Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) has launched special international call rate packages for its customers to for Christmas and New Year. This includes a special tariff of Rs 0.40 per 20 seconds to the international destinations, which includes ISA (fixed + mobile) Canada (fixed + Mobile), China (fixed + Mobile), UK, Australia and Germany (fixed only).

Tariff:

Rs 0.40 per 20 for landline and mobile in following countries:

* United States
* Canada
* China

Rs 0.40 per 20 for landline in following countries:

* United Kingdom
* Australia
* Germany

This offer is valid till 15th January 2010.

For More Information call PTCL Helpline – 1236.

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Google Inc plans to sell its own cellphone direct to consumers as soon as next year, bypassing wireless operators in a rare strategic move, the Wall Street Journal cited sources as saying on Saturday.
Called the Nexus One and made by smartphone maker HTC, the phone will run on the search giant’s Android operating system — around which Motorola and other cellphone makers have built devices — and will be sold online, the newspaper cited persons familiar with the matter as saying.
Cellular service will have to be bought separately, it added. The Internet search leader may be sounding a challenge to wireless carriers as well as smartphone makers. It marks a departure for the leader in Web advertising, which has rarely sold devices directly to consumers, the newspaper said.
Analysts say the aim is to gain access to valuable consumer data that can be used to sell ads at premium prices, rather than to make money from direct hardware sales, as companies such as Nokia or Research in Motion do.

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To be a part of a fast growing telecom market and to get aligned with the number of services which Cellular companies are providing, PTCL once again has come up with another innovative and appealing offer which is a part of ongoing Synergy Projects with its sister concerned company UFONE .

Through this offer any customer who wants to acquire a new telephone connection (NTC) can also get UFONE SIM with the same number (03xx-7 digit) as of PTCL Landline. There wouldn’t be any special charges for UFONE SIM , on the top of that UFONE SIM would be sent to the customer through TCS.

This shows PTCL’s commitment towards its valued customers by providing them a service with an ease of remembering just one number for both landline and Mobile Phone. This also gives comfort to your callers as they don’t have to remember more than one number.

Product Tariff:

• No special charges for PTCL number/UFONE SIM
• Same installation fee and line rent charges for PTCL Landline.
• SIM will be sent to the customer through TCS. Customer just needs to pay ordinary UFONE charges (Rs 150 and a balance of Rs 100 will be available)

Order Line:

This service can be acquired by calling 0800 80 800 helpline or through walk-in channels.

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1911 Social Service is the latest VAS from Telenor. It brings you all the professional advice you might ever need via one portal on the go. If you are ever in need of any kind of expert medical or legal advice, guidance on how to chart your career path or any other information, simply dial 1911 (one-nine-one-one) to talk to our professional agents and get the personalized attention that you both need and deserve.

Social Services available:

• Tele Doctor: Talk to professional doctors who will ensure that your issues are resolved and appropriate advice is given.
• Tele Lawyer: Talk to professional lawyers to seek expert advice on any legal matter or browse recorded legal tips.
• Career Counseling: Talk to professional counselors to get guidance regarding your career, take an IVR based personality assessment test.
• Tele Genie: Talk to professional agents to get any sort of information or browse through amazing facts.

Calls to 1911 are charged @ Rs. 10 + Tax per 3 minutes.

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KARACHI – A significant quantity of Chinese-made handsets are available in Pakistan that come without valid International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) that has posed serious threats to the national security as such phones have allegedly been used by the terrorists.
It was found that the lack of unique IMEI numbers has made it impossible to detect the suspected calls from a specific handset. It was further learnt that IMEI series allocation happens only in hardware type approval.
Moreover, these Chinese handsets are fully functional, however, they lack IMEI programming because Chinese manufacturers are usually not registered companies thus no IMEI range is allocated to them.
The government of Pakistan has yet not initiated any plan to combat this issue. On the other hand Indian media has reported that as many as 25 million Chinese handsets were blocked in India which were available in the market without valid IMEI numbers. It was reported that the move came after The Department of Telecommunications, India (DoT) had instructed the operators to block cell phones without a valid IMEI number.
In this regard several phone sellers have confirmed that the Chinese handsets are usually the duplicates of branded phones. These mobile phones are without IMEI numbers which are typically low-end handsets manufactured by the small Chinese phone manufacturers who cut their costs by skipping the IMEI programming stage.
They were of the view that cellular companies and manufacturers in the country are heeding to adopt the prerequisites in this regard but they have yet to streamline mobile connection ownership issues.
“Let’s not expect any super natural thing in Pakistan regarding this in near future,” commented an official. He further said that the cellular operators in India had offered such subscribers to either discard their handsets or bring them to official outlets of cellular companies to re-programme their IMEI numbers.

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KARACHI: On the eve of International Volunteer Day (IVD), Mobilink Pakistan, a subsidiary of Orascom Telecom Holding, honoured employees for maintaining the spirit of volunteerism throughout the year.

Outstanding volunteers were awarded trophies whereas certificates of appreciation were also distributed.

Designated by the United Nations since 1985, the IVD is celebrated every year on December 5 to thank volunteers for their efforts.

Omar Manzur, Director Corporate Social Responsibility Mobilink, stated: “As a socially responsible citizen, we believe in patronizing broad-based CSR initiatives throughout Pakistan.”

Dr Ahsan Rabbani, Vice President Inputs, The Citizens Foundation (TCF) also shared his views on the occasion.

In 2009, Mobilink employees provided Rs3.5 million worth of relief goods to over 15,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Swat and Malakand District. A Mobilink camp was set up with Rs81 million fund for 1,000 families of IDPs.

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KARACHI: Ufone, an Etisalat group company and one of the leading telecom companies in Pakistan won two awards at the Etisalat Group Chief Marketing Officer (GCMO) Forum. Sheikh Younas, Chief Officer Sales and Distribution said, “Team Ufone has worked 24/7 to ensure the best customer support in the industry and our team has worked hard to clinch these awards”. At the event, Ufone won two awards in a competition amongst 18 Etisalat operations around the world. It was nominated in Physical Customer Experience and Online categories.

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KARACHI: The Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) in its recently released report gave an overview of the sector for FY09. “The year was marred by depleting fixed line connections and a marked slowdown in cellular growth,” the report read.

Although cumulative sector revenues rose by 19 percent to Rs334 billion, investment in the sector dropped by 47 per cent to $1.6 billion as most of the foreign operators faced difficult times given tough economic conditions. Broadband emerged as a potential force during the year, the report stated.

The Fixed Local Loop (FLL) segment was the worst performer in FY09 as the subscriber count continued to dwindle. As of Jun 09, subscribers stood at 3.5 million, dropping by over 20 per cent year on year, as infrastructure related issues and lack of investment saw consumers switching to the more convenient Wireless Local Loop (WLL) and cellular technology.

Interestingly, the FLL data for April-June paints a slightly better picture, as subscriber base remained flat hinting that the worst may be over. The move to bundle fixed line with broadband could provide a cushion going forward. Further, the growing clout of WLL should limit the damage to the local loop segment.

The Long Distance & International (LDI) segment performed well as revenues rose by 119 percent to Rs.48billon. Total international traffic (incoming + outgoing) reached 8.9 billion minutes from 7.1bn minutes in FY08 mainly led by 73 per cent growth in outgoing traffic.

A combination of cheaper rates and improved package plans offered by operators helped outgoing minutes reach 2.9 billion; however, increase in Approved Settlement Rates (ASR) curbed growth in incoming traffic to single digits after a three years (FY05-FY08) CAGR of 86 per cent.

The PTA has recently taken steps to resurrect the situation, with a downward revision in ASR, which is likely to assist LDI traffic and reduce the flow of grey traffic. The LDI segment has always remained a major revenue contributor to PTCL (14-15percent of total revenue) and is expected to remain so in the years to come.

Amid higher penetration levels (54.7 per cent in Jun 08), growth in cellular segment slowed to 7 per cent in FY09. Penetration reached 58.2 per cent while cumulative revenues reached Rs212bn, up 17pc.

Industry wide ARPU’s have fallen to $2.5 per month from $3.1/month in FY08 driven by a combination of high degree of low income prepaid customers and intense competition. Resultantly, all major operators barring Ufone (low infrastructure cost thanks to PTCL) are in the red, indicating consolidation is around the corner.

Additionally a detailed observation of the industry statistics, suggests that while urban penetration approaches the maturity phase, there remains untapped potential in the rural areas of Pakistan. Hence, it is expected increased focus from the major operators towards the rural areas particularly in NWFP and Baluchistan. The security situation there though remains a major bottleneck in achieving higher penetration.

The broadband sector remained a major out performer as 246,000 subscribers were added in FY09, taking the total to 414,000 – with PTCL, Worldcall and Wateen having a combined share of 79 per cent. Low penetration level of 0.26 percent, suggests massive room for growth, in our view. Hence we have witnessed an influx of new operators investing in technologies such as DSL, Fiber, WIMAX and more recently EVDO all pointing towards take off in subscriber base in the next few years.

Mustufa Bilwani telecom analyst at JS Research stated, “We expect FY10 to be another challenging period for the sector with low investment and limited avenues for growth. M&A activity, particularly in the cellular segment seems to be on the cards as the segment continues to consolidate. Broadband and other value added segments are likely to drive growth while FLL may see consolidation at current levels.”

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