Zong Pakistan

History

Zong commenced operations as Paktel by Cable & Wireless in 1991. It was the first company granted a free license to carry out cellular phone services in Pakistan. It carried out AMPS services until 2004, when the company launched GSM services.

In 2003, Millicom Corporation, who at that time were majority owners of Instaphone, bought Paktel from Cable & Wireless. Millicom installed a new management team headed by John Tumelty, former CEO of Instaphone, and Chief Financial Officer David Ordman.

On January 22, 2007, Millicom International Cellular S.A. stated that it would sell its 88.86 percent stake in Paktel Limited to China Mobile for $284 million, which includes the repayment of intercompany debt. The sale implies an enterprise value for Paktel of $460 million, Millicom said in its press release. Merrill Lynch advised China Mobile on the transaction.

On 4 May 2007, Paktel Limited was renamed to China Mobile Pakistan. On May 16, 2007 China Mobile announced that it had increased its stake in CMPak to 100%.

On April 1, 2008 Paktel was rebranded to Zong.

Network

China Mobile Pakistan has invested more than US $2 billion so far to build up network infrastructure in Pakistan since 2008. It will invest US $1 billion in next two to three year for next generation service roll-out.

Zong has built the third largest cellular network in the country with over 6000 base stations. To go green, Zong has installed solar powered cell sites in various locations. It has country's largest solar power telecommunication network.

Its network base stations, microwave links, IT support and transmission towers are maintained and provided by ZTE Pakistan.

Alcatel-Lucent under the terms of a distribution agreement with RIM leverages its global integration services and local presence in the region to provide Zong with end-to-end implementation, launch, delivery and support services for the BlackBerry solution in the Pakistani market.

Zong currently uses GSM, UMTS/HSPA+ and LTE technologies.

Radio frequency summary

Due to increased demand, Zong has re-farmed a 5 MHz portion of it's 1800 MHz 2G spectrum for LTE in selected areas, this allows their total LTE spectrum in that area to be 15 MHz, catering to more users at a specific time, preventing poor quality of service especially during peak hours.

Next generation mobile services

On April 23, 2014 Pakistan concluded next generation mobile spectrum auction. Zong paid $516 million for 10 MHz spectrum in 2.1 GHz frequency for 3G and 10 MHz spectrum in 1.8 GHz frequency for 4G making it Pakistan's first 3G and 4G operator.

Number schemeing

Zong uses the following numbering scheme:

+92 3 1 N₁N₂N₃N₄N₅N₆N₇N₈

Where, 92 is the ISD code for Pakistan and is required when dialling outside the country, 3 is the mobile access code, and 1 is the prefix for Zong allocated by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority. Omitting +92 would require 0 instead to represent local call, hence 031 is the general prefix and N₁N₂N₃N₄N₅N₆N₇N₈ is the subscriber number.

Stores

Zong operates 23 customer service centres, 305 franchises, and 190,000 retail customer points nationwide.

Slogans

Since launch China Mobile Pakistan run the advertising campaign for Zong with the tagline 'Say it all' (Urdu: سب کہہ دو‎).

Products

Zong offers prepaid, postpaid, ladies, and youth plans. The postpaid, ladies, and youth plans are branded as bizXcess, Flutter, and Circle. Moreover, it also offers data plans and branch-less banking.

Partnership with Manchester United F.C.

In October 2011, ZONG signed a three-year partnership deal with the English football club Manchester United F.C. The deal allowed the club's Pakistani fans to see all the goals scored, exclusive interviews, news, and behind-the-scenes access. ZONG also made a television commercial featuring the Manchester United players Dimitar Berbatov, Rio Ferdinand, Darren Fletcher and Ashley Young playing street football with Pakistani children.

In 2012, Zong sent 32 boys for a one-week training camp to Manchester United Soccer School in Abu Dhabi. 120 teams with maximum 16 players each were identified and trials were conducted in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Multan and Faisalabad by a team of professional coaches. A total of three teams were formed in Karachi, two in Lahore, one each in Islamabad-Rawalpindi, Multan and Faisalabad. The coaches then identified 32 boys to send to Abu Dhabi from these 8 teams.

Corporate social responsibility

Zong powers several projects related to social responsibility. These include

1. Scholarships to students at the University of Engineering and Technology.
2. A campaign called “I am a Blood Donor” to create awareness about blood donation.
3. Zong joins hands with UNICEF Pakistan to defeat polio.
4. Zong runs Tabeer, a wagon service in collaboration with Al-Abrar associates in Islamabad and Rawalpindi for women.
5. Buksh Foundation and Zong signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to provide electricity to two Punjab villages.
6. Zong sponsors the National Open Polo Championship for the Quaid-e-Azam Gold Cup.

Awards

On September 26, 2013 President of Pakistan honoured Zong as the fastest growing cellular network at the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Timepey

Timepey is the mobile banking service offered by Zong in association with Askari Bank Limited. Timepey lets users pay utility bills, transfer money to specified recipients anywhere in the country, deposit and withdraw cash and carry out account transfers.

BoP branchless banking

Bank of Punjab has been rolling out its branchless banking in the country with two partners Wateen and Zong– for operations to be carried out through internet and telecom network.