Two weeks into the beta, the first MVNO of Pakistan, onic, is heading towards its public launch, probably later this week or on August 14th, as they call it, the Network of Independence. Early launch hints were seen with new packages and rewards, discussed further in the later part of this writeup.
Android App Updated
The Singaporean company has been testing the scope in Pakistan with the help of Pak Telecom for a while now, with almost 13 version releases of the onic app. The latest update is of August 3rd, v1.6.3, which can directly be downloaded from https://fspk.pro/onicapk
Earlier, during the beta launch, we recorded over 6,400 downloads of the v1.5.1 apk file hosted on fspk.pro in the first 3 days.
Is onic by Ufone?
The usual question we get from our readers is: Is onic a rebranded Ufone? Well, No! The company’s founding could be linked to Pakistan yes, but not Ufone as the owner. Adeel Najam, a NUST graduate, and his two friends Abhishek Gupta and Rameez Ansar, co-founded Circles.Life, Asia’s first fully digital telco. The parent company is Liberty Wireless Pte Ltd.. So, if someone asks which Singaporean company is behind onic, you can say Circles.Life.
Founded in 2016, Circles.Life offers digital mobile services, including voice, data, roaming, and international calls. With operations in Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, Indonesia, Japan, and now Pakistan. Operating as a digital telco, it purchases bandwidth from other Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), replacing traditional brick-and-mortar stores with its online consumer business. In Pakistan, Circles.Life purchases this backbone from Pak Telecommunication Mobile Limited (PTML / PTCL) or Ufone. So, as also discussed in our very first article, onic (by Circles.Life) is not run by Ufone but is collaborative as a service provider, infrastructure, and legalities handler. It not only uses the network but also has support from e& Etisalat and Ufone itself. Since they buy the bandwidth without going through the PTA MNO licensing, this enabled onic to provide voice, messaging, and data services to customers: becoming the first digital telco in Pakistan to offer full-service mobile network services. To do away with physical retail stores, onic delivers its SIM cards to customers through third-party services, such as riderTPL in Pakistan.
onic Looks Familiar
So, where have we seen an app like onic before? Well, if you look at their Indonesian app Live.On, it will look very much like the onic Pakistan app.
After Circles.Life Singapore, Live.On in Indonesia has been a massive success with their unlimited plans. The network is PT XL Axiata Tbk, the second largest in Indonesia. Not long now, when we will see more MVNOs entering Pakistan with exciting unlimited plan offerings because, according to Mordor Intelligence, the Pakistan Telecom Market size is expected to grow from USD 4.38 billion in 2023 to USD 5.15 billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 3.28% during the forecast period (2023-2028).
Local Plans (Revised)
All plans are inclusive of taxes.
Limit Less (Bundle)
- 200 GB Data (with rollover)
- Unlimited Incoming and Outgoing Calls
- 10,000 SMS
- 30 Days Validity
- Rs.1,990/-
- 3 months Golootlo Subscription Voucher + Rs.300/- Daraz Voucher
Epic Data (Bundle)
- 100 GB Data (with rollover)
- Unlimited Incoming and Outgoing Calls
- 10,000 SMS
- 30 Days Validity
- Rs.1,290/-
- 3 months Golootlo Subscription Voucher + Rs.300/- Daraz Voucher
Big Data (Bundle)
- 30 GB Data (with rollover)
- Unlimited Incoming and Outgoing Calls
- 5,000 SMS
- 30 Days Validity
- Rs.890/-
- 3 months Golootlo Subscription Voucher + Rs.300/- Daraz Voucher
Weekly Data
- 10 GB Data
- 7 Days Validity
- Rs.240/-
Daily Data
- 1 GB Data
- 1 Day Validity
- Rs.40/-
Weekly Voice
- 100 Minutes
- 7 Days Validity
- Rs.100/-
Daily Voice
- 40 Minutes
- 1 Day Validity
- Rs.50/-
Expected Rewards
- Golootlo Vouchers
- Daraz Vouchers
- Bonus Data, Minutes, SMS
- 20% Off via Referral
- Loyalty Rewards (Data, Minutes, SMS, and maybe gadgets and phones too)
- Data Rollover: It means having your unused data carried over from one month to the next. All the available unused plan data can be rolled over to be enjoyed in the next month. There is no limit! For example, if you buy a 30GB plan and only use 10GB during the next 30 days, the remaining 20GB will be rolled over and added to the data quota of the following plan purchase.
iOS App, Web Access, and Dashboard
While there is no news from developers yet for when the TestFlight invites will roll out for iOS users, we happen to find a way to sign up, log in, as well as manage your onic account in the web browser:
To Register with a plan: https://ppkvc-webfront.onic.com.pk/web/pre-checkout?reset=true (Short Link: https://fspk.pro/onicreg)
If you’re looking for a 20% Off Code, you can use this: REF0BKMH10HB6
To Sign up for an account (select plan later): https://ppkvc-webfront.onic.com.pk/web/signup (Short Link: https://fspk.pro/onicsu)
To Login: https://ppkvc-webfront.onic.com.pk/web/login (Short Link: https://fspk.pro/oniclogin)
For detailed help, please see onic knowledgebase at https://onicsupport.zendesk.com/hc/en-us or chat with a live support agent after signing into your account from the app or web login link mentioned above.
To stay up-to-date about onic, you can also join our non-official onic Facebook Group at https://facebook.com/groups/onicpk
Most applications and e-commerce sites not accepting ONiC as phone number. :/
This means either onic or the customer needs to raise a request at those sites to allow 0339 prefix, once the network launches publicly.
I think all telcos can benefit from the B2B infrastructure that they can provide to MVNOs. We might see more companies jump on this.
I want a onic sim
Onic has gone public, so you can download the app on iOS or Android from App Store or Google Play, and order a SIM with a number and plan of your choice. You can also port in your existing number.