I have learned from reliable sources (again) that Warid is in deep shit these days. Although one would react in a manner that it was expected and they were anticipating such news but let me tell you my mortal readers, this time the shit has hit the fan and broke it.
The story goes that ever since Warid sold its 29+19% shares to Singtel, the rift between the management started. It resulted in Singtel placing a Chief Commercial Officer and then a Chief Financial Officer. Hamid Farooq exited the building and so did the CFO (Abdul Aziz) along with the CTO, the GM Marketing and GM Sales. So the change was expected but what was not expected is something you will not believe.
Warid, relaunched in May 2008 and went crazy with their marketing campaigns. Now Warid is head to head with Telenor, which by now has secured 2nd spot in the most customers race. Warid marketing and products team thinks that we should go an extra mile and show the nation our strength of owning the channels. They heavily booked the media (print and electronic along with hoardings and events). Now come October, the management realizes that financial report doesn't look right. On closer probe they learn that Warid marketing team has exhausted over 80% of their annual marketing budget in just a span of three months. Now thats stupid!!
Anyway, it doesn't end here, the word is that the GM Marketing, who came in from some Afghan Telecom (Roshan) is now under investigation along with the head of marketing and some more people for fraud and false reporting of marketing expenses (they really have heavy pockets now if thats true).
Moreover, Warid has seen a sharp decline in sales in the last few months and it is more like stranded on around 15M users (out of which 5 are inactive and around 1.5 were blocked by PTA). Ericsson is being a hard ass and giving Warid a tough time in network expansion. Financially, the company is in pretty bad shape. I am not sure about the numbers but I will presume that if the sales have dropped over 50% and the marketing budget is exhausted over 80%, they do not have substantial amount to work with and gain firm grounds.
I wonder what Singtel management would be wondering... maybe they must be thinking "my mommy told me not to play with them..." lol!!
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4 comments:
interesting. on the service end... calls don't connect, if they do connect - they get dropped instantly, if they don't get dropped - they get dropped after a few minutes, and you'll be lucky to survive that long. then during calls - voice quality fluctuates, one person is muted and un-muted every few minutes, and then both are muted and the call drops.
which mobile carrier is the best alternative for someone who sends a lot of SMS and makes long late night calls?
Almost all the cellular operators in Pakistan have really low rates. I think Ufone and Telenor along with Zong would be a good choice but at the end of the day Warid's service is pretty good for me so far as well.
I think Warid Service is better than many others, however their business strategy is not so good. Warid gave low charges in past when orhers have high. I have requested many times to offer Limited Time Offers(LTO) rather than terrif decreasing but to no avail. It offered ZOOM package , the best at that time but does not look at others. U can send 250SMS in RS.7+tax( u can't make call or SMS when low balance than RS.9) while offered unlimited,1000 & now 500SMS in RS.3+tax. the same is case with caller tunes of Warid. Also u have to RS.2+tax for activation or de-activation of ZOOM. Similarly Warid offered no extra balance as Ufone, Jazz or the King( in LTO's)Telenor as insentive or re-activate closed sims. I know a person who recharged RS.32,000+16,000 extra balance when telenor offered this in 2005 i think,(after Cartoon issue). many of my university fellows rechaged 1500+ including me. their offers look so pathatic that one feels no homework was done before launching it( like Macdonald meal offer on RS.500+ recharge). One have to look its availibility for customers of far flung areas. So it doesn't seem how good are u but look consciously to the moves & tactics of others. Big Gainers are using loser companies for their good in imposing Taxes on customers. I really surprised when such experienced companies forec customers rather than facilitating. Thanks, ZAFAR RASHEED AWAN FROM IUB BAHAWALPUR
oh no.. Warid Really sucks.. and those who think that warid is going well better try dialing 100 after 11 or 12 at night..
Since they launched their service this problem is out there and after so many recalls they dun care.
Voice Quality is Poor and i think this ompany should be taken over
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