Greater affordability of mobile phone handsets and pre-paid packages has helped fuel a craze for mobile phones across Pakistan.
A report by the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan, on April 30, 2007, revealed that a total of 55.62 million mobile subscribers were recorded with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority as on March 31, 2007. Pakistan’s mobile density was 35.79 in March 2007 while it reached 34.03 in February 2007. In comparison, the total number of mobile subscribers was 52.88 million in February 2007, according to the news from EnglishPeople.
Q1 2007 witnessed a repeat of the trends in Pakistan’s operator market share in 2006. Mobilink had the maximum number of subscribers with 24.65 million, followed by Ufone with 11.60 million, Telenor came next with 9.07 million, Warid had 8.96 million, Paktel had 1.03 million and, Instaphone was next with 0.31 million.
With telecom being among the country’s fastest growing sectors, there has been an increase in teledensity from 4.5 percent two years to almost 40 percent of the population. Pakistan is in throes of a mobile phone craze with escalating figures of national subscribers thanks to affordability of connection costs, pre-paid packages and phone sets.
Multiple cost effective and value added features including the GPRS and MMS services have given the 9 million plus family members of Mobilink (the most preferred cellular service provider in Pakistan) all the more reason to remain faithful to the country’s favorite prepaid cellular brand. The growth of cellular subscribers in Pakistan has caught the attention of international bodies, which have made a positive impression of the telecom scenario in Pakistan.
An indication of the spiraling growth in the sector and Pakistan and its confidence are the media ads of different companies. In their battle for market share, they have taken to the airwaves and newsprint. It’s hard to miss the mobile phone and services advertising campaigns in the country as they feature prominently in the media, billboards and every other possible medium.
A RNCOS research analyst describes Pakistan as one of the countries with massive untapped potential for telecom growth and ideal for investment. Daily increase in subscriber base and monthly rise in mobile penetration make it likely for the mobile cellular sector of Pakistan to exceed all estimates.
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