A Torch-Bearer of Innovation

Aamir Ibrahim

CEO – JAZZ

The Economic Affairs had a privilege to talk to Mr. Amir Ibrahim, CEO Jazz, who shared how the company has revolutionized the telecommunication sector in Pakistan.

Following is the transcript of the interview;

The Economic Affairs: How has Jazz contributed to the economy of Pakistan in terms of employment, investment, and taxes?

Aamir Ibrahim: In the last 27 years, Jazz has invested US$10.3 billion in Pakistan. During the first quarter of 2022 alone, PKR 14.9 billion were invested to forward our ‘4G for all’ ambition. The money we have invested has gone into upgrading and expanding our network across the country as we move forward in our journey to accelerate Digital Pakistan ambition through a robust network of 14,000+ towers in 1,450+ cities.

Jazz, as a responsible corporate citizen, has always fulfilled its tax obligations and so far, has paid PKR 390 billion in taxes in last five years alone to the government.

We currently support direct employment of 3,000+ stellar individuals and 200,000+ are indirectly employed through our operations. Jazz, as a responsible corporate citizen, has always fulfilled its tax obligations and so far, has paid PKR 390 billion in taxes in last five years alone to the government. The situation, however, is a little unfair since the telecom users in Pakistan are subjected to one of the harshest tax regimes not just the region but in the world. At 19.5% GST our users pay the highest of all GSTs in addition to 12.5% in WHT.

The Economic Affairs: What role has Jazz played in bringing about social transformation through awareness, digital literacy and financial inclusion in Pakistan?

AI: As the industry leader, Jazz has always been at the forefront of social & digital transformation, but the most obvious impact of connectivity was felt during the COVID-19 pandemic. We made sure to provide relief to our users and equip them with affordable internet connectivity with our custom packages created for students, professional working from home and business owners to adapt to the new normal.

We have spearheaded a national conversation around financial inclusion by banking the underserved community. Jazz Cash processes more than PKR 100 billion worth of transactions and over 60 million transaction per month through its 15 million+ mobile wallets. Our CSR initiative ‘Jazz Smart Schools’ has trained 39,000+ schoolgirls and 1000+ female teachers on digital skills.

Our collaboration with TCF will fully equip 1600+ schools across Pakistan with digital literacy programs, latest ICT labs and smart phones for teachers which will benefit 250,000+ students over the period of three years. The program also aims to train 12,000+ female teachers on cutting edge digital curriculum. All these efforts are in line with our vision of enabling a digital Pakistan where everyone has access to good internet and the awareness to use it to improve their lives and livelihoods. This year on International Women’s Day, in collaboration with Meta, we launched an online safety booklet for Pakistani users, especially women, to guide them to use cyberspace safely.

Before investing in and bringing new technologies, we need to create an enabling environment so our current operations are not hindered.

The Economic Affairs: How are you digitally enabling the youth, especially females to improve their lives and livelihoods?

AI: Our Corporate Social Responsibility aims to digitally enable youth, especially women. Jazz’s nationwide Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) bootcamps with UNDP are targeting participation from budding social entrepreneurs ensuring 50% female participation. Over the two cohorts, we have trained 201 enterprises with 159 participants.

The program has successfully trained entrepreneurs from the most remote areas such as Pishin, Khuzdar (Baluchistan) and bordering area of Afghanistan in Gilgit Baltistan. In addition to that, Jazz has also partnered with LUMS to host Young Leaders Entrepreneurs Summit (YLES) where approximately 1200 delegates (40% females) from colleges, universities, and high schools from across the country participated. Incorporating the importance of crisis management, entrepreneurial innovation, confidence, perseverance, and dynamic thinking, YLES provided the perfect platform for aspiring entrepreneurs.

In addition to that, our partnership with the National Incubation Center (NIC) started in 2016 under the Jazz Xlr8 program with the first cohort being launched in 2017. In 5 years, this partnership has resulted in creating more than 10,000 jobs through startups with over PKR 2.6 billion contributed through investments and revenue.

Jazz sustainability agenda aims to facilitate innovative, solution- oriented thinking which will enable the youth to build necessary skills for success in their professional and entrepreneurial journeys that lie ahead of them. Our youth has immense talent and they just need companies like Jazz to create platforms where they can get the required mentorship and confidence to pursue their plans to be successful.

The Economic Affairs: What role has Jazz played in digitalization of Pakistan? Is there a specific target-based strategy for digital enablement in Pakistan?

AI: As the leading digital operator in the country, Jazz fully embraces the responsibility of being a key player in enabling a digital Pakistan. We have the fastest growing 4G userbase where 50% of total net 4G users added in 2021 were from Jazz alone.

We realize that one of the key challenges in the face of a truly digitally connected population is people’s ability to afford a mobile, particularly for women and the rural population. To offset that, we introduced the Jazz Digit 4G, an affordable feature phone, that has helped expand the benefits of mobile broadband.

The phone fits well with prevalent market dynamics as majority of the mobile subscribers in the country are still using legacy 2G phones and need affordable options to convert to latest technologies like 4G. Under our mission of ‘4G for all’, we are also committed to digitally empower the women and the rural population of Pakistan that is often not catered to directly. In Pakistan, we have some of the widest mobile gender gaps where 38% of women are less likely to own a phone and 49% are less likely to use mobile internet. To fight this digital divide, Jazz has committed to increase the proportion of women by 8% in its mobile internet customer base by the end of 2023.

We have also made a similar commitment for JazzCash by vowing to increase the proportion of women by 22% in our mobile money customer base by 2023. To enable the rural population, we are working with Universal Services Fund (USF) where our projects till date have connected a population of more than 12 million people in various far-flung areas of the country.

The Economic Affairs: What is the vision of Jazz for investment in new technologies including 5G?

AI: The answer to this question comes down to the 5G for few versus 4G for all debate. Pakistan is not currently ready for 5G technology as a very small percentage of the population owns 5G enabled handsets. Adopting and implementing new technologies like 5G requires effort from all stakeholders because we need to change outdated policies, ensure availability of affordable smart devices, strike partnerships, attract investments, release spectrum, develop digital skills, create demand, and foster innovation. Pakistan is a developing country, and we have critical infrastructure issues that cannot be ignored.

The current macroeconomic crisis has led to the onset of a digital emergency and has put us in a difficult position to continue investing as the rising operating costs and depreciating currency threaten our operations. More than ever, we need policy intervention at different levels to ensure that we can continue investing money into the country. The industry ARPU has dropped from US$9/month to US$1/month in the last two decades.

The cost of doing business however has increased from the increase in spectrum fee from US$291 million to US$486 million and the rise in taxes to 34.5% over the years.

I have been very vocal that we are facing a digital emergency and unless something is done, we might have to face serious consequences in form of companies wrapping up business or degradation of quality of the services.

So before investing in and bringing new technologies, we need to create a conducive environment, so our current operations are not hindered.

The industry, government and the stakeholders must work together to equip the country with the required infrastructure and policies that will help bring the digital Pakistan vision to life.

PROFILE

Amir Ibrahim

Since 2016 Aamir Ibrahim has been the CEO of Jazz — Pakistan’s largest telecom business and Internet services provider company with 70 million subscribers. He is also a member of the Global Executive Committee of VEON (the sixth largest telecom operator in the world).

Previously, Aamir has held senior leadership positions in VEON, Telenor Group, Ford Motor Company, Jaguar, Land Rover and Mobilink.  His career spans over 25 years, seven countries and in industries as diverse as telecommunications, automotive and financial services. Aamir received his Bachelors in Business (Accounting) from The University of Texas at Austin.  He also holds an MBA from IMD in Switzerland and an AMP Diploma from the Harvard Business School.

Aamir has been credited in creating and launching Jazz brand in 1999 (Pakistan’s first prepaid mobile service), which today is the country’s largest indigenous consumer brand.  In addition to his expertise in marketing, Aamir has broad-based strengths in strategy, business development, governmental relations and operations. In 2015, Aamir led the Mobilink-Warid merger forming the largest telecom company in the country.

Aamir has been an instrumental member of the team that helped transform Jazz from a legacy telecom operator to being the country’s preferred digital lifestyle player, which today offers mobile broadband, digital financial services through JazzCash, content and services ranging from music, TV to gaming and insurance.

Aamir was instrumental in helping establish Pakistan’s first National Incubation Center – a unique example of public-private partnership that was subsequently emulated across four cities in Pakistan.  He has championed mobile financial inclusion. He served on the board of Universal Service Fund (USF). Presently, he is on several boards including IGNITE and Pakistan’s National Research and Development Fund aimed at reducing the digital divide in Pakistan.  He is passionate about technology and is a leading voice and proponent of #DigitalPakistan.