Which franchise would you take...?

[Ajay K]

Hello

Very interesting discussions on here... I'd like to ask learned
readers which mobile network franchise they would take if they had the
choice: Mobilink, Telenor, Ufone, Warid or ZonG?

I'm not in a position to take a franchise, but I would like to
understand which mobile operators treat their dealers well, support
them best with promotions and point-of-sale material, which ones
communicate with dealers most often, and which ones pay commissions on
time!

Thank you! Kindest wishes, Ajay

[Babar]

Personally I would go for Zong, Telenor or Ufone - in that order. I
like the management of Telenor and market position of Zong and the
stability of Ufone. I've no idea what are the logistics of running a
franchise though!

Babar

[500...@gmail.com]

Mobilink is the one I recommend...... The reasons are very obvious hence deciding shouldn't be an issue here.

AAK
*** This Message Has Been Sent Using BlackBerry Internet Service from Mobilink ***

-----Original Message-----
From: Babar <babar....@gmail.com>

Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 10:47:05
To: Telecom Grid Pakistan<telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Which franchise would you take...?

[atti.ur...@gmail.com]

One needs to understand the following variables before even thinking of taking a decision like this

1- what capex is being asked of u by the operator
2-what commission structures would u be working on
3-what is the territory that u will be operating within
4-what will be the strenght of team that u ll require for point 3
5-what opex are u talkin about to feed ur operations
6-goin to the macro variable, is the market for the product growing
7-do u have the necessary channels in place to start ops. Now, having a channel is preferred over one who has to build one.

an insider advise is to be very sure of ur numbers as survival now is difficult, even for the operators. Is ur npv positive with the most conservative projections?

Franchises take the direct hit. If u don't have a better returns idea, it is save to put ur money in a certificates plan or investments market ...

Comments are welcomed.
Rgds

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone from Warid.

-----Original Message-----
From: Babar <babar....@gmail.com>

Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 10:47:05
To: Telecom Grid Pakistan<telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Which franchise would you take...?

[usman ayub]

one and only Telenor

--
M Usman Ayub

[Shaheer Khan]

On May 7, 12:51 am, 5003...@gmail.com wrote:
> Mobilink is the one I recommend...... The reasons are very obvious hence deciding shouldn't be an issue here.

Which are...?

I'd opt for Telenor first, then Zong. Not based on any franchise-based
knowledge, but from the appearance these companies have been
portraying. I'd add Ufone in the mix as well.

[500...@gmail.com]

I completely agree with your perspective here but the question/discussion here is...... If one has go for a franchise which operator would one go with.

Since I'm part of the industry for the last ten years & have witnessed the telecom revolution live...... I'd say its the only industry right now which is still growing rapidly & will ride the storm despite the economic situation.

As far as capex & opex is concerned I think it applies to any plunge one would take regardless of the industry.

The reason(s) why I would opt for Mobilink's franchise is pretty much obvious keeping in view the exponential growth it has attained so far with the state of the art retail/distribution channel in place.


The parent company (Orascom telecom) has proved their commitment to this market/country beyond any doubts & that gives a lot of confidence to the local investors to invests without any fear or doubts. The probability of going wrong on investing with Mobilink is very low as compared to the other operators right now.

AAK
*** This Message Has Been Sent Using BlackBerry Internet Service from Mobilink ***

-----Original Message-----

From: atti.ur...@gmail.com

Date: Wed, 6 May 2009 18:03:35
To: <telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com>

[Haris Shamsi]

I would personaly go for company which has a wider product range, than
only voice. For example data products etc .... This will give the
franchise owner more options in terms of commissions etc

--
Sent from my mobile device

[Arsalan Ahmed]

Agreed with Mr. Haris.....I guess voice business is always there with a estimated outcome projection, but it is not very much to rely on (due to tough competition, emerging VAS etc.). Products like data services can play a vital role to boost business outcome....keeping in view that selection of such data services should be intellegent (Wimax, GPRS/edge usb, eVDO etc.)  

[Haris Shamsi]

not in terms of revenues ... but attracting more customers ... Voice
is still the major revenue generator :)

[Waqa]

At large, decision is based on the correlation of some factors.
Customer Base, Commission structure, Product Line and Location as
well.

Happy Pakistan!!

Waqa

[Mansoor Adenwala]

the only problem with having a mobilink franchise now is that their userbase is declining continuously over the last couple of months (PTA figures).

that means that there wont be much demand for new connections or cards from the franchise.

if it were my money, i'd put it on ufone. (even though i'm a warid user). especially due to a range of additonal products than just sims and prepaid cards. (blackberry+data sims+edge modems).

rgds

--
-mansoor
I'm at.:.
http://www.wordofmansoor.com  - My thoughts, my life

[Mohsin Reza Naqvi]

Being a Telenor Franchisee since its launch in march 2005, I can speak
with some authority on the topic. For anyone taking a franchise of
telenor now, the ROI is diminishing day by day. My estimate is that if
you get a franshise today, you will get an ROI of ~ 10% for the first
year which may, in a years time or so, go higher. Considering that
they expect you to invest quite heavily, I do not think it is a good
investment. The company, however, insists that the current business
plans assures a 33% ROI, and therefore it is a very attractive
investment.

As the figures for a few franchises that I have access to indicate,
Zong offers even less. It is growing fast, so maybe it will get
better. But I find it unlikely.

Stay clear of Ufone and Mobilink. There is terrible price undercutting
there between franchises. So you cannot win.

In a nutshell, the answer is 'none of the above'

[Farooq Qureshi]

Mr Ajay,

In my opinion the factors to be considered while accepting a mobile
operator franchise are: Professionalism of Management, Quality of
Internal Systems, Training and Support for Franchisees, Visibility of
income and compensation to franchisees and Market perception of the
Mobile Operator.

As per my thinking in Pakistan, I would rate the operators as under:

No 1 Position: Telenor ( Excellent in all respects ).
No 2 Position: Mobilink ( advantage is largest customer base,
therefore more billing income )
No 3 Position: UFone ( good support to franchises, and lots of media
coverage )
No 4 Position: Zong ( good management, lots of media coverage )
No 5 Position: Warid ( has none of the above mentioned 5
qualities ).

[Mansoor Adenwala]

Mr. Farooq,

Warid's edge may be point number 2, since it has a large postpaid base. For mobilink, much of it's base is prepaid.

By the way, do operators utilize their franchises as distribution hubs for cards and sims, or do they supply cards and sims separately to pre-selected sales people?

this point has been bugging me for quite sometime now.

rgds

[Farooq Qureshi]

Mr Mansoor,
Warid has multiple channels, meaning thereby that none of the channel
is happy with size of its playing field. One is franchises ( to be
noted that number of franchises is too large per city ) , Mega
Franchises ( franchises with more stock of sims to sell ), Affinity
Partners ( sell sims ), Distributor ( sells cards and sims ), Wari'd
own sales staff..

Warid tried to make money for itself ONLY... and this cannot be a long-
term approach, because sooner or later it will lead to closure of
sales channels .

Farooq

On May 7, 5:40 pm, Mansoor Adenwala <adenw...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Mr. Farooq,
>
> Warid's edge may be point number 2, since it has a large postpaid base. For
> mobilink, much of it's base is prepaid.
>
> By the way, do operators utilize their franchises as distribution hubs for
> cards and sims, or do they supply cards and sims separately to pre-selected
> sales people?
>
> this point has been bugging me for quite sometime now.
>
> rgds
>
> On Thu, May 7, 2009 at 5:17 PM, Farooq Qureshi

> <farooq.quresh...@yahoo.com>wrote:

>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Mr Ajay,
>
> > In my opinion the factors to be considered while accepting a mobile
> > operator franchise are:  Professionalism of Management, Quality of
> > Internal Systems, Training and Support for Franchisees, Visibility of
> > income and compensation to franchisees and Market perception of the
> > Mobile Operator.
>
> > As per my thinking in Pakistan, I would rate the operators as under:
>
> > No 1 Position:  Telenor  ( Excellent in all respects ).
> > No 2 Position:  Mobilink ( advantage is largest customer base,
> > therefore more billing income )
> > No 3 Position:  UFone ( good support to franchises, and lots of media
> > coverage )
> > No 4 Position:  Zong ( good management, lots of media coverage )
> > No 5 Position:   Warid ( has none of the above mentioned 5
> > qualities ).
>
> --
> -mansoor

> I'm at.:.http://www.wordofmansoor.com - My thoughts, my life- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Sheikh]

Dear Ajay,

Mobilink - Why, mentioned below are the reasons:

- Largest Network and spread of customer base
- The intent of company in treating Franchisee as a business partner
- Largest Subscriber base will end up in more subscriber base

[Afzal Anwar]

It also depends on the fact that which area you are looking to open your franchise in. Based on my experience, most of the owners decided to open a franchise because they had some shop or piece of land available for business. You need to get in touch with the respective company and find out the subscribers growth opportunity in the related area.

Moreover, most companies have really weird requirements when it comes to opening a franchise like references etc which turns a person nuts. So i recommend to first held some meetings and finalize the choices.

--
Afzal Anwar

--
Afzal Anwar

[mutti]

I perceive Mobilink is the best company to take business partner
because it is market leader which means there would always a lot of
people to come to franchise. Mobilink would remain market leader in
long term they have stated again picking up the customer base (PTA
latest industry indicators). Mobilink has restructured their sales
department which will help Franchisee to explain theri problems to the
company and get solutions accordingly. Mobilink have biggest
portfoliio of Value added services which gives them competitive
advantage on other operators.

thanks

Mutti

On May 6, 3:06 pm, Ajay K <ajaykur...@gmail.com> wrote: