Babar Khan, President Ufone, has said that the company has taken the pride in setting new standards through market initiatives and it is the first cellular company in Pakistan to target the low end subscriber market and introduce GPRS I MMS service besides offering real value for money packages and starting of WAP and Data services.
He was speaking at the inaugural session of "2nd Annual Summit 2005 South Asia Mobiles" here on Thursday. Babar Khan highlighted the significant performance of the Ufone, the major cellular company of the country. He said in 2001 when Ufone was launched the demand was very huge against the limited network coverage with one dominant GSM operator and two AMPS operators.
The tariff rates were very high and beyond the reach of the common man. The mobile was considered as a luxury and not a necessity.
However, he said, aggressive consumer focused strategies envisaging lower tariffs, better quality and technology, first 2.5G network providing services like GPRS, WAP and MMS were the major factors behind Ufone's success. The exceeding market expectations had greatly helped to change the situation and make the cellular service popular among the people, he added.
Ufone introduced a policy of solid commitment to growth and Consumer Convenience with no compromise on quality and remain bonded to connectivity with reliability, he said, adding, "all our policies are revolutionary and implemented for the benefit of our customers, employees, suppliers & society as a whole.
With the blessing of Allah Almighty, Babar Khan said, 2004 was the year when cellular sector experienced an unprecedented boom under the environment of deregulation during which stimulated competition for issuance of new licences was witnessed.
He said the number of subscribers were doubled within a few months and people showed great enthusiasm during the reopening of sales of Ufone connections.
CEO Ufone said out of total 15 million cellular subscribers, more than 3.2 million belong to Ufone network. During the period from July 01, 2004 to date Ufone has added around 2.4 million subscribers, which tripled the subscriber base and expanded the coverage to over 180 cities and highway routes.
He said Ufone managed to add over 50 international roaming partners in 30 destinations while another 35 are in progress. It also added around 600 cell sites and set up new 3 MSCs with increased asset base by nearly 50 percent. Ufone has carried out network expansion with an investment of $300 million and increased distribution network by 400 percent while the franchise network was increased from 37 franchises to over 170, he added.
The CEO Ufone said the International Roaming (IR) coverage of the Ufone has been increased from 80 to 135 IR partners and it is fast growing with the passage of time. The operational cities have been increased to 179 while the numbers of upcoming cities are 200.
He said in a major initiative the Ufone has introduced peak and off peak hours for its clients and it also started nation-wide free roaming besides introduction of low denomination scratch cards.
In a bid of commitment to quality over 20 customer care centers and a network of over 170 franchises, linked with our franchise management system, has been set up at over 1,292 P0S Outlets Nation-wide with widespread distribution through 31,600 retailers, he said, adding, it has set up call center with over 250 agents and new call centers are under way.
He said: "Ufone offers connectivity across the world and throughout Pakistan, no matter where your business or personal needs take you; you can stay connected and travel with Ufone."