Mobilink

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*Pakistan Mobile Communications Ltd, Mobilink GSM* (PMCL)**

Type	Private Limited Company
Genre	Subsidiary
Founded	1994
Founder	Motorola USA
Headquarters	Islamabad, Pakistan 42 Kulsum Plaza, Blue Area
Key people	Zouhair Abdul Khaliq, President and CEO
Area served	3500 cities, towns, and villages across Pakistan
Industry	Telecommunication
Products	postpaid Indigo , prepaid JAZZ, Mobilink PCO
Revenue	250.2 million USD (3rd quarter, 2006).^[1]
Parent	Orascom Telecom Egypt
Owner	Naguib Sawiris
Slogan	reshaping lives (But in TV commercials,(Urdu) HUM BOLAN MUHABAT KI ZABAN ,(English) We speak the language of love
Website	www.mobilinkgsm.com

Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited, better known as Mobilink GSM, is a telecommunication service provider in Pakistan. According to Mobilink's official statistics, Mobilink had over 22 million customers at the end of December 2006. Mobilink's Head office is located in Kulsum Plaza, Blue Area Islamabad

Mobilink started operations in 1994 as the first GSM cellular Mobile service in Pakistan by MOTOROLA Inc., later it was sold to ORASCOM, an Egypt-based multi-national company. Mobilink's corporate postpaid package is sold under the brand name "Indigo" and prepaid by the name of "Jazz".

Wikipedia list of List of mobile network operators shows that Mobilink is the largest celluar service provider in Pakistan.

1 Strategy and Management
2 Getting Connected
3 Packages
4 Mobilink First Quarter 2006 Results
5 Mobilink third Quarter 2006 Results
6 See also
7 External links
8 Related articles/news

[edit] Strategy and Management

Mobilink is led by Zouhair A Khaliq who is the President and the CEO. Mr Khaliq took over Mobilink in June 2003. Since then Mobilink has embarked on an aggressive growth strategy. Mobilink closed 2003 with 2 million customers. In comparison Mobilink closed 2005 with more than 11 million subscribers. Currently the subscriber base has increased to more than 22 million making Mobilink the largest telecommunication service in Pakistan.

Mobilink was awarded the license to operate in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on 27 June-2006. The concession was awarded for a payment of US$ 10 million[1].

[edit] Getting Connected

Mobilink’s competitive advantage has been its aggressive retail presence. Mobilink’s prepaid product sold under the brand Name Jazz is widely available in more than 3500 cities, towns and villages (a detailed list of the locations is available on the corporate website). Jazz is the most successful and popular Pakistani brand and was coined by a team led,Aamir Ibrahim, in 1998. Junaid Khan, then the President of Mobilink, preferred it over the runner up choice 'Buzz'.

[edit] Packages

The logo of postpaid Indigo Package

The logo of prepaid JAZZ Package

Mobilink offers exclusively designed tariff plans that cater to the communication needs of a diverse group of people, from individuals to businessmen to corporates and multinationals. To achieve this objective, they offer both postpaid Indigo and prepaid JAZZ solutions to there customers. Compared to market competitors, both the postpaid Indigo and prepaid JAZZ brands are the largest brands of their kind in the Pakistan cellular industry.

[edit] Mobilink First Quarter 2006 Results

Mobilink continued to grow during the first quarter of 2006, and added approximately three million customers, with an average of one million customers per month. Mobilink’s customer base surpassed 14 million subscribers by the end of the first quarter. This was accompanied by the growth in network resources. During the quarter, Mobilink added six new switches and more than 550 cell sites. By the end of the quarter, Mobilink’s services were available in 500 cities across the country connected by a network of 3,800 cellsites and 30 switches. Throughout the quarter, Mobilink continued to introduce new products. Mobilink introduced Jazz Octane; which was a significant step towards strengthening the Jazz brand. The offer was aimed at the youth segment. During the first quarter, Mobilink received the Research in Motion (RIM) award for the successful launch of the BlackBerry service in Pakistan. As the exclusive provider of BlackBerry service in Pakistan, Mobilink has a distinct advantage in the corporate segment over its competitors. BlackBerry services, have allowed Mobilink to aggressively explore data revenue streams but also strengthen its position in the voice market as well. Mobilink revenues increased by 50% year-on-year and 12% over the last quarter. Mobilink’s EBITDA stood at US$ 88 million with an EBITDA margin of 37.2%.

[edit] Mobilink third Quarter 2006 Results

During the third quarter of 2006, Mobilink added over 3 million new customers to its network continuing its aggressive growth rate by adding an average of 1 million customers per month. By the end of the third quarter Mobilink’s total customer base reached 20.2 million customers. The growth was complimented by a similar growth in network resources. During the quarter Mobilink added 9 new switches and more than 509 cell sites. By the end of the quarter the total network infrastructure consisted of approximately 4,860 cell sites and 45 switches providing coverage in more than 1,200 cities towns and villages across the country. In July the Pakistan Telecom Authority proceeded to its yearly resetting of the interconnect tariffs by reducing it from 1.6 Rupees to 1.25 Rupees. The third quarter saw Mobilink launch a number of initiatives to further strengthen its market position:

Mobilink launched a segmented offering for women under the brand name of Jazz Ladies First, following the success of Jazz Octane, a youth oriented package plan. The package plans gives discounts on longer calls and discounted rates during day time hours favored by women in Pakistan. Moreover, it introduced per 30 second billing for Jazz Budget. Mobilink also revised its postpaid rates to further strengthen its competitive position in the high end corporate market. This revision was further strengthened by a significant reduction in international calling rates for postpaid Indigo customers. With this price revision Mobilink also offered Indigo customers discounts on weekends and discounted calls to a selection of friends and family. This price revision was followed by an international rate offering for Jazz prepaid customer. This offering allows Jazz customers to call a select number of international destinations at local call charges.