Mobile phone operators in the country cashed the boom and enthusiasm of voters during elections 2013 campaign and generated revenues as SMS traffic went up to one billion text messages per day.
Thousands of candidates in the country made full use of the modern communication facilities and continuously tried to convince voters in their constituencies through text messages.
According to rough figures, one billion short messages (SMS) were exchanged on a daily basis in the country when the election was drawing nearer.
“A huge rise in the usage of SMS was observed and not only the political parties used the SMS, but their supporters also exchanged a lot of SMS. Subscribers in Pakistan usually spend about a billion rupees a month on SMS,” said an official from a mobile service provider.
This increase in revenue is not only good for mobile companies but the medium used for campaigning is also very effective as there are 120 million mobile phone users in Pakistan.
Mobile phone companies also used Election 2013 as an opportunity and promoted different offers for their users. The subscribers were able to get all the information through text messages.
Pakistan is one of the countries where per user SMS ratio is quite high. A general user generates 176 SMS per month in Pakistan. In China this number is 99 SMS per month, for India this figure is 53 per month, in USA this figure is 617 and in Brazil this figure is 22 SMS per month.
Source: By dailytimes.com.pk on 13th May 2013
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Showing posts with label Pakistan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pakistan. Show all posts
Monday, 13 May 2013
Tuesday, 9 April 2013
Pakistan cellcos bleed subs due to SIM rules
Pakistan's mobile operators have together lost around 2.7
million mobile subscribers in the first two month after the
introduction of restrictions on the direct sale of SIMs through
retail channels.
The latest statistics from telecom regulator
PTA show that the nation's total mobile subscriber base fell to
120.8 million in January, from 123.6 million million in
November.
Over the same period, cellular mobile teledensity dipped from
69.8% to 68%.
Each of Pakistan's five mobile operators were affected.
Mobilink's mobile subscriber base was reduced from 36.6 million
to 35.9 million over the two months. Telenor Pakistan's base
fell to 30.2 million from 30.6 million, while Ufone's base
declined from 24.3 million to 23.5 million.
In November, the Pakistani government announced new rules, introduced from
December 1, prohibiting the direct sale of SIMs through retail
channels. Operators were instead instructed to mail the SIMs to
customers based on the address on their national identity card.
Operators were also ordered to block unverified SIMs and to
limit the amount that can be registered to any one identity card
to five.
Source: By telecomasia.net (Dylan Bushell-Embling) on 27th March 2013
Friday, 16 March 2012
Pakistan - World 'biggest' database of 85 million voters (SMS service)
The Guinness World Records has sought details from Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to be named for the global record for launching the world's biggest database and short messaging service (SMS) of 85 million new voters.
An ECP spokesman told Business Recorder on Thursday that the Guinness World Records had approached the Commission and sought details of the world's biggest SMS service and the database of 85 million new voters.
The spokesman said that the Guinness World Records' officials would undertake research and if no other organisation in the world was available with such huge service, the ECP would be nominated for Guinness World Records within next three to four weeks.
The ECP on February 29, 2012, launched, what it claimed, the world's biggest SMS campaign for verification of 85 million new electoral rolls, displayed on 55,000 centers across the country.
Soon after the launch, the SMS service for the citizens was hit by 50,000 messages within 20 minutes.
Source: Business Recorder on March 16, 2012
An ECP spokesman told Business Recorder on Thursday that the Guinness World Records had approached the Commission and sought details of the world's biggest SMS service and the database of 85 million new voters.
The spokesman said that the Guinness World Records' officials would undertake research and if no other organisation in the world was available with such huge service, the ECP would be nominated for Guinness World Records within next three to four weeks.
The ECP on February 29, 2012, launched, what it claimed, the world's biggest SMS campaign for verification of 85 million new electoral rolls, displayed on 55,000 centers across the country.
Soon after the launch, the SMS service for the citizens was hit by 50,000 messages within 20 minutes.
Source: Business Recorder on March 16, 2012
Wednesday, 15 February 2012
Pakistan - PTA needs to Stop SMS Spamming
Daily, many mobile phone users in Pakistan receive promotional messages from different sources. Their inbox is constantly flooded with such messages and they don’t have an option to stop receiving these messages. These promotional messages are an addition to the fraudulent text messages and calls the users receive. The telecom sector is one of the most profitable sectors in Pakistan. Despite this, cellular companies and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has not done anything substantial to solve this problem.
The first cellular company in Pakistan was launched in 1995. The real boom in the cellular sector came in 2004-05 when the trend of owning a mobile phone became a must for every citizen. Availability of low cost mobiles and service provider SIM’s made it possible for every section of the society to own a mobile phone. Since then there has been a steady growth in the number of cell phone users. Today according to PTA statistics over 62 percent of Pakistani citizens use cell phones as it is a cheap and convenient way of communication, specially the short messaging service (SMS). All these benefits although, have brought in some demerits as well which still haunt cell phone users. Criminals have begun to deceive people by the use of fake calls and SMS. Many simple persons have fallen victim to their evil traps and have suffered monetary losses. PTA and network providers have only delivered public service messages and not carry out any practical steps to stop and apprehend such criminals.
Today there is an increase in marketing through the short messaging service (SMS). People are often sent messages which they don’t want to receive. This is known as Spam. Since everyone has a cell phone, SMS marketing has become a very cheap and effective method of marketing for many businesses. Software’s are available in the market which can be used to send thousands of text messages for a few hundred rupees in a couple of seconds. This sort of marketing is much cheaper than placing ads in newspapers or TV channels. Receivers of such messages don’t have a choice of not receiving such messages and this has become a very serious problem. Similarly phone calls are made at random to promote a particular product.
Many private educational institutes in Lahore use SMS spamming to promote the release of their new batches. They send the messages to all the numbers they are able to retrieve from different databases. Quite often users give their cell numbers to websites and at education expos and other programs. Somehow these lists containing thousands of cell phone numbers of potential customers reach the hands of spammers. PTA started a service through which users can report SMS spamming by sending a SMS at 9000 with certain details. This service doesn’t seem to work and is quite complicated. You can keep trying but are to end up with an error message each time.
PTA needs to stop SMS spamming. They need to develop a mechanism through which users can easily report and prompt action can be taken immediately. Now PTA has started allotting names instead of numbers through which SMS are sent. Mostly these names are used for spamming and thus PTA should ensure that these are not used for spamming before allotting a name to someone. Cellular companies should also develop their systems to detect the spammers and block their connections. Similarly governments should ensure the privacy of the users so that the spammers don’t get bulk of numbers to whom they can send their promotional messages.
Annually PTA and cellular companies earn millions of dollars from cell phone users in Pakistan. They ought to take care of their users and should not leave them at the mercy of spammers who don’t have any morality to stop doing so themselves. Cell phone users especially the youth need to be vocal about this issue and should raise their voices about this on the social media forum. In Pakistan the government will only take action when citizens build up pressure against it. Media should also take notice of the issue and urge the PTA to stop SMS spamming.
Source: By blogs.thenews on 7th February 2012
The first cellular company in Pakistan was launched in 1995. The real boom in the cellular sector came in 2004-05 when the trend of owning a mobile phone became a must for every citizen. Availability of low cost mobiles and service provider SIM’s made it possible for every section of the society to own a mobile phone. Since then there has been a steady growth in the number of cell phone users. Today according to PTA statistics over 62 percent of Pakistani citizens use cell phones as it is a cheap and convenient way of communication, specially the short messaging service (SMS). All these benefits although, have brought in some demerits as well which still haunt cell phone users. Criminals have begun to deceive people by the use of fake calls and SMS. Many simple persons have fallen victim to their evil traps and have suffered monetary losses. PTA and network providers have only delivered public service messages and not carry out any practical steps to stop and apprehend such criminals.
Today there is an increase in marketing through the short messaging service (SMS). People are often sent messages which they don’t want to receive. This is known as Spam. Since everyone has a cell phone, SMS marketing has become a very cheap and effective method of marketing for many businesses. Software’s are available in the market which can be used to send thousands of text messages for a few hundred rupees in a couple of seconds. This sort of marketing is much cheaper than placing ads in newspapers or TV channels. Receivers of such messages don’t have a choice of not receiving such messages and this has become a very serious problem. Similarly phone calls are made at random to promote a particular product.
Many private educational institutes in Lahore use SMS spamming to promote the release of their new batches. They send the messages to all the numbers they are able to retrieve from different databases. Quite often users give their cell numbers to websites and at education expos and other programs. Somehow these lists containing thousands of cell phone numbers of potential customers reach the hands of spammers. PTA started a service through which users can report SMS spamming by sending a SMS at 9000 with certain details. This service doesn’t seem to work and is quite complicated. You can keep trying but are to end up with an error message each time.
PTA needs to stop SMS spamming. They need to develop a mechanism through which users can easily report and prompt action can be taken immediately. Now PTA has started allotting names instead of numbers through which SMS are sent. Mostly these names are used for spamming and thus PTA should ensure that these are not used for spamming before allotting a name to someone. Cellular companies should also develop their systems to detect the spammers and block their connections. Similarly governments should ensure the privacy of the users so that the spammers don’t get bulk of numbers to whom they can send their promotional messages.
Annually PTA and cellular companies earn millions of dollars from cell phone users in Pakistan. They ought to take care of their users and should not leave them at the mercy of spammers who don’t have any morality to stop doing so themselves. Cell phone users especially the youth need to be vocal about this issue and should raise their voices about this on the social media forum. In Pakistan the government will only take action when citizens build up pressure against it. Media should also take notice of the issue and urge the PTA to stop SMS spamming.
Source: By blogs.thenews on 7th February 2012
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
Pakistan - Global Mobile Subscribers to Surpass 6 Billion, Pakistan Ranks 9th
The mobile industry is set for another milestone. According to the latest forecasts from Wireless Intelligence, total mobile connections in the world will cross 6 billion figure by the year’s end, which means that the industry will have added 1 billion connections in 16 months.
The total number of connections is set to be at 6.07 billion by the year’s end, with the 6 billion mark being reached in late November.
Asia-Pacific region is responsible for the bulk of the growth, with the region accounting for 50 percent of all connections by the end of the year. In Asia-Pacific, the growth is being spurred on by India and China, the two largest markets in the world. They are also set to hit 1 billion connections early next year.
Asia-Pacific will also be home to 6 of the 10 largest mobile markets in the world. These include:
China (#1)
India (#2)
Indonesia (#4)
Vietnam (#7)
Japan (#8)
and Pakistan (#9)
In other forecasts, Africa will take over the Americas as the second largest regional market. Eastern Europe will also overtake Western Europe in terms of new connections.
5 billion global connections were reached in July 2010, and they came 18 months after the 4 billion milestone in the last months of 2008. The global mobile penetration rate has now increased to 86%, it was 7 percent at the 5 billion mark and 60 percent at 4 billion.
Technology wise, GSM is set to dominate with it accounting for 73 percent of global connections. After GSM, WCDMA/HSPA (16 percent) and CDMA (9 percent) are the major technologies. The remaining 2% will be accounted for by technologies like LTE.
The WCDMA/HSPA technology has been gaining ground and was significant in the growth from 5 to 6 billion connections. GSM still remains the major player in emerging markets such as Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. However its global share was down from 78% to 73% (at the 5 billions connections point).
Source: http://propakistani.pk/2011/09/20/global-mobile-subscribers-to-surpass-6-billion-pakistan-ranks-9th/ by Syed Talal on 20th September 2011.
The total number of connections is set to be at 6.07 billion by the year’s end, with the 6 billion mark being reached in late November.
Asia-Pacific region is responsible for the bulk of the growth, with the region accounting for 50 percent of all connections by the end of the year. In Asia-Pacific, the growth is being spurred on by India and China, the two largest markets in the world. They are also set to hit 1 billion connections early next year.
Asia-Pacific will also be home to 6 of the 10 largest mobile markets in the world. These include:
China (#1)
India (#2)
Indonesia (#4)
Vietnam (#7)
Japan (#8)
and Pakistan (#9)
In other forecasts, Africa will take over the Americas as the second largest regional market. Eastern Europe will also overtake Western Europe in terms of new connections.
5 billion global connections were reached in July 2010, and they came 18 months after the 4 billion milestone in the last months of 2008. The global mobile penetration rate has now increased to 86%, it was 7 percent at the 5 billion mark and 60 percent at 4 billion.
Technology wise, GSM is set to dominate with it accounting for 73 percent of global connections. After GSM, WCDMA/HSPA (16 percent) and CDMA (9 percent) are the major technologies. The remaining 2% will be accounted for by technologies like LTE.
The WCDMA/HSPA technology has been gaining ground and was significant in the growth from 5 to 6 billion connections. GSM still remains the major player in emerging markets such as Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. However its global share was down from 78% to 73% (at the 5 billions connections point).
Source: http://propakistani.pk/2011/09/20/global-mobile-subscribers-to-surpass-6-billion-pakistan-ranks-9th/ by Syed Talal on 20th September 2011.
Tuesday, 16 August 2011
Pakistan - Advertisement trends – SMS marketing gains popularity
LAHORE - They say that advertising always pays-off in one way or another. Thinkers of this field have derived another method of advertising which is rated to be one of the fastest spreading and effective marketing techniques; it is called Short Messaging Service (SMS) advertising.
With Pakistan occupying a slot in top five messaging countries, advertisers are using the fashion of 'texting' for a greater cause. All kinds of businessmen, solicitors, service providers and vendors are turning to the SMS advertising, as a great response has been observed through this new age advertising technique.
"It's a lot more effective than TV, radio, billboards, newspaper and pamphlets," says Ishtiaq Khan, a tax consultant. Ishtiaq says that it is easier to penetrate through the target market as the SMSs are mostly sent to people who needed such services.
"I am a tax manager, so I took a list of numbers from the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and SMS-ed my ads to them only, as I know if they have a business they might need a tax manager," added Ishtiaq. He said the receiver takes more time to read a message than a TV or a billboard viewer, which does the magic.
"A great number of people also get annoyed by the SMSs; this way it is a lot similar to telemarketing; most of the time you hit on target and if sometimes you don't its okay - plus its so cheap that we don't mind a few irritated customers," smiled Ishtiaq.
There are two ways of using this method. First is by outsourcing the SMS advertising scheme to any advertising company, the second and more popular of the two is attaching any sim card with a computer and advertising by own self. Special software programs are being designed to send SMSs to target markets. These software programs are readily available in market for Rs 1500 to Rs 2000.
By the help of SMS bundles and packages, a salesperson is able to send thousands of messages to the target market. There are a large number of SMS bundles offered by cellular service providers. From astonishing Rs 125 only, a salesperson is able to send ads to more than 9,000 cell phone users. Abbas Khan, a marketing expert, said this technique is expected to gain more popularity.
"It's very consumer-friendly, as you don't need to jot any information down; the SMS is saved in the inbox automatically and you can find it whenever you need," said Abbas. He said an SMS is something very personal; SMS readers have a great chance of calling back on a SMS ad as it is more convenient.
"The consumers that callback are already screened as less effort is required in convincing a buyer," added Abbas. He also said that acquiring telephone numbers of the target market is easy as people could be separated on the terms of geography, occupation, age and various other categories. Abbas Khan says that the trend of SMS marketing has multiplied owing to SMS bundles provided by cellular companies.
According to international researches, in SMS usage growth, Pakistan occupies top slot in Asia Pacific, and by 2013 the volume of messages will doubled to 10 trillion. That is, the SMS traffic will grow double in coming two years. A report issued by PTA on SMS traffic trends in local and global markets says that a total of 151.6385 billion text messages were exchanged by cellular subscribers in fiscal year 2009-10, generating revenue of Rs 40.76 billion.
This figure translates into 1532 SMS per subscriber in a year or 128 SMS per subscriber in one month. Average price of one SMS is said to be at 27 paisas, making SMS adverting one of the most inexpensive marketing technique present in today's time.
Source: http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/02/advertisement-trends-sms-marketing-gains-popularity/ by LahoreAli Tahir
With Pakistan occupying a slot in top five messaging countries, advertisers are using the fashion of 'texting' for a greater cause. All kinds of businessmen, solicitors, service providers and vendors are turning to the SMS advertising, as a great response has been observed through this new age advertising technique.
"It's a lot more effective than TV, radio, billboards, newspaper and pamphlets," says Ishtiaq Khan, a tax consultant. Ishtiaq says that it is easier to penetrate through the target market as the SMSs are mostly sent to people who needed such services.
"I am a tax manager, so I took a list of numbers from the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and SMS-ed my ads to them only, as I know if they have a business they might need a tax manager," added Ishtiaq. He said the receiver takes more time to read a message than a TV or a billboard viewer, which does the magic.
"A great number of people also get annoyed by the SMSs; this way it is a lot similar to telemarketing; most of the time you hit on target and if sometimes you don't its okay - plus its so cheap that we don't mind a few irritated customers," smiled Ishtiaq.
There are two ways of using this method. First is by outsourcing the SMS advertising scheme to any advertising company, the second and more popular of the two is attaching any sim card with a computer and advertising by own self. Special software programs are being designed to send SMSs to target markets. These software programs are readily available in market for Rs 1500 to Rs 2000.
By the help of SMS bundles and packages, a salesperson is able to send thousands of messages to the target market. There are a large number of SMS bundles offered by cellular service providers. From astonishing Rs 125 only, a salesperson is able to send ads to more than 9,000 cell phone users. Abbas Khan, a marketing expert, said this technique is expected to gain more popularity.
"It's very consumer-friendly, as you don't need to jot any information down; the SMS is saved in the inbox automatically and you can find it whenever you need," said Abbas. He said an SMS is something very personal; SMS readers have a great chance of calling back on a SMS ad as it is more convenient.
"The consumers that callback are already screened as less effort is required in convincing a buyer," added Abbas. He also said that acquiring telephone numbers of the target market is easy as people could be separated on the terms of geography, occupation, age and various other categories. Abbas Khan says that the trend of SMS marketing has multiplied owing to SMS bundles provided by cellular companies.
According to international researches, in SMS usage growth, Pakistan occupies top slot in Asia Pacific, and by 2013 the volume of messages will doubled to 10 trillion. That is, the SMS traffic will grow double in coming two years. A report issued by PTA on SMS traffic trends in local and global markets says that a total of 151.6385 billion text messages were exchanged by cellular subscribers in fiscal year 2009-10, generating revenue of Rs 40.76 billion.
This figure translates into 1532 SMS per subscriber in a year or 128 SMS per subscriber in one month. Average price of one SMS is said to be at 27 paisas, making SMS adverting one of the most inexpensive marketing technique present in today's time.
Source: http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/02/advertisement-trends-sms-marketing-gains-popularity/ by LahoreAli Tahir
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
Pakistan - Pakistan is largest SMS sender in Asia
ISLAMABAD (APP): Pakistan enjoys largest text messaging in Asia and around 151.6385 billion text messages were exchanged during the Year 2009, which is 1532 Short Message Service (sms) per subscriber, while the messages exchanged from July-Sep 2010 were 48,846 Million. Pakistan has seen a stunning and remarkable growth in both, the mobile subscriber base and the SMS traffic during the past few years and the mobile subscriber base is touching the figure of 100 million by the last quarter of Year 2010. Around the world, SMS is used by four billion mobile users, who sent five trillion messages in 2009 which is approximately 105 SMS, per person per month, which are less than 128 SMS per person exchanged per month in Pakistan. According to a percent research, SMS traffic will grow double in coming four years and it is estimated that by 2013, the volume of messages will double to 10 trillion. According to report of International Telecommunication Union(ITU), in Year 2010, a total of 6.1 trillion SMS have been exchanged worldwide from 5.3 billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide, including 940 million subscriptions to 3G services, which has jumped from 1.8 trillion SMS in the Year 2007. According to officials in Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), text messaging has leapt three folds in the past three years, with almost 200,000 text messages exchanged every second.
Souce: http://nation.com.pk || 5th July 2011
Souce: http://nation.com.pk || 5th July 2011
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