One of the biggest market speculation associated with the launch of 3G in the country was whether or not the market is ready to use high speed internet. One key concern that sprouted from this speculation was whether the consumer segments had or were willing to buy 3G enabled handsets.
The launch of 3G in the country provided most telco’s the opportunity to reinvest into or rather reinvent their dying device programs. A solid device program in theory is likely to increase adoption rates, build and maintain critical mass for 3G, enhance internet revenue not only by increase usage but also by increase upfront booking of data revenue and lastly increase market competitiveness of each player.
Here is quick rundown of the top devices available to encourage 3G bucket consumption and an analysis on whether telco’s have been able to gain and provide advantage that was speculated from an integrated device plan at the time of the 3G launch.
Ufone Smart U5
The only exciting device launch post the 3G launch came from Ufone. The company decided to take up Smartphone manufacturers directly by introducing one of the lowest priced 3G enabled Android Smartphone’s in the country.
Ufone’s device is called Smart U5.It is priced at PKR 6,666 and comes with free access to Facebook, Twitter, Line and Whatsapp alongside 500MB worth of mobile internet every month for the first three months.
U5 is the only company sponsored handset available in the market. The program is to aimed at targeting the rural uptake of 3G bundles and Smartphone’s and is definitely worth a praise or two.
Device Offers
Remaining teleco’s , including Ufone, have also launched integrated devices campaigns to encourage the use of Mobile Internet. Here is a list of devices being offered by the telco’s along with the details of the mobile internet bundles
The evolving trend from the given data suggest that most telco’s have synced price of cheaper category phones with the market price where as in the premium phone category most companies have retained profits and drawn a cover charge for the service as well. This is largely owing to the fact that telco’s are pushing for internet consumption in the rural segments of the country by offering cheap phones and free internet where mobile internet is a fairly new concept unlike in the cities. Where as in the premium phone category they are encouraging the upfront purchase of the internet bundle. However there is limited incentive to purchase devices from the company when the market price of the same is much lower in some cases.
There is a lot of room for improvement available for device programs currently and we hope to see better offers coming from the sector.
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