A Chinese telecom company's struggle and triumph in Pakistan
- By Wang Wei
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 28, 2018
Improving people's livelihood in Pakistan
In recent years, while driving Pakistan's economic development, CMPak has always been committed to improving local people's lives with its advanced 4G technology.
In November 2016, the company cooperated with Pakistan's northernmost province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) on its "Medicare Card" program, covering 56 percent of its population. A total of 1.8 million families there received a Zong SIM for free and enjoyed the mobile cash transfer services.
CMPak also made an agreement with DoctHERs to become the official connectivity partners of its telemedicine centers. DoctHERs is a novel, digital healthcare platform that connects female doctors to patients in real-time while leveraging leading-edge technology. It now has nine telemedicine clinics across Pakistan, equipped with Zong's fastest 4G Mobile Broadband devices. In 2017, over 6,000 patients were treated at these facilities, according to Wang.
In addition, CMPak has launched its volunteer program "A New Hope" among its employees since 2016, aiming to clock at least 2,000 hours of volunteer work annually in areas of environmental protection, education and disaster relief. The program has benefitted almost 10,000 people across 10 cities in the country, Wang said.
"In spite of great challenges and difficulties during operation, the company never neglects its social responsibility while actively integrating itself into Pakistani society," he added. "Based on the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, we expect to help Pakistan embark on a path of progress and prosperity."
CMPak now has 3,277 employees, among whom 24 are Chinese, accounting for 0.7 percent of the total. While the major duties of the Chinese employees are to build bridges for better communication between CMPak and China Mobile and bring the company's good experience and solutions to Pakistan, Wang emphasized that its local operation largely depends on Pakistani employees.
"CMPak attaches great importance to cross-cultural training," Wang said. "The Chinese employees have to learn local religions and customs, while their Pakistani counterparts are also invited to attend training programs at China Mobile based in Beijing."
Most of the employees have been working here for more than 10 years, and the cross-cultural communication among them is also great support for the Belt and Road, Wang said.
