Company Offers Powerless Internet to Your Doorstep!
November 8, 2008
I’ve heard of Wireless Internet, WiMAX and Broadband internet… All types of PONS and what you will have.. but I have never, in the duration of my entire professional career, heard of “powerless internet”.
Wow!! How they’re going to sell this offer I do not know, but it’s probably SPAM that has been sent to thousands! While I am certain that they want to promote wireless internet, perhaps promoting it as being powerless is not in line with their business objectives.. You think? One would hope that the service provider adds the “the contents of these emails do not necessarily reflect those of the service provider…”
Goodness! What is the world coming to? 
Turn MyParks into iParks
October 19, 2008
Why not? It’s not like there are a million people frequenting the few parks we have. Across Karachi, for example, I can’t imagine there to be more than 40 small-sized parks where people go to just take a break from their hectic lives and sit. Some might even run or just take their families out.
Why simple WiMAX connectivity cannot help to provide free connectivity to people that pay to come into the parks in the first place, is a bit beyond me. Community members pay Rs.5-10 per person to enter the park. There are an average of 400 people that go to each park. As an individual, I’d be willing to pay maybe 10 more Rupees for an hour or two of WiMAX connectivity. Give me a subscription slip with a key or passcode that changes every hour as soon as I enter. Take it a step ahead and if I am a regular at a park and the park ticket office already has my cellphone number, the financial transaction can take place through an mPayment facility like amaana for example, and the subscription code can just be SMS’ed out to me. It’s really quite simple. Even if 100 people opt to pay a Rs.10 subscription fee per hour, that’s Rs.10×100 people. Does anyone have an objection to earning a little extra money that they weren’t planning?
Split a commission for the park and the internet connectity provider takes the rest. After all, it’s a business proposition. But more than just the business, look at what else could happen:
More “business people” would come out into the open air as long as they know that they can bring their laptops or PDAs (and search for a WLAN connection) - You’d have a lot more creative people who might be more willing to blog about the smaller things in life that hold a great deal of meaning. Things we forget about in our every day running around and hectic meeting schedules.
You could turn a park into a potential business meeting area - you have a great ambience, tea or coffee and internet connectivity. Make it worth people’s while to visit a park and they will come. It could be a win-win for everyone, couldn’t it? Any takers?
Week In Review: Week ending on Saturday, the 23rd of August, 2008
September 8, 2008
Oracle has become the center of attention for leading organizations in Pakistan as it has emerged as one of the most innovative business solution providers in the past few years. The company has recognized itself in the market for effectively managing several important business issues that includes data security, enhanced business efficiencies, disaster recovery and the business recovery solutions. [Read more]
TeleCard embarks on plan to roll out Wimax Service
August 21, 2008
(Courtesy daily.pk)
Pursuant to a decision of the TeleCard Board to actively participate in the fast-growing Wireless Broadband market, the company has announced that it has chosen Augere (http://www.augere.eu/) as the principal contractor to design and build the network such as to position a great offering / value proposition for the growing and very quality sensitive internet user community in the country. [Read more]
New Intel-based Laptops Advance all Facets of Notebook Pcs
July 18, 2008
New Intel® Centrino® 2 Processor Technology Brings ‘HD-to-Go’; Adds Security and Manageability Features, Boosts Speed, Battery Life and Wireless Range [Read more]
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!
Infonetics Research: WiMAX equipment sales jump 59%, Motorola takes the lead in worldwide market share in 1Q
June 29, 2008
Communications market research firm Infonetics Research reported recently that the worldwide WiMAX equipment market, including fixed and mobile WiMAX equipment, increased 59% sequentially to $363 million in 1Q08.
Infonetics’ report, WiMAX and WiFi Mesh Network Equipment and Devices, indicates the surge in the market was led by especially strong mobile WiMAX (802.16e) equipment sales, which jumped 141% this quarter to overtake revenue from fixed WiMAX (802.16d) equipment for the first time.
“A significant number of new mobile WiMAX networks began rollout in the first quarter, and existing networks continued to scale up, driving sales in 1Q08. We expect healthy growth for the evolving mobile WiMAX market, which is seeing strong adoption not only from Tier 2 and 3 carriers, but from Tier 1 nationwide operators as well, like Sprint-Clearwire in the US, SK Telecom and KT in South Korea, Wateen in Pakistan, BSNL in India, and Vodafone and Orange in new territories,” said Richard Webb, wireless analyst for Infonetics Research.
Other highlights from the report:
– Motorola takes the lead in overall WiMAX revenue in 1Q08 after
increasing its worldwide mobile revenue share by 10 points, and is the
first vendor to exceed $50 million in mobile WiMAX revenue in a single
quarter, according to Infonetics’ estimates
– Alvarion continues to lead in worldwide fixed WiMAX equipment revenue
share, but is getting a run for its money by Telsima, which increased its
revenue in 1Q08
– The nascent mobile WiMAX phone and Ultra Mobile PC segments showed
early traction, together increasing 171% sequentially in 1Q08; these
devices have appealing, non-traditional form factors and capabilities and
will play a major role in attracting new subscribers to mobile WiMAX
networks
– The number of fixed and mobile WiMAX subscribers topped 2 million
worldwide in 2007 and is expected to triple by the end of 2008
Infonetics’ report provides market size, market share, and forecasts for fixed WiMAX base stations and CPE; mobile WiMAX base stations, CPE, NICs, and ASN-gateways; mobile WiMAX phones and Ultra Mobile PCs; indoor and outdoor mesh network nodes; and fixed and mobile WiMAX subscribers.
Companies tracked include Airspan, Alcatel-Lucent, Alvarion, Aperto Networks, BelAir Networks, Cisco, Firetide, Huawei, Motorola, Nokia-Siemens Networks, Nortel, Proxim, Redline Communications, Samsung, SkyPilot, Strix Systems, Telsima, Tropos Networks, and others.
Download report highlights by logging in to Infonetics’ online portal from www.infonetics.com (see Wireless and FMC area). For sales, contact Larry Howard, vice president, at larry@infonetics.com or +1 (408) 583-3335.
Infonetics Research (www.infonetics.com) is an international communications market research firm. Tracking emerging markets since 1990, Infonetics covers a broad range of service provider, product manufacturer, and enterprise and SMB markets, including network security, enterprise voice, unified communications, broadband networks, IPTV, IP video, mobile TV, optical networks, metro Ethernet, carrier routing and switching, wireless, WiMAX, FMC, VoIP, IMS, policy management, subscriber management, service management, carrier capex and opex, and more. Services include quarterly market share and forecasting, end-user survey research, service provider survey research, service provider capex analysis, and custom research and consulting.
WiMax: Asia’s Last Mile Solution?
June 6, 2008
SINGAPORE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–WiMax holds promising potential as an alternative technology to connect underserved rural areas that will never realistically receive fixed-line services. The sweet spot for WiMax is its ability to provide voice and data connectivity at speeds of up to 1Mbps in Asia’s emerging markets where such digital divide exists. [Read more]
WiMAX heating up in Asia
April 24, 2008
Attending and chairing the WiMAX Forum Congress Asia recently in Singapore provided an opportunity to take the pulse of the WiMAX industry in Asia Pacific.One of the most significant developments at the event was the momentum WiMAX is gaining in India, one of the top future markets for the technology, according to our WiMAX Broadband Convergence report. Four of the country’s major operators are deploying or close to deploying the technology, including Tata Communications, Reliance, BSNL and MTNL.
Tata Communications (previously VSNL) has already launched wireless broadband services using 802.16d-2004 Fixed WiMAX equipment running in the 3.3GHz band and sourced from WiMAX vendor Telsima. Tata is aiming to deploy at least 1,000 base stations by year-end to support enterprise broadband services in 110 cities and consumer services in at least 18 cities. Tata says it aims to have 200,000 consumer subscribers by 2009-10.
The operator has a shot at hitting the target given that India had a broadband penetration of just 1.5% of households at end-2007, according to Informa Telecoms & Media’s World Broadband Information Service. That represents just over 3 million subscribers in a country with a middle class population of near 50 million and total population of more than one billion.
Reliance Communications is also deploying WiMAX fixed services in 3.3GHz spectrum, although it has not yet detailed the extent of its rollout.
At the WiMAX Forum Congress Asia, BSNL chairman and managing director Kuldeep Goyal noted that the state-owned operator currently has 3.3GHz 802.16-2004 services in ten cities. He added that the group expects to get 20MHz of 2.5GHz spectrum this year, which it will use to deploy Mobile WiMAX services in 21 circles across the country. The operator expects to start deployment by end-2008 and expects 3 million subscribers by 2010.
State-owned MTNL is also understood to be evaluating deployment of Mobile WiMAX in the 2.5GHz band, although the plans of both BSNL and MTNL obviously hinge on the timely award of 2.5GHz spectrum, which has been delayed in the past.
Among other developments at the event, the WiMAX Forum announced the first Mobile WiMAX products to receive WiMAX Forum Certified approval. The products are built to the relatively niche 2.3GHz profile used in Korea, but the first Mobile WiMAX product certification is nevertheless an important milestone in the WiMAX industry. This is partly because 2.3GHz product certification will help clear the way for certification of more mainstream 2.5GHz and 3.5GHz products.
KT also announced that its WiBro service had more than 140,000 customers a year after full commercial launch in April 2007, and almost two years after the initial launch in mid-2006. Critics at the event noted the subscriber numbers were well below initial expectations and highlighted the challenges WiMAX will face in highly competitive broadband markets. WiMAX backers cited the recent growth in KT WiBro subscriber numbers as evidence that the service had turned a corner, and highlighted the operator’s goal of landing 410,000 subscribers by end-2008.
WiMAX may have less competition from other broadband systems in emerging markets, but as a new technology it still faces challenges. Rizwan Tiwana, chief technical officer of Wateen Telecom, said the operator now had Mobile WiMAX coverage in 22 cities in Pakistan using equipment from Motorola operating in the 3.5GHz band. However the deployment started in early 2007 and commercial launch took place in mid-December 2007, with one of the key challenges being delivering good in-building coverage. Nevertheless, the operator plans to continue improving indoor coverage and to expand services to at least another 70 cities by end-2008, in the process increasing its Mobile WiMAX network from 460 to 1500 base stations, Tiwana said.
As of mid-April the operator had 15,000 consumers on a broadband plus VoIP bundle, in addition to 1,400 business subscribers. “Our CPE costs are a problem-they’re currently too high to spark mass adoption,” Tiwana said, citing WiMAX CPE costs of $150-200 compared to DSL modem costs of $25. He rightly added that “the only way to drive down WiMAX CPE costs is faster adoption globally,” which will generate the economies of scale necessary to significantly reduce equipment costs.
LINKdotNET Pakistan launches
April 4, 2008
LINKdotNET Pakistan, a subsidiary of the Egyptian telecoms giant Orascom Telecom, has announced the launch of its Pakistani arm, following the recent acquisition of two of the country’s leading ISPs, World Online (WOL) and Dancom Online. Ahmed Khalaf, CEO of LINKdotNET Pakistan said that he expects his new company to make an immediate impression in the marketplace.‘We have a number of unique selling propositions not the least of which is our experience,’ he said. [Read more]