Onic Pakistan Starts Beta Trials

Pak Telecommunication Mobile Limited (PTML / PTCL), or Ufone, is a Pakistani GSM cellular service provider that, with the help of e& (Etisalat and), started the beta trials of Pakistan’s first Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) or MVNA/MVNE, named as Onic Pakistan.

Since the start of July 2023, Onic Pakistan has been advertising on Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter as “Discover digital independence with Onic: epic features & endless opportunities!” Landing is their website onic.pk or Facebook Lead From that shows a short Sign Up form, where Pakistanis can fill up their First, Last Name, Mobile Number, and Email Address to be considered in their Founders Club.

On Thursday, July 26^th, 2023, a limited number of people who filled out this Sign-Up form were invited by email with a link to a Google Form that needs to be submitted with a Google account signed in. The Google Form ensured that the beta Android app invitation would be sent to the user having it linked to their Google Play account.

Later the same evening, Google accounts that were eligible for the beta app invite received an email with the subject “Onic Trials: On your marks, Get set….“

This email offered a very lucrative trial plan to early testers. The plan costs only PKR 123.00/- instead of PKR 1090/- and offers the following with the terms mentioned:

• Testing 123 Plan Validity: 30 Days
• 30GB Data
• 500 Minutes (all-networks)
• 1000 SMS (all-networks)
• Plan Price: Rs.123/-
• Physical SIM Price: Free
• Delivery: Free
• Biometric Verification at the time of delivery: Free
• Delivery Cities: Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi

From the initial testing phase, a 14.08MB Android app v1.5.1 was offered with a limitation of only physical new SIM number.

Beta users then verified their email address and mobile number via OTP and could select a number of their choice in prefix 0339. To note, the 033X is allocated to Ufone, hence the same network. Within the app, different tiers of number selection were offered from free to 25,000/- rupees.

Once the payment was made, the next day, on July 27th, 2023, riderTPL logistics delivered the SIM card welcome pack to subscribers in the five mentioned cities. Each rider had a Biometric Verification Solution (BVS) Scanner with them to issue the SIM at delivery time. The BVS device was the same as that used by HBL Konnect and Zong. Model name HYF BH502-A by Shenzhen Herofun Bio-Tech Co., Ltd.

Here is what was delivered:

Steps to Grab an Onic SIM

Fill out this main website form using the same email ID as you have on Google Play: https://fspk.pro/onicweb

Then fill this Google Form with your browser signed in with the same Google email address: https://fspk.pro/onicgform

The above 2 steps will put you in their system. If you wish to skip them, you may, but then you might not get the Founder’s Club benefits in the future.

Then download the onic apk regardless of your Google Play Store country from this link: https://fspk.pro/onicapk

Make sure that you have app install from ‘Unknown Sources’ enabled on your Android device to sideload the apk.

At time time of this article, the beta app can only be downloaded if your email address is added by the onic app publishers, and your account is in Pakistan store. Here is the Google Play beta app link too for future: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pk.com.onic

That’s it! Register an account, verify the mobile and same email address with OTP. Make sure you still have a vacant slot on your CNIC. Max 5 SIMs allowed. To check, visit: https://cnic.sims.pk

Order away! Tip: First select the package Testing 123 of Rs.123, then configure a number of your choice; otherwise you will get a 400 status error on checkout.

Note apk file size 14.09MB, and MD5 Hash: 2C1C62FF614AAEB5E79DAA6980DB8F96
No Malware or Virus was found. VirusTotal Report is at https://fspk.pro/onicvt (the detail tab must verify the same MD5 above for the apk to ensure of no tampering). You can compare hash from any MD5 tool online.

You will get a tracking number via SMS once your SIM is scheduled to deliver the next day or the day you have selected in the time slot.

Once you receive the SIM after doing the biometric finger verification on the device that rider has, you can activate the SIM card by punching in the 19-20 digits ICCID number or scanning the barcode on your SIM jacket. It will take up to 24 hours for your SIM to then activate.

Guessing from the apk downloaded stats 1k+ from Google Play, and offloading, it is fair to speculate 1000 or such users trialing at the time of writing this post. Furthermore, the app flow was great, but there are some ifs and buts. Like for instance at some places the price was shown as Singaporean Dollars with SGD symbol rather than Rs. (Pakistani Rupee). Also, FAQ section has a faulty answer not related to the question, as shown in the snap below.

Hopefully, iOS users will be getting a Testflight invite soon to beta trial the app on their Apple iPhones. Also, once the eSIM functionality is enabled in the app, this would be the cheapest eSIM (literally free) option in Pakistan when compared to the parent company Ufone’s offering of Rs.2500/- and another network Jazz charging a steep Rs.5000/- for issuance, with no transfer facility. Also, a non-PTA phone was checked with physical onic SIM, and it worked. Not sure until when.