'An interview with Niaz Malik 'Telecoms needs to reimagine with changing aspirations'

Mr. Niaz Malik was Deputy CEO of Zong and the vibrant force behind bringing 4G into the Pakistani market. He also served the organization as Chief Commercial Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Information Officer, Chief Regulatory Officer, Chief of Corporate Sales, Head of Mobile Financial Services, Chief Spokesman of China Mobile in Pakistan, and Chief Innovation Officer.

He also served PTCL as its Executive Vice President Information Systems, Executive Vice President IT, Executive Vice President Corporate Sales & Product Development and Chief Information Officer.

 He is a Certified Management Consultant who has over two decades of experience in Fortune 50 companies in the North American market, within the fields of Finance, B2B, Health, Telecom, Insurance, and Banking & Fund Management.

After a tragic accident that he met at the peak of his career, Mr. Malik now acts as a motivational speaker, columnist, corporate trainer, mentor and senior business advisor to large scale groups in Pakistan.

Following are the edited transcripts of his recent conversation with BR Research:

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BR Research: Tell us about yourself?

Niaz Malik: I was the Chief Information Officer at PTCL and also served as the Executive Vice President for Product Sales and Product Development as well as for Information Systems & IT at PTCL. I have led one of the largest SAP implementations in the region in Ufone and PTCL itself. I have managed the complete product portfolio at PTCL with regards to corporate sales. I also managed their technology platforms from the cloud to data centres to internal information systems as well as the entire sales aspect, which gave me a very thorough background in technology and the sales side. This provided PTCL with the cutting edge information systems and the ability to basically provide comprehensive solutions to PTCL customers with regards to their diverse needs.

Then I served at key positions at Zong; I was the Deputy CEO as well as managed the company in various roles through various dimensions within the organization in terms of its growth. The highlight of my role as the Chief Commercial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer was to invest in 4G. We started this journey in 2011, and Zong at that time was not considered to be among the leading organizations. So in order to strategically position the company for growth and provide a distinct advantage to the organization, I am proud that we invested in 4G.

Interestingly, at that time telecoms were not willing to meddle with 4G because they thought that the spectrum was too costly with high operational cost. We took advantage of the situation and moved Zong swiftly in the subsequent four years to acquire this 4G spectrum, which made Zong a data driven company, a vibrant brand and distinguished it from the rest. We got the first movers advantage and eventually the rest of the telecom companies followed. So this ability to provide a differentiating factor to the organization while I was at the helm of the affairs is something I cherish.

Before coming to Pakistan, I had a 15-year experience working in Manhattan in seven different verticals of leading consulting firms that had market cap of over $50 billion, where my core area of focus was strategic transformation of large scale organizations.

I believe that I not only have a comprehensive knowledge of this technology, but a solid understanding of the business and the norms of the society. So what I’m doing now is that I’m working very hard with the organizations in terms of what the future of work will be. I work very closely with the youth in terms of mobilizing their imaginations, dreams and the belief in our own country that Pakistan has just started its journey and that there are better times ahead.

I also work very closely with the board of directors and the CEOs of various leading organizations in terms of comprehending the strategic challenges their organizations are facing, and how technology leveraging and business opportunities can unleash their existence in the Pakistani market.  I help them in mobilizing their workforce with regards to their understanding of the market and inducing technology.

BRR: You have a very comprehensive background in telecom; as an expert do you see the sector growing going forward?

NZ: I see a very vibrant future of the telecom sector. But for that to happen, the sector will have to reimagine, reintroduce and innovate with the changing aspirations of the market dynamics and the expectations of the customers. The telecom sector must lead the way by creating new ecosystem. Like the effort it has made in bringing voice to Pakistan’s market, the sector has to ensure that it makes equal effort in bringing digitalization into the markets. For that, it is important that the telecom sector is entrenched in various aspects of the economy; on one side, it should be seamlessly integrated with the universities and the educational system in providing solutions, while on the other it needs to work on comprehensive platforms like providing e-governance, e-health, e-education etc.

Basically, the voice is not going to be the key driver only; the future of the telecom sector rests on digitalization, building ecosystem, comprehensive platforms, close collaborations between organizations with respect to IoT and establishing a distribution channel that could unleash innovation and productivity into the masses. Continuing to rely on voice makes the future bleak. This transformation has to come from the vision of the CEOs of these telecom companies, which is subsequently comprehended by various departments in the telecom sector, and then come up with seamless collaborations across different industries. This is where telecom companies are not making headways.

BRR: In that sense, what are the prospects for 5G in the country?

NZ: The trials can take place in 2020, but I don’t think we will be ready for the next few years for 5G. Return on investment on the network upgrade is the biggest obstacle here, because the call or the data packages in Pakistan are one of the cheapest in the world, while the tariffs are very high. The profitability of the organizations is just not there yet, which cannot sustain the comprehensive upgrade to the network needed for 5G roll out.  You might see organizations take brand leverage in 5G, it could take at least 2-3 years for a successful rollout of 5G

BRR: What about foreign investment in the sector? The recent license renewal debacle has left a sour taste for the investors.

NZ: The renewal of telecom licenses has brought forward some fundamental issues that must be addressed in a timely manner. In simple words, we have been ill-planned. In my view, PTA's action to renew the expiring mobile spectrum licenses at the last minute should have been undertaken at the time when the licenses approached the government almost two years ago. This critical decision, like many others, fell victim to procrastination and ill planning, the ultimate cost of which will now be borne by the telecom companies and the country at large.

Increase in inflation and the continued devaluation of the domestic currency has raised the cost of doing business, which is affecting every company's bottom line. At the same time, Pakistani telecoms are offering some of the lowest call rates in the world, which is shrinking their profits further. In such times, the astronomical license renewal fees set by the government in the USD while the telecoms earn their revenue in PKR may serve as a severe setback for these telecoms. On the other hand, the government is facing numerous challenges be it widening the tax base, losing on revenue targets, curtailing the losses of public sector enterprises, or successfully completing the required structural reforms. Where both parties are finding themselves between a rock and a hard place, wading through the legal quagmire may only be the choice left for them.

In addition, the challenge of red- tapism, lack of incentives for the organizations and measures to proliferate the ecosystem like seamless integration of technologies and entities, and indecisiveness and incoherence in policies have all contributed to the lack of foreign investment interest in the sector.

We need to realize the true potential of the country. Pakistan’s future is very bright because of its vibrancy and dynamism. With CPEC, the trade opportunity that we have as a result of the US-China trade war and the resulting shorter supply chains, and rising increasing intercontinental trade. Leveraging technology and digitalization in exploiting these opportunities will usher a new age of growth in the country. I see great future of the country with greater role of the telecom as well as other industries like banking, healthcare, pharma, and academia in creating a cohesive system, which will help us compete as a global player.

BRR: Rightly Pakistan has a huge youth population. How do you rate the local human capital relative to the world in terms of skills?

NZ: I look at Pakistanis as fertile minds. It’s unfortunate we have not been able to take the required action to endure that we have an education system that replicates the needs of the future. We are churning out these students, but we do not have the platform that would engage them into the system. The other thing is that we need comprehensive education reforms at all levels in order to ensure that our youth is competitive with regards to the future of work. Ironically, we are not making any strides in this direction because our educational system still is very business and is not based on the needs of the future.

The growth in Pakistani market actually rests fundamentally on the large youth population and developing the ecosystems, which can redefine and reshape how this youth will be interacting in the future; and the providing comprehensive end to end applications and IoT that would induce efficiency in the economy. Here, 4G is a very crucial platform to achieve these goals.

Globally, organizations are rethinking and redesigning the future of work amid changing technology based on how the future generation will reorganizing their work structures. This transition is something that is being overlooked in Pakistan. However, prospects are bright for the country if we take advantage of this opportunity through timely planning and execution of an action plan to use technology and digitalization to jump start productivity, create jobs and improve standards of living

BRR: What is your view of the economy? Where are we headed?

NZ: Pakistan has a very vibrant future. I am very optimistic about the future. In order to get there, we need a stable government which is aligned with the aspirations of the people. Even though we have been able to get through the difficult economic time where 2019 was that year, and that there the economy is stabilizing, we need to focus on some key aspects that I believe will takes forward. There needs to be political consensus for growth to return. The government will have to develop faith within the foreign investor community through incentives and friendly policies so that they can come and invest in the country. Third, the PM needs a competent team that can deliver on his promises and vision. Fourth, transparency across the board and addressing red tape is crucial for growth to return to the homeland. Fifth, focus on areas like health, education and security in the country would instill betterment of the huge human capital that we have.