Introduction

country. The T & T department was later converted into a corporation. Although the corporation was

earning huge profits from the services, it was re-investing the same profits into the sector for the

provision of more telecom service but the investment was not enough.

Further, with the technological advancement, more and more telecom services were becoming

available but there was not enough money available with the corporation to install new telecom

systems for the provision of modern services. Resultantly, a digital divide prevailed in Pakistan

keeping it behind its neighbors and other comparable countries in terms of telecom access. Cellular

mobile services in Pakistan commenced in 90s when two cellular mobile telephone licenses were

awarded to Paktel and PakCom (Instaphone) for provision of cellular mobile telephony in Pakistan.

Currently there are six cellular players in the market. The Telecom Sector has contributed 2 percent

towards the overall GDP growth with revenues of over PKR 235bn.

PTCL is the largest telecommunications provider in Pakistan. PTCL also continues to be the largest

CDMA operator in the country with 0.8 million V-fone customers. The company maintains a leading

position in Pakistan as an infrastructure provider to other telecom operators and corporate customers

of the country. It has the potential to be an instrumental agent in Pakistan’s economic growth. PTCL

has laid an Optical Fiber Access Network in the major metropolitan centers of Pakistan and local loop

services have started to be modernized and upgraded from copper to an optical network. On the Long

Distance and International infrastructure side, the capacity of two SEA-ME-WE submarine cable is

being expanded to meet the increasing demand of International traffic.

With the promulgation of Telecommunication (Re-Organization) Act 1996, the Pakistan

Telecommunication Authority was established as the Telecom Regulatory body. Following the open

licensing policy in BUY @ PKR 45.40 accordance with the instructions of Government of Pakistan and

in exercise of powers conferred by Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-Organization) Act 1996, the basic

telephony was put under exclusivity and PTCL was given a seven years monopoly over basic

telephony which ended by December 31, 2002. The year 2006-07 in the telecom sector witnessed a

phenomenal growth in the mobile phone sector in Pakistan, which doubled its subscriber base to 60

million. The Teledensity increased from 26% to 40%, helping to spread the benefits of communication
technology across the country. PTCL's mobile phone subsidiary Ufone's subscriber base grew by more

than 87%, from 7.49 million to 14 million.

The year also witnessed the entry of major telecom companies, most notably China Telecom and

Singtel, into the market. Restructuring and re-engineering are in their final stages along with the

implementation of ERP system. From the end customer's perspective, a major initiative was put in

place in the shape of 'Broadband Pakistan' service launch as a first step towards providing its

customer with more value added

service and convenience. With this offering, the PTCL not only bringing the benefit of high speed

Internet access to subscribers in major cities but will also generate new revenue streams for future

growth. The company also continued to invest in infrastructure development and addition of network

capacity with a view to enhance services and to expand its reach across the country

2 .5 O rg ani zat io nal St ruct ure

Since the deregulation of the telecom sector, a large number of foreign investors opted for licenses in

LL, LDI and cellular operations, identifying Pakistan as an emerging market. Investors entered the

market forcefully in the cellular segment, introducing heated competition for PTCL. In this situation

PTCL's counter strategy for landline service, during the year 2007-08 was aimed to increase ARPU,

acquire new subscribers and contain churn.

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software, translates PTCL’s long term goals of operational effectiveness into practice. The telecom

giant PTCL has observed cutthroat competition from various service providers after the

implementation of the deregulation policies by the PTA. However, through the vast infrastructure and

being the carriers’ carrier, PTCL with diversification of its various services has enjoyed well-built

position and posses immense potential for growth, while need for telecom services is on rise as

economy continues to grow on the right track.

The telecom De-regulation and Cellular Mobile Policies announced by the Federal Government place

certain obligations on Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) to facilitate market

liberalization. PTCL is bound to comply with these obligations within a stipulated time frame. These

obligations are of paramount importance for successful implementation of the policy and failure or any

deviation thereof may result in substantial damage to the deregulation process/liberalization program.

Similarly Defense, NTC and SCO also depend on PTCL for many facilities. Therefore, PTCL has

important obligations towards Defense of the country and other existing operators. In addition, PTCL

has been declared SMP operator. Under the status of SMP also, PTCL has certain obligations. PTA,

as regulator, has to ensure that new management of PTCL fulfils all these obligations.