Another Wateen?

well i think wimax is a very expensive technology.. until and unless the packages are near to what ptcl/worldcall/linkdonet are providing … these companies will end up no where…

lets hope for the best…

Any scene of 3G in Pakistan?

Recently I got an email from Brightspyre for openings at Wi-tribe that states like this:

“In 2007, wi-tribe limited acquired a local telecom operator in Pakistan in line with its objective of becoming a top broadband player in the region. wi-tribe Pakistan limited will start state-of-the-art wireless broadband services in Pakistan by end of 2008.

wi-tribe Pakistan’s objective is to provide cutting edge broadband technology to the Pakistani market which is still looking for an internet service which can meet its quality expectations. Till the end of 2007, broadband penetration was very low in Pakistan due to lack of awareness, affordability, availability, and quality issues. wi-tribe Pakistan will provide this untapped market with superior quality, value additions, and excellent customer service.”

And Job openings for some 40 Job title’s were advertised below mostly in Islamabad and some in all 3 places Lahore, Isloo and Karachi. I think with this massive hiring they will be starting from big cities and will go to all over Pakistan.

I hope it replaces wateen (sorry yateem :P) with some quality wi-max :).

Cheers!

Spark - thats what everyone was saying about Wateen … that “their experience” was that it would be extremely good etc etc.

I think over time either we’ve become cynical or stopped believing hype.

I’ll see when it launches, which is still a while away

Sure Spark but what I meant was that Wateen vendors were saying the same thing before its launch…?

2Mbps internet at Rs.400 was what they claimed. High QoS they claimed. Completely reshape the future of the telecom industry they claimed. The future is green they claimed…. well that part was right.

I’m not suggesting malintent or hyperbole - just that every company starts off with the noblest of goals - priorities change over time after deadlines slip.

Osama you have to realize that WiMAX is a new technology and it is in its evolutionary state… The technology would become better as the system matures and looking at the way things are coming up I’m sure that WiMAX systems would become better and offer reliable services in near future.

hopefully by the end of 08 we’ll see better HDR networks with reliable products!!

@Farrukh
Wateen Deployed products which were WiMAX wave1 supported, Burraq’s deployment would support WiMAX wave2 supported equipment. This means better results, WiMAX forum says that…
plus Motorola is the best Wimax Vendor out there, no other vendors gives the results and the variety of products even close to what Motorola offers…

I say ‘wait and see’ is the best strategy!

Well Spark,

I disagree with you as far as quality of Motorolla Wimax product series is concerned. Search the market you will find a lot better, fully featured WiMAX products. I can name a few:

Redline
Aperto
Airspan

You can compare the specs by yourself, by no means there product is best; in fact its the support they provide as a vendor for the operator which makes them the ultimate choice. Take the analogy of Microsoft compared to Linux, you will understand what I mean.

Farrukh,

Quality and being fully loaded with features are two separate things. I have used redline’s products as well and they aren’t as good as they look on their spec sheets. Field testing would confirm this. I haven’t used Aperto or Airspan’s Wimax products but I think that they would be comparable.

I agree with you on the services part thou, Motorola’s Support infrastructure is much better as compared to the other three.

Spark,

Its nice to hear you have tested Redline, you must have been impressed by its strong PHY-Layer, which to me stands out as best even better than Aperto, which offers awesome amount of features within a single CPE.

But the point is we are not comparing products over here, Its not our job anyway, its the operators choice after all.

But the point is, its the early bad image put by Wateen in deploying Wimax thats causing these performance concerns. Motorola people seems to have upgraded their old Canopy (FWA) and sold it to Wateen, and fooled people with Wimax when their wimax product was probably not ready.

Even till this time they are finalizing their product by removing bugs, what will people have to do with QUALITY if the technology doesn’t offer the features it promises to?

umm is Green and White at all aware abt Mobilink Infinity?Osama u are supposed to be on top of things here?how come no review or ne thing?

I hope if they start the service in Kasur City.

If WiMAX is here to stay then cost has to go down.. no other option i m afraid..

Share the Job Openings with us

see if we are eligible for it?

Wimax market in pakistan is expected to get more saturated in the near future. No doubt ‘Wateen’ has left a negative mark in customer’s mind; that’s the reason no one is expecting too big out of it. But i hope, after addition of more operators like Mobilink (expected to launch next month), Wi-tribe and UK-based company Augere (that took over Tele-card). This would sum up more competition and surely will lower down the tarriff to a great deal.

For 3G in Pakistan, PTA will launch 3G license (hopefully) by this year end. I can see a couple of 3G networks operational by end of 2009 and customers enjoying IMS services even before that! In short, Paki-telecom market is going no where for another 3 years, atleast!!

Just wait till launch of witribe…. u will see the huge service difference between mobilink, wateen and witribe

well…. much nice technology has been introducd in pakistan. i think so if MOTOROLA ll deploy that technology then we can say that it is a big competitor of WATEEN

Just wait till launch of witribe…. u will see the huge service difference between mobilink, wateen and witribe

thanx

Can anyone inform what are the frequencies being used by witribe, wateen and mobilink for their WiMAX service? Also, how much they paid for their spectrum?

Thanks.

Salam, All Wimax companies are operating in 3.5G spectrum.
Wateen has 30+30Mhz, Mobilink walas have 30+30, Witribe 10+10Mhz and Augere 10+10Mhz. The bad and good part is that the WLL licenses were issued to expand telephony services, and fortunately cellular companies have done a excellent job.
Pakistan has the cheapest rates in the entire world. Would you beleive that from Pakistan it costs the same to call any number in USA and UK landline as it costs to call a friend off-net (on another network). What else can people look for?

Landline normally cost 25% of cellular/minute rate and thats the reason why nobody wants to use PTCL in Pakistan. PTCL’s arrogance is also digging it’s own grave. Just image 4 Million customers and 30,000 employees after letting go 25-30K already, where is creativity. PTCL should not have more then 5000 people, a fully automated NOC that tells them when a line is down before the customer finds out, and all engineering and customer services outsourced. They have the world-class IP/MPLS nationwide network, that they use “like a tanga-driver piloting a F-16″. They have no automation, no visibility, no CRM and just a management where are ‘C’ have never touched automation in their life.
PTCL’s life span as a consumer services provider is at risk, and Government through PTA is protecting it uncompetitively. Cellular has already eaten the voice market. The 4 long haul networks are connecting cellular’s intranetworks. PTA has forced the cellular to connect through PTCL, even though they can connect with each other directly and save a bundle. What PTCL is left with is metro networks and hosting in exchanges. Metro is at risk once Worldcall, Wateen, Micronet have fiber plant completed in big 8 cities. All new Wimax players will have data centers, so hosting in PTCL will be at risk.
What should PTCL do?
One thing…recreate the business model with todays circumstances. Stop using 1980 revenue as base line. The CFO has made his life very easy by using this, instead as capable as he is, he can draw a business model in a week that can be used at a datum line.
Etisalat needs to either buy 26% more shares and then have a right to manage. I think that will bring some responsibility and reality check.

well…. much nice technology has been introducd in pakistan. i think so if MOTOROLA ll deploy that technology then we can say that it is a big competitor of WATEEN

Hello All,

My name is Harris Iqbal and I head IT operations for the wi-trige Group based out of Jordan. We at wi-tribe are aiming to launch a network that will provide excellent coverage and performance in Karachi, Lahore, ISB/RWP. We have successfully launched our first operation in Amman, Jordan and the response has been excellent Alham-do-lillah.

I saw a few comments above regarding wi-tribe using Motorola as its Wi-MAX vendor, Wateen is also using Motorola. The reasons for Wateen’s poor service is not Motorola, but rather their RF Planning, Customer Service, Sales People (selling in areas where there is no coverage), an extremely inefficient activation/provisioning process etc.

We hope that you will use our service and I personally look forward to ensuring that we have happy customers in Pakistan. Our slogan is “Welcome to the tribe”. So I on behalf of wi-tribe welcome you all to the tribe.

We will launch in Q1 2009 Insha’Allah.

Regards,
- Harris

In fact WiMAX technology was pioneered by Motorola as such no matter who launches WiMAX in Pakistan will be using Motorola equipments.

It is true that Motorola should not be blamed for Wateen’s poor WiMAX service, in fact it is the pre-mature launch in order to lead the market and capture as much as customers as they can before Mobilink or Burraq jump in to market.

Wateen’s poor management and customer service has been personally experience by my friend who was billed for telephone calls amounting to Rs. 2,500/- which were never made by him and his connection was disable without any bill or prior notice. We really had to kick their service reps arses to get the wrong billing corrected and connection restoration.

In addition to WiMAX, CDMA based EV-DO service have also been laucnhed by Worldcall, although the their monthly tariff is quite high for unlimited packages of 256 / 512 KBPS 1 MB but due to their previously built CDMA infra-structure is supporting in covering entire Karachi city.

However deployment of EV-DO equipments is quite expensive. On the other hand, PTA together with its brainchild company PTCL is also causing problems for WiMAX providers in Pakistan and it is also heard the Worldcall was reported to have some problems with PTA in respect of their operating license

I am not sure how far these news are correct but keeping in view multiple facets of emerging technological trends and enthusiasts in Pakistan, let us hope for the best.

I am totally agree with remarks of Mr. Mustafa about PTCL. I was the victim of PTCL bad Customer support. The story is very long and end on disconnection of my ADSL line. Just to know how PTCL is working to survive in the market ? Go to PTCL Azizabad Exchange - Karachi . You will surprise that the ADSL office is operating from store waste material room full of bad rubbish smell of oils. I don’t know why they are using this room even most of the rooms are empty in the exchange. This is the prove how PTCL compete with rest of the world.

Is there any one who is the customer of Nayatel and enjoying the triple play service in isb/rwp.if do so do share your experince.
Nayatel is providing triple play FTTU services.

Hiiiii,
I am too happy kay now Wateen ka Wimax is working toooooo fantastic. I used wateen since 11 months lekin in starting wateen was very bad. I complaint again aur again but no action happened from wateen ki side say. But 2 month pehle the has been solved or ab I am too much satisfied.

My dear lovely next generation of Pakistan. A well wisher send me me the link today as my name was mentioned a couple of times. Azeem and Mustafa..thhanks for the nice words & confidence in me.

The praise for launching Wateen Wimax is not just due to me, but every one of my young friends at Wateen who took the first step at introducung the technology.

I see some happy and some ‘not-so-happy’ customers of Wateen writing here. Okay here are some tips. I am just coming back from Mexico and “somewhere” in Africa from a consulting appointment, and told the companies to have the right sales tools to reduce the pains for customers, so to cut the story short,

1. Ask the service provider-(whoever it is), if they have coverage in the “exact” area you plan to use the service in?” You will avoid a lot of irks. Initially all companies will have coverages in few areas and as number of users expand, the gaps will be filled in, but you need to make sure coverage is there in your area.

2. Next, find out how the in-door coverage is?
In your houses place your modem at a location where signal reception is good and you will be all right. It’s just like cell phone coverage, some places you have weak signal, and some places really good, so locate yourself where signal is good. Likewise it will not work in basements. It’s not suppose to!

3. See the beauty of Wimax is that you can use ‘all’ applications that work on DSL as it is a open system. I am on video calls with my family in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, UK and they are using Wimax, DSL and whatever system so it works like a champ. Try it some times, you will forget chating on IM!

4. Next try video conferancing, that is 2/3 people together, it is just fantastic. I am working working with companies here in USA to implement a lot of solutions that will make WiMAX platform shine for all business users. Try skype, and you will know what I mean!

So, feel free to ask me questions, and I will try to answer them for you. I owe this to our future generations while I am not there with you in Pakistan.
Allah Hafiz

thing for all future users to askme, I was just the visionary and the architect of how, when and why. ntal along with all my dear friends in Wateendefine the way WiMAX would be used, and deployed. Bottom line you have to have coverage to have access, so irrespective what company launches it (Wateen, Linkdotnet, Augere or Witribe), to first condition for the carrier is to be upright with customers and tell them if they are offering service in which you plan on using the service. Infact as a user you should ask

Now about WiMAX and the rest of the story.
See no technology is bad or good, each technology has it’s own usage

Along with other cost-effective and flexible services Wateen offers Broadband internet with new revised tariffs for as low as Rs. 499 a month! Isn’t that cool now we all can enjoy more surfing at extremely reasonable rates with high speed internet up to 1 Mbps just for Rs.799. WiMax –Wireless Freedom from Wateen is spreading like wild fire now. Additionally the big blast is Wateen to Wateen calls FREE for LIFE. How can anyone of us miss that! It’s surely an experience you deserve. And hey if you still don’t have a Wateen connection. Go and get one now!! Wait wait… you can contact them on 111 365 111

Tech Turtle,
Thanks!
I really would love to hear from people who have used both Wateen and Mobilink and the EVDO from PTCL!

My interest in EVDO from PTCL is as it was my teams products when I was VP-Commercial (P&S) at PTCL!!!!! In the last days I had recommended to increase the coverage so people don’t feel the negative effects of cell shrinkage!

Some questions:

1. What connection (256k/512K) to you have and what is the download and uplink speeds are you getting?
2. Are there any outages?

3. Since both companies have deployed NLOS, so where are the dead area’s you get in your house or office. Reflect two things (
a) Blind spot was on what floor?
b)How many windows do you have in your room where you have the Wimax modem. (The more the widows the better chances of better signal).
(c) How many of you talked on wifi+Wimax yet, and how was the experience? I am trying to put together a skype kind of solution on wimax, and youe experience will really be helpful.

Best Regards…
TQ

@ Sehrish

You can get a Nayatel connection with a reliable support which is cost effective.
and really providing what we are advertising that service can only be avail in Islamabad
Feel free to call on support:P
111-11-4444
Stay Blessed:)

The paid blogger (Sehrish) wrote:

Additionally the big blast is Wateen to Wateen calls FREE for LIFE. How can anyone of us miss that!

LOL. At present, there are close to 100 million phone subscribers in Pakistan including mobile (90+) and fixed. However, Wateen has hardly 32k customers so far. This means that there is a 0.03% probability of calling a Wateen number. In 99.7% of the numbers called, a Wateen customer will be charged. So Free Wateen-to-Wateen calls hardly matters. Go figure!

Tech Turtle…
Rest assured, that competition will reduce rates, I have seen rates tummble in unregulated markets. Remember, lower rates expand market size, will have positive impact on economy and create jobs. Here are examples…by the way I use to give similar examples when I lectured on different channels, and beleive me I know, our youth are more intelligent then last generation.

Examples:
1. Warid and Telenor’s entry with lower per minute mobile rate of Rs 2/- nationwide expanded the market from 4 Million users in 2005 to 75 Million users (2008). The biggest impact of telecom expansion was economic growth in non-telecom sectors. same service is used by a corporate executive to the lowest tier contributor to Pakistan’s economy —the mazdoor! We can now call the plumber and gutter cleaner on cell phone to get service. Isn’t that great for us and the worker too!

2. Next the broadband (expecially) the wireless will open new horizons. I give credit to our future generations, they are more smarter then their parents. All that they need is opportunity. A 8 year old in my village got onto internet as he had used it at another friends house. The 3-5 year olds know what a computer is simply because the total multimedia is interlinked. I gave my 10 year old desk top to my village masjid room, with a Vfone dial up, and found that some kids were finding the rates of produce from the mandi for their fathers before they bought their ‘fassal’ to market. This was a real inspiration…

As a part of Wireless broadband, a program that was discussed with ’some’ international company was how to put a public wall mounted computer in every village where people could use it for interconnecting with the world. The arabic ket board, is almost like Urdu key board, and we had experimented it for implementation in 2.5 Million villages in Pakistan.

So my expectation is that ‘without’ the government interferance, wireless broadband can be expanded to villages and will still be a economically feasible business proposition.

I would like to thank you all for your input it is very helpful

Assalamuaikum

can u plz tell me whats the resions behind why WiMax not capture the telecom broadband market as compared to DSL
it lanch wateen or Moblink

and whts the status of jobs in wi-tribe
i am CCIP ( BGP + MPLs ) certified and Graduate BS(TS) with cgpa 3.80/5.00

TQ can you share your skype ID? Thanks!

i think it is a good technology but if the customer require only internet so what would the company do. the customer do not require telephony . ok if you give a telephony and the customer do not require telephony at lest the customer do not want to pay the line rent of the telephone.

Aslamo Alaikum, all people i ve had wateen justa 4 or 5 days back and i am wired adn tired from their worst custoer service,and their signal issues, and i am very very deiappointed from wateen, i think there is a huge management issue with wateen and they dont know where are they , i mena neither are they offering excellent connectivity, neither coverage, no unlimited download,a dn such expensive interent ,a nd pathetic coustomer service, and even then i am using them reason is that am not been able to have a ptcl connection coz they say there is no slot in my area, so dont know wht to do,

Dear All witribeon
I will see when witribe will stable like wateen Because you can’t campere witribe with WATEEN Because Wateen is the bset service provider,

Wimaxer, WiTribe has not even launched yet how are you comparing, I am not saying Wateen is excellent, but you have to have another service to compare. and Infinity has not even crossed the boundary out of Karachi.

Proud Pakistani, I am using wi-tribe during their FUTs and their service is great. I am getting very good speeds and an always on connection. We should be proud of finally having a quality provider like wi-tribe. If consumers appreciate quality, then it will attract more foreign investment. Proud of being a Pakistani also!

[…] all that Google returned me were few posts on blogs which discovered the company launching like Greenwhite.org (Disclaimer : I also write on this blog) and on Pro Pakistan. There was another crazy link, where […]

Dear All

Just wanted to let you know that if you have a pending concern. feedback or suggestion regarding Wateen and
our services, i encourage you to send an email to customerservice@wateen.com.

We will get back to you promptly and assist in every manner possible.

Thanks.

Wateen CS

hello ppl. TQ, i am really impressed with your immense knowledge and efforts put in for the IT / Telecom infrastructure development in Pakistan. I have had the chance to live in Australia for 2 years and was surprised to see that technology is still in the developing phase whereas in most of the areas Pakistan is way ahead! this is something to be proud of.

WiMAX is an amazing technology and any new technology takes some time in getting adhered to the users’ society. i am a user of Wateen WiMAX and so far it is smooth sailing. speed is really good. unfortunately Wateen had problems in the beginning when they launched WiMAX but if you put it in positive terms, it is the first organization in the world to launch WiMAX on a nationwide scale. it is the market leader and rest have followed its footsteps. no doubt competition is getting fierce with the passage of time, Wateen is working on strong positive notes to compensate for its mistakes. many big corporates such as Barclays bank, MCB, Askari Bank, Nishat Group, RBS etc. Educational institues such as LUMS, IBA etc. are on board Wateen and this clientele is getting big rapidly. it would be unfair to say that Wateen is down and out. it is coming back strongly. competition will bring down rates, ultimately facilitating the end users to a great extent. competition is the name of more opportunities. competition brings forward the urge to do better than ever before. thus, not capitalizing on this opportunity is like loosing an opportunity of a lifetime!

we should be proud that the IT / Telecom industry in Pakistan is growing like anything. lets hope and pray that this development flourishes with the passage of time and everyone benefits greatly from it. Cheers!

in relation to Augere, i read / heard that for the time being Augere is not launching its WiMAX services in Pakistan due to some conflict with a local vendor (can’t recall the name).

Wi-tribe is being supported by Wateen because they are using Wateen Fibre optic cable as back bone which has been expanded in whole country anyways wateen has launched Wi-max first so they are pioners of wi-max and i hope no no one can launch wi-max technology in 22cities at the time of its launching. Great work by wateen and let see what wi-tirbe do