Tech Week in Pakistan (Issue 22: 13th July)
Tech Week in Pakistan (Issue 22: 13th July)
This weekly newsletter focuses on the most important new developments within Pakistan’s Technology Sector. To receive this newsletter on a weekly basis subscribe to our mailing list (no spam ever) or follow me on Twitter @adamdawood. Previous instalments of the newsletter can be found here.
Pakistan Smartphone Usage
Grappetite has released an infographic detailing Pakistan’s smartphone usage. The founder, Gertjan van Laar, believes that smartphone penetration in Pakistan is between 7–10% and that most telecom providers have an approximately equal share in it, though Telenor and Mobilink seem to have a slightly bigger part.
In terms of actual sales, all figures are always up for contestation. Another recent study by Aurora differs with the Grappetite figures in terms of brand leaders. Grappetite suggests Samsung is the brand leader, while Aurora states QMobile as the leader. All we can be certain of is that the smartphone penetration is rising, and due to the wide availability of sub-$100 smartphones, this figure will rise further in the coming months.
While the Aurora article is based on various reports and industry sources, Grappetite’s graphic is created using reports and statistics from sources such as the Worldbank, the PTA and the Association of Internet Providers in Pakistan, an online questionnaire with 15 questions, sent out to mainly urban people in Sindh and Grappetite’s own experience and observations as experts in the market.
Full Infographic | Grappetite | Aurora
Total Mobile Users
The PTA has just released its latest mobile subscriber data. Upto May’14 there were a total of 139m mobile subscribers in Pakistan. This represents an 8% increase in the 11 months from July. Zong as expected is growing users a lot faster than the other MNO’s, owing to them winning both the 3G and 4G auctions, and heavily promoting their “Super” 3G service.
Other News:
PTA Facilitates Relief Operations for IDP’s | ProPakistani
Why Startups Cannot Succeed in Pakistan, Yet | Dawn
Mobile Money Usage | Haq’s Musings
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