#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.
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.”
I loved point number 2 and 7. Pakistan has a huge cell phone subscriber base is not something to be proud of. Its like saying pakistan has 160 million TV sets. Whats the big deal. Phones are a neccesity because of Pakistan’s wireline issues and its not a sign of development. BTW: one + thing about the cell phone industry in Pakistan. Incoming is free!!!!!!
WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
I thing Shaulat Aziz should mention this also. We have incoming calls are free , we are a Asian TIGER economy!!!!!!!! come invest in pakistan and ignore the killing and lawlessness
“Pakistanis are too obsessed …. things to occupy our attention, anything like music, theater, sports, reading, travelling etc, but in Pakistan it’s all about stupid status symbols.”
Good point, Aqil and I agree with it. Our colonial past also has somehting to do with it.
“What makes our people to come into the streets en-mass and wage gun battles against each other like they have done it last week in Karachi?” PMA
PMA, Organized gangs were involved to fire on the crowds. Any karachite will give you a detailed download about such events, their history, etc. Majority of the population, except for the poor who have to go out to make their daily living, stays home on such days. I think you may not have understood what happened on may 12 or what was happening in the late 80s and 90s in the city for that matter. It’s a very very complex city with almost all the pakistani ethnicities represented in its population. [Just the fact that ANP is a major party along with MQM should say something about how diverse the city is]. About gun battles and how they start ask MQM or better yet ask general zia’s masterminds from the mid 80s who were selling AK47s for 100 rupess to 16 years kids in the city.
Owais you have a point here. Our otherwise very nice friends in our residential neighborhood in Pakistan have added two more floors to their home where most houses are only of two stories. On top of their home is a large antena. They were very happy to tell us that the addition will pay itself off from the antena royalties.