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Saturday, January 29, 2011

Telenor Gets High Tax Payer Award


Telenor Pakistan has won the High Tax Payer Award of Excellence from Pakistan Customs (Islamabad Collectorate) for the year 2010-11, said a statement issued by the company today.
In a ceremony held in Islamabad on Wednesday, Riaz Khan, Director General, Customs Intelligence and Vigilance (right) presented the award to Rana Saeed, Assistant Manager Logistics, Telenor Pakistan said the statement.
This is the third time Telenor Pakistan has won the High Tax Payer Award of Excellence from Pakistan Customs (Islamabad Collectorate).

PTA Launches Online Complaint Management System


Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, in collaboration with cellular companies, has launched “Online Complaint Management System”, to help customers seek timely resolution of their complaints.
PTA’s Online Complaint Management System was inagurated by Sardar Aseff Ahmad Ali, Federal Minister for Information Technology at PTA headquarters today.
Online Complaint Management System will enable telecom consumers to lodge their complaints regarding telecom services online and to have prompt response on them. This system is integrated with operators and the telecom Authority. 

Chairman PTA Dr. Mohammad Yaseen, Member Finance, Syed Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi, and Member Technical, Dr. Khawar Siddique Khokhar, were also present during the ceremony.
How To lodge an Online Complaint with PTA?
Open www.pta.gov.pk – You will find a link named as “Complaints” on the right-most slot in the top menu.
Click on “Complaints” to find out ways to make a complaint for any telecom service.
·                       For online complaint registration click here
·                       Fill the complaint form with all the required details and press submit.
Note: PTA requires you to register a complaint with your respective service provider prior to registering a complaint with PTA. This online form will require you to have Operator Reference Number. If you don’t have it then better provide date & time of making contact with the operator for further perusal of matter.
The Minister, on the occasion, said that PTA is doing a good job by addressing the grievances and complaints of consumers of the telecom sector and it is ensuring the provision of quality services. The launch of ‘Online Complaint Management System’ would prove to be a significant step towards the achievement of these objectives, he added.
The Minister said, “Government is there to provide policy guidelines and directions, it is the responsibility of the institution to deliver to the public in line with the policy guidelines”. He also discussed with the Secretary IT and chairman PTA the plan and scope of starting training programs in IT sector for educated youth of the country to enable them to get jobs in local and international markets.
On this occasion, Chairman PTA briefed the Minister on Pakistan telecom sector development.
The Chairman said that PTA has encouraged development of local contents and created awareness on it.  It has introduced Information Rabta Portal to facilitate internet users to get information on Pakistan.  He said PTA organized Consumer Forums at different cities to seek views of consumers on telecom services.  PTA also introduced new system to block unwanted calls/SMS.


Friday, January 28, 2011

QUBEE INVESTMENT TO REACH US $ 150 MILLION BY END 2011

Qubee has planned to expand its advanced Internet technology to reach millions of customers in various new cities with the handsome investment of US $ 150 million by 2011-end, Alistair Johnston, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Augere Holdings disclosed.
While briefing a group of journalists, he unfolded the future plans of Qubee, a 100 percent shareholder subsidiary of Augere, to be executed in the on-going calendar year by the company.

Alistair Johnston, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Augere holdings, has designed a roadmap to reach millions of customers in developing countries including Pakistan with the broadband Internet technology with in short span of time.

With working experience of more than 12 years with different renowned telecom giants Telefonica 02, Orange and Virgin Mobile, he is leading Qubee to become the best selling service in Pakistan with the philosophy of “Broadband for All”.

The total investment of the company will be increased to US$ 150 Million by the end of current year since its inception.

The expansion in operations will offer business ventures and employment opportunities to the local people in this highly advanced technology field, Johnston said.

He explained Qubee’s focus was developing countries, saying that broadband subscribers have been increasing in Pakistan and have crossed the one million mark.

The Pakistan market has terrific potential due to the fact of broadband penetration being very low whereas the larger population is set to adopt this technology in the future.

We are looking forward towards adding more professionals to our staff. The number of employees in the company will increase to 1,000 by year-end.

He recounted the rapid growth of services and network of Qubee since its inception, saying that the broadband operator started it’s operations from Karachi with four sales centers situated in different areas has now enhanced its services into four cities with 45 customers’ care centers in the last year.

Qubee has outlets at 27 different locations in Karachi. In Lahore, its outlets have been set up at 11 spots and the rest of the outlets were established in different areas of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

The network infrastructure has been widened significantly and now Qubee offers one of the lowest broadband rates in the country with uninterrupted connectivity and extensive download capacity, CMO Augere said.

The tariff starts from Rs 750 for 512 Mps with no activation charges. The services are currently available in four mega cities—Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi—with growing number of customers on board.

The home users are our main customers though we have been entered into different deals with academic institutes, small-sized business in Karachi, he asserted.

According to a study, more than 80 percent of the Internet users consume less than 5 GB every month. In one GB, as many as 20,000 pages are downloaded; 100-hour surfing could be done; seven-hour videos can be watched and 80 hours can be spent over online games.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Talkshawk Introduces 5 Paisa Offer


Telenor Talkshawk is offering its customers to call 5 paisas per 30 second for on-net calls between 9 AM to 5 PM against a daily rental of Rs. 14.34 (including taxes).
 Tariffs for Telenor 5 Paisa offer look like following:
Subscription Price:
Subscription price is Rs.12+tax (Rs. 14.34 inclusive of tax).
How to Subscribe:
  • Dial *345*201#
Lucky Subscriber – 100% Discount
  • Each day a certain number of "Lucky Subscribers" will be selected randomly and given 100% discount from 9am to 5pm – the same day of subscription.
  • Lucky subscribers will get to make 100% free calls on day of subscription, while the above rates apply for all other subscribers.
Subscription validity and Terms
  • Customers can avail discount between 9am and 5pm on day of subscription
  • 1 day (i.e. same day) if subscription done between 12 am (midnight) and 4:30 pm
  • 2 days (i.e. till end of next day) if subscription done between 4:30pm and 12 am (midnight)
  • In case subscriber migrates to another price plan, the service will be deactivated
  • If a customer has free minutes in his/her account and then activates this service then free minutes will be consumed first (even in the 9am to 5pm time window). This applies to the voice bundle minutes too.
  • The entire duration of the call will be charged at standard rates, even if part of it is past 9 am. Only calls initiated after 9am will be discounted.
  • Customers can only re-subscribe to this service after their existing subscription has expired (after 12am at night)

PTCL data centres internationally recognised


Pakistan Telecommunication Company LTD (PTCL) understanding the rapidly changing business environment and its growing reliance upon automation has introduced regions largest Data Centers in Karachi and Lahore.


PTCL Data Centers are certified by the internationally recognised certification body, EPI, This certification by an international body is the first data center certification in Pakistan's history and proves PTCL's commitment to providing state of the art products and services backed by engineering and support for the Government and Enterprise markets of Pakistan. PTCL has the largest geographically redundant commercial data centers not only in Pakistan but also in the whole region.



PTCL Data Center services is an ideal choice for companies who want the flexibility to house their Primary, Disaster Recovery and/or Business Continuity sites and choose from a variety of cost reducing services as their business demands. These data centers are part of the overall PTCL managed services approach which provides our corporate customers not only reduced costs, but also improvements in the availability, performance, resilience and security of an organisation's IT systems.

Yahoo net revenue jumps


Yahoo! reported Tuesday that its net profit more than doubled in the final three months of last year, despite a slip in revenue due to its online search deal with Microsoft. Yahoo! made a net profit of $312 million on revenue of $1.52 billion in the recently-ended fiscal quarter, as compared to $153 million in net profit on revenue of $1.73 billion in the same period a year earlier.


"We just completed a very encouraging quarter and year for Yahoo!, where we saw our plans to turn around the company gain momentum," Yahoo! chief executive Carol Bartz said in a release that accompanied the earnings results. Her upbeat comment came on the same day that Yahoo! said it was laying off one percent of its workforce, or some 130 employees, in the latest job cuts at the struggling Internet portal.



"The personnel changes we are making are part of our ongoing strategy to best position Yahoo! for revenue growth and margin expansion." a Yahoo! spokeswoman said in a statement. "We'll continue to hire on a global basis to support our key priorities." The company announced in December that it was cutting some 600 jobs in its third wave of layoffs since late 2008.



Yahoo! has been seeking to carve out an identity as it struggles to compete with Google and Facebook on the Web. Display advertising at the core of Yahoo! revenue grew 17 percent in the quarter, but money from ads was shared with Microsoft under the terms of a deal that has Bing powering online searches at the California firm's websites.



"We completed the important North America search transition to Microsoft on schedule and with high quality," Bartz said. Microsoft gets 12 percent of Yahoo!'s net revenue, which accounts for money paid to websites that route Internet traffic to Yahoo!, in markets where the Bing transition has taken place. Yahoo! revenue minus "traffic acquisition costs" was $1.21 billion in the final quarter of last year as compared to 1.26 in the final three months of 2009.

Cellular operators flexing their muscles to cash in on fever of Cricket World Cup



Cellular phone operators have been brainstorming to introduce special offers and packages for their millions of customers to cash in on the fever of Cricket World Cup being started from next month.

According to the officials, the cellular phone operators are likely to launch their special packages and offers in the media by the beginning of the next month.
The cellular operators’ executives are desperate over heavy spending of media campaign and new packages keep in view the disappointing of the Pakistan, which they linked matter to the customers’ response to their offers.
“Definitely, a special event is a bonanza for cellular operator and they want to exploit it through public enthusiasm.  Operators seem cautious this time but they do their homework properly as a matter of fact uncertain taste of cricket not only charges the cricket lovers’ sentiments but also provides a quick and fantastic opportunity to operators for earning money with their new packages, an industry expert said.
Therefore, they have been working on a lot of new ideas and unveil their packages gradually though cricket fever has not on rising level among the fans and customers this year, he added.
Normally mobile operators do launch live commentary, SMS score or wicket updates, utones and ring tones of the popular national songs and Qs&As. But this year, operators are likely to come up with unique offers to attract significant number of subscribers during the whole cricket event.
Cellular operators will also fight against each other with their adverts in the electronic media particularly during the matches of Pakistan with other teams.

Mobilink Scores Six
Mobilink has hit the six in its match with rest of the operators as it revealed itself sponsoring officially Pakistani cricket team. The company has also launched its offer on the occasion of World Cup and offer trip of Sri Lanka to five of its new subscribers of indigo connection.
Winners of this pre-event package will win all expense of trip to Sri Lanka till the World Cup Semi Final.  Lucky Draw will give out exhilarating prizes including BlackBerry® Pearl® handsets with 1 year free indigo services (including Free Minutes, Zero Line Rent, BlackBerry internet services, etc) as well as Samsung Galaxy Tab’s!
As per offer, new customers will gain entry into the Lucky Draw simply by purchasing a new indigo connection or converting their existing number to indigo. Current indigo users can gain entry by redeeming 200 Rewards points. Club customers can gain entry in the Lucky Draw by adding a line to their account.

Valentine’s Day
Cellular phone operators are also designing different romantic packages to win the lovers heart on the day. Different SMS quotes,  voice SMS, picture SMS and MMS and have been specially designed. Besides, packages like song dedications are likely to be introduced.
As the number of the customers is mostly young in Pakistan, cellular phone operators are expecting increasing in voice and text traffic on the particularly day.

Broadband Subscribers in Pakistan Cross 1 Million Mark


Pakistani Internet Service Providers crossed one million mark for broadband internet subscribers in the country by totaling 1.052 million broadband subscribers in October 2010, up from 994,911 subscribers in September 2010, according to the recent most data provided by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
DSL companies added the most subscribers for broadband and stood at 516,167 subscribers in October 2010, up from 488,946 in September 2010.
EvDO service providers added a total of 15,540 subscribers in one month, while WiMAX companies added a total of 14,066 subscribers in the month. Total number of WiMAX subscribers in the country has hit 306,665 mark, up from 292,599 a month ago.
DSL remains the top technology used for broadband internet in the country, while WiMAX stands seconds. EvDO is swiftly adding its share for the broadband subscribers.
HFC and FTTH remains the lowest adding subscribers technologies in the country. Check following graphs for more details:








Pakistan Ends November 2010 with 101.64 Million Cellular Subscribers


According to recent most stats shared by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, cellular companies ended November 2010 with 101.641 million subscribers, up from 100.715 million in October 2010.
Country’s cellular teledensity reached 61 percent, highest ever in the history.
In November 2010, Warid led by adding 307,458 customers, while Telenor added a total of 280,074 subscribers. Zong stood at third position by adding 242,374 subscribers.
Mobilink was able to fetch 90,526 new subscribers while Ufone added merely 5,640 subscribers in the month.
Till November 2010, Mobilink had 31.544 million subscribers, up from 31.453 million a month earlier, followed by Telenor which had 24.401 million customers in November, up from 24.121 million.
Ufone had 20.192 million customers in November, up from 20.187 million in October, and Warid ended the month with 17.474 million subscribers versus 17.167 a month earlier. Zong grew its customer base to 8.028 million customers from 7.785 in the previous month.
Check following graphs for further details:








Wednesday, January 26, 2011

EMC to improve MCB’s IT infrastructure


EMC, an information infrastructure solutions company, announced on Tuesday that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MCB Bank Limited to provide technology solutions to the bank.

The MoU will allow EMC to make technology proposals that will help the bank make necessary changes in its technology infrastructure in order to support ongoing data growth.

One aim of the IT infrastructure is to increase data availability with an integrated EMC solution that includes a three-site EMCÆ SymmetrixÆ VMAXÆ storage array with EMC’s SRDFÆ/Star (Symmetrix Remote Data Facility) business continuance software. EMC Symmetrix VMAX systems will be deployed at MCB’s primary site to run a number of mission-critical applications.

These core banking systems will also be replicated to VMAX arrays at two other sites using SRDF/Star. The closest site is designed to provide rapid recovery after a disaster. Data will also be replicated to a third site to protect against local geographical disaster. This solution was selected by the bank for its anticipated zero data loss over distance, high levels of data availability, high performance, accuracy and reliability, while enhancing the IT infrastructure efficiency level, reducing costs and enabling operational flexibility.

Sajid Awan, Chief Information Officer of MCB, said MCB was investing in modern technologies and fault tolerant architectures for improved service quality and sustained business growth.

Mohammed Amin, Vice President and Regional Director of EMC, Turkey, Emerging Africa and Middle East, said their technology would further improve and support information infrastructure of the bank

Customers Poll Rated 58% Poor the Award Winning PTCL EVO


PTCL EVO service, that has lately gained Most excellent Consumer Choice Award is rated seeing that poor by 58 percent respondents who are evidently EVO customers because well in a poll conducted by PTCL itself.
In a survey, available resting on PTCL website, a total of 1768 EVO clients have voted so far, away of which 58 percent believe that EVO service is poor.
Another 22 percent suppose that service is Good while only seven percent rated EVO service as Excellent. 12 percent respondents opted not in the direction of rate the service.

EVO is a Wirless Broadband service from PTCL, that promises the mobility on 3.1 Mbps internet in over a hundred cities.
Consumers are frequently not satisfied through the EVO signals in a variety of part of major cities, resulting disconnections or else low than advertised speed.
Despite this feedback, EVO recent Best Consumer Choice Award poses a query mark intended for the powers that be concerned and the credibility of all the awards with the purpose of we see around us.
PTCL EVO Poll Result Screen Shot





Telenor opened its second Sales & CS Center in Faisalabad

Telenor Pakistan opened its second Sales & Customer Service Center on Jail Road, Faisalabad recently. Malik Faisal Qayyum, Director Sales & Distribution, Telenor Pakistan inaugurated the new center.
Picture shows Malik Faisal Qayyum, Director Sales & Distribution, Telenor Pakistan inaugurating the new center. Also seen in the picture are (from R-L) Adnan Hassan, Director Sales & Service; Imran Fazal, Regional Director S&D Central-2; and Shahzad Khalil, Manager Sales & Customer Services Central-2

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

PTCL Believes In Customer Centric Approach: Walid



Walid Irshaid, President and CEO Pakistan Telecommunication Company LTD (PTCL) stated that PTCL is developing Customer Centric approach in the employees and keeping the pace with the dynamic trends of the telecom industry as always a priority of the management.

He was addressing the certificate distribution ceremony at the conclusion of three-week comprehensive training program titled “Management Development Program” (MDP) at PTCL Academy Islamabad.
He expressed his satisfaction over the initiative taken by the training and development department and said that we will ensure that the training produces visible and desired results.
He further added that we are continuously striving to make a positive impact on the lives of our customers, we are focused and determined to better understand the needs of the ever evolving customer and connecting with them.
PTCL real asset has always been human capital and network. It has achieved various commendable milestones but this Management Development Program is one of the most world beating achievements as the entire training calendar 2011 has been designed based on the theme “Ensuring Corporate and Customers Loyalty through learning”. PTCL has a huge training infrastructure throughout the country that is geographically wide spread.
PTCL Academy has been revitalized with a new vision to be recognized locally and regionally as a center of excellence in the provision of state-of-the-art training and consultancy services in telecommunications and related fields. It is providing a platform for the creation, dissemination and exchange of knowledge and expertise in all areas of telecom and IT to internal and external stakeholders. MDP is to determine user’s requirements, specific training needs, evaluate training resources, develop and implement the training program and then finally to evaluate it.
EVP Training and Development, Shakeel Ahmad, also expressed his views on this occasion and said that the Training and Development team has been making untiring efforts to turn PTCL into a true corporate entity. He expressed gratitude to his team and attributed this success to team work

Mobilink will definitely get the 3G license, Sawiris


Mr. Naguib Onsi Sawiris has strongly asserted that Mobilink will get the 3G license whenever government of Pakistan and regulator start the bidding process.
He was on a one day visit to Pakistan which ended today. Before leaving the Mobilink Head Office in Islamabad he addressed Mobilink team and talked about present and future of Mobilink.
To a question from one of the Mobilink’s officials present in the meeting, he replied, “Mobilink is going to stay in Pakistan and it will certainly get the 3G license whenever the bidding process starts. Mobilink will maintain the leadership status in the future as well”.
After the 100 million subscriber mark the urge of 3G license is being felt strongly in Pakistan. The ball is now in government’s court who has to play a decisive role in order to attract more foreign investment in shape of 3G licenses.

PTCL concluded its management training program


Pakistan Telecommunication Company LTD (PTCL) held a certificate distribution ceremony on the successful accomplishment of the three week comprehensive training program titled “Management Development Program” (MDP) at PTCL Academy Islamabad.
PTCL real asset has always been human capital and network. It has achieved various commendable milestones but this Management Development Program is one of the most world beating achievements as the entire training calendar 2011 has been designed based on the theme “Ensuring Corporate and Customers Loyalty through learning”.PTCL has a huge training infrastructure throughout the country that is geographically wide spread.
PTCL Academy has been revitalized with a new vision to be recognized locally and regionally as a center of excellence in the provision of state-of-the-art training and consultancy services in telecommunications and related fields. It is providing a platform for the creation, dissemination and exchange of knowledge and expertise in all areas of telecom and IT to internal and external stakeholders. MDP is to determine user’s requirements, specific training needs, evaluate training resources, develop and implement the training program and then finally to evaluate it.
PTCL President and CEO – Walid Irshaid while acknowledging this achievement, highlighted the pragmatic approach of PTCL and stated that PTCL is Developing Customer Centric Approach in the employees and keeping the pace with the dynamic trends of the Telecom Industry has always been a priority of the management, He expressed his satisfaction over the initiative taken by the training and development department and said that we will ensure that the training produces visible and desired results.
He further added that we are continuously striving to make a positive impact on the lives of our customers, we are focused and determined to better understand the needs of the ever evolving customer and connecting with them.
EVP Training and Development, Shakeel Ahmad, also expressed his views on this occasion and said that the Training and Development team has been making untiring efforts to turn PTCL into a true corporate entity. He expressed gratitude to his team and attributed this success to team work.

Pakistan IT industry’s web-directory in the pipeline



Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) in collaboration with Pakistan Software House Associations (P@SHA) is developing a web-directory to showcase its member companies and generate more business leads for them.
The web directory will be a web 2.0 based Portal that will display important messages about the Pakistani IT industry and highlight its achievements. The portal will become the single most important web destination to find out more about the skill set of Pakistani IT companies and their capabilities. The directory will be searchable along many dimensions including technology, industry vertical, type of solutions provided and services offered among other things. PSEB presently is in a process of gathering company information & is also recording CEO Interviews
PSEB promotes the image of the Pakistan IT industry in key markets abroad, enables trade interaction with international parties, and facilitates the entry of multi-national development and support centers in Pakistan
PSEB has initiated the process to revamp its current website. The revamped website will project the support/services that PSEB offers to IT companies/investors and appropriately address the fact that PSEB is a government funded, active advocate of the IT Industry, particularly the overseas investors. The revamped site will adequately outline/market the incentives and services provided by PSEB.
PSEB is a Government agency mandated to promote Pakistan’s IT Industry. The IT Industry holds great promise as an engine of economic growth, earner of foreign exchange and creator of jobs. A major initiative of PSEB is to facilitate business development and sales for its companies. In today’s connected economic world, effective web presence is a must for any entity doing business internationally. To facilitate effective marketing, sales and business development  for its member companies, PSEB wants to build an effective web 2.0 based member directory and portal.
The third part of this project is to develop short whitepapers on certain industry verticals. Examples of such industry verticals are eHealthcare, Financial Services, Gaming and Animation, BPO and Enterprise Application Development etc. These whitepapers will summarize the capability of Pakistani IT companies in these areas, summarize the problems that have been solved in this industry vertical and mention significant initiatives.

11 Pakistanis Go Mobile Every Minute: CEO Mobilink


“Every minute roughly 11 Pakistanis become a part of the cellular community. More than 430,000 SMS messages and 160,000 voice minutes are being exchanged even now as I speak,” said Rashid Khan, President and CEO Mobilink, Pakistan’s market leader in cellular services, at the ceremony to mark the completion of 100 million cellular subscribers in Pakistan.
Khan said, “This is not only a moment of joy for us gathered here but also a reaffirmation to the common Pakistani man and woman that access to technology is not  a privilege limited to the elite, but a right that is available to them – that is accessible and affordable.”
Highlighting the contribution of the telecommunications sector in the country’s growth and development, Khan said, the sector contributes 3% to the country’s GDP whereas the total telecom sector revenue reached at Rs. 357.7 billion in the year 2009-10 compared to Rs. 333 billion in the previous year. This is despite the fact that the cellular industry in Pakistan is paying the highest taxes in comparison to the entire region. Incomes of 6 out of every 1,000 persons in Pakistan are tied with the telecom sector, he added.
Khaled Bichara, Group CEO of Orascom Telecom Holding, Mobilink’s parent company and Egypt’s largest foreign investor in Pakistan was also present at the ceremony.
Bichara congratulated Dr. Muhammad Yaseen, Chairman Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and the industry stakeholders on accomplishing this historic milestone.
Hosted by PTA the ceremony was chaired by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and attended by dignitaries from leading cellular operators as well as Telecom Ministry and industry.

Android in Trouble, Google Caught Copying Java Code



Oracle sued Google last year for infringing on copyrights and patents related to Java, which Oracle acquired along with Sun Microsystems.
Oracle’s case got stronger this week when Florian Mueller, a intellectual property activist,proved that Google copied at least 43 Android source files from Java.
With this development, lawsuit becomes a simple and easy case to prove when Google used 37 Android source files marked “PROPRIETARY / CONFIDENTIAL” and “DO NOT DISTRIBUTE” by Oracle / Sun and at least six more files in Froyo and Gingerbread that appear to have been decompiled from Java 2 Standard Edition and redistributed under the Apache open source license without permission.
This is not a threat to Android lovers or Google alone, but billions of dollars of various handset manufacturers (including HTC, Samsung) may land into trouble as well.
Though, there are reports that these copied files were just for test and are not important for the core OS, however, Oracle seems confident of winning the case.
In case Oracle wins, it might ask Google for a per-handset royalty on every Android handset shipped.

Monday, January 24, 2011

11 Pakistanis going mobile every minute – Mobilink CEO

Islamabad: January 24, 2011 – “Every minute roughly 11 Pakistanis become a part of the cellular community. More than 430,000 SMS messages and 160,000 voice minutes are being exchanged even now as I speak,” said Rashid Khan, President and CEO Mobilink, Pakistan’s market leader in cellular services, at the ceremony to mark the completion of 100 million cellular subscribers in Pakistan. Khan said, “This is not only a moment of joy for us gathered here but also a reaffirmation to the common Pakistani man and woman that access to technology is not a privilege limited to the elite, but a right that is available to them – that is accessible and affordable.” Highlighting the contribution of the telecommunications sector in the country’s growth and development, Khan said, the sector contributes 3% to the country’s GDP whereas the total telecom sector revenue reached at Rs. 357.7 billion in the year 2009-10 compared to Rs. 333 billion in the previous year. This is despite the fact that the cellular industry in Pakistan is paying the highest taxes in comparison to the entire region. Incomes of 6 out of every 1,000 persons in Pakistan are tied with the telecom sector, he added. Khaled Bichara, Group CEO of Orascom Telecom Holding, Mobilink’s parent company and Egypt’s largest foreign investor in Pakistan was also present at the ceremony. Bichara congratulated Dr. Muhammad Yaseen, Chairman Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) and the industry stakeholders on accomplishing this historic milestone. Hosted by PTA the ceremony was chaired by the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani and attended by dignitaries from leading cellular operators as well as Telecom Ministry and industry.

Friday, January 21, 2011

PTA Completes Targets for Year 2010

Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has successfully achieved 90 percent of its Targets and Goals for the year 2010 and set new Targets and Goals for the year 2011, claims a statement issued by the authority.

The Annual Meeting was held at PTA Headquarters, Islamabad on 20-21 January 2011, wherein progress of Divisions and Directorates of PTA for the year 2010 was reviewed and proposed Targets and Goals for the year 2011 were discussed and finalized.

Chairman PTA. Dr. Mohammed Yaseen chaired the session while Member (Finance), Syed Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi, Member (Technical), Dr. Khawar Siddique Khokhar& Director Generals of the Authority attended the meeting. The important achievements of PTA during year 2010, presented during the meeting.

On this occasion, Chairman PTA showed his satisfaction over the progress of different PTA departments and appreciated their efforts in carrying the vision and objectives of the Authority. He emphasized on the expeditious completion of incomplete tasks and directed the concerned divisional heads to supervise and ensure their compliance in this regard.

It was appreciated in the meeting that keeping its performance intact over the years, Enforcement Division, has conducted several surveys during 2010 on quality of service, which has helped Authority to take cognizance of the situation wherever necessary. In addition a lot many illegal networks were unearthed.

The Finance Division of PTA was successful in recovering long outstanding PTA dues against the defaulter companies. The studies made by Strategy and Development Division were also appreciated.

The Law & Regulations Division and Commercial Division did a lot of research work and produced maximum Research Papers on different Regulatory Issues. The ICT Directorate conducted consultancy on recommending various strategies for improving ICT situation in Pakistan it carried out some other important tasks like conducting 3G seminars in Karachi, Lahore & Islamabad.

The Human Resource (HR) Directorate successfully trained all the PTA work force including Officers as well as officials. This also included International training. It is important to note that even unskilled staff like Naib Qasids, Drivers etc was given in-house computer training by ICT Directorate.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Telecom: IT secretary appointed

The government has appointed Abdur Rauf Chaudhry secretary of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications on temporary basis.
KARACHI: The government has appointed Abdur Rauf Chaudhry secretary of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications on temporary basis.

During his tenure, he will make efforts to resolve the issues of Universal Services Fund (USF) and research and development fund. “With the deputation of Chaudhry, the ministry has been made functional for the first time under the current setup, now that a minister and secretary have both assumed their offices,” said telecom analyst Saleh Sikandar.

The IT ministry had previously been working without a minister for over two years, while there has been no secretary for nearly a month.

NetSol celebrates 15th anniversary

LAHORE: NetSol Technologies on Wednesday celebrated its 15th anniversary. Chairman and CEO Salim Ghauri spoke at length on what the company has achieved so far and the way forward. Starting its business activities in 1996, NetSol Technologies has turned into a leading IT company of Pakistan — listed with Karachi Stock Exchange, Dubai Stock Exchange and NASDAQ USA. The anniversary function included pictorial recollection of NetSol’s life cycle and the details on the journey traversed by its founders named Salim Ghauri, Najeeb Ghauri and Naeem Ghauri. staff report