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Introduction

Ufone

Ufone GSM
is a Pakistani GSM cellular service provider. It is one of six GSM Mobile companies in Pakistan and is a subsidiary of
Pakistan Telecommunication Company. The company commenced its operations under the brand name of Ufone from Islamabad
on January 29 2001.

Survival strategies
In order to survive and remain profitable in todays competitive market place UFONE has managed to maintain is
costs and budget. As a result, unlike, other telecom firms it is not much affected by unstable political, economical
and security conditions of Pakistan. It has been able to react and adapt to changes in external environment.
Economy:
With annual growth around 100% for some years now, the mobile telephone market in Pakistan has been
experiencing a period of strong and sustained development. However,Pakistan is suffering important economic
turbulence which will have a direct impact on foreign operators in the country. Some of these reasons are:
The decline in Rupee value against US Dollar, the decrease in the interconnect charges and lower priced tariffs
have resulted in an overall decrease of ARPU (Average Revenue per Unit) in US Dollar terms.
The ongoing economic and political turmoil along with the worsening of security conditions in Pakistan have
caused an increased outflow of capital from the country.
In the light of worsening economic conditions and the lack of prudent policies, the international rating agencies
like S&P and Moodys have recently downgraded Pakistans sovereign rating. Mobile services despite high costs
still grow rapidly. Subscriber numbers has increased to 95.5 million.
Legal:
The current legal condition of Pakistan is not very good. After restoration of chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad
Chaudry there is lots of hope towards judiciary. The Supreme Court is working fine and taking strong actions
against illegal activities but lower courts are in poor condition. Corruption rate is very high in judiciary but there
has been remarkable improvement as in 2006 it was ranked 3rd most corrupt sector in the country. In 2009 it
was ranked &which is good sign but it needs further improvement.
Government:
The telecoms sector of Pakistan has successfully liberalized in an efficient, transparent and fastest deregulation
of telecoms in the region. The Government of Pakistan gave the status of Industry to Pakistan

Telecommunication Sector.

Government of Pakistan has opened its policies to award new licensees to new mobile
service provider so threat of new entry is high. However, as set-up cost is in billions of
dollars so in this case threat of new entry is low, but here are companies who are working
to achieve licenses and approaching PTA to know terms and conditions for this.
Government also gave so many land lines and wireless local loop licenses to different
companies like PTCL wireless local loop, GO CDMA, WORLD CALL etc. these services in
future will be like mobile phone services like they are planning to offer services a lot but
currently they are offering SMS and CLI services to their customers .Previously increase in
tax rates and excise duties made the Sims expensive due to which sales got affected.
Fortunately, new budget given by government is good.

Technology:
Company has introduced VAS (VALUE ADDED SERVICES) in their infrastructure not
only to expand but also to upgrade their existing structure because the
competition is strong. Strong infrastructure has made the company comparable to
large firms like Mobilink .Moreover, the company is providing all services provided
by all its competitors in order not to leave behind in the pace of technology as
well. Services provided includes Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS), General
Packet Radio Services (GPRS), Virtual Private Network (VPN), Pocket Stocks,
Conference Calling, Wall Papers Animated Pictures, Polyphonic ring tones (WAP)
and Voice Mail at low prices. The well-recognized technology trends that are
influencing the evolution of the network indicate that:
The cost of a call is becoming even more insensitive to the distance;
The modularity of the network is increasing;
The networking is shifting from circuit-switched to packet- routing;
The voice communication is now independent of the network;
The geographic boundaries are irrelevant for emerging technology;
The intelligence and function are moving away from the central office
Marketing Strategy
Promotional goals:
Ufone believes in Integrated Marketing Communication which is a carefully
blended mix o f p r o m o t i o n t o o l s . U f o n e e m p l o y d i ff e re n t m a r ke t i n g
a c t i v i t i e s a n d c h a n n e l s t o communicate and deliver value to customer.
These activities are coordinated to provide maximum communication output.
These communication channels includes, advertising,sales promotion, public
relations, direct marketing & personal selling.
Sales force requirements, techniques and management:
Ufone strategize to take aid of sales promotion whenever it sees a minor drop in
its usage by its customers. They mostly go for pull strategy in promotion
i.e. they spend a lot on advertising and consumer promotion to induce
fi nal customers to avail their services. Ufone applies sales promotion
schemes continually in order to keep its customers loyal and happy.