4G is the Future of Pakistan and Zong 4G will Make it Happen. Liu Dianfeng, CEO Zong
Liu Dianfeng is the CEO of Zong and the inspiration behind company’s race towards success. We had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Dianfeng (LD) for a short interview session to get a glimpse of his vision and what, from his point of view, could transform Pakistan in to a digital society. Liu Dianfeng is the CEO of Zong and the inspiration behind company’s race towards success. We had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Dianfeng (LD) for a short interview session to get a glimpse of his vision and what, from his point of view, could transform Pakistan in to a digital society. PW: Let’s start with the secrets to your success. What do you different from your competitors? LD: Three elements are absolutely essential to us; Best Quality Network; Affordable Packages and Customer Experience! We have managed to balance all three of these aspects pretty well. Over the years we have drawn heavily from the research and experience of our parent company, China Mobile Communications Corporation, which is the largest 4G Telecom service provider in the world. This has enabled us to provide cutting edge, state-of-the art services to our subscribers. Our focus lies with the customer and on a daily basis, our engineers, our field technicians, our researchers, and our commercial and customer care teams are working very hard to solve their problems and develop the best solutions possible at the most affordable rates. PW: What is your vision for the telecom industry and its role in Internet of things? Will Zong become a part of this IoT revolution? LD: Our core desire with respect to the local market is to build on our technological edge in 4G LTE to revolutionize the lifestyle of Pakistani people. This includes expanding both, our Network Infrastructure and data based product portfolio. It’s a long journey and it will take time but the market is reacting stronger and stronger in this area every year, especially after the 4G launch in the country. Awareness of the importance of data and IoT is becoming more and more essential as Pakistani markets compete in the international world. With more and more important parts of our lives going online, internet penetration will enable a fully connected environment for Pakistanis through state of the art services of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication. Even currently, IoT solutions such as Healthcare platforms, Tracker devices, Industrial solutions and many more specialized solutions showcased by Zong 4G has the potential to propel the Industry in that direction. PW: Zong is specifically focusing on its 4G services. It is currently the largest mobile operator of Pakistan poised to provide 100% network coverage? What is the reason behind this aggression for 4G? Are there any special projects in the pipeline that will be 4G focused? LD: 4G is the latest mobile technology in the world, especially in Pakistan and Zong is a pioneer 4G technology provider in this part of the globe. We want to make sure we adapt to the latest technical evolutions from around the world and implement them in Pakistan to help the Pakistani people take their products and trade at an international level. This kind of evolution helps the businesses to grow at a phenomenal rate with direct revenues and foreign investment coming to Pakistan. In order to develop this model, we want to create the most reliable 4G ecosystem and provide the most affordable 4G services to the Pakistanis and make every local industry get connected with 4G to be able to make their progression in the future faster, more reliable and more affordable. We have multiple 4G projects which are ongoing to connect the country with the rest of the world under the “Belt and Road” initiative in almost every industrial sector of Pakistan in parallel of developing new and latest mobile applications for all types of our consumers. So 4G is very important for us, for the country, for all Pakistanis and we want to make sure we make 4G evolution in Pakistan a success story for the entire nation. PW: 4G smartphones are comparatively more expensive, how do you plan to tackle that issue and maintain your affordable pricing target? We have heard that Zong is planning to launch some low price 4G phones. Tell us something about that? LD: 4G handsets are important part of the 4G ecosystem and Pakistan is a fairly expensive market for handsets; where 4G enabled smartphones in particular are high priced. We feel that it is imperative to provide access to 4G enabled handsets that are affordable for our consumers at all levels. We have partnered with some of the leading brands of the world and will continue to do so, to ensure that we can create a market where the common man can easily afford a 4G handset. User behavior and user acceptance towards 4G cannot be expected to change unless we make the provision of 4G affordable for our valued customers. PW: What is your idea of digital revolution? Do you think Pakistan is on the right track to become a digitalized society? LD: I think ‘digital revolution’ is also a kind of lifestyle, a lifestyle of the people of a country in how they live and practice their daily routine with the help of technology, how businesses grow using the modern evolution and how government functions with the most advanced technical products available. I think Pakistan is on a strong footing in terms of adapting the digital society and this is a very healthy trend. Zong 4G is working to cover all of Pakistan from the most rural areas to the most urban areas and provide the fastest, most reliable and most affordable coverage. PW: Being a Chinese company Zong is expected to play a key role under the Belt & Road Initiative. Can you share some details about Zong’s role in the project? LD: The ‘Belt & Road initiative’ of the China Government is about connecting people and creating linkages. It involves multiple projects and organizations coming together to build on the synergies of our two countries. Zong, with its fastest 4G services is set to become an enabler of this initiative by providing super-fast connectivity along the route of this corridor. Our expansion plans are geared to connect far-flung areas of Pakistan to bring them into the economic mainstream. We are also working to provide customized solutions to meet the needs of the businesses, governmental bodies and individuals involved in the development and rollout of the projects under this initiative. In a way, we are acting as facilitators by stitching together the entire clutch of projects in a common communications network. PW: Tell us about your entrepreneurial journey? How is your experience in Pakistan so far? LD: The experience has been terrific, I have been here now almost for 3 years and every day has been a great learning of a new and rich culture. I have met some of the most brilliant colleagues here in Pakistan and have worked with some of the brightest people. Travelling extensively from North to South, I have experienced the most delicious foods and seen some of the most beautiful areas of this country. PW: Any message for the industry and our readers? LD: I wish the industry a prosperous growth and hope that Zong 4G will keep on delivering better and better services to our consumers with a better and a more reliable network and specialized solutions at the most affordable rates.
