Jazz (mobile network operator)

Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited,[3][4] doing business as Jazz, (Urdu: جیز‎) is a Pakistani mobile network and internet services provider in formed by the merger of Mobilink and Warid.[5][6]

Pakistan Mobile Communications Limited
Jazz
Native name
جیز
FormerlyMobilink
TypeSubsidiary
IndustryTelephony and Internet
Founded1994 as a joint venture between Saif Group and Motorola Inc.
Headquarters
Islamabad
,
Pakistan
Area served
Pakistan
Key people
Aamir Hafeez Ibrahim (CEO)
ProductsMobile telephony
Mobile banking
Revenue ₨50.678 billion (US$316.34 million) (Q3 2020)[1]
ParentVEON[2]
SubsidiariesJazzCash
Websitewww.jazz.com.pk

It provides a range of services for prepaid and postpaid customers to individual and corporate clients. Its head office is located in Islamabad, and the current CEO is Aamir Ibrahim.

History

Formerly known as Mobilink, the company was founded in 1994 as a joint venture between Saif Group and Motorola Inc. In February 2001, Egypt based Orascom Investment Holding bought Motorola’s shares in Mobilink to become the majority shareholder with 69% control. Then, in June 2007, Orascom further purchased the remaining shares under Saif Group’s control to become Mobilink’s 100% owner.

In 2010, Russian operator Vimpelcom (now VEON Ltd.) agreed to acquire most of the telecom assets of Orascom, including Mobilink, in a $6.5 billion deal, creating the world’s fifth-largest mobile network operator by subscriber base.[7][8] In November 2015, Orascom Investment Holding announced the 100% acquisition of Pakistan’s Warid Telecom, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Group. Completed in July 2016 after due approvals, the first-ever local telecom company acquisition created a combined subscriber base of 50 million. Following the merger of Mobilink and Warid, Mobilink was officially rebranded to Jazz in 2017. As of 2020, Jazz has 62 million subscribers in Pakistan, among which 18.2 million are 4G subscribers, and 8 million registered JazzCash users.[9]

Veon will buy remaining 15% shares in Jazz from Abu Dhabi Group for 100pc ownership[10]

Network

Jazz has over 12,500 active cell sites in the country, with over 25,000 kilometers of fiber-optic cables laid. Huawei, Nokia-Siemens, and ZTE are the primary vendors for networking equipment at Jazz, including Radio Base Stations, Microwave equipment and network switches. Jazz has invested over 9 billion US Dollars in Pakistan till date.[11]

In 2014, Jazz participated in the 2014 NGMS auction held by PTA, which allowed them to bid for a 3G license, and a 10MHz block in the 2100MHz band was allocated to Jazz.[12]

In March 2017, Jazz inaugurated their Network Operations Center (NOC) which makes use of IBM and Dell EMC products to manage day-to-day network operations and provides the company with 24x7 network surveillance.[13][14][15]

Jazz won Ookla’s Pakistan's Speedtest Awards Winner for mobile network speed during Q1-Q2 2019.[16]

Radio Frequency Summary
Frequency Protocol Band Class Channel Width
900 MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE 2G 12.4 MHz (7.4 MHz where refarmed for 4G)
2100 MHz UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSPA+ 1 3G 10 MHz
900 MHz UMTS/HSPA+ 8 3G 5 MHz
1800 MHz LTE/LTE-A 3 4G 20 MHz
900 MHz LTE/LTE-A 8 4G 5 MHz (depending on area) - CA with B3

Mobilink's participation in the 2014 NGMS Auction held by PTA allowed them to bid for the 3G license, which included a 10 MHz block in the 2100 MHz band. In July 2014, they announced that they would have the country's largest network with over 10,000 3G and 9,000 4G ready cell sites. Mobilink did not bid for any LTE spectrum in the 2014 NGMS auction.

Post-merger with Warid, Jazz was able to use Warid's technology-neutral license allowing them to become an LTE network using a 5 MHz block in the 1800 MHz band.

Spectrum refarming is also planned to allow more spectrum to be allocated to LTE, thus allowing Jazz to stay in competition with Zong.

In May 2017, Jazz won the 2017 NGMS auction held by PTA.[17] This includes a 10 MHz block in the 1800 MHz (FDD-LTE Band 3) frequency to be used for Jazz LTE, whereas the current 5 MHz block is Warid's spectrum that is unlikely to have its license renewed in the future.

Jazz was officially awarded its 4G spectrum on 30 June 2017 by PTA.[18][19]

The newly awarded spectrum and 5 MHz of Jazz's existing spectrum in the 1800 MHz band will be made active nationwide by the end of 2017, Jazz is currently in the process of upgrading their LTE network in many cities across the country, whilst also removing old Warid equipment. The network has already been upgraded in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Chiniot, Quetta and Mianwali.

LTE-A / 4G+ launch

Jazz has refarmed a 5 MHz block from its 900 MHz spectrum for carrier aggregation with their existing 1800 MHz LTE spectrum. The new LTE-A network will be rolled out in Islamabad to cater for growing demand.[20] This makes them the second carrier after Telenor Pakistan to officially launch LTE-A in the country.

VoLTE testing

Jazz has tested VoLTE over its network with its partners Huawei and Nokia, announced in a press statement. It is the first operator in Pakistan to prepare for the launch of VoLTE in the country (although the service is yet to be enabled on any handset on its network thus far).[21]

5G Trials

In January, Jazz had reported that they had successfully carried out 5G trials with reaching speeds of 1.5Gbps. These trials were carried out on the 2.6GHz spectrum.[22]

Subsidiaries

JazzCash
Main article: JazzCash

Jazz had partnered with Mobilink Microfinance Banking to make an entry into the branchless banking market, initially launched under the MobiCash brand name, it was later changed to JazzCash. It is a direct competitor to Telenor's Easypaisa. It allows users to pay bills, send and receive money and purchase top-ups for prepaid mobile numbers.

Jazz Business

Jazz Business is the business services division of Jazz.

Branding

Jazz appointed Ertugrul Ghazi famed Esra Bilgic as its Brand Ambassador.[23]

References
  1. "Financial statements of VEON Holdings B.V" (PDF). veon.com. 6 August 2020. p. 12. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  2. https://veon.com/our-markets/ourmarkets/
  3. "PAKISTAN MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED". opencorporates.com. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  4. "Pakistan Mobile Communications Ltd.: Private Company Information". bloomberg.com. Retrieved 7 August 2018.
  5. Junaidi, Ikram (2017). "Mobilink, Warid become Jazz after merger". Dawn.com.
  6. Ali, Samana (January 9, 2017). "Don't call me Mobilink, I am Jazz now".
  7. "Comms Update".
  8. "VimpelCom and Orascom merge to create new mobile superpower". Mobile World Live.
  9. "Jazz Continues To Be the Undisputed Leader of Pakistan's Telecom Industry". PhoneWorld. 2020-06-23. Retrieved 2020-07-18.
  10. Desk, News (2020-09-29). "Veon to buy remaining shares in Jazz for 100pc ownership". Profit by Pakistan Today. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  11. "Our Business Network Advantage - Jazz". Jazz. Retrieved 2017-03-12.
  12. uzidon (2014-04-23). "3G/4G Licenses Auction Concludes, Raising $1.112 Billion the Process". TechJuice. Retrieved 2020-07-18.
  13. "Jazz inaugurates its state-of-the-art Network Operations Center". 2017-03-10. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  14. Webmaster (2017-03-11). "Jazz inaugurates network operations centre". Pakistan Observer. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  15. "Jazz's state-of-the-art NOC becomes operational". Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  16. "Pakistan – 2019 Speedtest Awards". www.speedtest.net. Retrieved 2020-07-18.
  17. "PTA Notifies Jazz as the Winner of 4G Spectrum Auction". 2017-05-19. Retrieved 2017-05-20.
  18. "Jazz wins 4G spectrum licence for $295m - The Express Tribune". The Express Tribune. 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
  19. "Jazz Officially Awarded 4G Spectrum After it Paid 100% License Fee". 2017-06-30. Retrieved 2017-07-01.
  20. Release, Press. "Jazz Achieves 140 Mbps in 4G Testing". Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  21. "Jazz to Soon Enable VoLTE Across its Network". 2017-05-30. Retrieved 2017-05-30.
  22. Oliver, Dan (6 January 2020). "Pakistani operator Jazz trials 5G in Islamabad". 5Gradar. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  23. "Esra Bilgic is now brand ambassador for Jazz 4G". INCPak. 2020-07-31. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
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