Telenor Brings new service: smsemail

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Make your life simple; stay on top of your e-mails through Telenor's SMS E-mail service. This new mobile e-mail service brings all your e-mails directly to your mobile phone through SMS. All mobile phones are supported! Subscribe to this service without having to install anything on your phone, regardless of your handset model or type and stay connected to your Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo or any POP e-mail account. All e-mails will be pushed to your phone instantly as e-mail alerts; you can read these e-mails in detail and reply to them immediately! You can access this service via the website, SMS or the WAP browser on your handset!

Nokia to cut 450 jobs worldwide

Tweet Pin It HELSINKI: Nokia, the world’s leading mobile phone maker, said Tuesday it planned to cut some 450 jobs globally as it reorganises its services unit.

In addition, Nokia plans to streamline its corporate development office, including internal information technology (IT) and industry collaboration activities. “Altogether, approximately 450 employees globally will be impacted by the plans announced today, of which a maximum of 100 in Finland, the company said in a statement.

It added it would continue to seek savings across the company, which had 124,000 employees at the end of March, or 64,000 excluding its Nokia Siemens Networks joint venture. The job cuts “will impact mainly employees in Europe and North America, but it is too early to be more precise,” Nokia’s spokeswoman Eija-Riitta Huovinen told AFP.

Nokia’s services unit develops Internet based services to mobile phone users, including map services and games. The unit currently employs some 3,200 people. The head of Nokia services, Niklas Savander, said Nokia would increasingly offer to its customers new services developed by its partners and other companies. Prior to Tuesday’s announcement, Nokia had announced more than 3,000 job cuts since January as part of a vast cost-cutting plan, including 1,000 voluntary departure packages. The Finnish firm launched the programme last January, aimed at creating more than 700 million euros (910 million dollars) in annual savings.

Earlier this month Nokia reported a 90-percent drop in its first-quarter net profit to 122 million euros. Its earnings were dented by fewer consumers buying cheaper mobile phones amid global financial crisis. afp

Khalid Shehzad new CTO of Telenor Pakistan.…

Tweet Pin It ISLAMABAD (April 29 2009): Telenor Pakistan has appointed Khalid Shehzad as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the company with effect from April 28 (Tuesday). Formerly, Khalid was heading the IT division of the company as its Chief Information Officer (CIO). Atiq Ahmed, Director Operations and Maintenance, Technical Division, is taking up an expanded role as Deputy CTO

The changes in higher management were announced by CEO Telenor Pakistan Jon Eddy Abdullah at the company's headquarters in Islamabad on Tuesday. The new positions were introduced in the wake of the recent merger of the Technical and IT divisions in the company.Jon Eddy Abdullah, highly confident with the move, said: "The products we sell and the services we provide are based on a sound telecom network infrastructure and IT systems. Our core competency in Network and IT must always be the best in the industry. I am extremely confident that, with the new technical leadership, we can reaffirm our solid trust in the foundation of our business - Technology.

PTCL to facilitate KCCI members…

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KARACHI: Central Telephone Exchange of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has assured the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) that its members within the areas falling from M A Jinnah Road to Tower and entire I I Chundrigar Road would be given top priority to install telephone lines within 24 hours for commercial and residential uses.

Talking to Chairman, Communication, Sub-Committee KCCI, Khurram Saigal, Senior Engineer of PTCL, Tariq Mehmood Aarain said due to importance of this vibrant business and financial hub of Karachi city, interested members of KCCI could call on telephone number 021-2401100 for the purpose. Any complaint, regarding out of order and noisy telephone lines as well as against linemen, may be recorded at the said telephone number, he added. staff report.

USF awards Rs 1.4bn contracts for broadband…

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KARACHI: Universal Service Fund (USF) awarded first contracts, worth Rs1.4 billion for providing broadband services in the un-served urban areas of different cities of the country.

Under the contract, the USF provided broadband services to Faisalabad Telecom Region (FTR) comprising of districts of Faisalabad, Jhang, Sargodha, Toba Tek Singh, Khushab, Bhakkar and Mianwali, excluding the served city of Faisalabad, to PTCL and Wateen Telecom. Through this project, initially 72,500 broadband connections would be provided by the PTCL and 16,500 by Wateen Telecom. It might be mentioned that USF was made up of contributions by telecom service providers of Pakistan. staff report.

Network problem occur in Telenor,Yesterday

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Yesterday, Telenor faces network problem all day from morning in Karachi, I also have telenor connection faced very much problem and i got information from different parts of Karachi and also form Malir and khokrapar they faces same problem for all day, As come to the signal point of view telenor have best coverage quality and this kind of problem was not occured in past 6 months, May be some technical problem or some thing else, May be all other cities not faces the same problem but in karachi people faces very much problem.

You reader think that why i am publishing this article, Yesterday when the problem were doing i realize that mobile phones had very much importance in our life i realize that most of the people give up when this problem occured and peoples will not connect with some one not all but few of them due to this we had some lazness in our life like my bike was puncture and i call my Brother to tell this was happen but due to the network problem i was not able but at this point i was not trying to reach PCO guess why because after the collision of technology with humans we the humans getting lazy not all but few of them, Most of the peoples had lame excuses that "Yar network fail hogaya tha" in english "Oh man network was failed" it reminds me that technology made for human to have comfort in their lives but some times the facilities became disablities not all time but it is true fact.

PTCL launches medical aid in remote areas

Tweet Pin It ISLAMABAD (April 26 2009): Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has started providing medical facilities to its employees and the residents of remote and far-flung areas where medical facilities are not easily available.

"For the purpose, PTCL Mobile Medical Units service has been initiated on the special instructions of President and CEO PTCL Walid Irshaid to ensure medical treatment facilities at the door step of its employees serving in remote exchanges," said a PTCL spokesperson here on Saturday.

He said the PTCL has arranged these mobile medical units initially for Islamabad and Lahore with the aim of expanding this service to other parts of the country. The mobile medical unit provides medical treatment services including referral to panel hospitals. The mobile medical unit service also extends treatment facilities to the general public as a gesture of corporate social responsibility on behalf of PTCL.

Meanwhile, the service and initiative taken by the PTCL management to provide healthcare facilities for the public have been highly appreciated by the employees and the general public. "It is not just the field of technology and development in which PTCL has excelled, its engagement in corporate social activities, particularly in health, education and social development," said Muhammad Shahid.

Etisalat, Nokia to Offer Internet Games in MENA.…

Tweet Pin It DUBAI - Etisalat and Nokia will soon provide convenient access to advanced mobile Internet based services in the Middle East, the company announced on Sunday.

The UAE will be the first country in the Middle East and Africa to roll out this service during second quarter of 2009, the cooperation will also be extended to other Etisalat operations in the MENA in due course, “Through this association, Etisalat customers will be able to enjoy advanced services like Mobile gaming and Ovi maps, on Etisalat’s widespread and reliable network, that covers the whole UAE for 2G and 2.5 G and 99 per cent of populated areas for 3.5G networks.” said Essa Al Haddad, Chief Marketing Officer, Etisalat.

In the first phase of the collaboration, Etisalat’s UAE mobile customers will be able to enjoy Ovi Maps and N-Gage Games on their Nokia devices. Subscribers to Ovi Maps and purchasers of N-Gage games can now choose to combine their payments for these advanced mobile Internet based services with their Etisalat account. The payment will be directed to their account automatically, if chosen accordingly, while customers will also have the existing option of paying through their credit cards.

Second Global Telecon held

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KARACHI (April 26 2009): Speakers and industry experts at the 2nd Global Telecon 2009 on Thursday endorsed technology advancement for economic growth and consumer satisfaction as the cornerstone of Pakistan's telecommunication environment in the immediate future.
Chief Guest on the occasion Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Dr Muhammad Yaseen emphasised the critical role of an attractive and collectively favourable telecom regulatory policy. In his keynote address, Dr Yaseen highlighted the flexibility in the existing policy, which accommodated rapid changes and enabled revolutionary advancements.

He stressed on the need to respond quickly to the global telecom transformations with regulations, which could suit all players, but in the overall context favour economic growth and consumer satisfaction in Pakistan.

Higher Education Commission (HEC) Executive Director Professor Sohail Naqvi in his key-note address on the academia-socio perspective, appreciated the positive social change brought about by the robust growth in the dynamic telecom sector but also noted that use of advanced technology for ease of communication should be beneficial for overall social and educational development of the users.

Earlier, Menin Rodrigues, Chairman Telecon 2009 and President & CEO, Shamrock Communications (Private) Limited in his opening remarks welcomed the participants from all over Pakistan, including some from very remote locations. He thanked them for making Telecon 2009 a rich informative experience. He also expressed his optimism towards the capabilities and determination of Pakistan's telecom industry leaders and experts to steer the country towards a sustainable economic growth.

PCA demonstrates against arrest of its president.…

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ISLAMABAD (April 26 2009): The Pakistan Computer Association (PCA) on Saturday held a demonstration to protest against the arrest of President PCA Karachi Khushnood Aftab by Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) under piracy charges. The demonstrators gathered at Fazal-e-Haq Road, Blue Area, also registered their protest against the raid, arrest and harassment policy persuaded by a leading computer software company.

The offence quoted was the irresponsible installation of Microsoft Windows at one of the outlets of the said company, which is one of the leading resellers of this software company's products in Pakistan. On the occasion, the computers' vendors community expressed their full support and solidarity with the President PCA Karachi.

Abdullah Malik, President PCA Islamabad, while speaking on the occasion, strongly reacted against the recent move by the Microsoft Inc. He said that the computer industry do not support piracy but this was not a reasonable way to trap a senior computer vendor like the way it was done. Several other ways and means can be explored to minimise the piracy of software. Seminars, talks, literature and motivation on moral grounds can be made to stop piracy.

Senior community member and Vice President PCA Central and Arshad Janjua, General Secretary PCA Central, said if Microsoft will not immediately withdraw the case against Khushnood Aftab, the community may go for a boycott of Microsoft products. Furqan Murtaza, Vice President, Irfan-ul-Haq, Vice President, Ibrar-ul-Haq, Joint secretary, Executive members A.R. Tahir, Khawar Idrees, Haseeb Ahmad and other office bearers of PCA Islamabad condemned the act of harassment by the software company.

They called for immediate withdrawal of the case against Khushnood Aftab. Munawar Iqbal, central President of Pakistan Computer Association, who is on a visit to USA and Canada nowadays, telephonically addressed the Executive Committee members of PCA and strongly condemned the act of harassment against the computer vendors community.

He asked the office bearers of PCA to go for all out efforts to protest against the move made by the Microsoft. The computer vendors further said that if the company will not come out with a pragmatic and amicable solution in this regard, we will be compelled and left with no option but to go for a countrywide boycott of this leading software company.

Import of cell phones reduced by 76 percent …

Tweet Pin It KARACHI (April 25 2009): Import of mobile phones has reduced by 76 percent during the first nine months of the current fiscal year as compared to the phones imported during the same period of last fiscal year, according to Federal Bureau of Statistics.

The country imported cell phones worth $139.480 million during July-March period of the current fiscal year against the phones import of $581.807 million during the same period of last fiscal year, depicting a decline of $442.327 million or 76 percent.On a yearly basis, the import bill of cell phones has shrunk by $62.305 million or 83.72 percent during March 2009 coming down to $12.114 million as compared to $74.419 million of phones imported during March 2008.

Wateen strengthens commitment to telecom infrastructure …

Tweet Pin It KARACHI (April 25 2009): Pakistan's telecom industry continues to take positive steps towards the development of telecom infrastructure in the country. The massive boom for the mobile phone segment of telecom industry has provided the momentum for expansion and development in other segments of telecom as well, especially in the rural areas of Pakistan.

The Universal Service Fund (USF) from Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) is providing the impetus for development in under-served areas and Wateen's commitment to alleviate the digital divide between the urban and rural population is always one step ahead of its competition to meet such challenges.

An Optical Fiber network spanning more than 10,000 kilometres across all the four provinces of Pakistan supported by the largest country wide WiMAX broadband network and the biggest satellite services client base, Wateen was a natural choice to support such initiatives from USF.

It is akin to Wateen's vision to contribute towards the development of our great country, since Wateen's corporate culture is to value people, more than products or profits. With this spirit, Wateen participated in the USF bidding process and was awarded the contract for:

1. Optical Fiber network spanning 704km in rural Sindh covering all districts in the province. This is in addition to the already deployed optical fiber network of over 1,000km in the province. This project will be completed by June 2010.

2. Broadband Wireless network deployment in districts of Sargodha. This project will be completed by December 2009. 3. Deployment of a 840km long optical fiber network in the province of Balochistan.

Hewlett-Packard Pakistan holds road show …

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Talking to Business Recorder, Market Development Manager HP Pakistan Mohammad Ali Khan claimed that the HP Company ranks first in providing latest technologies to its customers.

He said the company provides solutions to enterprise and corporate customers.Ali said Hewlett-Packard had recently introduced new products for printing solutions such as ink printers and laser printers. To a question about the road show, he said the representatives of HP would have direct interaction with the customers and receive feedback for its products, being introduced in the market.

Talking to Business Recorder, Market Development Manager HP Pakistan Mohammad Ali Khan claimed that the HP Company ranks first in providing latest technologies to its customers. He said the company provides solutions to enterprise and corporate customers.Ali said Hewlett-Packard had recently introduced new products for printing solutions such as ink printers and laser printers. To a question about the road show, he said the representatives of HP would have direct interaction with the customers and receive feedback for its products, being introduced in the market.

IHC reserves verdict on joint venture of CDA, World Call

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ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court here on Thursday reserved its judgement on a plea moved against award of laying copper cables in the Capital. The single bench of Justice Mohammad Munir Peracha reserved its judgement on a writ filed by Webcom. The counsel for Webcom apprised the bench that in 2004, Webcom entered into agreement with 24 other cable operator companies to spread a network of copper cables in different sectors of the Capital.

The aim was to provide TV channels network service to viewers, he added. He claimed that the company also got licenses from Pemra and Pakistan Telecommunication and submitted an application with Capital Development Authority for approval, which was not entertained. He alleged that CDA entered into venture with World Call under direct pressure from Governor Punjab Salman Taseer.

Barrister Masroor Shah, counsel for CDA, defended CDA step and said that the civic body reserved the right to award contract and enter into joint venture with any company under the specific laws. He said the World Call was given a nod after floating of bids as it was the highest bidder and selected through a transparent manner.

He said the company would pay 35 percent of its investment to CDA. Regarding Webcom agreement with other cable operator companies, he termed it an entirely private matter between the private companies and said CDA had nothing to do with it. He also rejected claims that the joint venture was inked under pressure from Governor Punjab and said when the agreement was reached Salman Taseer was not holding the post of Governor.

Warid implementing PTA's pre-activation programme

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LAHORE : Warid Telecom, the country's most popular cellular company in its continued efforts has proved to be at the top in successful implementation of PTA's new pre-activation programme. Effective 1st February 2009, all Warid new prepaid SIMs are being activated only when the subscribers dial 789 & have their personal data verified (in compliance with NADRA).

The huge network of Warid sales channels that include franchise and retail are selling inactive SIMs from 1st February 2009. Warid has taken measures to ensure full compliance as required by PTA, and the Contact Centre is undoubtedly doing a commendable job to provide uninterrupted service for activation of new SIMs through 789.

Since customer satisfaction has always been the top priority of the company, thus Warid is striving to provide its valued customers with a hassle free and pleasant experience. Warid has one of the largest distribution channels and Contact Centre networks in the country, allowing it to offer wide accessibility and exceptional customer services across Pakistan. The successful launch of 789 by Warid Contact Centre is a milestone achieved by both PTA and Warid. It will certainly help in reducing sales of illegal SIMs and will be a positive step to decrease the crime rate in the country.

Source: brecorder

KEHDO SMS Service :PTCL

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Kehdo SMS (voice sms)
Adding voice to the SMS takes SMS to the next generation of value. Imagine you are driving your car or rushing down the street to an appointment, and you receive a text message that requires an urgent response or imagine trying to type a response while holding onto the wheel of the car or at some point you want to share your real expression with anybody which couldn’t have done through textual message.

PTCL being the largest telecom operator has been offering numerous services on its land line connections, to further facilitate its valued customer, PTCL has now decided to launch KEHDO SMS service as a value added service which will further strengthen its standard land line service and hence will ensure its commitment to its subscribers for better service.Subscribers can use this service for sharing emotions and to give important messages to others using their standard telephone landline, besides it doesn’t need any activation, user just have to dial a code followed by a recipient telephone number (with area/access code) after that system will prompt different options for the user.

Your land line is not giving the quality voice only rather it is giving the innovative services and features as well.

FAQs of KEHDO SMS (Voice SMS)

1. Why Kehdo SMS (voice SMS)?

Adding voice to the SMS takes SMS to the next generation of value. Imagine you are driving your car or rushing down the street to an appointment, and you receive a text message that requires an urgent response or imagine trying to type a response while holding on to the wheel of the car or at some point you want to share your real expression with anybody which couldn’t have done through textual message.

2. Does Kehdo SMS needs activation?

No it doesn’t need activation.

3. Does Kehdo SMS need some code dialing?

Yes, 1246 followed by the recipient number (complete number i.e. along with area code or access code) need to be dialed for sending the kehdo SMS from your telephone line. System will prompt the menu for choosing different options.

4. Would I need mailbox for receiving Kehdo SMS?

No, you don't need any mailbox for Kehdo SMS messages.

5. Can I have the option to send my name along with the Kehdo SMS?

Yes, you can opt for sending your name along with the message although if name option is skipped, system will prompt sender’s telephone number.

6. Can I send my Kehdo SMS to any network in Pakistan?

Yes, apart from your landline, you can also send your Kehdo SMS to any mobile user in Pakistan

7. Can I send my Kehdo SMS to international users?

No, this facility is not available at this moment. You are restricted to send Kehdo SMS with in Pakistan.

8. Can I edit my Kehdo SMS once it is recorded?

Yes, system will prompt this option once your message is recorded and ready to be sent.

9. Does the sender receive the notification once voice message is received by the recipient?

NO.

10. Can I access the Kehdo SMS message from any phone?

You can’t access to message, but the system will access you

11. Can I send Kehdo SMS through Vfone?

Yes, you can now send Kehdo SMS through your Vfone. Simply dial 1246 followed by recipient number from your Vfone (e.g. 1246 051444xxx). System will prompt the menu for choosing different options.

12. What is the maximum duration of the message to be recorded?

The maximum duration is 30 seconds

13. What are the sending Kehdo SMS charges?

Rs.0.99 for all numbers in Pakistan.

14. How much I will be charged for receiving Kehdo SMS?

Receiving Kehdo SMS is free.

15. How many times system will make attempts to deliver the Kehdo SMS?System will make two attempts to deliver Kehdo SMS. Once you deposit a kehdo SMS for your desired number the system will make first attempt immediately and the second attempt will be made after two hours of first attempt.

Cellular phone operators earn over Rs 104 billion revenue during first half 2009 …

Tweet Pin It ISLAMABAD (April 23 2009): Cellular mobile operators have earned Rs 104.090 billion revenue during the first half (July-December) of the current financial year 2008-09. According to Telecom Quarterly Review (TQR) released by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), investment worth $833.2 million was made by these cellular operators during the first half (July-December) of the current financial year.
According to TQR, increasing competition in local market and increasing burden of government taxes on the operators have shown mixed trend of increasing investment in one quarter and then dropping in the next quarter. However, the worsening market conditions have resulted in Orascom (Mobilink) cutting back its investments in Pakistan.

Total investment made during the second quarter (October-December 08) was $511 million and Telenor was the highest contributor with $233 million investment. The investment by other operators was as Mobilink $104 million, Ufone $72 million, Paktel $101.3 million in the second quarter. During the period under review, Warid made no investment. The investment by these operators was $322 million in first quarter (July-September) and out of which, $111 million was contributed by Mobolink, $3.2 million Ufone, $83.8 million Telenor and $124 million by Warid.

The mobile market revenues have turned out to be satisfactory during the second quarter period with total revenue amounting to Rs 54 billion. The companies although suffered lower profits during the 2nd and 3rd quarter of 2008, however, the year ended with much stability and growth in the industry's total revenue. The dip was actually due to the price was sparked by ZONG in 2nd quarter of 2008, where the incumbent operators Mobilink, Telenor and Warid revenues showed negative trend in the very next quarter. Mobilink attributes its decline to increased taxes, inflation in the market and intense marketing activities of competitors.

Similarly, Telenor also described drop in revenues in the 3rd quarter to increased network cost and higher sales and marketing due to intensified competition in the market. Total revenues at the end of reported period stand at Rs 55 billion with maximum share from Mobilink followed by Telenor and Ufone.

Although, the aggressive entry of ZONG in local market had pushed the profit margins of incumbent operators down to some extent, but the mobile companies actually faced major dip in the ARPU's after Pakistani Rupee was depreciated up to 26 percent in Jul-Sept, 2008 and the tax rate was increased from 15 percent to 21 percent. Mobilink and Telenor turned out to be the only companies that are maintaining their ARPU's at around $3, whereas the rest of the companies could not maintain their ARPU over $2. The consolidated industry ARPU in the reported period Sept, 08 to Dec, 08 was around $2.5 as compared to around $3 in the same period of 2007.

In the 2nd quarter when the budget was announced and tax rate was increased the ARPU of all the companies were shaken and yet another shock came when the Rupee-Dollar rate went sky high due to global financial turmoil and local weakening economic situation. Therefore third quarter of 2008 depicted worst ARPU situation. However, when ARPU is calculated in rupees (local currency) then situation becomes better.

According to independent analyst firm Research and Markets Report "Pakistan Mobile forecast 2008-10, the ARPU of Pakistan mobile industry would continue to see reductions in ARPUs over the forecast period of 2008-2010. In 2010, we forecast that Pakistan will have the average ARPU level of $2.66, however, the country would keep increasing the penetration levels and would become most highly penetrated market in South Asia." Review said.

PAC seeks ruling for PTCL audit …

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Islamabad—A sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Wednesday sought the ruling from the Chairman PAC for a thorough audit of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) as the Etsilat Group was not ready for an audit of the PTCL. The disclosure was made by Director General (DG) Federal Audit Syed Gulzar Hussain Shah during a sitting of the sub-committee of the PAC here at the Parliament House.

Shah told the meeting that despite the fact that the Government of Pakistan owned 67 percent shares of the PTCL while the UAE-based Etsilat Group, who owned only 26 percent shares of the company, was reluctant to go for audit.

He said that not only the government surrendered the administrative control of the PTCL in favour of Etsilat Group who has merely 26 percent shares, but also the government has also paid Rs. 5 crore to the company in this regard.

Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, MNA of PML-N, said that PTCL, which was a profitable institution in the past, had been suffering from losses - thanks to the Etsilat management. Holding former President Pervez Musharraf responsible for the losses incurred to the PTCL, Ayaz Sadiq said the retired General had sold the proftiable PTCL for a mere $249 million.

The PML-N MNA further added that Etsilat Group had destroyed the image and services of the PTCL and the members of the Board of Governors, Ministry of Information Technology (MoIT), have also failed to protect the rights of consumers. Ayaz Sadiq directed the MoIT to brief the committee within a week as how the government could take over the administrative control of the PTCL from Etsilat as the government had withdwan the PTCL control despite being the major shares holder.

No enhanced revenue from cellphone companies despite FED, ST increase: PTA

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ISLAMABAD (April 23 2009): The increase in Federal Excise Duty (FED) from 15 to 21 percent and sales tax from 15 to 16 percent on cellular sector has failed to achieve enhanced revenue collection from mobile phone companies. An analysis conducted by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) revealed that 15 percent sales tax rate would generate around Rs 45,496 million in 2008-2009.

However, enhanced sales tax rate of 16 percent would result in collection of Rs 44,789 million during 2008-2009. The sales tax projections made by the PTA showed that 15 percent sales tax would generate more revenue as compared to 16 percent sales tax. The PTA has worked out these projections in tax collection based on growth rates calculated through regressing GST collection on time for different tax rates.

In case 16 percent sales tax and 21 percent FED continues in the remaining months of 2008-2009, it would further decrease collection from telecom sector due to higher tax rates, the PTA opined. According to the PTA report issued on Wednesday, it is estimated that the FBR would face about Rs 4.2 billion shortfall in sales tax collection from cellular mobile sector during 2008-2009 as compared to the previous year.

It is further estimated that if the tax rate had been increased to 16 percent instead, the loss in GST collections would have been Rs 0.707 billion instead of Rs 4.2 billion during current fiscal year. The PTA data clearly indicated that the imposition of Rs 500 as custom duty per mobile set and regulatory duty (RD) of Rs 250 has encouraged smuggling of the mobile phones, causing revenue loss to the government.

This tariff regime of mobile handsets has encouraged the smuggling of the mobile phones, hampering growth of cellular mobile industry in Pakistan. The regulator and the FBR need to chalk out a combined strategy to discourage this trend and a technical solution through mobile identification number may be sought. Further, it is required to encourage the cellular mobile manufacturers to install this facility in Pakistan.

According to the PTA, the government enhanced over 40 percent FED/GST rate on telecom sector while this raise was only 7 percent for the rest of the sectors. The motive behind this raise was revenue generation, which needs to be analysed by tax authorities. Generally, the increase in tax rate has negative impact on telecom usage and consequently, the decline in tax revenues.

Since the levy of extra GST, the FBR revenue declined consecutively in subsequent two quarters. During April-June 2008, the FBR received over Rs 12.4 billion in GST revenue from telecom sector while it received about Rs 11.4 billion during (July-Sep, 2008) which is about 8 percent less than the previous quarter.

Again in the quarter ending December 2008 the FBR received Rs 11.7 billion in GST, which is about 6 percent less than the quarter ending June. The PTA made a comprehensive analysis of increase in FED/GST rate on cellular sector from 15 percent to 21 percent in the budget of 2008-09 and found that taxation measures is unable to achieve the desired results.

Analysis was based on tax elasticity. Elasticity of GST revenues with respect to tax rates turned out to be 0.21 percent by using the actual collection of GST by the FBR. This raise resulted in decline of GST collections to the tune of Rs 882 million in one month (8.53 percent) in subsequent quarter (quarter ending September 2008). Projections for such collections for next three quarters have been made, based on growth rates calculated through regressing log of GST with respect to time.

It shows that with the given increase of tax rate from 15 percent to 21 percent the FED collections declined by 8.53 percent which resulted in loss to the government revenue to the tune of Rs 882.8 million in first quarter of the fiscal year 2008-09. The same loss will continue in next quarters if the tax rates remain constant, which has been summarised.

During the budget 2008-09, the government had imposed custom duty at Rs 500 per mobile subsequently further regulatory duty at Rs 250 was imposed by the FBR on the import of mobile handsets in Pakistan in August 2008. It was an effort to discourage the import of mobile handsets, which has been considered an extra burden on foreign exchange reserves.

Policymakers have succeeded in curtailing the import of mobile handsets significantly during the first half of 2008-2009. During first 6 months of 2008-09, cellular mobile handsets worth US $88.7 million have been imported while during previous 6 months (January-June, 2008) mobile handsets worth US $425.6 million were imported in Pakistan.

It is evident that during July-December 2008, the growth in import of mobile handsets declined by 79 percent. During July-Sept, 2008, mobile handsets worth US $70.7 million were imported while in subsequent quarter (October-December, 2008) mobile handsets worth US $17.95 million were imported, the report added.

Telenor awards contract to Nokia Siemens Networks…

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ISLAMABAD: Telenor Pakistan is further expanding its vast network and upgrading its infrastructure, which would enable the service provider to reach out to new subscribers, improve customer experience, and introduce additional feature-rich services quickly and cost effectively.
Nokia Siemens Networks was awarded a frame contract on Tuesday to undertake this network expansion over a period of five years. “The mobile space in Pakistan is intensely competitive, and the low ARPU levels combined with acute power shortages add to the challenge. As we started planning for our future growth, we aimed to choose our technology infrastructure and solution partner, carefully,” said Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Telenor Pakistan Irfan Wahab Khan.

TeleCON'2009 delegates entitled to Blackberry draw …

Tweet Pin It KARACHI (April 21 2009): Delegates who have registered to attend the 2nd Global Telecommunication Congress 2009 (TeleCON 2009) being held on April 25, 2009 at the Pearl-Continental Hotel, Lahore will be entitled to a special BlackBerry Lucky Draw to win the spectacular business mobile phone.

The annual conference with a special emphasis on "Emerging Technology - Challenges & Opportunities" has once again attracted a distinguished group of chairpersons and speakers, including highly qualified and seasoned technical experts who will be presenting their papers during the day-long session. Keynotes will be delivered by Professor Dr Sohail Naqvi, Executive Director of the HEC and Dr Muhammad Yaseen, Chairman,

World Wide Web conference opens, 20 years after its invention …

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MADRID (April 21 2009): A global conference on the World Wide Web got under way in Spain Monday, 20 years after the invention of the global information medium that has changed the daily lives of people around the world.

British software genius Tim Berners-Lee, one of the founders of the system, will give a keynote talk on Wednesday "which will reflect on the last 20 years and look forward to the next 20 years" of the Web.

Spanish Crown Prince Felipe and his wife Letizia are scheduled to attend the talk. Over the five days of the 18th international World Wide Web conference, 105 research papers will be presented covering topics including interactive television, mobile web applications and the challenge of new media to traditional media.

The conference is organised each year by the International World Wide Web Conferences Steering Committee (IW3C2), a professional organisation registered in Switzerland which promotes Web research and development. It was held in China last year. The US will hold the next conference in 2010. With the help of other scientists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), Berners-Lee set up the system to allow thousands of scientists around the world to stay in touch.

In March 1989, the young Berners-Lee handed his supervisor in Geneva a document entitled 'Information Management: a proposal." The supervisor described it as "vague, but exciting" and gave it the go-ahead, although it took a good year or two to get off the ground and served nuclear physicists in Europe initially. The WWW technology - which simplifies the process of searching for information on the Internet - was first made more widely available from 1991 after CERN was unable to ensure its development, and the organisation made a landmark decision two years later not to levy royalties.

As recently as 1994 there were only 500 fairly modest Web sites world-wide, according to Microsoft. Now there are millions. Berners-Lee, now a researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States and a computer science professor at Southampton University in Britain, still heads the World Wide Web Consortium (3WC) that co-ordinates development of the Web.

Telenor Cricket Quizz Win a free trip to dubai

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Telenor Cricket Quiz
Telenor & TEN SPORTS Present Telenor Cricket Quiz for Telenor Subscribers! TEN SPORTS will sponsor Return Air Tickets and Hotel Stay for winners of this competition to watch a Live Pakistan VS Australia Cricket Match

To Participate
Simply Dial 1220 from your mobile phone and follow instructions to record your answer!

Via IVR
Simply Dial 1220 from your mobile phone and follow instructions to record your answer!

Via SMS
Type ‘CKT’ and sent it via SMS to 120 to participate in the quiz via SMS.

Telenor Sports Portal 1220 for Cricket Commentary:
Is Pakistan back in the game of Cricket, Will Pakistan beat Australia this time? For answers to these and many other questions, you don’t need to be glued to your TV screen anymore! Simply dial 1220 from your mobile phone for the latest Cricket Commentary, Score Updates and all the action in the world of your favorite sport.
Charges: Rs.5 + tax / MinSMS Pull AlertsSMS CKT to 120 for ball by ball update on the ongoing Cricket Matches.Charges: Rs.2 + tax / SMS

First ever Telecommunication Fair in Pakistan

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Pakistan Telecom sector is booming with high intensity. A total of 235,613 million in revenue was generated by telecom industry in 2007, a figure which strongly reflected on the country’s economy: pushing the national GDP up 2% (out of the total 7% increase in 2006-2007).
To further increment development in the sector, Karachi’s Expo Center will host, April 22-24, the first Pakistan telecom & IT Exhi bition and Conferences (PTIT).
The first of its kind in the Asian country, the event aims at boosting a market of some 86 million consumers, out of a total population of 172 millions.
The Government of Pakistan is working on development and extension of IT sector. A few of the incentives offered in this respect include

-tax exemption till 2016,
-establishment of IT Parks with low rent,
-foreign ownership of equity invested in IT
-100% repatriation of profit allowed to IT companies.

The State Bank of Pakistan in its statement for the year 2006-07 reports the export figures of

software and IT-enabled services to be US$116 million which shows a consistent annual growth Pakistan offers various competitive advantages over other outsourcing destinations, such as high quality software development, swift and easy establishment of business, lowest cost basis and emerging and state-of-the-art telecommunication and IT infrastructure. Experts have estimated an average annual growth of 33% in the sector. This will result in the total IT export revenue crossing US$ 10 billion in the next five years.

One number free 24 hours a day, 7 days a week:Ufone

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1 Number Free
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To activate this package and choose/change your FREE number, dial 160 from your Ufone.

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Daily Subscription Charge Rs. 19.99/-

Voice Calls

Ufone to One Preferred Ufone Number FREE*
Ufone to Ufone (Regular) Rs. 1.00/min
Ufone to Other Mobile Operators & Landline Rs. 1.60/min
SMS

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Note:

-All rates are stated exclusive of taxes.
-Voice bucket will not be available on this package.
-All Prepaid subscribers will have the choice to opt-in to the “1 Free Number Package”.
-Limited time offer
-Preferred number change will be allowed @ Rs. 10 per transaction
-21% FED on usage and 10% withholding tax at recharge or bill applies.

Targets completed for 1st Quarter by PTA

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Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has completed targets and goals set for the first quarter (January to March) of 2009.
An Authority meeting was held at PTA Headquarters to review the progress on the targets and goals set for the year 2009.
The meeting was chaired by Chairman PTA Dr. Mohammed Yaseen, Member Finance Mr. S. Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi, Member technical Dr. Khawar Siddique Khokhar and attended by senior officers of the Authority. On this occasion, progress of various division and directorates of PTA including Finance, Commercial Affairs, Technical Services, Enforcement, Law, Strategy & Development, Economic Affairs and Human Resources was reviewed.
The progress was reviewed at length on survey of telecom services including mobile operators, reduction in illegal telecom traffic and blocking of IMEI of mobile handsets. It was decided in the meeting that PTA will continue to implement technical solutions to address these issues. It was also decided that consultancies will be carried out on various technical subjects for the benefit of the telecom industry.
It was informed in the meeting that new Numbering Plan for AJ&K and Northern Areas has successfully been implemented with parallel operations for the convenience of telecom users in these areas. It was also informed that PTA has prepared a Disaster Communication Plan to use telecom services effectively in a natural calamity and disaster-hit areas. During the meeting polices to improve human resources in PTA were also discussed.

New on Djuice

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New on Djuice

All Calls to Telenor numbers FREE from 10pm-12am(One-time charges Rs59+tax

and 3 day validity)

Now Dial 555 and press 6 to activate now Limited time Offer

PTA to Give Gold Medal for Outstanding Research Projects in Telecom & IT

Tweet Pin It PTA Competition on Best Research Project in Telecom & IT
To encourage academia industry partnership in IT & Telecom sector, PTA has decided to hold a competition in order to give cash prizes (Rs. 100,000) to best research projects on the topics specified by the Authority. Prime objective of this award is to encourage academia to undertake research in telecom sector and develop relationship with academia for advice on important issues faced by the Regulator in the sector. Professors/Researchers/ Students of Management, Telecom and other related programmes can participate in the competition for PTA Best Research Project Competition.

Topics for Competition of Best Research Project
1. Future of Pakistan Telecom Market a case for consolidations
2. Discourse on current Competition situation and a way forward for a
healthier market
3. Price Wars; where is the market leading to and methodology to have win
win situation in the sector.
4. Strategy for Infrastructure sharing from regulatory perspective
5. Convergence in Technology demands emergence of institutions what
could be the economic implications and the role of regulator in
converged environment
6. Devising model for mobile banking for Pakistan and role of telecom
Regulator
7. Methodology for Calculating the actual Capital Flight from the
multinational Telecom operators in Pakistan and its impact on future
foreign direct investments in local market.
8. Legal, administrative and safety issue related to broadband and their
effects on the growth of business activity.
9. Effective Telecom Models for Small Entrepreneurs for providing ready
access to rural areas.
10. The Social and Economic impact of undocumented SIMS in the local
market
11. Mechanism for detecting mobile crimes and countering strategy
12. Third Party Private mobile Radio Service Introduction in Pakistan
13. Location Based services –Telecom and national security Issues
14. Devising Mechanism for Telecom Consumer Protection at regulator and
operator levels
15. Development of Public Safety Network to deal with natural and
manmade disasters
16. Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) a must to narrow the digital divide
and role of PTA
17. National Formula for sustaining the current Investment in Telecom sector
and attracting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
18. How to protect children in cyberspace

Any other relevant or related topic to the above shall be considered
Time Lines for Best Research Project
S.No Event Expected
Date
1 Advertisement to be Appeared in National
Dailies
16th April 2009
2 Last Date for Submission of Project 10th Dec 2009
3 Evaluation of the Projects 15th Jan 2010
4 Final Selection of the Projects 29th Jan 2010
5 Award Ceremony 15th Feb
2010
`
For Further Information Please Contact
M. Arif Sargana
Director (Economic Affairs)
Tel: 051 9225315, Fax 051-2878122
Email: arif@pta.gov.pk

Nokia posts 90 percent drop in profit.…

Tweet Pin It HELSINKI (April 17 2009): Nokia, the worlds leading handset maker, reported a 90-percent drop in its first-quarter net profit on Thursday but its shares shot higher as investors seized on signs of improving market conditions. The Finnish firms net profit in January-March plunged to 122 million euros (160 million dollars), the weakest net profit this decade as the company saw its sales dive amid the global financial crisis.

Nokia has announced more than 3,000 job cuts since January as part of a vast cost-cutting package, including 1,000 voluntary departure packages. Chief executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said sales from January to March were hit as retailers held back on ordering new handsets, but a possible pick-up was seen in the next quarter. Nokias market share of 37 percent was down from 39 percent in the same quarter a year ago amid stiffer competition from "smartphone" makers Blackberry and Apple, but was stable from the fourth quarter.

The company said however it saw a light at the end of the tunnel and expected its market share to rise in the second quarter. "There are some nascent signs of relative stability, and I emphasise relative, in the market," Nokias financial director Rick Simonson told Bloomberg television.

Kallasvuo was cautious however, saying "it is too early to say that end-consumer demand has hit the bottom." Shares in Nokia surged after the results were released and were up 12.83 percent to 11.43 euros at 1230 GMT on the Helsinki stock exchange, which was 5.0 percent higher.

One unnamed trader quoted by Dow Jones Newswire said the figures in the earning report were lower than expected "but the outlook is quite reassuring." Kallasvuo noted that it was getting easier to predict demand and said "the demand picture (is) becoming more predictable as we enter the second quarter."
"Retailers inventories are lower now, which means that devices delivered to the retail channel will reach consumers fairly quickly," explained Michael Schroeder, an analyst at FIM Bank in Helsinki. The companys operating profit dropped by 74.1 percent to 514 million euros, from 1.98 billion euros for the first quarter of 2008.

Sales amounted to 9.28 billion euros, down by 26.7 percent from 12.66 billion euros during the same period in 2008. Nokia said it sold 93.2 million phones in the first quarter, a drop of 19 percent from the same period a year ago.
Sales decreased in all key markets as the average selling price slid to 65 euros from 71 euros in the previous quarter. However, sales in North America, not a key market for the Finnish firm, increased by 21 percent. Nokia reiterated it saw global mobile device volumes falling around 10 percent in 2009 year-on-year. The company aims to achieve some 700 million euros in savings over the next two years as part of a restructuring plan announced last January.

PTA plans to roll out digital push-to-talk system.…

Tweet Pin It By Muhammad Yasir KARACHI: Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) has planned to roll out digital push-to-talk (PTT) network in the country with 800 MHz band spectrums by the next six months considering its high demand for commercial and security purposes, a top official told Daily Times.
The regulatory body will auction band spectrums followed by the allocation of the separate frequency allocations among them. PTA is intending to segregate the spectrum on the basis of frequency bandwidth as well as the geographical area for it’s auctioning, it has been decided.
Digital PTT technology has the potential to bring several benefits to several sectors of Pakistan’s population. Applications of this technology will include all forms of distress signaling, emergency calling, health services, services for fire and security personnel,
Intelligence / border surveillance-type communication and in mainstream businesses perhaps a ready-fit for logistics and transport type operations where an instructor or superintendent is advising instructions to several junior / field staff. In Pakistan frequency bands: 806 – 811MHz and 851-856 MHz have been identified for trunk radio services in the National Frequency Plan. iDEN is one of the few technologies that is capable of providing digital PTT service to various closed-circuit sectors of Pakistan over these bands, it learnt.
Chairman PTA, Dr Muhamamd Yaseen told Daily Times the market would consider every service providers of the digital PTT system as the authority will provide equal opportunity to every player.
He said some of the cellular phone companies have shown keen interest in introducing digital PTT services through their existing wide-base network, however, he said the authority will also include separate independent PTT operators in the race to make competitive market of this technology, aiming to thrive this facility as soon as possible in country.
Currently, the PTA has taken initiatives to acquire industry feedback on the regulatory framework to be adopted for licensing of digital PTT service in Pakistan, he added. PTA chief told the digital systems will be catering to the internal needs of private companies and organisations and enhance new business opportunities in the telecom sector.
In order to bridge this gap between legacy analogue private mobile systems and modern digital public land mobile systems such as GSM, UMTS etc. a new genre of technologies have been developed that can serve the needs of closed circuit Radio users. These technologies include TETRA(Europe), iDEN (USA and Canada), IDRA (Japan), TETRAPOL and Project 25. However, in Pakistan, the private mobile radio is still being used by closed circuit users such as public safety organizations, industrial firms, transportation & security organizations etc.
According to Statistics there are about 47.65 million employed industrial workers in Pakistan as estimated in 2006-07. A good majority of these workers are associated with agriculture, forestry, fishing industry, security organisations, factories, refineries, construction, and transport related businesses. All of these businesses rely heavily on private mobile radios in VHF band for carrying out their dispatch related activities, and hence, are potential users of digital PTT system.
Industry people were of the view the Push-to-Talk digital services will prove to be another milestone in the most competitive and advance telecom sector of the country. They forecast that the advance digital communication system will also attract foreign services operators in the country and the inflow of Foreign Direct Investment will increase in this sector from various countries of the world.

Government urged to curb the menace…

Tweet Pin It Friday, April 17, 2009 by Noor Aftab Islamabad Female students of various educational institutions of the city have urged the government to come up with an effective mechanism in the upcoming educational policy to curb the immoral use of mobile phones on campuses.

Talking to ‘The News’ here on Thursday, they expressed grave concern that the very thought of a pervert watching their every move, recording it on a cell phone and putting the video on the internet for the whole world to ‘enjoy’ was enough to send chills down their spines.

“It is impossible to remain vigilant all the time while walking or talking on the campus. The situation gets more difficult in case of any funfair, as so many students attend these kinds of events and no one can constantly watch what other students are doing with their cell phones,” said Shumaila Yousaf, a student of FAST University.

Hundreds of clips or footages taken during funfairs, ‘basant’ festivals or other recreational events have, so far, been uploaded, especially on YouTube, in which female students are presented in a highly objectionable manner.

Sources in the Ministry of Education told this correspondent upon inquiring that given the complex nature of the issue, no proper or effective mechanism would be announced in the next educational policy. Moreover, the higher education institutions have responded negatively on the suggestion to use jammers, arguing that it would create a lot of problems for students, specially female students, who otherwise feel secure while being away from their homes. However, these institutions fully agree to ban the use of mobile phones in classrooms.

Every object has its uses and misuses. It is like liberty, which is properly enjoyed by the wise men but fools misuse it. “Modern technology always has its positive and negative aspects and it all depends upon its usage that makes it a facility or a headache for so many people,” said Gulfraz Abbasi, an educationist. He said that sick-minded people could misuse modern technology, so the government must introduce some mechanism to curb such a social menace in educational institutions.

Cell phone abuse is a worldwide epidemic, which is now affecting millions of people with no relief in sight. It is generally observed that the victims are mostly caught on mobile phone cameras while performing during family functions or events at their institutions.

According to so many reports prepared or compiled by various non-governmental organisations, the misuse of mobile phone cameras has increased to such an extent where female students no more feel secure on their campuses. Mobile video clippings purportedly of the girls being subjected to sexual perversions by some youths also surfaced in the recent past. It is genuinely apprehended that exploitation of female students through secretly recorded footage could land them in great trouble as has been frequently reported in neighbouring India.

Keeping in view the rampant use of mobile phones, the Higher Education Commission and ministries of education, women’s development and interior should formulate a viable joint strategy to control their misuse in educational institutions without affecting its genuine use by students.

Kohram by Amanat Ali presented by Telenor Talkshawk

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Telenor Pakistan encourages new talent Amanat Ali by launching his first music album “Kohram” in collaboration with Fire Records. Amant Ali is a renowned upcoming star in the subcontinent with the runner-up award in ZTV’s singing competition SaReGaMaPa.

Fire Records releasing Amanat’s debut album on April 16, 2009. Fire Records and Telenor have joined hands to introduce Amanat’s first debut album. A joint press conference is being held on April 16, 2009 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at Pearl Continental, Karachi. Also watch Amanat’s new video exclusively

Sindh chief minister briefed on Sindh IT projects.…

Tweet Pin It KARACHI (April 16 2009): Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that present government is out to completely benefit from Information technology, particularly in the provincial offices of Sindh Government. "The Provincial Information Technology department should accelerate the work in this regard", he said at a briefing given to him on the performance of Provincial IT department at Chief Minister House.

Qaim Ali Shah pointed out that present is the century of science and development while IT has brought revolution in every era of life. He recalled that Benazir always used to assert on taking advantage of Information Technology. He called for computerising the entire record of Board of Revenue while all the departments be connected to each other gradually through computer so that public is facilitated in the resolution of their problems.

On the occasion IT Minister Raza Haroon and Secretary IT Rauf Farooqui in a detail briefing informed the Chief Minister that the mission before the department was to connect all the departments of Sindh government through IT so that people are served in a better and transparent manner. It was informed that Sindh Governments first phase of e-government pilot project has been started under which e-governance will be introduced in five departments of Finance, Services, General Administration, Co-ordination, Planning and Development, Health and Education.

The Chief Minister was told that Provincial Secretariats 1, 2 and 6 buildings and the Barracks of Finance department have been inter-linked through optic fibre. It was pointed out in the briefing that IT department has connected all the projects under e-government pilot project with software development.

It was informed that IT projects include establishment of IT centres, IT training for Sindh Government employees, IT awareness centres for people in backward areas, setting of provincial portal, introduction of IT for district administrations, establishment of IT resource and rural community internet centre and internet services for Sindh Government.

The Chief Minister was also informed about e-government project for Sukkur, call centres for training of unemployed graduates and under-graduates, video conferencing system in Sindh, development of HRM system for Sindh government and computerising the offices of Advocate General Sindh. The meeting was told about hospital management information system for Civil Hospital, Sindh governments participation in GIS programme on Presidents directive and establishment of 100 laboratories in Sindhs government, high schools, higher secondary schools and inter colleges.

The future programme were listed as data center for Sindh Government, computer learning centres, Benazir Bhutto Shaheed Youth Development programme (Phase-II), e-learning system, tele-medicine system for Sindh, establishment of Shaheed Bhutto IT and Media City in Karachi.

Establishment of complaint cell management system in the Chief Ministers Secretariat, establishment of IT training center for Sindh Government, development of IT Human Resource at high school and college level and establishment of IT University. The Chief Minister appreciated the plans and said that the projects initiated should be expeditiously completed while better planning be chalked out for new ones.

Nokia with Windows(TM) Live Hotmail®

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KARACHI : Windows(TM) Live Hotmail®, one of the world's most popular web-based email solutions, is now available on Nokia Messaging, the service that enables people to access their personal email on their Nokia devices

Nokia Messaging is currently free to download and set-up, and supports the world's most popular email accounts - Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, Gmail - and accounts from thousands of other email providers. Easy to use, it enables access of up to 10 personal email accounts on a Nokia device, and through one single icon. Once Nokia Messaging is set-up, email accounts can be added to the service directly on the phone, as well as via the Nokia Messaging website (http://email.nokia.com).

Nokia Messaging will be available on 20 different device models worldwide, including the recently announced Nokia E75 which is the first device to come preloaded with Nokia Messaging, Nokia E71 - the world's slimmest qwerty device, Nokia E63, Nokia E66 and Nokia N79**. More Nokia device models, including the Nokia E55, Nokia N97 and Nokia N86 8MP, will support Nokia Messaging when they begin shipping.

"We've come to understand that a key barrier for mass email adoption is not the lack of features, but the usability. Nokia Messaging was designed for ease of use and mobility. While offering people a full feature set, Nokia Messaging still minimizes user actions and simplifies the complex, such as eliminating the need to know technical information. This reduces confusion and the amount of time taken to set up and start using the service on the phone. By prioritizing common actions and needs, we bring the most relevant and frequently used actions upfront. Pakistan has a growing demand for email solutions. This new service will provide user-friendly email access to Pakistani users" said Khurram Pradhan, Product & Portfolio Manager Nokia Pakistan.

* To begin using Windows Live Hotmail, existing users will have to download the latest Nokia Messaging software. Instructions can be found at http://email.nokia.com.

** To see the full list of devices that support Nokia Messaging, visit http://email.nokia.com

Telenor Holding Career Managment Workshops for University Students

Tweet Pin It Telenor Pakistan as part of its ongoing Career Management Workshops (CMW) initiative, is reaching out to several universities all across Pakistan. So far, 20 universities have been visited in different regions benefiting over 3000 students. The CMW sessions are conducted by experienced HR professionals with the aim to guide students interested in taking up a career in any industry.
Telenor Pakistan’s Vice President Human Capital Division, Nayab Baig shared his thoughts on the initiative, “At Telenor Pakistan, we believe that as a socially responsible organization we must continue to contribute to the society even during tough economic times. We do this by innovation in communications technology and also human resource development.. Telenor Pakistan, as a pioneer, has designed a comprehensive training package, ’Career Management Workshop’ which enables students to overcome the initial challenges while entering the corporate sector. We are reaching out to universities across Pakistan without the discretion of their ranking. We hope that maximum students will benefit from this humble effort from Telenor Pakistan and wish them all good luck with their future aspirations.’’
The Career Management Workshop session includes a presentation by the university alumni working with Telenor Pakistan, followed by a summary on the hiring process at the organization. The most important aspect of CMW is the Student Excellence Program (SEP) conducted by Telenor Pakistan’s Manager Recruitment, Faisal Khan. This is an interactive session where the do’s and don’ts of CV writing and interviews are discussed for the benefits of the students. This is then followed by mock interviews with students selected randomly during the session. The workshop is concluded by collecting student feedback via survey forms.
Saad Usman, a student from Air University, Islamabad appreciated the workshop saying, “The Career Management Workshops launched by Telenor Pakistan is an excellent step towards the development of fresh graduates and university students. A lot has been learned from these presentations!”
In 2009, 250 interns from 76 Universities across Pakistan were given internship opportunities in Telenor Pakistan and later passed out under the first of its kind, Telenor Pakistan’s Ambassador Program 2008. Telenor Pakistan is offering several jobs and over a hundred internship opportunities in 2009. This year’s induction process for internships is expected to start by May 2009 which will attract thousands of students from all over the country.

SMS may get blocked in Pakistan: Rehman Malik

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“We may block the mobile phone SMS service if negative use of SMS does not stop”, said Advisor to Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik in a press conference today. He said that SMS communication is being used by terrorist in planning and execution of terrorist activities.
If this happens, then SMS communication over all the networks will be banned throughout Pakistan – a big blow for customers and the companies as well.
I believe, before banning SMS service as whole in the country, there is a better way to stop the use of SMS service for terrorist activities; for example, we can follow Iran in this situation where a typical cell owner has to go through security checks by the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) to receive clearance for using the SMS service – otherwise, no one can send/receive SMS.
Let’s hope for best

"I think it is a foolish kind of statment by Rehman Malik they talk about democracy and think like a fundamentalist..
next day they will said flour mills smuggling flour trucks to Afghanistan so that why we ban Wheat production and normal use of flour in Pakistan"

Lay-offs, pay cuts contract IT growth…

Tweet Pin It KARACHI: As the lay-offs and pay-cuts are continuing in the private sector, growth in income tax has started contracting in the overall revenue.
The Regional Tax Office (RTO) Karachi data on Monday revealed a significant slump in the income tax growth paid by the employees of the private sector in March 2009 as it posted only five percent growth as compared to the same month previous year.Particularly, in the commercial capital of the county where people from all provinces come to earn livelihood, the amount of income tax received from salaried class has recorded Rs 1.119 billion in the last month, against Rs 1.130 billion amount recorded under the same head.However, the income tax amount from the salaried class witnessed 13 percent growth in February 2009 with Rs 0.967 billion, as against Rs 0.856 billion in the same month of last fiscal year.This tax amount contributed nearly 10 percent of the projection of overall revenue collected by RTO Karachi in March 2009 that stood at Rs 10.061 billion. On the other hand, the tax contribution witnessed nearly 25 percent in February 2009 with an overall revenue od Rs 4.201 billion in the same month. As many as 0.524 million salaried class taxpayers are registered with RTO Karachi under section 149. Accordingly, majority of them belong to private sector while employees of public sector also pay tax to the regional office.Tax officials were of the view that heavy lay-offs, pay-cuts and vanishing job opportunities in the city have led to decline in the growth of income taxes. They pointed out that the tax generation in the banking, telecom, textile sectors and insurance industry has decreased significantly. Besides, taxes from various media organisations are also contributing lesser revenue as compared with earlier the earlier figures. They added that a significant number of taxpayers have been ejected in the tax net owing to job cuts whereas the salary raise and increments have been neglected this year by the private sector firms, causing decline in income tax growth.“The addition of salaried class taxpayers in the tax net was very minimal last month as the number of job opportunities, through which taxes could be generated, have been decreased to none,” a tax official close to revenue assessment told Daily Times. He said the cut in tax growth may further be aggravated to post negative growth in the coming months with the prevailing situation, however, if recovery in the economy appears then the growth will return with the same pace.The income tax received from the government employees has been recorded at Rs 41.764 million in March 2009, as against Rs 19.569 billion in the same month of last fiscal year.RTO Karachi has received Rs 8.865 billion in July to March from the salaried class as compared with Rs 7.224 billion in the same period of last fiscal year, showing a 23 percent increase in growth.Overall, the tax department has collected Rs 72.913 billion in the three quarters of the fiscal year, against Rs 61.844 billion in the same period, showing 18 percent increase on yearly basis and completed 71.62 percent of the target.The tax unit has been set Rs 127 billion revenue collection target of the ongoing fiscal year that seems to be revised as the Federal Board of Revenue intended to meet International Monetary Fund target of 10 percent tax-to-GDP ratio.