Babar Bhatti
![]("/images/telecom/waridzem.jpg")
I have been observing a trend of aggressive marketing and advertisement by the mobile operators in Pakistan. 50 paisa, 3 paisa, 1 paisa. Trying to one-up other competitors, the advertisements emphasise the lowest possible rate to grab attention.
In reality the low rates being advertised come with many conditions. To figure it out one has to read the fine print carefully. I think this is unfair to the consumers and we need to criticize this trend which some may characterize as deceptive marketing. Have a look at these sample advertisements given with this post. Click on the photos for their enlarged image and good luck with the fine print.
![]("/images/telecom/paktelpower.jpg")
Over the years mobile service packages have become difficult to understand. It used to be pre-pay & postpay and in-network & out-of-network. Now there is the option of lower price for pre-defined numbers (usually in-network) such as family and friends. Then there is the billing duration which used to be 1 minute in good old days. Not anymore. The rates advertised are usually based on lowest billing duration (say 30 seconds) and may only be valid during certain times (e.g. Paktel’s Power Hours are 7 pm – 10 pm). The billing duration for the same package can vary for in-network and out of network calls!
![]("/images/telecom/telenortsp.jpg")
Given all of the complexity, it is difficult for a common person to easily understand and compare these plans. I mean who has time to analyze all of this (except your truly)? My guess is that most of the time people get upset but carry on with their busy lives. Wouldn’t it be fair if all the operators advertisements included the rate for 1 minute call clearly? How about being more up-front and making the fine print a bit less fine?
I think this problem is common to all operators, therefore all of them should share the responsibility to create a baseline standard. Better to fix this now before the regulator (PTA) is asked to step in.
See earlier ATP Post on ‘Dangerous Advertising’.
No brown skins. (Hispanic Americans and the 1986 Immigration Reform Act)
The Economist (US) February 3, 1990 No brown skins SAN FRANCISCO HISPANIC Americans were against the 1986 Immigration Reform Act; they feared it would give employers an excuse not to hire people who looked or sounded Hispanic. They were right, it seems. The California Fair Employment and Housing Commission reports that the law, which is supposed to deter illegal immigration, has created “a widespread pattern and practice of discrimination” against legal immigrants.
The law fines or imprisons those employers who are caught hiring illegal immigrants. Nervous employers are playing safe by brushing aside official work permits and declining to hire people with brown skins and Latin names and accents. The law, which was supposed to protect people against this happening, created a special counsel to hear complaints and to act on them. But there is just one special-counsel office, and that is in Washington, DC. Few immigrants even learn of its existence, let alone approach it with complaints. go to website illegal immigration statistics
In addition, reports the Californian commission (an independent agency established 30 years ago to protect civil rights in jobs and housing), the Immigration and Nationalisation Service (INS) issues such a variety of different immigrant classifications that employers cannot be familiar with what is official and what is not. The confusion is compounded by the amnesty that the law gave to illegal immigrants who could prove that they had lived in the United States since 1981, plus the special rules for agricultural workers. The sorting-out of all this leaves the immigration service snowed under with forms and letters of work-approval.
Although the INS claims to have spent $2m on educational material explaining the law, the explanation, the commission says sternly, is “inadequate…incomplete and confusing”. As remedy, the commission proposes a temporary moratorium on employer sanctions until the backlog of appeals for work authorisation is cleared, the educational material is rewritten and special counsel offices are opened around the country. go to website illegal immigration statistics
The California report is important since about half the immigrants who come to the United States seeking work authorisation come to California. But it is only one in a series of reports on the effect of the 1986 law. A New York task force is due to report to Governor Mario Cuomo soon. And in a month or two, the General Accounting Office (GAO), which was officially charged to monitor the consequences of the immigration controls, will be issuing its findings. Last year the GAO reported that about 16% of some 3.3m employers who were aware of the new rules did discriminate against foreign-looking applicants. The report called for a more co-ordinated effort to educate the public but, unlike the California commission, it did not declare that a “pattern” of discrimination had resulted from the act.
If the GAO now finds such a pattern, it would trigger changes in the law. Congress would have 30 days to consider lifting sanctions against employers. But if the GAO reports that it has found no serious discrimination, the provisions in the law that are supposed to protect workers against bias would be removed. In any event, the GAO report will set off a fiery debate in Congress.
Part of the debate is whether the law’s strictness has in fact cut down illegal immigration. Statistics from the INS suggest that it has. In 1986 1.6m people were caught trying to enter from Mexico; in 1989, with more border guards, the total had shrunk to 850,000 people. Either they are getting cleverer at evading the guards, or the law, despite its unfair side-effects, is working.
![]("http://telecompk.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/waridzem.PNG")
I have been observing a trend of aggressive marketing and advertisement by the mobile operators in Pakistan. 50 paisa, 3 paisa, 1 paisa. Trying to one-up other competitors, the advertisements emphasise the lowest possible rate to grab attention.![]("http://telecompk.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/paktelpower.JPG")
Over the years mobile service packages have become difficult to understand. It used to be pre-pay & postpay and in-network & out-of-network. Now there is the option of lower price for pre-defined numbers (usually in-network) such as family and friends. Then there is the billing duration which used to be 1 minute in good old days. Not anymore. The rates advertised are usually based on lowest billing duration (say 30 seconds) and may only be valid during certain times (e.g. Paktel’s Power Hours are 7 pm – 10 pm). The billing duration for the same package can vary for in-network and out of network calls!![]("http://telecompk.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/telenortsp.PNG")
Given all of the complexity, it is difficult for a common person to easily understand and compare these plans. I mean who has time to analyze all of this (except your truly)? My guess is that most of the time people get upset but carry on with their busy lives. Wouldn’t it be fair if all the operators advertisements included the rate for 1 minute call clearly? How about being more up-front and making the fine print a bit less fine?
Whether they are good for consumers or not, it is clear that these cell phone companies are great for the advertising industry in pakistan. Wherever you turn you see mobile company adds, and mostly good ones.
Understanding fare tariffs might especially be challenging for older and illiterate customers. However, the mobile phone industry in Pakistan is one of a handful that are actually very healthy. Customers in the U.S. would love to have such a democratized market…the plans here are much more expensive and come with loads of restrictions (like not being able to use your phone with another network), huge penalties (try 30 rupees a minute if you go over your limit), and bad plans (you have to sign a 1-2 year agreement for most plans).
Yes, the pricing here is very deceptive. Taxes are often not included in the rates advertised, nor or other charges like “off-net” calls and so on.
Even now if you make a lot of calls it’s cheaper in the US, as a lot of carriers offer a flat rate for unlimited (or close to unlimited) calls within the US. You do have to sign a contract for a year or two, but for lower prices I would do so too.
Hi! Here in Italy we have almost 5 or 6 mobile companies and massive marketing submerges TV, street commercials, newspapers and so on.. You can choose the one you prefer, but it’s always important to watch out ’bout the real fares and offers. Regards
(ps: I love Pakistan!)
PTA or some other authority in the country should produce an advertisement including the gross statistics showing all operators at the same time and their comparative analysis so the best one can be judged periodically. Anyway the mobile in Pakistan is much cheaper than in many other countries even after the so called deceptive marketing.
a good for a website is to bring out the details of these plans and also compare them.
very impressed by this blog. So many posts on the front page and all on very different Pakistan topics by all different authors.
Bomb blast in Karachi..
http://www.vidpk.com/view_video.php?vid=6229
The cellular market in Pakistan has gone through very rapid growth. Now mobile phone service is not only for the elite but has become a necessity for almost all segments of the society. Now a cell phone is owned and used by people belonging to very diversified economic groups.
The plethora of charging plans; the cellular companies are trying to address the individual needs of each target market. The competition to acquire new customers and to retain the existing one has become so fierce that now the cellular operators have to fight for small groups. They must listen to individual needs, in one
Cellular companies are only using fine prints
http://www.thenetwork.org.pk
An organization to protect and promote the interests of all Pakistani consumers – by educating them about their rights and by providing them independent information.
Most of companies are addvertisng their companies but everyone are not number 1 Because peoples want advantage from these companies,they will
want taht who gives them benefit and best pakage they use that.
Advertising is a good way of marketing.But it is peoples thinking and peoples wants,quantity and quality also.Which they are like.
Clearly you haven’t seen the antics Rogers & bell run in Canada.
Anything is better than that. A chameleon telling me about its color will probably more truthful than either of the two mentioned above.
Nobody can match most of the advertisers and politicians in Pakistan in making false promises. They believe in “you can fool all the people all the time” (sorry to Abraham Lincoln).
I like your web site.No indian staff just for pakistan.Keep up the good work.All me best wishes & prayers are for you.
Keep up the good work
Well, what is happening in the telecom sector is a classic example of when the POD are converted into POP and low value-low involvements products become commodities. Price wars begin and customers get ever bewildering packages where they fail to distinguish two products based on percevied quality.
On the FCB grid, the advertising model becomes do-learn-feel i.e not much thinking and not much emotional element and therefore the ads are upbeat and fun types trying to say that ‘we are also here’!
Well, companies cannot fight too long on lower prices and that means some will have to go – may be through a leveraged buy-out. The question is who’s turn is it go?
Here’s one more example of this behavior.
http://telecompk.net/2008/12/04/unlimited-sms-by-zong-or-not/
heloz i want to get some ads for my website.
nice information
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