Franchises and Subscribers - Zong At Top?

The chart below shows the number of franchises for mobile network operators (source: PTA report 2008). If you divide the total number of subscribers at the end of 2008 by the number of franchises shown here at the end of 2008, it shows that Zong has one franchise for approximately 33600 subscribers. Telenor on the other hand has one franchise per 81000 customers. Mobilink has 63400 per franchise, Ufone 53500 and Warid 59400. So apparently Zong is at top in terms of offering more franchises for its subscriber base - but is that simple?

Of course more franchises do not equate to better service or higher sales. However it does raise some questions. Does it mean that Zong did an aggressive franchise rollout to gain market share? How does Telenor maintain its subscriber gain with the least density of franchises? There are some interesting comments about which franchise is best from a business owner point of view at this TGP thread.

This post does not address many important points such as the partner model followed by each company varies (the franchises counted by PTA are not the only ones). The the geographical distribution of franchises can be quite different when it comes to urban and rural areas and from one province to another.