An MPhil seminar titled ‘A Study of Consumer Behaviour in Mobile Phone Markets in Pakistan: A Case Study of Sukkur and Khairpur Districts’ was held on Thursday at the Commerce and Business Administration Department of Shah Abdul Latif University (SALU), Khairpur. Commerce lecturer Hassan Jawad Soomro had submitted his study under the supervision of Commerce and Business Administration Dean Prof Dr Lutuf Ali Phulpoto.
Soomro elaborated that in recent times, the use of mobile phones in Pakistan has grown at a rapid pace and its use has turned into a necessity rather than a luxury. “Since 2000, the mobile telephone market has increased 14 folds in Pakistan to reach a subscriber base of 91 million users in 2009, which is one of the highest mobile tele-densities in the entire world,” said the scholar. The figures suggest that the use of mobile phones is expanding in the country while their use is most common among the younger generation, he added.
Soomro said the objectives of his research were to investigate the consumers’ purchasing behaviour towards various brands and services providers; explore the impact of demographic characteristics of respondents on purchase of mobile handsets and selection of services providers; and discover the factors that influence the consumers’ behaviour in Sukkur and Khairpur districts. SALU Commerce Department Chairman and research supervisor Phulpoto also spoke on the occasion and appreciated Soomro’s research work.