Not the best in CS
October 12, 2008
CS, customer service, is somewhat important to the survival of a company. Big or small, if there are no customers, there will be no company. I went to my cell phone service provider’s customer service center to subscribe for a blackberry service. I kind of depend on email correspondence and also have to balance it out with all the time I am on the move. So anyway, I land myself there with a phone that is ‘blackberry enabled’, but not a blackberry. [Read more]
Inbox wins the largest ever MS Enterprise agreement
September 18, 2008
Inbox has signed the largest Microsoft Enterprise Agreement in the history of Pakistan. The $8.4m agreement by Inbox Business Technologies spans over three years and includes MS Enterprise Licenses as well as other value-added services. Inbox will be providing the licenses and services to Etisalat International Pakistan’s two concerns - PTCL and Ufone. Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) is the largest telecommunication company in Pakistan whereas Ufone is one of the largest cellular service provider. [Read more]
Week In Review: Week ending on Saturday, the 12th of July, 2008
July 13, 2008
There’s been so much going on this past week in IT and T, we’ve hardly had time to put it all together! But of course you know that’s not true, because here’s a look at this past week! (haha! We almost made a funny there!) [Read more]
Ufone introduces Call Block Service
July 12, 2008
ISLAMABAD (July 11 2008): For the first time in Pakistan, the Ufone prepaid customers now have the facility to block unwanted calls coming their way, says a press release.
With the launch of this service, Ufone becomes the first cellular company in Pakistan to empower its subscribers with this innovative va1ue added service.
The Ufone has introduced the Call Block Service for its prepaid customers in view of the increased number of unwanted calls.
It may be noted that very few handsets offer this as an in-built feature and therefore, it was required by a telecom provider to come up with such a solution.
Ufone prepaid customers can simply dial ‘420′ and enjoy full control over unwanted calls coming their way. This wasn’t possible before as Ufone facilitates its customers total control over their handsets and calls.-PR
Week In Review: Week ending on Saturday, the 5th of July, 2008
July 5, 2008
Another week of regular activity in the IT and Telecom scene in Pakistan. Here’s what’s been cooking across the country:
Perhaps the most surprising news was the re-assignment of Telenor Pakistan CEO, Tore Johnsen, resigning from Telenor and joining TDAC as the Chief Executive Officer. Whereas the announcement for the new CEO of Telenor will be made on first of September 2008, Tore has proven to be a great leader to building Telenor has a strong, reliant brand for the consumer here.
Tore Johnsen had been the CEO of Telenor Pakistan since the inception in 2004. Before moving to Pakistan, Johnsen served four years as Strategy Director and later CEO of DiGi Telecommunications in Malaysia. He joined the Telenor Group in 1974, and he has held a number of managerial positions and international assignments. Johnsen holds a Master of Science in addition to studies in International Business Management. A new CEO of Telenor Pakistan will be announced in due time before September 1st. The Company, operating under “dtac” brand, was founded in August 1989 to provide wireless telecommunication service in 800 Mhz and 1800 Mhz frequency bands in Thailand under a 27-year “Built-Transfer-Operate” concession granted by CAT Telecom Public Company Limited (formerly known as Communications Authority of Thailand-”CAT. We wish Mr Johnsen the very best in his new venture and have no doubt that he will be as good for Thailand as he has been for Pakistan! Sawasdee Krup, Tore!
Senior Executive Vice President HR, Ismail Taha said that PTCL is taking steps to provide prompt, better and state of the art telecom services for its customers and they hope to achieve their goal very soon. The goal, as mentioned before, is to regain a better position in telecom market. He made these statements while visiting the Customers Facilitation Camp (CMC) in F-8 Markaz in Islamabad. A. Khawaja and other senior officers also accompanied him.
The number of mobile phone users in the economic year 2007-08 has increased to 34 percent and a Government report says that during the economic year 2008-07, the number of Zong’s connection has increased with 208 %. In June 2008, the number of mobile phone users was 6.32 billion, which has exceeded 8.5 billion.
Mobilink still stands as number in telecom sector with a user ship of more that 3.19 billion. This year, an increase of 20 percent has been recorded in Mobilink’s users.
Ufone is facilitating 1.75 billion whereas, Telenor, which was at number three a few weeks ago, has acquired a user circle that is even bigger than Ufone. Telenor has the second position in Pakistan Telecom Industry and this increase has proved itself a big shock for Ufone. Other than the top three, Warid is still doing a good business but its on the fourth number. The officials of Warid Telecom say that their company is focusing more on its infrastructure and availability than other issues.
Zong Telecom has attained more than 3.2 million users in just a couple of months. It is progressing efficiently and it is being expected that very soon, Zong will have it’s own place to call home, in the Pakistan Telecom industry.
Nokia announced the launch of its latest handset, Nokia N-78 that is equipped with latest features and graphics. The media event took place at Sheraton Hotel, Karachi where Nokia Country Manager, Imran Khalid Mehmood and the Product Manager Khurram Pradhan briefed the audience about the latest handsets and upcoming projects of Nokia.
Nokia N78 is amongst the first handsets with the integrated FM transmitters that allow the tones through car stereo. It is a sleek multimedia computer that fuses map reading, photography, music and mobility in a way that gives convergence a new meaning.
The handset also has a 3.2 mega pixel camera, multimedia player, picture browser and a powerful range of technologies including high-speed connectivity via WLAN and HSPDA 3.g. Additionally, geo-tagging becomes easier with Nokia N-78. This phone has got every thing that you need (and then some!)
Dr. Lian Jeog Seok and Cybil Yoo, members of an IT organization in Korea, visited University of Karachi. They visited Umair Basha Institute of Technology (UBIT)/ Department of Computer Science. The delegation met the Vice Chancellor of KU, Professor Pirzada Qasim and the Chairman of the department. The delegations discussed the development of IT services in Pakistan as well as the academia.
The launching ceremony of two technical books, “Quality Assurance in Higher Education: A Global Perspective” and “Safety Management and Engineering: An Integrated Approach” took place at the Institute of Quality and Technology Management (IQTM) of Punjab University. The book on Quality Assurance is based on 15 research papers that have been edited by Dr. Abdul Rauf and Dr. Niaz Ahmad along with the second book which was has been written by Dr Abdul Rauf.
Quality Assurance Advisor at Higher Education Commission (HEC), Dr. Riaz Qureshi, PU Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr. Mujahid Kamran, Dr. Abdul Rauf, Dr. Niaz Ahmad, Dr Javed Ahmed, Dr. Mehar Saeed and a large number of faculty members and students participated in the launching ceremony.
The Syndicate of University of Engineering and Technology approved the university’s annual budget for the year 2008-09. The budget comprises of two categories, recurring budget and development budget. Total income from recurring budget is Rs 1.559 billion while expenditure is Rs 1.610 billion.
The Higher Education Commission and Federal Government has allocated Rs 480 million and the Punjab government allocated Rs 24 million for the four ongoing development projects of the university.
DHL has provided access to its unique electronic services DHL Emailship with the help of Microsoft Office Online. Now, this service is downloadable in Asia Pacific. This service was not available in this region but now, customers can easily access shipping services using DHL Emailship.
The collaboration of Wateen and Motorola is the hottest topic of this month. The agreement, which has been signed by Wateen and Motorola, has got international acknowledgement, as the world’s leading technology magazine CIO has covered this story.
Wateen has been providing WiMAX services in Pakistan and recently it signed the biggest agreement for CPE devices with Motorola.
The ratio of Fixed lines and Wireless line (WLL) are showing a declining trend as the whole nation has moved to mobile phone services. A report issued by PTA for March 2008 says that the number of fixed line users has decreased by 6.1 percent quarter-over-quarters along with WLL subscribers, which has dropped by 4.4 percent month-on-month in May 2008.
Omair Chughtai, a telecom analyst at BMA Capital said that the decline was obvious but the data showed a massive decline, which is beyond expectations. According to him, it will take some years to stabilize landline position in telecom market.
China’s Huawei Technologies said that it has been selected by Mobilink to deploy a commercial WiMAX 16e Network in Pakistan. After Wateen, Mobilink will be the second company to provide WiMAX services in Pakistan, which will be benefiting for the country.
A representative of Huawei Technologies said that the company is going to provide its services to Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad and Sialkot. Huawei is one of the leading WiMAX providers in the world and until now, it has won 19 overseas commercial WiMAX contracts.
A week ago, a news item in one of the dailies said that PTA has banned the imports of handsets from china but a PTA’s spokesperson has clarified that PTA has not taken any such action. He said that PTA had nothing to do with the imports of mobile handsets or type approval of handsets, and rather blocks stolen/snatched sets through International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number when reported by a complaint.
SAMENA Telecommunications Council recently concluded Telecom 2008, which brought together top industry executives from Pakistan and the MENA region in Islamabad to share their insights on key areas of importance to the telecom and ICT industry.
PTCL, PTA, The Summit Patronage, Symbia, Cisco, CRPL, Com Info Systems, Inmarsat, Blue Ridge Networks and Satcom collaborated to organize this two-day long event. Closing day guest of honor was Mr. Qamar Zaman Kaira, Federal Minister of Information Technology.
Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd announced that it has withdrawn the controversial circular of price hike in domestic leased line circuits used for internet and data services.
Representative of ISPAK, Wahaj us Siraj, said: “We appreciate the decision of PTCL management to withdraw the price increase which could have led to doubling the prices of internet for the customers”.
Intel Pakistan and Ministry of Education (MOE) recently announced an ICT for Education that aims to provide knowledge of computers and latest technologies of Information Technology to common citizens.
Under the agreement, Intel Pakistan will provide 4,500 computers to Government Schools across the country over the next five years in a continued effort to enhance the capabilities of next generation. Intel Pakistan has already donated 750 PCs to Government schools to date. It intends to provide 1,080 more computers during the year 2008.
Mobile phone operators are planning to launch their services in rural areas, which are far away from modern world but its surprising to see that the is almost no connectivity of any mobile phone operator in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad. The patients and their relatives have to face sever kind of troubles in emergencies.
The mobile network is not available inside the PIMS’s boundary. The mobile phone companies stated that they had suggested installing micro-towers inside PIMS’s boundary but the Administration opposed and no progress was made.
The Comsats Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) has introduced ‘Talent Farming Scholarship Scheme’ (TAFS) for academically bright students who have completed their Secondary School Certificate examination significantly from the cities where CIIT’s campuses are located.
The scholarship scheme acknowledges the scholastic talent of these young boys and girls through a scholarship award of Rs1, 000 per month for 24 months to enable them to complete their intermediate diplomas.
Until next week, this it the team, signing off!
Pakistan’s IT sector progressing rapidly: PSEB
June 27, 2008
Pakistan’s IT industry is progressing rapidly at more than 50 per cent annually for each last four years, with many local IT companies winning huge contracts from domestic as well as international market, an official of PSEB (Pakistan Software Export Board) said in a statement issued here. [Read more]
Teradata Announces Sale of New 5550 Platform to Ufone
June 20, 2008
One of Pakistan’s leading GSM (Global System for Mobile communications) service providers, Ufone, has signed an agreement to expand its current data warehouse with state-of-the-art 5550H nodes from Teradata Corporation (NYSE: TDC), the global leader in enterprise data warehousing. [Read more]
Week In Review: Week ending on Saturday, the 7th of June, 2008
June 9, 2008
Boy what a week this has been! Everything but the kitchen sink and lota seemed to be getting thrown at the local sector! Companies in the Evacuee Trust Complex in Islamabad received eviction notices the board, which asked all companies to clear the premises within seven days. The notice, which was sent on 23rd of May, was received by all the companies on the 27th of May, when all hell unleashed in Islamabad.
IT sector discouraged this act and called it illegal. The building had been officially designated as an IT Park in 2001. P@SHA and other companies arranged meetings with government secretariat but the problem has not resolved itself yet.
The Senate Standing Committee on Science and Technology was informed that the Ministry of Science and Technology would get a share of 3,015 million rupees for 146 projects that have been planned for the year 2008-09. This was announced at a presentation given by the ministry at committee meeting held with Chairman Rozina Alam Khan. [Read more]
The Week in Review: Week ending on the 4th of May, 2008
May 4, 2008
This week was equal for both Computers and Telecom departments. New promises, global conferences and steps for better communication as well as civil services, this week got all of them.
KalSoft has recently computerized several civil services and provided E-Services for the Chief Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner’s offices. These services have been digitized to provide civilian with a better working system, having the features to post complain online and follow the status as well. In addition, with the help of E-Services, government officials will be able to communicate on a same network and see the progress of civilians’ complains and related issues.
The most exciting news for the 3d game players and graphics editors is the launch of Apple Computers in Pakistan. Apple Computers partnered with Raffles System and this is a big wave is being expected in computer market with the launch of Apple Computers, as they are very good with accelerated graphics and processing- Very nice for the video and image editors.
In the first of May, NetSol Technologies announced that their annual income of the fiscal year 2007-08 has improved by 62.3 percent to Rs 154 millions as compared to Rs 94 million of the last year. Additionally, NetSol Technologies have signed an enterprise agreement under with Core Infrastructure and Developer tool. Developer tool improves the process of data sharing and reduces development time. With the help of these tools, NetSol will enhance its infrastructure and the performance for computerization.
NetSol has also won 8th Teradata National IT Awards for its brilliant performance in the field of software exports for the year 2006. The delegates of an Australian investment company, Progressive International Pvt Ltd, met Qamar Zaman Khan, Federal Minister fore IT and Telecommunications, to discuss plans for Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) Tech Tower. The meeting took place on April 29, 2008. Recently, EZPA has announced the establishment of Tech Tower in Landhi, Karachi. The area of the Tower comprises of six acres and the estimated cost of the whole projects is round about $100 million.
The biggest IT event this week had been the TeleCON 2008 Pakistan. A Global Telecommunication Congress took place at Sheraton Hotel, Karachi on April 29, 2008. The event was scheduled on a two-day program. Shamrock Communication (PVT Ltd) organized the event, which concluded almost all the big leaders of IT and Telecom industry and more than two hundred attendees. This Global conference was brought into existence with sponsors of Mobilink, Ptcl, Motorola, MultiNet and Nokia Siemens Network
IBM launched latest version of UNIX systems being world’s fastest UNIX SERVER and Water-cooled supercomputer. These systems are designed for faster speed optimizing and reducing in-service costs.
While, Microsoft signed an agreement with Service Sales Corporation, which is Pakistan’s largest footwear company at Lahore.
Ufone has launched a new a new program in collaboration with the School of Leadership (SoL) and they have named it as UExcel. This new program is designed for the undergraduate students and Ufone along with SoL has already started the campaigns.
The purpose of this collaborated program is to create awareness in young generation, which could provide them with better knowledge of industry and careers as well as their interests and capabilities. This will make it easier for the students to choose their own kind of field where they can make a difference.
Ufone and SoL’s special teams will visit eighteen different universities and college in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. These teams have already visited universities of Karachi including, Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), Iqra University, PAF-KIET, University of Karachi and NED University of Engineering and Technology.
PTCL had decided to cut the local call’s minimum unit from five minutes to two but the telecommunication Sub-committee of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry has strictly denied the proposal and suggested that local calls must be free of charge.
PTA cancelled the registration of eight mobile phone franchises for illegal sale of SIM cards and directed six of them to be sealed immediately. PTA had already issued a warning that mobile phone companies will be charged with fine and serious steps will be taken against them if they fail to deactivate illegal SIMs. Recently, PTA has just cancelled the registration of
According to PTA, There are three franchises of Mobilink, two of Warid and CMPak, and one each of Telenor and Ufone were found violating the government Policy on sale of new SIMs, issued to all Mobile Companies.
I berry! Do you?
April 17, 2008
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]