Paktel ( ur, ) was the pioneer
cellular operator of Pakistan. It was the trend setter company granted license to carry out
cellular phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while ...
services in Pakistan, set up by
Cable & Wireless. It carried out
AMPS services until 2004 when the company switched to GSM technology.
Paktel offered only
mobile telephony service to its 2 million subscriber base. As of 2007, Paktel was ranked fifth mobile player of Pakistani market owing to low subscriber base and market share.
After the completion of its acquisition by
China Mobile
China Mobile is the trade name of both China Mobile Limited () and its ultimate controlling shareholder, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd. (, formerly known as China Mobile Communications Corporation, "CMCC"), a Chinese state-ownedSt ...
, Paktel was rebranded
Zong Pakistan
CMPak Limited ( ur, ), doing business under brand name Zong, is a Pakistan based mobile data network operator, owned by the company China Mobile.
It is the first overseas setup of China Mobile through acquisition of a license from Millicom to ...
on April 1, 2008.
History
Cable & Wireless with his local partner Hasan Group of Companies (major local team was consisting on Farooq Hasan, R A Zuberi, Shahid Mahmud, Syed Ahmed Ali, Qazi Abdul Wahid & Dewan) launched commercial service Paktel in 1990. Paktel was granted a license in early 1990 to operate a cellular telephone network throughout Pakistan. It was the first company granted a free license to carry out
cellular phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while ...
services in Pakistan. It carried out
AMPS services until 2004.
Paktel Mediation and Billing System was developed by a team consisting of Syed Ahmed Ali, Nadeem Usmani, Wasay Farooqi, and Ali Korani. It was first mediation software in the region which was developed locally and also the first cellular Billing System ever. Millicom owned Instaphone merged as its competitor in the late 1990s and began to dominate the market share. With the launch of
Mobilink
Mobilink ( ur, ) was the trade name of Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited (PMCL), a mobile operator in Pakistan providing a range of prepaid and postpaid voice and data telecommunication services to both individual and corporate subscribers ...
and its rapid success in 1998, both Instaphone and Paktel floundered and lost their dominant market share. It was followed by the acquisition of
Cable & Wireless owned Paktel by
Millicom
Millicom International Cellular SA (NASDAQ U.S.: TIGO, NASDAQ Stockholm: TIGO_SDB) is a Luxembourgish fixed line and mobile telecommunications services provider dedicated to emerging markets in Latin America operating under the Tigo brand. As of D ...
, the majority owners of
Instaphone
Instaphone was Pakistan's first mobile communication service. It was launched by M/s Pakcom Ltd., a telecommunications company and the industry pioneer in the country. The company was jointly owned by M/s Arfeen and Millicom International (Luxe ...
.
In November 2000,
Millicom
Millicom International Cellular SA (NASDAQ U.S.: TIGO, NASDAQ Stockholm: TIGO_SDB) is a Luxembourgish fixed line and mobile telecommunications services provider dedicated to emerging markets in Latin America operating under the Tigo brand. As of D ...
acquired 98.9% equity interest in Paktel. Millicom installed a new management team headed by John Tumelty, former CEO of Instaphone, and Chief Financial Officer David Ordman.
In April 2001, Paktel launched prepaid services under the brand ''Tango''. The manager of this brand was Mr Amees Ahmad.
In October 2002, Paktel was granted a modification to its license, allowing it to operate a GSM based network and the Frequency Allocation Board of Pakistan thereby awarded the necessary frequencies. Paktel was awarded additional 1800 MHz spectrum, increasing total spectrum for GSM network from 10 MHz to 13.6 MHz. After obtaining frequencies Paktel launched GSM network in October 2004.
On October 23, 2004, Paktel agreed with
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) ( ur, ) is the telecommunication regulator of Pakistan, responsible for the establishment, operation and maintenance of telecommunication systems and the provision of telecommunication services in ...
to launch GSM network with immediate effect and renew their
license for 15 years from October 23, 2004 for a license fee of $291,000,000. This agreement was signed by the two parties on October 25, 2004. Paktel and the
PTA agreed delayed payment terms under which 50% of the license fee will be paid in installments over the first three years of the license. The second 50% of the license fee will be payable in ten yearly payments from 2008 to 2017.
On March 31, 2005, Paktel held approximately 340,000 GSM subscribers and its network comprised 300 cell sites, covering about 45% of the population. By November 2005, Paktel had 1 million customer base and a market share of 9%, with subscriber count increasing at a rate of 100,000 per month.
In November 2006, Millicom announced that it had decided to exit the Pakistani market. Pakistani authorities had refused to delay payment of a $29 million licence installment and had not given Paktel permanent access to part of the frequency spectrum. Announcing its pullout, Millicom said it decided against making significant investments in Pakistan because of tough market conditions. It had already sold
Instaphone
Instaphone was Pakistan's first mobile communication service. It was launched by M/s Pakcom Ltd., a telecommunications company and the industry pioneer in the country. The company was jointly owned by M/s Arfeen and Millicom International (Luxe ...
to a local telecom company ''Arfeen Group'' in October 2005 and was looking for potential buyers for Paktel.
Initially Kuwait based the then
MTC showed an interest for buy-out.
But it was the
China Mobile
China Mobile is the trade name of both China Mobile Limited () and its ultimate controlling shareholder, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd. (, formerly known as China Mobile Communications Corporation, "CMCC"), a Chinese state-ownedSt ...
who won the bid.
![Zong 4G1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Zong_4G1.jpg)
On January 22, 2007, Millicom International Cellular S.A. stated that it would sell its 88.86 percent stake in Paktel to
China Mobile
China Mobile is the trade name of both China Mobile Limited () and its ultimate controlling shareholder, China Mobile Communications Group Co., Ltd. (, formerly known as China Mobile Communications Corporation, "CMCC"), a Chinese state-ownedSt ...
for $284 million, which includes the repayment of intercompany debt. The sale implies an
enterprise value Enterprise value (EV), total enterprise value (TEV), or firm value (FV) is an economic measure reflecting the market value of a business (i.e. as distinct from market price). It is a sum of claims by all claimants: creditors (secured and unsecured) ...
for Paktel of $460 million, Millicom said in its press release. Merrill Lynch advised China Mobile on the transaction.
On 4 May 2007, Paktel Limited was renamed to China Mobile Pakistan. On May 16, 2007 China Mobile announced that it had increased its stake in CMPak to 100%.
China Mobile Pakistan continued to operator under Paktel brand until March 31, 2007. After acquisition, China Mobile Pakistan invested more than US$700 million in the telecom sector in Pakistan and US$800 million were further invested by the end of year 2008.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) ( ur, ) is the telecommunication regulator of Pakistan, responsible for the establishment, operation and maintenance of telecommunication systems and the provision of telecommunication services in ...
said that it might resolve the frequency issue with China Mobile, as it was one of the main reason for pullout by Millicom International Cellular S.A. According to the statistics from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, Paktel had 2.145 million customers at the end of February 2008.
On April 1, 2008, Paktel was rebranded to
Zong. China Mobile Pakistan organised a launch event on April 5.
Network
Paktel's entire network that included network base stations, GSM core, SMS, microwave links, IT support, and transmission towers was based on GSM network infrastructure from
ZTE
ZTE Corporation is a Chinese partially state-owned technology company that specializes in telecommunication. Founded in 1985, ZTE is listed on both the Hong Kong and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges.
ZTE's core business is wireless, exchange, opt ...
.
ZTE also provided Paktel consumers with missed call and welcome messages features at that time.
Radio frequency
Number scheming
Paktel used the following numbering schemes:
Where, 92 is the
ISD code for Pakistan and is required when dialling outside the country, 303 and 304 were prefixes for Paktel once
AMPS and
GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...
customers respectively allocated by
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) ( ur, ) is the telecommunication regulator of Pakistan, responsible for the establishment, operation and maintenance of telecommunication systems and the provision of telecommunication services in ...
. Omitting +92 would require 0 instead to represent local call, hence 0303 and 0304 were the general prefixes and N
1N
2N
3N
4N
5N
6N
7 was the subscriber number. After being rebranded as Zong, the code was changed to 031x whereas 0303 and 0304 were taken over by Mobilink.
List of mobile network operators in Pakistan
See also
* List of dialling codes in Pakistan
* List of mobile codes in Pakistan
* Telephone numbers in Pakistan
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Mobile Network Operators Of Islamic Republic Of Pakistan
Pakistan communications-related l ...
Marketing
![Dil To Eik Hai](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Dil_To_Eik_Hai.png)
Paktel offered prepaid and postpaid plans. It was initially offering only postpaid services with
PKR 5000 (approximately $23 at that time) as initial security deposit. The call data was used to be stored on magnetic tapes, sent to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
for printing and bills were then dispatched to the customers after a delay of 45 days. This ensued in non-payments from many defaulters who fled away after using and receiving heavy bills. The call rate was charged to both the caller and the receiver alike. In April 2001, prepaid brand ''Tango'' was launched under the management of Mr Amees Ahmad.
Paktel had customer service centres in major cities and country-wide network of franchises further backed by retail channels.
Paktel was the first company to waive off national roaming and incoming calls charges to compete with the rival
Mobilink
Mobilink ( ur, ) was the trade name of Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited (PMCL), a mobile operator in Pakistan providing a range of prepaid and postpaid voice and data telecommunication services to both individual and corporate subscribers ...
and
Ufone
Pak Telecommunication Mobile Limited or Ufone ( ur, ) is a Pakistani GSM cellular service provider. It is the third mobile operator to enter Pakistani market. It started its operations under the brand Ufone, in Islamabad on January 29, 2001.
PTM ...
. Later it uncovered another offer, the country's first offer of its kind – free credit on receiving incoming calls per minute basis. It came up with the slogan ''Call Suno Balance Barhao; Baqi Sab Bhool Jao'' (''lit.'' Listen to the call increase your credit; forget the rest – ur, )
See also
*
Zong
*
List of mobile network operators in Pakistan
See also
* List of dialling codes in Pakistan
* List of mobile codes in Pakistan
* Telephone numbers in Pakistan
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Mobile Network Operators Of Islamic Republic Of Pakistan
Pakistan communications-related l ...
References
External links
* Official sit
* Millicom International Cellular S.A. Press Release for the sale of Paktel Ltd
*
{{Mobile network operators of Pakistan
China Mobile
Mobile phone companies of Pakistan
Pakistani subsidiaries of foreign companies
Mobile phone companies of Luxembourg
Telecommunications companies of the United Kingdom
2008 mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions of Pakistani companies