#10. No cell phones made in Pakistan.
#09. Not much of Urdu services or local content.
#08. Driving + talking on mobile = Accidents …. And no one is doing anything about it.
#07. People using their phone as a status symbol.
#06. No unlimited calling plans.
#05. Silly advertising which is completely out of touch with ground realities.
#04. PTA: Sleepy customer service + a lousy web site where finding information is a pain.
#03. Too many fancy schmancy services (e.g. mobile TV) but 3G and data services are still a rip off.
#02. Prime Minister firing off a statement every few days about rising mobile subscriber numbers, alluding that all problems of Pakistanis are now solved and demanding that Pakistan is where all the foreign. investment should flow to.
#01. Mobile phone snatching.
Babar Bhatti is a Telecom professional based in Dallas, Texas. See more at Babar’s blog: State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan.
this list reminds me of comments by javed burki in a late night ptv tubsira show on the day of the sharjah cricket match - the one with the last ball 6. in that program, much to everyone’s amazement and consternation, burki had the gall to criticise miandad’s innings for being too slow. justifiably, for the next few weeks, burki was absolutely panned in press and was not seen on ptv for a long while due to the hue and cry in media against his moronic comments.
one of shaukat aziz’s main responsibility is to attract fdi in pakistan. and since government’s telecom policy has been a resounding success especially in terms of the returns it has offered to investors, it is only natural for shaukat aziz to keep highlighting the astronomical and entirely unexpected growth seen in this sector. investors look at track record of past investments and telecom sector growth is the best example of potential returns to be had from investment in pak. in addition, exponential telecom growth and absolute subscriber lvls point to the potential of the untapped mass pakistani consumer market and rapid growth that can be achieved in a short span by investors who target this sector. interestingly law and order situation in karachi in the mid to late 90’s got so bad that government had to close down the mobile networks to prevent abuse by terrorists.
from the level of fdi flowing into pak, it can be argued that foreign investors are buying the pakistan story. fdi this fiscal year has already totalled $5 bn dollars and is expected to reach $6 bn by the end of the year in june. the current level of fdi is a record for pak and represents a huge turn around in the fortunes of pakistani economy for which the government can justifiably claim credit. in addition to telecom, banking sector in pakistan is attracting unprecedented foreign interest and is a strong sign of confidence in the pakistani economy because banks are a proxy for the overall health of the economy.
Being myself and experienced the issues of installing antennas in the cities in USA. It takes forever to install those in schools, let alone the houses. It is a strict long process where you have to appear to the Community Board and the Zoning board to answer questions on the reason of installing antenna and also the power it will be radiating.
Even in some places, the antennas needs to be hidden by paint and being embedded in the walls so that it does not look good. Also in big cities there are square foot requirements by the building departments where one cannot install an equipment.
I would hate to see Karachi to become an “Antenna Farm”.
Another gripe I would like to share is
“More Chinese Companies in Telecom, Less quality, less pay and more work for the talented professionals”
Bah! every single time I press enter, I seem to remember a new point :p
The lack of Urdu content and services? What sort of services and content are we talking about? All four major companies (Mobilink, Telenor, Warid and Ufone) offer content such as news, gossips, cricket news, stock market details, horoscopes, recipes etc in Urdu. What more do we want from them?
Saad, it’s the type and brand and the features it has that people spend time talking about and showing each other. Basic cell is very cheap but snazzy cell with lots of “doohickies” and “thingamabobs” (American words for extra junk)gets very expensive. Certain numbers cost more than others also although I am not clear on how this works….? That’s where the status symbol part comes in…some phones are more trendy than others. Also the fact that they are common helps the situation…not everybody can drive a Mercedes in Pakistan but for less extreme price you can flash a trendy phone like the big players.
As for data services, Rs. 500 for an unlimited data plan (on Mobilink) seems like quite a good deal to me, considering the fact that one has to pay over S$ 100 for it here in Singapore.
I don’t really agree with the point that cellphones are a status symbol in Pakistan anymore. When everyone and anyone from a rickshaw driver to a businessman owns the little gadget, how can you regard it as a status symbol?
Love the picture. Kids seem to be enjoying their sugar cane. I agree with all the comments but have a small aside, I think that mobile phone availability does improve the lives of the poor businessman and farmer in different ways. Their lack of connection/communication before made it hard to take orders and fulfill them in a timely manner. They had to waste time going somewhere to find out if their stock was ready and if not they had to sit and wait for it. Now for those who wish they can use their time in a more efficient manner. It does not solve all problems but it will help.
As for people who just want an expensive phone to BS about it, well, if it was not their phone it would be their shoes or something else, people who need to show off will always find a way to do so.
I think everyone will agree that overall, the phones are a positive. Of course the driving plus phoning is bad, it is illegal in Germany (worth a nice fat ticket if you get caught) but its still a big problem in the States, so Pakistan is not the only place with this problem.
Cell phone helps in those odd silent moments in a social events or parties. When you done talking about weather and politics. You can always Flash your phone and someone will ask you about it and you can kill another 15 -30 minutes of your times , by BS ing about your fancy phone.
“Es mein Blue Dandh hain, aur Yeah Webb phone aur 5 Maga piksil with fLAASH hai.”