PTA Cancels Instaphone License

69 Comments

• Sheikh Zeeshan

  January 6, 2008
  4:02 pm

  well, PTA should cancel the licence of Mush of sitting on the chair where he should not b. Who gave him the licence of sitting there?? Because Pakcom was in negotiations for sale of its 70 percent share to South Korea Telecom when the worsening political situation in the country disrupted the talks. Shame on you Mush just simply Shame on you.. you still dont want to leave the seat even after eating assets of Pakistan and now Instaphone..
• Muhammad Asif

  January 7, 2008
  11:50 am

  Instaphone had been loosing since ever. PTA figures for Nov. 2007 show Instaphone at 329,743 subscribers or just 0.44 percent of the current cellular subscriber base!!!

  Instaphone further had defaults on its license fee of S291 million that were being relaxed by PTA to let Instaphone acquire some investment support. With lingering humungous license fee pending, virtually no brand equity, i doubt if the existing user base was generating any decent ARPU and sunk capital in AMPS network certainly did not have a case for a sell off. I think the investors just “used” the political skirmishes as a quick excuse out of the negotiations so that they could walk out without any moral/relationship related burden
• Sheikh Zeeshan

  January 7, 2008
  7:50 pm

  well Mister Asif, it is like to turn a blind eye if we still try to justify Mush’s policies. And i am not any investor i am just a user of insta and its giving us the best package ever with so much smooth and clear voice. The country is standing at the verge of destruction, So we Can not agree with whatever Mush is doing… Simply i wanna say INSTA was Rocking and being its customer we Loved it and still Love it… Still waiting for its Flashing comeback!!!

  Wish u Luck
  INSTAPHONE

  peace
• Kashif Raza

  January 8, 2008
  4:23 am

  Zeeshan, angry fellow you know very well who is responsible for cancelation of mobile license of Instaphone is it Government ? or Arfeen Group with its poor policies and negogiations to find an investor, increasing customer base, look after employees future within two year time relaxation given by PTA. Two years is enough time for any solvent business to find an investor or escape through.
• Ammar

  January 8, 2008
  12:14 pm

  Zeeshan, INSTAPHONE may be really good for you but the fact is that they have to pay license fee like everyone else. Since they couldn’t do so, I don’t think they should be allowed to conduct operations. They are a failure in one of the fastest growing sectors in Pakistan so they have only themselves to blame.

  So my heart goes out for you Zeeshan but Iguess it’s time to shift to Mobilink – connecting people
• Zeeshan

  January 8, 2008
  5:32 pm

  well Arifeen Group is responsible i agree, but who’ll invest in these situations?? Where no1 knows whats gonna happen next…!! i am absolutely not trying to give it a political touch at all but i think u ppl are wise enuff to understand what m saying.
  Lemme give u an example in 1999 Cricket world cup Pakistan was in finals as u all know and then Mush jumped in UNFORTUNATELY, and after his arrival Pakistan went outta World cup-2003 in the 1st scene from super Eight teams and in 2007 Pakistan was outta Super six Teams as well cz of his beloved Naseem ashraf who is a Doctor instead of any Cricketer. Do u think Mr.Ammar that Mobilink will give us a package of 24Hrs on-net calls free?? on-net msgs free?? with Line rent of just 199Rs/month?? “SIMPLY NO-ONE CAN”!!!!! This is why we hate Mush nd Love Insta…..

  Waiting for Mush to leave in order to rectify Pakistan’s Problems(including Flour, electricity break downs and Gas problems)

  INSTAPHONE ROCKS!!!
• roxy

  January 8, 2008
  5:34 pm

  absolutely i agree with zeeshan!

  INSTAPHONE ROCKS!
  hurry back please
• Osama A.

  January 8, 2008
  5:36 pm

  Ofcourse you agree — both roxy and Zeeshan came from the same IP address. Friend? Colleague? Same person?
• roxy

  January 8, 2008
  6:04 pm

  better go with what he said osama. we are lawyers sitting in one chamber. think at what he said. b thoughtful
• Ammar

  January 8, 2008
  7:27 pm

  Do u think Mr.Ammar that Mobilink will give us a package of 24Hrs on-net calls free?? on-net msgs free?? with Line rent of just 199Rs/month?? “SIMPLY NO-ONE CAN”!!!!! This is why we hate Mush nd Love Insta…..

  >>Well, they can give you everything for FREE and go out of business. You only get what you pay for

  Waiting for Mush to leave in order to rectify Pakistan’s Problems(including Flour, electricity break downs and Gas problems)

  >> I assume there were no problems before Mush? Why are other companies doing good and this company failing? I guess they are given extra money or subsidies by Mush? How come companies that entered the market AFTER Instaphone do better than Instaphone? May be Mush owns all successful businesses in Pakistan? May all businesses that fail are because of Mush? I agree we never had an electricty problem before Mush, or gas problem or ethnicity or sectarianism…. and i think Mush’s policies caused 9/11… in fact, floods and earthquake were also caused by his policies … damn him!

  well Arifeen Group is responsible i agree, but who’ll invest in these situations??

  >> No one minds investing in ‘emerging’ markets whether it’s Pakistan or an African country. In fact, emerging markets such as Pakistan, hae higher rate of return. So if investors don’t want to invest in Instaphone, its because it’s not worth the investment – not because Mush would smack their bums if they do!

  we failed in cricket because of Mush.

  >> My cat died because of mush as well

  I totally agree with Zeeshan aka “roxy” who are lawyers sitting in the same office and hate mush truely madly deeply
• Zeeshan

  January 9, 2008
  12:42 am

  Dear Ammar, u r trying to bring some fun outta it and again i would say its cz of adversity in Pakistan which caused depression and frustration which is clearly visible in ur thoughts you are trying to pick my wordings which is feminine kinda thing:-D

  >~ so lets come to the point and lets agree with majority of the people, who say MUSH is the culprit.

  ****** Now, as u say ur cat also died cz of Mush n I feel sorry for your cat btw BUT at the same time i would say BENAZIR died cz of MUSH…. cz she asked for the fool-proof security which MUSH neva provided.. ******

  We dont need dictators for ruling our country, we need political stability and investors friendly environment in order to bring good businesses here. i would again like to add something in ur “samajhdaani” that Pakistan is standing at the edge of being called a “FAILED STATE”.

  Today Albaradi, head of IAEA stated that “Pakistan’s nuclear assets can go in wrong hands”. Now u tell me WHO WOULD LIKE TO INVEST IN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES???

  We need “Instaphone” back and for that we need an investor and for an investor we need n investor’s friendly environment and for an investor’s friendly environment we need political stability and for political stability we need to get rid of “DICTATORSHIP”

  “WE SHOULD REALISE THE FACTS AND BEING PATRIOTS WE SHOULD INDULGE IN THINKING ABOUT THE BETTERMENT OF OUR COUNTRY RATHER THAN DEFENDING >>MUSH
• Ammar

  January 9, 2008
  2:05 am

  I think we should take the political debate to naitazi.com (Osama have you seen naitazi.com? ;))

  Zeeshan, Instaphone is DEAD! Why do you think chinamobile invested in Paktel and not Instaphone? How come Orasscom is investing in Mobilink in a “FAILED STATE”? How come Telenor is investing in Pakistan? Hell, how come Adobe is investing in Scrybe? Why are there so many roads/flyovers being built in Islamabad? Who is building all of these?

  Why does naukri.com want to deal with rozee.com? Why does shaadi.com want to come to Pakistan? Why are we having an India-Pakistan-Iran pipeline project? How come we are seeing services like amaana, shophive etc? How come Pakistani firms are recognized for the talent (Leasesoft by NetSol won an award recently)?

  And yes, Pakistan is a political hotbed; but Pakistan is also an emerging economy.

  Yes, Pakistan has investment risks; yet investors still want to invest for higher return on investment.

  May Instaphone rest in peace; there is no room for sub-standard products/businesses in this world I am sorry for your loss.
• Ammar

  January 9, 2008
  2:15 am

  For your reference, Zeeshan …

  Views on Pakistan’s economy from some of the reputable international institutions

  JP MORGAN

  *
  Pakistan ‘s economic performance in the past five years has been commendable. GDP growth is higher, poverty rates are down, inflation is lower, FDI is up, and fiscal deficits are down. Driving all of these improvements has been an environment of relative political stability under the pro-reform administration of President Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. Its run of success brought Pakistan ‘s stock onto the radar screen of foreign fund managers. Added to this, investibility improved due to the increase in market capitalization, aided by higher free float through new stock market offerings. These favorable dynamics in the size and efficiency of both the physical and human capital stock make a 6-7% target range for medium-term growth seem very reasonable, in our view. The IMF, in its recently completed Article IV consultation, uses a baseline assumption for real GDP growth of 7%.

  MERRILL LYNCH

  *
  Pakistan ‘s GDP growth in 2007 will range between 7-7.5%, based on recovery in agriculture sector and capacity expansions in the manufacturing sector. Merrill Lynch expects Pakistan to issue a Eurobond this year which it expects to be over-subscribed. Market capitalization surged 5.5 times from US$7 billion to US$46 billion over a period of four years, taking stock market capitalization to GDP from 9% at end-FY02 to around 36% at end-FY06.

  MOODY’S INVESTORS SERVICE 2007-ANNUAL REPORT ON PAKISTAN

  *
  The country’s rating for foreign currency bonds and the government’s rupee dominated debt reflect the significant improvement in Pakistan ‘s external liquidity and the government’s more efficient macro-economic management in the recent years. As a result of privatization, consolidation and restructuring. Moody’s investor service upgraded Pakistan ‘s foreign and local currency government ratings from B-1 to B-2.

  DOING BUSINESS REPORT, 2007 BY WORLD BANK

  *
  Pakistan was top reformer in 2006 and the runner up reformer in 2007. Recent reforms have resulted in a drop in the number of days required to import in Pakistan : from 39 to 19 days. Pakistan also reformed positively in the area of taxation by steadily reducing its corporate tax rate, from 39% in 2004 to 35% in 2006. Pakistan scores well on the indicators related to starting a business (54th out of 175) and protecting investors (19th out of 175).

  GLOBAL COMPETITIVE INDEX & BUSINESS COMPETITIVE INDEX REPORTS

  *
  Pakistan had a relatively good showing on the BCI, developed by Harvard Business School competitiveness expert, In the new BCI, Pakistan ranks 67th among 121 countries. On the GCI, Pakistan improved from last year’s 94th place to 91st place out of 125 countries that participated in this year’s survey. Pakistan ‘s gains take on added significance when compared to the drop in rankings experienced by many noteworthy emerging markets.

  
• Zeeshan

  January 9, 2008
  4:06 am

  In the 1990s, Pakistan undertook an intensive reform process. Ironically, the same decade was also associated with a deep plunge in growth and a rapid increase in poverty in Pakistan. It was as if the SAP actually worsened the macroeconomic situation of the country: budget deficits increased, savings and investment plummeted, debt problems worsened and foreign reserves dried up. Later, the World Bank and IMF accepted the devastating results of the SAPs and since then the emphasis has been switched to social development and poverty alleviation. Now, the loans forwarded to developing countries come with conditionalities that are meant to check the commitment of any government toward the social sector of the economy. It can be safely suggested that the IMF and World Bank have not only recognized their policy failures of the past two decades but are also willing to repent for them.

  However, the recent rejection of the IMF’s and World Bank’s suggestion to improve development expenditure in the fiscal budget 2004-05 by Pakistan’s Official Economic Contrivance suggests that the Pakistani government has not learned much from the past decade. An important point to mention here is that nobody is differing with the government’s position that recent increases in foreign reserves, a fall in inflation, improvement in gross domestic product (GDP) growth and a reduction in the budget deficit indicates the Pakistani economy is moving in the right direction. But the fact remains that all of the mentioned concepts are mere statistical indicators and don’t mean much if they cannot be translated into an improved social setup. Second, the improvement in many of these indicators is suspected to have exogenous reasons – and not much to do with government policies
  These examples quite amicably expose the fallacy of the above accusation. It is clear that Musharraf’s economic team has failed to recognize the policy shift of these international agencies. No doubt in the 1990s, the main emphasis of the World Bank and IMF had been to curtail budget deficits as a prerequisite conditionality for loan disbursement or debt rescheduling – which was not at all a bad policy recommendation in itself – but since the subsequent governments in the past decade had been trying to discipline their fiscal budgets by squeezing development expenditures or by imposing indirect taxes, the result always came out to be biased against the common man in Pakistan, whereas the government officials had been getting away from their poor economic policies by putting the blame on the IMF and World Bank.
  One also wonders what state bank governor Dr Ishrat Husain really meant when he recently claimed that Pakistan’s economic policy is shifting from macroeconomic stabilization to an accelerated pro-poor growth, whereby the social well-being of the population will move from secondary to primary position and the national targets will be set in terms of social targets, particularly in the field of education, health, nutrition, drinking water, pensions and social safety nets. Can anybody ask him how exactly the government plans to implement such a pro-poor economic policy when it is not even ready to put adequate resources in the development sector for the fear of worsening the budget deficit?

  In short, for the sake of the poor of this country, Aziz and his acolytes better give heed to what the World Bank and the IMF is saying. Otherwise, every economic gain to-date claimed by the government is meaningless, if Islamabad finds itself handicapped against social welfare and poverty alleviation.

  Ammar my heart goes for you and for your innocence bro but when u talk about these things, now lets forget Instaphone for this time and since u were trying to prove that GDP is moving upwards and as Govt say ” ALL IS WELL ” LMFAO n roflz

  Try to go out anytime and find just 3 bags of flour, u will see the difference between talkin here and being practical… one flour bag weighing 20Kg is worth 1200Rs in Sawat…and Rs290/= in other cities but demand is much more than the supply so Interior Ministry officials are selling it on the price of Rs/340= and somewhere its leading upto Rs390/= Since i hate Mush and his tongue when he says “ALL IS WELL” which isnt the case

  Peace for u
• Zeeshan

  January 9, 2008
  4:08 am

  SAP = structural adjustment plans
• Zeeshan

  January 9, 2008
  4:20 am

  (From September 11 to November 17)

  General Pervez Musharraf succumbed to the US pressure and bypassing the national leaders and the friendly countries took a sudden U-turn on the country’s Afghan policy.

  In his address to the nation on September 19, the General held out assurances to the nation, allaying their fears in the backdrop of a worst track record of the earlier assurances. But all these assurances evaporated in thin air one by one throwing the nation in a state of chaos, confusion, despair and despondency.

  Whatever assurances he had held out to the nation on behalf of the partners to the ‘war against international terrorism’ were contrary to the expectations. Facts made it crystal clear that throughout the whole gamut of Afghan affair, the international coalition neither consulted the General nor they gave any importance to his ‘suggestions and recommendations’ making it immensely clear that his ‘role’ was limited to just taking dictation.

  They just put the record of all the 68 days beginning from September 11 to November 17 to the nation to bring it in picture about what profits and losses the self-assertive General’s Afghan policy brought to the nation. We will discuss them one by one under different heads as follows;

  DEFENCE

  The formation of a sincere and friendly government in Afghanistan after the humiliating defeat of the former USSR and its subsequent withdrawal from there, had blessed Pakistan with a safe 2400 kilometers strategic depth. There were friends and brothers everywhere in Afghanistan and there were almost no visa restrictions on Pakistanis.

  But the ‘wholehearted and unstinted’ cooperation of the Musharraf government to the international coalition’s ‘war against terrorism’ not only led to the formation of an anti-Pakistan government in Afghanistan on November 13 but it also cost Pakistan loss of the 2400 kilometers strategic depth. This has exposed the western borders of Pakistan to aggression any time in addition to the already barely defended eastern borders, as tanks and a heavy number of armed troops have also been deployed there.

  Soon after the formation of their yet-to-stabilize government in Afghanistan, the Northern Alliance leadership not only torched Pakistan Embassy in Kabul but they also chanted anti-Pakistan slogans. This was no less than a shot in the arm of the ever-hostile terrorist state of India that spared no occasion to damage the stability and integrity of Pakistan.

  The so-called President of the Northern Alliance government Burhan-ud-Din Rabbani has ordered his troops to kill Pakistanis on sight and his Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah has asked the United States and the allied countries to eliminate Pakistan with an atomic bomb. The above-mentioned facts make it abundantly clear that how much destruction General Musharraf has brought to Pakistan by changing the country’s Afghan policy pursued by the civil dispensations.

  ATOMIC PROGRAMME

  During the tenure of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, the nuclear weapons of Pakistan were in full state of preparedness and installed at different strategic locations to counter any aggression.

  Fearing that after the nuclear explosions by India, Pakistan too will follow the course simply to redress the balance, the then President of the United States Bill Clinton requested Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif four times on telephone not to detonate the nuclear devices in exchange for three and a half a billion dollars aid. But he rejected his offer and detonated six nuclear devices making the country the seventh nuclear member of the atomic club.

  On the contrary, General Pervez Musharraf collapsed to the international pressure and put different components of the country’s nuclear devices at distant geographical locations.

  In an interview with ABC correspondent Ted Koppel on November 10, General Musharraf said: “Pakistan’s nuclear weapons are not ready to be fired, they are not mated, they are geographically apart and are not in condition in which a button has to be pressed to fire them.” In sharp contrast to the ‘revelation’ of the General about the country’s nuclear weapons, Indian nuclear scientist Dr. Abdul Kalam and his successor Dr. Chadambram in their statements on November 12 and 15 respectively said: “Indian nuclear assets are safe and well in position and well in place. If weapons are made they are not meant for storing.”

  The disclosure of General Pervez Musharraf about the state of country’s nuclear weapons amounts to inviting India to strike first and God-forbid! destroy Pakistan, as General Musharraf has told India before hand that it will take Pakistan a long time to move different components of its nuclear weapons to one location for assembly. If we see this disclosure of the General in the light of the latest statement of the so-called Foreign Minister of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan Dr. Abdullah Abdullah inciting the coalition force to eliminate Pakistan with an atomic bomb, we can only pray for the stability and integrity of the country.

  ECONOMY

  Our economy is in a shambles since the military took over on October 12, 1999 and there seems no light at the end of the tunnel at least in the foreseeable future if the recent statements of Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz and Governor State Bank of Pakistan Dr. Ishrat Hussain are taken into consideration.

  Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz says that country’s debt has swollen to 2 to 3 billion dollar or 150 to 200 billion rupees. While according to the State Bank Governor Dr. Ishrat Hussain the Afghan crisis will deal a blow of a cool $10 billion or Rs 650 to 700 billion rupees to the country. In fact the losses are beyond their comprehension and imagination. If we take into account the statements of these two responsible government high-ups, it means that one-year budget of the country has gone down the drain.

  The question arises what have we achieved from the coalition countries? The government and the investors had expected that during his visit to the United States General Pervez Musharraf will not only win a write-off of $12 billion debt and an emergency aid of at least 6 billion dollar to compensate the losses incurred in the wake of the Afghan war. But all their hopes were dashed to the ground as the General came back with the promised aid of one billion dollar. According to a careful estimate General Pervez Musharraf has caused a loss of 1,000 billion rupees to the country but could not achieve even a farthing.

  MUSLIM UMMAH

  Before the self-destructive Afghan policy of General Pervez Musharraf, the Muslim Ummah considered Pakistan a fortress of Islam and looked it in high esteem. But the day the General started spying information to the coalition forces besides providing information and logistical support against Afghanistan, not only the atomic intallations of Pakistan became highly insecure but the country also lost its image in the eyes of the Muslim Ummah.

  Today the general impression in the Muslim Ummah is that how can country help the Muslims which spies on a brethren Muslim state for the coalition forces and cannot even protect its own peaceful nuclear programme.

  KASHMIR DISPUTE

  During the rule of Pakistan Muslim League, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to Lahore and under the shade of Minar-e-Pakistan he not only accepted Pakistan as a reality till Doom’s Day but also expressed his determination to solve the Kashmir dispute in the interest of the peoples of both the countries and the region. On this occasion Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee also signed the historic Lahore Declaration.

  But the defective policies of General Pervez Musharraf and the shameful defeat of his stand on Afghanistan has emboldened India to refuse to come to the negotiating table to solve all the contentious issues and step up its genocidal operation in the Indian-Occupied Kashmir. The new spate of killings in the Held Kashmir have reminded the world of the blood-curdling gory killings of innocent Palestinians in the camps of Sabira and Shatila. India is now toeing the line of Israel in Held Kashmir but General Pervez Musharraf, who until recently was championing the cause of the innocent Kashmiris, is watching their genocide like a silent spectator.

  The installation of a Pakistan-hostile government in Afghanistan has encouraged India to color the indigenous freedom movement in the Indian-Occupied Kashmir as terrorism, and unluckily the world is also accommodating its views in this regard.

  The world support to the so-called Indian stand on Kashmir can be gauged from a statement of US Defence Secretary Colin Powell that “We want elimination of foreign assistance to freedom movement in Kashmir. War against terrorism will not end in Afghanistan. We want elimination of terrorism everywhere including Kashmir. The world is now accommodating Indian demands.”

  The terrible mess the country is in nowadays is solely due to the policies of General Pervez Musharraf. It is a fact that Pakistan has fallen in between two stools due to feather-brained policies of General Pervez Musharraf.

  Nothing will go well until we get Democracy back in pakistan and political stability!!! this is what i believe in:-)

  get back peace and get back good investors much more than the present..
• Qazi

  January 9, 2008
  2:08 pm

  hi ammar and zeeshan, quite a spirited debate you have going here, but ammar mentioned rightly above that maybe this is not the best place.

  how ever some of you comments regarding investments are really worth noting, Though i think investors do care about the stability most of them don’t care it its a democracy or dictator ship any thing which bring stability is good for them. the good thing that happened to our country in recent years is that investors from middle east are not prone to the political stability they have a knack of working with out governments one after the others and have ties with all major leaders so for them it doesn’t matter who is at the seat. which makes it good for the economy that we have such investors
• Ammar

  January 9, 2008
  3:14 pm

  Qazi, the interesting thing is that even though we both thing that this isn’t the best place to do this discussion; we still can’t keep ourselves from commenting because the topic is soo inviting, and everyone of us is totally involved in the things happening around us as everyone is affected in one way or the other.
• Zeeshan

  January 9, 2008
  3:59 pm

  Whatsoever the case is but finally my brother agreed with me that:

  >>>”everyone of us is totally involved in the things happening around us as everyone is affected in one way or the other.”

  Thats what i wanted to prove and here it is…:-)

  i am commenting because i am also one of the sufferer regarding *~!~*INSTAPHONE*~!~*.

  If anyone thinks that i am an employee out there in *~!~*INSTAPHONE*~!~* or part of their crew… then u r wrong absolutely!!!

  i can prove it too!!;-)

  now i will see u guyz when *~!~*INSTAPHONE*~!~* will b back soon! Insha’ALLAH

  but m ready to comment and reply for urs!!

  hopefully now we’ll talk about *~!~*INSTAPHONE*~!~* and its future,

  try to talk and comment logically:-) hun*-)

  Best of Luck *~!~*INSTAPHONE*~!~*
  your customers, users are with you!

  Cya
• Ammar

  January 9, 2008
  4:31 pm

  Instaphone, lazy bum … rest in peace
• Zeeshan

  January 9, 2008
  6:51 pm

  dont go for personal attacks chap

  if u have any tension with insta then take it

  easy and have some chill pill,

  go and walk in some refreshing environment, roflz

  waiting for ur some logical talks.. seems difficult though

  peace for ya :-p
• Ammar

  January 9, 2008
  7:12 pm

  waiting for ur some logical talks.. seems difficult though

  Logical talk follows:

  A. Instaphone can’t pay the bills, but it’s a great service because they give me good packages which no one can match.
  B. Since Instaphone cannot pay the bills, some investor should step in and pay the bills instead. ROI is not important here because I am getting good service.
  C. Investors can’t step in, not because of ROI, but because of Mush’s policies.
  D. Mush, you suck
  E. Mush, you suck
  F. Mush, you suck
  …
  X. Why doesn’t anyone “think” and talk logic.
  Y. My friends, please give me logical reasons as I’ve been giving perfectly logical reasons.
  Z. Okay, I win. Mush you still suck.

  
• Osama A.

  January 9, 2008
  9:58 pm

  Guys, while I love those pageviews piling up, but I dont think this is a healthy conversation anymore.

  Truth be known both of you may be correct – with recent events a lot of companies have reported losing immediate business, but at the same time those losses have been shortlived – most potential clients have begun bringing PK companies back on the negotiating table.

  Unfortunately, Instaphone may not have had the liquidity to wait until the deal solidified.

  Even if life was fine, investment in instaphone was a pretty risky bid. Growth is approaching saturation, new technology has a regulatory barrier to entry, and whoever purchased instaphone would have to carry the entire license debt on themselves as well.

  Apart from a slightly shorter time-to-market there is little to be gained (except perhaps one very enthusiastic customer – right Zeeshan? :p)

  There were massive rumors floating around over the past year about Instaphone preparing to launch a pre-emptive 3G rollout with over 200 high-speed value added applications etc.

  I wish they truly had leapfrogged from AMPS to 3G but I suspect that got shot down because of PTA itself who may have wanted to introduce that bidding for all players in a single time.

  So we can all go back and forth tryign to place blame on a single entity but like most things in life this is a gray area as well
• Osama A.

  January 9, 2008
  10:52 pm

  Sorry suhaib but I had to moderate your comment.
• emranjaved

  January 10, 2008
  12:11 am

  INSTAPHONE the Best
  I have bin using INSTAPHONE form 2000.
  >Lowest Call Rates
  Night Free
  Sms Free

  >Best Connectivity
  Clear Voice
  Best Coverage
  we live in rorel area which is 45 Km from Sahiwal But it works there i can call even sms
  > A Pioner Company
  working since 1999 for ue kind information its first company who introduced PRE-PAID Pakage INSTA-ONE..its INSTA who introduce for life validity on even 100 Rs Card .its INSTA who introdced Balance transfer facility INSTA Share.ONline billing, MCB banking ,Free sms ,Sms in 50 pasa on all networks and many more………..

  to be continue
  Grammer mistakes expected
• Ammar

  January 10, 2008
  1:31 am

  … but at the same time those losses have been shortlived – most potential clients have begun bringing PK companies back on the negotiating table.

  >> I can tell you from EXPERIENCE that this is true. Our customers ask us, how are things in Pakistan; and then they move on to business. Actually the electricity crises has hit us harder we had to buy a 60 kva generator and immediate expense of Rs 1.2 million (totally unplanned and unexpected!). But never mind, as we could afford it because business is otherwise good
• suhaib

  January 10, 2008
  5:26 am

  osama if you can moderate my comment then why not the crap what zeeshan has posted, he would probably blame musharraf for every mosquito bite he gets.

  being the leader of pakistan and keeping its people happy is probably the most diffucult job in the world.
• Osama A.

  January 10, 2008
  9:24 am

  Because, suhaib, your comment was a personal attack. Zeeshan is ranting in general about policies, and that too to justify some business event
• Ammar

  January 10, 2008
  11:32 am

  osama,

  i was just thinking, why do you think instaphone has such fiercely loyal customers? there are only a few of them, but there are some. from marketing/sales point of view, how can we take this as an example and build brand-loyalty with with an ancient technology/product?

  can we draw a comparison with Mac, which also has pretty loyal customers?

  what matters more, number of customers or number of loyal customers?

  with such loyal customer base, what could instaphone do differently? why was technology such as issue as some people were obviously satisfied with what they had?

  just thinking out loud …
• Osama A.

  January 10, 2008
  1:29 pm

  Good thoughts.

  Yes they do have very loyal customers, but telecom is a volumes game. You can compete as Apple with a loyal uesrbase with a premium-priced product.

  Instaphone could have transitioned everyone to 3G VAS and video conferencing at twice the price point and make voice / sms free and that could have offset the lower numbers overall.

  The other problem is that Instaphone at the same time doesn’t have much brand equity – which is the perceived value of instaphone to people who aren’t in instaphone. This is a barrier to growth for them and because of this they would have a hard time poaching competitor subscribers.

  Why do I think Instaphone has fiercely loyal customers? Value for money. Their charge cards could cover practically all segments (and this is before Easy Load type of things), and they chose to give out a lot of bang without asking for bucks. These are people who don’t really see the difference between AMPs and GSM – especially because all networks face disconnection issues anyway.

  Mac enthusiasts used to love the idea that they all appreciate elegant design and attention to detail more than number crunching capabilities – that they were right-brainers. So Mac enthusiasts find value in somethign that the company can actually charge premium for, which works for both.

  Loyal customers trump customers any day as long as they can continue to pay you premium in the long term.

  With the ipod / itunes solution, in contrast with Macs, Apple merely cares about volumes — that market is a numbers market.
• Zeeshan

  January 10, 2008
  2:42 pm

  well Suhaib i would Love to reply for ur thoughts and comments about me but i know the rules of any forum….

  >>>> now the thing is that which company introduced balance sharing 1st up ??

  Ans: INSTAPHONE

  >>> which company offered free roaming around the nation??

  Ans: INSTAPHONE

  >>> which company gave life time validity 1st up??

  Ans: INSTAPHONE

  >>> which company the best ever call rates Like 99paisas only for whole min around the globe?

  Ans: INSTAPHONE

  >>> which company offered free on-net msgs 1st up?

  Ans: INSTAPHONE

  >>> which company gives the best call rates on any network in Pakistan??

  Ans: INSTAPHONE

  why shouldnt i get and all customers, subscribers of INSTA feel proud of the company and service we have been and still are using??

  u know what mate?? i m using instaphone since 1994. yet i have mobilink telenor and warid with SonyEricsson W810i but even then i Love using insta cz i feel much comfortable in making calls rather than keeping mobilink or any other cellular service and keep on listening to music in the mmc

  i am loyal but at the same time there is a reason and logic behind my loyalty with this service:))))

  at the same time i am loyal with my country and i am proud of it i Love pakistan truely, deeply madly…

  one should b loyal and sincere with life and things which give u comforts..

  INSTAPHONE is Our Pride and ” u should feel sorry for not using instaphone:)))) cz of its best eva packages

  whatsoever happens next but INSTAPHONE is and will b the best

  we dont only dream abt fantasies
  we live ‘em:)))))

  Live Long Pakistan
  Live Long Insta
• emranjaved

  January 11, 2008
  6:26 pm

  INSTAPHONE FAILUAR (Causes)

  1.the story starts with the MILLICOM’s purchasing of PAKTEL.Bcz MILLICOM was not able to run INSTAPHONE properly…..but leya PUNGA

  2.INSTAPHONE decession to going CDMA,where as pakistan is favourable markeet for GSM.

  3.After selling INSTAPHONE to Arfeen Group MILLICOM take goood decission in the form of PAKTEL GSM.this time was favourable for INSTAPHONE shifting to GSM bcz it had Customer in good number and coverage in 186 cities.

  to be continue
  INSTA means Instantly ,Quick
  JAZZ means empty,insincear
• GUNS 'N' ROSES

  January 22, 2008
  9:50 am

  Hi
• roxy

  January 23, 2008
  6:27 pm

  hello:)i’ve gone through all the comments.Let’s be realistic n doing this i totally agree with Zeeshan.Since we’ve to take into consideration all the aspects affecting instaphone and its decline.all of us,at least, agree to this point that our country was in a much better condition before 1999.Whatsoever the the presiding body was, we cannot refute that Pakistan was making progress in many ways.Nowadays we can see that life is becoming hell for evryone.electricity n flour problem is not letting the people to raise their head from their pathetic condition.None of us atleast denies this,i guess,if only we have somm sense of resposibilty towards our beloved country.IF a commoner is affected then i guess it anyhow results in a nationwide suffering.though i’m not giving you any exact figures about the GDP stuff yet i can tell tht the the previos FULLTERM was really disasterous and it has helped only to worsen the previously worst condition of our country.
  If the common person is trying hard to survive in our country then how can we just imagine that the factories and firms will work properly.lemme tell you thogh there may be some irresposibilties at instaphone’s end yet the sense of insecurity is a very huge gift provided by the pesent government. Just like the sense of insecurity that i,m having right now coz its the time of load shedding. see youu later before the electricity provides a proof of the faliure of government not the instaphone. bye
• Kaleem

  January 31, 2008
  3:37 am

  i hope instaphone will soon back with the new cdma system and give us good pakages like in the past. Instaphone will Rock Again
• Zeeshan

  February 11, 2008
  3:45 pm

  BREAKING NEWS!
  FINALLY INSTAPHONE IS BACK (H) ON 11TH FEBRUARY 3 DAYS BEFORE VALENTINE.. I HOPE USAMA AND AMMAR U BOTH SHOULD GET ONE CONNECTION TOO.. I HOPE I WOULDNT HAVE HAD TOLD U TO GET ONE… YOUR HEART MUST B POUNDING TO GET ONE:-D LMFAO

  INSTA ONCEAGAIN IS ROCKING AND SHAKING DOING SOME ROCK N ROLL… HIYAA AND HURRAY
  DUA TAQDEER BHI BADAL DETI HAY OR TADBEER SAB KUCH BADAL SAKTI HAY.

  News Breaker…
  shan:-p
• Qazi

  February 11, 2008
  4:49 pm

  Zeeshan, do you have a source of the news about instaphone’s getting back its license or a news link?
• Kaleem

  April 26, 2008
  2:04 am

  can someone told me when instaphone launching CDMA services. because after that instaphone can compete with ufone or mobilink.
• Zeeshan

  April 26, 2008
  3:36 pm

  hiya allz;-)
  Kaleem even we are praying da same! but noone has da source to tell u this… Hopefully Instaphone will arrive in da market and will compete with all da other companies..
  Because We all hate

  Warid:-S They are thieves and DAAKU..
  Telenor Sucks
  Mobilink has nothing new not even mobitunes
  Ufone has alwayz network Problem :-S
  and now…
  Lets see what Zong will do??

  but EAST OR WEST INSTAPHONE IS THE BEST

  shan.
• Kaleem

  May 5, 2008
  4:03 pm

  This is my request to instaphone management to plz. let their customer know whats going on and try to find a partner in Pakistan to help your company financially.
• Zeeshan

  May 6, 2008
  1:06 pm

  Well Kaleem, even we are waiting for any news from the company. But bro we are helpless at the moment as we dunno whats goin on in the company. and they probably be searching for some foreign investment.
  Lets hope for the best… :))))

  Regards,
  Zee
• CEO MANSOOR GHAFOOR

  June 6, 2008
  3:49 pm

  SEE ATTACHMNT
• Kaleem

  June 10, 2008
  11:43 pm

  if any instaphone employee see these comments plz. let us know whats going on in instaphone. Thanks
• 364

  June 17, 2008
  2:22 pm

  HI All

  soon u all will hear a v guuud nwz (InshAllah)from instaphone

  Although Transformation takes time

  as for as liscence is concerned see following link: http://www.pta.gov.pk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=850&Itemid=625
• Kaleem

  July 8, 2008
  1:52 pm

  hi,

  well mean while instaphone should announce a attractive package like per second billing so that company can stop the process of losing customers.
• Zeeshan

  July 11, 2008
  2:09 am

  AoA, hows u Kaleem?? well i dun think so after getting the best call rates package u need this per second billing at all.
  Kaleem Bhai lemme ask yuh one question..

  Which company is giving u 24/7 FREE on-net calls for just worth 200Rs/= per month??

  Answer: ONLY INSTAPHONE..

  Be a part ov it Like i em. my bill last month was 4370 and i paid 9000 not just cz i want to earn insta rewards but also cz we Love it and want INSTAPHONE to rock back in d market soon!

  Only set-back we’ve right now is Arifeen Group. Hope they’ll do sumthing good for themselves!!
• ujmi

  July 11, 2008
  6:56 pm

  Zeeshan, your enthusiasm for Instaphone makes me wonder – are you the last paid employee at Instaphone?
• Zeeshan

  July 12, 2008
  9:49 pm

  well ujmi u arent the one Bro who doubted at my loyalty with Instaphone. Look i’ve been using instaphone since 1995 and my number since then is d same…

  i gave some reasons why m i loyal. so scroll up and read again why i like using instaphone and WHY IS IT D BEST IN D MARKET as far as call rates r concerned. if u still doubt u can contact me:-O

  next post i’ll give yuh ma number only IF u think m an employee :-S
• Kaleem

  July 13, 2008
  3:02 am

  AOA
  Yaar zeeshan i agree with you that they have the best post paid rates but well to attract customers to use the old handsets with must features in the handsets and also people knows that technology insta using is old they should gives per second billing and they should start marketing their post paid package more and more and try to give a change for the prepaid customers.
• Husain

  July 24, 2008
  4:54 am

  Hello,

  I read the comments and views of the persons in this forum regarding the Instaphone. I my self a very old and loyal customer of Instaphone. I have been listening and waiting for the launch of 3G WCDMA technology by Insta for the past 6 years which unfortunately did not happen and may not take place. To be honest, the chances are that the company may wind up.The overall situation in the company is pathetic, the workforce has become demoralized, are not getting monthly salary, many of the employees left insta. All because of the top management. To be frank, just a few bastards in the top management of Arfeen Group and ofcourse the CEO of Insta messed up. The whole messup is made by Sultan-ul- Arfeen and the CEO of Insta. Millicom was fedup and wanted an escape. SK telecom was serious in investing in Insta but the deal was lingered by the top management for 3 years for nothing. SK telecom at one time started looking for an opportunity to backout somehow which they got one. Now no investor is ready to invest in Insta. Besides it has become impossible to compete with the cellular companies like Telenor, Mobilink and Ufone. There is a throat cutting competion and it is not possible for Insta to sustain hell no especially with the people like Sultan-ul- Arfeen and the present CEO of Insta. The service of Insta in terms of quality has deteroriated considerably to an alarming level. In most of the cities the services are suspended.

  Coming to the conclusion, downfall of Instaphone is not because of political situation or Musharraf, it is purely because of the arrogant attitude of the top managers. They did not took and treat Insta like a business entity and are still unconcerned. How come the cellular operators such as Telenor, Warid, U fone and Zong flourish and doing a roaring business.