Latest data by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority show that Warid Telecom had acquired over 44,075 LTE subscribers as of January 2015. Now in a market of 136 million 2G subscriptions, this is an insignificant number. But context is very important here.
One, relative to direct competition - China Mobile (Zong) had boarded only 5,023 4G subscribers in the last six months - Warid's LTE subscriptions look extremely impressive. And two, Warid only launched this service in late December, so this may just be the beginning of a homerun for Warid.
We need to wait and see how the future numbers turn out. (For our previous, rather skeptical commentary on Warids LTE maneuver, please see "Warid throws a curveball," published December 30, 2014). But the turnout so far will certainly please Warid management. The operator has long sulked on the sidelines, watching its subscriptions droop, and not participating in spectrum auction held last year. Now suddenly Warid is the top 4G operator in Pakistan! (LTE and 4G are comparable technologies).
Three things may explain Warid's healthy LTE numbers. First, the management has gone all-in with LTE in six major cities, from where Warid derives the bulk of its 12 million+ 2G subscribers. Thanks to comparatively lower traffic on Warids network, LTE is being offered on the same network, so operational synergies may also be kicking in.
Second, Warid may also be benefiting from the market-making activities of the four 3G operators. Thanks to the competitions efforts to graduate high-speed mobile broadband from a market niche to some significant market segments (mass market will take a while to develop), awareness for mobile data is growing. Warid launched LTE six months after the quartet went out with 3G, thus possibly benefiting from the new environment.
And third, Warid's handholding of its customers - in terms of making it easier for them to get hold of LTE-enabled handsets, through company offers as well as third-party purchase information - has also played a role in the uptake so far.
Yet it must be kept in mind that 4G or LTE subscriptions will always be a fraction of 3G subscriptions, the predecessor technology. There were over 9 million 3G subscriptions as of January 2015; total 4G subscriptions are less than one percent of that. That ratio, which is similar to the one in neighbouring India, may improve in the future, but not drastically. But 4Gs payoff will be higher as it offers faster speed than 3G at premium rates.
So far, Warid seems to have done well for itself in LTE. This may encourage Warid to make more investments in service rollout.
Source: http://www.brecorder.com/br-research/44:miscellaneous/5218:warids-lte-showing-promise/
