ISLAMABAD, Sept 12: Cellular company employees elsewhere are known to get good pay packages. In Instaphone, they are actually fighting to get paid.

Its employees have been negotiating with the management on delayed salaries. They are, however, still doubtful if the company would keep its side of the bargain, pay them on time.

Disgruntled employees include lower, middle and senior level executive officers. Most of these employees, who have given over a decade to Instaphone, have not been paid for the last four months.

Instaphone was the subsidiary of Arfeen Group (Pakistani group). Arfeen took over Instaphone in May 2006 when the Luxemburg-based company Millicom International Cellular (MIC) disinvested. Currently, Javaid Feroz is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Instaphone.

On May 21, 2008, the government cancelled Instaphone’s licence when the company ran into financial difficulties and failed to pay its dues to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

According to sources in PTA, Instaphone had been extended every concession and was fully accommodated in terms of time, which had been the licensee’s main concern and request. Instead of availing the concessions, Instaphone had been abusing the extra time and despite the number of opportunities given to it, had failed persistently in showing a serious approach towards its obligations under the licence and regulatory directives.

South Korea Telecom and then Russian telecom investors, Altimo, also backed off due to poor investment climate and political instability. Nonetheless, Instaphone had taken the matter of cancellation of their licence to court to buy some more time. The decision was still pending.

“We were one of the first cellular companies. We could have done well. But the owners did not think globally and act locally. The company is now on the verge of disaster,” said a member from the senior management in Instaphone. During the period of MIC the company was generating revenues and earning profits. But since Arfeen took over (two years back), Instaphone has been facing losses and has lost its corporate image severely, he said, adding that “with billions of rupees in unpaid liabilities, Instaphone owes millions in licence fee, beside the promised health care and employees compensation claims. It’s almost a dead company. Instaphone has brutally damaged consumer and employee rights”.

Instaphone employees had not been paid their salaries since May 2008. It had become a normal practice for the company to delay salaries. “And it has been so since January.

The CEO did not seem to pay any heed to the hue and cry of the employees despite having been reminded on countless occasions. The company’s redundant status has weakened employees professionally and financially. They are in distress,” the senior officer said.

Recently, nearly 30 staff members had been served with Letter of Thanks on immediate basis by Instaphone without clearing their dues which included last two to three months salaries, provident fund, gratuity and leave encashment, etc.

The executive, who saw no hope of the company carrying itself out of the crisis, sympathised for the situation in which Instaphone’s employees found themselves in. “Even the employees, who left at the start of 2008, are yet to receive their clearance dues.”

“Adding insult to injury, we have been stripped of our medical insurance facility since February due to non-payment of premium by Instaphone, which clearly violates the employment contract we were served with at the time of joining,” said another Instaphone employee requesting not to be identified.

“It is criminal negligence attitude on the part of the management of Arfeen Group. It hurts even more when our families have to suffer too,” he added.

A senior executive in Instaphone Lahore office, who was among the laid off staff, said he was still willing to work with Instaphone. “I started my professional career with Instaphone and gave 12 years to the company. But they have to pay us sooner or later. The entire customer’s operations department, customer’s relations management and sales staff were told that the systems in Lahore office were being shut down and they were being laid off,” he said.

Calling for an end to uncertainty over his future, an Instaphone executive in Karachi said he had been living in torture for the last three months because he had not received his salary.

“We can’t pay school fees. It’s becoming difficult to even keep the kitchen running. Worst of all, there are no jobs for us because we carry the brand of Instaphone with us on our CVs everywhere we go. This is the worst management,” said the displeased officer.

And as one of the executives put it, “with the company losing its subscribers fast, Instaphone is now a non-existent entity”.

Nonetheless, optimistic that Instaphone still had a future, its CEO Javaid Feroz said the two telecom companies (SK Telecom and Russian Altimo) had “not backed off”.

“Rather they are waiting for the investment climate to get better and political stability. Chances are that Instaphone will get back in the game,” said Mr Feroz.