CMPak Limited ( ur, ), doing business under brand name Zong, is a Pakistan based mobile data network operator, owned by the company

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 ...

. It is the first overseas setup of

through acquisition of a license from

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 ...

to operate a GSM network in Pakistan in 2008. Zong is a 100% subsidiary of China Mobile. It is Pakistan's second-largest GSM mobile service provider and third largest mobile service in terms of subscriber base of 44 million, among which 28 million are 4G/LTE subscribers. With over 14,000 4G enabled sites across the county, it has a market share of 22% among cellular operators in the country.

History

Zong commenced operations as

Paktel Paktel ( ur, ) was the pioneer cellular operator of Pakistan. It was the trend setter company granted license to carry out cellular phone services in Pakistan, set up by Cable & Wireless. It carried out AMPS services until 2004 when the company ...

by Cable & Wireless in 1991. 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, when the company launched GSM services. In 2003,

Corporation, who at that time were 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 ...

, bought Paktel from Cable & Wireless. Millicom installed a new management team headed by John Tumelty, former CEO of Instaphone, and Chief Financial Officer David Ordman. On 22 January 2007, Millicom International Cellular S.A. stated that it would sell its 88.86 percent stake in Paktel Limited to China Mobile 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%. On 1 April 2008, Paktel was rebranded to Zong.

Network

China Mobile Pakistan has invested more than US$2 billion so far to build up network infrastructure in Pakistan since 2008. It will invest US$1 billion in next two to three year for next generation service roll-out. Zong has built the third-largest cellular network in the country with over 10,000

base stations Base station (or base radio station) is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a " land station in the land mobile service." The term is used in the context of mobile telephony, wireless ...

. To go green, Zong has installed solar powered cell sites in various locations. It has country's largest solar power telecommunication network. Zong 4G1

Its network base stations, microwave links, IT support and transmission towers are maintained and provided by ZTE Pakistan. Zong currently uses

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 ...

UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the In ...

/ HSPA+ and LTE technologies.

Radio frequency summary

Zong has refarmed 5 MHz of its 2100 MHz 3G spectrum for 4G. They are currently deploying (via carrier aggregation) 15 MHz of Band 3 (1800 MHz), and 10 MHz of Band 1 (2100 MHz) for

LTE-A LTE Advanced (LTE+) is a mobile communication standard and a major enhancement of the LTE (telecommunication), Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. It was formally submitted as a candidate 4G to ITU-T in late 2009 as meeting the requirements of t ...

Next generation mobile services

On 23 April 2014, Pakistan concluded the auction for the next generation of mobile spectrum. Zong paid $516 million for a 10 MHz spectrum in the 2.1 GHz frequency range for 3G and a 10 MHz spectrum in the 1.8 GHz frequency range for 4G, making it Pakistan's first 3G and 4G operator.

LTE Advanced (4G+)

Zong has 4G+ (LTE-A) coverage in all major cities of Pakistan.

5G Testing

As of August 2019, Zong is the first of three mobile network operators in Pakistan to successfully conduct 5G trials. In the trial, speeds of up to 1.14 GB/s were achieved.

Number scheming

Zong uses the following numbering scheme: +92 3 1 N₁N₂N₃N₄N₅N₆N₇N₈ Where, 92 is the ISD code for Pakistan and is required when dialing outside the country, 3 is the mobile access code, and 1 is the prefix for Zong 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 031 is the general prefix and N₁N₂N₃N₄N₅N₆N₇N₈ is the subscriber number.

Zong Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH)

Zong plans to launch

Fiber-to-the-Home Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber optic ...

(FTTH) Broadband internet. Initially the service will only be available in select areas of Karachi.

Marketing

Stores

Zong operates 22 customer service centres, 305

franchises Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television ...

, and 190,000

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and ...

customer points nationwide.

Slogans

At the time of its launch in 2008, China Mobile Pakistan ran the

advertising campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conc ...

for Zong with the tagline 'Say it all' ( ur, ). Now, China Mobile Pakistan runs advertising for Zong with new tagline 'A NEW DREAM' ( ur, ).

Products

Zong offers prepaid,

postpaid The postpaid mobile phone is a mobile phone for which service is provided by a prior arrangement with a mobile network operator. The user in this situation is billed after the fact according to their use of mobile services at the end of each mon ...

, ladies, and youth plans. The postpaid, ladies, and youth plans are branded as bizXcess, Flutter, and Circle. Moreover, it also offers data plans and branch-less banking.

Partnership with Manchester United F.C.

In October 2011, Zong signed a three-year partnership deal with the English football club

Manchester United F.C. Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd), or simply United, is a professional football club based in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The club competes in the Premier League, ...

The deal allowed the club's Pakistani fans to see all the goals scored, exclusive interviews, news, and behind-the-scenes access. ZONG also made a television commercial featuring the Manchester United players

Dimitar Berbatov Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov ( bg, Димитър Иванов Бербатов; born 30 January 1981) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer. A striker, he captained the Bulgaria national team from 2006 to 2010, and is the country's all-ti ...

Rio Ferdinand Rio Gavin Ferdinand (born 7 November 1978) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, and is now a television pundit for BT Sport. He played 81 times for the England national team between 1997 and 2011, and w ...

Darren Fletcher Darren Barr Fletcher (born 1 February 1984) is a Scottish football coach and former professional player who is currently the technical director of Manchester United, where he spent the majority of his playing career. He mostly played as a centr ...

, and

Ashley Young Ashley Simon Young (born 9 July 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays as a winger or full-back for Premier League club Aston Villa, where he is club captain. Young started his career at Watford and made his first senior appea ...

playing street football with Pakistani children. In 2012, Zong sent 32 boys for a one-week training camp to Manchester United Soccer School in Abu Dhabi. 120 teams with maximum 16 players each were identified and trials were conducted in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Multan and Faisalabad by a team of professional coaches. A total of three teams were formed in Karachi, two in Lahore, one each in Islamabad-Rawalpindi, Multan and Faisalabad. The coaches then identified 32 boys to send to Abu Dhabi from these 8 teams.

Awards

On 26 September 2013, the President of Pakistan honoured Zong as the fastest growing cellular network at the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 2016, Zong was declared the number 1 data network by the PTA.

Mobile banking

Timepey

Timepey was the mobile banking service offered by Zong in association with Askari Bank Limited from late 2012. Timepey lets users pay utility bills, transfer money to specified recipients anywhere in the country, deposit and withdraw cash and carry out account transfers.

PayMax

Discontinuing Timepey in 2017, Zong relaunched its mobile financial services with a new brand "PayMax" in association with Askari Bank Limited. PayMax lets users pay utility bills, transfer money to specified recipients anywhere in the country, deposit and withdraw cash and carry out account transfers.

Bank of Punjab partnership

The

Bank of Punjab The Bank of Punjab () is a Pakistani bank which is based in Lahore, Pakistan. It serves Pakistan and functions as an international bank and is one of the prominent financial institutions of the country holding AA ratings from Pakistan Credit Rati ...

rolled out internet banking in partnership with

Wateen Wateen Telecom ( ur, ) is a converged communication services provider based in Lahore, Pakistan, and was a sister concern of Warid Telecom. The company was incorporated in 2005 and began its operations in 2007 with the deployment of the largest ...

and Zong for operations to be carried out over the internet.

References

External links

* {{Mobile network operators of Pakistan China Mobile Mobile phone companies of Pakistan Telecommunications-related introductions in 2008 China–Pakistan relations Pakistani subsidiaries of foreign companies Internet service providers of Pakistan Companies based in Islamabad