Pakistan has highest teledensity in South Asia: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister, Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Thursday said teledensity in the country had increased to 58 percent of the population, which was the highest in South Asia.

Pakistan remains one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world where in the last year mobile industry invested close to $3 billion of total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) coming into the country.

Talking to a delegation of the GSM Association Board and CEOs of mobile operators in Pakistan headed by Ricardo Tavares, senior vice president, Public Policy GSM Association, who called on him at the PM House.

He said government was fully committed to developing the telecom sector and had taken a number of initiatives aimed at supporting the mobile sector to leverage its strength for growth of economy.

Pakistan had become a destination for investments in IT and had so for attracted $9 billion FDI, which clearly reflected the confidence of the investors.

He said increase in teledensity in the country had created growth opportunities in the telecom sector.

He said due to the demand of telephony, both mobile and fixed had created excellent investment opportunities leading to increased inflow of foreign investment in the telecommunication sector. With growing use of internet, cellular phones and broadband the demand for data and voice connectivity services was increasing rapidly, he maintained.

The prime minister said opening up of telecommunication sector, the competitive and comparative advantage due to the availability of highly skilled human capital, world-class infrastructure and reduced cost of doing business has stimulated phenomenal growth, attracted investments and Pakistan was geared to become the regional hub for IT and telecom business.

The prime minister praised the mobile industry for its success in building a world-class infrastructure, creating employment opportunities and attracting further investments to Pakistan.

The delegation assured the PM that the mobile industry would continue to work with the government for the rapid provision of state of the art information and communication services in Pakistan, with a heightened focus on empowering rural communities.

The delegation informed the prime minister that Group Special Mobile Association (GSMA) was a global trade associations founded in 1987 and represent more than 700 GSM mobile phone operators across 217 territories and countries across the world. He was briefed that more than 180 manufacturers and suppliers support the association’s initiatives as associate members.

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I berry! Do you?

With the recent upsurge in BlackBerry-based services across the country, are we seeing a new trend forming? The latest Pakistani service provider to enter the BlackBerry fray is Ufone GSM. With several services popping up off the bat, and some very eye catching devices, the high-end cellular communication devices and services market is pointing towards the development of a new trend.

BlackBerry, for some, signifies business. A strong branding and marketing drive have been pivotal in creating a strong image of the devices in the business world. Despite some setbacks, the handsets and the service have significantly grown in the last few years on a global level. This growth is a sure sign of the relationship BlackBerry devices have with the business community. [Read more]

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Telenor invested $1.8bn in Pakistan till end of 2007: CEO

By the end of 2007, Telenor had invested some $1.8 billion in Pakistan and it intended to connect the remotest corners of the country with valuable services, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Telenor Pakistan Tore Johnsen said here Monday.

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Times he said “we have also signed major investment contracts for network expansion and maintenance within the last 15 months and extended the agreements with Nokia and Siemens on network expansion and services until 2009.” The agreements, with a potential to result in $750 million worth of orders from Telenor Pakistan, are some of the largest of their kind in the industry.

“We appreciate the presence of a stable regulatory environment with a clear licensing framework in Pakistan. Ministry of Information Technology (IT) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) have been successful in providing a level playing field and have fostered a culture of industry consultation.”

Although, the government’s progressive policies have boosted market liberalisation process and discouraged monopolies, mobile phone operators are still facing three main areas of policy emphasis that will help with responsible growth in the future. These are: 3-G, infrastructure sharing and Alternative energy sources.

3G: “We understand the government’s ambition of introducing 3G in the market, but growth and investment in the basic mobile infrastructure should not be sacrificed, as there are too many people still without basic access to mobile telephony,” he said. Right now operators are focused on investing in far flung areas and un-served populations. If a huge fee is demanded for 3G, it will divert this investment with limited benefits for those who are still waiting to be connected with basic voice services.

“Therefore, we demand that the government should consider 3G not as a licensing opportunity, but rather as allocation of additional spectrum linked with roll out obligations and not hefty upfront fee. PTA and FAB should also make additional UMTS spectrum available in order to have equitable spectrum allocation,” CEO of Telenor said.

Telenor feels that our proposed “beauty contest” approach as adopted by many countries including Malaysia and Norway is much better than open auction, which has resulted in financial problems and major delays in rollout after 3G auctions in Europe. Also, this way, operators will be able to work on 3G side by side, even as they keep on focusing on provision of mobile services to those who are still unconnected and remain a priority.

Infrastructure sharing: The internationally recommended practice of using one tower to carry antennas for multiple mobile operators instead of having separate towers for each operator makes common sense. At the moment, Telenor Pakistan has the largest number of shared sites and believes that more should be done to encourage and enforce infrastructure sharing. It is an effective way of reducing operational expenditure while achieving long-term environmental benefits and maintaining quality for our customers, he elaborated.

Alternative energy sources: “We are the first in industry to have started using solar energy to power a commercial site,” Johnsen said. Here government has a role to play by practically encouraging such innovation and solutions that are more eco-friendly and less of a burden logistically in difficult terrains, where mobile coverage might be needed the most, and constant generator refueling is an issue, he added.

“Also, we sealed a 20-year capacity and services contract with Telekom Malaysia Berhad’s Pakistani subsidiary, Multinet Pakistan (Private) Limited. The contract has enabled us to utilise fibre optic cable pairs and associated co-location facilities along Multinet Pakistan’s national long haul optical fibre transmission network. The maintenance and associated services from Multinet further improves the reliability of our services to the growing customer base. The aggregate amount of both the capacity contract and the service contract is some $40 million.

“I see a healthy development on all fronts in the foreseeable future as in a short period of 3 years, facing intense competition; Telenor Pakistan managed to stand as the 2nd largest mobile communications network with 15 million customers in Pakistan. Today, Telenor Pakistan connects Pakistanis over 5,000 sites and is rapidly expanding,” he said.

Talking on the WiMAX he said, it is only one of the several ways of delivering broadband to the end consumer. The important aspect to consider while investing in technological infrastructure is the economies of scale that ensure economical, quality and wide coverage to the end user. With heavy investments already made in GSM mobile communications infrastructure, it is technologically and economically optimal to invest in broadband technologies evolving from GSM itself. Technologies like 3G and HSDPA are such options. We believe that HSDPA has more performance and economical advantages over mass deployment. This technology enables and encourages users since the handsets and data cards needed by the customer are available in wide variety and at affordable rates. Therefore, free mobility, a highly desired value, is not sacrificed.

Giving his views on telecom future in the country, he said, Pakistan is one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world. The growth numbers have been remarkable.

According to PTA, the current size of the Pakistani telecom market is 77 million subscribers, 48 percent tele-density with an annual growth rate of 100 percent over the fiscal year 2006-2007. The contribution of telecom in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is placed at 35 percent of the total FDI and the sector is reported to make up 2 percent of the GDP.

In FY06-07, the company grew nearly 200 percent in terms of customers, experiencing the highest growth in the industry by a wide margin compared to its competitors. We have just announced excellent financial results for fourth quarter of 2007, with 2 million subscriptions added to its base within the 3-month period. The company crossed 15 million subscribers by mid January 2008 within less than three years of operation.

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Kirusa Enables World’s First Exchange of Voice SMS Messages Across Mobile Networks and Vendors

Historic Voice SMS Interoperability Trial Across Networks to Revolutionize Mobile Messaging

NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ and BARCELONA, SPAIN–(Marketwire - February 14, 2008) - Kirusa, the world’s leading vendor of Voice SMS and a leading developer of mobile value added services, today announced that it has demonstrated the world’s first exchange of Voice SMS messages between diverse carriers using different Voice SMS systems. This is the first ever demonstration of Voice SMS interoperability anywhere in the world. The trials were based on the technical specification developed by the GSM Association, the worldwide trade association for the mobile phone industry.

Ufone and Telenor Pakistan, with support from Kirusa and Mobile Arts, successfully exchanged Voice SMS messages between their networks. As part of the trial, when a Ufone subscriber sent a message to a Telenor Pakistan subscriber, the message went from the Kirusa Voice SMS solution in Ufone to the Mobile Arts solution in Telenor Pakistan. The Telenor Pakistan subscriber got an SMS from the Ufone subscriber, and listened and replied to the message with the same user interface and pricing as if the message had been sent by a Telenor Pakistan subscriber. The reply was sent back to the Kirusa Voice SMS solution in Ufone network. Kirusa and Mobile Arts developed the software that allowed this interoperability between Ufone and Telenor Pakistan.

Telenor Pakistan and Ufone Pakistan are set to launch the world’s first interoperable voice messaging, or Voice SMS, services in 2008 following successful voice messaging trials towards the end of last year.

The GSMA initiative allows mobile subscribers to receive and reply to Voice SMS messages from their contacts using an easy and consistent user interface, irrespective of the mobile carrier of the sender. The vendors would need to adhere to the GSMA standard to provide the interoperability, which is expected to help augment potential revenues to mobile carriers.

“Ufone is very pleased to be a part of the world’s first trial for developing new operator inter-working specifications,” said Ali Ikram, Head of VAS, Ufone. “We believe in maintaining a strong focus on innovation and high quality of service, and the interoperability of Voice SMS helps us provide a better service to our subscribers. Kirusa has provided tremendous support to help achieve this significant milestone in a short timeframe.”

Mr. Inder Singh, Senior Vice President, Lehman, said, “Over the last couple of years it has become quite apparent to the mobile community that seamless connectivity across networks is the key to increasing usage of mobile applications. The Voice SMS interoperability initiative undertaken by GSMA portends a good future for Voice SMS as a pervasive form of mobile messaging and the support for interoperability in the solution from Kirusa means that it will be brought to market quickly.”

Ewald Anderl, CTO, Kirusa, leads Kirusa’s standards strategy and activities. Speaking on the occasion, he stated, “I am delighted that Kirusa has enabled the world’s first ever demonstration of Voice SMS interoperability. This represents a landmark development for Voice SMS, and a validation of Kirusa’s vision of providing Voice SMS services to subscribers around the world.” He further added, “Interoperability between carriers will lead to increase usage and acceptability of Voice SMS worldwide. Kirusa is a firm believer in standards to help promote the interoperability.”

About Kirusa

Kirusa is the world’s leading vendor of Voice SMS and a leading developer of value added Mobile services that provide the freedom of multimodality. Kirusa’s solutions include the hugely successful KV.SMS™, the world’s most advanced “Voice SMS” solution, which allows mobile subscribers to send and reply to SMS messages with voice, and works on all handsets and on all networks. The Voice SMS solution offers the industry’s most intuitive user interface, with features such as Direct Listen™ for direct access and reply to messages, Speed CodesTM for quickly sending messages using codes, group messaging, Mobile number portability, interconnect, and international Voice SMS. KV.SMS can be deployed in a matter of weeks, and its fast user adoption has led to explosive revenue growth for Kirusa’s subscribers. KV.SMS is built on Kirusa’s patented and patent pending technology and its highly reliable and scalable multimodal platform. The platform’s ability to manage and synchronize data and voice interactions, plus its integration with IMS and 3G standards, enables subscribers to cost effectively deploy additional revenue-generating services such as messaging, search, information, and entertainment applications. Kirusa’s solutions are deployed worldwide and used by millions of Mobile subscribers. Headquartered in New Jersey and led by an experienced team of wireless telecom executives and technologists, Kirusa has sales offices in Paris, France; Delhi, India; and Abu Dhabi, UAE; with a research and development facility in Bangalore, India. ‘Kirusa Voice SMS,’ ‘Direct Listen,’ and ‘Speed Codes’ are trademarks of Kirusa, Inc. For more information, please visit www.kirusa.com.

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ZTE handset sales expected to rise

ZTE Corp’s mobile phone sales will surge 60 percent year-on-year in 2008 and the world’s sixth biggest handset maker aims to “significantly lift the portion” of sales with its own brands, the Shenzhen-based firm told Shanghai Daily today.

In 2007, the Shenzhen-listed firm sold 31.06 million phones globally and it expects to sell more than 50 million units this year, according to Gu Yongchen, general director of ZTE’s corporate branding and communications department.

“We can achieve the target through deep cooperation with carriers and improved handset designs,” Gu said at ZTE’s booth during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, the largest annual telecommunications industry gathering. [Read more]

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Paktel launches GSM cellular service in Pakistan

Paktel, founder of the cellular industry in Pakistan, Thursday launched its GSM service throughout the country. “The launch offers the most competitive packages with a variety of services that promise to make the company a clear cellular leader,” said Cheif Executive Officer (CEO), Paktel, Xavier Rocoplan.

Launching the 0304-code GSM service at a press conference here, he said, Paktel has 350,000 subscribers in its existing network and the company, starting with about a million connection capacity aims at around two million capacity in more than 150 cities by December this year.

The CEO said Paktel has the most extensive network in the country which would also boost its GSM services to remote places and strengthen its position as the leader in cellular technology in Pakistan.Xavier Rocoplan said with over a decade of excellent services in Pakistan, Paktel is regarded as the founder of the mobile industry in the country. The CEO said during 2002 major improvements including network capacity was added to accommodate the strong growth in subscribers.

In the same year, Paktel obtained the GSM 900 spectrum license. The journey from analog AMPS technology to digital TDMA and then to more advanced GSM levels has been a lesson in time and standard reference for all new entrants in the market. He said the company also formed strategic alliances with mobile giants like Samsung and Nokia. Paktel has been able to provide direct and indirect employment to almost 2,500 people in the country. [Read more]

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Motorola and Mobilink sign accord

LAHORE (December 06 2007): Motorola, Inc (NYSE:MOT) has announced an agreement with Mobilink (an Orascom Telecom Company) to deploy a WiMAX 802.16e-2005 access network in Pakistan.

Under the terms of the agreement, Motorola will design, plan, deploy and optimise a WiMAX network for Mobilink, deliver integration and support services as well as indoor and outdoor customer premises equipment (CPE) units to enable faster adoption of the operator’s WiMAX offering. [Read more]

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Entry for all to halve call rates: Ministry

The communications ministry is of the view that telecom tariffs in India can fall further to almost half their current levels — with local intra-circle calls for 25 paise and nationwide long distance calls for 50 paise — provided new operators are allowed to start services.

The ministry has apprised the Prime Ministers’ Office of this.

According to a top ministry official, there is enough spectrum for accommodating existing second generation operators as well as well as the new ones.

“Between 30-35 Mhz of 2G spectrum will be available in a few months. Only 37 Mhz has been allotted to existing six or seven operators, who service around 217 million users. With a similar quantum of spectrum set to be available soon, another 250 million users can be added to existing and new 2G networks in the next three to four years”, he added.
The official added that with the advent of third-generation (3G) mobile services, for which the government had already announced an auction process, another 100 million users would go mobile, taking the mobile subscriber base to around 600 million in a few years.

“Even school-going children will go mobile at such tariffs. Handsets, which are available for Rs 600-700, will sell for as less as Rs 50-100. The Indian market is huge and that is why so many new entrants want to come in”, he added.

Taking a dig at existing operators, the official said the current subscriber growth (every month around 7.5 million people go mobile in India), was something they wanted to keep only for themselves.

“They are making huge profits but are not investing enough to meet the demands of fresh subscriber growth. At the same time, they are not willing to accept new applicants and want full monopoly. Trai has recommended there should be no cap on the number of service providers, but they want otherwise”, the official said.

Insisting that the DoT was not wrong in allowing use of cross-technology (GSM) to CDMA operators, the official claimed that Reliance had applied for this in 2006 and not as was being said.

“The application was referred to Trai by the ministry then. It was only this August that the Trai’s recommendation permitting cross-over came to the DoT,” he added.

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Warid Telecom wins the best GSM operator ‘Brand of the Year Award 2006-07’

Warid Telecom has won “Brand of the Year Award” for 2006-2007 in the category of GSM operators and service providers in an award ceremony held at Prime Minister Secretariat. The Prime Minister of Pakistan Mr. Shaukat Aziz handed over the award to Mr. Hamid Farooq- Chief Executive Officer, Warid Telecom. “Brands of the Year Award’ has been officially endorsed by Pakistan Standards & Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) & Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI). The event is also being supported by Government of Pakistan, Government of Sindh and Government of Punjab.

Hamid Farooq - Chief Executive Officer Warid Telecom said, ìToday, Pakistan has one of the most competitive GSM environments in the world with the most knowledgeable consumers ever. We are thankful that this wisdom and the peopleís loyalty are supporting Warid Telecom. This award would never have been possible without the trust our subscribers have put in usî.

Warid Telecom is owned by the Abu Dhabi Group, led by His Highness Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan. Abu Dhabi group”s other successful investments in Pakistan besides Warid Telecom include Bank Alfalah, United Bank Limited, Taavun, Wateen Telecom and Raseen.

Warid Telecom recently entered into a strategic alliance with Singapore Telecom. Subsequent to this transaction, telecom giant SingTel has acquired 30% percent equity stake in Warid Telecom. Warid Telecom is the fastest growing and GSM mobile company in Pakistan with about 12 million subscribers with over 176 cities all over Pakistan.

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Mobilink to invest $500m more in Pakistan

KARACHI: Mobilink GSM has so far invested $2 billion in Pakistan and in the coming years it is planning to further invest $500 million.

This was stated by Omar Manzur, Public Relations Manager, Mobilink Pakistan during a media training workshop for the journalist in Istanbul.

“Currently we have laid 6,000 km fiber optic lines in different cities of Pakistan and after lying additional 500 km fiber optic lines Mobilink GSM will become a complete telecom service provider in Pakistan,” Manzar added.

He said, after completion Mobilink will divert its traffic on this fiber optic network, which would be available to the other operators also for their traffic.

Mobilink has always wanted to take the lead in all the sectors and in term of infrastructure it would not be relying on any other companies. “Currently our network is based on 2.5 generation and we will upgrade this according to the requirement of our subscribers.”

Currently more than 28 million customers are using Mobilink services across the nation. With more than 5,000 cities, towns, and villages throughout Pakistan on its network, it will be covering the entire length and breadth of Pakistan, he added.

Mobilink Pakistan organized journalist training on the telecommunication industry in Istanbul. The trainer Ms. Eileen M. Wallis, Managing Director of the Portsmouth Group, one of the Middle East’s leading communications consultancies, conducted the workshop. The workshop covered all issues related to quality of service, call tariffs, upcoming technologies, consumer reaction, role of regulator and connectivity problems in the telecom sector. Print and electronic media journalists from all over the country covering the beats of IT and Telecom participated in the workshop.

The workshop focused on the telecommunication industry especially the mobile phone sector progress rate and the challenges faced by the operators and its solution. To improve the performance of telecom reporters different suggestions and advices were forwarded and at the end of the workshop Mobilink shields were presented to the participants.

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