April 15, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1429

LAHORE, April 14: China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC), which acquired 100 per cent shares of Paktel from Millicom last year and renamed it to CMPak Limited, has not renewed the licences of more than 150 Paktel franchises across the country.

After getting approval from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for renaming, CMPak has recently launched it first brand Zong.

Ismail Khan, an owner of a Paktel franchise in Rawalpindi, told Dawn on Monday that the management of CMPak Limited had “terminated” the licences of over 150 Paktel franchises on the pretext of “not achieving the target and not complying with the PTA directions regarding the sale of SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card”.

He said they had ‘strictly’ followed the PTA directions besides the subscribers’ base had also crossed two million only because of their ‘sheer hard work’.

Mr Khan said that each Paktel franchise had to face a loss of at least Rs5 million as the management had not renewed their licences. “Our entire investment is at stake as the company has not allowed us to sell Zong SIMs, which is selling along the road in different points of the province”.

He said that CMPak should give priority to old franchises which had been associated with Paktel for a decade or so.

Salman Wassay, Zong Marketing Head, told Dawn that the contracts of previous (Paktel) franchises had already expired as these were under contract only to sell Paktel, not Zong. “Interviews are under process to re-hire them which meets our requirements,” he added.

He said that Paktel users were now Zong subscribers and a comprehensive plan was developed to keep them informed about the new brand.

“Paktel is no more and the new brand is a new era with better products and packages. Our customers are enjoying it and customer services are open for all our subscribers,” Mr Wassay said.