#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.
Its VRy Very Nice Look its Seems very Nice.
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
Adil - thanks for the interesting choice of picture.
All - The idea here is to highlight areas for telecom in Pakistan where improvements are needed. If you have seen my previous posts at ATP or at my blog you know that I often write about the positive aspects of information and communication technologies. However when there’s growth at such an explosive pace (after years of stagnation) then there are bound to be issues, such as those pointed by Owais and Aqil among others. Again, the FDI we got through mobile industry is great but its not a silver bullet by itself.
Here are few stuff as a cellphone user I think we should already know
-Buy Cheap or Disposable phone(!No more snatching)
-Buy a plan or service which works for you (!No overage charges)
-Use it when you need it (!Don’t talk while driving even with headset-!studies say its still distracting-!sometimes its just annoying when people start talking in high tone that how bad this government is or their relatives… j/k)
-Try to avoid giving away your cell number (So you can say to people that you are not reachable if you are not at home/work-!saves bunch of time)
i agree that fdi should meet strategic goals. aim should be to target those investments which can generate large scale employment, introduce new technology and overall improve the competitive position of pakistan viz-a-viz its peers such as india. in the short run however, government cannot be choosy because fdi is needed to finance trade deficit which has ballooned due to the nearly threefold increase in oil prices over the last few years. without fdi, rupee will depreciate which in turn will cause further increase in inflation due to rise in import prices. in the medium term though country cannot only rely on fdi to maintain exchange rate stability. exports have to increase without which economy’s well being will be dependent on the whims of the global market. btw other oil importing countries like india are in the same situation. in india’s case its booming service/software exports as well as the hype over its stock market means that coutry is in a better position to cope with external shocks than pakistan is. on top of that pak has to deal with media bias.
also i agree that improvement in technology helped to drive telecom expansion in emerging markets. however pace of growth in pakistan has been much higher than its peers. pakistan’s teledensisty is nearly 2x that of india and much much higher than countries like sri lanka and bangladesh. i believe govt policy as well as higher purchasing power of pakistani consumer explains higher growth rate in pakistan vs peers. for example govt’s decision to auction two additional mobile licenses 3 years back added spurt to the industry and helped to drive prices down for consumer. moreover the fee paid by the new entrants now appear to be a bargain.
http://dawn.com/2007/05/16/ebr5.htm
…“Pakistan is the uncontested leader in Sought Asia with over 30 per cent of mobile penetration. Pakistan is past India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka,â€Â? he said, adding, “There are eight times more mobile subscribers and fixed line subscribers.â€Â?
I agree with #2, #4 and #8, rest is just whining. For example, how can carrying a cell phone be status symbol now that everybody is carrying one.
“one of shaukat aziz’s main responsibility is to attract fdi in pakistan.”
His responsibility is not to attract FDI for the sake of FDI, but to increase investment, especially the kind that creates more jobs and expands the economy in important sectors. FDI is only one way of generating investment. In some sectors it can bring substantial benifits and is worth pursuing. In other cases it may not necessarily be a positive thing. I am not against FDI, but the government should have a more comprehensive policy for increasing investment rather than focussing on FDI alone.
As finance minister, Shaukat Aziz should also be aware of the link between savings and investments and how excessive consumption can be detrimental to the cause of increasing domestic investment. Unfortunately, the government’s policies do not seem to be reflecting such an understanding. So we have a government that touts increasing consumption as a sign of progress without paying any attention to the need for generating adequate domestic savings.
“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.”
Unexpected???
Not really. Communication technology was developing rapidly in the 1990s and the growth in this sector is due to the fact that the technology eventually became cheep enough for mobile phones and connections to become affordable in Pakistan. If there is anything extraordinary in all this, it is the progress in the field of electronics, not the role of our government. Pakistan is not the only country with a rapidly growing mobile industry, it is a worldwide phenominon driven by technology.
Pros and cons of the cell phone usage aside , my point is that we have become so dependent on this little piece of technology.
THere was a time we could tell all the family and friends telephone numbers by heart … now we go to contacts and press that green button and pronto we are dialling the number.
Just the other day my cell phone was snatched along with my purse … i was in an agonising state of trauma for a week , not to mention out of touch with the whole world !!
I realised i didint even know my own childrens numbers by heart …
Pakistan is consumer society. The policy of India is much better. It tends to reduce the imports and encourage local manufacturing. Thats why Nokia operates a plant there.Pakistan also have the great potential to turn consumer base for transfer of technology and training of local engineers. But government is too busy in touting increase in mobile phone users.