Wateen Telecom, Pakistan’s leading converged communications provider, recently won the PAS award for Best Advertisement in the Computer and Internet category. The company also recently won the Consumer Choice Award for best internet service provider, as well as being ranked the #1 wireless broadband service provider by the PTA. Slogan had the opportunity to chat with Mr Sohaib Sheikh, the company’s head of marketing, about some of thinking that went behind the award-winning campaign ‘Jo Chaho’, as well as where Wateen stands in Pakistan’s telecoms landscape.
Wateen Telecom, Pakistan’s leading converged communications provider, recently won the PAS award for Best Advertisement in the Computer and Internet category. The company also recently won the Consumer Choice Award for best internet service provider, as well as being ranked the #1 wireless broadband service provider by the PTA. Slogan had the opportunity to chat with Mr Sohaib Sheikh, the company’s head of marketing, about some of thinking that went behind the award-winning campaign ‘Jo Chaho’, as well as where Wateen stands in Pakistan’s telecoms landscape.
1. Where does Wateen stand in the current telecommunication scenario?
To enable telecommunications, operators require a robust fibre optic network, cloud services, LDI services and network service equipment. Wateen Telecom is ideally placed for the onset of a broadband revolution in Pakistan. Wateen has deployed the 2nd largest fibre optic network in the country which spans the entire country, enabling businesses and consumers. In addition to this, Wateen is a reseller for equipment and services for organisations like Cisco, IBM, Huaweii, EMC and Polycom among others. Wateen is also one of the key players in the LDI domain and offers international minutes to the telecom operators for inbound and outbound calls. In addition to these services for government and enterprise, Wateen offers consumers internet through WiMAX, which is an efficient, scalable and cost-effective method for provisioning of broadband.
The regulatory procedures have ensured that we have a level playing field and that entry to market is friendly to foreign investors. The industry is still in its infancy; there are only 1.7 million broadband connections (wired and wireless included) which means around 7% of households currently have broadband connectivity. This offers immense potential for the operators. There are still plenty of underserved areas and we are bidding for those as well under aegis of the [government sponsored] Universal Services Fund. We have already done a lot of work in Sargodha, Abbotabad and Sialkot by giving free internet labs to educational institutions and teaching people how to use the internet.
2. Was there a need for Wateen to reposition itself?
When I joined Wateen about a year and a half ago, the foremost concern was that there was a negative association with the brand as the customers had faced a lot of issues in service. The brand did not fulfil its promises and the tagline – We Connect – was very functional. Research also suggested that customers were not aware of Wateen’s entire product portfolio; we were perceived as a simple ISP and our customers did not really know how we are enabling Pakistan’s digital needs. We felt that this was a challenge that could be translated into a huge opportunity.
3. How successful was the repositioning strategy?
As the saying goes, the proof is in the pudding. While we cannot share specifics stats with you, there are indicators that show the change; such as the rise in our stock price, our partnership with the Universal Services Fund (USF), the Punjab Government (Punjab Information Technology Board) and the HEC for e-learning opportunities. Wateen has also exponentially increased its corporate consumer base ever since it’s repositioning which is something that home-based consumers are largely unaware of. Wateen was recently ranked the #1 wireless broadband service provider for quality of service by the PTA, won the Consumer Choice Award for the best internet service provider and recently won the Best Advertising Campaign award from the PAS in the internet and computer category. This PAS award is a further testament to the success of our marketing campaign and the new tagline of ‘Jo Chaho’.
4. Wateen envisions leading a digital revolution. How does it plan to do so?
In the last year Wateen has significantly expanded its fibre-optic network, particularly in rural areas and underserved parts of the country, where people have the most to gain from access to this vital resource. Recently, Wateen won a multi-million dollar bid from the USF to lay fibre-optic cable in Balochistan. According to recent World Bank estimates, around 68 percent of Pakistan’s population resides in rural areas – around 122 million people. Yet currently only 2-3 percent of this rural population has access to broadband internet; Wateen believes that high-speed broadband can help connect these underserved areas to the internet and by extension to the world. Wireless high-speed broadband is in fact the ideal stepping stone for launching any development campaign in rural areas, as it is not only the perfect tool for generating employment and literacy, but it also brings investment opportunities, which translate into sustainable economic growth. Our vision is to enable every man, woman and child in the country through leading edge technology, thereby transforming their lives.
5. What point of differentiation does Wateen have against Wi-Tribe and Qubee in terms of service delivery?
Although there are a lot of similarities between us and our WiMAX competitors, there are some differences in terms of the services offered. None of the new players have voice telephony. Wateen is the only WiMAX operator that offers this service and the rates for international calls are very competitive. This also leads to a differentiation of devices or modems that we offer. Wateen is working with the leading device manufacturers to offer consumers on-the-go and WiFi enabled devices that suit their needs. We offer the most methods to recharge your connections through scratch cards, online banking, mobile banking etc. As Wateen was the first company in the world to launch WiMAX on a nationwide scale, we had our teething problems initially. We have learnt from the experience and our mission is to deliver outstanding value for our customers.
6. How has Wateen evolved ever since it came on the scene?
The company began its operations in Pakistan in 2007 with the deployment of the largest fibre optic network in the country. Initially in 2007, the company was set up as a “carrier’s-carrier” providing a fine fibre optic network to mobile companies and offering long distance and telephony services. In areas where Wateen did not have a fibre network, it offered carriers connectivity through VSAT. Wateen is the first company in the world to launch a commercially viable WiMAX broadband network on a national scale, beginning with 24 major cities in Pakistan in 2007.
In 2010 in order to raise capital, Wateen Telecom decided to go public with an IPO, which was oversubscribed. Unfortunately, right after the IPO there was a fall in share prices and the stock index was declining. Realizing the situation, Wateen Telecom underwent a major transformation which also included a change in management. The goal of the new management was to revitalize the organization with skilled resources, re-establish goodwill for the company in the consumer market and take up the challenge to improve our overall performance.
consumer market and take up the challenge to improve our overall performance.
Since then Wateen has worked on improving its service provision and delivery and is heavily investing in its human resources. We believe that any organization is successful because of its people and Wateen is not only hiring the best talent in the market, but is also training its existing resources to become leaders in their fields.
7. Pakistan will be adopting 3G in the near future. What strategies have you planned in this regard?
We feel that this country has a great deal of potential to grow and that’s why the government is trying to bring 3G services to Pakistan – we believe this will result in driving higher revenues for the ICT sector. 3G coming in will further expand the market as people who will experience high speed data on the phone will also want to have broadband connectivity at home; 3G will have its own share and we will have ours; it will not cannibalise our share. However, we are also deploying WiFi hotspots at key locations in the metro cities. This will also help telecom operators in backhauling their data services to broadband in these locations. 3G may take its time to penetrate the market which is why we intend on keeping our consumers connected at every step.
8. Is Pakistan lagging behind on the digital front?
No, not at all. I think we in Pakistan are right there at the forefront of the digital revolution, keeping in mind the resources at our disposal and the socio political scenario of the region. Pakistan has one of the highest growth rates in the region. The Government is ensuring that all steps are taken at improving this scenario further. Our universities are not only being interconnected through fibre optic networks, but internationally as well. All of the Government departments are now online and it is only a matter of time when all branches, tehsil and district offices will be brought online as well. A successful example is the banking industry which is ensuring that all bank branches are online and has witnessed a surge in online transactions by 19% in the second half of 2011.
9. Is Wateen a common man’s product?
Wateen’s entire vision is to make available the resources of the internet and all the potential benefits associated with it to largest number of people possible. We aim to enable the lifestyle choices of consumers from all sectors of the society and we believe that by providing the internet to underserved areas we can make a positive impact and bring about change in the lives of people who need it.
10. What else is there in the pipeline?
Wateen is currently working on several projects in both public and private partnerships that are in line with our goal of providing the connectivity to every household in Pakistan. Wateen recently signed an agreement with the Punjab Government in digitizing course textbooks, past papers and also deploy Wi-Fi hotspots in the colleges and universities across the province. This will enable our students to compete with any country in the world with the best resources available to them. Wateen also deployed Wi-Fi hotspots in all major restaurants, cafés and airports in Pakistan. We believe that Pakistan’s economic and social ills can be cured through technology and Wateen is gearing up to make this happen.
