Dolmen Mall Clifton in Karachi becomes the first IBS (Indoor Business Solution) in Pakistan where four cellular operators have joined as a sharing partner for an indoor Micro Cell site to offer rich cellular coverage with-in and throughout the mall.
This is a long awaited milestone in Pakistan’s Telecom history where four operators Warid, Mobilink, Telenor and Ufone made a history of collaboration in sharing this strategic IBS.
Warid Telecom took the lead to accomplish this project in order to provide quality coverage to the customers. Warid Telecom’s Technical Division made huge efforts in planning and Managing this difficult and land mark project in collaboration with Dolmen management and the three other cellular operators.
Dolmen is an Iconic high profile Mall and the biggest shopping Centre of Karachi; it’s located in the Clifton on the Beach Avenue. This shopping Centre spans on 900,000 sq. ft. covered area and all the shops belong to famous local and international brands.
Since the inauguration of Dolmen Mall, there were serious coverage issues faced by subscribers of all the Operators. Since Dolmen Management was not ready to allow multiple operators’ installations so sharing was the only option and Warid’s proposal was accepted by the Dolmen Management.
This is a win win situation for all the stakeholders as Dolmen preserved the aesthetics while facilitating the walk in customers, Operators have saved their OPEX, CAPEX and more importantly time while extending coverage to their subscribers.
This Project will shape the future of IBS in Pakistan and most of the upcoming skyscrapers will see similar shared IBS of multiple Operators.
Good news and good initiative by Warid, as always warid is giving top quality. Only area where only operator was working that was Warid this was an year ago.
Hats off to Dolmen Management who pushed CMOs hard to join hands in the interest of their customers.
CMOs should now think for infrastructure sharing at a higher level
Telenor wins
Very nice step by ICT.
I wonder if the local telcos will offer femtocells to consumers. Visitors to my house have trouble using Telenor for some reason. Ufone used to be a problem a few years ago and Telenor was okay, but now my cousin says his Telenor connection does not work when he visits.
why the Hell Zong is not involved in this collaboration ??
Deal wasn’t successfull between Zong and Dolmen management that’s why Zong was not permitted.
Zong not required as the type of customer used to be there do not use Zong. Zong and Telenor are connections so rural market only.
stop testing
This is a win-win : good for the various businesses inside the mall as well as for the customers to stay connected and share moments with friends and family. With 3G in pakistan, the trick will be to ensure enough capacity as the mall usage pattern is very different from outdoor; more data, and uplink speed matters more (uploading of photos on fb etc). Great first step though and hope to see similar examples at all commercial indoor places.