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Case Study: Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity (Mobilink)

Submitted to: ABC

Submitted by: Qaim Din Mahar

0300-6714555 qaim_mahar@yahoo.com facebook.com/qaim.mahar

Class: MBA II-(B)

Subject: Research Methods & Report Writing

Session: Spring 2011

Quaid-i-Azam School of Management Sciences. Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad.

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Table of contents

Acknowledgement................................................................................................................ 01

Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 02

Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................. 03

Introduction ................................................................................................. 03

Significance of Study ..................................................................................... 03

Rationale...................................................................................................... 04

Chapter 2 ............................................................................................................................. 05

Literature Review ......................................................................................... 00

Business continuity planning ......................................................................... 05

Components of business Continuity planning ......................................................................... 08

Contingency planning ................................................................................... 08

Disaster recovery plan .................................................................................. 09

Recovery time and recovery point objectives in disaster recovery ................... 10

Insurance ..................................................................................................... 10

Disaster recovery plan for telecom systems.................................................... 11

Chapter 3 ............................................................................................................................. 12

Methodology................................................................................................ 12

Research question ........................................................................................ 12

Case study approach ..................................................................................... 12

Selection of an organization .......................................................................... 12

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Technique used ............................................................................................ 13

Data collection source................................................................................... 13

Interviewer selection .................................................................................... 13

Interview Schedule ....................................................................................... 13

Chapter 4 ............................................................................................................................. 14

Introduction of Organization ......................................................................... 14

Introduction of Mobilink ............................................................................... 14

Mobilink's Vision .......................................................................................... 15

Mobilinks Organizational Culture .................................................................. 15

Case study............................................................................................................................ 16

Overview ..................................................................................................... 16

An insight to Mobilink fire incident ................................................................ 16

Role of PTA in disaster recovery..................................................................... 18

Equipment Sensitivity ................................................................................... 18

Restoration of System ................................................................................... 19

Second Update ............................................................................................. 19

Service restoration ....................................................................................... 20

Mobilink to compensate its Customers .......................................................... 20

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.......................................................... 21

Users of Mobilink ......................................................................................... 22

Who Suffered More Loss ............................................................................... 22

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Chapter 5 ............................................................................................................................. 23

Analysis/ Results........................................................................................... 23

Chapter 6 ............................................................................................................................. 25

Discussion .................................................................................................... 25

Chapter 7 ............................................................................................................................. 28

Conclusion and suggestions........................................................................... 28

References ........................................................................................................................... 31

Acronyms and Abbreviations ................................................................................................. 34

Annexures

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Acknowledgement:

Apart from our efforts, the success of any project depends largely on the

encouragement and guidelines of many others. I take this opportunity to express my

gratitude to the people who have been instrumental in the successful completion of this

project.

I would like to show our greatest appreciation to Dr. XYZ. I feel motivated and

encouraged every time I attended her meeting. Without her encouragement and

guidance this project would not have been materialized.

I am really thankful to Mr. ABC (Mobilink), Mr. XYZ (Mobilink), DEF (Ufone), Miss

ABC (Ufone), ABC (Mobilink), and ABCD (Mobilink) who are major source of

information and guidance for me.

The guidance and support received from all the members who contributed and who are

contributing to this project, was vital for the success of the project. I am grateful for

members constant support and help.

At the end I want to say thanks to whole staff and management of Mobilink for co-

operation and for providing me very useful and relevant information.

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Abstract:

Telecom infrastructure is assigned a special position in society because of its

important role in the everyday functioning. In addition to the direct effects of loss of

service, telecom failures cripple coordination capabilities, hindering rescue and

recovery operations. The importance of business continuity and disaster recovery plan

has grown considerably in the recent years, becoming a well-established practice to

achieve organizations resiliency. In a world where continuous operations are essential

for smooth business survival, action must be taken to ensure business continuity and

disaster recovery irrespective of any kind of disruptive event. Business continuity and

disaster recovery are a part of overall organizations risk management. This study

presents a case based upon business continuity and disaster recovery in telecom sector

and explains how organizations are effected by disasters and what steps and plans

organizations should made to cope up with such kind of disaster in future.

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Chapter 1

Introduction:

All organizations are susceptible to a non-zero risk of experiencing out-of-

course events, whether natural or man-made, that can lead to disasters with respect

to business operations. Disasters are unpredictable, sudden and cost a lot to the

business. Some of the costs of disasters include cash flow interruptions, loss of

competitive edge, loss of market share and customer confidence, erosion of business

image and legal/regulatory violation.

Business continuity & disaster recovery are a part of overall organizations risk

management. Business continuity relates to establishing the right process, procedures

and resources necessary to continue a business in an acceptable form when something

interrupt business. Therefore business recovery is an activity performed to ensure that

critical business functions must be available to customers, employees and regulators

(Devargas, 1999). It further implies that business should continue irrespective of any

kind of disruptive event. Whereas, Disaster recovery is a subset of business continuity

plan which suggests that how an organization recover itself from a disaster. Heikkinen

and Sarkis state that It is the restoration of normal operating procedures after a

failure.

Significance of Study:

This research Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity aims to examine

what kind of relationship is there between disaster recovery and business continuity

with a particular focus on the organizations recovery and continuity of business after

the disaster. Due to disaster recovery plans (DRP) firms are able to recover much more

quickly than firms would be otherwise. Business Continuity Planning is also very

important as it focus on strategic management tool. This study will also help identify

that how an organization plans to recover from disaster and continue its business. As

disaster are occurring more frequently to entities so all the businesses are realizing the

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importance of these two very important concepts. This study will be focused on

preventive measures and strategic planning taken to ensure continuity. The Study will

further help to understand the organizations work plan and actions towards a disaster.

Rationale of study:

Disaster recovery and business continuity are parts of an organizations risk

management. The study on business continuity is frequently available but the impact of

disaster recovery and business continuity planning in telecom sector is not yet studied.

Especially study regarding recent disaster faced by a leading company is not yet

conducted. The logic or reason behind this research is to find out the true cause of

disaster and its impact on business. Another reason is to find out the true guidelines for

the organization to insure itself from any kind of disruptive event.

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Chapter 2

Literature Review:

Natural disasters like floods and earthquakes or accidents resulting from human

error or utility disruptions are all potential threats for interruptions in the continuous

business operations (Hassanain and Al-Mudhei, 2006). However, systems break down

and computer viruses like Trojan horse can also be act as disasters.

In the light of recent natural disasters; terrorism, and machinery breakdown,

organizations have realized the need to be prepared for coping with all the contingent

events (Botha and Solms, 2004). Pitt and Goyal, (2004) concluded that due to the ever

increasing rate of unforeseen crises within the business environment organization

should have a business continuity plan (BCP).

Business continuity planning:

Herbane, Elliott, and Swartz, (1997) identifies business continuity planning as a

new and evolving discipline. They believed that most organizations underestimate the

trauma associated with major crises. Therefore, any type of shut down can have a

devastating effect on continuity of business operations.

The numerous disasters suffered by corporations, institutions and other

organizations have shown us that planning for disaster recovery is simply not enough.

We must also plan for business resumption (Moore, 1995). Many organizations already

had business continuity plans and planning processes, while others began planning

after one or more of the disastrous events.

Fry and Diamond (2001) have described business survival requires every

business organization to plan for any kind of disruption including natural disasters;

hardware and communications failures; internal or external or acts of terrorism. Since

such disruptions cannot be predicted, they can have dangerous effects on the survival

of the business with results ranging from capital losses to customer dissatisfaction.

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Organizations now a day are competing on a global scale and therefore they are

allocating some part of their resources and budgets to ensure continuity in case of any

disruptive event.

According to Botha and Solms (2004), to completely define business continuity

one has to consider two aspects. First, it should be ensured that an organization

continue its business. Second, IT should be restored to a state similar to that preceding

the disaster.

According to Herbane, Elliott, and Swartz, (1997)

A suitable definition of BCP is planning that identifies the organizations

exposure to internal and external threats and synthesizes hard and soft assets to provide

effective prevention and recovery, while maintaining competitive advantage and value

system integrity.

A business continuity plan designed to be followed throughout the organization

is focused to mitigate risks that might cause: business process failure, asset loss,

regulatory liabilities, customer services failure, and damage to reputation. Risk

mitigation comes under the head of risk management. Risk management is the

identification, assessment, and prioritization of risks followed by coordinated and

economical application of resources to minimize, monitor, and control the impact of

unfortunate events (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Risk_management).

A Mckinsey survey, reported in Business Continuity Online, found that over

80% of investors would pay 18% more for shares in a well governed company and well

governed company is the one which has proper business continuity plan (Stanton,

2005).

Keeping in view the importance of BCP Botha and Solms (2004) have

identified seven phases of business continuity plan. According to them these phases

are:The project planning phase: This phase includes all those activities required to

ensure that the BCP project is properly planned.

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In second phase which is the business impact analysis (BIA) phase, critical

business processes are identified and then analyzed. Once the analysis is complete, the

impact that various disasters may have on business should become clear. The business

continuity strategies (BCS) phase entails the identification of various strategies that

focus on ensuring business continuity and recovery. It requires the review of the

various identified disaster scenarios to develop methods to deal with these situations

In continuity strategies implementation (CSI) phase detailed functional plans

are developed which indicates responses to the various scenarios. The fifth stage which

is the continuity training (CTR) phase, it is ensured that business continuity training

must form part of the organizations training framework. The training should be carried

out as soon as the plan is complete.

After CTR phase there should be continuity testing (CTE) phase which

determines that whether individual contingency plans are adequately written to ensure

continuity of business processes and the recovery of the data centre. Once all of the

above stages are properly planed then comes the continuity plan maintenance (CPM)

phase in which business continuity plan is reviewed regularly and updated if required.

This is done to ensure that the plan stays effective and up to date.

Paton, (1999) demonstrated that irrespective of the quality of the planning

process effectiveness of the plan is influenced by several other organizational

characteristics (e.g. management style and attitudes, reporting and decision procedures)

and bureaucratic flexibility. To provide continuous service, management systems will

be required which includes crisis management procedures, allocating response tasks,

roles and responsibilities, identifying and allocating immediate needed resources.

These systems will also be required to deal with delegation of authority, crisis

communication and decision making.

Stanton, (2005) stated, it can take less than 60 seconds for a companys

reputation to be ruined and its business to be crippled. In just one minute, shut down of

vital applications can lead to a catastrophic series of event, damaging companys

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reputation. Therefore, its not sufficient for organization to only have BCP, they must

also conduct BCP audit regularly.

According to Brown, There are no generally accepted principles with which

to analyze business continuity, any change that affects critical business functions

should trigger you to review your BCP.

Foster and Dye, (2005) stated that many companies had now recovery plans.

But the key concern is that they are either insufficient, or out of date, or both. With all

these changes, the concept of business continuity planning is being taken to a higher

level. It is more focused on reactive measures and not only on recovery strategies and

plans (Cerullo and Cerullo, 2004).

Components of business Continuity planning

According to Botha and Solms, (2004) two basic components of business

continuity are Contingency Planning and Disaster Recovery Planning (DRP).

Contingency planning:

The contingency planning aims at ensuring the continuity of all business

processes while information technology is recovering. Therefore, it mainly focuses on

the identification of procedures and steps the top management should take in order to

continue business process. In a paper that appeared in the February 2002 issue of

Strategy Business magazine, authors Ralph W. Shrader and Mike McConnell have

come up with a framework for chief executive officers (CEOs) to address the

challenges in case of disaster. In this, three primary goals of the CEO are defined as:

First secure the people of the enterprise, secondly secure the core business of the

enterprise (systems, facilities, infrastructure, and processes) and thirdly secure the

business networks (components of the business ecosystem, such as the supply chain).

One part of contingency planning is training of employees. Training includes

informing them about business process continuity and other issues regarding the

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contingency planning cycle. Training programs are designed to promote an adaptable

response capability. The most important thing in contingency planning is threat

analysis which consists of looking at potential risks and the probability of the threat.

Paton, (1999) have described that in an organizational prospective, several

groups including employees, shareholders, customers, suppliers, distributors, family

members and community members are vulnerable. Therefore, each organization while

planning for contingent events also keep in mind its responsibility for the wellbeing

other than its employees. For example, businesses can connect with distributors or

other business that can ensure inexpensive delivery of products and services to

customers. In other words, plans are made on the basis of predetermined risks. These

fell into the categories of fire, natural disasters, and some form of infrastructure

breakdown including acts of terrorism and cybercrimes.

Disaster recovery plan:

Bryson, Millar, Joseph and Mobolurin, (2002) defines, disaster recovery plan

(DRP) or disaster recovery strategy (DRS) is a system for internal control that focuses

on quick restoration of service for crucial organizational processes when there are

service break downs due to natural or man-made disasters. A disaster recovery plan

aims to minimize any possible loss by identifying and protecting the key organizational

assets or those that are most valuable and that need the most protection.

Herbane, Elliott, and Swartz, (1997) are of the view that recovering from

disaster typically depends on the integrity of a firms physical systems, assets, and

processes during and after a crisis or disruption. It also includes planning that ensures

continuous business applications that can fix a broken business loop maintaining user

satisfaction, and juggling downtime

According to Paradine, (1995) When contingency plans are co-ordinated into a

single, integrated and workable plan of action, you have a disaster recovery plan.

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Bryson, Millar, Joseph and Mobolurin, (2002) demonstrated that various

increasing factors like government regulations in certain industries like banking, credit

unions, and in telecom sector, natural disasters (e.g. flood), and social disasters have

increased interests in the development, testing and maintenance of DRPs. Therefore

customer and vendor interests in disaster management have also increased.

Recovery time and recovery point objectives in disaster recovery:

Recovery time objectives (RTOs) and recovery point objectives (RPOs) are

perhaps the most important factors in designing a disaster recovery solution. An RTO

is the amount of time required to recover from a disastrous event, and an RPO is the

amount of data, measured in time, that you can lose from that same event

(http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com).

Or it can be defined as a measure of the maximum time period in which data

might be lost (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recovery_point_objective). Once the RTO

and RPO has been defined, business continuity planners can decide which disaster

recovery technologies are best suited to the situation which includes online backups

and off-site vaulting of information? For example, if the RTO for a given application is

one hour, data backup on external hard drives may be the best solution. If the RTO is

five days, then tape, compact disk, or offsite disk storage may be more cost-effective.

Insurance: a vital ingredient in disaster recovery

Many business organizations do not have adequate financial resources to meet

the post disaster needs. Therefore, every business entity must plan in advance in order

to make better decisions and analyze critical financial needs in case of any kind of

disruptive event. This can be done by purchasing a commercial insurance (Reiss).

Insurance can play it part once a loss has occurred, and helps to pay for some of the

costs incurred in the loss incident. Insurance on its own does nothing to prevent losses,

it only protects from the financial consequences of loss (Pradine, 1994).

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Disaster recovery plan for telecom systems:

The breakdown of essential communication is also one of the characteristic of

disaster. (Townsend & Moss, 2005). Telephone system is considered as the most

complicated machine ever designed by human being and is highly vulnerable to

physical disruption such as fire or earthquake (Piece and Noll, 1990). Physical

disruption or loss of supporting infrastructure cause communication failure. Another

major reason for telecommunication failure is network congestion or data overload.

Due to ever increasing need of communication to co-ordinate the activities,

exchange information and ideas and to know the response of people,

telecommunication traffic occurs resulting in clogging of well managed networks

(Townsend & Moss, 2005). Whenever such kind of disasters occurs there is always

some regulatory authority. Since this communication channel is also not immune to

disruptions thats why whenever any type of disaster occur there is a regulatory body in

order to govern the recovery process. In Pakistan this authority is PTA.

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Chapter 3

Methodology:

Methodology that has been used for information gathering and research work is

described below.

Research Question:

How telecom sector can survive in disaster and ensure smooth business continuity?

Case study approach:

Qualitative Research is ideal for earlier phases of research projects. A disaster

has been recently faced by a telecom sector organization but no study has been made to

find out the reasons of that disaster. Therefore, in order to find out the true reasons of

the disaster company has to work with a probing mind using the in-depth information

and analysis, for which case study is best suited. It should be mentioned here that case

study does not provide the solution but case study explains, diagnoses or proposes the

possible outcomes of the topic under consideration. A case study also aims to provide a

complete, detailed description of the research topic. This can be better attained through

case study analysis.

Selection of an organization:

Communication is very important these days and the breakdown of essential

communication is also one of the characteristics of disaster. The most complicated

machine ever constructed by human beings for communication is the telephone system.

It has been highly vulnerable to physical destruction during disaster.

The study on business continuity is frequently available but the impact of

disaster recovery and business continuity planning in telecom sector is not yet studied.

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Especially study regarding recent disaster faced by a leading company is not yet

conducted. Thats why organization from telecom sector is selected.

Technique used:

Qualitative research generates non-numerical data and case study is one of the

methods of qualitative research. Qualitative research is not sampling research, which is

a fact asserted by all the major researchers in the field, including Yin, Stake, Feagin

and others. It rather focuses on gathering of mainly verbal data than measurements.

Gathered information is then analyzed in an interpretative manner, subjective,

impressionistic or even diagnostic. Since, the objective is to achieve the greatest

possible information on a given problem therefore, in such cases information oriented

selection is done.

Data collection source:

Information is gathered through interviews. In interviews open ended question

has been asked.

Interviewer selection:

With the help of our coordinator Dr. XYZ, Mr. XYZ and our personal links we

were able to meet with concern persons from which interviews were conducted about

the recent disaster in Mobilink. With the help of these interviews we were able to

understand the true cause of Mobilink disaster.

Interview Schedule:

Interviews were conducted in accordance to the feasibility and availability of

the interviewees. Appointment was taken for a meeting and the time of interview was

decided by the interviewees themselves.

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Chapter 4

Introduction of Organization:

Orascom Telecom:

Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E. ("Orascom Telecom") or ("OTH") was

established in 1998 and has grown to become a major player in the telecommunication

market. Orascom Telecom Holding is considered amongst the largest and most

diversified network operators in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia, and has

acquired in early 2008 a license to operate mobile services in North Korea. Orascom

Telecom is a leading mobile telecommunications company operating in six emerging

markets having a population under license of 430 million with an average penetration

of mobile telephony across all markets of approximately 40%.

In Pakistan, the Pakistan Mobile communications Ltd (Mobilink) started

operations in 1994 and in 2010, had a market share of 32.5%. In April 2001, OTH took

over management control of the company. As the market leader, Mobilink serves more

than 31.6 million subscribers, representing a market share of 32.5% (as of March

2010). (Exhibit 1)

Introduction of Mobilink:

Mobilink, a subsidiary of the Orascom Telecom Holding, is Pakistans leading

cellular and Blackberry service provider. With more than 31.6 million subscribers,

Mobilink maintains market leadership through cutting-edge, integrated technology, the

strongest brands and the largest portfolio of value added services in the industry, a

broadband carrier division providing next generation internet technology as well as the

countrys largest voice and data network with over 8,000 cell sites. Housing Pakistans

largest distribution and contact center networks and an unparalleled 6,500 kilometers

fiber optic backbone, Mobilink (http://www.mobilinkgsm.com) has already invested

over US $3.3 billion in the country to date and provides uninterrupted countrywide

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connectivity, unmatched customer services and international roaming in over 140

countries. The company is also the official cellular partner of the Pakistan Cricket

Board. As a responsible corporate citizen, Mobilink also offers a range of socially

inclusive products and services dedicated to enhance access to information. Through

Mobilink Foundation, the company supports education, health and environmental

initiatives and promotes sustainable business practices.

During the last 15 years, Mobilink has set up one of the largest cellular

networks in the country. Currently, Mobilink is covering more than 10,000+ cities and

towns. This has involved an investment in the company of more than US$ 3.3 Billion.

Mobilink has 66 Switches and more than 8,000 cell sites and the number keeps

growing at a rapid pace. Mobilink also has deployed around 6,500 km of optical cable

(http://www.mobilinkgsm.com).

Mobilink's Vision:

"To be the leading Telecommunication Services Provider in Pakistan by

offering innovative Communication solutions for our Customers while exceeding

Shareholder value & Employee Expectations".

Mobilinks Organizational Culture:

Mobilink's corporate values serve as the foundation for its culture, behavioral

norms, and decision making. These values have always been at the heart of our

business principles and success. Each of our values guides the way we work as an

organization and ensures that we not only meet the needs of our employees and

stakeholders today, but work towards sustaining and enhancing human and financial

capital for the future.

These values sum up the culture at Mobilink, and aim to ensure a workplace

that necessitates open and respectful communication and exceptional quality of service

to internal and external stakeholders.

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Case study:

Overview:

Unforeseen events are an unfortunate by-product of the corporate environment,

especially in the technology sector. In areas that are furnished with wires, electric

gadgets, batteries and loads of other inflammable goods, the smallest of issues can end

up causing significant headaches for the entire company as well as its consumers. For

Mobilink, this year has seen these events become a bit too regular. The fire at Beverly

Centre in Islamabad was followed by a fire at a technical facility in Karachi, and then

the event of 6th March 2011 at I-10 Islamabad, destroying integral parts of MSC.

An insight to Mobilink fire incident:

Vendors indoor services at Mobilink are: Installation of radio base station

(RBS), Installation of TX rack, Installation & commissioning of TX equipment, Fixing

of cable tray, Grounding of equipment and Installation of rectifier and battery bank.

During the Installation of battery bank in the companys battery room located at its

MSC (Mobile Switching Center), Sector I-10/3, Islamabad, one of the batteries fell

down and exploded. For those who dont know, MSCs are exchanges that make the

connection between mobile users in a network, through BSCs which transfers mobile

calls to BTS and BTS finally transfer calls to cell phone, the result from any damage to

MSCs infrastructure or system would have effects for the entire base it supported.

This phenomenon is clearly explained in Exhibit 2.

Due to that battery explosion fire broke out in power room and damaged major

portion of power room. Due to early containment, telecom equipment, power supply

cables (ceiling & underground), cooling system and building was damaged. Some parts

of machinery were also burned. The staff on duty immediately switched off the Mobile

Switching Center (MSC) to avoid further damage due to which North region went

down, causing zero signals in areas from Peshawar to Islamabad and the surrounding.

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Mobilink also owns LinkDotNet, which is an ISP, as Mobilink shares its

infrastructure between ISP and its cell phone operator setup wherever possible. Along

with the cellular service, DSL services by Link DOT Net also got affected as the

company is reliant on the Mobilink backbone for its products. However, as the MSC

was a vital component for cross-country connectivity, the loss of service is extended to

other regions, with subscribers suffering as far as Karachi. Mobilink and LinkDotNet

services gone down about after noon Sunday and for some areas services were

available back about afternoon Monday.

Since the leading company was facing the burning situation, rumors were

spread like flames in the forest. Customers were facing problems and these problems

increases the level of dissatisfaction in the air. Therefore, after some hours of fire

eruption Mobilink releases a press update:

Dear customers, we have encountered an unexpected situation in the past few

hours. Our team is trying to recover as soon as possible. We apologize for the

inconvenience caused, primarily in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Said Omar Manzur,

Director Public Relations, Mobilink.

At that time most of Mobilink customers were not receiving signals, while

when Mobilink numbers were dialed, system says that dialed cell number is switched

off. Customers were receiving Invalid SIM, No SIM Card, or similar issues on

customers cell phones.

Mobilink technical staff restricted the area where fire broke out; meanwhile

staff called the fire brigade. Mobilink staff tried to overcome the fire by fire

extinguishers, but were unable to do so. Finally fire brigade reached to overcome the

fire in 3 to 4 hours. When the MSC was shut down Mobilink shifts the voice calls/SMS

of that MSC to other MSCs. Due to this shifting other regions also faces no

connectivity or low signal bars on customers handsets.

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As fire broke out on Sunday so no human loss was made as most of the

employees were not at that place. Important thing to be noted here is that the

communication among the top level management, technical staff and lower level

management was zero because all employees have Mobilink connections which

werent working due to shut down of the service. To cope up with this problem

Mobilink immediately bought some PTCL V wireless phones and PTCL Evo for

internet connection. Mobilink requested the Ufone to provide MNP (Mobile Number

Portability which enables mobile telephone users to retain mobile telephone numbers

when changing from one mobile network operator to another) for some top level

management.

Role of PTA in disaster recovery:

PTA (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority) was informed about this incident

as disaster occurred, by Mobilinks public relation officers. Pakistan

Telecommunication Authority (PTA) took prompt action on the matter. PTA teams

reached the scene and monitored the whole restoration activity immediately after the

occurrence of the incident. A Committee headed by Member (Technical) PTA, Dr.

Khawar Siddique Khokhar with members DG (Enforcement) PTA, DG (Licensing) and

DG (Law) visited Mobilinks premises in I-10/3 examined the situation at scene.

Equipment Sensitivity:

Like any other computer or sensitive electronic equipment, telecommunications

electronics are susceptible to damage from heat, electrical disturbances, moisture, and

direct physical damage. The equipment installed in place where fire broke out, consists

of complex assemblies of semiconducting, conducting, and non-conducting materials.

This equipment was intended to perform functions within these assemblies only so

long as company do not suffer physical or chemical degradation. Therefore, when fire

broke out the temperature rose to an immense level. The rule of thumb is that for every

10 degrees Celsius of rise in temperature ,the speed of all chemical reactions doubles.(

Heat and Power Problems are the Greatest Risks To Telecom Equipment By Robert

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Weir,) That rule also applies to the chemical reactions involved in the degradation of

electronics and to every other substance. Realizing the importance and sensitivity of

the equipment, the first thing done after taking control of the fire was the cooling

because extended temperature is an enemy to the equipment.

Restoration of System:

Firstly Mobilink made teams and different tasks were assigned to the teams.

After controlling the fire, process of restoration was started. The technical team came

to the sight and team thoroughly analyze the electrical equipment and machinery and

separated the burned equipment and tools. Cleaning process was started in battery

room where incident was happened. Electrical team was assigned to restore power

supply cables which were partially destroyed and were unable to work properly. The

main challenge of electrical team was to maintain the required temperature by the

machinery. So the team worked really hard to bring the temperature at required level.

The technical team which includes special engineers sorts out the burned racks

of electrical circuits, cards and equipment. The technical team thoroughly analyzes the

electrical equipment and machinery and separated the burned equipment and tools.

Mobilink has its own warehouse where company holds spare parts and extra machinery

equipment. The team started to change the damaged machinery and parts with the new

machinery- and equipment. Engineers also start to make connection between spare

parts and machinery. It must be mentioned here that all MSCs, Offices, and other

telecom buildings are always insured.

Second Update:

Update from Mobilink authority: Partial connectivity was restored in the early

hours of the morning and our technical teams continue to work around the clock to

ensure that all equipment is fully restored at the earliest, said Omar Manzur, Director

Public Relations, Mobilink. The whole network was fully restored in almost 32 hours.

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Good news was, Mobilink and PTA both worked hard during the Sunday to put

back the network online and Mobilink have successfully made network back online

within a day. Yes, partially the network is back which includes mobile service and the

Internet service (of link dot net) as well. This outage is Pakistans every worst telecom

outage which rolled out the whole nation and the users got confused what to do. The

businessmen were affected the most who also work on Sundays.

Service restoration:

Following is a screen shot of the note on Mobilink website.

Mobilink to compensate its Customers:

Mobilink has decided to reward its customers by offering free minutes and

SMSs who had remained loyal at the when service was down due to fire incidence at

one of its facilities in Islamabad, few months back. With a view to thank its customers

for patience and loyalty, Mobilink has announced a phased plan for customers who

experienced disruption in service. This is the first time a reward of this scale has been

announced and awarded by any telecom operator in the country for disruption caused

by a force majeure event.

Sharing his views, Mobilink President & CEO Rashid Khan shared that while it

was difficult to make up for the missed experience, the company cherishes customers

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who continue to prefer Mobilink and this is a humble gesture of goodwill by the

company for patience and loyalty. Customers were updated of the incident and

restoration via press announcements by the company at the time. To facilitate

customers who were directly affected by the incident, the company has announced free

minutes and SMS for prepaid customers whereas postpaid customers will receive an

adjustment against monthly bill.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA):

If any telecom company faces a disaster or its network or services went down

then PTA has directions to the company to recover the service within 72 hours. If any

company fails to restore its services then PTA can make fine or have choice to cancel

the license. The company must inform the PTA if any kind of disaster occurred to the

company and PTA will guide the company and also monitor the company during the

recovery from that disaster. In case of disaster a company should stay in touch with

customer through internet and inform the customers about the reason behind the

network outage.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced an investigation of

the issue from all technical and legal aspects in order to prevent such incidents in the

future and compensate the losses of the operator and subscribers. Pakistan

Telecommunication Authority has formed a Committee headed by Member (Technical)

PTA, Dr. Khawar Siddique Khokhar to analyze situation that arose after Mobilinks

outage. This was mentioned in a statement issued by the authority.

It was mentioned that DG (Enforcement), DG (Licensing) and DG (Law) at

PTA are also part of this committee that is likely to prepare a report based on facts

gathered during committees visit to Mobilinks office to formulate a way for better

crisis management in case any such event happen in future. Mobilinks in-house

investigation on incident will also be made part of this report. The Committee is

deliberating further action on the issue from all technical and legal aspects and how

such incidents can be prevented in future, said the statement. PTA top priority was to

26

monitor the situation and keep an eye on the network restoration efforts of the

Mobilink, an official said and added the authority wants to service accessibility to its

mobile phone users. After this incident, and other relating fire eruptions in past.

Users of Mobilink:

Mobilink have a family of more than 32.203 million customers. More than 10

million people are believed to be affected due to dropping or missing signals. Since

Prime Minister Gilani uses the market leader companys connection on his personal

cell-phone, the service collapse forced him to issue instructions to the Ministry of

Information Technology and Telecom to get the service restored at the earliest.

Following the instructions of the Prime Minister, Ministry of Information Technology

took notice and ensured to restore Mobilink network as early as possible, stated a press

release of the PM Secretariat.

Who Suffered More Loss?

Though disaster wasnt a deliberate incident but still should be inquired

properly and thoroughly so that these kind of incidents can be avoided in future.

Moreover there should be some backup plan so that if any untoward incident occurs

then customers dont suffer much.

While the company also suffered loss of millions of rupees in terms of

infrastructure and revenue but Mobilink can surely overcome it with in few days as all

of Mobilink equipment is insured. The customers were more at loss as throughout the

Sunday customers were unable to make calls, use internet and send SMSes. As Sunday

is the day for recreation and talking to loved ones but Mobilink subscribers were

unable to avail this facility for almost of Sunday and half of Monday. Thousands of

calls are made daily and millions of SMSes are exchanged but company deprived

customers from this right on Sunday.

27

Chapter 5

Analysis/ Results:

It becomes clear from the incident that one of the leading cell phone operator

which claims to have over 30 million subscribers does not have an effective disaster

management plan and a simple fire can take services down for long hours for several

hundreds of thousands of customers. Sunday is the day for recreation and talking to

loved ones but Mobilink subscribers were unable to avail this facility for almost of

Sunday and half of Monday. Thousands of calls are made daily and millions of SMSes

are exchanged but company deprived customers from this right on Sunday. So, special

care should be taken that no interruption in services on Sundays.

The company should make separate offices for vendors to meet. Had company

met the vendor in separate room for purchasing of batteries, this incident would not

happen. Accidents do happen but up to what extent an organization is prepared to

handle a potential catastrophe is important for businesses in this rapidly changing

market. It is also notable that since Prime Minister Gilani uses the market leader

companys connection on his personal cell-phone, the service collapse forced him to

issue instructions to the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom to get the

service restored at the earliest.

It was long about 30 hour interruption in services. This is however surprising

that leading cell phone operator which claims to have over 30 million subscribers does

not have an effective disaster management plan. Hope Mobilink must have learned

much from these few experiences and will have some better disaster management plan

in the future. Mobilink must also consider making service provision a fail-safe.

Accidents do happen but its important that how much someone or some

organization is prepared to handle a potential catastrophic it is real important for

businesses in this rapidly changing market, especially for organization which charges

customers more because of good quality of services and organizations entire

28

customers are with the organization only due to good quality and uninterrupted

services. Problem indeed affected and upset masses over country but good news is that

all over the country problems are solved. Mobilink has also issued a note about recent

interruption of services on Mobilink website which claims that all problems have been

resolved.

This incident contributes in a major change in PTAs regulations, i-e making it

necessary for all operators to maintain backups of all core-infrastructure equipment,

also termed as disaster recovery setup. Moreover there should be some backup plan

so that if any unwanted incident occurs then customers dont suffer much. It becomes

clear from the incident that how a disaster can change the brighter side of companys

slogan into dark side (as in this case jaz apna ha changed into jaz sapna ha).

Mobilink made a good example of customer care by providing free minutes and SMS

to its customers due to inconvenience faced by customers. During visits it has been

identified that data backups have been maintained on daily basis.

Anti-spam firewalls/filters are also been installed in the vicinity to avoid

garbage SMSes. Fuel power backups are also been maintained for MSCs, BSCs and

power generators. Cloud based management system is also used to recover from any

kind of disruption. In this process, data is accessed virtually to speed up the recovery

process. During special events or festivals, there are chances of network congestion

which might be the cause of service interruption, a clear case of disaster for telecom, is

managed effectively by proper recovery plans. If plan A fails due to any reason then

company also have a plan B, which indicates the internal strength of the company.

In Mobilink Both equipment and infrastructure elements are usually installed in

substantial buildings having extensive physical security and fire resistant construction.

Such a structure forms the base of the key operation taking place in the industry.

Mobilink often tend to take buildings for granted, but Mobilink deserve some special

respect in this case because of the protection and support Mobilink provide to the

equipment when the fire broke out.

29

Chapter 6

Discussion:

The disasters in telecom sector are common. In every telecom organization

disasters of different kinds happened. The fire disaster in Mobilink has put questions

on the contingency planning and disaster recovery planning of a firm. The telecom

organization needs disaster recovery plans and should follow some steps to recover

from disaster.

If any telecom companys service went offline then PTA has directions to the

company to recover the service within 72 hrs. The company must inform the PTA if

any kind of disaster occurred to the company and PTA will guide the company and also

monitor the company during recovery from that disaster. The company should also stay

in touch with customer through internet in case of disaster.

Mobilink didnt communicate early to its customers that some problem has

occurred and service will be restored as early as possible. Mobilink communicated this

news through internet after 7 hours of network goes offline. Due to that customers were

unaware that what happened to the network and when the network will be restored.

In December 2010 Ufone services went down and there was no announcement

as such on internet websites like Facebook or Twitter page. Fans got crazy angry and

left annoyed comments as to why nobody is telling the customers when the services

will be restored. Obviously, the issue in the social media was not handled properly and

that led to many fans of Ufone unsatisfied and angry. All this ended up real bad when

Ufone started restricting its fans to comment on that page. However, whats done is

done but lets think over what telecom company could have done in this situation.

This is the first thing a company like Ufone or Mobilink should have done in

case of disaster; effected company should have updated companys Facebook and

Twitter page status right away announcing;

30

Dear customers, we are experiencing service outage due to some technical

problems which are being resolved and the service will be restored in 3 hours (lets

suppose). Sorry for the inconvenience but well let you know as soon as were back

on!

With this act, company would have bought customers trust and even sympathy

and everyone would have known by default that there is a problem going on which will

soon be resolved. The second thing to do is keep monitoring what people are saying. If

someone is really agitated, try to calm that person down by replying to comments in an

apologetic and empathetic tone. Such acts make that person feel company has not left

that person in the middle of a desert with no help. This behavior makes the customers

feel company cares and is doing whatever it can to bring the services back to order for

the customers.

Last, when the services are restored, be the first ones to let the fans know that

services are back with a bang! Be cheerful, be happy and be caring. Let the customers

know how much it means for the company that customers have been patient and

cooperative. That is how company actually and successfully make use of social

networks in difficult times. As any information like in this case cant remain hidden in

the world of internet for too long! Truth comes out one day or the other so instead of

hiding flaws, be big enough to step forward, admit the problem, give the solution and

win the trust of the customers because if a company wont say it, that company will

definitely hear it from customers.

For any telecom organization, formulating disaster recovery plans or business

continuity plans for this kind of disaster are very difficult. Mobilink or any other

telecom company has the recovery plans for virtual disaster like burden on different

MScs, low signal bars, difficulty in making calls or data lost. Telecom companies

followed certain steps in these virtual disasters or problems and these companies are

quite certain in following these steps. But planning for physical disaster or fire eruption

can be done to some extent but not completely. Reason is that a company cannot

predict that what kind of disaster will occur and what would be the intensity of that

31

disaster. Physical disaster occurs in no time and a company cannot predict disaster. So

a company should keep itself prepared all the time. Like if fire broke out company will

switch down the machinery then try to overcome the fire. Then estimate the loss and

install new machinery and equipment and restore the system. This will be the process

companies normally follow in a fire disaster. Spare part of machinery will be setup at

alternate locations in case of machinery loss in a disaster. The Lahore-based Ufone is

expected to provide the foundation of a virtualized disaster recovery infrastructure.

The company is evaluating using VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager to

automate virtual machine recovery at the secondary site should the primary datacenter

experience a major outage. Company has targeted a range of business-critical

applications and systemsincluding customer relationship management, billing,

inventory, retail management, email and other line-of-business applicationsfor full

disaster recovery. These will be run in a fleet of more than 100 virtual machines at the

disaster recovery site.

In Pakistan, Ufone have strict regulations governing disaster recovery of all

critical line-of-business applications, VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager will

help Ufone to accelerate compliance with disaster recovery policies applied by

regulatory authorities.

Recovery plan includes setting up machines at alternate locations; however,

backing up data will be most crucial part. Freeing up resources such as less-critical

tasks or internal monitoring is also being rolled out. Mobilink should also make these

kinds of recovery plans to ensure the business continuity after a disaster.

32

Chapter 7

Conclusion:

From this case study we can easily conclude that every organization in telecom

sector needs a disaster recovery plan. Through this plan a company can recover itself

from disaster more quickly and can avoid a big loss. Mobilink or any other telecom

company has the recovery plans for virtual disasters but Physical disaster occurs in no

time and a company cannot predict disasters. So a definite disaster recovery plan is

always lacking in a telecom sector organization. The prediction cannot be made about

the physical disasters. Even if a company knows the type of disaster but it cannot

predict the intensity and maybe the location of that disaster is changed from the first

one so as a result companys whole plan or setting will be different because now the

entire situation is different. Everything changes from situation to situation. So some

steps can be followed by a company in one type of disaster but formulating a complete

disaster plan is very difficult for a physical disaster.

Suggestions:

The mission of a telecommunications company, whether company is a traditional

regional operating company, a long-distance provider, a wireless service, or a

broadband company offering bundled TV, internet and phone is to provide customers

with round-the-clock, uninterrupted service. A fire in any critical telecom facility

whether an MSC, central office, a satellite transmission station, or a cable head-end

can knock out vital communication links for thousands of customers at once. And

providing customers with service that customers can depend on whether it is TV sports

programming, a business's phone service, or service for 911 uninterrupted services are

critical to companys business mission, and vital to the continued productivity and

profitability of a company.

33

All ICT rooms must be equipped with smoke detectors connected to automatic

addressable fire alarm systems to enable the registration of smoke

generation/fire and alarm activation.

The early detection principle is based on the earliest possible notification of

the outbreak of a fire so that personnel are given sufficient time to intervene

before the outbreak develops into a major fire loss. Early detection imposes

certain requirements on the selection of fire detector systems. Moreover, it is

essential that the detectors used in such systems are more sensitive than standard

optical/ionization point detectors.

Systems and procedures for fire detection, alarms and extinguishing must

comply with all requirements and directives stipulated by local and/or national

fire authorities and, if relevant, insurance companies.

All institutions must prepare written fire protection regulations which, in

addition to including personnel safety and loss reduction measures, shall also

incorporate measures aimed at mitigating damage to computer equipment and

data loss.

Measures such as backup systems, mirror servers etc., are effective in mitigating

consequential damage and reducing vulnerability in the event of fire.

Good fire hygiene procedures such as cleaning, tidiness, the replacement of

filters, the removal of packaging, the disconnection and removal of equipment

that is not in use, etc., all represent important fire prevention measures.

It is essential that operating electronics be maintained at an ambient temperature

consistent with reliable operation and satisfactory equipment life. As long as

power is supplied to the electronics, sufficient cooling must also be available.

Extended temperature is an enemy to the equipment. Therefore, heating,

ventilation and air conditioning which are vital to overall function must be

properly managed.

High Sensitivity Smoke Detection Systems can provide the earliest possible

warning in a potential fire situation.

34

Mobilink and Equipment Suppliers should perform a risk assessment of all

systems and classify suppliers by the value these suppliers have to the company

and the impact to the company if suppliers are compromised or lost. Based on

the risk assessment, develop a security policy which recommends and assigns

then appropriate controls to protect the system.

Network operators, service providers and equipment uppliers should ensure to

conduct organization wide security awareness training, training on technical

products and controls.

When a Business Recovery Plan (BRP) does not exist, Network Operators and

Service Providers should bring together an adhoc team to address the current

incident. The team should have technical, operations, legal, and public relations

representation. Team should be sponsored by senior management and have a

direct communication path back to management sponsor. If situation exceeds

internal capabilities consider contracting response/recovery options to 3rd party

security provider.

Redundant security measures should be implemented by both operators and

vendors to ensure maximum safety at telecom sites. Enough operations and

maintenance teams should be available to perform preventive maintenance apart

from corrective measures.

35

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Acronyms and Abbreviations:

Business Continuity Plan BCP

Business Continuity Strategies BCS

Business Impact Analysis BIA

Base Station Controller BSC

Chief Executive Officer CEO

Chief Executive Officers CEOs

Continuity Plan Maintenance CPM

Continuity Strategies Implementation CSI

Continuity Testing CTE

Continuity Training CTR

Disaster Recovery Plans DRP

Digital Subscriber Line DSL

Internet Service Provider ISP

Mobile Number Portability MNP

Mobile Switching Center MSC

Orascom Telecom Holding OTH

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority PTA

Pakistan Telecommunication Limited PTCL

Radio Base Station RBS

Recovery Point Objectives RPOs

Recovery Time Objectives RTOs

Subscriber Identity Module SIM

Short Message Service SMS

Television TV

Transcoder TC

39

40

Annexures

41

Exhibit 1

Exhibit 2

42

43

Source: PTA Annual Report

44

Financial data of Mobilink: Source (Orascom Annual Report 2010)