Telenor Pakistan

History

Telenor acquired a license for providing GSM services in Pakistan in April 2004, and launched its services commercially in Karachi, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi on 15 March 2005; it expanded its services to Lahore, Faisalabad and Hyderabad on 23 March 2005. Telenor Pakistan’s Corporate Headquarters are in Islamabad, with regional offices in Peshawar, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Hyderabad, Quetta and Karachi. On 28 January 2005, Telenor established its first call centre in Karachi.

The official opening of Telenor Pakistan was held in Islamabad with former President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf as guest of honor and a Telenor delegation headed by President & CEO Telenor Group Jon Fredrik Baksaas along with then CEO Telenor Pakistan Tore Johnsen. The inauguration call was made by former President Pervez Musharraf to the Prime Minister of Norway, who was visiting Australia at the time. The present CEO of Telenor Pakistan is Irfan Wahab Khan

Areas

Telenor covers more than 3,500 cities and towns throughout Pakistan. The company has over 8,000 3G-ready cell sites throughout the country and offers GPRS and EDGE nationwide and HSPA+ services in over 300 cities.

Sales and distribution

Telenor Pakistan’s distribution network has over 200,000 touch points across Pakistan that include company-owned customer sales and service centers, franchises, sahulat ghars and retailers that offer GSM products and Easypaisa services.

Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS)

Telenor Pakistan is providing 3G services as the company has acquired a 3G licence in an auction that took place on 23 April 2014 in Islamabad, Pakistan and expanding services rapidly. Telenor Pakistan has Pakistan's largest 3G coverage currently in 300+ cities.

Telenor uses the 2100 MHz band for its 3G (HSPA+) network in Pakistan.

Introduction of LTE

In August 2016, Telenor Pakistan became the third 4G network of Pakistan. Telenor Pakistan is providing LTE in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Multan and Karachi, Faisalabad and Swat.

Telenor is currently using FDD-LTE Band 5 (850MHz) for LTE services.Telenor subscriber can dial Dial *7799# to check Telenor 3G / 4G coverage.

Closing of Service Centers

On January 5th 2017, Telenor Pakistan announced that it will be shutting down all 17 of its Customer Service Centers in the country.

Telenor said it will serve its customers through 289 franchises that are open in various parts of the country.

Telenor Customers Buy Apps & Games from Google Play Store with Mobile Balance

Telenor announced that their Customers Can purchase Apps, Games on Google Play Store with their Mobile Balance while no need of Credit Card.

Radio Frequency Summary

As of January 2017, Telenor is testing it's LTE network using FDD-LTE Band 3 (1800 MHz), by re-farming 3 MHz out of it's total spectrum in the 1800 band. The network is only being tested in limited areas of Islamabad at the moment.

Mobile banking and Easypaisa

In 2008, Telenor acquired majority shares of Tameer Microfinance Bank Limited for its mobile financial services project. They named the branchless banking service "Easypaisa" and launched it in October 2009. In a country of over 190 million people, with only 10,000 bank branches and approximately 15 million bank accounts, Easypaisa was Pakistan's first branchless banking deployment aimed to increase access to financial services for the people of Pakistan, with over 25,000 Easypaisa shops across the country. Easypaisa was also quoted by CNN as the "model to follow" in launching mobile banking services.

Easypaisa is Pakistan’s first and largest mobile money service and third largest in the world, catering to 6 million customers every month. It currently has over 40,000 agents in 750 cities and towns across Pakistan. Moreover, in October 2014 Telenor Easypaisa has introduced three types of accounts for every class of users. They have named them as Level 2 Basic Account, Level 2 A Type Account, Level 2 B Type Account and Level 2 C Type Account, all accounts have their own deposit limit and distinct rules.

EasyPaisa split up with Telenor Pakistan

EasyPaisa Mobile banking announced it was parting ways with Telenor Pakistan in March 2017, it is now being managed by Tameer Bank, which is fully owned by the Telenor Group. EasyPaisa's operations, PR and marketing will now be handled by the Telenor Group.

Awards

Telenor Pakistan has won a number of awards. In 2011, it won the Prime Minister of Pakistan Trophy for Largest Foreign Direct Investment (Telecom Sector) which was awarded by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industries.

Telenor Pakistan & Tameer Microfinance Bank’s Easypaisa was awarded the Shaukat Khanum Social Responsibility Award 2011 by Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre, Lahore. Easypaisa has also won the Best Mobile Money Transfer Entrant of the Year Award at the world’s first Mobile Money Awards in 2011. In 2012, Easypaisa was declared as the third largest mobile money service in the world by Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), a global partnership of 34 organizations housed in the World Bank whose goal is to advance financial inclusion.

In previous years, Telenor Pakistan has presented the "Best Place to Work Award" by Pakistan’s HR associations; and the Best Practices Award, presented by The Data Warehousing Institute.

Telenor Pakistan has also won the "Superbrand of the Telecom Industry Award", a recognition supported by the international brand arbiter Superbrands that operates in 55 countries.