The coronavirus has greatly affected the lives of every individual around the world suffering from self isolation and quarantine. With the increase in threat and limited access to various resources, expectations have been built on consumer based companies to provide for their customers. One of the important sectors in this battle is the telecom sector who have yet to respond to the battle with due diligence.
As citizens have placed and hoped for great relief from all businesses that have to interact with their customers on a daily basis, various businesses such as food businesses, utility companies, and telcom and internet service providers have responded to this task. With the increase dependency and use for study from home or work from home challenges, having a fast and secure internet service has never been at such a high. It has caused a new challenge in the IT sector of the country to provide for better telecom connections. In various countries around the world, telecommunication companies are offering free bundles and special work-from-home offers while other companies are providing free access to learning websites and resources.
In Pakistan, users are yet to see how the telecom sector have responded to the exponential increase in the demand for data. Similarly these very businesses are also overwhelmed and are looking at ways to facilitate customers. Recently, #ShameOnTelecomSector was a top trend on twitter with people comparing measures of other countries’ telcom companies to what companies in Pakistan have done to facilitate their customers against the virus.
In an effort to respond to the trend of the hashtag, Aamir Ibrahim, CEO Jazz, said that: “Disappointing to see lack of awareness and appreciation for the telecom industry’s heartfelt support in time of the Covid19 crisis. We are all working hard to keep essential services like phone and the Internet functional under this lockdown. This is not easy work and requires everyone to be united.” He also stated: “In addition to ensuring business continuity, special offers and promotions have been put in place for the last one week that target employees, students and the financially-challenged while working from home. We have CSR project in place to support those who cannot afford telecom services and target them for relief. We are also sending care packages and food supplies to thousands of daily-wage workers under our sustainability program”.
Telenor CEO, Irfan Wahab Khan, also responded with a tweet and said, “Telenor Pakistan is playing an actively [sic] role and has changed its network name to ‘StayHome’, offered free WhatsApp, providing free first on-net call of the day, extended recharge validity, economized balance sharing, enabled a faster self-service customer care platform, made digital recharge available, and is working on many new offers. We are also working closely with the authorities for information dissemination, creating awareness and guiding the people in distress.” It is important to note that Jazz has announced work-from-home packages for business customers and Telenor Pakistan is offering unlimited WhatsApp. Finally, Ufone is offering unlimited on-net calls on its super card.
