4/10/2016

Unethical Business
Practice of Telenor
Pakistan
[Document subtitle]
Subject:

BY:

Managerial Ethics

FAHEEM UL HASSAN (BF133002)

A package of Telenor 24hr Poora Pakistan Offer offer in 2012 is sheer example of
miscommunication and dishonesty with its customers. The package TVC and outdoor publicity
give this impression that Telenor customers can talk freely to any Telenor number in Pakistan for
free during 24 hours after subscribing the offer for Rs. 9.99 + Tax. It can be clearly felt in the
image above and also the wording in TV Commercial says the same which is;
Bus TalkShawlk Economy Package Par Aa Kar Rozana *345*24# Dial Karain Aur Din May
Chand Ghantay Nahi Bulkay Pooray 24 Ghantay Call Karain FreePakistan Ma Kahin Bhi.
Nowhere on the outdoor banner anything like 150 minutes is mentioned whereas, the TV
commercial very briefly displays it but at the same time the voice element eclipses the actual offer
a marketing gimmick.
Apart from this, from November 1st, these 150 minutes will be reduced to 50 minutes which is
again absent in the outdoor media while TV ad shows it in a very tiny format which remain
unnoticed.
Although, it is prerogative of Telenor to announce whatever it likes and discontinue anything it
finds necessary and we have no right to challenge it. But, what we are talking about here is the
deceptive marketing technique to attract as many people as it can.
According to the rules of PTA and Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP), all sorts of
communication with the customers with reference to packages or any other announcement must
be very clear to avoid ambiguity and miscommunication.
This campaign of Telenor breaks and ignore the above rule of advertisement as described by
regulators. We asked Telenor as to why they adopted this technique which is very much confusing.
Affan Haider, Manager Corporate Communications responded as;
The number of hours within such a package are determined under fair usage policy. Fair usage
policy is a concept used across globe to limit unnecessary abuse of the offer. Same practice is used
across broadband industry as well. Generally fair usage is put at a threshold level which majority
of the customers dont even achieve
In case of Poora din Poora Pakistan offer 150 minutes is almost 250% higher than average minute
consumption of the customer for such an offer, and customers rarely cross that threshold.
Potential misuse of such offers is done when people open mini PCOs by subscribing to the offer.
Regarding customer communication, as soon as you are successfully subscribed to the offer you
get an SMS confirming the subscription and clearly mentioning that you have 150 free minutes for
the rest of the day
Regarding Poora Din, the term signifies that offer is not applicable in certain hours of the day
rather free minutes in offer can be used any time of the day after subscription.

This is a limited time offer and when we decide to reduce the amount of free minutes in offer
the communication of offer will also be stopped. Moreover, customers would start getting this
information via SMS and other mediums before this change is actually put in place.
The terms and conditions of the offer are available on the website which clearly state that free
minutes would be reduced to 50 minutes and mahdoot mudat offer is also mentioned in the text.
Apparently, everything is fine and it is also a fact that people start misusing offers but the question
is why advertise something different than what you are offering. The term Fair Usage Policy
does not justify that you start making false announcements. If Telenor already knows the
consumption pattern of users, then it should offer what they need. And if Fair Usage Policy has
become a norm of the industry even then you shouldnt adopt that wrong policy because two
wrongs doesnt make a right. AND the point that terms and conditions are mentioned on the
website is simply ridiculous because this package is targeted for low income people who are mostly
pre-paid users. How many of them visit Telenors website for latest updates, the company already
knows. The website formality is just to save the skin and nothing else.
Telenor Pakistan should try to follow the path of its own subsidiaries in the rest of the world where
the group is known for clarity and cleanliness and we also request PTA and CCP to take notice of
such deceptive marketing techniques whether it is Telenor or any other operator.