PTCL Doubles DSL Installation Charges

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) is the largest telecom provider in Pakistan along with being the only company that provides Broadband DSL services.  We’ve just got information from them that installation charges have been revised. Following are the details regarding the new prices for landline/internet installation:

What PTCL has essentially done here is that the installation charges for new landline as well as new Double Play has been doubled and now new customers opting for these services will have to pay these charges in advance before the new connection is installed at your premises.

At first it seems bizarre that PTCL has all of a sudden decided to increase the prices and also take them in advance however after giving this matter a deliberate consideration we’ve come to understand why PTCL would make such a move. The underlying reason is that PTCL gains a healthy number of customers each month but it loses its existing customer base as well due to unsatisfactory services and is unable to retain old customers from which it can actually earn a steady revenue stream. On the other hand inducting new consumers ends up in PTCL incurring the hardware equipment cost against each installation such as WiFi routers and set-top boxes. The new customers use the services for one month after which if they are unsatisfied they cease to use the services and don’t pay their bills which would include the installation charges as well. This ends up with PTCL getting no return on their investment on the new consumer. To counter this negative situation, PTCL has now decided to take all installation charges in advance and has also increase the charges. We think that the price increase can be linked with the fact that PTCL wants to improve on its Quality of services offered to its existing user base instead of inducting new consumers at a fast pace.  It’s also pertinent to mention here that if you’ve paid the installation charges in advance and after that due to any issue you’re connection is not installed then you will get a refund of your advance payment at your given address.

We hope that PTCL by implementing these changes will be able to turn over the tide and make its customer base satisfied before aiming to increase their number of active users. Focusing on existing customers and providing them the best services is key to retaining them. However if the outcome will be positive or not, only time shall tell.