Keywords: tips for ufone, ufone marketing analysis, ufone swot analysis
PTML is a subsidiary of PTCL (Pakistan Telecom Company Small), the most significant operator in Pakistan. PTML was founded to operate mobile telephonyThe company commenced its procedures under the brand name of Ufone from Islamabad on January 29 2001. Through the year, because 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 paid to Etisalat.
Since its inception, Ufone has focused on the folks of Pakistan, empowering them with relevant communication settings and services that allow them to do far more than just talk, at a price that suits them the most. "http://www. ufone. com/about. aspx"
UFONE came on the market when it was mainly captured by Mobilink and InstaOne. It had been a difficult task to become part of such market in a country like Pakistan where people were unaware about cell phones and it was a position symbol at that time. Ufone changed the complete scenario and when it came in the market it provided with really cheap mobile interconnection and contacting rates that have been offered neither by MOBILINK nor by InstaOne.
Along with the case of minimum call rates, clear audio and best network, Ufone offered its customers simplified tariffs with no hidden charges. With a strong and uniquely humorous communication way that has become Ufone's signature across all advertising advertising, Ufone provides its customers multiple reasons to laugh.
During the year July 2005 to June 2006, further widened its coverage and has added new metropolitan areas and highways. Ufone has network coverage in more than 750 towns, towns and across all major highways of the united states. This customer concentration and best offering has allowed Ufone to build a subscriber basic of over 20 million in under ten years. Ufone has network coverage in 10, 000 locations and across all major highways of Pakistan. Ufone expanded its coverage and has added new metropolitan areas and highways to its coverage network. The business in addition has been awarded a new Permit for providing cellular services in Azad and Jammu Kashmir and in northern areas.
Ufone currently attracts International Roaming to more than 260 live operators in more than 150 countries including Saudi Arabia, United kingdom, UAE, Singapore, Portugal, Kuwait as well as others with minimum rates, offering no security deposit and activation charges. Ufone offers Pakistan's most significant GPRS & BlackBerry Roaming coverage available with more than 150 Live Providers across 105 countries. More recently, Ufone has become a focused and rigorous head in VAS, constantly launching innovative services, which were the first of their kind in the Pakistani mobile industry.
Brand
Ufone mainly consists of two brands i. e. the Prepaid and the Postpaid. While keeping its tradition to be the craze setter in the industry, Ufone evolved the image of mobile phones from an extravagance only affordable by the elite, to essential affordable by the normal man. Since its inception, Ufone has placed its brand for masses.
In keeping with the future competition and market dynamics, Ufone increased its concentrate on the youth section (which comprises 50% of the populace), with the Prepay brand. By building market concentrated products, Ufone's brand team launched hostile promotions, which further increased the brand equity. The brand new brand image gained huge attractiveness among the targeted market.
Ufone's Brand success has been rewarded in many ways, including increased volume of customers, revenue and market share. Apart from these rewards Ufone's nomination for Telecom World Prizes Middle East as the Best Brand of the entire year 2009. What makes this even more special is that Ufone is really the only Pakistani telecom company to be between the finalists for these accolades from nominations of over 30 providers from the center East.
http://commsxpress. com/india/ufone-pakistan-best-brand-award-2009/3905/
UFONE SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH JAFFER BROTHERS:-
Karachi-Pak Telecom Mobile Limited (Ufone) and Jaffer Brothers (Pvt. ) Small (JBL) have authorized an arrangement for I. T Storage area Consolidation and Replication Project. Under the arrangement, JBL will execute and deploy Venture Storage Loan consolidation & Replication Treatment for enable Ufone strengthening its storage area and correlated systems. The arrangement was signed by Abdul Aziz Khan, CEO & President, Ufone and Nasser N. Jaffer, CEO Jaffer Brothers (Pvt. ) Limited. http://netxpress. com. pk/2009/05/ufone-signs-agreement-with-jaffer-brothers/
UFONE MOBILE BANKING ACCESS:-
Mobile Banking refers the option of banking and financial services with the help of mobile handset. The scope of offered services are broadly categorized into Transaction Structured (Bill Repayment e. g. , Ufone's ULoad & Postpaid Mobile Monthly bill Payments, DOMESTIC BILL Obligations etc. ) and Non-Transaction established (BANK-ACCOUNT Mini Statement, balance Inquiry, Pin Change etc. ) services.
Mobile financial deal platforms are swiftly emerging across the world; such websites harness the intrinsically lower costs of mobile bank platforms in comparison to traditional banking institutions and exploit the progressively more vast diffusion of mobile telephones across all socioeconomic groups and geographical areas.
VALUE ADDED SERVICES
Ufone welcomes to indulge in the true essence of the term on the go. They have confidence in providing customers with as much convenience as they believe perfect. With Ufone user friendly Value Added Services, customers can load up there entire external environment right in there cell phone.
Ufone always says "It's all about U!" providing concern to its customers and providing them with the knowledge of complete convenience with Virtual Private Network, Call Management, Missed Call Notification, Phonebook Saver and a host of Infotainment and Entertainment services directly on the cell phone.
On a airline flight? Can't find the money for to lose out on cell phone calls? With Ufone's Missed Call Notification, customer's never loose track of there missed cell phone calls. Customers should Stop fretting about cellphone getting lost. Back up of all connections is currently possible with Ufone's Phonebook Saver and regaining any lost information directly from there server is super easy.
Creating an account on Ufone website (www. ufone. com), getting access to a host of personalized online services like Address Reserve, Calendar & Planner, POP3 Alerts, Email Address as well as Infotainment Services allows customers to subscribe with daily horoscope, quotes, jokes and much more. Along with all these services, Ufone offers GPRS, MMS and WAP usage of improve mobile internet experience.
http://www. ufone. com/mobile_products. aspx
INFORMATION GATHERING
Information gathering was the most essential area of the whole activity. To acquire relevant material, various resources of information were used. Due to the considerable amount of quality information available online, the majority of the information gathering was done from the web but other options such as stated below also helped to analyze the strategies of Ufone.
LIST OF SOURCES OF INFORMATION GATHERING:-
UFONE SERVICE CENTRE
BOOKS
NEWS PAPERS
TELEVISION
INTERNET
In today's world whichever information you want, it is all common on the internet. For my job it was a hard task Due to the extensive information available to me, i had developed to undergo an entire selection process where I needed to filter all the information and squash out the important tips to include in my project as per the necessity of the job.
GOOGLE:-
On the internet I searched www. google. com which is one of the biggest search webs. From here I got good information about Ufone marketing strategies through different links which helped me significantly to know and understand the marketing strategies of Ufone in a much better way. It helped to get access to different websites such as www. propakistani. com from where I was able to get information about the number of customers of telecommunication industry
UFONE WEBSITE:-
TO learn about Ufone, its website (www. ufone. com) was an excellent source available. It had been a good source of information for me personally to know in what Ufone was and provided information about its brand, services and different value added services because of its customers. Ufone's website also provides an idea about its online marketing strategy. As it is very colorful and all the rates, services and new offers are prominently shown on the key page, it gives a concept about its marketing strategies.
PTA WEBSITE:-
PAKISTAN TELECOMMUNICATION AUTHORITY website (www. pta. gov. pk) was another way to obtain information as it given rates of other mobile networks. Those rates were found in looking at with Ufone rates through the evaluation done.
UFONE SERVICE CENTRE:-
A UFONE service centre located near my property was a good source of information. I got everything related to brands of Ufone. It mainly includes pre-paid, post-paid, blackberry and GPRS. It had been a good source to know about all the plans that Ufone provides to its customers using different brands. For pre-paid and postpaid there have been a wide variety of packages offered. There were different plans for local and international getting in touch with and there were also many plans offered for brief message service (Text message). All these tariffs were a good source of information.
BOOKS:-
Related to the marketing strategies I consulted my different ACCA books that helped me in revising all the techniques and models used in formulating marketing strategies of an organization and inspecting its market share. It became just a little easier after generally over heading the books of FTC and PBP to comprehend, analyze and examine the marketing strategies of Ufone. The literature that we used are as follows
P3 BUSINESS Evaluation PBP
P3 BUSINESS Research FTC
NEWSPAPERS:-
Ufone advertisements in news documents helped me in the examination. Its advertisements in different news paperwork helped in discovering its strategies its strategies and its own marketing guidelines.
Apart from Ufone, even its rivals advertisements were observed in the leading media documents of PAKISTAN such as DAWN, THE COUNTRY, JUNG(news newspaper in Urdu vocabulary) etc.
Mostly news papers are being used by telecommunication company to see about there new deals and rates as a lot of PAKISTAN populace reads news newspaper daily.
TELEVISION:-
On television, generally during cricket matches proved by GEO SUPER, the first athletics route in PAKISTAN, a great deal of Ufone advertising are seen. Another fact about these advertising is that three to four different commercial created by Ufone are been run which includes all types of consumers. A brief idea of Ufone monthly costs of its advertisements on television will be found in the research part of this report.
LIMITATIONS IN GATHERING INFORMATION:-
As the topic is related to marketing strategies of a company, it is well known that no enterprise implies or publishes its marketing insights to general public available domains i. e. online or in media papers as almost all of the marketing information are an extremely confidential part and should be kept as a solution.
The situation gets worst in cases like this especially because in PAKISTAN, telecommunication is an extremely competitive market so Ufone being truly a part of such a market is careful that none of them of its private information is leaked to the challengers, because in that market every competitor is seeking to pick up opportunities to overcome the other company, increase its market show and be the best.
ETHICAL LIMITATIONS:-
None of the info used in this report is copied or utilised without the authorization of the dog owner. Relevant and real recommendations are provided under every information in the article.
AIMS AND Goals:-
The objective of the research and analysis project is to investigate the marketing strategies of UFONE. I aim to do this by using different models which is often used to formulate asses and examine different marketing strategies of any corporation. As to provide a clearer picture of the company's marketing strategies, I will also incorporate in the task a comparative examination of the marketing strategies of various other companies in the telecommunication industry of PAKISTAN. The primary models that I will be using in this report are the following:-
1) MARKETING MIX
2) SWOT ANALYSIS
3) PORTER FIVE FORCES
Marketing combine includes 7P'S of marketing which is used to analyze both interior and exterior information of an organization. It includes PEOPLE, PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT, PROCESS, PRODUCTS, Charges, PROMOTION and PLACE. It addresses major areas to analyze the strategies of an organization.
SWOT analysis will be the internal (talents and weaknesses) and exterior (opportunities and dangers) examination of a business. By using SWOT analysis an organization can discern its talents, eradicate weaknesses, work on opportunities and try to decrease and remove threats.
PORTER FIVE Pushes are the key external analysis which will help me in figuring out all the exterior circumstances for Ufone. PORTER FIVE Makes includes BARGAINING Vitality OF Dealer, BARGAINING Electricity OF BUYER, Risks OF A FRESH ENTRANT, Dangers OF A SUBSTITUTE AND COMPETITION/RIVALRY. Through Porter forces all the exterior tribulations, advantages and disadvantages faced by Ufone can be determined.
A comparative examination of marketing strategies of Ufone with its competitor's strategies such as Mobilink Telenor Warid and Zong may also be provided. I would try to evaluate and differentiate the different strategies that are being used by all these telecommunication companies in PAKISTAN
I will also point out different sections of market targeted by Ufone that have helped it in increasing higher market show than its competitors. Some negatives in the marketing strategy of Ufone will also be underlined and exactly how an all round psychoanalysis of what they were, how they progressed and where they aim to reach will be analyzed in this article.
RESEARCH
MARKETING
Marketing strategy is employed by a business for concentrating on organization's energy and its use of resources on a collection plan leading towards upsurge in sales and dominance on the market. A marketing strategy combines promotion, costing, circulation, product development, romance management and other elements; discovering and explaining firm's marketing goals and also explains ways to accomplish it inside a stated timeframe. Online marketing strategy determines the choice of marketplace segments, positioning, marketing combine, and allocation of resources. A key component of online marketing strategy is often to keep marketing consistent with a company's overarching quest statement.
IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR UFONE:-
In the recent times, the competition level in PAKISTAN in the telecommunication industry has elevated a whole lot. Therefore to make it through in the market it is not merely important for Ufone but also for all other telecom companies to get strong marketing and advertising to be able to increase there market show in this progressing and growing market
MODELS USED TO EVALUATE MARKETING STRATEGIES OF UFONE:-
The first model that I have used to analyze the marketing strategies of Ufone will be Marketing blend.
Marketing mix:-
It comprises of 7P'S of marketing. They are as follows
PEOPLE:-
In this part of the strategy, different segments and class of folks will be discussed. From a telecommunication viewpoint, the next will be normally being large segments of people to focus on.
Corporate Class
Entrepreneurs (Business category)
Working class
Youth (ageing between 15 & 22)
Government organizations
These are mainly 5 sections where mobile users could be divided. As for Ufone, initially it attempted to concentrate on the normal man like the labor class to provide a concept and notion that mobile phone is affordable for all those but after some time it had taken a strategic transfer and now it mainly focuses on the young ones of Pakistan. Through its adverts it attempts to attract youngsters, school going and college going crowd.
On the other palm it does not have too much to offer folks from professional field and it never spends heavily on its advertisements for corporate school or business school.
The main rivals of Ufone in this regard are Telenor and Zong which is a china mobile subsidiary in PAKISTAN. The advertising of Telenor are also very multi-colored and attractive for the children and Zong from the beginning was included with the thought of attracting junior of the country.
2 - PRICE
Customers see costing as the heart and soul of selecting a brand. Cellular companies are facing extreme price competition in present-day market.
Price has always been the center differentiation of Ufone. Ufone is the main one who around a season back offered the cheapest rates on-network and off-network. Now it's a strong attack between Zong and Ufone and new rates keep on publishing every month and at times every week.
Ufone strategizes to capture the existing rates needs of its customers and utilize it well on periodic or timely basis. For instance Ufone offered very good call rates on international cell phone calls in Eid day's thus engaging visitors to use Ufone for international calling.
It also offered hourly call rates in Ramadan when individuals were least more likely to avail the offer that much that it might show unprofitable for Ufone such as Ramadan people in PAKISTAN generally fast and largely people won't discuss for hours during there fasting but UFONE made people talk to its extremely special offers and plans.
It was a fantastic technique to beautify the brand image in term of rates in customer's thoughts as well as remain profitable in doing so. Ufone employs market penetration charges strategy and powerful pricing strategy to meet up with the customer needs and ever changing price competition. Ufone also provides with the best Text message rates. These are the following:-
PACKAGE 1
165SMS
RS 25+Duty/MONTH
PACKAGE 2
500SMS
RS 50+Duty/MONTH
PACKAGE 3
1000SMS
RS 75+Duty/MONTH
PACKAGE 4
8000SMS
RS 80+Taxes/MONTH
PACKAGE 5
UNLIMITED SMS
RS 3+Taxes/DAY
Ufone provides the cheapest text messages rates in Pakistan. The other company that is near to Ufone is Telenor. Its brand djuice provides its customers with the following packages:
PACKAGE 1
1000SMS
RS 8. 76+Duty/WEEK
PACKAGE 2
3500SMS
RS 29+Taxes/WEEK
PACKAGE 3
7500SMS
RS 69+Taxes/WEEK
PACKAGE 4
300SMS
RS 3. 71+Taxes/WEEK
Mobilink brand JAZZ provides numerous packages such as JAZZ BUDGET, JAZZ EASY, JAZZ OCTANE etc. Jazz Octane provides the cheapest sms rated that is just RS 0. 20+Taxes/SMS and daily charges of RS 1. 00
Still new in market the make of ZONG launched by CHINA MOBILE even involves be a troublesome competitor as it provides services keeping different kinds of users in mind. ZONG has the package best suited for customer requirements while keeping the affordability in balance.
Daily SMS PACKAGES
On exceeding 500 SMS, additional SMS to be incurred as per tariff plan
This bundle would be valid for one day only * In order to re-subscribe your amount should be productive and you must have sufficient balance available
Weekly Bundle
1000 SMS for whole week limited to Rs. 10
On exceeding 1000 SMS, additional SMS to be incurred according to tariff plan
This pack would be valid for seven days only
In order to re-subscribe your amount should be dynamic and you'll want sufficient balance available
Fortnightly Bundle
500 SMS / day for 15 days for only Rs. 50
On exceeding 500 Text a day, additional Text to be charged as per tariff plan
This offer would be valid for 15 times only
In order to re-subscribe your amount should be active and you'll want sufficient balance available
Monthly Bundle
500 SMS / day for 30 days for only Rs 80
On exceeding 500 Text message every day, additional SMS to be priced according to tariff plan
This offer would be valid for thirty days only
3 - PLACE
Place plays a very important part in the syndication and advertising of services.
Competitors of Ufone are seeking to permeate into places where others haven't reached. All cellular service provider companies in Pakistan try there best to drastically widen their network & coverage in every area. Mobilink has this edge in place superiority since it is the pioneer in mobile telephonic field.
Ufone strategize to broaden its coverage to all or any places in Pakistan in order to meet up with the requirements of its increasing customer platform. Now Ufone is heading from metropolitan areas to remote northern areas in increasing its network.
4 - PROMOTION
Ufone thinks in Integrated Marketing Communication which really is a carefully blended mix of advertising tools. Ufone utilize different marketing activities and programs to connect and deliver value to customer. These activities are coordinated to provide maximum communication result. These communication stations includes Advertising, sales advertising, public relations, direct marketing & personal advertising.
Ufone strategizes to carry out promotion in order to increase its market show.
Advertising:-
It if often noticed that Ufone mainly makes new advertisements when it must inform the customers about new services. After that it heavily encourages its brands and products through its advertising on tv, radio and reports papers seeking to persuade people to acquire their service or transition to their connection from other mobile network. It mainly advertises for pre-paid customers but occasionally it also advertises its other brands such as post-paid, blackberry and GPRS.
Advertising Budget:-
Ufone is a heavy spender on advertising in electronic media and also other media. These are developing and participating in new advertisements on electronic marketing not with a month's distance or so.
A single Ufone advertisement enjoyed 15-20 times each day on a Television set channel costs millions varying with enough time of day when it is performed. Ufone spends 20% of its income on advertising.
From a particular source in Jung Group which has one of the leading media stations in PAKISTAN it emerged to my knowledge that Ufone spends a regular monthly amount of 20 million on adverts. This amount is exactly what Ufone will pay to Geo route alone. There are also programs such as ARY, INDUS, Exhibit etc which Ufone adverts are shown day and night.
Sales Advertising:-
Sales offers are short term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a product or service.
Ufone carries out activities to boost its sales. It comes after all of the promotion budgeting methods via affordable method, percentage of sales method, competitive parity method and objective & task method.
Ufone completed competition for cricket ability hunt in the entire year 2002. A renowned Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar was used as patron because of this competition. However this competition didn't do much good to Ufone's image or sales. But Ufone keeps future plans to handle such activities in far better and profitable ways.
All the mobile services are now offering premiums for their customers. In the same way this high quality is also made available from Ufone when a customer doesn't use his/her mobile connection for 3-6 months. Superior is given in the form of extra credit balance sent to customer's figures for free
Ufone also offered free trip to Dubai. It had been Ufone's first Eid offer. Every time a user makes any international call of 5 minutes or longer than five minutes, it gets into the lucky sketch to gain a return solution to Dubai. A lot more calls created by users, the more chance they had to gain.
Public Relations:-
Ufone has always tried out to keep up its public relations. It tries to keep all its customers happy by mailing greeting messages on all occasions such as Ramzan, Eid and other holy and important days in the country. It has also launched its "Hajj Guide" service.
Direct Marketing:-
Ufone use on-road umbrella franchises where they directly market and sell their relationships and Sims. Apart from that in a variety of metropolitan areas of PAKISTAN, Ufone has also made it posters on vehicle rickshaws that are a unique way of direct marketing.
Ufone has extensive promotion in cities, but it is now improving upon its promotion in rural areas as well.
5 - PRODUCTS
Ufone offers a variety of products and services to its customers. In each product it offers a variety of different packages for its different segment of users. The following are the different products of Ufone:-
Post paid
Pre-paid
Blackberry
GPRS
The hottest Ufone brand is the Pre-paid brand by which it focuses on its main segment customers that is the youth of PAKISTAN. It offers a variety of services because of its pre paid users such as:-
Internal Excess
Online Billing Payment
Power SIM
WAP
International Roaming
Voice Mail
Call Management
Messaging
(All information extracted from Ufone customer support center)
On the other hand it also offers a great deal of different deals for cell phone calls and short meaning service. These are the following:-
Tension Free Package
Ufone hourly Package
Super hourly Package
5 ka 15
Public Demand
Life Plus
U Group Life Plus
INFORMATION REGARDING SOME Plans:-
6 - PHYSICAL EVIDENCE:-
It is a very important aspect of marketing. Within this part the most important thing is customer service. Among the examples of physical evidence of customer service that we get is billing. Ufone has an effective and easy procedure for billing because of its post-paid customers. It could be done through credit cards, by utilizing a scratch greeting card, or by bodily going to the stores of Ufone which are now in big statistics.
For pre-paid customers it is extremely easy to make it happen recharge done. It could be done by purchasing cards with sealed amounts of Rs. 100, 500 and 1000 or easy weight of any amount greater than Rs. 10 is possible from many retailers of Ufone and even other small retailers.
It also offers a person service call centre where customers can call 24hours to get any information about Ufone plans or to report any problem they are going right through.
7 - PROCESS
For any organization it is extremely important to know what section of customers they would like to target, what exactly are there target and objective and what they want to achieve. To be able to achieve what they desire they will than make an activity to attract folks from that particular portion of market.
Each company has a different way and thinking with which they formulate an activity to advertise their product. In case of Ufone it's very evident that through there customer gathering process they want to achieve high market show amongst children of PAKISTAN. That is the most growing market section in telecommunication as all the youngsters as identified above are privileged to work with low rate offers to speak for hours and message as much as they need.
Apart from normal adverts and marketing strategies, Ufone also advertises on the internet through www. facebook. com (an internet site. on internet used mostly by teen agers to improve there friends circle and share there private information with others), news papers, magazines etc and try to gather the maximum amount of market share as they can through these processes. It also places up its stalls in big carnivals, will try a great deal of other operations to market its product and create awareness of its products every where.
SWOT Evaluation:-
STRENGTHS
Strengths include inside features, resources, and optimistic situational factors that may help the business to provide its customers and achieve its goals and objectives.
The strengths of Ufone are as follows:-
Ufone's differentiation is its biggest durability. Ufone offers minimum off-net call rates that differentiate it from its competition.
Ufone presents PTCL name as it is the subsidiary of PTCL.
Ufone deals for youth are its major strength and a big income source.
Ufone is offering more and better Value Added Services (VAS) than its competition i. e. Ufone's Walkie talkie.
Ufone has the most promising and attractive ATL (Above the Line) activities.
WEAKNESSES
Weaknesses include interior limits and negative situational factors that may interfere with the business's performance.
The weaknesses of Ufone are the following:-
As Ufone is a subsidiary of PTCL, that was previously under administration management, Ufone still has a shadow of the government organization. It is also highly reliable on PTCL.
It has a poor online marketing strategy to catch the attention of post-paid clientele and they are more dependent on pre-paid customers regardless of the actual fact that Ufone major revenue comes from its Post-paid customers.
They often get carried away with there extreme marketing strategies.
OPPORTUNITIES
Opportunities are beneficial factors or fads in the external environment that the business may be able to exploit to its benefit.
Ufone has subsequent opportunities in its way:-
Ufone's biggest opportunity resting ahead in near future is the stage of conversion with their GSM technology in to 3G (satellite tv established) technology
It can further aim for the corporate section in PAKISTAN.
Ufone has the chance of growing its customer bottom due to increasing trend of using mobile phones.
Ufone gets the opportunity to earn the customers of its competition by giving them superior services on cheap.
Ufone has the opportunity that it's pioneer in southern Punjab where it can promote itself and become market leader based on this very fact.
Ufone can astonish its customers by launching "UFONE KIOSK". These will be machines like ATM and through this service Ufone customers will be facilitated to weight balance within mobile exactly like people remove money from ATM.
Ufone still has room for the improvement of its network coverage in comparison to The Market Giant "MOBILINK"
THREATS
Threats are unfavorable external factors or styles that could present issues to performance.
Ufone is facing/about to face the following risks:-
Ufone's biggest opportunity is its biggest risk as well. The phase of its change of GSM technology to 3G technology can be a threat for it if not completed properly.
Another risk to Ufone could it be aggressive marketing strategy which some times hits back on it.
The improving customer base of Warid and Zong is also a large hazard for Ufone as Telenor has recently surpassed Ufone in terms of taking market talk about.
The decreasing current economic climate rates, instability in Pakistan and globally recession are a big threat for everyone businesses in Pakistan including Ufone.
MICHAEL PORTER'S FIVE Pushes:-
Porter identifies five forces concerning where a business stands on the market and what problems are it going to face from its customers and suppliers. How much behind could it be from its competition, what substitutes can be purchased in the marketplace and is there a opportunity of new entrant in the market.
BARGAINING Vitality OF CUSTOMER:-
As much as telecommunication industry is concerned, this is one area where customers have a whole lot of power. In all growing and progressing countries, there are a variety of different telecommunication service providers available.
Similarly in PAKISTAN aside from Ufone, you can find Mobilink, Telenor, Warid and Zong. With such a wide range of different telecommunications services available, customers have reasonable to get the best out of the companies this is the best products, best services which likewise incorporate after sales service. Talking about my experience I was a end user of Warid but just because of 1 small customer service concern and strong Ufone ad, I was persuaded to switch to Ufone.
Recently a fresh service, Mobile Network Portability (MNP) has been started out by Ufone and its own competitors. According to the service the user of some other mobile network without changing his/her amount can activate to any other mobile network. Ufone offers free minutes emails to appeal to consumers towards changing there mobile network through MNP but in the same way its competitors specially Telenor and Zong are also up to the duty and are offering similar offers.
One more thing advantageous for customers is the fact that the price tag on switching is very less which gives them a power to switch from one network to some other if they are not satisfied or happy with the assistance.
There fore it implies that customers in Pakistan have high bargaining ability when it comes to telecommunication industry. That is one thing of edge to Ufone since it gives it a chance to get customers from four other mobile network services. On the other hand it should make sure that it will keep it customers maintained and the best way to do that is by keeping them satisfied and happy.
BARGAINING Electricity OF SUPPLIER:-
The suppliers to telecommunication companies in PAKISTAN are Pakistan Telecommunication Expert (PTA). As mentioned above that Ufone is a subsidiary of PTA, it offers Ufone an edge over its rivals as PTA would charge Ufone minimal possible rates to give it an advantage over other competitors.
Hence bargaining power of supplier in cases like this is very low and Ufone should use this strength to over come its competition.
COMPETITION/RIVALRY:-
The next in porter five forces is the pressure of opponents. Ufone has a great deal of competitors in the industry including the Mobilink, Telenor, Warid and Zong. Some data has been obtained to show how strong your competition has been between these businesses in the recent years:-
As per December 2009 stats, in total terms Telenor came up on top with new 3. 1 million members, accompanied by Mobilink 2. 3 million and Warid 2 million. Overall, cellular phone providers fared well in '09 2009, with total addition of 7. 7 million customers moving telecommunication density to 59. 6 %. So far as the market show can be involved, Mobilink was at the top with 32 % while Telenor shut down in the space with 23 %. Warid and Ufone implemented with market share of 19. 3 per cent and 19 per cent respectively. Oddly enough, China Mobile enhanced its talk about to 7. 1 per cent, 22 months following its launch.
In 2010 the development has significantly altered and there has been a decline in the telecommunication industry. Cellular phone subscribers' bottom has witnessed a significant contraction by 2. 22 percent in January as the result of ongoing data correction process. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's (PTA) latest reports show a decrease of 2. 17 million users in the entire sector, which reduced the number of users by 1. 4 percent to 58. 20 percent by the end of January 2010.
Warid continued to be the worst effected operator as it lost 2. 65 million customers in total in January, taking it back to 4th slot machine game in conditions of users.
The amount of total subscribers in Pakistan now stands at 95. 4 million after minimizing from 97. 57 million in a month.
The current Feb. 2010 evaluation implies that Mobilink holds 33 percent accompanied by Telenor 24 percent, Ufone 19 percent, and Warid and Zong with17 percent 7 percent respectively.
THREATS OF AN ALTERNATIVE:-
In today's modern, advanced and scientific world, this risk exists not only for Ufone but all other telecommunication companies as well. This is one reason it will always be important to remain revise with the industry's market, have advanced technology, skilled staff and technically available staff.
The recognition of the recently launched Evo technology has escalated, which is apparent from the increasing members, that have jumped to 38, 000 as of Nov 09. 2009 became an impressive calendar year regardless of the difficult economic environment. The key reason why people would choose Evo are the following:-
For something like Evo to work in Pakistan would require a lot of your time and awareness amidst people as till date, internet calling is not something about which people are aware. Hence it can not be completely taken as an alternative for mobile systems until internet calling services are given at cheaper rates and folks are made aware of it.
PTA desires broadband users to rise to 4. 35 million by 2013 (currently at roughly 1. 2 million) this is one alternative to arrive way of Ufone and its own competitors.
But still risk of substitutes is low as these are all advanced technology equipments which the common consumer in PAKISTAN could find difficult and most importantly expensive. On the other hand, if some product in a simplified form focused on costs is launched on the market than maybe it's a big risk for any telecommunication companies.
THREATS OF NEW ENTRANTS:-
Telecommunication industry is not really a very easy industry to type in as it offers a higher cost to type in the market. The price includes acquiring certificate which in Pakistan is given by PTA so that as Ufone is a subsidiary of PTA so that it is one big gain for the kids.
Apart out of this, a company must also advertise greatly and create its towers in several areas which really is a huge cost for a business starting a new business
There fore it is not a fairly easy industry to go into and dangers of new entrants are usually low from local investor viewpoint but in the past few years first Telenor than Warid and now Zong have all come in PAKISTAN market and received a great deal of success along with Mobilink and Ufone which might attract and lure other telecommunication companies throughout the world.
CONCLUSION:-
By keenly examining the marketing strategies of Ufone, I figured Ufone is slowly and gradually penetrating into the telecommunication market. It can be pointed out that it is following ANSOFF matrix where market penetration strategy is used if both product and market are existing. It is doing so by taking risks and aggressively promoting and advertising its brands, plans, tariffs and products. Ufone supplies the lowest getting in touch with rates through out the united states and it has no invisible charges. Through its marketing strategies, Ufone tries to remain a potent drive in the mobile industry.
During the analysis I emerged through many unconventional strategies and advertisement campaigns. Ufone signed three Pakistani divas in another of its ad. This is something never done before by any telecommunication industry.
It is definitely well known and believed that telecommunication industry is one of the toughest markets to go into and extend. Ufone is just not surviving but is also retaining its market talk about. At one time Ufone exceeded 20 million customers but than it came up right down to 19 million and on to the 4th position, but with time it got back in action and even though the latest graph implies that it lost some part of its consumers, it is back again to #3 3 in the telecommunication companies in Pakistan. To help expand continue in the telecom sector I hereby recommend the next:-
RECOMMENDATIONS: -
During the analysis that I carried out I then found out that there were some reasons for Ufone sacrificing its customers and market share.
The very first thing that UFONE must do is that it will make a formal strategy and try to get more of the corporate world including the leading multinationals Co. It could do so by providing them with good tariffs or deals which are lower than other companies. It can also provide them with better quality services by extending its selection of coverage.
Secondly Ufone should concentrate more on its own advertisements alternatively than leg pulling of its customers. In its warfare of advertising with Zong it put in big money on its ad's but it offended many customers. So Ufone in its ad's should concentrate on its brands and products.
Thirdly Ufone some times runs too much to attract customers which may be unacceptable to the local culture. It will stick with its own theme of adverts this is the humorous theme somewhat than going to the unconventional ad campaign as the culture in Pakistan wouldn't normally accept whatever is cheap or unpleasant.
The last however, not minimal, Ufone should become aware of its competitor techniques and there value added activities. It should keep a close eyesight on all its rivals mainly Mobilink and Telenor as they are the two companies currently positioned above Ufone. Ufone can also benchmark its competition such as Mobilink in order to improve in departments where it is lacking and where in fact the competitor is way better of.
