telecom quarterly review - pta · khawar siddique khokhar , member (technical) pta to move forward....

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.

Pakistan Telecom Authority 01

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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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Pakistan Telecom Authority14

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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Review2011Dec

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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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

Review2011Dec

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.


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.


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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TTelecom

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.


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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TelecomQuarterly

Review 2011Dec

21

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


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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TTelecom

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

U

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)


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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TelecomQuarterly

Review 2011Dec

23

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


TelecomQuarterly

Review2011Dec

24


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

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Quarterly Review 2011

Dec

25

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


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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TelecomQuarterly

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26

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

n

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102.8 106.5 108.9 110.3 112.9


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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Dec

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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


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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Review2011Dec

28

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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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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Dec

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.


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)

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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

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2001


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


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


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

M n

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

M


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


TelecomQuarterly

Review 2011Dec

35

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


TelecomQuarterly

Review2011Dec

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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e

sre

b ir cb

uS

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


TelecomQuarterly

Review2011Dec

38

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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TelecomQuarterly

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39

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)

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40

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


TelecomQuarterly

Review 2011Dec

41

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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)

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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,


TelecomQuarterly

Review2011Dec

42

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.

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TelecomQuarterly

Review 2011Dec

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


TelecomQuarterly

Review2011Dec

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

Co

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um

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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

d

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dn

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alp

mo

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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

M

se

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PN

M

se c it ca rP l a ge l lI

s eussI S

oQ

se c iv re S r em

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se c ivr e S fo

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se g ak ca P /s

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Total Complaints = 11,499

Analysis of Consumer Complaints (CMOs)Jul-Dec 2011


TelecomQuarterly

Review2011Dec

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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sec i v r

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no i s i v

o rP

s eu s s I S

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gn i l l i

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mo t 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

Co

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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

telecom quarterly review - pta · khawar siddique khokhar , member (technical) pta to move forward....

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