20000322

WorldCall payhones

expect 200pc rise

in profits

HARIS ZAMIR

KARACHI: WorldCall Payphones Limited expects that its profit would grow by 200 percent by the end of this year following an increase in the usage of telephone and installation of new phone booths in the country.

The profit earned by the WorldCall Payphones in 1999 was around Rs 445 million, and with increase in number of usage and installations all over the country, its revenue is likely to settle around Rs 929 million in the year 2000.

The company made a detailed presentation at the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) on Tuesday. The company would be the first listing after a gap of nearly two years and the second one in the telecom sector after Telecard Limited.

The company has offered 9.5 million shares to general public, valuing around Rs 142.5 million . It has offered ordinary shares of Rs 10 each at a premium of Rs 5 per share. The subscription for general public will open on March 27, 2000, but provisional trading has commenced at the KSE and the value of the share hovered over Rs 32 per share.

Explaining the viability of his company in the telecom sector, the business executive of the company, Mumtaz Syed said that the growth of payphone had ample room. As per the recent survey conducted by the PTCL, the country needs nearly 187,500 payphone booths or supervised telephone stands, he added. As against these estimates, the country has only 20,000 booths available.

He pointed out that the lack of telecommunication infrastructure in Pakistan presented an attractive opportunity for payphone operations business. The total installed capacity of PTCL exchange is 3.8 million lines out of which only 2.8 million lines are in service. For a population of 140 million, 2.8 million are working, translating into teledensity of two phones per 100 persons. Teledensity, in Asean member countries ranges between 10 to 20 phones per 100 persons. In the developed countries, telephone penetration is between 30 to 60 phones per 100 persons. The comparison suggests, Mumtaz said despite low per capita income in Pakistan, there is a large unmet demand for basic telecommunications.

Since the inception of the company , the profits of the company have grown by leaps and bounds. In May , 1999, Mumtaz said that the profit was Rs 46 million while in February 2000 it totalled at Rs 74.6 million.

He added that till December 31, 1999 total booths installed in the country were 5,298 while upto March, 2000, these would be nearly 6,150 booths.

The authorised capital of the company is Rs 800 million of which Rs 170 million belonged to local and foreign sponsors. The company has already received subscription from local and foreign financial institutions worth Rs 195 million. These include Aqeel Karim Dhedhi Securities (Pvt) Ltd., Frist Capital Mutual Fund, Shaffi Chemicals, Guardian Leasing etc. Meanwhile foreign placements were made by Syed Sulieman Ahmed Saeed Al-Hoqani, First National Company and International Investment. All these companies are based in Oman.

The company has offered several benefits to consumers' which are : the customers are not required to purchase a 22 or a 50 unit phone card and only pay for duration of the call made. The franchise provides free service to the customers by providing city and country codes. Payphones that are placed inside shops are less costly than roadside payphone booths (stand-alone).