Wireless Federation

Pakistan has added 1.3 million mobile subscribers in the timespan of one month. The figure from 86.69 million in the month of May reached a new high of 88.02 million, according to the figures from market regulator PTA.The mobile teledensity rose from 53.9% in May to 54.4% in June, showing a growth of 0.5% in a month.
Mobilink became the market leader with 32.03 million subscribers alone. Next came Telenor, with a huge gap of 13.90 million, it stood at 18.13 million subscribers. Ufone acquired the third place with 18.1 million subscribers.Warid at 15.49 million was followed by 3.95 million Zong subscribers. Instaphone remained stagnant to it’s figures for the month of April i.e. 321,204 subscribers.

The number of mobile subscribers in Pakistan reached a total of 78.74 million at the end of January versus 76.88 million subscribers in December. According to figures from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, Mobilink had the highest number of subscribers with 30.88 million subscribers, followed by Ufone with 16.44 million subscribers, Telenor with 15.35 million subscribers and Warid with 13.38 million subscribers. The mobile density was 48.96 in January compared to 48.61 in December. The number of fixed-line subscribers in Pakistan totalled 4.83 million in December. PTCL had the highest number of subscribers with nearly 4.69 million subscribers followed by NTC with 106,336 subscribers, NayaTel with 13,500, Worldcall with 10,008 and Union Communication with 3,500 subscribers. The number of wireless local loop subscribers rose to 2.20 million at the end of January, compared to 2.12 million in December. PTCL had the highest number of WLL subscribers at 1.27 million. TeleCard, World Call, and Wateen had 0.46 million, 0.39 million and 11,792 subscribers respectively. The new operators Burraq and Mytel had only 190 and 138 users respectively. The total fixed teledensity was 4.45 for January, which was comprised of 3.06 fixed density and 1.39 WLL density.

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Mobile operator Orascom Telecom has selected DragonWave’s Horizon Compact IP backhaul product to provide 270 wireless backhaul links for a new nationwide WiMAX Network in Pakistan with Mobilink. Initial rollout will begin in the cities of Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. Mobilink, a subsidiary of Orascom Telecom has opted to pursue this market with a 3.5 GHz WiMAX infrastructure, and has already been piloted in three cities with proposals to cover five major metros, including in-building coverage for high value business areas. The new network will provide data and other applications like VoIP access to enterprise, government, residential and municipalities. DragonWave’s Horizon product operates within both licensed and unlicensed radio frequencies in the 11-to-38-GHz range and provides ethernet connectivity up to 800 Mbps full duplex.

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The Pakistan mobile market grew to a total of 68.004 million mobile subscribers in August, up from 65.650 million in July, according to figures from the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority. Mobilink remained the largest operator, with 27.83 million customers versus 27.17 million in July. Ufone increased its base to 15.34 million from 14.77 million a month earlier, and Telenor grew to a total 11.98 million from 11.27 million. Warid finished the period with 11.48 million customers, versus 11.08 million in July, while Paktel grew to 1.04 million from 1.02 million. The number of fixed-line subscribers meanwhile fell to 4.806 million at the end of June, from 4.996 million in March. Wireless local loop customers increased to 1.934 million in August, from 1.878 million in July.

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An unprecedented gathering of leading operator CEOs(i) will debate the future of the mobile industry at the GSMA’s Mobile Asia Congress at the new Venetian Macau Resort on November 12-15.

The chief executives of China Mobile, the world’s largest operator, NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s largest operator, MTS, Russia’s largest operator, the Chairman and Group Managing Director of Bharti Airtel, India’s largest operator, and the CEO of Mobilink, Pakistan’s largest operator, the Chairman of Smart, the Philippines’ largest operator, Grameenphone, Bangladesh’s largest operator, and Telstra, Australia’s largest operator, will be among the keynote speakers.

They will be joined by many other industry leaders and visionaries, including the President of China Unicom, the CEOs of Softbank of Japan, Orascom Telecom, VimpelCom of Russia and the CEOs of equipment vendors Ericsson and ZTE and content companies Warner Music and EMI Music International.

Preceded by a board meeting of the GSMA, which represents more than 700 mobile operators from around the world, the Congress provides a unique opportunity for the leaders of Asia’s mobile operators to discuss the most strategic issues facing the mobile industry today. Among the themes for the keynote sessions: The shape of the mobile industry in three years time; the respective roles of operators, equipment vendors, Internet companies and content suppliers; future revenue models; reinventing cost structures; the potential of mobile broadband, low ARPU growth and the forms of entertainment that will work best on mobile.

“With mobile broadband services proliferating, handset technology evolving rapidly and the Internet fast going wireless, this industry is reaching a major inflexion point as many operators, vendors and entertainment companies review their strategies, their business models and their partnerships,” said Craig Ehrlich, Chairman. “A catalyst for the leaders of Asia’s mobile ecosystem to engage in face-to-face discussions, the Mobile Asia Congress will play a major role in shaping the strategic agenda of this industry, while setting trends in the world’s fastest-growing mobile markets.” Asia-Pacific is adding 20 million new mobile connections every month - more than four times the growth rate of any other region.

The Congress will also explore Asia’s role as a pioneer of new services, the imminent rollout of mobile broadband in China and India and how mobile technology will showcase the Olympics in Beijing next year. On the first evening of the event, there will be the presentation of the GSMA’s Asia Mobile Awards, recognizing the best commercial mobile products and services targeted at Asian consumers.

The most innovative ideas in the Asia-Pacific region will also be highlighted in Macau through the Mobile Innovation Awards, the culmination of the two-day Mobile Innovation Summit. A key part of the GSMA’s new Mobile Innovation Programme, the Summit will bring together the inventors of the region’s most innovative products, services and technologies with operators, the investor community, and vendors.

Ministers and Heads of Regulatory Authorities from approximately 20 countries in the Asia Pacific Region are also set to gather in Macau to attend the GSMA’s Government Symposium. At the Symposium, sponsored by Telenor, they will discuss the most pressing regulatory issues in the region with senior representatives from international institutions and CEOs from the mobile industry.

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Pakistani mobile operator Mobilink, part of the Orascom Telecom group, has renewed its licence for mobile telephony. Mobilink was awarded this licence in 1992 and the licence has been renewed at a cost of USD 291 million for the next fifteen years. Additional investments in the pipeline include the fibre-optic cable being deployed throughout Pakistan and additional data and communication facilities being deployed across the country.

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Pakistani mobile operator Mobilink, part of the Orascom Telecom group, has renewed its licence for mobile telephony. Mobilink was awarded this licence in 1992 and the licence has been renewed at a cost of USD 291 million for the next fifteen years. Additional investments in the pipeline include the fibre-optic cable being deployed throughout Pakistan and additional data and communication facilities being deployed across the country.

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Novatel Wireless has launched the Ovation MC950D USB modem for HSPA mobile networks. Optimised for HSPA and EDGE/GPRS worldwide networks, the Ovation MC950D is a tri-band HSPA and quad band EDGE/GPRS modem designed to be extremely durable and fit comfortably in any pocket. With support for 7.2 Mbps downlink speeds and 2.1 Mbps uplink upon launch, the MC950D offers users notably faster speeds than legacy mobile data modems. The Ovation MC950D features an antennae, receiver diversity and equaliser support to improve performance in noisy and highly mobile environments. Mobilink Lite Connection Manager Software is pre-installed on the device, improving the user’s experience by eliminating the need to install drivers from a CD. The Ovation MC950D is currently in the final stages of testing with leading carriers throughout EMEA, and is expected to be commercially available this quarter through a variety of Novatel Wireless’ new and existing tier-one operator customers.

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Pakistan ended June with a total of 63.190 million mobile users, up from 60.904 million at the end of May. The mobile teledensity stood at 40.66 percent, versus 39.19 percent a month earlier, according to the figures from the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority. Operator Mobilink leads with 26.466 million subscribers, up from 25.795 million in May. Ufone ended the month with 14.014 million mobile customers, up from 13.318, and Paktel saw its customer base drop to 1.025 million, from 1.055 million in the preceding month. Telenor boasted 10.731 million subscribers and Warid had 10.620 million, up from 10.134 million and 10.275 million. The number of wireless local loop customers rose to 1.850 million at the end of June from 1.757 million three months earlier.

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The teledensity (fixed, mobile, WLL) in Pakistan has gone up to 43.52 percent, from 41.92 percent in April. Figures from the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) further show that the number of fixed-line subscribers has fallen to 4.99 million from 5.19 million at end-December 2006. PTCL leads with 4.88 million fixed-line users, followed by NTC with 93,569, Brain with 5,401, World Call with 10,325, and Union Communication with 2,000 customers. Brain, World Call and Union all won customers during the three month period while PTCL saw a drop in subscriber numbers. Fixed teledensity was 4.34 percent, up only slightly form 4.33 percent at the end of last year. This number includes WLL (1.13%).

The number of Wireless Local Loop subscribers was 1.76 million at the end of March, up from 1.57 million at end-December. PTCL leads with over 1 million customers (1.02 million), followed by TeleCard with 409,388 customers, WorldCall with 270,038, and Great Bear with 52,919 WLL subscribers.

Pakistan ended March with a total of 60.90 million mobile users and, up from 58.39 million at the end of April, and the mobile teledensity stood at 39.19 percent, versus 37.58 percent a month earlier. Operator Mobilink leads with 25.79 million subscribers, up from 25.21 million in April. Ufone ended the month with 13.32 million mobile customers, up from 12.49, and Paktel saw its customer base reach 1.05 million, from 1.03 million in the preceding month. Telenor boasted 10.13 million subscribers and Warid had 10.28 million, up from 9.63 million and 9.71 million, respectively. Instsphone ended March with 326,855 subscribers.

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