100 Million and Counting: Nokia Pakistan promises its support in taking Pakistan's Telecom Industry to the next level

Nokia Pakistan extends its heartiest felicitations to Pakistani citizens, Government of Pakistan, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, telecom service providers and all stakeholders of the industry as Pakistan crosses the 100 million mobilephone subscribers mark.
Commenting on this fantastic achievement, Imran Khalid Mahmood, Country GM, Nokia Pakistan said, "It is a milestone of great significance for all the key players of Pakistan's Telecom Industry. Nokia always believed and always will believe in the potential of the local Telecom Industry. As the leading provider of mobile communications, Nokia understands the responsibility it has to promote the industry and this is what we aim to do as is evident from the various activities that Nokia has undertaken in its successful tenure of operations in Pakistan. At this special moment, I'd like to mention that PTA has been most supportive and encouraging of all our plans to facilitate the growth of mobile phone use in the country."
He added, "On behalf of Nokia Pakistan, I want to congratulate PTA for crossing the 100 million subscriber mark and I'm certain that with its untiring efforts PTA would continue its journey of progress. In its domain, Nokia will continue to support PTA to make greater industry level growth possible."
Since the inception of Nokia's operations in Pakistan in 2008, Nokia team has taken all possible measures in its capacity to facilitate the growth of local Telecom Industry. One of the key factors that have led to the growth of the industry is the greater affordability of mobile phone sets. Nokia is the only mobile phone maker to offer the largest portfolio at prices starting from Euro 25 (Nokia 1280 debuted last year as the world's cheapest mobile phone) to Euro 1,190 (Nokia 8800 Arte Gold). Nokia in Pakistan has continuously introduced its affordable range of mobile phones to provide consumers with a variety of mobile phones and solutions that offer value for money at affordable rates and compliment their lifestyle at the same time.
Nokia's vision in 2011 is to connect people in new and better ways. To this end, Nokia's manufacturing facilities continuously strive to develop mobile phones that are more and more feature-rich at lower price points but are also stylish to look at. Nokia is also adding more value in its mobile phones by making it easier to use internet on a majority of the mobile phones. Nokia's vision for Pakistan in particular, as reiterated on several occasions before, is to enable the youth of Pakistan to have their first internet experience on their mobilephone. Ovi Mail service introduced by Nokia on even its most affordable handsets makes email access possible allowing more people to enjoy internet on the go.
An important statistic quoted at several instances is that on average, 10 mobile phones per 100 people increases GDP by 0.6%. This fact was revealed by a study conducted by Leonard Waverman, London Business School.
As the mobile communications became readily available to the masses in Pakistan, it really has led to more work opportunities especially for small-scale service providers such as housekeepers, electricians, carpenters and plumbers. The use of mobile phone by this stratum of society has literally reshaped the way they conduct their business. For eg a plumber doesn't need to have a concrete shop anymore, all he needs to do is take orders on his mobile phone and travel form one customer's place to another. This means he can now save costs of investing in a shop space, and at the same time can service more orders by operating via mobile phone. Availability of mobile communications at lower rates in a country like Pakistan opens doors to new possibilities for a large segment of population. This is precisely where all stakeholders of Pakistan's Telecom Industry have played a mature role in understanding the significance of mobile communications and has taken steps to make it viable for the masses to adopt the technology.
Some industry experts criticize Nokia for not investing in a manufacturing facility in Pakistan. These critiques must consider many other aspects in which Nokia is furthering the overall industry growth, adding value to the economy and creating employment opportunities. Nokia is the only mobilephone maker in Pakistan to offer company's own warranty service via its Nokia Care establishments across Pakistan. There are currently 9 Nokia Care Centres which are supported by more than 400 collection points to take the service even to the isolated rural areas of the country. The growing network of Nokia Care operations in Pakistan is a significant investment creating new economic opportunities and offering greater product reliability to Pakistani consumers. Nokia is a strong proponent of adding value in its offerings.
For this reason, Nokia recently initiated its recycling program in Pakistan. Under this program, Nokia Recycling Boxes will be placed at all Nokia Care centres and also at operator sales points as part of Nokia's growing partner alignments in the local industry. With a promise of reliable services along with affordable mobilephones, Nokia aims to discourage sales of mobilephones brought into the market via grey channels. Mobilephones brought into the country through grey channels evade import taxes (leading to heavy loss to national exchequer) and also offer low-quality products which are unreliable.
Pakistan is a high-potential market in terms of technology. It is one of the reasons why Nokia wants to bring more feature-rich and service-facilitating phones at lower price points. Nokia wants to provide its bundle of Ovi services on all its phones because we understand that these services can be life-changing in many cases. Nokia has also made it a point that new Nokia phones are launched in Pakistan parallel to the global launch because Pakistani market is just as ready as any other market to embrace new technology.
Nokia recently entered into a partnership with a local operator to launch its two new handsets Nokia C3 and Nokia N8 in Pakistan whereby the telecom operator offers internet data bundles with these phones at highly competitive rates. Nokia will continue to launch its new range of mobile phones in partnership with local operators to make the use of mobile phone more enriching and exciting yet affordable, therefore lowering the overall mobile phone services usage cost.
In an effort to make Ovi Store (Nokia's mobile phone applications service) more locally relevant, Nokia has initiated its Calling all innovators program in Pakistan by engaging the creative local developers and help them via Forum Nokia platform to develop new mobile phone apps that would add value to the lives of Pakistani mobile phone users. The first episode in this chain was the Nokia Calling all innovators Pakistan 2010 Developers' Competition held last year which invited the local developers to develop mobile phone applications and win cash prizes. PTA Chairman was kind enough to be the chief guest of the competition. At the event, he patronized Nokia's efforts in promoting the Telecom Industry of Pakistan.
Continuing its partnership with developers, Nokia will be arranging a Developers' Workshop in Karachi by the end of this month where the regional developer relations manager will train the local developers associated with Forum Nokia and help them make the most of the facilities being extended by Nokia's platform for the growth and development of the budding developer community in Pakistan.
A firm believer in the promotion of emerging trends, Nokia has actively supported the blogging community of Pakistan. Nokia was the main sponsor of the first Blog Awards held in Pakistan. At the same time, Nokia shared its support towards the local blogging community as well as their contribution with its international market which was thoroughly impressed by the role these young people are playing in the media. Some of the leading bloggers of Pakistan have also been nominated to participate in international events where they get a chance to interact with technology experts of international repute and gain first-hand knowledge of the future face of technology.
There are still many opportunities to be realised by Pakistan's Telecom Industry. Nokia is eagerly waiting for 3G to become functional in Pakistan, it would let Nokia users in Pakistan access a number of services already available in Nokia phones. Similarly, Pakistan map would soon be available on Nokia Maps making the navigation service useful for the Pakistani consumers. Nokia Pakistan believes that if all industry key players can continue to extend their full co-operation towards the growth of Pakistan's promising Telecom Industry then together we can make many more substantial achievements possible. The growth of Telecom Industry will reap benefits across the board for government in terms of national exchequer and for Pakistani population in terms of more lucrative social and economic opportunities.
Telecom Industry is the only industry of Pakistan that is exhibiting positive growth at the moment even in the current unstable times. As the industry holds so much more potential for growth, government and other authorities must extend their full support towards the telecom sector so that the industry can help boost the economy in return.