Pakistan , a country of 170 million people and 97 million mobile phone connections , a country where mobile phones are as essential as food and everywhere and Five cellular companies fighting for business and competition had made calling rates in Pakistan as one of the most inexpensive in the world and bringing down the ARPU of these companies .
To cover up the ROI and make some profits , these companies are working towards offering value added services other than mobile telephony and SMS and this is where Nokia have missed the boat in Pakistan .
Nokia Money
When I discussed with Nokia bigwigs at Mobile World Congress , I was told launching Mobile Money in Pakistan is not that easy , it needs a full backup support , infra structure and regulatory requiremets . A fortnight after that Telenor Pakistan in collaboration with Tameer microfinance bank , launched Easy Paisa Mobile Bank System in Pakistan , which opens bank account for the unbanked ( the market which Nokia is planning to exploit ) which they can operate through their mobile phones.
When I asked General Manager Nokia at the recent Nokia Emerging Market Handset launch about launching Nokia Money in Pakistan , I was told they are in discussion with a bank and going through regulations .
Nokia Life Tools
Again at MWC 2010 , when I asked about launch of Nokia Life Tools in Pakistan , I was told infra structure and data collection are major hindrances and after India and Indonesia , China is the next targeted market with another one ( probably Brazil ) to follow . Although Pakistan is on Nokia’s radar , it’s way below the big markets . Here comes another indigenous solution , Mobilink Kisan (Farmer) Service ,a IVR based service which provides farmers with advice on harvesting matters , prices and weather information .
Mobilink is also offering Word a Day offers , Mobile Advertising ( posting ads on a mobile portal) , Word Translation services , while Telenor is offering Mobile Doctor and other services as their value added IVT services .
What it means for Nokia
The introduction of value added services by the cellular companies offers both advantages and disadvantages for Nokia .
The benefits for Nokia is when they will introduce their services in Pakistan , the market will already be developed and they don’t have to explain it to the people , but the greater disadvantage for Nokia is that they will be the follower not the innovator and converting people from their existing and trusted service will be difficult . Although Nokia can bring out interoperability that as with Telenor Easy Paisa , only Telenor users can use it , but with Nokia Money , it could be used on Telenor , Warid , Mobilink , UFone and Zong .
The only big question which remains is when Nokia will bring out these services in Pakistan , as the competition is not sitting still , all the cellular companies are working on one form of service or other and with Warid already owning two banks , Orascom / Mobilink already bid for Royal Bank of Scotland’s Pakistan oepration and Zong / China Mobile also eyeing a bank , soon Mobile Money will be a commodity not exclusive service and Nokia will have a hard time cracking the market.
SenseApplied advice to Nokia is , don’t take Pakistan as the small country in the back waters , we are standing tall in the fore front of technology , we may have the very low literacy rate but we are the 4th largest user of SMS service in the world. People are becoming literate in an alternate way , through mobile phones , they can operate it’s menu and can write sms in Roman Urdu ( Urdu written in English characters ) , now it’s all up to Nokia how quick they react to cover Pakistan before the cellular companies take it all .
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