Nimbuzz enters Pakistan in alliance with Mobilink

Instant messaging application provider Nimbuzz, which operates out of Gurgaon near New Delhi, has inked pact with Pakistan-based mobile carrier Mobilink to tap the market.

With the alliance, about 35 million subscribers of Mobilink will get Nimbuzz messenger app bundled with a discounted data tariff.

Nimbuzz, which reportedly is the second most popular instant messaging application provider after Whatsapp, has more than 150 million users at present, globally.

While Pakistan has just about five to six million smartphone users at present, recent studies have estimated that there would be about 50 million smartphone users in Pakistan by 2016.

Whatsapp and Viber are the other two commonly used instant messaging applications in Pakistan.

Now, any Nimbuzz user from any corner of the globe will now be able to connect with Mobilink service users in Pakistan.

“This tie-up will further help a large and growing user base of Nimbuzz in Pakistan to enjoy our product without caring about individual data costs much,” said Vikas Saxena, chief executive officer, Nimbuzz.

Moied Javeed, Director Marketing (Mobile Internet), Mobilink, said that the partnership would help the Pakistani telco boost its data usage going forward.

According to media reports, average revenue per user (ARPU) in Pakistan has come down from $8.30 in 2004-05 to about $2.42 in 2011-12 and is likely to go down further, which naturally forces telecom operators in Pakistan to adopt alternative revenue stream.

Recently, Nimbuzz has entered into similar partnership with Aircel in India to boost data usage for the struggling telco in India.

According to recent study by Nimbuzz, there are more than one billion minutes of calls made per month and more than 102 billion messages sent and received per month through different mobile applications. Consumers are shifting from computer-driven data usage to mobile and tablets which telcos are aggressively tapping, said Saxena.