The Financial Times interviewed Jon Eddy Abdullah, CEO of Telenor Pakistan, in which he said that market consolidation will be required in Pakistan’s mobile market before the country is in a position to move to 3G technology.
He said there are too many operators in Pakistan and that’s a problem as none of the parties have sufficient income to invest in 3G network. There are 5 operators in the country, and Abdullah thinks that’s two too much. He said: “Most markets are [divided between] three players. Three seems a very good number. Five is too many.” However, he refused to comment on any speculations that would involve Telenor acquiring or merging with some other operator in the country.
The five Pakistani operators (from biggest to smallest) are Orascom with 30.8 million users, Telenor (22.5 million), Warid Telecom (18.8 million), Ufone (18.5 million) and China Mobile’s Zong (6.9 million). 98% of all users use prepaid services and on average don’t spend more than $10 a month. With that kind of ARPU, it’s clear why Telenor (and I guess other operators) don’t see a way to build a 3G network…
[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]