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Principal of Marketing
Final project
Organization Ufone

By:
Abdul Baseer khan 01001
Talha Khawaja 01003
Safoora khalil
01013
Afzal Iqbal
12345
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Submitted to: Sir Moshin Zeb

Submission date: 18-12-2009

Contents
Executive summary:............................................................................................................6
 Economy:...............................................................................................8
 Legal:.....................................................................................................8
 Government:..........................................................................................9
 Technology:............................................................................................9
Current situation- market analysis:...................................................................................10
 Market definition:.................................................................................10
 Market size:..........................................................................................10
 Market segmentation...........................................................................10
Market segmentation of few brands and packages of Ufone:...................10
 Packages:.............................................................................................11
Competition and market share:............................................................................11
 Competitors..........................................................................................11

Market share:.......................................................................................12
 Market Overview of Mobile Companies in Pakistan:.............................13
Ufone competitor’s strength and weaknesses:...............................................14
 MOBILINK:............................................................................................14
 Telenor:................................................................................................14
 WARID:.................................................................................................15
 Zong:....................................................................................................15
Market trends:.............................................................................................................16
Current Situation- Consumer Analysis:..............................................................17
 Nature of the buying decision:.............................................................17
Demographics and Psychographics:...................................................................17
 Know About Your Customer:.................................................................17
 Customer Surveys used to predict customer churns:...........................17
Buyer motivation and expectations:...................................................................18
Loyalty segments:......................................................................................................18
Current situation-Internal:.......................................................................................18
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Company Resources:................................................................................................18
 Financial:..............................................................................................18
People:............................................................................................................................19
 Recruitment and Compensation Benefits:............................................19
 Training:...............................................................................................19
 Human Resource Analysis:...................................................................20
Time:................................................................................................................................21
Skills:...............................................................................................................................21
 Mission statement:...............................................................................21
 Vision statement:.................................................................................22
 Financial objectives:.............................................................................22
 Marketing objectives:...........................................................................22
 Long term Objectives:..........................................................................23
Summary of Situation Analysis:............................................................................23
 External threats:..................................................................................23
 External Opportunities:........................................................................25
 Internal Strengths:...............................................................................26
 Internal weaknesses:............................................................................27
Critical success factors in organization:-...........................................................27
 Project Competence in Focus:..............................................................28
Sustainable Competitive advantage:..................................................................28
Marketing Strategy- Product:............................................................................................29
Product strength and weaknesses:.....................................................................................29
 Perceptual Mapping:.............................................................................29
Augmented product:..........................................................................................................29
Product portfolio analysis: BCG Analysis:.......................................................................30
Marketing Strategy-Segmented marketing actions and market share objectives:............30
 By product:...........................................................................................30
By geographical market:............................................................................31
 By distribution channel:.......................................................................31
Marketing strategy- Price..................................................................................................31
 Pricing Objectives:................................................................................31
 Pricing method:....................................................................................32
 Pricing strategy:...................................................................................32
 Discount and allowances:.....................................................................32
Marketing Strategy- promotion:........................................................................................32
 Promotional goals:................................................................................32
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 Advertising reach and frequency:........................................................32

 Media:..................................................................................................33
 Theme:.................................................................................................33
Sales force requirements, techniques and management:...................................................33
Sales promotion:................................................................................................................34
 Games:.................................................................................................34
 Premiums:............................................................................................34
 Free tickets:.........................................................................................34
 Promotional Products for sales promotion:...........................................35
Publicity and public relations:...........................................................................................35
Electronic promotion:........................................................................................................35
 Broadcast Media:..................................................................................35
 Online Media:.......................................................................................35
Word of mouth (buzz):......................................................................................................35
Marketing Strategy -Distribution:.....................................................................................36
 Geographical Coverage:.......................................................................36
Scenarios:..........................................................................................................................37
 Prediction of future scenarios:..............................................................37
 Plan of action for each scenario:..........................................................37
Specification of the new package:.....................................................................................38
Conclusion:.......................................................................................................................38
References:........................................................................................................................39
 www.paktelecom.com..........................................................................39
 www.blogcatalog.com..........................................................................39
 www.amyc5.com..................................................................................39
 www.scribd.com...................................................................................39
 www.barrons.com................................................................................39
 www.etdb.com.....................................................................................39
Thank you..........................................................................................................................39
Thank you
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Executive summary:

Choosing Ufone Company for our final project of Marketing proved to be a very

learning experience. Being students of BBA, at Iqra University Islamabad, it has aided us

with valuable experience that would surely help us in our academic and professional life

This project has been undertaken in order to highlight the Marketing analysis, techniques

and strategies of the firm, including its objectives, SWOT analysis, financial position and

future scenarios. It’s all about YOU its all about “UFONE”, a company very highly

spoken of these days. A company paying more attention to its customer’s delights and

satisfaction. Ufone is a company starting from scratch and has shown utmost

performance in the last couple of years. Ufone owes its success to its all functional

departments and employees believing that providing employees with job satisfaction

motivates them to work hard and provide better results.

Proper planning is Ufone’s strongest point; all the products that they have launched so

far are backed by wise strategies with proper market research and massive advertising

campaigns. Decisions are taken at top level with some participation from the lower levels

showing that they do comprehend the worth of Group decision- making. However, goal

setting is a procedure dedicated to only the top management. Working on newer

technology is a specialty of ufone.

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Company profile:

Ufone GSM is a Pakistani GSM cellular service provider. It is one of six GSM Mobile
companies in Pakistan and is a subsidiary of Pakistan Telecommunication Company. It
has a subscriber base of 20.05 million as of July 2009. It is currently owned by United
Arab Emirates based Etisalat.

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 year July
2005 to June 2006, further expanded its coverage and has added new cities and
highways. Ufone has network coverage in more than 750 cities, towns and across all
major highways of the country.

During the year Ufone completed the network expansion of Phase 4 in existing as well as
in new cities and towns which amounted to more than US Dollar 170 million. As a result
the asset base of the Company has increased from Rs. 20 billion to Rs. 27 billion.

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 from 2,579k in June 2005 to 7,487k in June 2006.
Ufone currently caters for international roaming to more than 195 live operators across
119 countries and introduced International roaming facility for Prepaid subscribers in
Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Portugal and Kuwait
with lowest rates, featuring no security deposit and activation charges. GPRS Roaming
facility is available with more than 75 Live Operators across 59 countries.
.

Current situation- macro environment:

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In order to survive and remain profitable in today’s competitive market place UFONE
has managed to maintain its costs and budget. As a result, unlike, other telecom firms it
is not much affected by unstable political, economical and security conditions of
Pakistan. It has been able to react and adapt to changes in external environment.

 Economy: With annual growth around 100% for some years now, the
mobile telephone market in Pakistan has been experiencing a period of strong
and sustained development. However, Pakistan is suffering important economic
turbulences which will have a direct impact on foreign operators in the country.
Some of these reasons are:
• The decline in Rupee value against US Dollar, the decrease in the
interconnect charges and lower priced tariffs have resulted in an overall
decrease of ARPU (Average Revenue per Unit) in US Dollar terms.
• The ongoing economic and political turmoil along with the worsening of
security conditions in Pakistan have caused an increased outflow of capital
from the country.
• In the light of worsening economic conditions and the lack of prudent
policies, the international rating agencies like S&P and Moody’s have
recently downgraded Pakistan’s sovereign rating.
Mobile services despite high costs still grow rapidly. Subscriber numbers has
increased to 95.5 million.
 Legal: The current legal condition of Pakistan is not very good. After
restoration of chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudry there is lots of hope
towards judiciary. The Supreme Court is working fine and taking strong actions
against illegal activities but lower courts are in poor condition. Corruption rate is
very high in judiciary but there has been remarkable improvement as in 2006 it
was ranked 3rd most corrupt sector in the country. In 2009 it was ranked &
which is good sign but it needs further improvement.
 Government: The telecom sector of Pakistan has successfully liberalized
in an efficient, transparent and fastest deregulation of telecom in the region. The
Government of Pakistan gave the status of Industry to Pakistan
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Telecommunication Sector. Government of Pakistan has opened its policies to

award new licensees to new mobile service provider so threat of new entry is
high. However, as set-up cost is in billions of dollars so in this case threat of new
entry is low, but here are companies who are working to achieve licenses and
approaching PTA to know terms and conditions for this. Government also gave
so many land lines and wireless local loop licenses to different companies like
PTCL wireless local loop, GO CDMA, WORLD CALL etc. these services in
future will be like mobile phone services like they are planning to offer services
a lot but currently they are offering SMS and CLI services to their customers.
Previously increase in tax rates and excise duties made the Sims expensive due
to which sales got affected. Fortunately, new budget given by government is
good.

 Technology: Company has introduced VAS (VALUE ADDED SERVICES) in their

infrastructure not only to expand but also to upgrade their existing structure because the
competition is strong.
Strong infrastructure has made the company comparable to large firms like Mobilink.
Moreover, the company is providing all services provided by all its competitors in order
not to leave behind in the pace of technology as well. Services provided includes Multi-
media Messaging Services (MMS), General Packet Radio Services (GPRS), Virtual
Private Network (VPN), Pocket Stocks, Conference Calling, Wall Papers Animated
Pictures, Polyphonic ring tones (WAP) and Voice Mail at low prices. The well-
recognized technology trends that are influencing the evolution of the network indicate
that:
• The cost of a call is becoming even more insensitive to the distance;
• The modularity of the network is increasing;
• The networking is shifting from circuit-switched to packet- routing;
• The voice communication is now independent of the network;
• The geographic boundaries are irrelevant for emerging technology;
• The intelligence and function are moving away from the central office.

Current situation- market analysis:

 Market definition:
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A public place where buyers and sellers make transactions,

directly or via intermediaries.

Also sometimes means the stock market.

 Market size: Market Size is measured by the total volume and or

value of all sales in the market. Sales volume is measured in
terms of the number of units of goods purchased, whilst sales
value measures the total amount spent by customers on the
volume of goods sold. Estimating Market size is an essential
first step to calculating the Market Share of a business, and of
its competitors. By comparing changes in market size over a
selected period, trends in the market can be identified. Ufone
will change their technology and the market is open for them
because their prices are low. This approach brought about a
revolution in the market; will increase its size five fold in
upcoming years.

 Market segmentation: Cellular service market is a diverse set

of people. Ufone as well as other cellular service companies
segment their market on four bases: - economy, age, gender &
occupation.
I. ECONOMY: Upper class, Middle class, socio-economic class,
lower class
II. AGE: Teenagers, youngsters, middle age, aged people
III. GENDER: Male & Female
IV. OCCUPATION: corporate class, Business class, working class
etc

Market segmentation of few brands and packages of

Brands Target market Reason for targeting

Post pay Corporate class High usage for business & working people

Life Youth Night dwellers

Ufone:

 Packages:
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Packages Target market Reason for targeting

Public demand Lower class/rural youth High usage

U1 Lower/socio economic class High usage

Ladies’ intention of 5 min chat usually exceeds

5 ka 15 Ladies
to 15 min or more

Walkie talkie Working class/ business class Call conferencing

Competition and market share:

In these days of intense competition marketers find it hard to differentiate their services from
those of competitors. Now customer care about only price. An unsatisfied customer will
immediately go for brand switching. Thus leaving a customer unsatisfied and not meeting his/her
demands is out of question for marketers. Ufone has always strategized in satisfying the demands
of its customers by using differentiation Strategies. In doing so it has been successful in
differentiating itself in terms of:

 Price

 Quality service

 Technology

 Competitors: There is a hard core competition among the cellular service providers in
Pakistan. Ufone is a market challenger in its competitive position, where MOBILINK is the
market leader. Warid, Telenor and newly introduced ZONG are also strong contenders in market
challenger category. Ufone has the following four direct competitors:-

 Mobilink

 Telenor

 Warid

Ufone also considers the following as its competitors:-

 ZONG
Competitive strategy: Ufone’s competitive strategies are Customer intimacy and
.
Differentiation. Ufone aims at fore passing Mobilink in its competitive race
 Market share:
Business Monitor International (BMI) ranked Pakistan as a key destination for
telecom growth. The BMI rankings take into account a number of factors including
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industry situation, growth potential, competitive landscape and economy and political
risks etc. mobile operators want to avoid simply competing on price, they will have to
compete on superior service, innovative features and ease-of-use.
At the top of the list of Pakistani mobile companies is Mobilink, the
Pakistani unit of Egypt-based telecom company Orascom. It has been in
Pakistan since 1994. With 20 million subscribers it has the largest market share. Its
shares are listed on the Egyptian and London stock markets (OTLD).

Ufone, a wholly owned subsidiary of Pakistan Telecommunication Co.

Ltd (PTCL), is now under the control of Etisalat group of UAE. With 8.8
million subscribers it is the runner up. For those in Pakistan it is the one company where
they can easily invest locally.

In third place is Warid, owned by the Abu Dhabi group of the United
Arab Emirates and sister of Wateen group. With 5.9 million subscribers
it controls 14% market of subscribers.

Telenor, a recent entrant with about a billion US dollar investment in

Pakistan has been doing well, based on its recent earning report. It has
about 4.6 million subscribers or 11% of the market.

ZONG is part of China Mobile Pakistan (CMPak), which is a 100%

subsidiary of China Mobile. The pioneering overseas set up of China Mobile came
through acquisition of a license from Millicom to operate a GSM network in Pakistan.

 Market Overview of Mobile Companies in Pakistan:

The Pakistan market has 100 million subscribers as of June 2009.

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Ufone competitor’s strength and weaknesses:

 MOBILINK:
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Strength:

• Leading Telecommunications Company in Pakistan.

• Strong Brand name
• Good coverage
• Speed

Weakness:

• High call rates

• Large organizational structure Threats
• Competition
• High tax rates
• Increase in imported equipment costs

 Telenor:

Strength:

• Network quality and design

• Superior customer care
• Financial Strength
• Excellent Coverage and distribution
• Commercial Launch of LDI and mobile services
• Contract with Siemens and Nokia
• Brand image of quality.

Weakness:
• Relatively low market share
• Low profit margins
• Negative cash flows in the initial years.
 WARID:

Strength:

• Warid has been adapted itself through beat online writing

and accession its adjustment coverage.
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• Healthy animosity in adjustable exchange with the

accomplishment of Telenor and Warid Telecom in 2005 &
CM Pak in end 2007.

• Market sub base continues to abound at CAGR of 1.9%

bulletin aback Dec 07 while Warid is outgrowing the market
at 2.38% CAGR.

Weakness:
• High levels of taxation and accurate fees on
operators, if unchecked, could impede market
growth.

• Fixed-line casework still bald in several of

Pakistan's added apprenticed areas.

• Warid has apprenticed advantage in the rural

areas

 Zong:

Strength:

• Capital
• Network portability
• Resources
• Location
• Government Dealing
• High growth Rate
• Advertising
• First company who introduced mobile.

Weakness:

• Coverage
• Bad Image Of Paktel
• Weak MIS
• Old Staff
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• Mobile is totally made by China and people’s perception about China mobile is
not good. So its resale value is low.
• Zong mobile is only made for Zong networks. Other networks cannot operate in
this mobile
• Zong is dependent on ZTE( Zheng Telecommunication Electronics)

Market trends:
The latest subscriber number update by PTA reveals very interesting results. The
figures showed a total subscriber base of cellular services reaching 95.5 million. The
latest update takes this number up to 95.9 million showing the lowest growth rate of
0.13% this year. Telenor and Mobilink both showed increase in subscribers, almost
neck-to-neck in numbers. The most interesting figures are of Ufone, which gained
very little in July and lost much in two months. Warid and Zong also didn’t see much
increase in July-September period.

Current Situation- Consumer Analysis:

 Nature of the buying decision:
Power of buyer is high in telecommunication sector. There are six market players and
players are offering different packages at different prices and a situation of price war is
running. Buyers have a decision making power to buy any package which is suited to
them.
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Cost of switching from one company package to other company package is low. Hence,
power of buyer is high.

Demographics and Psychographics:

Customer retention is very important because acquiring a new customer is more
expensive than keeping an existing one. This is even truer if the market is saturated or
saturating as in mobile telecommunication industry. Following are the ways being used
by Ufone to retain the customers.

 Know About Your Customer:

The single most important thing in customer retention is to understand you customers
well enough: customer’s expectations, satisfaction, demographic, geographic and
psychographic customer tendencies etc. If you understand more about customer and
know more about which customer groups are defecting to rival providers, more effective
retention strategies can be developed, this is the key to the successful retention
marketing.
Ufone knows its customer very well geographically, psychologically and demographically. They
are providing desired products and packages. This is providing them a way to know whether
there is any need for U NITE package or not.

 Customer Surveys used to predict customer churns:

Customer surveys are very important means for identifying potential problems in your services.
This is done with the help of demographic and psychographic profiles of the customers to rate
the services. Results are then matched or combined with customer churn status. Analyzing
surveys can reveal customer groups who are not happy with the services. Actions are taken to
prevent customer defections.

Ufone gets information about their customers and if someone wants to change their
product from pre paid to post paid. They often conduct a survey or predict Customer
Churn to know about their services and suggestions.

Buyer motivation and expectations:

Ufone motivates its buyers to continue buying and always keep up with their
expectations because it believes in having right attitude- a strong and overpowering will
to succeed. Ufone keeps a positive attitude about its products and services through
creative activities and introducing new packages, such as recently it has introduced
“Tension Free Package”.
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Loyalty segments:
Passive retention involves building loyalty with customers through communication and
rewards, with segmentation based on managerial judgments. For this purpose Ufone has
its separate team to as a result it knows and greatly communicates to their customer and
design rewards for satisfying their customers and to retain them. For example they keep
on organizing U-Rock concerts and give people gifts for participating such as U-Rock T-
shirts and Sims.

Current situation-Internal:
Company Resources:
The main resources of Ufone are mentioned below:

 Financial:
With increased competition and huge competitors in the market, the finance department
has to be more effective. Ufone has an asset of Rs. 27 million and its management is a
challenge for the department.

People:
Human Resource department is being headed by the Hr executive designated
as Chief of Human resource department. The departments are working for the
personnel in the organization. There are 3 main sub-heads in the department.

 Recruitment and Compensation Benefits:

Ufone has this policy of not mentioning the name of the company in a job advertisement.
Usually hiring takes place through outsourcing with the help of a third party. Final
selection takes place after the candidate has been interviewed by the Manager of the
department who requires the new employee and then the HR Manager. A very effective
way to retain an employee is to give him compensation and benefits. At ufone following
benefits are given: Medical Facility to employee and his/her parents and Paid Vacations,
Gratuity, Provident fund etc.

 Training:
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Training & Development involves improving the knowledge, skills and abilities of the
individuals. A continuous training is conducted inside Ufone to improve the performance
of the employee. There are two types of training conducted at Ufone:

○ In-House Training

○ External Training

HR operations which includes the working over all Human resource Functions that are

○ Orientation

○ Human Resource Planning

○ HR hiring / recruitment

○ Selection Process

○ Compensation and benefits

○ Training and development
○ Human Resource Information System
 Human Resource Analysis:
Currently there are 1500 permanent employees working in Ufone nationwide. On the entry level
HR Department is mostly taking MBA graduates. According to Ufone their Belief is that “Their
people are their greatest asset”. The HR team takes great pride in acknowledging the contribution
of each employee. Ufone focuses a lot on HR Development and for the HR team ensures:

• Staff of ufone consists of world class Professionals and ufone ensures that the right
systems are in place to encourage people to develop to their full potential

• Collaborative and mutually supportive work environment is created that encourages

people to grow

• Team of professionals is built which delivers expertise by participating in business

decisions

• Performance Management and Reward System are developed which underlies the
Business strategy of Ufone

• A clearly defined Recruitment & Selection policy is defined.

• The need for training & Development of employees is assessed

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• Compensation & Benefit plan is developed which ensures employees are motivated.

Ufone is basically equal employment opportunity organization. Almost 70% of its employees are
male and 30% are female. The job description of each and every employee is predefined.
Performance appraisal is done on annual basis. Average age of Ufone employee is 32 years. This
shows that they prefer young and energetic people for their middle and lower level management.
High profile, well experienced persons are considered for top level management. Average Salary
is 12000 for an Ufone employee.

• There are about 150 employees who are working in the ufone Head Office and 2500
employees serving nationwide. All of them are very devoted as they are given wonderful
learning environment to work, pay offered to them is also very attractive and chance of
progress motivates them to work more. The job analysis is done on targets assigned and
daily routines. The employees are indeed very satisfied and motivated.

• Planning provides a guideline to accomplish an activity. At Ufone the HR team plans

everything so that the outcomes and results can be perceived before the plan is actually
implements. This makes the planning more accurate and efficient; it also saves time and
money.

Time:
• “Ufone believes that mere possession of selling techniques does little to insure success. It
is the person’s attitude and work habits that are important.”

• Achieving success in selling lies in your ability to schedule your time wisely and work
effectively during the periods you allocate to your sales promotional activities.
Conclusively, Ufone success is not because of any special or unique selling techniques
they use or a sales personality, but it is because of the positive disciplined approach they
bring to their work.

Skills:
Ufone is a place where you can live your dreams and pursue a career that reflects your skills
and passions. They give candidates flexibility for change, the opportunity to learn,
Creativity: We seek creativity and “outside the box” thinking Empowerment: We enable our
people to make decisions with responsibility which increases loyalty and fosters ownership.
Our People Ufone is a special place to work. Employees at Ufone gain help in developing
their capabilities and are recognized and competitively rewarded for their performance. We
believe that all employees at Ufone have a right to offer input and be involved in helping
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their team grow. Creating a work environment in which employees can improve their minds,
continuously learn, gain professional growth and feel inspired by similarly motivated
individuals is fundamental at Ufone. In turn, we expect that employees share Ufone's vision
for company, team and individual growth and that employees will strive to make a difference
every day. This exemplifies Ufone's commitment to people. Ufone is highly skillful,
educated and committed towards their work. Mostly people working in Ufone are MBAs and
masters in specialized fields. A continuous training is conducted inside and outside the
organization to improve the skills of the employee.

Objectives:

 Mission statement:
Mission Statement: “Ufone, it’s all about U! We are where you want to be.
We aim to provide you with wider coverage, superior connectivity, clear
signals and voice quality. Wherever you are, Ufone keeps you connected.

 Vision statement:

“To be the leading telecommunication service provider in Pakistan by offering innovate

communication solutions for our customers while exceeding shareholders value &
employee expectations.”

 Financial objectives:

• Proper management of financial resources

• Optimum use of finance
• Ensuring required finances to various departments
• Appraising different projects
• Opting for the cost effective options.
• Improve predictability of business performance

 Marketing objectives:

The marketing strategy of Ufone is very aggressive. According to them they are in the
market “To provide mobile facility at low price without compromising at the quality”.
From their motto it is quite clear that they provide the services are not inline with their
prices. The prices are low where as the services provided is of very high quality.
Although the price is low but the 4C’s that are Coverage, Connectivity, Customer service
and Convince is offered at the best possible level.
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Their Marketing objectives are:

•
To sell its different products countrywide
• .
To compete its competitors by providing quality services.

• To produce effective and user-friendly product.

• To take Ufone as one brand to cover the masses.

 Long term Objectives:

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 Ufone has finalized a huge network expansion
contract amounting to about USD 550 million, which will enhance the
subscribers’ capacity by 10 million. This is the largest ever expansion project of
Ufone.

✔ 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.

Corporate culture:
Ufone offers an empowering culture that allows people to make the most of their skills,
personality and career. We take pride in providing the best possible working
environment. We give you the opportunity to work alongside with some of the most
competent people in the telecom sector; the networking and mentoring provide an
excellent platform for academic and career growth. We take a constant interest in your
progress by conducting internship evaluation and offering the support and resources you
need. Thus, giving you a head start on your career.
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Summary of Situation Analysis:

 External threats:
As Ufone is cellular company and there is cut throat competition among cellular
companies in Pakistan. There are six other companies also working in Pakistan so Ufone
faces some growing competitive pressures.

• Pakistan is facing some serious economic problems now days so that would also
affect Ufone. The current recession in market is not good for any kind of business
including telecommunication.

• In¬ Balochistan and FATA where Ufone already has network coverage is in
danger because of critical situation and operation being held there. Investment of
Ufone is in danger. Ufone penetrated in the market from 2005 to 2006 quite
rapidly but since then it is experiencing a bit slower growth.

• By the arrival of China Mobile Company (Zong) in cellular industry of Pakistan

the Ufone and other companies now have to face the severe competition. As
Zong is introducing some various attractive packages of both SMS and calls to
attract customers. Ufone have to develop strategies to counter their strategy and
to survive in the market.

• The key threat to Ufone is also some adverse Government policies of

implementing Tax on telecommunication industry that will ultimately affect the
revenues.

• There are some rumors about the shares of PTCL in the market. Being the
Subsidiary company of PTCL, Ufone will also be affected by that.

• Telenor is giving higher rumination to its employees as compared to Ufone so

many of its skillful and competent employees are going there. That will affect the
company’s profitability in the long run.

• Some Pressure groups are protesting on the Towers that are installed in
residential areas. Their opinion is that it is not good for health of people to have
such towers near their homes that cause radiations.
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• Ufone have to revise the list of subscribers who are legal and authorized. Because
now the Government has warn to take strict action if any company would not
keep such record.

 External Opportunities:
• Ufone could develop some new and innovative services to attract customers and
some of the suggestions are as under which will help them to increase their
revenues:

• It should introduced International SMS packages like local SMS. Already Ufone
is offering lowest International SMS rates but if they introduce some package like
this it will get lots and lots of success.

• They should also introduce some International call packages to Middle Eastern
countries because there are lots of Pakistanis who are living in those countries so
people will definitely be tempted towards such package.

• In “ Ufone ghanta” package time of the package should be extend two more
hours so that more & more people will use this service and causing U fone to
generate more revenues.

• Ufone should develop some new¬ franchises in remote areas so that people will
get more and more benefit from it and it will help to increase their customers.

• As in Pakistan Youth is¬ almost the 50% of the population so Ufone can take
advantage of this demographic situation and should introduce more and more
services and packages that attracts youth towards it

• Ufone should extend its network coverage area to Northern¬ part of the country
as well because in that part not too many companies are giving services and if
Ufone give its service there then it will definitely attract people and its number of
customers will shoot like a rocket.
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• It should also introduce some packages for Internet users on mobile if it do so

then many people will switch from other networks towards it.
If Ufone enhance its voice quality then definitely it would be prefer more by
customers.

• Ufone should import technological equipments from China because¬ they are
giving the best technology at very low rates so it will not only help Ufone to be
ahead technologically but also will help Ufone to decrease its cost.

 Internal Strengths:
• Ufone has network coverage in more than 750 cities, towns and across all major
highways of the country.
• Ufone provides¬ International Roaming facility with more than 150 international
operators across 79 countries.
• Ufone is proud to have an efficient and friendly customer service through 21
company-owned Sales & Customer Service Centers and nearly 250 franchisees
a cross the country.
Ufone has always believed in a solid¬ commitment to growth, security and
reliability. Therefore, Ufone has always balanced its expansion efforts and
quality of service. With a total current investment of $400 Million.
• UTunes was launched on 4th Dec2007 which¬ attracted many people towards
Ufone.
• Ufone is offering the service of Multi-media Messaging Service (MMS).
• As mobile users in the country have¬ reached over 78 million at a very rapid
pace, Ufone has maintained itself as the 2nd largest cellular operator in Pakistan
with a subscriber base of around 16.5 million and a market share of nearly 25%.
Ufone has seen a subscriber growth rate of over 200% in the last year, and since
the start of 2005 Ufone added nearly 5 million subscribers onto its network. A
remarkable achievement indeed, especially considering the fact those two new
international players also entered into the market in 2005.
• While keeping its tradition of being the trend¬ setter in the industry, Ufone
changed the image of mobile phones from a luxury only affordable by the elite, to
a necessity affordable by the common man.
• Ufone increased its focus on the youth segment (which comprises 50% of the
population), with the Prepay brand.
• Ufone has the ability to retain its¬ existing customer base with a high level of
customer satisfaction via optimum network service and a 24 hour call center
facility.
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• It has the post paid¬ service that is normally to attract the Business class people.
Most of the business and elite class people use post paid and other services
offered by the Ufone.
• Ufone has a subscriber base of 18.97 million as of October 2008.
• Ufone was the first cellular Company in Pakistan that introduced the ¬ service of
GPRS and hence took the competitive advantage.
• Ufone has¬ some exciting and energetic SMS packages that made SMS almost
free. They are offering Rs. 25, Rs.50, Rs.100, Rs. 150 SMS packages which its
subscribers really love it.
• Ufone has some very exciting and low call packages like “5¬ ka 15”, “u-one”, u
circle”, “Ufone ghanta”, “Ufone has some very exciting and low call packages
like “5 ka 15”, “u-one”, u circle”, “Ufone ghanta”, “Ufone life package” and
“prepay Public Demand” etc which attracted lots of customers towards it and
many other cellular company users are also switching to it.
• Ufone post paid is also offering black berry set that is useful and¬ tempting for the
Business class.
• Ufone currently caters for international¬ roaming to more than 195 live operators across
119 countries and introduced International roaming facility for Prepaid subscribers in
Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Portugal and Kuwait
with lowest rates, featuring no security deposit and activation charges. GPRS Roaming
facility is available with more than 75 Live Operators across 59 countries.
 Internal weaknesses:
• Ufone does not have the proper lists of its customers. It has the list but this list is not
authentic which is increasing the unauthorized use of its sim specially pre pay. Ufone
have to take serious steps to properly list its customers to ensure that there is no misuse.
• It has many franchises in the whole country but as its customers are increasing day by
day so its present franchises are not enough to fulfill the needs of it customers.
• Ufone also face problems and its network get jammed on special occasions like Eid,
Christmas, New year etc
• Ufone though has some unique and distinct services but it has not yet given many
innovative services as compared to other cellular companies.
• Ufone was the first to introduce the SMS packages but their packages are not flexible
enough and its charges are only on monthly bases while it should be on both monthly
and daily basis.
• Call rates from Ufone to ufone is very cheap but to other networks its rates are
expensive.
• Its coverage on Southern part of Pakistan is quite good but in northern areas its coverage
is a bit poor.
• Ufone is plagued with some internal problems like when it is privatized to Etisalaat
being the part of the PTCL many employees were not happy with the pay scale that they
were offering.
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Critical success factors in organization:-

Dynamic and goal-oriented project managers and participants with documented project
competence constitute an essential Competitive factor for ufone. The extent and significance of
project work compel us to ensure continuous development of those of our people managing
projects or work in projects. Consequently, ufone,
In cooperation with Métiers Project Management Academy, have established Ufone’s Joint
Training Program in Project Management. Ufone’s Joint Training Program in Project
Management is based on the ufone project model and has been developed in close cooperation
with the various business units in ufone. The program includes seven intensive course modules
guiding you through the project management competence areas until you have received Ufone’s
internal certification. Through Ufone’s Joint Program in Project Management you can obtain up
to 30 credit points - approved by Oslo University College.

 Project Competence in Focus:

Projects and project management are essential in Ufone’s business operations. Efficient
implementation of the right projects shall contribute to the strengthening of our position
as a leading player within our business areas. To achieve this objective, we depend upon
people with solid general and practical knowledge within project management including
a thorough knowledge of Ufone’s project model. Consequently, through Ufone’s Joint
Training Program in Project Management you can be certified as an”ufone Project
Professional”. Ufone’s Joint Program in Project Management is based on the Project
Management Institute’s internationally recognized standard for project management,
PMBOK®. In addition, the training program serves as the basis for those who might be
interested in obtaining PMI’s international certification -”Project Management Professional”
(PMP® or similar recognized certification concepts.)

Sustainable Competitive advantage:

It’s an advantage over competitors gained by offering consumers greater value than competitor’s
offer. Ufone strategies to gain more and more competitive advantages. It also uses these
competitive advantages well enough for its promotion. Currently Ufone is enjoying the following
competitive advantages:-

• Lowest overall call rates

• Value added Services (VAS)

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• Call block service

• Corporate color

Marketing Strategy- Product:

Product strength and weaknesses:

 Perceptual Mapping:

HIGH
QUALLITYSERVICES
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POST PAID
HIGH
LOW
PRE LOW
PRICE
PAID
QUALITY SERVICES
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Augmented product:

Ufone is giving many packages in a single sim which is attracting many new
customers day by day where as its competitors such as Telenor is giving two sims
like Talkshawk sim n Djuice sim.

Product portfolio analysis: BCG Analysis:

Marketing Strategy-Segmented marketing actions

and market share objectives:

 By product:
• Ufone has segmented its product on the basis of two features:
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• Ufone Post-pay: is for the youngsters, with attractive packages to their requirements.

• Ufone Prepay: is segmented for the people of mature age, having their own business,
belongs to business class or people who are senior executives of the organizations.

• By customer segment:

• By cooperate class.

• Lower class/Rural youth

• Lower/socio economic class

• Ladies

By geographical market:
Geographically it is very important for Ufone to provide a good level of coverage right
from the start. The reason for this is that other mobile operators, who have a head start of
many years over Ufone, are fast expanding their network where they are able to provide
country wide coverage to their customers since coverage is very important element for
the success in the business; Ufone is also providing substantial right from the start.32%
of the population in Pakistan lives in the urban areas while rest lives ion rural areas.
Ufone is not only providing service to its urban customer but also to its rural customers
as well. Solid evidence is covering over 5442 key destinations. Like other competitors,
Ufone is expanding its network rapidly.

 By distribution channel:
Ufone distributes its Sims through franchises (wholesaler) then the franchise further
distributes the Sims in local shops (retailers).
Ufone has also done outsourcing to many local companies and then these companies
distribute Cards, banners, posters in their assigned areas.

Marketing strategy- Price

 Pricing Objectives:
Cellular service providers are facing intense price competition in contemporary market.
Customers perceive pricing as the heart of brand selection. Price has always been the
core differentiation of Ufone. Ufone is the one who is offering least call rates off-
network.
32 | P a g e

Ufone strategize with the objective to capture the existing pricing needs of its customers
and use it well on occasional or timely basis. For example Ufone offered very good call
rates on international calls in Eid days. It offered hourly call rates in Ramadan when
people were least likely to avail the offer that much that it might prove unprofitable for
Ufone. It was a fantastic strategy to beautify the brand image in term of pricing in
customer’s minds as well as remain profitable in doing so.

 Pricing method:
Due to high quality of service Ufone has priced its call rates at cost plus premium price.
 Pricing strategy:
Ufone follows market penetration pricing strategy and dynamic pricing strategy to meet
the customer needs and ever changing price competition.
 Discount and allowances:
Ufone gives exciting discount on special occasions such as Eid, Christmas, hajj, and on
many public holiday.
Ufone also gives discounted rates on calls to USA and many European countries.
Ufone gives extra free minutes to those costumer who consume more then RS1000 per
month.

Marketing Strategy- promotion:

 Promotional goals:
Ufone believes in Integrated Marketing Communication which is a carefully blended mix
of promotion tools. Ufone employ different marketing activities and channels to
communicate and deliver value to customer. These activities are coordinated to provide
maximum communication output. These communication channels includes, advertising,
sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing & personal selling. Ufone strategize
to carry out promotion in order to increase its market share.

 Advertising reach and frequency:

To increase the reach and frequency of advertisement Ufone is using repetitive strategy
for its advertisements. And the humorous theme always makes the ads more appealing
and engaging the minds of customers.
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 Media:
Print Media:Ufone tries and print ads in all leading newspapers including The Dawn, Jung,
Nawa-i-Waqt, Khabrain and local Sindhi newspapers as well. Ufone place its ads in all leading
magazines as well i.e. Sunday magazine, akhabr-e-jahan, Libas, Mag etc

Display Media:This type of media is the second choice of Ufone where it carries out its most of
sales promotion and advertising. Ufone advertise using billboards, hoardings, signs (on Shop
boards etc), posters, wall paintings etc. SME Multan has used a new and innovative vehicle in
display media i.e. Ufone’s painted rickshaws

Events :Ufone has sponsored many events in the past and holds future plans concerning it. The
famous event sponsored by Ufone in 2006 was a series of musical concerts did all over Pakistan,
featuring Mikaal Hassan and Junoon, it named UROCK.

Ad shoots: The ads of Ufone are shot mostly within Pakistan. But the Post Pay ads are shot in
foreign locations. Recently Ufone shot in the picturesque locations of northern areas of Pakistan
in its advertisement of UWON “sabse sasti call”

 Theme:
The format of Ufone’s advertisements has always been very colorful and eye catching. The
shocking Orange & Green colors used by Ufone always attracted people. These colors looked
beautiful on wall printing of Ufone. However Mr.Waqas Anjum (Senior Marketing Executive-
Multan) was of view that you must bring changes in marketing to attract customers. For this
purpose Ufone re-launched itself under the name of one single brand called “UFONE”. This
brand has Orange & Black as its corporate color instead of conventional Orange & Green color.

Sales force requirements, techniques and

management:
Ufone strategize to take aid of sales promotion whenever it sees a minor drop in its usage
by its customers. They mostly go for pull strategy in promotion i.e. they spend a lot on
advertising and consumer promotion to induce final customers to avail their services.
Ufone applies sales promotion schemes continually in order to keep its customers loyal
and happy.
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Sales promotion:
“Sales promotions are short term incentives to encourage the purchase or sale of a
product or service” Ufone utilizes sales promotion activities to boost its sales. It follows
all four of the promotion budgeting methods viz affordable method, percentage of sales
method, competitive parity method and objective & task method.Ufone uses following
sales promotion tools.

 Contests:
Ufone carried out contest for cricket talent hunt in the year 200_______. Our renowned
Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar was used as patron for this contest. However this
contest didn’t do much good to Ufone’s image or sales. But Ufone holds future plans to
carry out such activities in more effective and profitable ways.

 Games:
Ufone is currently running its game show on ATV prime time. This game show rewards
the winning participants. Ufone updates its customers every now and then to participate
in this game show. The problem we see in this activity is that Ufone is not properly
advertising it.

 Premiums:
All the cellular services are now offering premiums for their customers. This premium is
offered, when a customer don’t use his/her sim for more than 3-6 months, in the form of
extra credit balance delivered to their numbers for free.

 Free tickets:
Ufone recently offered free trip to Dubai. It was Ufone’s first Eid offer. Every time you
make any international call of 5 minutes or longer than 5 minutes, you enter the lucky
draw to win a return ticket to Dubai. The more calls you make, more is your chance to
win.

 Promotional Products for sales promotion:

“Phone bhi Ufone bhi”. It was a promotional offer By Ufone where it offered a mobile phone,
free air time, Ufone connection and Rs.100 airtime all for Rs.999.And now Ufone also offers
Blackberry mobile sets with Post Paid connection. Another recent promotional offer by Ufone is
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that with your HBL Credit Card; get a free handset of your choice, a Ufone Postpaid connection
and airtime. Existing as well as new HBL Credit Card customers may avail this offer.

Publicity and public relations:

Ufone is less conscious of developing its general public relations. But recently it has launched its
“Hajj Guide” service on Ufone. It avoids getting in news stories and controversies but sometimes
it proves inevitable.

Electronic promotion:
 Broadcast Media:

It is the prior choice for Ufone. It includes the electronic media television and radio.
Ufone is advertising in all Pakistani channels including GEO, Hum, ARY, Indus, TV
one, HBO, Cartoon Network etc (except MTV Pakistan). Ufone also plays its ads on
local channels like WASEB and Punjab TV.

 Online Media:
Internet is the online media. Ufone places flashing ads on famous portals like coolbuddy.com,
pakfellows.com etc. But Ufone is not carrying out direct mail or direct e-mail advertising

Word of mouth (buzz):

Ufone is the most popular of all the telecom companies in Pakistan. Credit goes to its advertising
campaign which people remember for a long long time. As Ufone is most popular in youth that’s
why the youth suggest their friends and relatives to Ufone sim proudly.Due to the cheapest
international sms rates anyone coming from abroad are told by their friends to use Ufone as it
will be easy for them to remain in touch with their friends outside Pakistan also.

Marketing Strategy -Distribution:

 Geographical Coverage:

Ufone aims to provide users with wider coverage, superior

connectivity, clear signals & voice quality covering over 5442 key
destinations, Ufone is the ultimate means to stay connected
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wherever your business takes you allowing seamless roaming

through the network providing the best nationwide coverage.

It is divided into four regions, which are given below:

• NORTH

• SOUTH

• CENTRAL-1

• CENTRAL-2

Ufone, being one of the leading cellular service provider has recently
launched its services in many new cities. Keeping up with its pace it is
rapidly expanding its network. Ufone keeps on adding on new cities with
same superior network that continues to expand. Ufone covers all major
cities of Pakistan now consumers can enjoy comprehensive coverage in
areas like GT Road, Super Highway & Motorway etc. So wherever they are
in Pakistan, Ufone keeps them connected.

• Distribution channels:
• Physical distribution and logistics

Scenarios:

 Prediction of future scenarios:

✔ Banks will become phone companies and telecom companies will become
banks. Mobile payment systems, micro payments, mobile phone credit card
transactions and loans. Economic impact of remittances from foreign workers
using SMS credit to avoid foreign exchange transaction costs. How biometrics
fingerprint technology will allow large mobile phone payments. Commissions
and interest charges on loans. Impact of revenues from American Express,
Visa, Delta, Access, MasterCard moving to mobile phone transactions.
37 | P a g e

✔ It is forecasts that by the end of 2010, about 6 percent of all mobile

subscribers in Pakistan will have a 3G handset. This, however, remains very
much in the hands of the PTA, the operators themselves and, of course,
Pakistan’s consumers. The Pakistani customer will demand Video calls
technology, High speed internet from their mobile operator.

 Plan of action for each scenario:

✔ Ufone can surprise its competitors by introducing “Ufone kiosk”. These will be
ATM like machines and that will give 24-hour service to Ufone subscribers to
load the balance just like they take money from ATM.

✔ To remain competitive in 3G sector Ufone will offer cheap video call rates and
high area coverage of 3G services more over Ufone is already providing high
speed internet to its costumer at a very low rates. Ufone is also planning to give
more speed to its internet USB device (U-EDGE).

Specification of the new package:

All calls to ANY network at only Rs.1.20 per minute!
Stop cutting your calls short because Ufone has brought you Tension Free Package.
Make calls without any tension or stress about inter-network charges because now all
your calls cost only Rs.1.20 per minute to Ufone or any other network. Subscribe to the
Tension Free Package and talk day or night at the lowest flat rate to any network!

Get rid of all your tensions by calling with Tension Free package

Conclusion:
By keenly analyzing the marketing of Ufone, we group member agree that Ufone is not a
safe player in the market. It is penetrating its market by taking risks and aggressively
promoting & advertising itself. It holds second largest market share and is seeking to
become the market leader anyway possible. We came through very unconventional
strategies and ad campaigns while working on this report. We believe that mobile
services are the toughest market to enter and survive. And in this tough market Ufone
isn’t only surviving but growing at an exceptional rate.
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Ufone is using humorous theme in its ads which has become its benchmark. People enjoy
watching, discussing and following Ufone ads the most. And it is the biggest
achievement of Ufone in recent times.

We wish a very best of luck to Ufone. May it progress in this field and achieve its
desired goals. (AMEEN).

References:
✔ www.paktelecom.com

✔ www.blogcatalog.com

✔ www.amyc5.com

✔ www.scribd.com

✔ www.barrons.com

✔ www.etdb.com

Thank you
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