Since this launch of Wi-Max in Pakistan, the country has become the battle field for Wired and Wireless service providers who are bringing new products and services almost every day to get the attention of customers.
Gone are the days where there were hundreds of ISPs offering dialups and internet cards, now only few giants have survived and they are fighting for their piece of cake. From the customer point of view, the question arises, which connection he/she requires a wireless or wired? Both the technologies have their own technical pros and cons but the first step to know is why I would require a Wimax connection if I already have copper wire coming into my house.
Instead of getting impressed by Wireless (WiMax) as your first choice, due to the fact that Wi-max companies are offering extra ordinary cheap rates now a days but we need to believe that Wimax is no match to “Wired” not in Pakistan but all over the world provided the conditions are right.
Right conditions are, you have a clean copper cable coming into your house and there is no distortion or interference. You can easily ask any of the ISPs to start giving you the services. If you are a desktop user or you have a notebook at home with a wi-fi router available, wired connection is best and cheap solution for you. It will also keep you worry free if limited data is not your choice because Wi-max is being offered with data limitation and the unlimited connections are way too expensive.
Contrary to this, if the copper cable does not reach at your premises or the quality of copper is not good enough which normally is the case or the perception which other wireless operators try to exploit as well or you are fed up of bad customer services from your copper based DSL service provider. Go for the Wimax. But keep in mind, it’s expensive, not feasible for regular home user who has to download bigger files, movies, games and stream the music or else you will end up calling the company for more balance every week.
In my opinion, the best usage of the WiMax is a place where there is no copper and you also have a small notebook which you carry within the city and want to stay connected where ever you like. Leaving aside the corporate usage and apart from couple of cases in few of cafes in Karachi and some places in Lahore, i haven’t seen a major urge for the internet on mobility which is the core feature of Wimax more supported by newly added USB dongles from almost every service provider. This is because Wimax is not a cheap option keeping in view the monthly price and data limitation and also, the people of Pakistan are not into technology as per desired demand by the communication sector.
Wimax is expensive because it needs to be expensive. It is a service for those who wish to pay more for all those data, voice and multimedia services they demand. It is for a niche market and not for masses. I am really surprised by the current state of desperation among Wimax operators that they are targeting the masses and playing with ever decreasing prices. The credit goes to Wateen which started the price war and made it unviable for all the players to survive for a longer period. Wateen management had to have this thing in mind at the time of launch that Wimax was a different domain; it was something new for the world as well, pricey and required a time to prove its strength. There can’t be a match between a Ferrari and a Jet; both are different in every way though both are used for transportation. But Wateen took it as a tool to compete its Arab rival, PTCL and in doing so it could not prove what it had boasted. Today, it claims to have created more than 100,000 customers and looking to double them by the year end but unofficial figures confirm that it has not more than 50000 active customers and the churn ration is way too high due to weak customer services and ever fluctuating bills. Analysts say, company had lost its theme when it resorted to DSL and other wired services. Eventually, it fired hundreds of employees just after two years of operations showing an alarming situation which was supposed to occur in next 5 or 6 years if run by book.
Not only it proved fatal for itself but for the new comer, Wi-tribe. When I first met them, they were of the view that Wi-max should not be cheap and one of the senior officials had confirmed that “we will not become a part of price war and will continue to play on merit. Wimax means quality service and we will address a niche market for the product”. But after just 7 months of short time, it is changing its tariff to become a part of this war; it is targeting masses with huge advertisement everywhere which is of no use. Yes it is of no use, because there is no massive coverage in the cities in which it exists. The process of expansion is really very slow and those areas which were not covered network wise at the time of launch are still not covered yet. There is nothing wrong to be slow as the product is not for masses, but, why becoming a part of price war with lots of advertisement like a typical consumer product. Instead of doing any good, it will make things hard for them like the pioneer Wateen.
Take the example of Apple, it has not crossed the rival Microsoft yet but, earns a healthy profit by selling few devices in comparison to its competitors just because the brand has its own charisma. Had it compared itself with other desktop companies, it would have been a different story all together. Our companies must read their success story carefully.
In Pakistan there are almost 3.4 million PTCL subscribers and the total broadband subscribers in Pakistan are not more than 0.5 million which also includes Wi-Max and other subscribers. In the wired services, PTCL and LinkDotNet are two major and nationwide operators but unfortunately they could not convert 3.4 million customers into their broadband subscribers and still there is a huge customer base which needs to be addressed. I don’t want to forget those days when PakNet, a subsidiary of PTCL started its operation and all the old ISPs agitated for their survival. PakNet could not run with the required vision, as DSL was expensive, customers did not know its benefits nor was there any requirement from them and above all, government did not play its part to promote the data sector parallel to voice and GSM in Pakistan. PTCL has all the potential to attract millions of its customers for its data services. For any customer, new or old, the preferred choice may be the PTCL as no other company has this much resources. They have already announced all the in-demand services including IPTV, Entertainment portal etc. whereas the rival LinkDotNet is still unable to develop any such online portal despite of tons of experience from the past operations of WOL.
A little sigh of relief, PTA finally has realized to monitor the data industry as well and recently they have announced to conduct the Quality of Service (QoS ) survey. Besides, they should categorize the players and put a price barrier on them in favor of wireless technology otherwise a lost interest due to lower margins will affect the future investment.
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