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Last week, two gentlemen from PTCL approached my company with partnership offer for selling EVDO with our laptops and desktops.
EVDO – a 3G Wireless broadband service by PTCL is currently in the pre-launch stage with plans for a formal launch in a couple of months. The gentlemen left two EVDO packs for us to test and since the last couple of days I have been testing it 24/7.
All I had to do was take the card out of the box and put it into the PCMCIA slot, install the CD and I was all set to go. So far, I’ve tested it in the car, in the city center and suburbs of the city. The connection seamlessly toggles between CDMA and EDGE depending on the availability. The voice connectivity has been disconnected in the demo packs, however, there is a slot for WLL SIM which can be put into the card to get voice over IP.
The proposed package:
- No initial cost
- Monthly flat rate charges (at a premium over conventional broadband\DSL connection)
- Commitment for one year.
Convenience:
No doubt, seamless connectivity esp for executives on the go, is a great selling proposition. For the growing number of laptop users, this would rave well. Jet-setting executives would love to use EVDO at airports, all of which are connected btw. For desktops maybe not. Also, with broadband and DSL, users have to wait eons to get the connection. EVDO is as simple as purchasing a mobile connection.
However, there may be barriers to entry. Most executives use shared office connections at work and perhngaps a dial-up or broadband\DSL at home. Paying for a dedicated connection for one laptop/desktop may reduce the size of market by making it financially infeasible for most upwardly mobile urbanites.
I for one am not hacppy with the premium pricing mechanism. For a high adoption rate, which would in effect dilute the overheads; PTCL should not be charging a premium. Furthermore, if convenience is the objective then commitment for a year is counterintuitive. I think, PTCL should let the users see the value for themselves. I think its a great sell provided we can get pricing package right.
The problem is, PTCL has too many conflicting objectives. It wants to go with EVDO but not cannabalize its broadband ( the service level for which, btw, sucks). It wants to maintain it telephony monopoly and prevent VOIP.
According to classical economic wisdom, increased competition is supposed to improve the quality of service. We have yet to see that happen at least in mobile telephony and internet connectivity.
With Wateen, LinkdotNET (who came sup with this y2kish name, anyway?) and whatnot cropping up, internet connectivity service level ought to improve. EVDO (Evolution Data Only) promises that, but at a premium. All I can say is that Quality of Service is the battlefield, not creative advertising.
Important bit of info by Tee Em on Karachi Met Blog
PTCL has quietly activated answering service on its phone lines. I called various places in Karachi today for official purposes and ended up at listening to the answering service prompt.
If your home or office phone number gets a bill of Rs 1,400 per month or more, your line has been crowned with this unsolicited ‘facility’. Of course it is not necessary for PTCL to tell you how to retrieve the messages that your dear callers have deposited in your mailbox by paying Rs 2.01 each time your phone number was engaged and they were presented with an prompt in English language!
