Ufone

 Pak Telecom Mobile Limited or Ufone (Urdu : یوفون‎) is a Pakistani GSM Cellour service provider. It is the third mobile operator to enter Pakistani market. It started its operations under the brand Ufone, in Islamabad on January 29, 2001.

Ufone 4G

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Telecommunication
Genre	Subsidiary
Founded	January 29, 2001
Founder	Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd
Headquarters	Ufone Tower, Blue Area,  Islamabad ,  Pakistan
Area served	2,336 Cities All National Highways All Motorways
Key people	Hatem Bamatraf GCEO & President
Products	Pre Pay, Post Pay, UPaisa[1]
Revenue	Rs.25 billion PKR (2012).[2]
Operating income	Rs.25 billion PKR (2012)
Net income	Rs.2.5 billion PKR (2012)
Owner	Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd, Etisalat[1]
Parent	Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd
Website	https://www.ufone.com/

PTML is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited. Following PTCL's privatization, Ufone became a part of the Etisalat in 2006.

Ufone is the smallest GSM mobile service provider and least number mobile service in terms of subscriber base of 22 million.^[3] It has a market share of 12.4%, least among all four mobile operators.^[4]

Ufone had appointed Rashid Khan as its CEO who had been the CEO of Mobilink (now Jazz) from 2008 to 2014. He was appointed as acting CEO again in August 2017.^[5] Rashid Khan died on 17 December 2020.^[6]

HistoryEdit

The company commenced its operations, under the brand name of Ufone, from Islamabad on January 29, 2001. Gen. Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan had inaugurated the service on that day.

Ufone became a part of the Emirates Telecommunication Corporation Group (Etisalat) in 2006.

Radio Frequency SummaryEdit

Frequency	Protocol	Band	Class	Channel Width
900 MHz	GSM/GPRS/EDGE		2G	7.6 MHz (2.6 MHz where 5 MHz refarmed for 3G)
1800 MHz	GSM/GPRS/EDGE		2G	6 MHz (1 MHz where 5 MHz refarmed for LTE)
900 MHz	UMTS/HSDPA/HSPA+	8	3G	5 MHz (in select areas)
2100 MHz	UMTS/HSDPA/HSPA+	1	3G	5 MHz
1800 MHz	LTE	3	4G	5 MHz

Ufone had bid on a 5 MHz block of 2100 MHz spectrum in the NGMS auction held in early 2014, however due to rising demand and lack of bandwidth to keep up, in December 2016, Ufone decided to re-farm a portion of its 900 MHz 2G network to 3G (HSPA+), and is now offering 3G over two frequencies to deal with the increasing load on the network. Ufone has only re-farmed their 900 MHz spectrum in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Abbotabad, Sheikhupura and Sialkot.^[7][8]

LTE launchEdit

On 9 February 2019, Ufone launched its LTE network in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. It has done so using existing NGMS licenses. Ufone has now expanded its LTE coverage to Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, Peshawar, Quetta, Attock, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Digri, Jhudo, Mithi, Pabbi, Multan and Nowshehra with planning to launch LTE in more cities soon.^[9]

AwardsEdit

Ufone has won Best Telecommunication Service Provider Award at 2012 PAS Awards by Pakistan Advertisers Society.