The advent of mobile phone technology has been one of the most successful inventions of modern times. Innovating with integrating a computer system inside a ting handheld ‘telephone’, there are virtually no boundaries in this world left. Technologies integrated with cellular phones like GPS, talking smart agents, applications, etc. there is no saying how much a part this will play in the future.
Thus companies that support the network that these cellular phones work with are on the rise, at least in Asia. The three most prospective countries in the region that are launching new services are China, India, and Pakistan.
China
China with its biggest mobile phone service carrier is an obvious inclusion in this list. Currently, four carriers operate in China and service the most populous country in the world. The growth seen in the last few years has been exemplary with the Chinese telecommunication sector’s growth rate climbing to 20% between 1997 and 2002 (Uria-Recio, n.d). And only last year’s revenue of $104.9 billion was made in the industry. This rate is the world’s best and serves as an ideal motivator to jump into the market. However, some factors limit the validity of the motivation. First China is known for its communist practices, thus for an entrepreneur to come and establish a company in China would probably be opposed. Secondly, the barriers to entry are extremely high. With China Mobile showing monopolistic competition, even the big names like China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Netcom have trouble rivaling CM. However, with the new shakeup in the Chinese mobile industry, it is expected that it will enhance the competition by changing the six state-owned companies into three full-service companies. Also since the industry doesn’t utilize the 3G (TD-SCDMA) standard to the fullest, services like 4G and 5G show enormous potential and prospects for getting into this market. (DEAN, 2008).
India
India is one of the most powerful financial powerhouses in Asia and economically it comes after China. With political and economic stability been the limelight, India is proving to be a very good place for investment. Local companies like Airtel, Bharti, Reliance, and Tata Indicom and foreign companies like Vodafone and Hutch have all penetrated the market and are having the fights of their lives (IndiaFocus, 2008). The technological infrastructure is extremely good but the services offered have reached a standstill. Due to the competition, most carriers play with the prices as differentiating factors rather than providing new features. This greatly limits the industry’s growth in a technological sense. Also due to the huge number of carriers already in the market, the industry has become saturated and prospects for future companies aren’t that profitable. (PipalAnswers, 2002).
Pakistan
In our list, the third country Pakistan has shown a lot of promise for telecommunications in the last five years with a total of six telecom companies operating under license. What is important to see is the complexity and the level of technology available to the Pakistanis for their cell phones. Services like MMS, GPRS, EDGE, and Mobile TV are some of the services that Pakistanis can use while some European countries and Asian countries are still living on the GSM technology (NTCPK, 2008). Pakistan being a central location in Asia is a viable prospect geographically but due to the uncertain economic and political conditions, its industries have always suffered. However, the six companies operating are reaping enormous benefits and are expected to bring more services to the mobile fanatic uses of Pakistan. Here an entrepreneur can buy a license, make deals with smaller communication services providers for technology, and set up the premises for the 7th carrier in Pakistan (Telecompk, 2008).
After research, it is found that all 3 countries are experiencing high growth rates in the cellular market, and establishing a base in any of the 3 countries is sure to be successful. However, if a choice between these countries is to be made, then a good choice to go for will be Pakistan. With the economic situation set to improve with the new democratic leadership, the political and peaceful situation is set to be good for any entrepreneur. Also interesting to see is that most of the carriers have financial backing from international companies (Warid from UAE, Telenor from Denmark, Ufone from Etisalat UAE, China Mobile from China, etc.) thus showing that foreign investment in this industry is a norm and enormous potential and prospect in the new technology is sure to reap benefits.
Works Cited
Answers, P. (2002). Industry Overview: Cellular Telephone. 2008. Web.
DEAN, J. (2008). China Shuffles Telecoms, Opening Opportunities. Page B4. Web.
IndiaFocus. (2008). Mobile Operators. Web.
NTCPK. (2008). Cellular Companies in Pakitan. Web.
Telecompk. (2008). State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan. Web.
Uria-Recio, P. (n.d). Telecommunications in China. Web.