Telecom Industry is experiencing a fast pace in context of new launchings and introduction of exciting technologies. From this month, IT Insight will provide a regular section 'Market Watch'. The section will cover the industry and provide reviews, insight analysis and industry forecasts. This will base upon market intelligence, industry news, experts' opinions and research.

Cellular Compitetion
You can call it 'cellular war' as the intensity of competition is so high. In Pakistan’s telecom industry, millions of confused and satisfied subscribers look up to the service providers for them to sustain at 'one' fixed tariff policy. The variation in tariff plans almost every other month is outcome of severe competition between cellular companies especially after entrance of two new cellular companies in 2005. Nearly all cellular companies in Pakistan modified their tariffs during last 12 months.

Mobilink
Mobilink the market leader in Pakistan's cellular communication remains at the top. Entrance of new companies into the cellular scene did not hurt the growth of Mobilink's subscribers and even could not force them to slash their tariff to such a low level which other cellular companies had to.

Warid Telecom
Warid Telecom is liked by many as their simple airtime attracts new users and keeps the old ones happy and satisfied. 'I don't have to calculate Warid's tariff as I get what they say, no difference on any network' comments a Warid subscriber in Islamabad. Although Paktel now offers 'per second billing', Warid Telecom's 30 second billing is also very much magnetic to its subscribers. Paktel and Warid Telecom are only companies offering billing in seconds, the other networks charge you for a minute even if you talk for 5 seconds.

Telenor
Telenor which came with a big bang to Pakistan in 2005, widely advertised the company as a European one and assured of introduction of European standards to Pakistan. They had an edge over Warid Telecom as Telenor launched before Warid. With over 200 destinations now, Telenor has become a mature cellular company in Pakistan. Telenor's MMS deal with all GSM companies except Paktel is also a great plus to Telenor's subscribers. With these deals, Telenor's subscribers can send MMS to any of these networks without any interconnect charges. Telenor's packages are not that much appreciated but their 'value added services' have a worth. “I love Telenor's GPRS for its speed and reliability”, claims a young Telenor subscriber with a cool GPRS enabled phone.

UFONE
Ufone had a post paid package that was 'the lowest'. Though the package can still be purchased, Ufone is no more advertising this package in their current campaigns. With the name of 'Unique' package, this one is not even mentioned on Ufone's website now. 50 Paisa per minute in peak time and 25 Paisa per minute at off-peak time is very attractive for those who have large call volumes. The problem starts when the rate differs while calling on other networks. Ufone's customer service has improved a lot as now users do not have to wait for such a long time when they dial 333 from their cellphones which is Ufone's customer service number. “I didn't believe when my call got entertained within 10 seconds at Ufone customer service number, they have improved their customer support a lot” applause by a Ufone post paid subscriber.

Paktel
Paktel remains famous for its colorful, interesting and widely talked packages, offers and advertising campaigns. Recent offer of 'per second billing' tempted lots of cellphone users and many turned to Paktel for benefiting from this exciting offer. Paktel charges the same rate for International and local calls (valid for land-lined numbers of listed countries). This itself is a great feature according to some Paktel fans.

Should Paktel AMPS users be also shifted to GSM is a big question. AMPS based services are only offered by two companies in Pakistan - Instaphone and Paktel. Instaphone is only AMPS based whereas Paktel offers both. “Why don't they end their AMPS service and concentrate on GSM. Shift all AMPS users to GSM service”, suggests a local cellular user. “Paktel is cool and has many great features but they still lack behind, probably because of the confusion of AMPS and GSM. I find no other reason in the success of this company as their logo, packages, media campaigns and everything else is competitive. They can be like Ufone and Mobilink, afterall they are the pioneers of cellular services in Pakistan.”, argues a market analyst.