Telenor Pakistan (Urdu: ٹیلی نار پاکستان‎) is owned by the Norwegian Telenor Group, which is an international provider of voice, data, content and mobile communication services in 13 markets across Europe and Asia and an additional 17 markets through its ownership in VimpelCom Ltd. Telenor Group is among the largest mobile operators in the world, with over 166 million mobile subscriptions (Q4 2011) and a workforce of 33,000. Telenor started out as a public company in 1855.
Currently, Telenor Pakistan has a total subscriber base of 38 million with over 27% SIM market share.
History
Telenor acquired a license for providing GSM services in Pakistan in April 2004, and launched its services commercially in Karachi, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi on 15 March 2005; it expanded its services to Lahore, Faisalabad and Hyderabad on 23 March 2005. Telenor Pakistan's corporate headquarters are in Islamabad, with regional offices in Peshawar, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Hyderabad, Quetta and Karachi. On 28 January 2005, Telenor established its first call centre in Karachi.
The official opening of Telenor Pakistan was held in Islamabad with former President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf as guest of honor and a Telenor delegation headed by President and CEO of Telenor Group Jon Fredrik Baksaas along with then CEO of Telenor Pakistan Tore Johnsen. The inauguration call was made by former President Pervez Musharraf to the Prime Minister of Norway, who was visiting Australia at the time. The present CEO of Telenor Pakistan is Irfan Wahab Khan.
Operations
Areas
Telenor covers more than 3,500 cities and towns throughout Pakistan. The company has over 8,000 3G-ready cell sites throughout the country. It offers GPRS and EDGE nationwide and HSPA+ services in over 300 cities.
Sales and distribution
Telenor Pakistan's distribution network has over 200,000 touch points across Pakistan that include company-owned customer sales and service centers, franchises, sahulat ghars and retailers that offer GSM products and Easypaisa services.
Next generation mobile services (NGMS)
Telenor Pakistan is providing 3G services as the company has acquired a 3G licence in an auction that took place on 23 April 2014 in Islamabad, Pakistan, and is expanding services rapidly. Telenor Pakistan has Pakistan's largest 3G coverage currently, in 300+ cities.
Telenor uses the 2100 MHz band for its 3G (HSPA+) network in Pakistan.
Introduction of LTE
In August 2016, Telenor Pakistan became the third 4G network of Pakistan. Telenor Pakistan is providing LTE in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Multan and Karachi, Faisalabad and Swat.
Telenor is currently using FDD-LTE Band 5 (850MHz) for LTE services, although it is testing its LTE network on FDD-LTE Band 3 (1800 MHz).
Closing of service centers
On January 5th 2017, Telenor Pakistan announced that it will be shutting down all 17 of its customer service centers in the country.
Telenor said it will serve its customers through 289 franchises that are open in various parts of the country.
Radio frequency summary
As of January 2017, Telenor is testing its LTE network using FDD-LTE Band 3 (1800 MHz), by re-farming 3 MHz out of its total spectrum in the 1800 band. The network is only being tested in limited areas of Islamabad at the moment.
Telenor was awarded a 10 MHz block in the 850 MHz frequency (Band 5), and rather than using the entire block for LTE, it has divided it into two 5 MHz blocks, one for HSPA+ (3G) and the remaining 5 MHz block for LTE (4G).
Mobile banking and Easypaisa
In 2008, Telenor acquired majority shares of Tameer Microfinance Bank Limited for its mobile financial services project. They named the branchless banking service "Easypaisa" and launched it in October 2009. In a country of over 190 million people, with only 10,000 bank branches and approximately 15 million bank accounts, Easypaisa was Pakistan's first branchless banking deployment aimed to increase access to financial services for the people of Pakistan, with over 25,000 Easypaisa shops across the country who perform the money transfers and bill payments. Later 'Mobile Wallet' was introduced where normal Telenor Pakistan subscribers could now open a mobile account and make transactions themselves from their cellphone. Easypaisa was cited by CNN as the "model to follow" in launching mobile banking services.
Easypaisa is Pakistan's first and largest mobile money service, and third largest in the world, catering to 6 million customers every month. It currently has over 40,000 agents in 750 cities and towns across Pakistan. In October 2014 Telenor Easypaisa introduced three types of accounts for every class of users. They have named them as Level 2 Basic Account, Level 2 A Type Account, Level 2 B Type Account and Level 2 C Type Account, each with its own deposit limit and distinct rules.
EasyPaisa split up with Telenor Pakistan
EasyPaisa Mobile banking announced it was parting ways with Telenor Pakistan in March 2017. It is now being managed by Tameer Bank, which is fully owned by the Telenor Group. EasyPaisa's operations, PR and marketing will now be handled by the Telenor Group.
Awards
Telenor Pakistan has won a number of awards. In 2011, it won the Prime Minister of Pakistan Trophy for Largest Foreign Direct Investment (Telecom Sector) which was awarded by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industries.
Telenor Pakistan & Tameer Microfinance Bank's Easypaisa was awarded the Shaukat Khanum Social Responsibility Award 2011 by Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, Lahore. Easypaisa also won the Best Mobile Money Transfer Entrant of the Year Award at the world's first Mobile Money Awards in 2011. In 2012, Easypaisa was declared as the third largest mobile money service in the world by Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), a global partnership of 34 organizations housed in the World Bank whose goal is to advance financial inclusion.
In previous years, Telenor Pakistan has been presented with the "Best Place to Work Award" by Pakistan's HR associations; and the Best Practices Award, presented by the Data Warehousing Institute.
Telenor Pakistan also won the "Superbrand of the Telecom Industry Award", a recognition supported by the international brand arbiter Superbrands that operates in 55 countries.
See also
- Djuice
- List of mobile phone companies in Pakistan
References
External links
- Official website
- Telenor 3g packages on pakistanblogger.com
