Instaphone further reduces SMS charges in Pakistan
Pakistan Times Business & Commerce Desk

KARACHI: Instaphone, Pakistan's one of the largest mobile phone services, broke new ground in value added services by further reducing the charges for their short messaging services (SMS), says a statement here.

It said that the Instaphone subscribers can now SMS to other Instaphone, Insta Xcite and Insta One users at a remarkably low rate of 50 paisas only.

The charges for SMSing (Short Text Messaging) to any other mobile users across all networks used to be 1.50 rupees for Instaphone users, the statement pointed out.

It said that this remarkable lowering of prices is in line with Instaphone's history of bringing new innovations and providing best value to it customers.

The statement further stated that the company was the first to introduce cross network SMS services between itself and all other mobile phone services in Pakistan.

The new price decrease will give Instaphone users a considerable price saving and economy.

Elucidating on the strategy behind the initiative, Iain Williams, CEO, Pakcom Limited (Instaphone) said, "Mobile phones are now becoming more of a necessity every passing day in Pakistan and Instaphone is committed to bringing out products and services that are both economical and convenient to mobile phone users in this country. This sizeable reduction in the SMS rate within our network is yet another step in this direction."

This reduction in our SMS charges will enable our consumers to reap tangible benefits in cost saving particularly for our large user base having Insta One or Insta Xcite prepaid connections, the statement added.

Perspective

'Pakistan Times' understands that Instaphone, to-date does not contemplate to set off this newest service, which involves a hefty expenditure for its operation.

By now, Instaphone stays with AMPS type of connections, the level of which is quite limited. With the introduction of GSM service which was pioneered by Mobilink years ago has become highly popular among the mobile phone users in Pakistan who are switching over to such types of connections, which are freely available to any-one with at nominal charges of Rs. 100 to Rs. 250 [1.7--4.02 US $] just on production of a photo copy of Computerized National Identity Cards [CNIC] at diverse centres of the Cell companies all-over Pakistan.

Almost a year ago, the cost of a mobile connection to secure a SIM ranged between Rs. 3000 to Rs. 4000 [51.00--68.00 US $] yet this price was subsequently slashed drastically due to the removal of Tax (s) by the government to give impetus to Mobile operators and to facilitate the people in Pakistan

The total number of Mobile phone consumers has reached 8.481 million, showing an increase of 1.689 million when compared to 6.792 million phone connections in October last year.

Before the advent of two new cell companies, Warid and Telenor in a couple of months, Mobilink and Ufone are the two major operators in the country and both the companies have 85.94 percent market share.

Mobilink’s market share stands at 62.84 percent while Ufone share
reaches 23.1 percent. The remaining 14.06 percent market share is with Instaphone and Paktel.

Out of 8.481 million cell phones in the country, Mobilink’s customer base has reached 5.329 million phones, Ufone 1.959 million, Paktel 0.621 million while Instaphone’s share stood at 0.570 million on February-1, 2005.●