Night-time packages: Students to cut cellphone use after restriction

Youth, the key target market of mobile firms, term the ban unjustified; say they cannot afford normal packages.

KARACHI:

A government ban on late night telecommunications packages may not significantly cut down general users, but students believe the restriction will significantly curtail their talking time mainly because of high rates of daytime packages.

Majority of the students who spoke to The Express Tribune say the low cost of midnight packages was the major reason why they used to talk late in the night with their fellow students, friends, fiancé/fiancée and relatives.

Rozee.pk, a leading jobs website, also conducted a survey recently on night-time packages, in which some 23% of the respondents were students.

When the government directed mobile phone service companies to stop offering late night packages two months ago on the ground these were “violating social norms and values”, the response from the general public was mixed. Some supported the move and others called it an infringement of personal freedom.

Students, the prime target market of cheap late night packages, term the restriction unjustified.

“I have been using these packages to talk to my fiancée, but now I have significantly cut down on talking time because I cannot afford daytime packages,” said a university student in Karachi, who did not want to be named.

Another university student told The Express Tribune that she used to talk to her friend on her mobile phone late in the evening, but she was now forced to reduce her talking time.

“I will not switch to other calling packages as these are relatively expensive,” she said. “The slapping of a ban on late night packages is wrong as we are grown-up people and know what is right and what is wrong.”

With the curbs on midnight packages, a significant source of revenue, telecom companies have started focusing on other incentive offers. Today, people can see more advertisements of calling packages from leading telecom firms.

Employed young people, however, have differing views than the students. Some on-job young people, who talked to The Express Tribune, said after the disappearing of midnight packages, rates of hourly and daily on-net packages have come down sharply and now people enjoy talking during the daytime as well.

People, who welcome the ban on night-time packages, stress that this will lead to increase in productivity and improve academic performance of students.

A student counsellor at a private university in Karachi pointed out that university students, who have to attend classes early in the morning, are less inclined towards making calls late in the night. However, he noted that many college students, who have classes late in the morning, do talk in the night for longer periods, which affects their studies.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 21^st, 2013.

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