CORPORATE WINDOW: A difficult business — from telecom to serviceco

By Nasir Jamal

CORPORATE WINDOW: A difficult business — from  telecom to serviceco

“For years, telecom was a growth industry in Pakistan,” Aamir Ibrahim, CEO of Jazz, says in an interview, “But the reality is that it is a bit of a difficult business and usually underperforms compared to the other businesses.”

Under the leadership of Mr Ibrahim, Jazz has transformed from a traditional telecom company into a full-fledged serviceco, serving more than 100 million customers across financial services, entertainment and digital platforms beyond connectivity.

And yet, the business model of mobile operators in Pakistan is heavily burdened: massive upfront payments for spectrum and licences, recurring levies to the industry regulator and high taxation eat away much of their revenue, leaving little for reinvestment or delivering shareholder value. On top of this, the global rise of “over-the-top” platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, etc has fundamentally shifted customer behaviour.

“Connectivity is essential but no longer profitable enough. Rising costs of infrastructure upgrades and falling

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