The competition in the GSM arena in Pakistan is constantly increasing. Few years back there were just two operators but now the market is having five operators backed by strong international groups. Orascom, Singtel+Dhabi Group, Telenor, Etisalat and China Mobile are the backers of the five local operators. Since CMPak is the first international venture of China Mobile, they will make sure to make it a success story and to use it as a launch pad for their other international expansions in the near future. The aggressive network rollout of CMPak is evident from the amount of money they are pouring in the company. It is expected that by the end of the year, CMPak will be covering almost all the cities that Telenor and Mobilink have covered till date. With increased covereage will come the customers and hence growth. Since the market has already passed the bechmark 50% penetration levels therefore, the future competition will be less in getting new customers and more on acquiring the existing customers of other operators. Since the cost of switch over is very low and is an easy process, therefore, only dynamic and competative companies will survive in the Pakistani GSM arena.

China Mobile will pour another $800 million into its new Pakistan operation with the aim of boosting market share, Sohu IT reports. China Mobile invested $4.6 billion a year ago on buying 100% of the small operator now known as CMPak – its first offshore investment. The company will invest $400 million on network expansion, Vendors ZTE, Shanghai Alcatel Bell, Ericsson and Huawei all signed GSM expansion agreements in 2007.

However, it faces an uphill battle. Reportedly, only Pakistan’s three biggest operators are profitable. CMPak has a market share of less than 2%, but China Mobile aims to boost that to 20%-25% by the end of the year. (China Wire)

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