"An Explorative Study Of The Growth Opportunities For Wi-Tribe"

Abstract

The broadband market of Pakistan, boasts an above average broadband penetration rate. There are around five to six closely competing broadband companies, with PTCL being the market leader. Broadband growth has come about due to higher speeds, increasing consumer demand and competitive pricing strategies. Wireless broadband is the latest addition and it offers the advantages of mobility, convenience and flexibility over DSL. wi-tribe came to Pakistan during June 2009, and provides its services in the four major cities of the country. First six months were smooth, but six months later the company was challenged with the problem of “slow customer growth rate”, primarily due to low levels of acquisition and retention. Online surveys, interviews and a focus group discussion were used to study growth opportunities for wi-tribe in major cities along with second tier cities such as Peshawar & Gujranwala. The purpose was to find out the reasons for the slow growth, the service gaps, and all the new packages, offers and segments that could be explored. The consumer survey & discussions revealed that the lack of unlimited downloading, limited packages, limited coverage, high prices and poor signals have contributed to the slow growth, whereas the company interviews have revealed poor signal strength & low speed to be the main reasons. Launching in the second tier cities is a costly prospect and would involve higher prices, thus given the limited budget of the users; it should not be pursued until the prices have been driven down. We recommend wi-tribe to fulfil the existing service gaps and simultaneously go beyond its basic service offerings. That can be done, by offering unlimited downloading services, long term contracts, student packages, USB dongle on instalment basis, service improvements and targeting corporate institutes.