November 28, 2007	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 17, 1428

LAHORE, Nov 27: There has been 70 per cent increase in overall complaints against cellular companies during 2007, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s annual report.

The complaints against the new entrants - Telenor and Warid - have increased more than three and two times, respectively, as compared to the last year.

According to the report, of the 3,557 complaints registered during the current year, 1,100 were against Mobilink, 861 against Ufone, 766 against Warid, 542 against Telenor, 249 against Paktel and 39 against Instaphone. Last year 938 complaints were registered against Mobilink, 481 against Ufone, 291 against Warid, 166 against Telenor and 166 against Paktel. The complaints against the Instaphone dropped by three in number mainly because the number of its subscribers’ did not increase this year.

The total number of subscribers for the year under review is as; Moblink 26.2 million, Ufone 13.9 million, Telenor 10.4 million, Warid 10.3 million, Paktel one million and Instaphone 300,000.

The report says that the subscribers had raised the issues related to quality of service like dropped calls, busy network and weak signals. “Many customers voiced serious concern regarding billing practices and over charging.”

Many cases of irregular issuance of mobile connections by the companies as well as their franchises were reported. Besides, a number of cases of fraudulent calls related to fake business deals were also reported.

This year the mobile phone sector grew by 80 per cent while the average growth rate in the last four years has been more than 100 per cent. The total subscribers base stands at 68.5 million (till Aug 2007) which was 34.5 million and 12.7 million in 2006 and 2005, respectively.

The report says: “With 78 per cent increase in subscriber base and 95 per cent in investment, mobile revenues grew by 48 per cent only in 2006-07. The mobile industry was growing at an average rate of 80 per cent for the last three years however this year the growth rate dropped. This is because of reduced tariffs and increased taxes.”

Telenor and Warid have witnessed huge growth this year in their total revenues that have grown by more than 200 per cent.

Revenues of Mobilink and Ufone however grew at a proportional pace.

During 2007, the mobile segment contributed more than Rs66 billion to the national exchequer in the form of taxes, which is more than 70 per cent of the total telecom contributions. Last year the sector had contributed Rs38.8.