Since its launch in January this year, GSM network operator Warid Telecom Uganda has signed up 500,000 customers. ‘Our commitment to provide a world class service is evident with this milestone. We have consistently upgraded and expanded our products and services to ensure maximum customer satisfaction and we owe this success to our customers, and it is the beginning of a new journey in innovation, service expansion and service excellence’, said Tushar Maheshwari, Chief Commercial Officer.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd (SingTel) said Tuesday its Asia Pacific mobile phone subscriber base rose almost 50 percent to 185.34 million at the end of the March quarter from a year earlier.
Southeast Asia’s biggest telecom firm said the increase was driven by strong growth in all eight of its markets: Australia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand as well as the home market in Singapore.
Compared with the previous quarter, growth came in 8.0 percent higher, or a record 13.80 million new customers, SingTel said ahead of its full-year earnings report on Wednesday.
India’s Bharti, where SingTel holds a 30.44 percent stake, drew a record 6.82 million new clients for the quarter ended March 31, it said. Bharti’s total mobile subscriber base stood at 61.99 million, up 67 percent from the year before, SingTel said.
Indonesia’s Telkomsel added 3.45 million new mobile clients during the quarter, bringing its total subscribers to 51.34 million, up 32 percent from the same quarter last year, SingTel said. It owns 35 percent of Telkomsel, Indonesia’s biggest mobile phone operator.
Thailand’s AIS, where SingTel has 21.36 percent equity, expanded its customer base by 3.6 percent in the quarter or 19 percent year-on-year, while the Philippine associate Globe Telecom added 26 percent more subscribers compared with the same quarter last year, SingTel said.
Warid Telekom of Pakistan reported 14.40 million mobile clients at the end of March, up 9.0 percent from the previous quarter. Pacific Bangladesh Telecom Ltd (PBTL) grew its customer base by 11 percent from the December quarter, SingTel said.
SingTel owns 30 percent of Warid Telecom and 45 percent of PBTL.
SingTel’s wholly-owned Australian subsidiary Optus reported a total mobile customer base of 7.14 million for the March quarter, up 5.9 percent from the previous year and 2.0 percent from the December quarter.
For the Singapore home market, SingTel added a record 244,000 mobile customers, raising its customer base to 2.57 million, up an annual 41 percent, it said.
SingTel, the biggest company on the Singapore stock exchange in terms of market capitalization, is 56 percent owned by state-linked investment firm Temasek Holdings, according to the Temasek website.
SingTel shares were trading at 3.76 Singapore dollars a share Tuesday afternoon, up five cents from the previous day.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Uganda’s newest wireless network operator, Warid Telecom, has announced the launch of a new calling plan that allows customers to place calls to other Warid users and to only pay for the first two minutes of use, no matter how long the call. ‘Effective this month, the first two minutes of a phone call will be chargeable and the rest will be free,’ Zul Javaid, Warid’s country general manager, told reporters.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
Ugandan wireless newcomer Warid Telecom has announced the launch of a new customer service initiative known as Warid on Wheels, or WOW for short, which will see four specially designed vans tour the country operating as mobile customer care centres. The quartet of vans will initially operate within the greater Kampala region before moving on to the Western, Eastern and Northern regions of the country. Each vehicle will sell SIM cards and handsets, deal with customer inquiries and troubleshoot any problems experienced by customers.
Warid Telecom launched its services in Uganda on 7 February 2008 and to date has rolled out a network with coverage stretching from Soroti in the east to Fort Portal in the west, and has recently launched services in Hoima and Masindi; the towns of Lira and Gulu are next in line for coverage. In its first three months of operation, Warid claims to have signed up 425,000 customers, making it the smallest of the country’s four wireless network operators, behind MTN Uganda, Celtel and Uganda Telecom.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
- January 15th, 2008
- 12:17 pm
Pakistan ended 2007 with 76.61 million mobile phone users, up from 74.59 million in November, according to figures from market regulator the PTA. Mobilink was market leader with 30.66 million customers, followed by Ufone with 16.66 million. Telenor Pakistan is third with 14.60 million, while Warid finished the year with 13.21 million. Mobile teledensity reached 48.42 percent at the end of the year, versus 39.94 percent at the start of 2007.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
- October 29th, 2007
- 3:09 pm
The Pakistan mobile market grew to a total of 70 million mobile subscribers in September, up 3 percent from 68 million in August, according to figures from the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority. Mobilink was the number one, with 28.57 million customers versus 27.83 million in August. Ufone came in second with 15.42 million subscribers from 15.33 million a month earlier, and Paktel grew to a total 1.23 million users from 1.04 million in August. Warid had 11.87 million subscribers at the end of September versus 11.5 million subscribers in August. The mobile density was 43.60 in September as compared to 42.64 in August.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
- September 21st, 2007
- 1:57 pm
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.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
- September 18th, 2007
- 11:40 am
Warid Telecom has conducted its first call tests on its GSM network in Uganda. The test sat the operator’s head office in Kampala were conducted over fixed and mobile lines, reports The Monitor. Warid Telecom country manager Zul Javaid said the company plans to launch services “very soon”. It is currently finalising interconnection agreements with other operators. Warid aims to cover 70 percent of the Uganda population with its network when it launches commercial services. Warid was granted an operator’s licence at the end of March and said it aimed to launch services in 6-7 months.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
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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Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) and Warid Telecom have confirmed SingTel will acquire a 30 percent stake in the Pakistani operator. Earlier, Vodafone and South Africa’s MTN also expressed interest in acquiring a stake in Warid. SingTel will invest USD 758 million (subject to closing adjustments on completion of the transaction) to acquire a 30 percent stake in Warid Telecom, valuing the company at an enterprise value of USD 2.9 billion. SingTel said some USD 379 million equity is to be injected into Warid. The purchase will be satisfied through SingTel’s internal and/or external sources of funds. The company has set-up a subsidiary, SingTel Pakistan Investments as the investment holding. Warid Telecom is part of the Abu Dhabi Group and launched services in 2005. The company has about 9.7 million subscribers, representing an estimated market share of 16.6 percent. Including Warid Telecom, SingTel, together with its associated companies, will have a presence in eight regional cellular markets with a total of more than 130 million subscribers.
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Warid celebrates 500,000 customers
