Alcatel aims to capture 10% of market in Pakistan

About 80% of the mobile phone users will be using internet on their phones by 2020


Salman Siddiqui August 08, 2016
Mr. Nauman Durrani General Manager Middle East, Pakistan and Egypt Alcatel. PHOTO: PUBLICITY

KARACHI: Alcatel, a global brand of mobile handsets which has just entered Pakistan’s market, does not see demand coming down in the near future and remains optimistic that it will capture 8-10% of the market in the next six months, a company official said.

“Pakistan is a critical market after mobile phone users switched to 3G/4G,” remarked Alcatel Middle East, Pakistan and Egypt General Manager Nauman Durrani while talking to The Express Tribune on Monday.

Pakistan’s 3G/4G users doubled to 29.53 million in FY16

He was speaking on the sidelines of a ceremony held to announce the appointment of United Mobile as one of Alcatel’s distributors in Pakistan.

Durrani said a shift in the company’s strategy about a year ago to sell devices through distributors had allowed them to make inroads into Pakistan. “Earlier, we were selling through operators mostly in the United States, Canada and the European markets.”

Alcatel, owned by Chinese electronics company TCL Corporation, has introduced phones and smartphones with prices in the range of Rs1,600 to Rs48,000. It has also launched tablets.

“Pakistan imported 600,000 smartphones in a single month (July), which reflects that it is a huge market,” Durrani said, adding such phones would help them strengthen their foothold in the country.

“Alcatel, which serves over 170 countries, sees Pakistan as a strategic growth market that favours avenues of expansion and growth,” a press release said.

“We are super-excited to start operations in Pakistan. We see Pakistan as a high-growth market,” said the company that launched its devices in the country two years ago.

Pakistan’s LTE speeds one of the slowest in the world

Alcatel has 23 research and development facilities and 21 factories across the globe.

“Since power outages are one of the biggest challenges for Pakistan’s mobile phone users, our company is aiming to launch high-powered battery phones,” said Durrani. “We will launch a phone with at least 5,000 mAH battery in the next three months.”

He said, fortunately or unfortunately, the emerging reality showed that people tended to spend more time with their mobile phones than their friends and family members.

United Mobile Director Ejaz Hassan, who was also present on the occasion, said 60% of the customers were buying phones with features while 40% bought smartphones. “This ratio will reverse by 2020,” he remarked.

3G/4G users up 3.74%, but growth slowing

“About 80% of the mobile phone users will be using internet on their phones by 2020,” Ejaz added, quoting the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

Published in The Express Tribune, August 9th, 2016.

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COMMENTS (2)

Hashim | 7 years ago | Reply ALU is now owned by Nokia and they don't make cell phones but you probably meant to say was they are looking to penetrate Pakistan 4G/5G market with their RAN, PGW and other network function offerings.
Truth detector | 7 years ago | Reply Alcatel-Lucent doesn't sell mobiles, it's Network Division ....which is already acquired by Nokia....there is no company as "Alcatel-Lucent" it's Nokia Corp now.
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