Qubee Investment To Reach US $ 150 Million By End 2011

Karachi, January 27: Qubee has planned to expand its advanced internet technology to reach millions of customers in various new cities with the handsome investment of US $ 150 million by 2011-end, Alistair Johnston, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Augere Holdings disclosed.

While briefing a group of journalists, he unfolded the future plans of Qubee, a 100 percent shareholder subsidiary of Augere, to be executed in the on-going calendar year by the company.

Alistair Johnston, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Augere holdings, has designed a roadmap to reach millions of customers in developing countries including Pakistan with the broadband internet technology with in short span of time.

With working experience of more than 12 years with different renowned telecom giants– Telefonica 02, Orange and Virgin Mobile, he is leading Qubee to become the best selling service in Pakistan with the philosophy of “Broadband for All”.

The total investment of the company will be increased to US$ 150 Million by the end of current year since its inception.

The expansion in operations will offer business ventures and employment opportunities to the local people in this highly advanced technology field, Johnston said.

He explained Qubee’s focus was developing countries, saying that broadband subscribers have been increasing in Pakistan and have crossed the one million mark.

The Pakistan market has terrific potential due to the fact of broadband penetration being very low whereas the larger population is set to adopt this technology in the future.

We are looking forward towards adding more professionals to our staff. The number of employees in the company will increase to 1,000 by year-end.

He recounted the rapid growth of services and network of Qubee since its inception, saying that the broadband operator started it’s operations from Karachi with four sales centers situated in different areas has now enhanced its services into four cities with 45 customers’ care centers in the last year.

Qubee has outlets at 27 different locations in Karachi. In Lahore, its outlets have been set up at 11 spots and the rest of the outlets were established in different areas of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

The network infrastructure has been widened significantly and now Qubee offers one of the lowest broadband rates in the country with uninterrupted connectivity and extensive download capacity, CMO Augere said.

The tariff starts from Rs 750 for 512 Mps with no activation charges. The services are currently available in four mega cities—Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi—with growing number of customers onboard.

The home users are our main customers though we have been entered into different deals with academic institutes, small-sized business in Karachi, he asserted.

According to a study, more than 80 percent of the internet users consume less than 5 GB every month. In one GB, as many as 20,000 pages are downloaded; 100-hour surfing could be done; seven-hour videos can be watched and 80 hours can be spent over online games.