and 58.4% market share including
fixed and wireless broadband services as on
Dec 2011. Wateen is one of the early
competitors of PTCL which introduced the
World's first commercial WiMAX network in
Pakistan and made a promising entry into the
broadband market, However, the company
share has declined heavily in the last four
quarters and stands at 13.5% owing to
subscriber churn and competition in wireless
broadband market. The recent re-launch of the
company is expected to give new impetus to
its existing subscriber base of 242,652
subscribers, as of December, 2011. WorldCall
is the only operator in Pakistan which
provides broadband services through three
platforms: DSL, HFC and EvDO. Despite the
technological diversity, WorldCall's market
share declined over the last four quarters and
now stands at 10.2% with 182,447 subscribers.
Wi-Tribe started its operations in 2009 and its
55.0
20.0
11.0
6.0
3.0 5.0
Dec 2010
PTCL Wateen WorldCall
WiTribe Link Dot Net Others
58.4
13.5
10.2
9.1
3.62.1 5.2
PTCL Wateen WorldCall
WiTribe Qubee Link Dot Net
Others
Dec 2011
Broadband Operators - Market Share
Pakistan Telecom Authority
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growth pattern suggests that it may overtake
WorldCall as the third biggest operator in
broadband market of Pakistan. The company
has 162,515 subscribers and increased its
market share from 6% in December, 2010 to
9.1% in December, 2011. Qubee, the new
WiMAX based entrant in broadband market,
quickly gained 3.6% share and has 63,736
subsribers. Link dot net's subscriber base
reduced over the last calendar year to 37,922
subscribers, bringing its market share down to
2.1% from 3% a year ago. Other companies
constitute the remaining 5.2% of the market.
The potential of broadband to deliver
economic, social , technological and
educational benefits to the people of Pakistan
are crystal clear. PTA believes in 'broadband
for everyone, everywhere', therefore,
technology-neutral licenses are issued by PTA
so that new broadband investors can bring
latest technologies to Pakistan and devise
business models accordingly. Fixed line
technologies like HFC, FTTH and DSL have
been left behind in terms of market share by
wireless technologies like WiMAX and EvDO.
Figure shows that since the introduction of
WiMAX and EvDO in 2008 and 2009
respectively, the market exhibits a similar
trend each year where DSL and HFC share
kept declining while WiMAX and EvDO share
expanded. Currently, DSL still leads the
technology share with 44.2% and 792,397
Broadband Technology Trend
subscribers at the end of December, 2011 while
HFC's subscriber base stood at 37,491 with
2.1% market share. WiMAX had a promising
start but the technology struggled to compete
with EvDO in the wireless broadband
category. With 495,285 subscribers, its share
declined to 27.6% at the end of December, 2011
after hovering around 28% for the last two
fiscal years. EvDO is the only broadband
technology which has managed to improve its
market share in the last two quarters due to
mobility and ease of use. EvDO's market share
stood at 25.5% and its subscriber base reached
at 459,790 as of December, 2011.
98.9
61.2 63.552.9
46.6 44.2
25.48.7
5.5
2.3 2.1
11.7
21.4
28.6
28.727.6
5.412.3
21.8 25.6
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 Dec-11
DSL HFC WiMax FTTH EvDO
Broadband Technology Share (%)
Fixed Vs Wireless Broadband In sharp contrast with the global scenario,
wireless technologies have overtaken the fixed
line technologies in Pakistan. Currently, share
of Wireless broadband (WiMAX and EvDO) is
53% while fixed line technologies have 47%
share in the broadband market.
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Figure gives an interesting picture of fixed and
wireless subscriber growth in broadband
market of Pakistan over the last five quarters.
Growth pattern of fixed and wireless
technologies has almost been the same, with
different magnitude. Wireless technologies
took over the major market share in June 2011
and currently stand at 955,125 subscribers
combining WiMAX and EvDO services. On
the other hand, fixed line broadband
subscriber base consists of 836,044 DSL, HFC
and FTTH subscribers. Although growth rates
have dropped across the board, upcoming 3G
licensing will give a new boost to the wireless
broadband market thereby widening the gap
between fixed and wireless market shares. It is
imperative for the fixed line operators to take
pro-active steps so that disgruntled and
potential broadband customers revive their
confidence in the fixed broadband quality of
service.
Broadband Tariff & OffersBroadband market of Pakistan is still in its
infancy in terms of penetration level yet the
cost of service has gone down drastically since
the introduction of new players. Currently, the
cost of entry (CPE, Activation charges etc) is
relatively high but the monthly charges have
gone down as low as Rs. 399/month (PTCL
256kbps). However, price for a 1Mbps
package with unlimited download volume
remains above Rs. 1000 for all the fixed and
wireless operators. DSL operators are offering
1Mbps package for students at Rs 929 per
month. Some operators are also providing
dedicated services for high bandwidth hungry
clients at special tariff for example PTCL's
50Mbps data connectivity package using
VDSL2 bonding technology.
Broadband operators are coming up with new
ways of reaching out to the target customers
with products such as Latest Tablets, Pocket
Modems, Prepaid Broadband, increased data
volumes, discount offers etc. Wi-tribe
launched broadband offers giving endless
volume throughout December while Qubee
countered the move by offering 50% discount
for up to 3 months on all packages. Wi-Tribe
Launched Buy-Sell Software Portal where
local developers could sell their software to
local as well as global audience. PTCL
launched EvO Cloud, a wi-fi enabled EvDO
device which can connect multiple users
through one USB modem.
Fixed vs Wireless Subscribers
603,713
665,558 737,778
774,895 836,044
537,068
627,339
753,713
881,905 955,125
0
5
10
15
20
25
-
200,000
400,000
600,000
800,000
1,000,000
1,200,000
Dec 10 Mar 11 Jun 11 Sep 11 Dec 11
FIXED (DSL,FTTH,HFC) WIRELESS (WiMax, EvDO)
Pe
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TELECOM SERVICES IN AJK & GBTelecommunication Services in Azad Jammu &
Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit Bultistan (GB) were launched
in 1976. As the region had difficult terrain and extreme
weather conditions, an army organization was
considered to be a suitable company to efficiently
operate in these areas. Thus in July 1976, Special
Communication Organization (SCO) was established to
plan, develop and operate telecommunication network
in AJK and GB, and for about 36 years, the SCO
provided telecom services to 3.5 million people of AJK
and 1.5 million residents of GB, thus covering a
combined area of 158,289 Sq. kilometers until the
catastrophic earthquake of 2005.
SCO maintained its monopoly being the single largest
telecommunication network provider in AJK as well as
GB, having footprints of PSTN, GSM, CDMA and
internet provision. However, later on, subsequent to the
Government's decision for de-regulation of the sector in
these areas in 2006, PTA awarded licenses to cellular,
FLL and WLL operators, hoping that the step would
augment the government efforts to extend access of
Pakistan Telecom Authority
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Te
lec
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Se
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JK
& G
B
At the end of Dec 2011, teledensity of all
segments of telecom services of the Region
stood at 52.4%. This shows a healthy growth
rate of telecom services despite the fact that the
new operators are still in their infancy. The
cellular sector further tightened its grip on the
overall teledensity of Ajk and GB by showing
13% growth from Dec-10 to Dec-11.
affordable telecom services to the underserved
a r e a s . T i l l d e r e g u l a t i o n , S p e c i a l
Communication Organization was the only
service provider in AJK and GB. After
introduction of competition, new operators
started their service and all segments of the
sector witnessed rapid growth. With a
teledensity of 2.6% in the Year 2005-06, the
region was lagging far behind from the rest of
the country in terms of telecom services.
Today, almost 82% of the area in AJK and GB
comprising 270 cities/towns and villages
remains under the coverage of telecom service
providers.
To ensure access to the basic telecom services
for the people of Neelam Valley, PTA has
initiated the process of consultations with
major operators of AJK and GB. Owing to
difficult terrain and close proximity with the
border, this area requires special efforts by the
companies, and hopefully, telecom services
will soon reach this farthest area of Pakistan as
well.
In AJK and GB, teledensity remained
considerably low until de-regulation of the
sector in 2007. With a teledensity of 3.2% in
2005-06, the region had been lagging far
behind from the rest of the country in terms of
telecommunication services. However, with
the advent of cellular services in AJK and GB, a
rapid growth in teledensity was observed.
Teledensity
1.134 1.187 1.316 1.343 1.365
44.18 46.25 47.47 48.39 49.76
1.381.35 1.33 1.31 1.30
-
10
20
30
40
50
60
Dec - 10 March 11 Jun - 11 Sep - 11 Dec - 11
WLL Cell FLL
(46.97)(48.78) (50.11) (51.04) (52.43)
eg
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Teledensity in AJK & GB
Cellular MobileCellular Mobile industry of AJK&GB has
undisputedly revolutionized the growth
pattern of telecom industry in the region. The
mobile revolution that started few years back
is still gaining momentum with every passing
month. Performance of the mobile sector
during the first half of FY 2011-12 depicted
increasing trend for all performance
indicators.
Teledensity of cellular Mobile has been added
by about 5.4% points from Jan-11 to Dec 2011,
Pakistan Telecom Authority
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Sep -10 Dec -10 Mar - 11 Jun - 11 Sep - 11 Dec - 11
SCO 346,762 387,722 387,861 320,734 346,604 370,334
Mobilink
484,130
489,430
489,597
488,077
475,041
492,309
Ufone
183,564
183,876
222,251
262,455
264,195
272,959
Telenor
776,200
844,062
902,371
901,231
949,322
1,005,382
Warid
207,130
211,373
214,681
208,303
191,339
168,484
Zong
203,667
220,161
229,395
253,745
280,495
292,907
Total
2,201,453
2,336,624
2,446,156
2,434,545
2,506,996
2,602,375
Cellular Subscribers in AJK & GB
where it has reached to 49.76% with the share
of 95% in the total Teledensity of all segments
at the end of Dec 2011 in AJK & GB.
The cellular industry is the nucleus of AJK and
GBs', as any rise in its subscriber base leaves a
huge impact on the telecom proliferation in the
region. The cellular industry has been growing
at a remarkable pace as subscription reached
2,602,375 at the end of Dec 2011. A net addition
of 265,751 subscribers yields a growth rate of
11.4% during January 2011 to December 2011.
Cellular Subscription Growth
In terms of net addition of subscribers over the
last calendar year, Telenor leads with 161,320
new subscribers, closely followed by the
Ufone with 89,083 subscribers. Zong also
made a strong impression adding 72,746
subscribers during the Jan-Dec 2011. Mobilink
experienced slow growth with 2,879 net added
subscribers during Jan-Dec 11 respectively.
Conversely, Warid and SCO lost (-42,889) and
(-17,388) subscribers due to low investment,
no significant expansion in network and
aggressive marketing by other competitors.
Te
l ec
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Se
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K &
GB
Pakistan Telecom Authority
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43
CONSUMER PROTECTION AND
COMPLAINT HANDLING
PTA, as a regulator of telecom sector, has the
responsibility to protect the rights of telecom users. PTA
has developed procedures and mechanisms for
receiving complaints and their subsequent satisfactory
redressal. For this purpose, the Authority has a fully
functional department for complaints handling and
pursuing the telecom operators /departments/
agencies to resolve complaints at the earliest possible.
Telecom consumers can register their complaints
through online complaints management system, email,
telephone or conventional mail. The Authority takes all
complaints on priority basis and has a commitment to
reduce the time lag in the redressal of complaints. With
its prudent approach, the Authority regularly
introduces best international practices to address
consumer complaints and reduce consumers'
inconvenience.
Illegal practices and misuse of service including
spamming, unsolicited telemarketing, obnoxious and
Measures to Control Illegal
Practices/Misuse of Telecom Services
Pakistan Telecom Authority
TelecomQuarterly
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44
fraudulent communications remained a major
cause of complaints against CMOs and stands
at 57 percent during the last two quarters. The
Authority issued SOPs in September 2011 for
the control of such spamming and the same
has been deployed by CMOs at their
respective networks. PTA also persuaded all
operators to install SPAM filters at their
network. PTA and the operators have taken
the following steps to control illegal practices
and misuse of services.
‘Subscriber & Network level Voice/SMS
b l o c k i n g f a c i l i t y ' h a s b e e n
implemented by all CMOs.
A common short code (420) is available
to cellular mobile subscribers to opt for
obnoxious Call/SMS Blocking facility.
Cellular mobile users can send SPAM
messages to '9000' with a request to
stop such spam.
The Authority allocated the common
Short Code “3627” for Provision of
facility to Cellular Mobile subscribers
to Opt-in/opt-out of the Do Not Call
Register (DNCR).
So far, an estimated number of 133,000
subscriptions have been suspended on
account of consumer complaints against
unsolicited and illegal communications.
PTA keeps a regular watch on the nature and
trends of consumer complaints of telecom
sector. The authority identifies major
Analysis of Consumer Complaints
problems faced by telecom users and devises
mechanisms for possible long term solutions.
During the first half of FY2012, PTA received
16,642 complaints against telecom licensees
including CMOs, PTCL, LLs, LDIs, WLL, ISPs
and CVAS compared to 16,090 complaints
during the corresponding period in previous
year. The complaints were pursued with the
concerned operators and almost 97%
complaints have been redressed. The number
of complaints against CMOs has the highest
Number of Complaints Received
Service Providers Jul-Dec 2010 Jul-Dec 2011
Cellular Mobile Telecom
Operators (CMTOs)
8847
11499
M/s PTCL
6872
4824
Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
93
156
Wireless Local Loop (WLL)
92
96
Long Distance International (LDIs)
186
67
Total 16090
16642
Jul-Dec 2010
Jul-Dec 2011
Growth (%)
Mobilink
2,469
3,311
34
Ufone
1,880
2,457
31
Warid
844
1,666
97
Telenor
1,523
1,814
19
Zong
878
1,173
34
PMD
1,253
1,078
14
Total 8,847 11,499 30
Complaints Received Against Cellular Mobile Operators
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Pakistan Telecom Authority
TelecomQuarterly
Review 2011Dec
45
share (69%) in total complaints followed by
PTCL (29%). With respect to current 112
million cellular subscribers, number of
complaints against CMOs is a small ratio of
cellular subscribers compared to complaints
vs . subscriber base rat io of PTCL.
Interestingly, number of complaints against
PTCL during Jul-Dec 2011 has dropped by
30% compared to Jul-Dec 2010 (see table),
whereas complaints against CMOs have
increased by 30% during the same period. The
increase in cellular complaints is mostly due to
high increase in complaints against Warid
followed by Mobilink. Major share (57%) of
cellular complaints was on account of illegal
practices and misuse of cellular mobile
services. As discussed above, PTA and CMOs
have taken appropriate actions to reduce these
problems faced by cellular mobile users. Over
the last two quarters, complaints related to
mobile number portability (MNP) issues have
also increased and remained 22 percent of the
total cellular mobile complaints received by
PTA.In the basic telephony, faulty telephone lines
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0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
4578
2447
1943
430335
316 340246 246 281 182
92 35 28
ec iv re S f
o esus i
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Total Complaints = 11,499
Analysis of Consumer Complaints (CMOs)Jul-Dec 2011
Pakistan Telecom Authority
TelecomQuarterly
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46
3168
396 410 337218 149 65 18 19 10 10 18
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500Total Complaints = 4828
sec i v r e S /
en
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s eu s s I S
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P / s ec i v r e S d e
dd
A eu l a
V
remained the leading cause of complaints
against PTCL and the share of such complaints
remained 66% of the total complaints during
the last two quarters. Other major consumer
complaints against PTCL were related to
provision of service, billing issues and misuse
of service. PTA has been receiving number of
complaints against PTCL regarding increase
in charges on 4-8 Mbps packages exceeding 50
GBs download without user consent. The
matter has been taken up with PTCL for
redressal. Action has also been taken against
PTCL's failure to provide prior notice to
consumers regarding increase in line rent.
Analysis of Consumer Complaints (PTCL) Jul-Dec 2011
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Pakistan Telecommunication Authoritywww.pta.gov.pk
Economic Affairs Team
Dr. Muhammad Saleem, Director GeneralMr. Muhammad Arif Sargana, DirectorMs. Malahat Rab, Deputy DirectorDr. Shahbaz NasirMr. Abdul Rehman, Assistant DirectorMr. Waqas Hassan, IT OfficerMr. Muhammad Riaz, Admin Officer
Photography byAzhar, PTA