Zong beat Warid
Zong beat Warid in Number of Mobile Users – PTA Report
Long viewed as a minnow struggling to swim in the high seas, Zong has finally had its moment of truth.
Long viewed as a minnow struggling to swim in the high seas, Zong has finally had its moment of truth.
Islamabad (April 23, 2012) – Zong a China Mobiles subsidiary has replaced Warid Telecom and jumped up one notch to become the number four mobile network operator in Pakistan.
According to the latest data released by the PTA, Zong edged past Warid, with a lead of over 250,000subscribers as of February end 2012.
The strategists at other mobile network operators have long disagreed with (and despised) Zongs resorting to price-competition.
After all, it was the Chinese dragon that has, sort of, forced other MNOs to participate in an environment of intense competition from 2008.
Eventually, a point came when there was very little left to fight over voice tariffs which are now one of the lowest in the world.
In a span of about five years, Zong has expanded itssubscriber-base from one million to nearly fifteen million by February 2012, despite being the late and last entrant in a market that was getting increasingly saturated.
Since June 2008, it is Zong that has been leading the race for net subscriber acquisition.
In the 44 months since, Zong had acquired nearly 40 percent of the markets new subscriber additions.
In other latest PTA statistics, the overall teledensity continues to be driven by the mobile teledensity.
As of February 2012, total teledensity had crossed 70.6 percent, as the cellular mobile teledensityreached 67.2 percent.
The teledensities in fixed and wireless local loopremained unchanged at 1.8 and 1.6 percent, respectively.
The mobile subscriptions (active for at least 90 days) had reached 116.2 million as of February 2012.
In recent years, MNOs have witnessed extensive uptake and usage from age groups above 60 and below 18.
Not only is the size of addressable market increasing, but the penetration in the hitherto virgin territories-especially in the rural and remote areas-is also driving subscriber growth.
Due to the phenomena like multiple-sim and mobile number portability, the active customers are believed to be somewhere between 70-80 percent of total subscriptions.
Interestingly, after discounting the total subscriptions by 20 percent and excluding the population below 10 and above 65 years of age, the mobile teledensity clocks in above 75 percent, a formidable number.
Zong has had a great run thus far and has truly arrived.
Yet the run-up to the number 4 spot has largely been on the heels of pricing.
It would be interesting to see how the executives at CMPak differentiate and position Zong from here on, and go for a larger slice of the pie.
That would also determine how aggressively they participate in the auction of 3G mobile spectrum.
According to the latest data released by the PTA, Zong edged past Warid, with a lead of over 250,000subscribers as of February end 2012.
The strategists at other mobile network operators have long disagreed with (and despised) Zongs resorting to price-competition.
After all, it was the Chinese dragon that has, sort of, forced other MNOs to participate in an environment of intense competition from 2008.
Eventually, a point came when there was very little left to fight over voice tariffs which are now one of the lowest in the world.
In a span of about five years, Zong has expanded itssubscriber-base from one million to nearly fifteen million by February 2012, despite being the late and last entrant in a market that was getting increasingly saturated.
Since June 2008, it is Zong that has been leading the race for net subscriber acquisition.
In the 44 months since, Zong had acquired nearly 40 percent of the markets new subscriber additions.In other latest PTA statistics, the overall teledensity continues to be driven by the mobile teledensity.
As of February 2012, total teledensity had crossed 70.6 percent, as the cellular mobile teledensityreached 67.2 percent.
The teledensities in fixed and wireless local loopremained unchanged at 1.8 and 1.6 percent, respectively.
The mobile subscriptions (active for at least 90 days) had reached 116.2 million as of February 2012.
In recent years, MNOs have witnessed extensive uptake and usage from age groups above 60 and below 18.
Not only is the size of addressable market increasing, but the penetration in the hitherto virgin territories-especially in the rural and remote areas-is also driving subscriber growth.
Due to the phenomena like multiple-sim and mobile number portability, the active customers are believed to be somewhere between 70-80 percent of total subscriptions.
Interestingly, after discounting the total subscriptions by 20 percent and excluding the population below 10 and above 65 years of age, the mobile teledensity clocks in above 75 percent, a formidable number.
Zong has had a great run thus far and has truly arrived.
Yet the run-up to the number 4 spot has largely been on the heels of pricing.
It would be interesting to see how the executives at CMPak differentiate and position Zong from here on, and go for a larger slice of the pie.
That would also determine how aggressively they participate in the auction of 3G mobile spectrum.
