China Mobile Pakistan in Trouble

The Turtle is back. Yes my fellow mortals, I had been away for some time trying to clear my head of all the corporate mumbo jumbo. Well, when you are trying to make money from conventional sources then you are bound to get tangled in the corporate net.

Anyway, describing the title, Zong (A China Mobile Company) is now facing serious issues with its network and support functions. Where did I hear it before? Yes, Wateen was going through the same when they launched but they did grow somewhat out of it. As for Zong, the problem is way bigger than what Wateen was facing. Primarily, Zong is a GSM network service provider and there is more green involved in it then the flag of our country. The issue started the day Zong selected Huawei has their network service provider. The world known Huawei is based out of China and has experience working on the fiber network of PTCL, GSM network of Ufone and partial network of Warid (which Warid fortunately got rid of). The main critical issues with the vendor are:

1. Zong cannot find locations to install their Base Stations (of course when we are all covered with Mobilink and Telenor claiming to cover the entire country then who would find space)

2. The network problems are not related to frequency, which previously was the case with Paktel and PTA but the problem is the core network design, which has resulted in congestion and people are now facing similar issues with Zong as they were with Mobilink some time ago.

3. Pakistanis cannot speak Chinese and do not want to learn the language either. Communication with the vendor with a translator is a pain specially when the translation is also in English. So no donut for you can result in becoming no do not do!! Imagine the irony!

4. The most hilarious issue is that Zong Engineering still cannot figure it out that why the network is being choked or how to resolve the issue with the vendor. They apparently cannot change the vendor nor they can get a new vendor in parallel.

Now coming to the customer service. Well what can I say. You all know how much a good customer service counts. If your CSR (Customer Services Rep) is not available or busy taking 110 calls per hour then you are bound to have high turn over and low moral CSRs in your company.

The average wait time is more than your travel time between Lahore and Gujranwala. Basically you can dial Zong customer service and then go out on a drive to Shahbaz Tikka on Gujranwala Chowk and have great mutton tikkas and come back and still no one would have attended your call. Maybe, Zong CSRs are also following the same advice i.e. they put you on hold and go out for tikkas. Next time you are in Gujranwala, look around, you may find some CSRs from the world largest telecom company.

Don't get me wrong here, I am not against the company but I am against the way how things are handled in Pakistan. Everyone is ready to launch without putting in much effort of doing the research and selecting the right partners. So far I have seen only Warid to have excelled in the network and CS departments. Mobilink has excellent customers support and Telenor too has good customer support. Ufone is like an illegitimate child, everyone hates it but it is still around. Okay I shouldn't say that about Ufone as it is one of the largest MNO of Pakistan but what can I do, I never had good experience with it nor did anyone I know.

Anyway people, this edition was about Zong's problem and I am sure that the management of the company must be worried to their bones to resolve the issues as early as possible because "pehlay minute ke chalees paisay maray jaen ge"!!

Conclusion:
All Play and No Work Made Zong a Dull Network!