Ufone Sevices

Introduction PTML is a wholly owned subsidiary of PTCL, established to operate cellular telephony. The company commenced its operations, under the brand name of UFONE, from Islamabad on January 29, 2001. During the year, as a consequence of PTCL’s privatization, 26% of its shares were acquired by Emirates Telecommunication Corporation (ETISALAT). Being part of PTCL, the management of UFONE has also been handed over to ETISALAT. During the years, UFONE continued on the path to success. The Company further expanded its coverage and has added new cities and highways. UFONE has network coverage in more than 5885 locations and across all major highways of the country. During the year UFONE adopted the policy of simplified tariffs with no hidden charges, which resulted in positive impacts on the usage trends of subscribers as well as total subscriber base, which has increased to 19.4 million. UFONE currently caters for International Roaming to more than 230 live operators in more than 130 countries and introduced International roaming facility for Prepaid subscribers in Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Portugal, Thailand, Cyprus, Bangladesh, Uzbekistan, Tunisia, Sri Lanka, Belgium and Kuwait with lowest rates, featuring no security deposit and activation charges. GPRS Roaming facility is available with more than 115 Live Operators across 85 countries. The company has also been awarded a new License for providing cellular services in Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Northern Areas.

Future Plans Keeping in view the growth potential of the cellular industry there is no option but to be aggressive in order to remain a potent force in the cellular industry. In order to extend cellular network to new cities, towns and highways and enhance its current installed capacities in existing cities. A strong focus will be on maintaining high quality of service, which is always a benchmark of UFONE, increasing usage and exploring new revenue streams on value added services, market visibility through various market initiatives to fulfill subscribers’ satisfaction and demand and above all to increase the value of investment for the shareholders.

What UFONE Serves? Convenience: The Prime objective of UFONE is to provide a convenient service to its customers and they are quite successful in it through providing online billing, mobile banking, ease in change of packages etc.

Comfort: The comfortable service is always appealing for the users and UFONE is trying its best to catch the attraction of its customers by providing comforts like in purchasing new Sims from a large network of franchises situated everywhere nearby their residential and working areas. They also provide helpline services to answer the queries and solving problem faced by the customers.

Fastness: Customers are experiencing time deficiencies due to fats mode of life. UFONE has cope up this issue through providing faster communication in which connectivity time on u-circle is 3-5 seconds and other networks 5- 8 seconds. In WAP Services, data downloading is much speedier than other networks & SMS delivery is very efficient than others.

Coverage:

UFONE is the 2nd ranked network after Mobilink with respect to the Network coverage it aims to provide wider coverage, superior connectivity, clear signals & voice quality. Covering over 5885 key destinations UFONE is the ultimate means to stay connected wherever your business takes you allowing seamless roaming through the network providing the best nationwide coverage. UFONE covers all major cities of Pakistan now you can enjoy comprehensive coverage in areas like basements, remote areas, hilltops, seashores, deserts, Railways, the GT Road, Super Highway & Motorway etc .etc.

Quality Credence: Customers fail to make comparison between different products of services however UFONE helps in search experience and makes it easier to avail specific services for specific people through providing different packages.

Customer Need Identification: Psychological and social needs of customers like low budget, conveying messages, sharing feelings and emotions in sad or happy moments, guiding others, wishing others, asking help etc. are to be satisfied through proper need Identification strategy. UFONE is doing at its best in guiding customers about the right and most suitable package by providing information via website and Print and electronic media.

Why customers Choose UFONE as their Communication Network? Following are the few reasons that convince users to choose UFONE as their network:

Low call rates: UFONE is in fact PTCL owned cellular service, so they are providing all packages at lowest rates and enjoying the status of cost leader in communication sector. Major reasons for which customers choose UFONE are these cheapest rates.

Variety of Packages: UFONE service is providing a variety of packages for their Post-Paid and Pre-Paid customers. The details of packages for both types of connections are given as follows: Prepaid: Postpaid:  Life Plus Package (Load Any Amount & Get)  U50  Value Package (Load Rs. 500 & Get)  U250  Public Demand Package  U550  Paanch Ka Pandrah Package  U1000  Uwon Package  U1600  Ufone 3 Minute Package  U5000  1 Number Free Package  UNite So much variety in packages enables the customer to enjoy various tariff plans in different times without switching the network or mobile number.

Mobile Entertainment: UFONE provides its users a gateway to fun! Users can enhance the personality of their phone with UFONE’s mobile entertainment.  They download the ring tones,  They choose coolest and amazing wall papers to make a statement on the screen of your phone.  They can Jump into an exciting gaming world on your very own handset.  They can break the monotony! Through downloading and sharing the funkiest animations that will help brighten their day!  They let their phone come alive with colorful and exciting picture messages or sending them as an MMS to a friend.  They let their phone speak their language.  They give their phone a new look with UFONE mobile logos and make their phone stand out!



They can put color in their mobile screen with UFONE Mobile Themes like Spiderman; Coca Cola and a list which will take their breath away.

International Roaming: Now with UFONE international roaming, home is never that far behind. UFONE now offers international roaming services to its Pre-Pay subscribers as well. Another new service to be provided by UFONE is GPRS roaming. Enjoy the freedom of surfing the net, checking your emails or sending your vacation snapshots to the folks back home.

Value added Services: UFONE Prepaid connection is a complete communication solution that offers you SMS, GPRS, MMS, Call Features, International Roaming and a variety of amazing Mobile Products.

Short Messaging Service (SMS) & International SMS: You can send and receive text messages up to 160 characters per SMS. If your handset supports more than 160 characters, one SMS will be sent for every 160 characters. You can exchange text message both nationwide & worldwide.

Caller Line Identification (CLI): You can find out the caller’s number automatically before answering the phone as it is displayed on your handset.

Call Waiting: Call Waiting allows you to receive calls while in conversation with another caller. To activate your call waiting please call 333.

Voice Mail: Voice mail lets you receive and store messages when you are unable to attend your calls; if your phone is switched off, busy or out of coverage. To activate your voice mails please call 333. To retrieve your voice messages please dial 191. You can enjoy message storage capacity of 10 messages.

Phonebook Saver: Lost or changed your phone and worried about your contacts? With Phonebook Saver, now you can retrieve all your contact numbers instantly whenever you lose them. So go on and create your personal Phonebook Saver account and never lose a contact again.

GPRS enabled MMS, WAP: With GPRS (General Packet Radio System) you can access emails, browse the internet, send and receive multimedia messages from your handset.

Internet Access: You can access the internet by simply entering the desired website address on your phone’s internet browser.

MMS: This service allows you to send and receive pictures, sound & video clips.

Emails: User can access their office emails and internet based emails using the GPRS enabled handset.

Prepaid IR: Now roam in various important destinations worldwide with the most affordable and economical tariff offering.

Content Download: UFONE Post-Pay offers a variety of content download services like, Monophonic / Polyphonic Ringtones, True tones, Java Games, Logos, Picture Messages, Color Wallpapers, Mobile Themes etc.

Miss-Call Alert Services: UFONE is now offering the Miss-Call alert notification. In Pakistan, UFONE is pioneer in providing this facility. If you are somewhere there is no signal of UFONE or your cell phone is off. And somebody is trying to calling you but your mobile is not responding. You will receive a particular message from the UFONE. This message contains the name and numbers of the persons who were calling you but your mobile phone was not responding.

Advance Loan: UFONE is providing Advance Loan facility. When you have low credit or no credit then just press the buttons from your key pad *456#. And you will get 10 Rs. as a balance in your account. No one telecom company is offering 10 Rs. as loan excluding UFONE. Rest of the companies is providing this facility up to 5 Rs.

Web 2 SMS: UFONE is providing the facility to chat with someone. If you are using UFONE service then just opens the website of UFONE, logon and sends free messages to any number.

My UFONE Account Services Now users can create their own account on UFONE website and get access to a host of web based products like Address Book, Calendar & Planner, POP3 Alerts, Email Address as well as Infotainment Services that let you subscribe to daily horoscope, quotes, jokes, and much more! that let them send messages to their groups, schedule important meetings, access emails through SMS, or even create their own email address on www.UFONE.com

WHAT Customer Experiences? Sound clarity: Some of users say that one of others is providing better sound quality than UFONE however majority of users are satisfied with UFONE as well. Sound is crystal clear even in most populous areas, hill tops and remote places.

Call Connectivity: Customers are not feeling any problem in call connectivity. There are no pauses or delays in connectivity. Plenty of towers installed on several places to boost signals, heavy telephone exchange servers, latest signaling structure etc. all make call connected in few seconds. However on special days like EID days, Christmas etc. connectivity problem is faced by many UFONE users.

Web connectivity: Customers are getting attached to their businesses through web connectivity services even they are miles away from their offices. Majority of customers say that UFONE web Connectivity is the ultimate means to stay connected wherever their business takes them. UFONE allows customers to roam seamlessly through its network which provides them with the best coverage nationwide.

Message Delivery: Customers are totally satisfied with their message delivery service because of two main reasons; on time delivery of message to the recipient of any network, and quick delivery information via delivery report. Majority of customers are using this network due to this very facility. With the new and exciting services of UFONE like SMS Bundle and SMS Buddies, customers are feeling more liberty in sending messages and satisfaction in delivery.

Network Coverage’s: UFONE users are feeling a wider coverage, superior connectivity, clear signals & voice quality provided by UFONE. UFONE covers all major cities of Pakistan and users can enjoy comprehensive coverage in areas like basements, remote areas, hilltops, seashores, deserts, Railways, GT Road, and Super Highway & Motorway etc.

Downloading Data through GPRS: In addition to web connectivity customers are getting easy access and one stop shop through the service of WAP Portal. It’s a web based site where customers are able to download their choice from a wide variety of contents, media and applications, directly to their handsets. There are no LOGIN procedures and no signup requirements. More than that, customers can download from any other WAP site via GPRS which adds value in the entertainment package.

Post-Experience Evaluation of Service: Publicity through word of mouth: Majority of users of UFONE are satisfied with its services. They are playing a strong role in promoting a positive image of UFONE as the best quality service with cheapest rates providing maximum coverage all over the country.

Loyalty Faith and Trust: UFONE pay heed to Customer’s complaints and pays full attention to the problems pointed out in their feedback then takes quick preventive actions accordingly. UFONE employees, as a team, try their best to fix each and every major or minor problems and this untiring effort has made their customers loyal so they do not switch to other services.

Help-line services: UFONE is providing the help- line services to both its Post-Paid and Pre-Paid service connections. If users have any query or any problem, then they can just dial 333 from their phone and will be connected to UFONE help-line services. Some of the features are given follows linked with help-line.

Complaints & Feedback: UFONE is committed to provide the highest standard of services to its customer via its brand experience and sales service. They believe in continuously improving their services and efforts to satisfy their customers. In order to identify customer expectations and needs better they would appreciate customers’ feedback or complaint on any kind of observation you may have. UFONE helps its customers to say the right thing at the right time. They’ve got a fix for every situation.

Causes of Dissatisfaction: Dissatisfied customer is the failure of any service based industry. The only thing that annoys the customers in this particular telecom industry is “network overloaded”, “network jam” or “network busy” message from the provider’s server, especially when someone have to wish someone very special on an occasion. Customers of UFONE have experienced the OVERLOADED NETWORK on special occasions like Independence Day (14 August), Pakistan Day (23 March), Chand Raat on Eid Days and Valentine’s Day etc. Due to this very reason sometime customers have to switch to other network for that particular day.

Appendix QUESTIONNAIRE Note: Please fill up the following questions if your cellular service is UFONE

Name

Q1

Q2

Q3

___________________

Do you agree that UFONE provide cheapest service and is a cost leader in Telecom sector? Strongly Agree

Agree

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

How you get information about UFONE Packages? TV

Holdings

Newspapers

Internet

How good UFONE provide services? (Please Rate) Always

Convenience Comfort Fastness Coverage Fulfill requirements Help in searching your preferred services

Sometimes

Rarely

Never

Q4

Which factor is influential in the Customers decisions in choosing UFONE? Very influential

Influential Slightly Do not influential know

Low Call Rates Variety of Package Mobile Entertainment Value added Services International roaming

Q5

How frequently you use Value Added Services? (Please rate) Very frequently

Frequently Occasionally Never

SMS MMS WAP Internet Voice Mail Phonebook Saver Emails Content Download Advance Loan Miss Call Alert Web 2 SMS My UFONE Account

Q6

What is your experience of UFONE Service? Excellent

Sound Clarity Call Connectivity Web Connectivity Message Delivery Network Coverage GPRS

Good

Fair

Poor

Q7

Q8

Q9

Q 10

If you feel problems, how you get rid of it? Calls on UFONE Helpline

Visit Customer Service Center

Send Complaint through SMS

Any other ________________________

Do UFONE pay attention to your complaints? Very quickly Attended

Quickly Attended

Sometime Attended

Not Attended

Do UFONE appreciate Customer Suggestions? Always

Sometimes

Rarely

Never

What makes you annoyed of UFONE? _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________

Q 11

Will you tell others to use this service? Yes

No

Survey of Five UFONE Customers