Q: Why did Warid Telecom select Pakistan for such a big investment?
A: The Abu Dhabi Group has substantial investments in Pakistan, primarily in the financial services sector. They own the sixth largest bank in Pakistan and the fastest growing, number one private sector bank. This is namely Bank Alfalah which was acquired by the group in 1997 when it had just 3 branches and the Government privatized it. Today, they have over 80 branches in Pakistan and they have grown from a staff of 400 people to over 4000 Employees. The other investment is United Bank Limited. UBL is the third largest bank in Pakistan. When the government privatized 51% of its shares, our group joined hands
with a U.K. based group and jointly acquired 51% shares of United Bank.

Abu Dhabi Group felt the need to diversify their investment portfolio in Pakistan primarily because of the huge potential that they saw in the telecommunications sector. If you look at Pakistan you will see that the country has an enormous
population with a low teledensity level. You are then able to envision the potential.

When Warid applied for a license and the Government of Pakistan
had announced its program, the teledensity at the time was below 3%. Imagine the potential of a country which has been around for 55 years and has low levels of fixed telephony, a very large population and limited activity in mobile telephony. You can soon see that there is great opportunity to do something. This was one of the reasons the Abu Dhabi Group chose to diversify and invest in the telecommunications sector in Pakistan.

Q: Are things going on as expected by you?
A: We have done better than our own expectations, We had launched our services on the 23rd May 2005, from 28 cities with the network capacity of 1.5 million customer base and we have reached our 1 million active user customer base on the 10th August 2005 which is less than three months.

Q: How do you find Warid Telecom different from
Mobilink where you served for 12 years?
A: It is not correct to compare Mobilink and Warid Telecom because Mobilink is in market for 12 years
Whereas Warid has just landed. I think it would be fair for Warid to spend few years in this market and then comparison can probably be done.

Q: How did you enter into telecom industry and selected it as your career?
A: I joined Mobilink as the financial controller in November 1993, at that time it was not expected that telecom sector will grow to this level. Paktel and Instaphone were the only operators on Amps technology and Mobilink was first to introduce GSM technology in Pakistan.

Q: Warid Telecom also has LDI license, when are you starting your LDI services?
A: We had taken LDI and limited frequency WLL licences as well, and our sister concern Wateen Telecom is taking care of these operations. Our LDI service is already operational under Wateen Telecom and providing service to Warid GSM for our needs.

Q: Would you like to mention your technology partners? (vendors etc.)
A: Ericsson is our preferred business partner for providing complete “turnkey state of the art” GSM network. We have chosen Ericsson as it is world's leading GSM supplier with almost 40% market share and world's most widely deployed mobile standards. Ericsson is helping us not only in network rollout but also in other professional services like operations assistance and network maintenance.

Q: How do you see your competition with the newcomers & the old players? Is it a tough competition?
A: All the players will be competing with one another each having its own strength and weaknesses. The market positioning is extremely dynamic. Under these circumstances quality of service, marketing strategies, pricing, promotions and brand loyalties all will interplay and have their individual impact. Collectively whoever masters this set of strategies and is able to develop a synergy will be our greatest competitor. In my opinion, the market is large enough for all of us to have our share and survive.
Warid plans to follow the internationally recognized quality of service benchmarks in maintenance of its GSM network. In terms of services we are maintaining our edge in bringing the most advanced and innovative features to our valued customers and in being the trend setters. Our first priority is to provide best quality services of voice telephony and short messaging (SMS). Our services are available on all motorways and other major highways from the first day of operations.

Q: PTCL has been privatized and acquired by Etisalat, UAE. How do you see the telecom scene of Pakistan as new things are happening now?
A: It will definitely enhance the competition and Telecom sector will see more growth and at a faster pace.

Q: Do you think there is an HR crisis in the telecom sector as jobs are being created but there is shortage of real skilled people? How do you respond to that?
A: In the field of telecommunications, Warid is a new entrant. However we have been able to attract rich human resource capital from Pakistan and abroad covering a broad spectrum of telcos both from the vendors and operators sides.

Yes, today there is a gap between demand and supply and an urgent need for all of us to work to bridge this today and for future requirements.

Q: There are five GSM options in the country; what is Warid Telecom's uniqueness?
A: In this competitive market of five GSM operators it is best quality at competitive rates. We are building a base of satisfied customers and this customer base will help us expand. Warid Telecom has the advantage of starting from a brand new network from day one to support our customers. Warid has been the first to introduce a series of new features for the users and these are gaining tremendous popularity among the users, these are:

Zero line rent post paid
30 second billing
Lowest and very attractive international dialing rates
Friends and family service.

Q: Telenor Pakistan showed 'sportsman spirit' by publicly welcoming Warid Telecom. Don't you think other GSM players should also have welcomed you?
A: These things are in the company culture and are corporate decisions, we can not say what the competitor should do. However, we appreciated Telenor's gesture by reciprocating through a press advertisement, thanking them.

Q: Frankly, which one is your main competitor? Mobilink or Telenor?
A: All the players will be competing with each other. Besides Mobilink and Telenor one can not ignore Ufone and Paktel as well, all six players are competing with each other and in my opinion there is enough pie for all of us to survive.

Q: Besides Warid Telecom, which GSM company do you think comes at the top when we talk about Quality of Service (QoS)?
A: All the operators are enhancing their networks, since the competition is increasing its important for all of us to focus on the quality of service.
At this moment, I am not in position to rate the best operator. I think it is for the customers/users to decide.

Q: What are your plans for the next 6 months?
A: We are launching Phase II by November 2005, we will add more than 90 cities to our network with the capacity for approximately 1.8 million subscribers.

Q: Tell us something about your personal life? How is Hamid Farooq as a person? Anything to share?
A: I completed my accounting training in 1985 and later did my MBA from abroad. I worked for over 10 years with
Mobilink as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. I had the advisory role to the company President, as well as, shadow task managing for the President. Prior to
that had worked with Canadian Occidental Petroleum Ltd
(COPL) as Chief Accountant & Administrator, Petro Canada (Pakistan) Inc. as Chief Accountant and DHL
Pakistan Limited/TCS as Country Finance Manager. In addition to that I have also participated in various seminars and workshops on the various national and international forums. I have also been a speaker in some of these conferences.

I am married and have three children. Whenever I have spare time though it's a seldom treat, but whenever I get it, I like to pend it with my family and also like to sit, relax and smoke a cigar in peace. Occasionally, I play golf as well.

Q: We wish Warid Telecom best of luck for the future! Thanks a lot for your precious time.
A: Thank you.