Cellular operators: Who has the most subscribers?

A look at the cellular companies that keep Pakistan connected.

KARACHI: Mobile industry is a big deal as it earns more than two-thirds of the telecommunication sector’s revenues and managed to increase its last year earnings by 11 per cent. There are six mobile phones for every ten people in Pakistan, something difficult to imagine in a developing country like Pakistan but the mobile industry managed to pull it off.

There is no monopoly anymore and the competitiveness of the industry seems to be increasing as most of the other mobile operators seem to have held on to their shares and gained some customers along the way, not taking some hitches into account. However, success cannot be judged by the amount of customers alone as different customers pay different amounts of money. Hence, the amount of revenue earned as a percentage of the whole becomes more important.

• Mobilink made more money this year. It also gained the largest number of customers this year, yet its revenue gains were paltry in comparison. Moreover, their cellular operator revenue share decreased.


• Telenor gained the second largest number of customers but in context, its revenue increase seemed lacklustre. However, its revenue share increased and they managed to make more money this year.


• Ufone lost customers but very interestingly they did something right because they actually managed to increase their earnings by a very large amount. Also their cellular operator revenue share increased.


• Warid lost a decent amount of customers while its cellular operator revenue share also decreased.


• Zong gained a decent amount of customers, increased its cellular operator revenue share in the telecom sector and managed to increase its earnings by the largest amount.

Note: It must be kept in mind that in addition to customers shifting mobile operators a company losing customers could also be due to a cleanup of records, which is due to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority implementing a standard Active Subscribers definition. Due to this, operators have to remove people who do not meet Active Subscriber requirements from their customer list.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2010.