In connection with special offerings during Ramadan, and in continuity of Ghanta Offer in Last Ramadan, Ufone offered Super Ghanta Offer that allows its customers to call at Rs. 3.50 (plus tax) per hour from 4 AM to 5 PM for a daily rental.
Hourly packages were nothing new to Pakistan’s cellular industry, however, Ufone’s this offer allows its customers to call not only Ufone numbers but also PTCL and Vfone numbers.
As an industry perspective, Ufone’s this offering is almost impossible to compete. Reason is that cellular companies have to pay interconnect charges of Rs. 1 per .50 minute for all calls made to PTCL or Vfone from their network.
Ufone is affording these hour long calls to PTCL for Rs. 3.50 plus tax, due to business relation of Ufone’s with PTCL. It maybe recalled that Ufone is wholly owned subsidiary of PTCL.
I am pretty sure, industry has been going through the heat, but no action has been put forward yet from other cellular companies, individually or collectively.
On PTA’s part, there has nothing been said so far, resulting non-competitive pricing in the industry.
I leave this discussion un-concluded, to wait further and see if any company comes up with any protest at any level against Ufone.
Update: Telenor has approached PTA against Ufone’s Super Ghanta Package
