August 15 - September 15, 2008

Content
The Flare wishes its readers a
Happy Independence Day

Editor’s Note
Editorial 8

Reader’s Response
Letters to the Editor 9

Interview
Tough times… for electronics industry: Abbas 36

Telecom
7m blocked illegal SIMs 10
Warid signs brand ambassadors 12
Children ward PIMS becomes art arena 14
Bid farewell to the regulator of irregularities 16
Decline in mobile phone usage 22
48 Why a ship drowns? One is justified in thinking that only
New CEO Telenor Pakistan 24 Page passengers know, but what about those spectators who love to
Enigma of call rates 25 bade good bye and to keep an eye on the departing relatives
China’s warranty-less mobiles 26 while standing on the shore? Twenty first century has witnessed
Staff should serve customers: Naveed Saeed 28 in its very first decade, the downfall of Pakistan’s largest telecom
Mobile hackers can make life miserable 30 operator PTCL in the time of telecom revolution.
Downfall trend in stock exchange 37
Another blow in PTCL’s face 45
Motozine ZN5 67
Avoid link-towers in residential areas: LHC 68
Warid’s 3rd anniversary 77
Alcatel-Lucent signs contract 81
Squaring the circles 83

Cover Story
PTCL sailing in hot waters 48

Information Technology
Warid’s 3rd anniversary Cellular companies
Page79 celebrations Page10 blocked
46 FM radio licenses awarded 13
7 million
Coming closer to protect copyrights 20
illegal SIMs
Pakistan’s IT industry achieves $ 2b 69
Intel and Wateen launch summer campaign 72
Sid Meier’s Civilisation Revolution 73
Challenge for Muslim states 79
LG: Fun on your finger tips 81
The weird world of blogs 92
Internet has grown; why not search engine? 93

Informative
Low range mobiles 52
Current mobiles 53
Mobiles review 56
Coming mobiles 59 Sacked PTA Chairman
Comparison: 3G iPhone vs BlackBerry 61 Shahzada Alam Malik
Memory card phones 62

Page25 Page16
Sid Meier’s
Coming digital cameras 63 Civilisation Revolution
Upcoming laptops 64
Scanners and printers 65
Upcoming MP3 players 66

Events
Shandur comes alive! 18
Samsung extends LCD TV leadership 34
KHL: Refreshing, reviving, revitalising 38
Floodlight Tape Ball Cricket Tournament 44
Beijing Olympics encountering hurdles 75

Briefs
National 94
International 97

Page25
Enigma of call rates
6
 August 15 - September 15, 2008

Editor s
N ote
What they say…
All is well that ends well?
Recently we heard that PTA Chairman Major General (R)
Shahzada Alam Malik has been removed from his office after
nine years, Yaseen Ahmed has succeeded him. For a person
who has caused great loss to telecom sector (in general and
telecom operators in particular) is this initiative enough?
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is solely Zubair Ahmed Kasuri Editor-in-Chief
responsible for regularizing the telecom sector. No doubt, we
Fatima Batool Editor
have recently witnessed the peak of telecom sector in Pakistan
but don’t you think that the peak was an abyss-in-disguise? Usman Yaqoob
If you want to get a subscriber identification module card, you Marketing Manager (Lhr)
M. Farooq Malik
can go to any franchise (if you like to pay the full price along with Marketing Executive (Lhr)
your national identity card) or to any general store, bakery, tailor Rashid Hussain Mughal
shop, whole sale dealer, cosmetic outlet or even newspaper stall Marketing Executive (Khi)
Neelam Khan
and purchase one (without your NID card) in at least Rs 50 and Marketing Manager (Isb)
at most Rs 150. This liberalization of, or you could say un-limited
accessibility to, communication means has caused our country Mohammad Imran Maqsood
heavy lose of reputation and revenue. If to keep an unauthorized Art Director
Zafar Khan Afridi
SIM is illegal then why did PTA let cellular companies and Senior Designer
franchisers issue millions of SIMs without any verification? The
legal action which they have now taken can be carried out a long Khawar Shahzad
Circulation Manager
time ago! Azhar Javed
PTA has also blindly issued licenses to companies without Production Manager
even regarding tele-density, which resulted in busy networks and Asmatullah
Incharge Research Wing
short signals. PTA even permitted mobile operators to erect their
Muhammad Saeed
link-towers wherever they choose. Link towers cause great harm Chief Photographer
to environment and result severely in case of accident. Now Mobile: 0321 - 8404389
Lahore High Court has passed law against such erections and
Lahore Office:
PTA is no where to take the blame! Ph: 042-5750732
PTA’s ambiguous attitude is somehow or the other Islamabad Office:
responsible for encouraging the mobile operators to adapt Phone: + 92-51-2890054
Fax: + 92-51-2891339
hidden policies to deceive users. There are so many hidden and
Karachi Office:
over charges which subscribers are paying with increasing Phone: + 92-21-4602620
irritation. Mobile companies are focusing on exuberant
advertisements and celebrities to promote their business. Not Registration No:
PCPB/105
only telecom operators but also mobile makers are doing the
same thing. No one is there to regulate and inquire policies, but (Vol. 4 Issue: 12)
we can hope that one day (when all of this will be of no more Price Rs 300
interest to PTA) some one will suddenly stand and impose strict URL: www.flare.com.pk
laws on ad-making-agencies! Email: flare.mag@gmail.com
It is a common practice to sleep today for one’s advantage
and to wake tomorrow for others’ disadvantage! Who will pay Zubair Ahmed Kasuri, publisher of FLARE
those investors who are veiling for their ruined capital? Who will leading telecom magazine printed it from
inform consumers about the wicked schemes of the providers? Akkaz Printers, Shama Plaza, Lahore and
Who will stop this exploitation before unredeemable lose? Or
published from 105 B, Gulberg II, Lahore.
should we wait and see another termination…?
The best solution government or authorities can take is of
negotiation. We have seen in PTCL case that workers and
consumers are not dumb and there is going to be no
compromise on rights. People are reasonable enough to decide
what they want and what they will like. The only solution to such
problems could be a democratic one: management should sit
with personnel in the presence of customers.

8
Letters
to the
Editor
Cellular in Vogue
I don’t diverge with the rampant notion
about Cell phone being a useful and en-
tertaining commodity with ALL in ONE !
I utterly deem it as an ALL in ONE, in
the true sense of the word. Despite the
verity that it has its pleasant features, but
the other side depicts its revolting image
as well. The worst that could be for me
was when I heard a woman requesting
another woman to urgently lend her a five
figure amount. Then she added with
runny eyes that her eleven year old son
says that all his friends have mobiles and
he too wants to have one. For this reason
he has threatened to buy him a mobile or
else he will abscond from the house!!!
A middle-aged woman, who runs her
family of seven by stitching clothes and
by working as a warden in a University
boarding, is helpless at her son’s de-
mand
Any layman with a little astuteness
can empathize with the woman’s state of
agony. What actually I construe from the
prospect is conceivably the kid is not
much at fault, we have over-estimated
the significance of this item. And its
tenure is now considered a MUST as if it
is the basic component for survival. I get
frissoned when I prudently dig up this
contemplation that if such values and so-
cial norms are being inculcated in our up-
coming generations then what atrocious
consequences will it bring in its wake-
R.J.BHATTI.
Mobilink Infinity
WiMax!!!
I am using Mobilink WiMAX service and I
think that it is full of flaws, an over-flaw! I
am using this service as primary internet
source. On one hand service, so do
voice, is least smooth; on the other
disconnection and downtimes are
frequent.
ZyXel’s CPE (Customer Premises
Equipment) are being used and would
not be given CPE password to the users,
so there is no option for them to
configure router for port mapping/ port
forwarding.
VoIP service that comes in by default
with Mobilink’s WiMAX is also pathetic.
VoIP services also face disconnections
along with opinions about ordinary
incoming call facility.
The only satisfactory thing is
Customer Service which is always ready
to help. It has compensated me many
times but customer service is not a
substitute to product service.
Wateen is providing its service in
more than 24 destinations in Pakistan but
I insit on getting Mobilink WiMAX
because I consider Mobilink to be more
reliable than Wateen. Now I have
corrected my self that Mobilink is a
cellular service provider and it is good for
it, but internet service is not Mobilink’s
criteria.
This email of mine is merely a
suggestion to Mobilink that it should not
poke its nose in affairs it can’t
understand-alimehdie@hotmail.com.
Zong’s creative
campaigns for
customers
We all have seen that in the time of
mobile mania, Zong has emerged with
the first glamour-free campaign. The
decision of simple ads by Zong at the
very moment of its launch was rather
bold and challenging. In the very first ad,
its simple, casual, taunting young
representative was facing heavy iconic
ads of Mobilink, Ufone, Warid and
Telenor. Its ad campaign launchers are
always ready to refute direct and indirect
ad attacks of its competitors by their
mocking reactions.
Advertisements in Pakistan are
gradually becoming more and more
attractive because cellular companies
think that they can grasp customers by
good campaigns rather than satisfactory
services. It is interesting to see the ad
tussle going on in media. Mobilink came
up with Jazz One ad in which Bara Aane
was ridiculed. Before Zong’s reply, Ufone
came up with boxers in the ring criticizing
the Einstein phrase. Zong came back
with a very simple ad forget Rs 1, we've
got something better.
They also launched Rs 3 unlimited
SMS offer in the same flavour. It was a
hit on the monthly packages of all cellular
companies with a facility of day to day
payment: the more you send; the less
you pay. But ad is misleading in one
sense, what if one wants to send only 1
SMS per day? He or she will be still
paying Rs 3 for just 1 SMS!
Ufone’s decision to indulge teen bata
teen gang is also promising due to their
popularity and spontaneous attitude.
I think after a long time glamorous ad-
glaciers of Pakistan have started to melt.
I can only hope that we will soon come
out of Indian tarkka in Pakistani
advertisements---Hina Saeed, Sanat
Nager, Lahore.
Send us your letters at
flare.mag@gmail.com
or at our postal address.
Flare reserves the right to
edit letters for clarity & space.
PTCL workers’ strike:
Who will rescue the
rescuers!
PTCL workers are on strike from a long
time and it is too early to predict anything
about the negotiations (if there will be
any as PTCL authorities are least
interested in resolving the issue). I am
not writing to comment on the dilemma,
my focus is on something else.
I happened to call Rescue to inform
about an accident at the very main road
of my home. I called again and again but
Rescue number was busy. I lately came
to know that Rescue, Rawalpindi’s
landline is out of order from July 20. No
one can imagine the panic from which I,
along with many other passers-by
suffered. However, the injured was
carried to the hospital on a private
vehicle.
I just want to say that PTCL
employees’ constant strike has badly
affected not only government but also
private sector. I request government to
either provide a substitute or re-stabilize
the existing scenario of landline
communication-Uzair Ahmed,
Rawalpindi.
Mobilink’s
BlackBerry service:
An ongoing problem
I just want to share an ongoing problem.
During my stay in Pakistan, I use
Mobilink’s BlackBerry service. I also have
service from ATT, USA. Last time I called
Mobilink to provide me with the unlocking
code so I will be able to use ATT service,
but they refuse me simply by saying that
it is not possible.
Ironically, I called ATT and asked
them to provide me with the code so that
I can utilize local service in my
BlackBerry. You know what they did?
They simply, without any objection and
even cheerfully give me the code.
It is a consumer’s right to use his
handset where ever he or she goes
because he or she has paid for it. Such
petty issues are only raised in countries
like Pakistan where progress and novelty
is hard to digest. I still cannot understand
their logic! We are habitants of global
world, we are always on move then why
cannot we take or use our mobile sets
along? If any one from Mobilink has an
answer please inform me-Shakeel.
9

Telecom Flare Report
Cellular companies
blocked 7 million illegal SIMs
Mobilink has blocked more than 1.9
million, Warid 0.6 million, Telenor 0.190
million and Zong 0.195 million
unregistered SIMs. The May 22 deadline
to block all unregistered SIMs had now
been extended to July 31, keeping in view
the good response of cellular companies
T
he cellular service provider
companies are asked to
block all those illegal SIMs
which they have issued without any
registration. The business of telecom has
reached its peak due to flaws in policies. In
recent months, crimes and violations
involving mobile phone are observed
nationwide. The very first initiative in this
regard is to block the existing illegal SIMs. All
those lately issued SIMs will be operatable if
they will folllow the new rules and regulations
imposed by PTA.
Until now, telecom companies have
blocked more than six million illegal SIMs
(subscribers identification modules) due to
non-verification of the owners’ bio-data,
Chairman Senate Standing Committee Talha
Mehmood said in a press conference at
Islamabad.
Apart from these SIMs, the cellular
companies have verified 1.2 million SIMs
while 800,000 SIMs are still under the
verification process. He said that the
committee has directed mobile service
operating companies to complete the
verification of the rest of the SIMs by July 31.
He said that after the deadline, the
committee in collaboration with the police
authorities, would conduct raids and take
strict actions against the persons involved in
the sale of illegal SIMs. He further reported
that during the last ten days, police has
arrested as many as 59 persons across the
country for the sale of illegal SIMs, and ten
cases were registered against them.
He said that almost all chief executive
officers (CEOs) of cellular companies have
informed him that due to the blockage of
these SIMs, the mobile companies have lost
billions of rupees.
The committee had asked the companies
to produce a record of all blocked SIM cards
within 15 days, but later extended May 22
deadline of blocking to July 31, 2008.
10
Mobilink has blocked more than 1.86
The sub-committee had
directed the cellular com-
panies to block over 7.45
million unregistered SIM
cards by May 22. It had
also warned a fine of 350
million to each company
in case of failure to meet
the deadline
million, Warid 0.6 million, Telenor 0.190
million and Zong 0.195 million unregistered
SIMs. Mehmood said that May 22 deadline
given to cellphone companies to block all
unregistered SIM cards had now been
extended to July 31 keeping in view the
cellular companies’ good response.
The sub-committee had directed the
cellular companies to block over 7.45 million
unregistered SIM cards by May 22. It had
also warned a fine of 350 million to each
company in case of failure to meet the
deadline. He said there were total of 1,317
cellular franchises across the country out of
which 30 had been shut down for issuing SIM
cards without any registration.
“The committee has directed the cellular
companies through Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to re-
open these franchises and re-validate their
licences because there’s already
unemployment in our country,” he elaborated.
Mehmood said that companies had been
directed to streamline their system of
franchises and refrain from giving them
unlawful targets regarding SIM sales. He said
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that the companies had also
been ordered to launch an
online verification system before
issuing SIM cards. “We have
directed them that no SIM card
should be activated unless
verification of the applicants’
data by National Database and
Registration Authority
(NADRA),” he maintained.
He added that he had
submitted a privilege motion to
the Senate against the PTA
Chairman and cellular
companies for not providing
audit reports to the committee.
Mehmood said the standing
committee would also discuss
the law and order situation in
the country and the inspectors
general of police and home
secretaries from all the four
provinces will brief the
committee. Senators Raziq
Khan, Gulshan Saeed, Saadia
Abbasi, Abdul Khaliq Pirzada,
Tahira Latif and Jamal Leghari
attended the meeting.
The Chairman of Senate’ s standing
committee for Interior (SSCI) Senator Tallah
Mehmood has said that extension in the final
date for blocking the illegal and unregistered
SIM cards that was announced as 1st August
for the mobile phone companies working in
the country and a crackdown will be started
against the unregistered SIM cards after
August. Pakistan Telecommunication
Authority (PTA) zonal offices, in collaboration
with the local police, have launched a
massive crackdown on unauthorized
distribution channels involved in sale of
mobile SIMs across the country.
A number of persons involved in the illegal
sales have been arrested in different areas
including Rawalpindi, Jhelum, Kharian,
Sohawa, Sargodha and etc. During the raids,
hundreds of mobile phone SIMs being sold
without authorization has also been
confiscated by joint teams of police and the
PTA. Strict action is being taken against the
sellers, found involved in this illegal business.
It may be recalled that PTA took action
against a number of franchisees of mobile
operators on violation of PTA procedures for
sale of new SIM cards.
The Committee directed PTA to take
appropriate steps and immediately ban
publicizing such packages that flout the
social norms and customs of the society
where cellular companies are protesting due
to heavy lose caused by PTA’s earlier
negligence.
Members of the Committee pointed out
that lately incidents of kidnapping for ransom,
theft and car lifting etc. were on rise because
of undocumented and unverified mobile
phone connections. Its members appealed
for strict actions against those cellular
companies who are insisting on selling SIMs
via illegal means and modules, after the very
deadline.


Telecom Flare Report
Warid signs
local artists as
brand ambassadors
Pakistan’s fastest growing cellular network
Warid has focused on local artists and native
languages, Punjabi, Pashto and Sindhi, in order
to expand its family in remote areas
Ibrar-ul-Haq signs the contaract papers at Warid Head Office in Lahore.
Moin Qadri, General Manager Marketing sits beside.
A
lmost all cellular operators of Pakistan
are busy in crafting ways of
expanding network, especially in rural
areas. Warid has again come up with its
elegantly touchy campaign of not only
broadening its network but also preserving
and highlighting indigenous culture. Warid
has signed various local artists as its brand
ambassadors. Its allies are now Abrar-ul-
Haq, Ahmed Mughal, Jawad Ahmad, Rahim
Shah, Shaman Ali Mirani, Shazia Khushk and
Waris Baig.
Mystic music is getting popular, recently
Punjab Cultural Complex celebrated Waris
Shah and earlier many Sufi programmes and
conferences have been organized in different
12
parts of country. Warid’s initiative to include
Faisal Khan hands over the agreement pages to Jawad Ahmed at Warid’s regional office.
artist of variable capacities and
miscellaneous origins will prove to be the
most successful decision ever taken in or by
any telecom operator in the country. The
selection made by Warid is unique and
cautious in its flavour of language, culture
and theme. Under the agreement, Warid will
be working with these celebrities to promote
cultural heritage including spiritual and mystic
music specially belonging to native Sindhi,
Pushtu and Balochi languages.
The signing ceremony with Abrar-ul-Haq
was conducted at Warid Head Office in
Lahore and was witnessed by the
representatives of media. General Manager
Marketing Moin Qadri and General Manager,
Sales and Distribution (North and Central
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Regions) Babar Ahmed were amongst the
senior management present on the occasion.
Abrar will be featured in electronic and print
media for Warid telecom, including a string of
TVCs, concerts, meet the artist and other
socio-entertaining activities.
Speaking on the occasion, Abrar said: “I
am honoured to become the voice of
country’s fastest growing voice
communication operator Warid Telecom.
Warid team and I will work together to
promote and revive our cultural values and
music. I will support Warid to stay at the
forefront of country’s cellular market.”
The ceremony of signing Rahim Shah,
Shazia Khushk, Shaman Ali Mirani, Ahmed
Mughal and Jawad Ahmad as brand
ambassadors was held in Warid’s regional
offices at Karachi and Lahore respectively.
Warid’s management expressed its views,
“Abrar is talented enough to display true
Pakistani culture and folk music
internationally and we are proud to have him
as our brand ambassador. Having Abrar and
other leading singers with us, there will be
exciting moments for our subscribers as
Warid continues to bring innovations for
them…. Rahim, Shazia, Shaman, Waris and
Jawad are amongst Pakistan’s top singers
and hence, we as country’s most preferred
mobile company selected them as our brand
ambassadors. Since we are expanding our
network to the remotest parts of Pakistan, we
want regionally and nationally recognized
faces.”
Rahim Shah said, “Since its launch, Warid
has redefined cellular phone usage in
Pakistan by epitomizing continued innovation
and excellence. I on my part intend to
continue supporting Warid to stay at the
forefront of country’s cellular market.
 www.
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Warid’s brand ambassador Shazia Khushk after signing the
contract.
Shaman Ali Mirani shakes hand after the ceremony.
Warid’s brand embassador Rahim Shah.
I am thankful to Warid for great interest it
has shown to promote my native language
and to revive local cultural values.”
Waris Baig gratituded Warid’s
authorities for making him brand
ambassador and ensured his commitment
to the combine cause of cultural promotion
and network’s expand.
Jawad Ahmad said, “I am proud to be
associated with Warid and hope that my
association with the company will bring
about the expected brand results. Since its Warid’s brand embassador
launch, Warid has redefined cellular phone Waris Baig.
usage in Pakistan by epitomizing
continued innovation and excellence. On my part, I intend to continue
supporting Warid to stay at the forefront of country’s cellular market.”
Jawad had recently featured in Warid’s Song Dedication multi-
media campaign in which the singer is promoting 1700 services.
Warid’s recently signed ambassador is also its Artist of the Month.
Jawad’s presence is significant in the context of his singing history. He
entered the pop industry with his solo Allah Meray Dil k Ander and is
still known by his first sufi song.
Shazia Khuskh, Shaman Ali Mirani and Ahmer Mughal said that
they are honoured to be a part of Warid’s fastest growing network and
enthusiastic about promoting a beautiful language, like Sindhi, and
enchanting local melodies in its campaigns.
Fruits cultivated by the mixture of Warid’s brand ambassadors are
not far away. Its new services are expected to bring a new flavour in
telecom market due to unique indigenous features.

Flare Report IT
PEMRA awarded
46 FM radio
licences
The bidding to award 46 FM radio licenses in various cities and districts
concluded in Islamabad the other day. Pakistan Electronic Media
Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) conducted the bidding, which continued
for two days.
The bidding, which held in an open and transparent manner, was in
addition to 116 FM radio licences issued earlier by PEMRA in first five
phases. The highest bid amount of Rs 370.6 million was offered by M/s
Printek (Pvt) Limited and M/s Athena Entertainment for one licence
each at Karachi followed by Rs 333.8 million for one licence each at
Lahore by M/s Northern Media Pvt Limited and M/s Athena.
The bidding was held to award licences for Karachi, Lahore,
Faisalabad, Multan, Murree, Sialkot, Sukkur, Hyderabad, Gujranwala,
Jhelum, Larkana, Haripur, Khanewal, Okara, Sheikhupura,
Bahawalpur, Nankana Sahib, Vehari, Toba Tek Singh, Noshehra,
Kohat, Rahim Yar Khan, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Hafizabad, Kasur,
Muzaffargarh, Ziarat, Jhang, Jafarabad, Sibi, Nasirabad, Karak,
Batagraqm, Tank, Buner, Panjgur, Malakand, Shangla, Chaghi and
Kalat.
The successful companies would be required to start operation
within one year after the award of licences. Addressing the bidding
ceremony, Executive Member PEMRA, Ahmad Mahmood Zahid said
since its inception in 2002, PEMRA took all efforts to fill the national
landscape with all modern forms of electronic media.
He said out of 116 FM radio licences issued earlier, 93 have
successfully gone on-air while the rest would soon enter the fray. He
credited this boom in electronic media to the government's unequivocal
commitment to free media and the proactive role played by PEMRA
which contributed remarkably in raising the standards of public
awareness and literacy. Complete freedom and facilitation offered by
the present government has served as a catalyst for the
unprecedented development of electronic media, he added.
He said during the first 100 days of present government, licences
for 16 Satellite TV, 10 FM radio, 232 cable TVs have been given apart
from permission for 2 Landing Rights.
Ahmad Mahmood Zahid urged the successful bidders to ensure the
healthy flow of information-entertainment and educate the public in
conformity with the national interest.
He extended his deepest gratitude and felicitation to the successful
bidders for carrying forward the PEMRA's vision and urged the earliest
expedition of project.
Senior PEMRA officials, representatives of Ministry of Information
and Broadcasting, Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) and Frequency
Allocation Board (FAB) were also present on the occasion.
13

Telecom Flare Report
The Mobilink Foundation Torchbearers visited the Children’s Ward in
PIMS Islamabad and read a variety of interesting story-books to the
children, while other groups helped kids to make drawings and
sketches, and to colour them
T
he Mobilink Foundation Torchbearers,
an initiative of the Mobilink Volunteer
Employees (MOVE) conducted an
invigorating book-reading & coloruing activity
as part of its CSR programme at the chil-
dren’s ward of the Pakistan Institute of
Medical Sciences (PIMS) in Islamabad.
Formed recently by the employees of the
company, the Mobilink Foundation
Torchbearers are a group of volunteers with
the primary objective of reshaping the lives of
children in hospitals, orphanages and charita-
ble homes. The PIMS activity which involved
reading books to 45 children in the West
Ward and 25 children in the Isolation Ward
was the first of a series of similar activities
planned by Mobilink Foundation Torchbearers
throughout the country.
This initiative is a very small gesture on
the part of employees; it has more to do with
bringing happiness and cheer to the little chil-
dren at PIMS than anything else and that this
activity will be replicated in several other
cities by volunteer groups throughout the
country. Children of PIMS Islamabad were
14 delighted with the dedicated efforts of the
Mobilink staff, many young people giving off
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In past Mobilink Foundation Torchbearers performed
several other activities of similar nature like visits to the
old-age home Aafiat, day out with special
children, blood donation camps for Thalassemia patients
and tree plantation drives for healthy environment. It also
arranged a speech contest on Pakistan day at the orphan-
age Faiz-ul-Islam
to make drawings, sketches and coloring
them. The children enjoyed the day’s activity
as one could see the joy and happiness on
their faces. All the books and other material
were provided by Mobilink.
In the past the Mobilink Foundation
Torchbearers performed several other activi-
ties of similar nature like visits to the Old-age
home Aafiat, day out with special children,
blood donation camps for Thalassemia
patients and tree plantation drives for healthy
environment & also arranged a speech con-
test on Pakistan day at the orphanage Faiz-
ul-Islam.
All these activities look very small, but
their impact is immeasurable. A smile on the
their time and talent in making children face of an abandoned soul is brought by
happy; what else could one give children these volanteers worth a million dollar.
other than toys. The idea of reading books to Making our cities greener and cleaner, mak-
the kids was indeed enjoyable and comfort- ing the special children feel that they are no
ing. lesser than any other human being, helping
The Mobilink Foundation Torchbearers vis- the Thalassemics with blood transfusions,
ited the Children’s Ward in PIMS in Islamabad and much more; it’s all about paying back to
and read a variety of interesting story-books the community and playing the role of a
to the children, while other groups helped kids responsible corporate citizen.


Telecom Flare Report
PTA Chairman Major Gen. (R) Shahzada Alam has
been removed, but he has collected billions besides
making huge property. Who would held him
accountable to take back the national asserts?
It is a much awaited and desired move which has brought with it an end to the long
period of misconduct and maladjustment in PTA’s affairs, with a hope that the new
Chairperson would rectify the troubles
A
n era of misappropriations, embezzle-
ments, flouting of rules, mismanage-
ment, violation of laws, grafting, syco-
phancy, jobbery and nepotism has come to
an end with the ouster of PTA Chairman
Major General (R) Shazada Alam Malik on
July 23, 2008.
With his ouster, the government has given
a conspicuous signal that morbid legacy of
past would no more be tolerated. The dis-
missal of FBR Chairman Abdullah Yousaf was
another example of clear indication that the
cronies of the top gun could no more be with-
in the power circles.
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani
16 appointed Dr Yasin Malik as new PTA
Chairman which appeared to be a healthy
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sign that a true professional has been brought deals. It is expected that they would be able
forward to head the entity which deals with to win the licences with Dr Yasin sitting at the
purely technical and professional matters helm of affairs.
related to cellular companies and others in It shows that the era of misappropriation
telecom sector. which had been started by the outgoing chair-
However, Dr Yasin's accession to the man PTA has not yet gone.
throne is not void of doubts and shades as Apart from hefty perks and privileges, he
his appointment is said to be effected with the minted money by other hidden means dam-
manipulation by a bigwig staying abroad who aging the image of the authority and letting
has reportedly close association with the top the mobile services companies fleece the
poor masses with
impunity. Such an
instance came to the
limelight when first
Quality of Service
Survey was conduct-
ed in 2003 and
Mobilink's services
were found below the
standardized quality
and a fine of Rs60
million was imposed
on the company for
its poor quality serv-
ices but that amount
of the fine was never
paid by the company
for the reasons best
known to the then
The story which has been PTA chairman.
carried by Flare in its April-May, 2008
issue highlighting the irregularities
Afterward, the
committed by PTA Chairman during his Quality Services
stay in the office Survey was never
conducted which is a
clear violation of the
Mobile Cellular
leaders of the ruling political party. Policy, chapter six, section three states, "The
His appointment comes in the wake of GoP intends to ensure that cellular licencees
some important developments which are provide a good quality of service. The PTA
coming on the way towards the end of this will set the QoS parameters after the consul-
year as the government is planning to go for tations with the licencees before final
bidding of the 3G cellular licences and many issuance of the licence."
in the ruling elites are eying these covetous The saga of PTA failures under the worthy
 www.
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chairmanship of Shazada Alam do not come cellular companies spent Rs5 billions. MNP
to an end here, it continues unabated. To was launched on March 27, 2007, however,
quote here is in fitting of the things the failed the issue could not remain in minds for more
project of IMEI. The project was brought to than a week.
the fore in January 2007 without going for The MNP system was meant for enabling
any market analysis and resulted in a crash mobile phone users to switch over to any
with a thumping fiasco. The system was cellular operator by keeping their mobile
launched to block the stolen mobile phones number unchanged. By availing the MNP,
but all the lofty claims of the PTA proved pipe consumers using the services of any cellular
dreams showing utter lack of sensibility in its operator, if not satisfied with their present
leadership. PTA forced the cellular compa- operator, could apply to any other operator to
nies to spend millions on this project which which they consider more effective in terms
was no more than a castle in the air. of rates, disconnections, voice quality, signal
Under the system, cellular subscribers problem or busy networks.
were given a number where they could regis- Many cellular users who availed the MNP
Former Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
(PTA) has flouted the rules for his own interest during his
long stay at the helm of affairs of the authority since its
inception in 1997. It is pertinent to mention here that he
bagged three extensions of his contract which is in gross
violation of the set rules of the Establishment Division which
clearly mention that no contractual appointment whatever the
case may be, can be extended more than two terms in the
office but he got three extensions just because he was a close
friend of President Pervez Musharraf
ter their phone's international mobile equip- registered complaints with their cellular oper-
ment identity (IMEI) number and national ators but failed to receive incoming calls and
identity card (NIC) number with PTA's data- availing different info services offered by the
base. In case their mobile phone is stolen, operators.
the customers can get their mobile phones According to a top official of PTA, the
blocked by verifying their NIC numbers and MNP system was installed and was made
IMEI numbers. operational without proper planning and
It was found on the very first day of IMEI research and, thus, went down to drain.
launch that an easily available software MNP system was launched by importing
named as Twister, can be downloaded from the latest technical equipment from the
internet, could change IMEI of any phone in United States and different European coun-
seconds. Once IMEI of phone is changed, it tries. The lack of technical expertise was the
could be re-used even the phone is blocked main cause of the failure of the MNP.
by PTA. millions of rupees were wasted in Senior officials from cellular companies
told Flare that authority forced
them to pay the failure project's
expenses while the PTA had
granted these projects to their
favorite ones. Officials said that if
a proper inquiry is conducted,
there may appear billions of
rupees embezzlement that was
done within the PTA in the name
of such mega project, which could
not help the consumer or telecom
player at all.
As tale of rules violation goes
on, the chairman's son has more
than two dozens of franchises of
cellular companies and also holds
a telecom company. It is reported
that he has been awarded many
the name of awareness campaign to educate fiber optical projects without company’s eval-
the telecom users about the reporting of uation; which is explicit violation of Pakistan
snatched or stolen mobile phones. Telecom act, whose chapter two, Paragraph
Mobile number portability (MNP) another three states as following, "A member of the
venture; huge budgeted and largely adver- Authority should not have any direct or indi-
tised project was another example of rect financial interest, or have business con-
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's bad nection with any person, any establishment
policies, which saw a fatal crash when all or firm which renders telecommunication
services in Pakistan or abroad or supplies
telecommunication equipment to any tele-
comsector in Pakistan or abroad."
The explanation of this paragraph is also
explicitly mentioned in telecom act, which is
as following, "Explanation: Any involvement
of the spouse or blood relation of any mem-
ber of the Authority with any telecommunica-
tion establishment or firm shall be consid-
ered as a direct financial interest or connec-
tion of the member with such establishment
or firm."
This is an astonishing situation, where the
chief regulator is himself over-ruling the tele-
com act, upon which the whole telecom
setup is based.
Market resources have pointed out so
many instances that make a very strong and
logical contempt against Mr Shahzada who
is allegedly found involved in cashing bene-
fits from cellular companies for letting them
play in an open field without any restrictions.
The need to change this regime was
inevitable in view of Alam's manipulations.
With change of PTA chairman the telecom
companies and customers will get relief from
this inefficient official who has only promoted
favoritism, corruption and failure in telecom
sector of Pakistan.
We may hope that all these misdeeds will
be compensated in coming years through
better planning and visionary relationship.
Dr Mohammed Yaseen
Chairman PTA
Dr.Mohammad Yaseen has been appoint-
ed Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication
Authority (PTA). After graduating from DCET
(NED), he achieved Ministry of Science and
Technology Scholarship in 1987 and com-
pleted his Ph.D. in 1992, from University of
Essex, England with specialization in
Telecommunication Systems. After his PhD,
he worked for:

Essex University, England, as Senior
Research Officer;

PTCL Pakistan, as Director Strategy

Alcatel Submarine networks; Australia as
System and Project Engineer,

Advanced Networks and System Australia
as Senior Consultant.
He was work-
ing in Pakistan
Telecom Authority
(PTA) as Member
Technical for the
last three years.
He has 30
International and
national
publications on
telecom technolo-
gies, ICT growth,
strategies and design of telecom
networks.
Dr Yaseen has represented PTA at vari-
ous international and national forums includ-
ing Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT), where
he was selected as Vice Chairman, APT,
Study Group 2 (Networks).

17
 www.
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Music, polo, masti...!

Shandur comes alive!
Telenor Pakistan has come forward to keep the old traditions, heritage, and civilization alive –
a practice that must be followed by other companies so this rich treasure of human history is
preserved for future generations to envy as how glorious their past is

T
he Telenor Shandur Polo Festival is a
journey back in time, through a world
that has remained unchanged for
centuries, unspoiled by modern development
and away from mass tourism.
More than 12,000 local and international
visitors came to enjoy the annual Telenor
Shandur Polo Festival and witness the
traditional polo tournament between the
teams of Gilgit and Chitral from July 7-9,
2008. Repeating history, Telenor Pakistan,
the country’s second largest cellular operator,
sponsored this exciting tournament.
Organised by Gilgit and Chitral, the
Northern Areas local administration and
Telenor. The game which was once played to
Telenor Pakistan, the tournament was played The sponsor of the festival, determine who would control the Shandur
in Shandur which is around 3,700 meters
above sea level. It is a place unique and
Telenor Pakistan, has tried to Pass is today an event to harmonise two
cultures with one another, thus highlighting
exotic in itself surrounded by some of the enable the world to enjoy one peace.
most spectacular mountain sceneries in the
world. of Pakistan’s unique cultural Shandur has been declared by the
government as the ‘National Park’ area. The
The event marks the annual rivalry sports amid the idyllic valley beautiful plains of Shandur surrounded by
between the polo teams of Gilgit and Chitral.
moor lands reflect the natural aesthetic
Supporters of both teams travel long of Shandur, overlooked by dimension of the fields. Where a huge tent-
distances from remote parts to watch the
thrilling game. The event offers a fascinating
snowy peaks. It is an village is set up for the visitors, PTDC has
also set up motels along the route from Gilgit
insight into the lifestyle of the people of the exquisite event patronised to Chitral to facilitate visitors.
region. The rules of the game themselves are
more than 800 years old. entirely by the locals for Telenor Pakistan, in continuation to its
services to the culture of Pakistan and
The sponsor of the festival, Telenor whom the occasion is the keeping the natural heritage of the Northern
Pakistan, has tried to enable the world to
Areas alive, has contributed to the
enjoy one of Pakistan’s unique cultural sports only means of entertainment construction of an amphitheatre in the
amid the idyllic valley of Shandur, overlooked
by snowy peaks. It is an exquisite event
and competitive sport. Shandur plains. The arena will provide a
permanent base for folk music and dance
patronised entirely by the locals for whom the
performances during the festival. This is the
occasion is the only means of entertainment
first-ever amphitheatre built at Shandur. For
and competitive sport. umpires and referees are non-existent. The the first time ever, Telenor is taking Zeek
With every day bringing the historic game is fast, tremendously fast. It is usually Afridi to perform live on the Shandur plains
tournament closer, more and more people played to the beat of a big drum. The along with other local performers. To add to
arrived at the venue. Before long, the empty Pakistani-bred Punjabi and Afghan the excitement, there will also be a fireworks
Hindukush landscape had transformed into a Badakhshani ponies, both the result of display at the event.
bustling, scent-filled marquee town. And the breeding from the Himalayan mountain With technology, especially
two teams from Chitral and Gilgit were ponies and English thoroughbreds, are ridden telecommunications, stretching in the
camping out in extreme temperatures in a wild style, with a lot of skill and at full remotest areas of the country, every Pakistani
reaching as low as -10C at night and as high speed through the mêlée. The 12 players are now feels part of the global village. As the
as +40C during the day. On the first day the usually not afraid of using their sticks to hit second largest cellular network of Pakistan,
‘Game of Kings’ was ready to begin when not only the ball but also, and vehemently, the Telenor is operating in the northern region of
Chitral defended the title it won last year. The arms and shoulders of their opponents. Pakistan, covering not only areas like Chitral,
fans as always took their seats around the After a break of two years this event was Gilgit but is also planning to spread its wings
polo field on rocks, hills and other natural once again managed by Sarhad Tourism in remote areas like Mastuj with exclusive
grandstands. After dancers, drummers and Corporation (STC). Managing Director STC coverage at the heights of Shandur, so places
the bagpipe band had given their best, the Azam Khan, who wanted the event to be like Shandur too may enjoy the latest
game was officially declared open. highlighted this year as never before, can see
18 telecommunication facilities.

There is a timekeeper–the only official as his dream come true with support from

Informative Neelum Khan
Joining hands with Telenor Pakistan,
13 leading multinational and national
companies announced to curb their
advertising campaigns on all cable networks
abusing copyright. This move will not only
protect copyright but cinema industry of the
country as well
D
uring the last few years cable net-
work has reached to almost every
noke and corner of the country.
After full coverage of all the cities cable has
been expanding in far flung areas. More than
70 channels have been reaching every home
in the country. It is estimated that 70 per cent
population has the cable network coverage
however copyright abuses were reported.
With the advent of cable network a wind of
change has comr with open cultural pro-
grams, i.e. talk shows, movies and dramas
expanding enlighten moderation everywhere
in Pakistan. With this new trend Pakistani cin-
ema which was already been dying badly
affected with gross violations of copyright act
in the country. Although it was against
PEMRA rules and regulations to show pirated
moves or local advertisements but no one
was caring about this cruel cable culture.
Due to continuous copyright abuses,
Telenor Pakistan took a major step to
announce end of advertising on cable net-
work and giving a clear message to its com-
petitors to look the other side of the picture.
Telenor Pakistan is one of the leading mobile
companies providing cellular services in
Pakistan. The announcement to end all its
advertising campaigns on cable networks
which are not respecting the copyright act is
vital step to set a new trend. According to a
20 senior official of the company this decision
was made to revive the local film industry and
to protect copyright. He was hopeful that
other companies will also act in the same
manner to protect the copyright act.
Company sources told Flare that this decision
will help the company to save Rs 400 million
which was spent on advertising promotional
campaigns on cable networks by the compa-
This move was not start-
ed to punish any one or
target any cable operator
but to promote the copy-
right in the country
ny. This courageous decision has set an
example for other company to follow and this
was welcomed by all the responsible compa-
nies who joined hands with Telenor Pakistan
in this decision. 13 leading multinational and
national companies announced to curtail their
advertising campaigns on all cable networks
respecting the copyright. Qamar Abbas,
Executive Director Pakistan Advertiser
Association told Flare that like Telenor
Pakistan 13 other big companies have
ensured the society that at the end of this
year, their advertising campaigns will be
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finished on those cable networks abusing
copyrights. This delay is due to contract of
these companies with different cable opera-
tors. These 13 companies included Unilever
Pakistan, Reckitt Benckiser, Tepal Tea, Coca
Cola, Angero Foods Pakistan, Nestle
Pakistan, National Foods, Habib Bank of
Pakistan, United Bank of Pakistan, Mobilink
Pakistan, English Biscuits and P&G. He told
that there will be no ban on advertisements
on Cable Operators working according to
rules and regulations. He was of the view that
this move was not started to punish any one
or target any cable operator but to promote
the copyright in the country. This will not
only play a vital role in the future about revival
of film industry but a sense of responsibility to
all stake holders of the country.
According to an estimate over five billion is
being spent through out the country on cable
advertising and if 50 per cent companies
announced to end the advertising on such
cable networks, a huge difference can be
there in overall situation.
Regulation and enforcement of law has
been the biggest problem of the country since
independence. Now is the right time to take
some responsible measures for better image
of the country.
All credit goes to Telenor Pakistan to initi-
ate this courageous move which will caste
positive change in the coming years. Lets join
hands to welcome a new era of copyright.

 www.
Farooq Malik
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Telecom Free Download com.pk

Decline in
Mobile phone usage
We have witnessed decrease in mobile phone usage in terms of decreased minutes
and mobile subscribers. It is estimated that there is reduction of 8 to 9 per cent after
announcement of unfair taxation

W
orld of telecom and technology is Foreign Direct Investment in Telecom Sector ($ million)
evolving day by day. Its progress in
FDI in Contribution
recent years is astonishing. Future Years Total FDI
Telecom Sector in Total FDI (%)
is rather more promising. World is inclining
higher in digits where Pakistan has started its 2001-02 484.7 6.1 1.26
retreat in telecom sector. Now doubt that 2002-03 798 13.5 1.69
recently it has seen its best time, but due to
2003-04 979.9 207.1 21.13
certain policies and service providers’
difficulties it has finally started to go back. 2004-05 1524 494.4 32.44
Pakistan’s cellular industry started its 2005-06 3521.0 1905.1 54.11
operation by 1991, with two players Paktel
2006-07 5124.9 1824.3 35.60
and Instaphone. The Mobilink got licence in
1994. Government imposed Withholding Tax July-Sep 07 962.5 363.9 37.71
in 1995, which resulted into growing Oct-Dec 07 1052.1 290.4 27.6
difficulties for the industry. However, with the
Jan-Mar 08 982.5 156.6 15.9
passage of time cellular players like Warid,
Ufone and Paktel jumped in to telecom
sector in Pakistan and started to make Cellular Mobile Density apprehended that industry’s growth would be
progress. affected negatively in such condition.
The cellular companies have recently Year Mobile Density The share of cellular industry’s investment
observed reduction in mobile phones usage was 1.2 per cent by 2001 which touched its
2000 0.22
owing to 21 per cent increase in tax on height of 54 per cent by 2004-05.
telecom services, after the announcement of 2001 0.52 There are total 50 million customers with
budget for the fiscal year 2008-09. 2002 1.16 80 million SIMs in the country. There is still
There are eleven departments including potential of 100 million subscribers but the
2003 1.61
intelligence agencies from which cellular telecom policy in terms of taxation measures
companies get permission before installing 2004 3.29
will prove a stumbling block in the way to
its towers to make its network operational in 2005 8.30 achieve the desired results.
any area of the country. 2006 22.21 The Federal Board of Revenue increased
“We have witnessed decrease in mobile the sales tax and federal excise duty up to 21
phone usage in terms of decreased minutes 2007 39.94
per cent for telecom services in the budget
and mobile subscribers. It is estimated that July-2007* 41.51 2008-09. “We earn Rs 1 by investing Rs 1.50
there is reduction of 8 to 9 per cent after Aug-2007 42.64 in business for meeting requirements of
announcement of unfair taxation,” sources in expansion plan,” complained the service
cellular companies said. Sep-2007 43.60
providers.
Government’s decision to impose flat tax Oct-2007 44.51 Out of five major players in the market
rate of Rs 500 on import of mobile phone set Nov-2007 46.58 only two are making profit while remaining
has faced severe criticism. “The poor people three companies are running into loss,
Dec-2007* 48.61
are paying more tax than the rich who import increasing apprehension of closure or
latest handsets,” the sources added. Jan-2008 48.96 merger in years to come. Unless efforts are
Ufone’s chief marketing officer (CMO) Feb-2008 50.76 made to fix the piling up tax issue, the
Aasher Yaqoob confirmed that the heavy industry will remain in catastrophic situation.
Mar-2008 52.16
taxation imposed by the government in the The progress of telecom sector is now
budget 2008-09 is all set to hamper the Apr-2008 52.87 jammed by selfish Government polices
growth of the cellular industry in the current May-2008 53.9 where service providers and users can do
fiscal year. “Mobile industry invested over $6 nothing except watching the scene
Jun-2008 54.7
billion in last four years and its share in helplessly.

overall investment stood at 66 per cent,” he * Revised Note: Including AJK & NAs
22
 www.
Flare Report
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Telecom Free Download com.pk

CEO Telenor Pakistan

Abdullah replaced Tore
“We are confident that Jon has best
qualification for further developing an already
successful company," said Arve Johansen

T
elenor is emerging as one of the Telenor Pakistan grew from zero to 18 million launch in 2005. Fascinated by the huge
fastest growing providers of mobile subscribers till March 2005, by making growth, I am looking forward to further
communication services worldwide.It is Telenor the second largest operator of developments in Telenor's position."
now ranked as the world’s seventh largest Pakistan. Telenor Pakistan contributes 23 per cent
mobile operator with a total of more than 153 Jon Eddy Abdullah, the newly appointed of the contribution of all eleven operators
million subscriptions in its mobile operations. Chief Executive Officer of Telenor Pakistan, worldwide. With the appointment of Jon Eddie
The high underlying revenue growth expressed his views, "I am very excited to Abdullah and Telenor’s heavy investments in
continued in the second quarter of 2008. As take up this position. Telenor's approach in Pakistan, the contribution is highly anticipated
compared to the previous year, Telenor Pakistan is innovative and thorough, and I am to increase further.

Group’s revenues increased by 7 per cent in impressed by the achievements since its
second quarter of 2008.
Telenor is also the largest provider of TV
services in the Nordic region. It is organized
into three business areas: mobile operations
covering 12 countries, fixed-line, and
Broadcast services covering the Nordic
CEO Telenor Asia Brekke replaced Johansen
region.
Sigve Brekke takes up the position as head of
Telenor ASA is an international provider of
Telenor Region Asia and will join Telenor's
high quality telecommunications, data and
Group Executive Management on September
media communication services. Telenor
1, 2008. Brekke succeeds Arve Johansen, who
Pakistan is 100 per cent owned by Telenor
returns to the Telenor headquarters in Norway
ASA and adds on to its operations in Asia
as a special advisor to the CEO.
together with Thailand, Malaysia and
"His strategic competence and operational
Bangladesh.
knowledge are qualities that will benefit both
Telenor’s Board of Directors has recently
Telenor and our companies," said Telenor
appointed Jon Eddy Abdullah as chief
President and CEO, Mr Jon Fredrik Baksaas.
executive officer (CEO) of Telenor Pakistan.
"We are very fortunate to have had Arve
He will succeed Tore Johnsen from August,
Johansen as a key person in the development
2008.
of Telenor. He has been the main architect of
Jon Eddy Abdullah has an experience of
our international expansion strategy from 1993
more than 15 years; most recent is his office
onwards, and his insights and contributions
as Chief Operating Officer in Maxis
both in Asia and in Europe have been most
Telecommunications in Malaysia and Chief
valuable. I thank him for his great
Technology Officer in DiGi. He is 42 years
contributions.”
old, married and has two children. He holds a
Prior to joining DTAC in 2002, Brekke
degree of Bachelor of Science, Electrical
worked at Telenor's Singapore office for three
Engineering from the Montana State
years. In his career, Sigve Brekke has served
University, US.
as the Deputy Minister (State Secretary) of Defence in Norway in 1993, and has also held
"We are much pleased to appoint Jon as
positions at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment and had an associate position at
Telenor Pakistan's new chief executive officer
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University in the USA. Under his
(CEO). Besides his rich experience, the
supervision, DTAC has become a major mobile operator in Thailand with 16.7 million
Board appreciates his knowledge of the
customers.
Telenor Group from his earlier responsibilities
"I am looking forward to take on a regional role in Telenor Asia. I am grateful for getting this
in DiGi. We are confident that Jon has best
opportunity, and it will be exciting to broaden the horizon and to further develop Telenor's
qualification for further developing an already
operations both on a regional and a group level," said Sigve Brekke, CEO of DTAC and future
successful company," said Arve Johansen,
Head of Telenor Asia.
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Telenor
"Seeing the development of Telenor's international expansion has truly been rewarding.
Pakistan.
Although I have been actively involved with more or less all of Telenor's operations, the Asian
Tore Johnsen, who has remained CEO of
region has always been something special to me. Today, our four companies in Asia alone
Telenor Pakistan since the inception in 2004,
constitute 40 per cent of Telenor's total customer base, which in itself is a testimony of the
is appointed new CEO of Telenor's Thai
tremendous transformation of Telenor from a purely Norwegian company to a global mobile
operation DTAC, which currently has 16.7
player," said Arve Johansen, Deputy CEO of Telenor and Head of Region Asia.
million subscribers.
24
Under the leadership of Tore Jhonson,
 www.
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Either it is the largest net-

work or the fastest growing
network with not only mis-
leading rates but also
strategies-in-disguise

T  All offers are either late night or early

here is a race between the six players When we call a friend, how can we keep
on telecom grounds in Pakistan; no an eye on the wrist watch to calculate sec- weak-ends.
one can win so the only way to keep onds and minutes? It is tiresome! One pack-  If you have a package which gives you
the race going is to avoid others from win- age is good for a certain time and other is free minutes than remember that free min-
ning. It is a dilemma or perhaps an enigma! feasible at other, are we so leisure to change utes are applicable to only calls on same
When we come across a telecom advertise- packages and so lavish to pay migration network.
ment, it highlights very economical, or should fees! Just have a look on the promoting  All companies claim themselves either
I say below-economical, call rates but a strategies of our prestigious operators. largest cellular or fastest growing cellular
closer inspection reveals that the original network where, with blocking unautho-
message is camouflaged.  No one gives call charges including tax, rized SIMs, there members are continu-
The extra cheap call rates are either for because they think that users pay tax to ously reducing.
30 seconds or from 11 pm to 7 am with a government not cellular companies.  Mostly packages are offered for limited
restriction of only Friends and Family  Switching from one package to another is time without mentioning the limit!
numbers. Do the campaign launchers or the not free.
campaign utilizers think that their audience is  In case of change in Friends and Family Interestingly, all companies are behaving
not only dumb but also blind? By giving a numbers, you are heavily charged. alike, while simultaneously mocking at the
giant image of their offer with a very miner,  In many cases there are fixed daily policies, procedures and packages of the
even negligible footnote of warning, limitation charges of activation which will be de- rest. Zong bring revolution for the advertise-
and restriction, why they always deceive? ducted regardless of how much or how ment sector but that does not mean that it is
less you use. playing fair. Instead of keeping an eye at

Zong suddenly hit the ground with 8 Anay  Users are not briefed about call set up what others are doing, it is suggested that the
package and what this is but just a FIFTY fee. operators must focus on their gate and pace.
PAISE package…when we use pennies  In case of first daily activation, you will be- It is a long way, of fair policies and means, to
no more than why they emphasis on come automatically promoted to the other go if our telecom operators are interested in
paisas? We cannot even calculate! It ap- day’s subscription if you have enough changing their impression and users illiterate
parently seems that the very package is credit in your cell. position!

cheap but dear just go and get a SIM, and
only then you will come to know how Mobilink Telenor Ufone CMPak
much it costs you! Jazz One^ Talkshawk A-1 Uwon^ 8^ Aanay*

What is this 3 paisa offer by Telenor? Valid 2nd Minute 2nd Minute 1st Minute 2nd Minute
1st Minute 1st Minute 1st Minute
for only Friends and Family numbers and onwards onwards onwards onwards
all other Telenor numbers are available at Billing Pulse 1-Minute 1-Minute 1-Minute 1-Minute 30-Second
4 paisa where other networks 5 paisa! Local & Long distance Calls to Same Network
Just calculate: for 1 minute of Friend and
Airtime 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.50 1.50
Family number you are charged with Rs
Call Setup Fee 0.40 0.00 0.40 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
1.8, for other Telenor number you have to
pay Rs 2.4 where other networks will cost 21% GST 0.29 0.21 0.29 0.21 0.21 0.32 0.32

you Rs 3.0! Total 1.69 1.21 1.69 1.21 1.21 1.82 1.82

For the activation of one you are deacti- *Applicable to only One Off-net number
vated from the other; if you have Jazz one Local & Long distance Calls to Fixed-line Network
package than you will be charged Rs 1 for Airtime 1.60 1.60 1.40 1.40 1.60 1.00 1.00
on-net and Rs 1.5 for off-net SMS!
Call Setup Fee 0.40 0.00 0.40 0.00 0.00 0.40 0.00

Ufone 5 ka 15 charges you heavily for the
21% GST 0.42 0.34 0.38 0.29 0.34 0.29 0.21
very first five minutes that they can easily
Total 2.42 1.94 2.18 1.69 1.94 1.69 1.21
manage (with a margin) to give you next
15 minutes absolutely free, excluding tax. *Applicable to only One Off-net number

Warid gives you comfortable set up option Local & Long distance Calls to Other Cellular Network
with heavy activation charges like any Airtime 1.60 1.60 1.40 1.40 1.60 1.00 1.00
other company with the restriction of utiliz- Call Setup Fee 0.40 0.00 0.40 0.00 0.00 0.40 0.00
ing the given time in the given duration. 21% GST 0.42 0.34 0.38 0.29 0.34 0.29 0.21
Total 2.42 1.94 2.18 1.69 1.94 1.69 1.21
For fair call charges look at the chart and see
*Applicable to only One Off-net number
the differences. You can also see compara-
tive and nearly overlapping call charges of ^ Limited Time Offer 25
* Limited Time Offer-net tariffs are Rs. 0.75 per 30 second (Excld. 21% GST)
different companies.

Khawar Shahzad
Telecom
Copies of mobile phones equipped with same functions and
software are being sold in the market openly, because they
are comparatively cheaper
C
ellphones are quite possibly the
most ubiquitous and beloved
pieces of technology available to
people these days. Almost every-
one has got one, and for good
reason they are extremely practical as well as
fun things to carry around. Depending on how
you use your cellphone you may or may not
need some additional accessories.
With the growth of information technology
(IT) and the development of products in this
sector, the business of copying or piracy of
cellphones, videos, computers software and
consumer products has equally flourished
and is set to boom all around.
Pakistan has recently become the world’s
biggest market for pirated cellphones. This
has badly affected the mobile phones market
for genuine producers. Surprisingly, it is diffi-
cult to know the difference.
Copies of mobile phones, equipped with
same functions and software, are being sold
in the market openly because they are com-
paratively cheaper.
Indeed the sale and purchase business of
cellular phones nowadays has spread across
Pakistan, and one finds at least one mobile
phone shop out of the 10 in a commercial
area anywhere in the country doing this busi-
ness quite successfully, though failing to win
the trust of majority of the users.
In the 1980s, the rates of mobile phones
were skyrocketed and only the well-to-do
could afford and keep them – rather they took
pride in possessing them.
Now, there are popular brands in the mar-
ket like Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG,
Motorola, Trend Mobile and several others.
Although China made mobiles have given a
tough time to branded mobile phone-makers,
they have failed to maintain quality, durability,
perfect software as well as hardware.They
have poor services in form of text and picture
messages, mobile music, mobile Internet, on-
line games, ring tones, mobile bill payment
and several other services.
The users say that Chinese mobiles are
impressive for various reasons: the screen is
26 huge and the display brilliant aside from the
sound which is louder than any other leading
The business of Chinese mobile phones is increasing
day by day and whenever a multinational company in-
troduces a mobile phone with a new design, its copy
makes its way to the market
brand out there. As a matter of fact, what is
really bad about them is that they do not have
a warranty at all. No hardware/software is per-
fect, and the absence of warranty makes
handsets least reliable.
The China-made mobile phones are actu-
ally copies of the brands produced by various
multinational companies. This business is in-
creasing day by day and whenever a multina-
tional company introduces a mobile phone
with a new design, its cheap copy makes its
way to the market.
True, the China-made mobile phones have
reached everywhere around the world. Now
let’s have a cursory look at some of the best-
known mobile phone companies and their
brands – to choose only the most famous and
reliable among a mushroom of cellphone
companies including the budding ones in the
www.
flare.
Free Download com.pk
market.
It goes without saying that Nokia is a world
leader in mobile communications, driving the
growth and sustainability of the broader mobil-
ity industry. Nokia connects people to each
other and the information that matters to them
with easy-to-use and innovative products like
mobile phones, devices and solutions for im-
aging, games, media and businesses. It pro-
vides equipment, solutions and services for
network operators and corporations. Nokia is
a broadly held company with listings on four
major exchanges.
The cellphone industry has evolved into a
profit devouring monster. Consumers, espe-
cially the younger generation, are all itching to
get their hands on new phones.
Samsung is a Korean company that has
risen to prominence in many fields over the
years. The size and the scope of the company
are almost unimaginable as they are one of
the largest and most diverse companies in the
world. While the company is mostly known for
their technology division (cellphones, radios,
MP3 players, computer screens and the like)
they have many other divisions as well.
LG Electronics Mobile Communication
Company (LG) is a global leader and innova-
tor in the worldwide mobile market, providing
consumers with better mobile experiences
through its advanced mobile technology and
premium handset design capabilities.
China’s mobile can copy the appearance,
prominent features and services but it is un-
able to copy the durability and the flexibility of
an original product. China can replace Nokia
or any other mobile generator for the time
being but this success of unfair means will not
sustain longer, as Chinese mobiles are war-
ranty-less.
The copies made by China are not only
common in telecom sector but also in almost
all walks of daily life. One can see China ra-
dios, iPods, pedestal fans, emergency lights,
batteries, utensils, stationary and what not.
China has badly affected the economy of na-
tional and international market by its cheap
products. Many cellular companies have re-
duced the prices of their palm-sets, but still
they are unable to take over Chinese prod-
ucts.
People of third world are more interested
in buying this poor quality because it is more
affordable to meet their daily needs. Mobile
phone is still working as a status symbol in
this part of the world, and those who cannot
get at the original emerging handsets rely
upon more handy copies to carry. Let’s see
what measures world’s telecom giants can
take against this usurping market...

 www.
Flare Report
flare.
Telecom Free Download com.pk

Staff should serve customers

to build fair image of PTCL: Naveed Saeed
Naveed Saeed has rich experience in the field of telecom. He had served many leading companies in various
posts. He has worked with Mobilink, Teletec, Instaphone, Thuraya, Paktel and Warid Telecom as General Manager
Sales and Marketing. Recently he left Warid and joined Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) as
SEVP. In his tenure, almost all companies enjoyed his experienced and well-version personality

PTCL Senior Executive Vice President Busi-
ness Zones, Naveed Saeed says that PTCL
staff should work for customer care to build
fair image of PTCL. He expressed these
views during his meeting with the staff and of-
ficers of Business North zone in the cere-
mony of awarding cash prizes to the best
C.P. Installers in Islamabad.
Naveed Saeed said that as a result of cut-
throat competition and present scenario we
have been facing the challenges of providing
better and fault free telecom services to our
valued customers.
He said that effective measures are being
taken to provide fault free and better serv-
ices. "Be innovative, skilled and a hard
worker to serve and keep intact the PTCL
customers".
He further said that we have international
standard telecom network, skilled staff and
hardworking team. There is no reason to be
failed in achieving our goals and targets. He
said that in future we would have to achieve
our set targets regarding the provision of digi-
tal subscriber lines (DSL), removing faults,
giving new telephone connections and other
value added services.
At this occasion, Executive Vice President
Business North Islamabad also gave a pres-
entation about his respective zone.
He expressed that by adopting the habits
of hard work, devotion to job and honesty in
our deeds, we can achieve our targets. At the Senior Executive Vice President Business Zones PTCL Naveed
end Naveed Saeed gave the cash awards to Saeed speaks during a meeting with the staff and officers of
Business North Zone in Islamabad.
Saif Ullah Khan, Maqsud Ur Rehman, Qasim
Hussein and Sajjad Ahmed as the best CP
Installers in the month of April 2008 in Busi- users’ satisfaction is very significant. Naveed
ness Zone North. Saeed’s conference and the prize distribution
After those crises from which PTCL has ceremony are significant in this regard and
recently emerged, the employee as well as expected to bring fruitful future to PTCL.

28

Telecom Flare Report
The issue relating to mobile phone
hacking is not so common yet, but it can
attain an alarming magnitude in times to
come. The authorities concerned should
look into the matter forthwith to nip the
evil in the bud
T
here are multiple examples in Pakistan,
where unknown people intercept cellu-
lar voices and SMS communication of
mobile users; afterwards they blackmail them
and earn some bucks, it has been learnt by
Flare. At least four people reported that such
instance was happening with them. One of
such cases is being presented here as the
number was being intercepted by someone
and the issue is still unresolved.
It was presumed that it could be some
hacker who had compromised the security of
GSM network, however, later it was discov-
ered that hacking of GSM network was not
possible. An expert said, "Mobile hacking is
not possible in a GSM network…..Only opera-
tor can listen to user's calls or if someone has
duplicate SIM with same IMEI. Otherwise,
there are some security algorithms and no
one can break them."
The victim mobile users raised their voice
that cellular companies' staff listen and record
their voice and data communication and then
they blackmail them. A very reliable source,
requesting anonymity has told that the issue
raised and discussed in the Federal Cabinet
that cellular companies' staff is bothering
youngsters and threatening them to either
give them money or they will provide their
parents with their voice tapes.
Now a high member from Ministry of IT
and Telecom has written a letter to Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to seri-
ously look into the matter and make sure to
stop such practices, and culprits involved
should be penalized. On the other hand, it is
known that in the name of security there are
multiple authorities, which can track down any
conversation on the mobile phone. Issue
must be addressed to clearly defining the reg-
ulations so that un-authorized persons may
not reach the voice conversations in any way.
There exists no objection against Interior
Ministry or intelligence agencies, however
their act of listening to anyone's voice conver-
sation over phone is against very human
rights.
All cellular, satellite, land line and Wireless
Local Loop (such as World Call) have granted
Interior Ministry the direct access to all sys-
tems through which the ministry can intercept,
30 tape and retrieve any call they want. It was
said that Interior Ministry also demanded
whole record of cellular companies from their
CEOs.
Can any one hack mobile phone commu-
nication? Below is the series of emails and
discussion that may reveal instances of
mobile phone hacking in Pakistan. Zeeshan
(the victim) himself briefed Flare.
He said, "I have been facing a lot of trou-
ble for the last many weeks. It seems as if my
Ufone number has been hacked by someone.
I have been receiving calls from multiple
spoofed numbers which include mobile and
landline ids. My text messages are being
intercepted before or after they are delivered
to my friends."
All cellular, satellite, land
line and Wireless Local
Loop (such as World
Call) have granted
Interior Ministry the
direct access to all sys-
tems through which the
ministry can intercept,
tape and retrieve any call
they want
"The sender (Hacker) has full command
over the delivery of date, time and telephone
number of his choice and he can read my
messages and send a reply from any cell
number he desires, I am really puzzled. I
have sent complaints to the Ufone and PTA
through email, but they didn't consider heed-
ing them."
Zeshan maintained, "I really wonder if this
can be done by anyone else other than the
Operator (at the MSC) or by the legal inter-
cept spooks…..I am not going to narrate the
details how they do it, as it may reveal very
crucial information through which one can
intercept your GSM communication…..To be
quite fair, this sounds like a phone hack and
not a SIM hack….Most of the companies are
outsourcing their call-centers nowadays and
there's a chance that the applications are
www.
flare.
Free Download com.pk
misused by CSR within operator or their part-
ners….as above I would call it inside job."
He said, "I am a student and my phone
usage is purely domestic. I don't consider
myself to be liable for the legal interception.
Secondly, I am using a handset which doesn't
contain GPRS, infrared or Bluetooth so the
possibilities of phone hack are out of place.
He said, "About two years ago I received a
call from my sister's cell number, who teaches
at University of Karachi. There was a male on
the other end who appeared to be a literate
figure with an enchanting voice like most of
the operators/service representatives pos-
sess. He told me that he had found the cell
from the parking area and he was willing to
return it to us. I made two or three subse-
quent calls on the same (my sister's) number
and it was received by the same person. But
when I contacted my sister at her office, she
was amazed over the whole situation since
her cell was in her possession. I just couldn't
understand how could that man call me and
receive my calls."
"The same person made me a call from a
local landline number a few days later and
introduced himself as a service representative
of Ufone. He further asked me to let him
know three Ufone numbers of my choice that
I wished to be included into my free favorite
list. I didn't take him serious this time. But
when I tried to recall him the number was
dead. What was that?"
Zeeshan claimed, "It is for the last many
weeks that I am facing similar problems more
frequently. The culprit rings me miss calls
from multiple mobile, local and international
numbers and sends me messages from multi-
ple mobile numbers which include almost all
cellular networks of Pakistan. He has even
communicated me through the numbers of
my contacts via SMS. Whenever one of my
contact makes me call or I call him/her during
the call an SMS comes from the same num-
ber with wordings such as KEUN TANGG
KARTAY HO ISAY. BOHAT ACHA LAGTA
HAY MUJHAY PARESHAN KAR K etc.. I real-
ly am fed up with this situation and I have
decided to terminate the use of a cell phone
.This is a ruthless practice of harassment and
no one is there to rescue the victims. I am
sure that I am not having such complaints
agian.

 www.
flare.
Event Flare Report Free Download com.pk

Samsung, a leader in innovation, is building success with the launch of new

LCD TVs. Continuing the winning combination of innovative technology and
user-friendly features, these stylish designs have become a trademark for
Samsung brand

S
amsung marked the beginning of a new sion in this competitive product sector." said
era in the evolution of entertainment with Jin Gak Chung, Senior Manager Samsung
the launch of its new series of high-defi- Electronics.
nition LCD TVs for the consumer - Series 6, "By raising technology to the level of art,
Series 5, Series 4 and Series 3. Combining these new series are great examples of
elegant styling with a wide range of higher- Samsung's approach to LCD TVs," said
Farooq Naseem, CEO of
DWP Group. "Customer
care being the cornerstone
of DWP's business philoso-
phy, every LCD TV is
backed by Authorized Mr Jin Gak Chung, Senior Manager Samsung Electronics Co.
Ltd addresses during the launching ceremony.
Samsung-DWP Warranty.
Customers get complete
after sale support through a "HD market has unlimited potential in
country-wide network of Pakistan and consumer expectations are
Authorized Service Centres. already running very high. Samsung's new
This translates into com- HD solution presents unprecedented picture
plete customer satisfaction clarity, the widest color expression and amaz-
and their peace-of-mind ing sound, complemented by distinctive sleek
through trouble-free product style. These new models are set to make big
performance year after year. impact on our lives as the introduction of tele-
The new series LCD TVs vision did on the lives of our parents and
Mr Khurram Farooq Marketing Manager, Mr Jin Gak Chung Senior Manager Samsung are being offered at highly grandparents. Samsung has a reputation for
Electronics Co. Ltd, Mr Chang Sup Lee, Mr Farooq Naseem CEO DWP, Mr Hyun Joong Kim innovative and stylish products and our new
Manager Sales & Marketing, TV MEA and Mr Rizwan Butt COO DWP during the launching
attractive prices so as to
ceremony. make them affordable for
wider segments of buyers."
end components ordinarily exclusive to premi-
um sets, consumers can now experience HD market has unlimited
superb picture quality, optimized digital per-
formance, and ease-of-use in an HDTV that potential in Pakistan and
fits seamlessly into any home decor.
"Samsung, a leader in innovation, is build-
consumer expectations are
ing on the success with the launch of these already running very high.
Samsung's new HD solu-
Mr Farooq Naseem, CEO, DWP, expressing his views during the
tion presents unprecedent- launching ceremony.

ed picture clarity, the range will be no exception." said Khurram

Mr Jin Gak Chung Senior Manager Samsung Electronics Co.
Ltd with Mr Ali Azizuddin during the launching ceremony of
Samsung New Series of LCD TVs.
new LCD TVs. Continuing the winning combi-
nation of innovative technology and user-
friendly features, these stylish designs have
become a trademark for Samsung’s quality
and design. We are confident that people of
all levels will appreciate the addition of these
34 stylish models. This is very important step of
Samsung which is set to support our expan-
Faroooq, Marketing Manager, Samsung
widest color expression Electronics.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global
and amazing sound, com- leader in semiconductor, telecommunication,
digital media and digital convergence tech-
plemented by distinctive nologies with 2007 consolidated sales of
US$103.4 billion. Employing approximately
sleek style. These new 150,000 people in 134 offices in 62 countries,
the company consists of five main business
models are set to make big units: Digital Media Business, LCD Business,
Semiconductor Business, Telecommunication
impact on our lives as the Business and Digital Appliance Business.
Recognized as one of the fastest growing
introduction of television global brands, Samsung Electronics is a lead-
did on the lives of our par- ing producer of digital TVs, memory chips,
mobile phones and TFT-LCDs.

ents and grandparents

Flare Panel
Interview
Tough times ...
for electronics industry: Abbas
We have acquired distribution for world’s fameous brands
and are now focusing on telecom products.
Syed Khursheed Abbas, General Manager of
Mega Business Machine (MBM), has exten-
sive work experience to his credit in the field
of electronics, information technology and the
telecom sector. Previously, he has worked as
the CEO of a Singapore-based company
aside from his brief association with Konica, a
famous Chinese brand. Here are excerpts of
his exclusive interview to FLARE in Lahore.
FLARE: Would you like to say a word
about your company?
Syed Khursheed Abbas: Mega Business
Machine (MBM) was established back in the
year 2006. It is a Pakistani company and en-
joys good terms with our principals and brand
owners.
FLARE: May we also know something
about yourself?
SKA: At present I am working for Mega Busi-
ness Machine (MBM) as General Manager,
and in this capacity I have got to look after
the company’s IT and telecom sides as well.
We have acquired distribution for world’s
fameous brands and are now focusing on
telecom products.
I have around 15 years’ experience in the
36 field of electronics, IT and the telecom sector.
Syed Khursheed Abbas, GM, Mega Business Machine.
After graduating from IBA in Karachi, I started
my career with Sony and worked for it for
about eight years. Then I worked for HP Dis-
tributors in the United Arab Emirates for
around two years. Later, I joined a Singapore-
based company as its CEO in Pakistan. I feel
privileged by dint of my frequent visits to
China in connection with the OEM brands
work and also with Konca, a famous Chinese
brand. Indeed my China visit enriched my
knowledge and widened my horizon because
I had to travel frequently to China, especially
in IT and telecom hub cities of Shenzen and
Shanghai.
FLARE: Which companies and appliances
you deal in?
SKA: As I told you earlier that MBM is the of-
ficial distributor in Pakistan for products of
Canon like imaging and printing product line-
up, digital cameras, professional cameras,
projectors, scanner etc. We also deal in Fu-
jitsu Siemens, PC and notebooks. Apart from
it, we distribute exclusively Mercury brands
of computer peripherals and components.
We have power solution products like UPS
and inverters, not to speak about the com-
pany’s other wonderful plans.
www.
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Free Download com.pk
FLARE: How do you compare past with
present as far as the field of electronics is
concerned?
SKA: Actually, this is the age of converge
technology and we have one common plat-
form based on digitalisation for electronics
and, for instance, the IT and telecom prod-
ucts. So, if a company just focuses on tradi-
tional lines of electronics or IT, they will not be
able to survive. Previously, prices were stable
but the situation nowadays is totally different.
The electronics industry is experiencing the
toughest times in decades.
FLARE: Could you enlighten us on your
future plans with regard to Pakistani mar-
ket.
SKA: The market is getting segregated. So
now you have got to focus on each segment.
Obviously, you have to be very careful as to
what a consumer is really after and what
price range he is looking for. Whatever the
situation may be anyway, we remain a strong
market of 170 million hard-working people
and our market continues to grow. Pakistan is
set to boost its economy and inshallah it will
soon be on the right track despite heavy
odds.
Well, the future plan is simple. We’ll focus
and understand our consumers. We shall
watch their buying capacity and behaviour.
We are also careful about the after-sale sce-
nario. So whatever product we deal in, we
first set the infrastructure of service and then
the after-sale support.
FLARE: China has hit the international
market tremendously with its cheap prod-
ucts. How do you see its impact on the in-
ternational and national markets?
SKA: In fact, the China syndrome of cheap
products is almost over now. The cost of its
labour as well as production is going up,
whereas the material cost has the advantage
of low-shipping cost. Besides, China is now
focusing on the brand-building. We’ll see an
entirely new China after the Beijing Olympics.
Aside from it now all the major interna-
tional brands are also price-conscious. So
they are getting better products in their brand
name from China. This would, obviously,
leave no space for the original equipment
manufacturers (OEM) brands. Now, a
branded PC is much cheaper than the one
you get assembled by components.
FLARE: It’s a challenge to keep up one’s
performance steady in a destabilised
country like Pakistan. You must have
faced not only economic but also political
hurdles?
SKA: Yeah, this is a major bottleneck. Defi-
nitely, the political or law and order situation
in a country does influence a consumer in
one way or the other. This is also important
from the point of view of a product or the
service. On this point the consumer gets
upset. Actually, the wait-and-see policy is
sometimes quiet damaging for the economy
of a country and hence its industry. So we
must also be prepared for the crunch time.

 www.
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Downfall trend in stock exchange
Strict action to be taken against fake SMS
I M E
BER C R
CY
F
ederal Investigation Agency’s (FIA),
Cyber Crime Cell will take strict action
against the elements involved in
spreading the fake information through SMS
regarding the downfall trend in stock
exchange. Such activity would be considered
as cyber crime.
Recently, investors at the Karachi Stock
Exchange rose in protest against the
continued decline in stock prices. The
protesters who gathered outside the trading
hall carried placard and banners demanding
closure of the market. The investors, who
invested millions of rupees in the stock
market, are disappointed with the forthnight
decline of the stock market.
On July 17, the exchange's benchmark
100-share index was down 4.2 per cent at
10,056 points. The index is 18-month low and
has fallen about 36 per cent from an all-time
high in April.
To watch the scenario, FIA is actively
collecting the information to nab the elements
who are spreading fake information through
SMS as it is now a cyber crime.
President Pervez Musharraf has
promulgated an ordinance to fight cyber
crime under which accused could be jailed for
3 to 10 years or fined up to Rs 1,00,000 to
5,00,000, or both. Under the ordinance
promulgated, a tribunal with the name of
Information and Communication Technologies
would be set up to hear cases registered
under cyber crimes. The tribunal would work
under section 193 and 228 of Pakistan Penal
Code 1960. The tribunal would have the
status of a court and will work under section
480 and 482 of Pakistan Penal Code. The
tribunal would comprise of seven members,
headed by a Chairman.
According to the text of the ordinance
In case of cyber crime
through unauthorized
or invalid NID card
SIMs law enforcing
agencies will arrest
whom?
below are those activities which are legal
crimes:

Accessing any electronic system or
electronic devices without permission
would be a legal crime.

Accessing, destroying, hacking and
sabotaging any criminal data set up by
any organization or the government.

Committing a fraud using an electronic
system or Internet, or making
unauthorized changes.

Using someone else code or password to
access information, or to harass anyone
using Internet, or to transmit immoral
matter or images, or using electronic
system, device or Internet.

To participate in a terrorist or destructive
activity.
This ordinance will be enforced across the
country immediately. The Prevention of
Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2007 will apply
to every person who commits an offence
under the said Ordinance, irrespective of his
nationality or citizenship whatsoever or in any
place outside or inside Pakistan, having
detrimental effect on the security if Pakistan
Azhar Javed Telecom
or its nationals or national harmony or any
property or any electronic system or data
located in Pakistan or any electronic system
or data capable of being connected, sent to,
used by or with any electronic system in
Pakistan.
The ordinance, i.e. Prevention of
Electronic Crimes Ordinance, 2007, gives
exclusive powers to the FIA to investigate
and charge cases against such crimes.
The ordinance covers provision for illegal
and criminal acts such as data access, data
damage, system damage, electronic fraud,
electronic forgery, spamming, spoofing, cyber
terrorism, etc.
Chapter-II (of the Prevention of Electronic
Crimes Ordinance, 2007) deals with the
Offences and Punishments. Punishments
range from two years to death penalty. For
the general guidance offences and
punishments as mentioned.
Section 3 of the "Prevention of Electronic
Crimes Ordinance, 2007″ deals with criminal
access. The section states Criminal Access:
Whoever intentionally gains unauthorized
access to the whole or any part of an
electronic system or electronic device with or
without infringing security measures, shall be
punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to
two years or with fine not exceeding three
hundred thousand rupees, or with both.
Criminal Data Access is an Offence and
Punishable.
Section 4 (of the Prevention of Electronic
Crimes Ordinance, 2007) states, Criminal
data access: Whoever intentionally causes
any electronic system or electronic device to
perform any function for the purpose of
gaining unauthorized access to any data held
in any electronic system or electronic device
or on obtaining such unauthorized access
shall be punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may extend to
three years or with fine or with both. Assistant
Sessions Judge (East) Mustufa Safvi has
acquitted a businessman of cyber crime
charges.
Asghar Mehmood was prosecuted for
illegally stealing electronic data from his
previous employer, Al-Murtaza Machinery. He
was booked by the FIA on the complaint of
Asif Ali Rashid.
One thing we must not forget that the
issue of unauthorized SIMs is still unresolved.
In case of cyber crime through unauthorized
or SIM issued on invalid NID, law enforcing
agencies will arrest whom? Such cyber
crimes have caused unredeemable lose to
Stock Exchange and we can only hope that
37
this deprecation will no longer continue.


Event Flare Report
The conference revolved around team work exhibited by the KHL employees.
Employee of the Year and Outstanding Performance awards with enthralling
remunerations were announced. It was a family event encompassing annual
review of KHL employees and its credentials in 2007-2008
K
HL (Konnect Holden Private Ltd) has
completed many prestigious projects
in the field of planning and construc-
tion of telecommunications and power proj-
ects namely OSP works, fiber optic cable net-
works and microwave towers and systems in
the telecommunication field and sub-stations,
high-voltage under-ground cables electrical
installations of all types for industrial under-
taking, airports, distribution networks for
urban and rural areas.
Annual conference of the company was
held in PC-Bhurban on 25th-27th July 2008. It
was a family event encompassing annual
review of KHL employees and its credentials
in 2007-2008. This review meeting was
chaired by Mr Usman Sheikh Managing
Director of KHL, followed by reviews on each
department by their respective General
Managers. The conference revolved around
TEAM work exhibited by the KHL employees.
KHL has proved its impeccable performance
in the past 7 years by way of its undying com-
mitment to service quality and unbound con-
sistency in the service sector. KHL also
announced its Employee of the Year and
Outstanding Performance awards with
enthralling remunerations. The annual confer-
ence was an extravaganza event accompa-
38
nied by assessment of KHLs performance in
www.
flare.
Free Download com.pk
the last fiscal year, and all departmental Pakistani company which has been awarded
issues discussed at length. Undefined appre- the project under consortium for the Mass
ciation and appraisals apart from the awards Transit System in Dubai for the Planning,
were decided upon, which by far proved to be Design & Implementation of Optic Fiber Cable
highly motivating and encouraging for the Mass Transit System.
entire KHL team. o KHL represents HE Sheikh Mahmood
The two days stay
at PC-Bhurban was a
revitalizing, energizing
and immensely
refreshing event for the
entire team and their
families. The annual
review meeting con-
cluded with dinner fol-
lowed with a musical
night by Haroon and
others for KHL employ-
ees and their families. Bin Talal ( AL – Jaber Group) in Pakistan
The next conference besides being strategic consulting partners for
scheduled for 2009 will their overseas projects.
expedite in Malaysia, o KHL has built state of the art
Kaula Lumpur. Switching Centers / Buildings all across
KHL last six years had a specific focus to Pakistan with turn key built in features of
develop a niche presence in the rapidly 24x7 HVAC, FM 200 - Fire Detection &
expanding telecommunication, power & infra- Suppression Systems, Security Surveillance
structure development sectors. Network as well as providing TD utilities for
KHL is the fast growing TRUE 24x7 serv- operators within Telecom sectors.
ice provider. Following are the landmarks & o KHL is building GSM networks for all
expertise achieved by KHL. major multinational vendors & operators as
o KHL has constructed 5400Km of over 500 sites have been completed & deliv-
largest Optic Fiber Long Haul Network all
across Pakistan in 14 months.
o KHL & its Joint Venture exclusive
partner’s of FWO (Frontier Works
Organization – Pakistan Army) are the largest
turnkey service builders in infrastructure
deployment in telecom sector beside working
on specialized projects within & outside
Pakistan.
o KHL has the largest fleet of service
engineers & maintenance centers all across
Pakistan.
o KHL provides a unique SSS (Sale,
Support & Service) centers in Telecom, Power
& Construction Industry for turn key projects.
o KHL has deployed OFC network with ered within last six years.
its joint venture partners Pakistan Army o KHL is an exclusive representative in
(FWO) in AJK & Northern Areas. construction machinery for FOTON LOVOL in
o KHL has acquired contracts overseas Pakistan, a Chinese giant in heavy industry &
to lay and build Optic Fiber Long Haul and automobile manufacturing.
Metro project in Bangladesh, Congo, o KHL is the exclusive representatives
Mauritius, beside a Makkah – Medina Railway of Rosenberger Asia Pacific, for Pakistan,
line project under acquisition. Afghanistan and will now operate in UAE as
o KHL being the largest supplier of well, representing their product line and to
Optic Fiber Cable (OFC) is supporting three provide after sale support solutions including
major Telecom Operators in Pakistan. installation in the areas of Tele-
o In addition KHL being the 1st communication, IT & Electronics.

 SITE ACQUISTION

CIVIL
MECHANICAL

SITE DESIGN
TELECOM

SHELETRS
TOWERS

GENERATORS

HR OUTSOURCING

MANAGEMENT SERVICES

3G COMTECH(PVT)LTD.
TURNKEY SOLUTIONS PROVIDER
429-430 UMER BLOCK ALLAMA IQBAL TOWN
PH: +92-42-5296429,5296529,5296212
FAX: +92-42-5296329
E-MAIL:khurram.mushtaq@comtech.net.pk
 www.
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Telecom Free Download com.pk

Warid – your Ufone brings call

place tracker
Warid enables its family to find
different places nationwide on
move.
To find a place through SMS: Send an SMS by writting <nearest>
<space> <category> <space> to 141.
To find a place via MMS: Send an MMS by writing <nearest>
<space> <category> <space> to 141.

For each SMS or MMS location finding request Rs 3 + tax will be
charged, after successfully receiving the location another Rs 3 +
tax will be charged.

There are no subscription charges; one will be charged for only
request.

The given location may have an approximate error of 500 metres.

Map service is available for the residents of Lahore, Karachi,
Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Peshawer.

Places can be find in different categories such as dining
(restaurants), hotels, banks (ATMs and branches), religious places
(mosques, churches, temples).

Get an updated list of categories by sending CAT <space> LIST to
141.

Location Based Services is accessible through WAP.
block service
For those who are tired of spam calls,
Ufone brings Call Block Service. Ufon-
ers are allowed to block any disturbing
number.
Activation

Dial 420 from your Ufone number:
 Press 1 to view the list of blocked callers;
 Press 2 to add number to your block list;
 Press 3 to delete number from your block list;
 Press 4 to deactivate the service.

You can remove one number and add another by following the
same method.

The blocked number will listen: aap ka matloba number call wasool
nahe ker raha or your dialled number is not receiving calls at the
moment.
Charges: Once activated, Ufone will charge you Rs 9.99 per month.
Remember

You can block both off-net and on-net calls.

Landline numbers and international numbers are also block-able.

This offer is available for pre-paid users only.

Numbers of all cellular services are block-able.

At most 20 numbers can be blocked at a time.

Your friend
Ufone brings
finder-Warid
Video News Service Warid has given its members another
value added service of searching
Get news clips on your own handset
their friends with their due permission
through Ufone Video News service. It is
anytime.
the simplest way to remain connected
with the world. You can receive news
clips through MMS thrice a day, along To locate someone through SMS
with clips of breaking news and recent
happenings.
X-User can send an SMS by writing FIND <space> <NUMBER> to
141;
Activation
Y-User will immediately receive an SMS requesting to permit or

To subscribe simply type NEWS and deny the request of X-User;
send it to 2478.
After Y-User’s acceptance of the request, X-User will receive an

Subscribers will receive news clips instant location of the other from the service centre via SMS. In
through MMS thrice a day between case the location request is rejected by the Y-User, the denial of the
9:00 am-9:00 pm. service will be informed to the users through SMS;

Users will also receive clips of breaking news in the same time slot.
Location will be provided with friend’s name, place and distance in

A service expiry SMS will be sent to subscribers before deadline. kilometres.

To re-subscribe send News to 2478.

To unsubscribe send UNSUB to 2479. To locate someone through MMS

Charges: Subscription charges are Rs 50 + tax per Month.
Remember

Service is available for both post-paid and pre-paid users.

Only GPRS/MMS enable handsets will be facilitated by the service.

Service is not available on BlackBerry.

There are no charges on receiving MMS.

In case of un-subscription, the deducted amount is not refundable.
To activate GPRS/MMS on handset: Call 333 or send your mobile
model, e.g. Nokia 6300, to 222. You will receive your GPRS and MMS
42 settings in the form of an SMS.

Send MMS FIND <space> <NUMBER> <space> to 141;

The other person will receive an informing message to either allow
or deny the transmission of location;

In case of approval, the requester will get location of the other
person through MMS or as in case of denial a message of
rejection;

This location based service is also available on WAP.
Charges: For each request of finding the friend’s location via
SMS/MMS, Rs 3 + tax will be charged. On successfully
receiving the location, another Rs 3 + tax will be deducted
from applicant’s account.
 "Sit back and relax... let 3D Black “Extra Deep”
server rack take care of your environment"

Office Tel:9221-4322718-19 Factory

Suite # D-6, 4th Floor, Fax:9221-4322720 A-6, S.I.T.E.,
Rahat-jo-Dero, Block-2, P.E.C.H.S., Cell:92300-9242422 Karachi-75700
Main Tariq Road, Karachi. Email:info@3dt.com.pk Pakistan.
 www.
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Event Free Download com.pk

2 Floodlight Tape Ball Cricket Tournament

nd

Warid Telecom, whose talent hunt scheme proved a success

last year, with the discovery of Suhail Tanvir, has come once
again to pick up talents through Floodlight Tape Ball Cricket
Tournament. Warid's General Manager Marketing Moin
Qadri, while outlining the salient features of the scheme to
be concluded in the holy month of Ramazan, said at a press
conference that this scheme would help to reach at the
grass root level from all over the country. “Warid Telecom
strongly believes in nurturing the physical spirit and
sportsmanship and is actively promoting the sporting culture
in the country”.
Warid's Segment Manager Hassan Jaafar, Marketing
Operations Manager Farhan Abbas and Communications
Manager Asim Ahad, were also present on the occasion.
Apart from Warid management different celebrities from
showbiz and entertainment world including Jawad Ahmad,
Jal Band, Haroon, Waris Baig and Shaman Mirani were
present to boost the efforts undertaken by Warid.
Explaining the mechanism of the tournament, Warid GM
Marketing said, "Warid has always tried to provide best
platform and multiple opportunities to Pakistanis. To create
further interest in most popular form of cricket in the country
Warid is proud to announce its 2nd Floodlight Tape
Ball Tournament. This year we have doubled the
prize money for the winner, and will be giving Rs one
million instead of Rs 500,000 last year. The
tournament will be played in six cities of Pakistan on
a knock-out basis, where the winners of each city will
play against each other, in order to become the
national champions.
Moin also added that one of the major highlights
of this tournament will be the performances of
Warid's various brand ambassadors who will
represent teams of different cities: Abrarul Haq will
represent Lahore Lions, Jawad Ahmad Karachi
Super Kings, Haroon Multan Jets, Rahim Shah
Islamabad Champs, Shaman Mirani Hyderabad
Heroes and JAL Faisalabad Falcons.
A total of 416 teams will participate and fight to win title
and trophy of the coveted Warid 2nd Floodlight Tape Ball
Cricket Tournament. The registration for the tournament
commenced right after the press conference. Any cricketer
with a Warid mobile connection is able to register and
participate in the tournament.
The tournament will conclude in Karachi where the
winners of each city will participate in the Super League
Series. The winners would be this year's National
Champions who will take the championship trophy from last
year's tournament winners, the Combined Star
Cricket club from Gujranwala.

44
 www.
flare.
com.pk Free Download
Another blow in PTCL’s face
End of Pakistan Package
The leading telecom company of the country,
PTCL is facing another blow, this time by
Pakistan Telecommunications Authority
(PTA). Earlier PTCL was forced to withdraw
an unprecedented 45 per cent increase in do-
mestic leased license for internet and data
services.
New causality is Pakistan Package which
was launched in December 2007 for all cus-
tomers of the country, and was criticized by
every one as it charged customers with out
their consent. Whether any one has to call
other cities or not, he has to pay the fixed
amount.
Under the directives of PTA Pakistan
Package is going to see an end by August
31, 2008. Although PTCL administration is
not in favour of this, however PTA has di-
rected the company to abolish the said pack-
age by the end of this month in order to
maintain a pricing balance amongst market
players. Directions came after an appeal by
PTCL to the regulator that it wants to con-
tinue Pakistan Package was turned down by
authority. PTA has directed the company to
inform their customers with in a week about
the removal of this Package.
Directives by PTA, says that PTCL's justi-
fications to carry on Pakistan Package are
unreal. For instance PTCL in its appeal said
that Pakistan Package is selected by cus-
tomers on voluntary basis, however it was not
the case; PTCL's package was imposed
forcefully on all customers of PTCL and ma-
jority of them showed strong resentment
against this imposition. PTA said that it is still
receiving complaints from general public re-
garding refund/adjustment and deactivation
of Pakistan Package.
According to PTA only 25 per cent of
PTCL subscribers are availing Pakistan Pack-
age, majority of which are corporate clients
Flare Report Telecom
with heavy traffic load. PTA has advised
PTCL that this is actually in their own benefit
to quit the package to maximize its revenues
from those corporate clients.
In another justification PTCL said that
Pakistan Package was facilitating its cus-
tomers, in response to which PTA has re-
sponded that this fact is not true. Authority
said that PTCL has lowered local call pulse
rate from 5 to 3 minutes, along with the com-
pany’s highest tariffs for fixed-to-mobile calls,
which is defiantly not an act of facilitation for
customers.
45
 www.
Flare Report
flare.
Telecom Free Download com.pk

Telenor officials purchase shares under LTI programme

Telenor is Norway-based an international provider of high quality
telecommunications, data and media communication services
company. Telenor is one of Norway’s largest companies with revenues
in 2007 approx. NOK 105 billion (including Kyivstar) and a work force
of more than 35,800 domestically and abroad. Telenor is listed at the
Oslo Stock Exchange.
In connection with the Telenor's long-term incentive programme for
Telenor managers, Telenor's Group Executive Management and other
managers have purchased shares in the company.
The Long-Term Incentive programme includes approximately 100
employees holding national and international managerial positions. The
managers are offered a fixed element which will amount between 15 to
30 per cent of their base salary and which shall be used to purchase
Telenor shares with a lock-in period of three-year.
The objective of the programme is to develop and promote the joint
interests, shared by the managers throughout the Telenor Group, and
to align the interests between the managers and the owners, thereby
maintaining Telenor's focus on long-term value creation. The
programme is part of a comprehensive remuneration package, which is
an important element in ensuring that Telenor is capable of recruiting
on Telenor executive management remuneration, which was presented
to the Annual General Meeting on May, 2008.
The shares are purchased at NOK 78, 94, which is the volume-
weighted average of the five calendar days from July 28 to August 1,
2008.
The table below lists the primary insiders who have purchased
shares in connection with the LTI programme (acquired
shares/updated shareholding including related parties):
Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President & CEO 7,517/71,786
Jan Edvard Thygesen, Executive Vice President 4,200/64,015
Morten Karlsen Sørby, Executive Vice President 4,776/22,629
Trond Ø. Westlie, Executive Vice President 4,347/25,795
Ragnar H. Korsæth, Executive Vice President 2,794/6,663
Bjørn Magnus Kopperud, Executive Vice President 3,117/11,094
Hilde M. Tonne, Executive Vice President 2,800/5,415
Sigve Brekke, Executive Vice President 5,859/8,636
Pål Wien Espen, Group General Counsel 2,611/7,356

and retaining key personnel, both nationally and internationally. Knut Giske, Group Controller 1,507/6,227
The principles of the LTI programme were a part of the statement

brings Zong brings

Video on Demand
Lion King on stage ZONG brings latest video news updates
of sports, politics, business and enter-
tainment on your handsets with its stim-
ulating Video on Demand service.
With Video on Demand, you will get
daily video updates of latest happenings
and breaking news as they happen from
the most popular and most reliable TV
channel, i.e. GEO News & GEO Super.
You will receive video clips five times a
day between 10:00 am to 07:00 pm and
breaking news as soon as they occur.

The Lion King, a famous cartoon and Walt Disney epic, is still popular
amongst all age groups. Now Ghazala Siddiqui with her talented cast
and proud sponsorship of Ufone has brought this enchanting play with
beautiful costumes and designs to stage. The play continued till
August 10, 2008 at the PNCA auditorium.
Ufone has brought a well-adapted stage drama, The Lion King, for
the aficionados of theatrical performances in Islamabad.
The cast of this play includes some of the renowned actors,
including, Asad Khan, Tulin Khalid Azim, Natasha Aijaz, Uzair Jaswal,
Shahana Khan and Hamza.
Ufone has been involved in sponsoring theatrical performances
since 2004. The previous famous and well-received plays that Ufone
brought include, Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, Moulin Rouge, The
Good Doctor and Freedom Bound.
About the event Mr Asher Yaqub Khan, CMO Ufone said, "Ufone
has always taken pride in promoting art and culture in Pakistan. It's
not only quality service that we focus on but also quality entertainment
that brings colour to our customers' lives and makes a definite
difference."

46
Activation

To subscribe to the service, simply SMS NEWS to 633.

To subscribe to the sports service, send SPORTS to 633.

For Geo news, send NEWS to 632.

For Geo Super SMS SPORTS to 632.
 You will be intimated two days before your subscription expiry and
also on the last day of your subscription. To re-subscribe send
News to 633.
 In case you want to unsubscribe send UNNEWS or UN NEWS to
636.
 In order to unsubscribe from all channels, send UN ALL or UNALL
to 636.
Charges

Subscription charges are Rs 50 plus tax per month/channel.

Un-subscription is charged with Rs 2.

Un-subscription from Geo news alert will cost yours 10/request.
Remember

Only GPRS and MMS handsets can avail the opportunity.

There will be no charges on receiving the MMS.

This service is available to all prepaid and post-paid subscribers of
ZONG.

 www.
Zubair Ahmed Kasuri
flare.
Cover Story Free Download com.pk

H
istory has witnessed many highly ac-
claimed sinking ships. Even in the
digital age, one can provide life-time
assurance neither for the durability of an
equipment nor for the stability of an organiza-
tions. Why a ship drowns? One is justified in
thinking that only passengers know, but what
about those spectators who love to bade
good bye and to keep an eye on the depart-
ing relatives while standing on the shore?
Twenty first century has witnessed in its very
first decade, the downfall of Pakistan’s largest
telecom operator Pakistan Telecommunica-
tion Company Limited (PTCL) in the time of
telecom revolution.
PTCL nation’s most favourite and reliable
communication tool has finally disappointed
not only its consumers but also its workers. It
is true that PTCL’s profile is not very impres-
sive from its very beginning but still it has al-
ways remained nation’s first priority. But
today all of us have witnessed from our re-
spective shells, the aftermath of nationwide
telecom conspiracy initiated by PTCL. Before
peeping in to the existing situations, let’s re-
view the history of PTCL.
In 1995, Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-
organization) Ordinance formed the basis for
PTCL monopoly over basic telephony in the
country. It also paved the way for the estab-
lishment of an independent regulatory
regime. The provisions of the Ordinance were
lent permanence in October 1996 through
Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganiza-
tion) Act. The same year, Pakistan Telecom-
munication Company Limited was formed and
listed on all stock exchanges of Pakistan.
In 2006, government took the decision to
privatize PTCL. There were three bidders in
the auction and Etisalat won the bid with a
higher margin. The government initiative was
discouraged by the PTCL employees and
country wide protests and strikes were ob-
served by PTCL workers. They even dis-
rupted landlines of some big government
institutions like Punjab University Lahore and
many lines of public sector were also
blocked. Military had to take over the man-
agement of all exchanges in the country.
Tool down and hunger strikes, rangers
They arrested many workers and put them
behind the bars. The contention between attacking peaceful rallies, locked offices,
government and employees ended with a 30
per cent increase in the salaries of the work- threats to jam the nationwide PTCL
ers.
The very first seed of controversy was network, blocked salaries; what else
sown when Etisalat remained failed in making
the payment on time. As a result of its miser- remains to observe!
able failure, it proposed a reschedule which
faced criticism of not only the fact that logistic
national asset going into foreign hands but We can easily point out the loop and holes connection was provided nationwide with Rs
also that it was not done in an orderly man- from the very first day of PTCL’s privatization. 2,000 as telephone set’s fix price).
ner. Since then there is a long list of diplomatic By the passage of time PTCL introduced
People suggest that privatization is the lib- strategies against innocent users and cruel many deceiving consumer packages, such as
eralization of trades and investment; it is true initiatives against loyal workers. Some big Broadband Pakistan (with apparently unlim-
to some extant but for others it is utterly de- changes introduced in PTCL after its privati- ited free and swift download), Local Call
ceptive. A poorly carried privatization is zation are the VSS (Voluntary Separation Package (Rs 3.99 per hour from 4 pm to 8
nonetheless havoc. It can immediately disrupt Scheme for its employees), ERP (SAP am, a very limited time offer), Pakistan Pack-
the national economy and stability and what based), restructuring B& CC (Billing and Cus- age, PTCL +, Phone n Net (with a poor serv-
else could be more appropriate in its citation tomer Care Software) and others. Another ice and bad connectivity), and many others.
than PTCL and Etisalat. This whole scheme seemingly minor change was the redesigning Additional facilities are PTCL Calling Cards,
has resulted in national lose of millions, dis- of brand identity (logo) that was going to Telephone Bill, Kahdo SMS and PTCL Buzz.
48 continuity in connection and disturbance in present PTCL’s new face, later on PTCL wire- The aftermath of privatization is cata-
terms of acceptance. less was transformed in to Vfone (whose free strophic. Below are given some of them.
 www.
flare.
com.pk Free Download

PTCL’s privatization instead of giving cus-
tomers incentives have started to over-
charge them with unnecessary charges,
like the change of customer service num-
ber (14 to 1214, 15 to 1215, 16 to 1216,
17 to 1217 18 to 1218, 36 to 1236) and
the imposition of local call charges on pre-
viously free inquiry lines.

Consumer irritation is aggravated with up
coming automatic packages, Pakistan
Package started to charge all customers
without their consent Rs 199 per month for
nationwide calling. Mostly consumers do
not know how to deactivate the service
others remain busy in calling customer
service which always remained busy.
Such decisions reflect the self-imposed
monopoly of PTCL’s management to vio-
“We understand that people
are suffering and the com-
pany is at loss too, but the
Arab management has not
once increased salaries
since 2005. We don’t want
to do something that we
will regret later. But we
have no choice. If they fail
to fulfil our demands, we
will jam the network”
late the ethical social norms.

Many PTCL services are offering very
poor quality, like PTCL’s Broadband and
international dialling where the continuous
strike has paralyzed a great part of the
country. Internet service is very poor
where international lines are mostly busy.

In case of appeal to deactivation certain
broadband service applicant faced tire-
some results, including the repetitive visits
to customer service centres and additional
bills.

Reforms were expected but nothing
changed in PTCL. Linemen are still avail-
able at bribes to repair phone discon-
nected and malfunctioning lines.

Since its privatization, Etisalat has in-
vested nothing in PTCL.

PTCL new management is cherishing ex-
travagant salaries where the very founda-
tional bricks of the organization (lower
staff) are awarded with insufficient salaries
and low allowances.

PTCL management has appointed un-
trained higher officials at heavy salaries,
like the appointment of EVP (Executive
Vice President) and SEVP (Senior Execu-
tive Vice President) where the trained
Lower staff is expelled by the virtue of
VSS.
The sixty four days of war tug between the
employees and management of PTCL re-
sulted in numerous problems on behalf of all,
the consumers, employees and last but not
the least the rigid management. Before strike
three types of employees were working for
the company:

Regular: those who were appointed prior
to 1995 under the PTCL Act 1996 when
Telegraph & Telephone Department (T&T)
was converted into PTCL.

New Compensation Pay Group (NCPG)
covering employees who were appointed
on contract basis in July 2005 onwards.

This second type later introduced daily
wagers.
PTCL workers have no way except to go on
strike against the suppressing policies of their
authority. These strikes continued for sixty
four days, and below mentioned demands
were made by the workers:

All the daily-wagers be regularised and
more employees be recruited as over
30,000 had opted for retirement some
time back and the PTCL staffers with cur-
rent strength were not able to respond to
all the complaints of the subscribers owing
to which the telephones remained out of
order for longer durations.

Employees rejected the Unified Pay Scale
(UPS) and demanded the regularization of
contractual and daily wage employees, as
announced by the President.

The employees also demanded that regu-
lar PTCL employees be given pay scale –
including thirty five per cent increase in
Cover Story
house rents and three hundred per cent
raise in convenience and transport al-
lowances – applicable in 2005 which was
announced by the then Prime Minister
Chaudhary Shujaat Hussain. All employ-
ees other than PTCL are availing the re-
vised allowances.
The delay in resolving serious issues of em-
ployees by the management throw them in to
suspicion. “We don’t understand why the
management can’t solve our problems. Our
demands are simple. Employees have given
a life time serving the company. We wish for
better salaries and job security in these diffi-
cult times when it has become impossible to
make ends meet,” said Malik Habib, a repre-
sentative for the PTCL’s United Workers Al-
liance.
“The government understands our stance
but it is the Etisalat management that does
not budge. They don’t care for workers’ wel-
fare,” said Chairman PTCL Lions Staff Union
Nadeem Haider.
“We understand that people are
suffering and the company is at
loss too, but the Arab manage-
ment has not once increased
salaries since 2005,” he said,
complaining that he had been
making Rs17, 000 since last three
years. We don’t want to do some-
thing that we will regret later. But
we have no choice. If they fail to
fulfil our demands, we will jam the
network”.
The private party had only pur-
chased 26 per cent of PTCL while
the rest was with the public and
the government, the interests of
the majority shareholders were not
being protected as the manage-
ment was taking the decisions to
its benefit. The often started negotia-
tion between employees and manage-
ment always ended hopelessly. Even
PTCL asked for proper security meas-
ures against the constant threats by
PTCL workers to jam the whole sys-
tem. Etisalat was also planning to
pack up in case government is not un-
able to safeguard its interests. It was an-
nounced several times that settlement has
finally taken place between the two parties
where the fact was otherwise.
CBA leaders, deputy central chief organ-
iser of Pakistan Telecommunication Employ-
ees Union Shakeel Ahmed Khan and Shafi
Mallah said that the leaders and the People’s
Labour Bureau (PLB) with whom the govern-
ment and the PTCL management had held
talks had no say and no representation
among PTCL employees. They rejected their
announcement that strike had been called off
and termed them non-representative and
non-CBA union leaders. The government and
PTCL management had talked with the peo-
ple who had been defeated in last referen-
dum, they claimed.
The demand for release of 200 employees’
salaries that had been accepted was not an
issue raised by the CBA leaders. They actual 49
 www.
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Cover Story Free Download com.pk

demand was company to withdraw unified

pay scale which was still hanging over their
head like a sword of Damocles.
The leaders argued that at the time of privati-
sation they were given to understand by the
Privatisation Commission and PTCL manage-
ment the terms and conditions of regular em-
ployees, who were governed by Efficiency &
Disciplinary Rules (E&D) 1973, would remain
unchanged, their salaries would be increased
as per ratio of increase in other government
entities.
“But, nothing of the sort happened over
the past three years. On the contrary what
happened is nothing but a bolt from the blue
in the shape of change of our cadre from
BPS, which covers government employees to
UPS that will exclusively govern under com-
pany regulations with entirely different set of

terms and conditions,” CBA deputy chief or-

ganiser Pakistan Telecommunication Employ-
ees Union (PTEU), Shakeel Ahmed Khan
said.
Regional General Manager of PTCL has
received consent forms to be filled in by em-
ployees by July 21, 2008. The leaders and
employees were more concerned about More than 10 per cent of total one million phones re-
clause-6 of the UPS, indicating that “pension-
able emoluments as on June 30, 2008 with mained out of order during the strike. The number of
an annual compoundable increase of eight
per cent for number of years of service from
defective lines was swelling with each passing day as the
July 1 till date of retirement shall be used for
calculation of pension”.
company failed to fill majority of the vacant positions.
Khan contended “UPS is launched without The situation left about 25,000 regular workers in the
taking CBA on board. It seeks to change
cadre of regular employees, who will become company while the number of daily-wagers was about
company’s employees with no guarantee
about their job’s security.” 10,000 where all workers remained on strike
“Once our cadre is changed the company will
have hire and fire powers although we didn’t
opt for VSS because we thought since we are the striking workers to immediately resume without adequate measures for workers’ pro-
regular we should not fear about our job but their work, expressing its concern over dis- tection. The question at the present situation
the UPS has changed it all jeopardised our ruption of telecom services and operations is not whether or not to privatize; it is rather
jobs”. caused by the strike being observed by “few how the privatization should take place pro-
A total of 968 employees have availed VSS in misguided employees”. “This use of brute viding adequate safeguard of the interests of
PTCL Hyderabad region and of the remaining force against the workers has exposed the all parties - workers, employers and the gen-
899, 724 regular and 175 NCPG employees government’s claims of making privatization eral public. Interests of the public and the
work in the region. Same situation is present beneficial for the workers,” said the People’s workers would be safeguarded only when
in Punjab, Sindh and N.W.F.P. Rights Movement (PRM) in a statement. there is periodic examination of the methods
Various trade unions and civil society or- Privatization has opened up the possibility of privatization and when there is a greater
ganisations have condemned the action by of economic democracy with the widest pos- degree of discussion on the ways in which
rangers against striking workers of PTCL and sible participation of the public in the eco- social consequences are to be dealt with.
called upon the government to stop the ongo- nomic activities. However, the privatization Public consensus as far as possible on the
50 ing spate of anti-worker incidents. The PTCL efforts have not been without social conse- methods of privatization would ensure not
administration, on the other hand, has urged quences, particularly when they were rushed only the success in privatization but also eq-
 www.
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uitable distribution of the fruits of such suc-

cess. Such equitable distribution can take
place only when the restructuring of the pub-
lic enterprises before or after privatizations
takes into consideration the social effect and
proceeds with the approach and mechanism
that will ensure that adverse effects on the in-
terests of the workers are handled through
discussion and consensus.
PTCL’s decision to hold the salary of those
who are indulged in the strikes further intensi-
fied the misunderstanding. As a result of this
sixty four days strike:

More than 10 per cent of total one million

phones remained out of order during the
strike. The number of defective lines was
swelling with each passing day as the
company failed to fill a majority of the po-
sitions which fell vacant after the retire-

ment of 30,000 employees, most of them

low-grade staffers. The situation left about
25,000 regular workers in the company
while the number of daily-wagers was
about 10,000, where all the workers re-
mained on strike. Rescuers and ambu-
lances faced terrible results due to out of
order landlines.

The personnel of law-enforcement agen-
cies remained deputed at all sensitive
PTCL installations to protect them against
any designs of anti-social elements, who
might take advantage of the turmoil.

About the work affected by the protest,
every month approximately 50,000 tele-
phone subscribers obtained duplicate bills
from the PTCL offices, but the company
could not issue the copies of phone bills
as no work was carried out. Over 50,000
subscribers who failed to get the duplicate
bills would not be in a position to make
payment within the due date adding that
this way the subscribers would be forced
to pay the bill with a surcharge.

Hundreds of ATMs and on-line operations
of several banks in different cities re-
mained out of work due to inoperative
phone lines as the PTCL with a meagre
workforce could not attend to all com-
plaints.

PTCL, which earned more than Rs 30 bil-
lion profit when it was in the public sector,
could hardly make Rs 16 billion profit last
year. One of the reasons was the hiring of
some officials on high salaries citing Rs4
million plus and stay at a five-star hotel in
Islamabad every month as a few perks
being offered to a top official.

PTCL’s revenue for the fiscal year of
2008-09 has been seen a decrease of
more than Rs 45 billion.

More than 1,00,000 PTCL subscribers
blocked their connections due to the ab-
sence of customer care and the increase
in difficulties to keep the line going.
Customer belief that the private manage-
ment only seemed to siphon off the profits
and was least concerned about the griev-
ances of subscribers. With the involvement of
government this issue finally resolved on July
31 but there is no assurance that how far this
solution will sustain.
Soon after the management’s decision,
the PTCL United Workers Alliance called off
its nationwide strike that had disrupted phone
service and rendered more than half a million
fixed line connections non-functional. The
management issued notifications to regu-
larise contractual employees on the New
Compensation Pay Grade (NCPG) and in-
crease the salaries by 35 per cent. The effort
made by PTCL workers to fight for their rights
has encouraged people nationwide to raise
their voices against the tyranny of officials.
PTCL is saved for the time being and we
hope that it will bear to survive with its defec-
tive policies and selfish authorities. This situa-
tion has been pended for the time being but
how long? No one knows! However, govern-
ment must have to keep its indulgence steady
in the company because it is impossible for
the management to carry on the operations
and relations independently. The role played
by PPP in resolving the issue is self-evident
and reflects the responsible attitude of gov-
ernment to step forward and accept the chal-
lenge. Recently Pakistan Telecommunication
Authority (PTA) has asked PTCL to withdraw
its Pakistan Package for customer’s afford-
ability and satisfaction. Etisalat’s future, un-
like other Middle East investors, does not
seem to be promising. It has caused PTCL in- 51
evitable lose of popularity and prefer-ability.

 www.
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Informative Low Range Mobiles Free Download com.pk

Sony Ericsson K310i Nokia 1680 Classic

Rs Rs
4,950 4,800

Dimension: 101 x 44 x 17 mm Dimension: 108 x 46 x 15 mm, 66 cc

Weight: 82 g Weight: 73.7 g
Battery: Talk time Up to 6 h, Stand-by Up to 360 h Battery: Talk time Up to 7 h 40 min, Stand-by Up to 424 h
Memory: 15 MB memory Memory: Combo 32 MB Built-in Flash, 4 MB SDRAM (1000
Connectivity: Infrared, USB, GPRS Class 10 (48 kbps), HSCSD Phonebook entries + 20 dialed, 20 received, 20 missed calls)
Display Size: 128 x 160 pixels Connectivity: GPRS Class 10, EGPRS Class 6, SyncML 1.2
Display Colour: UBC, 65K colors Display Size: 128 x 160 pixels
Display Colour: TFT, 65K colors

Sony Ericsson T250i Samsung X210

Rs Rs
4,450 4,350

Dimension:100 x 45 x 13 mm Dimension: 86.2 x 43.9 x 19.7 mm

Weight: 82 g Weight: 76 g
Battery: Talk time Up to 7 h, Stand-by Up to 300 h Battery: Stand by 350 h Talk time 3 h
Memory: 2 MB internal memory (20 received, dialed and missed calls) Memory: 1.8 MB shared memory
Connectivity: Infrared, GPRS Class 10 (48 kbps), HSCSD Connectivity: GPRS Class 10(48 kbps), Infrared, USB
Display Size: 128 x 160 pixels, 1.7 inches Display Size: 128 x 160 pixels, 8 lines, Embedded wallpapers
Display Colour: TFT, 65K colors Display Colour: TFT, 65K colors

LG KP110 Trend T-444 Gudu

Rs Rs
4,050 5,499

Dual Sim

Wrong Call Restriction

FM Radio

Built-in MP3 MP4 Player
Dimension: 103 x 46.4 x 13.4 mm
250 Phone Book Memory
Weight: 65 g
Secret Message Inbox
Battery: Talk time Up to 4 h, Stand-by Up to 400 h
Speaker Phone
Memory: 64MB built-in memory + Extendable memory card
Wall Papers
Connectivity: GPRS Class 10 (48 kbps), USB
Polyphonic Ring Tones
Display Size: 128 x 128 pixels, 1.5 inches
65K Colour Screen
Display Colour: CSTN, 65K colors
Multiple Languages

Time Synchronization

52

Above prices are subject to change as per market

 www.
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Rs 21,400
Sony Ericsson W910i
Dimension: 99 x 50 x 12.5 mm
Weight: 86 g
Battery: Talk time Up to 9 h,
Stand-by Up to 400 h
Memory: 40 MB internal memo-
ry + Memory Stick Micro (M2)
Connectivity: Bluetooth v2.0
with A2DP, USB, GPRS Class 10
(48 kbps), EDGE, 3G (HSDPA
3.6 Mbps)
Display Size: 240 x 320 pixels,
2.4 inches
Rs 36,900
Motorola RAZR V8
Luxury Edition
Dimension: 103 x 53 x 11.9 mm
Weight: 117 g
Battery: Talk time Up to 7 h 50
min, Stand-by Up to 330 h
OS: Linux
Memory: 2 GB internal user
memory
Connectivity: Bluetooth v2.0
with A2DP, USB, GPRS Class 10
(48 kbps), EDGE Class 12
Display Size: 240 x 320 pixels,
2.2 inches (2nd external 2 inch-
es display (240 x 320 pixels)
with contextual touch interaction
Current Mobiles Informative
Rs 46,400
Nokia N95 8GB
Dimension: 99 x 53 x 21 mm, 96 cc
Weight: 129 g
Battery: Talk time Up to 6 h, Stand-
by Up to 280 h
OS: Symbian OS 9.2, S60 rel. 3.1
Memory: 8 GB internal memory (No
Memory Card Slot)
Connectivity: Bluetooth, Infrared,
USB, GPRS Class 32 (107 / 64.2
kbps), HSCSD, EDGE Class 32 (296
kbps; DTM Class 11, 177 kbps), 3G
(HSDPA), WLAN (Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g,
UPnP technology)
Display Size: 240 x 320 pixels, 2.8
inches
Rs 36,500
Sony Ericsson
W960i
Dimension: 109 x 55 x 16 mm
Weight: 119 g
Battery: Talk time Up to 9 h,
Stand-by Up to 370 h
OS: Symbian OS v9.1, UIQ
3.0
Memory: 256 MB internal
flash memory (96 MB reserved
for OS + 160 MB user memo-
ry) + 8 GB shared internal
memory for storage, 128 MB
RAM (NO MEMORY CARD
SLOT)
Connectivity: Bluetooth v2.0
with A2DP, USB, GPRS Class
10 (48 kbps), 3G (384 kbps),
WLAN (Wi-Fi 802.11b ),
Display Size: 240 x 320 pix-
els, 2.6 inches (Handwriting
recognition)
53
Above prices are subject to change as per market

Informative Current Mobiles
Rs 31,500
Samsung U900 Soul
Dimension: 105 x 49.5 x 12.9 mm
Weight: 112 g
Battery: Talk time Up to 4 h, Stand-
by Up to 280 h
Memory: 128 MB shared memory +
microSD Memory Card (TransFlash)
Connectivity: Bluetooth v2.0 with
A2DP, USB, GPRS Class 10 (48
kbps), EDGE Class 10 (236.8 kbps),
3G (HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps)
Display Size: 240 x 320 pixels, 2.2
inches (Navigation panel)
Rs 18,300
Samsung i450
Dimension: 101 x 52 x 17.8 mm
Weight: 114 g
Battery: Talk time Up to 5 h,
Stand-by Up to 500 h
OS: Symbian OS 9.2, Series 60
v3.1 UI
Memory: 40 MB built-in memory
+ Extendable microSD
(TransFlash)
Connectivity: Bluetooth v2.0 with
A2DP, USB, GPRS Class 10 (48
kbps), EDGE Class 10 (236.8
kbps), 3G (HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps)
Display Size: 240 x 320 pixels,
2.4 inches
54
Above prices are subject to change as per market
www.
flare.
Free Download com.pk
Rs 37,000
Apple iphone 8GB
Dimension: 115 x 61 x 11.6 mm
Weight: 135 g
Battery: Stand-by Up to 250 h,
Talk time Up to 8 h
OS: Mac OS X v10.4.8
Memory: 8 GB shared memory,
(no Memory Card)
Connectivity: Bluetooth v2.0
(headset support only), USB,
GPRS, EDGE, WLAN (Wi-Fi
802.11b/g)
Display Size: 20 x 480 pixels, 3.5
inches (Multi-touch input method,
Accelerometer sensor for auto-
rotate)
Rs 31,000
LG KU990 Viewty
Dimension: 101 x 52 x 17.8 mm
Weight: 114 g
Battery: Talk time Up to 5 h,
Stand-by Up to 500 h
OS: Symbian OS 9.2, Series 60
v3.1 UI
Memory: 40 MB built-in memory +
Extendable microSD (TransFlash)
Connectivity: Bluetooth v2.0 with
A2DP, USB, GPRS Class 10 (48
kbps), EDGE Class 10 (236.8
kbps), 3G (HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps)
Display Size: 240 x 320 pixels,
2.4 inches
 www.
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Rs. 29,000
BlackBerry 8800
Smartphone
BlackBerry 8800 smart phone is
designed to let you do your best
work from wherever you choose.
It gives you phone, email, organ-
izer, web browsing & im. & then
it goes a step further, providing
GPS including the pre-loaded
Blackberry Maps application. A
media player for video clips
and music. Expandable memo-
ry and much more. .Sleek &
performance-driven.
Rs. 25,000
BlackBerry Pearl
8120 smartphone
Designed to help you do
everything you want with
your life. It comes complete
with advanced phone fea-
tures, multimedia, digital
camera, video recording, Wi-
Fi capabilities & expandable
memory. It offers full
Blackberry experience.. e-mail,
browser, SMS and MMS,
instant messaging, & much
more... small, smart & stylish.
Current Mobiles Informative
Rs. 27,000
BlackBerry Curve
8310
Featuring a metallic finish, clean
lines and soft edges, the
BlackBerry Curve 8310 is the
smallest & lightest BlackBerry
smartphone ever to come with a
full QWERTY keyboard. The
BlackBerry Curve 8310 is
designed to simplify your life in a
friendly, personal and easy-to-
use package. It's your connec-
tion to everything that matters.
Rs. 18,000
BlackBerry 8700g
Need to stay connected while
you're on the go? Get the
BlackBerry 8700g smart-
phone. Email, phone, web
browser and text messaging
keep you in touch virtually
wherever you are. And the
thin, lightweight design with a
full QWERTY keyboard lets
you do it all in style
55
Above prices are subject to change as per market
 www.
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Informative Free Download com.pk

Trend T-786i Dual Sim GSM

Trend mobiles were the first in introducing the dual SIM mechanism that
allowed a person to hold two different SIMs in one mobile phone. It has now
come up with the simplest and yet the most loaded of the mobile phones. It is
called the, Trend Perfect Dual Sim, T-786i is available in Bar shape with keypad
and touch screen facility.
The features of T-786i are startling. Its basic edge is that a user can retain
different network operators' SIMs in one cell phone and can
receive calls in both. It is a complete multimedia cell phone with 2
mega pixel camera, which has an audio and video recorders and play-
ers as well. The USB data cable allows the user a unique facility of 'Plug N
Play'.
Attach the cable with your computer and view what you have record-
ed. There is no need of any software or driver installation unlike other
cell phones. Trend T-786i having Bluetooth connectivity, GPRS and
MMS. Trend mobiles offers an unmatched Deluxe Package along with
the set which includes a free-of-cost Bluetooth Device, 256 MB mem-
ory card, hands free, USB port, Desktop charger, 2 extra batteries
and In-Car charger and a Trendy pouch to carry your cell phone in
style.
The Trend T-786i is a fashion conscious handset, which has a
good and attractive size of LCD and gives solid and quality feel
when in use. Mobile phone holds another edge to other cell
phones in the market. It has the style, it has the attractive look
and it has all that you require in cell phone to begin with.

Samsung i900 Omnia

Now that the dust of the Diamond vs. Omnia PocketPC battle settles down, our up
close and personal look at the rivals continues with Samsung i900 Omnia. Slick looks,
great feature-pack and ingenious software solutions are things that hold true for the
i900 Omnia in the same extent as for the Diamond.
Since the Samsung i900 Omnia boasts loads of character and personality it's no
wonder it holds the crowd hooked ever since it was announced. The first five megapix-
el Windows Mobile cameraphone has inspired quite a following and now that it's
already market available in Europe we are more than happy to welcome the Omnia
back after a well deserved breather. Well then, we've seen it race, let's watch it cruise.
Key features:
 Quad-band GSM support
 3G with HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
 Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS
 624MHz Marvell PXA312 CPU and 128 MB RAM
 3.2" 65K-color touchscreen with resolution of 240 x 400 pixels
 5 megapixel autofocus camera with wide dynamic range mode,
face tracking, smile detection, geotagging
 8 to 16 GB of storage memory, microSD expansion
 Built-in GPS receiver with A-GPS
 Wi-Fi
 Stereo Bluetooth and USB connectivity
 FM radio with RDS
 Optical joystick with virtual mouse functionality
 Built-in accelerometer for auto screen rotation and call muting
 TV-out
 Solid build and great finish

56
 www.
flare.
com.pk Free Download Informative

Nokia E71
Following some time off since the E51, the Nokia E-series is back to the shop with a new pet for
business-minded users. Nokia E71 seems to have it all to take over and build on the E61 QWERTY
messengers' expertise. The suave upgrade is much slimmer now (and thus much more pocket-friend-
ly), more powerful and a whole lot more skilled. The smaller display is actually the only step down.
Well, we're back in business too, and we're about to see if that's the step back before a major leap
forward.
Key features
 Quad-band GSM support
 3G with HSDPA 3.6Mbps support
 Landscape 2.36" 16M color display of QVGA resolution
 Comfortable full QWERTY keypad
 Convenient business-minded shortcut keys
 Symbian 9.2 OS, S60 UI with FP1 (topped with some FP2 goodies)
 369 MHz ARM 11 CPU and 128 MB of SDRAM
 Wi-Fi
 Built-in GPS receiver, A-GPS
 3.15 megapixel auto focus camera with LED flash
 110 MB of internal memory, microSD expansion, ships with a 2GB card
 Slimmest smartphone to-date, slimmest Wi-Fi and/or GPS handset to-date
 Stainless steel casing
 Standard 2.5mm audio jack
 Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP support
 MicroUSB v2.0
 FM radio
 Infrared port
 Great battery life
 Office document editor

Samsung i8510 INNOV8

The new Samsung uber-phone, called Samsung i8510 INNOV8, is finally in our
hands. It packs so many goodies that it's hard to decide where to start from. It's not the
first 8 megapixel handset but it's the best we've seen so far and better yet it's among the
most loaded smartphones to see daylight. Everything about the i8510 INNOV8 speaks
high-tech and since this is the case, we guess it has come to the right place, 'cause high-
tech is what we do for a living.
We rarely see mobile phones that truly impress us and the Samsung i8510 INNOV8
is among those few. We are in the process of making a full review however we couldn't
help but post a quick preview for all of you to enjoy.
Key Features
 General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/2100 MHz, GPRS/EDGE
class 10, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
 Dimensions: 106.5 x 53.9 x 17.2 mm, 140 g
 Display: 2.8-inch 16M color TFT, QVGA resolution (240 x 320 pixels)
 Memory: 128 MB RAM, 8/16GB flash storage, hot-swappable microSD card slot
(up to 16GB)
 OS: Symbian 9.3, S60 3rd edition UI, Feature Pack 2
 Still camera: 8 megapixel autofocus, mechanical shutter, automatic lens cover,
dual Power LED flash, digital image stabilizer, geotagging, auto panorama shot,
face detection, smile detection, blink detection
 Video camera: MPEG4 VGA@30fps, QVGA@120fps high-speed recording
 Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP, Wi-Fi with DLNA certification, 3.5mm
audio jack, TV-out, universal microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS
 Misc: Accelerometer for screen auto rotate, Optical touchpad, 3D hardware
accelerator, DivX support, stereo speakers, DSP audio technology, FM
radio with RDS

57
 www.
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Informative Free Download com.pk

LG KF700
LG KF700 codenamed LG Virgo is among the latest LG multimedia full touch devices. It stands out
with multiple control-and-navigation methods. LG KF700 puts together a 3" touchscreen display, a slide-
out standard keypad and a side mounted scroll wheel with an adjacent OK key. And still, the KF700 is a
rather compact device, which reminds a lot of the LG Prada. The fashionable Prada however easily gets
blown out by the LG KF700. Now then, let's take it out for a spin, shall we?
Key features

Tri-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE plus HSDPA 7.2Mbps

3 megapixel autofocus camera

Secondary camera for video calls

3" 262K-color TFT touchscreen display with 240x480 pixels resolution

Touch feedback (haptics)

FM radio

Stereo Bluetooth

Sliding hardware keypad

Side scroll wheel with an OK key

Nokia 3120
Even if every little Nokia wants to be an N95 when it grows up, most of them end up
a decent looking gadget with a neat little perk here and there to top the good old calling
and texting. Nokia 3120 classic is just another one of them mixed by the time-tested
recipe - do the bare minimum but do it right. Now, the notion of bare necessities in mobile
phones is stretching as we speak, so no wonder yet another 3G-enabled junior gets
thrown in the midrange skirmish.
Key features

2" 16M-color QVGA display

2 megapixel camera with LED flash

S40 user interface

Compact and lightweight

Quad-band GSM support

3G network support, video-call

Bluetooth and USB connectivity

Stereo FM radio

microSD card slot, microSDHC support

Very good battery

2.5mm standard audio jack

Rich preinstalled content

58
 www.
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com.pk Free Download Coming Mobiles Informative

Motorola ZN5 Motorola A1600

Size Size
Dimensions 118 x 50.5 x 12-16 mm, Weight 114g Dimensions 98.9 x 53.5 x 19.6 mm, Weight 128g
Display Display
Type TFT, 256K colors, Size 240x320 pixels, 2.4 inches, Touch-sensitive key- Type TFT touchscreen, 256K colors, Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.4
pad inches, Handwriting and speech recognition (Chi & Eng)
Ringtones Ringtones
Type Polyphonic, Customization Download, Vibration Yes Type Polyphonic (40 channels), MP3, Customization
Memory Download, Vibration Yes
Phonebook 2000 entries, Photocall, Call records 20 dialed, 20 received, 20 Memory
missed calls, Card slot microSD (TransFlash), up to 4 GB, 350 MB internal Phonebook Advanced, Photo call, Call records 30 dialed, 30
memory, Freescale 500 MHz CPU received, 30 missed calls, Card slot microSD (TransFlash), up
Data to 4 GB,
GPRS Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD No, EDGE Data
Class 12, 3G No, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/i, Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD No
Infrared port No, USB Yes, v2.0 EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps, 3G No, WLAN No, Bluetooth
Features Yes, v2.0 with A2DP, Infrared port No, USB Yes, v2.0
OS Linux, Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging, Browser microUSB
WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, Games Yes, Colors Grey, Camera 5 MP, 2560?1920 Features
pixels, autofocus, xenon flash, video (15fps), Java MIDP 2.0, OS Linux, Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Email, Instant
MP3/WMA/eAAC+ player, CrystalTalk Technology, 3.5mm standard audio jack Messaging, Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, Games Yes,
FM radio, Organizer, Built-in handsfree, Voice dial, Voice memo Colors Black, Camera 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, autofo-
Battery cus, video, Built-in GPS receiver, A-GPS function
Stand-by Up to 580h, Talk time Up to 9h 30 min Java MIDP 2.0, Stereo FM radio, MP3/WAV/WMA/AAC+
Design: 8.2 player, PIM functions, Office document viewer, Business
Features: 8.3 card scanner, Photo editor, Voice dial/memo, Built-in
Performance: 8.2 handsfree
Battery
Stand-by Up to 180h, Talk time Up to 6h

Design: 7.0
Features: 7.0
Performance: 6.8

Sony Ericsson S302

Size
Dimensions 101 x 46 x 12 mm, Weight 79g
Display
Type TFT, 256K colors, Size 176 x 220 pixels, 2 inches, Wallpapers,
screensavers
Ringtones
Type Polyphonic, MP3, AAC, Customization Composer, download,
Vibration Yes
Memory
Phonebook 1000 entries, Photo call, Call records 30 received, dialed and
missed calls, Card slot Memory Stick Micro (M2), 20 MB internal memory
Data
GPRS Yes, HSCSD No, EDGE Yes, 3G No, WLAN No, Bluetooth Yes, v2.0
with A2DP, Infrared port No, USB Yes
Features
Messaging SMS, MMS, Email Browser, WAP 2.0/xHTML, Games Yes +
downloadable, Colors Thunder Grey, Crystal Blue, Camera 2 MP,
1600x1200 pixels, flash, video, Java MIDP 2.0, MP3 player, FM radio
TrackID music recognition, Image viewe, Organiser, Voice memo, Built-in
handsfree, T9
Battery
Stand-by Up to 300h, Talk time Up to 7h

Design: 7.7
Features: 7.6
Performance: 7.8

Los Angeles: Skateboarder Tony Hawk poses on the press line with a Sidekick LX
phone with his namesake at the T-Mobile Sidekick LX Tony Hawk Edition Party.

LG KF240 Sony Ericsson C905

Size Size
Dimensions 94 x 47 x 16 mm, Weight 91g Dimensions 104 x 49 x 18-19.5 mm, Weight 136g
Display Display
Type TFT, 256K colors, Size 176 x 220 pixels, Downloadable wallpapers, Type TFT, 256K colors, Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.4 inches, Accelerometer sensor for
Ringtones auto-rotate
Type Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3, Customization Download, Vibration Ringtones
Yes Type Polyphonic, MP3, Customization Download, Vibration Yes
Memory Memory
Phonebook Yes, Call records 40 dialed, 40 received, 40 missed calls, Card Phonebook 1000 x 20 fields, Photo call, Call records, 30 received, dialed and
slot missed calls, Card slot Memory Stick Micro (M2), 2 GB card included, 160 MB inter-
microSD (TransFlash) up to 2GB, 20 MB internal memory, nal memory
Data Data
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD No, EDGE No, 3G No GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD No, EDGE Class 10, 236.8
WLAN No, Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP, Infrared port No, USB Yes, v2.0 kbps, 3G HSDPA, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP, Infrared
Features port No, USB Yes
Messaging SMS, MMS, Email Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, Games Yes, Colors Features
Black, Camera 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, video, Java MIDP 2.0, FM radio, Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging, Browser WAP 2.0/HTML
MP3 player, MPEG-4 player, Organiser, Voice memo, Built-in handsfree, T9 (NetFront), RSS reader, Games Yes + downloadable, Colors Night Black, Ice Silver,
Battery Copper Gold, Camera 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, image stabiliser,
Stand-by Up to 200h, Talk time Up to 3h video(QVGA 30fps), xenon flash; secondary videocall camera, Built-in GPS receiv-
er, A-GPS function, Camera images geo-tagging, Java MIDP 2.0, FM radio with
Design: 6.0 RDS, MP3/AAC/MPEG4 player, TrackID music recognition, Picture editor/blogging
Features: 5.9 TV out, Organiser, Built-in handsfree, Voice memo/dial
Performance: 5.8 Battery
Stand-by Up to 380h, Talk time Up to 9h

Design: 8.1
Features: 8.3
Performance: 8.3
59
 www.
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Informative Coming Mobiles Free Download com.pk

Nokia E66 Samsung i900 Omnia

Size Size
Dimensions 107.5 x 49.5 x 13.6 mm, 62.6 cc, Weight 121g Dimensions 112 x 56.9 x 12.5 mm, Weight 127g
Display Display
Type TFT, 16M colors, Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.4 inches, Five-way scroll key Type TFT touchscreen, 256K colors (65K effective), Size 240 x 400 pixels,
Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate 3.2 inches, Accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate, Handwriting recognition
Ringtones Ringtones
Type Polyphonic, Monophonic, MP3, True Tones, Customization Download Type Polyphonic, MP3, Customization Download, Vibration Yes
Vibration Yes Memory
Memory Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall, Call records
Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall, Call records Practically unlimited, Card slot microSD, up to 8GB, 128 MB RAM, 256 MB
Detailed, max 30 days, Card slot microSD, up to 8GB, hotswap 110 MB ROM, 624MHz Marvell PXA312 processor, 8 GB/16 GB internal memory
internal memory, 128 MB SDRAM Memory, ARM 11 369 MHz processor Data
Data GPRS Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD No, EDGE
GPRS Class 32, 100 kbps, HSCSD Yes, EDGE Class 32, 296 kbps, 3G Class 12, 3G HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth Yes,
HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP, v2.0 with A2DP, Infrared port No, USB Yes, v2.0
Infrared port Yes, USB Yes, v2.0 microUSB Features
Features OS Microsoft Window Mobile 6.1 Professional, Messaging SMS, EMS,
OS Symbian OS 9.2, Series 60 v3.1 UIm, Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging, Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, RSS
Instant Messaging, Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML Games Java download- feeds, Games Yes + Java downloadable, Colors Silver, Camera 5 MP,
able, Colors, White Steel, Grey Steel, Camera 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, aut- autofocus, image stabiliser, video, flash; secondary videocall camera, Built-
ofocus, video(VGA 22fps), flash; secondary videocall camera, VoIP Built-in in GPS receiver, Java MIDP 2.0, FM Radio with RDS, MS Office document
GPS receiver, A-GPS function, Java MIDP 2.0, MP3/AAC/MPEG4 player, viewer/editor, PDF viewer, MP3/AAC/AAC+/WMA/OGG/AMR player,
Office applications, FM radio, Push to talk, Voice command/dial, Turn-to-mute DivX/XviD/WMV/MP4 player, TV Out, Voice memo, Built-in handsfree
PIM including calendar, to-do list and printing, Built-in handsfree Battery
Battery Stand-by Up to 500h, Talk time Up to 5h 50 min
Stand-by Up to 264h, Talk time Up to 7h 30 m Design: 8.2
Design: 8.0 Features: 8.3
Features: 8.2 Performance: 8.2
Performance: 8.1

Nokia E71
Size
Dimensions 114 x 57 x 10 mm, 66 cc, Weight 127g
Display
Type TFT, 16M colors, Size 320 x 240 pixels, 2.36 inches, Full QWERTY
keyboard, Five-way scroll key
Ringtones
Type Polyphonic, Monophonic, MP3, True Tones, Customization Download
Vibration Yes
Memory
Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall, Call records
Detailed, max 30 days, Card slot microSD, up to 8GB, hotswap, 110 MB
internal memory, 128 MB SDRAM Memory, ARM 11 369 MHz processor
Data
GPRS Class 32, 100 kbps, HSCSD Yes, EDGE Class 32, 296 kbps 3G
SDPA, 3.6 Mbps, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port Yes, USB Yes, v2.0 microUSB
Features
OS Symbian OS 9.2, Series 60 v3.1 UI, Messaging SMS, MMS, Email,
Instant Messaging, Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, Games, Java down-
loadable, order now, Colors White Steel, Grey Steel, Camera 3.15 MP,
2048x1536 pixels, autofocus, video(VGA 22fps), flash; secondary videocall
camera, Built-in GPS receiver, A-GPS function, Java MIDP 2.0,
MP3/AAC/MPEG4 player, Office applications, FM radio, Push to talk,
Voice command/dial, PIM including calendar, to-do list and printing
Battery
Stand-by Up to 410h, Talk time Up to 10h 30 min
Design: 8.1
Features: 8.2
Performance: 8.2
Moscow: A man uses his iPhone. Apple is still negotiating with mobile service providers
in Russia and China. And yet analysts estimate that only the U.S. has more iPhone
users than Russia and China. In both countries, the device enjoys super-exclusive sta-
tus, thanks to a thriving market for "unlocked" iPhones adapted for local use.

Nokia 7210 Supernova Samsung L700

Size Size
Dimensions 106 x 45 x 10.6 mm, Weight 69.8g Dimensions 109 x 46 x 12.8 mm,
Display Display
Type TFT, 256K colors, Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.0 inches Type TFT, 256K colors, Size 176 x 220 pixels, 2.1 inches
Ringtones Ringtones
Type Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3, Customization Download Vibration Type Polyphonic, MP3, Customization Download, Vibration Yes
Yes Memory
Memory Phonebook 1000 entries, Photo call, Call records 30 dialed, 30 received, 30
Phonebook 2000 entries , Photocall, Call records, 20 dialed, 20 received, missed calls, Card slot microSD (TransFlash) up to 8GB, 30 MB shared mem-
Card slot microSD (TransFlash), up to 2GB, 30 MB internal memory ory
Data Data
GPRS Class 32, 88 kbps, HSCSD No, EDGE Class 32, 296 kbits, 3G No, GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD No, EDGE Class 10,
WLAN 236.8 kbps, 3G Yes, 384 kbps, WLAN No, Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP,
No, Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP, Infrared port No, USB Yes, v2.0 Infrared port
microUSB No, USB Yes, v2.0
Features Features
Messaging SMS, MMS, Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, Games Snake 3D, Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Email, Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, Games
Bounce II, Sudoku, Sea Sweeper, Colors Bubble Gum Pink, Vivid Blue, Yes + downloadable, Colors Titan Silver, Grayish Brown, Chargoal Gray, Noir
Camera 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, video (QCIF@10fps), Java MIDP 2.0, Black, Rose Pink, Lilac Violet, Camera 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, flash, video
Stereo FM radio with RDS, MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA player, MPEG-4 Java MIDP 2.0, MP3/AAC/eACC+/WMA player, MPEG4/3gp player, FM radio
player, Built-in handsfree with RDS, T9, Office document viewer, Organizer, Built-in handsfree
Voice command/dial/memo, Macromedia Flash Lite 2.1, Adobe Flash 3.0, Battery
Flickr Upload, Widsets, T9 Standard battery, Li-Ion 960 mAh
Battery
Stand-by Up to 250h, Talk time Up to 2h Design: 7.2
Features: 7.3
Design: 6.3 Performance: 7.2
Features: 5.8
Performance: 5.7
60
 www.
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3G iPhone versus BlackBerry

akistan’s telecom sector is recently hit

P by two world’s most anticipated

handsets: iPhone and BlackBerry. They
are different phones for different people, and
now it is time for Pakistanis to remain careful
in selecting any handset. Apparently there is
no difference, a mobile is after all a mobile,
but as mobile’s use is no more limited to
making or receiving calls so there are many
features which are comparable in each set.

Design: iPhone has a gorgeous screen and

minimalist design. The Bold’s cleanest
looking BlackBerry ever and the faux leather
back is appealing, but the iPhone’s iconic
design makes it the obvious winner.

Quality in build: iPhone 3G wins for its

scratch-resistant screen. Its lack of moving
parts (i.e., flash-based memory and lack of a
QWERTY keyboard) dictates better durability.

Size: The Bold is the biggest BlackBerry ever,

but it makes good use of its keyboard. The
iPhone is taller than the Bold, but slimmer
and less wide.
Screen: The Bold’s screen, though smaller,
looks better because of its denser PPI. But
the iPhone’s display is larger and has more
real estate.
Operating system: iPhone 3G has a better
operating system because of the App Store,
the iPhone 3G’s OS truly turns the handset
into a miniature computer.
Call Quality: Both phones had extremely
good call quality so there is nothing to argue
about.
Device longevity: It is difficult to predict at
this point, but the iPhone 3G will likely prove
to last longer because Apple’s software
updates coupled with the App Store keep
making the iPhone more powerful.
Personal opinion: It simply depends on what
you need. Business users and BlackBerry
fans will go for the Bold. General consumers
will purchase iPhone 3G. Those business
users who enjoy the casual perks of the
iPhone 3G will carry around both as far as
they can afford it.
The iPhone has a beautiful music player
and helpful for surfing web. But the apps are
in their infancy and iPhone users will scroll
through 1000s of apps to put a quality
ecosystem together. It is very hard to imagine
iPhone as a business tool at the moment.
Moreover, it is a two handed device which
can struck in certain situations. The
BlackBerry is a serious business tool that
now has some great advantages as far as a
one handed device is concerned. It has not
only video capture but also threaded MMS
(iPhone does not). It is very hard to make a
choice; however, by the end of the day verdict
will be of consumers (not reviewers).

Battery: The Bold wins due to the longer life

of its battery. In terms of everyday usage, it
lasts longer than the iPhone 3G.
Keyboard: Bold is better than iPhone
because it has a keyboard.
E-mail: People buy BlackBerry phones by
principaly keeping in mind e-mail; RIM has
practically perfected e-mail. iPhone 3G’s e-
mail is also good: its HTML rendering is state
of the art, but other than that RIM has e-mail
pegged.
Corporate usage: BlackBerry handsets were
made for enterprise users; the Bold is the
clear winner because of its seamless
integration with Outlook and Exchange. With
iPhone 2.0, Apple is just beginning to step
into the enterprise zone and has a lot more to
prove.
Pricing: BlackBerry is now old so it is
relatively cheaper than iPhone.
New life for tape
New technologies come along and relegate old technologies to the trash heap–
that’s the rule of thumb. But like any rule, there are exceptions. Tape is one
exception. Despite the falling costs, rising capacities and greater flexibility of
disk-based storage, tape continues to march along. And while it might be limited
largely to long-term backup, tape continues to draw a substantial amount of
R&D.
IBM and Sun, for example, have been racing to be the first with a 1 TB tape
drive. IBM is due in September with the System Storage TS1130, which supports
drive-based encryption and delivers a maximum data rate of 160 MBps. Sun is
hoping to be first out of the gate, though, planning an August launch of the
StorageTek T10000B, which relies on a 1TB cartridge developed by Imation. Sun is touting a 120 MBps
data rate and is looking to tie the system to the T9840D tape drive for a multi-tiered solution. DAT tape is
also getting a new lease as a data storage medium. HP and Sony have jointly developed a new open format,
DAT 320, that boosts capacity to 320 GB and can back up 86 GB in one hour with 2:1 compression, all
while using less power than the current DAT 160 format.
Tape has lower-cost solution for backing up business critical data, which is why failures in tape-based
systems are often much more serious than in their disk-based brethren. But Fujifilm Recording Media has
developed a tool that can be used to monitor tape conditions for its LTO Ultrium cartridge. By keeping an
eye on age, use and other conditions, administrators should be better able to track down the source of
failures, even when the problem is not in the tape at all. Renewed interest in tape is most likely the
outgrowth of the increased storage requirements that are hitting all levels of the enterprise industry. 61

Informative Memory Card Phone
i-mate Ultimate 9502
Rs 56,000
The i-mate Ultimate 9502 is a no-compromise messaging device with a
High Resolution touch- screen display. Wireless connectivity includes
tri-band 3.5G, Wifi, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR & Quad-band GSM with
EDGE. i-mate Ultimate 9502 even has integrated GPS for mapping,
navigation, & a wealth of location-based services.
HTC TyTN II The Ultimate Mobile Companion
Rs.50,600
Ready for Business? The HTC TyTN II is more powerful than anything
you've seen before, it takes communication to the next level. TyTN II is
the most robust Windows Mobile device in the market today
imate Ultimate 8150
Rs 48,500
ULTIMATE 8150 - The Ultimate Super Thin Each device in the
Ultimate range has a Direct XGA Video Out. This allows the device to
drive computer displays and projectors with content directly.
62
Above prices are subject to change as per market
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Nokia E90
Rs 55,000
Symbian OS v9.2 S60 release 3.1, 330 Mhz ARM processor, Full
QWERTY keyboard, GPS receiver (built-in maps)
The Nokia E90 Communicator is a premium business device with
high-speed mobile broadband and integrated mobile office that keeps
you effective while on the move.
imate JasJam
Rs.49,100
Introducing a new superstar for those requiring a mobile device with
that bit extra. With superb full colour screen, built in slider QWERTY
keyboard & a power house of funcyionality, The i-mate JASJAM is the
new benchmark in mobile computing. Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0,
400 Mhz Samsung processor, Video call, Pocket Office(Word, Excel,
Outlook)
Nokia N95 8GB
Rs 46,400
A new look. A bigger screen
Up to 8GB of internal memory. The Nokia N95 8GB multimedia comput-
er has more of what you're looking for. 5 megapixels, DVD-like quality
video, Carl Zeiss Optics. Access your music, emails, plus advanced
web browsing & integrated GPS & Nokia Maps. Upload photos
instantly to Flickr, download videos with ease. It's what you need. It's
where you are.
 www.
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Panasonic-LUMIX DMC-FS20
This 10.1 mega pixel digital camera comes with a CCD sensor, 4x
optical zoom and 4x digital zoom. It has a 3-inch LCD screen and a self-
timer. It has features like Image Stabilizer, built in flash, auto flash and
red eye reduction. It has an in built memory of 50 MB and can be
upgraded with either a Secured Digital card or Secured Digital High
Capacity card. It comes with USB and audio-video interface
connectivity. This digital camera works on a rechargeable Li Ion battery,
which can shoot upto 280 images and comes in Silver, Black and Pink
colour. High-angle Mode, Quick AF, Face Detection, Focusing Distance
Display are unique features of this camera.
Casio-Exilim-F1
This 6 mega pixel digital camera comes with a CMOS sensor, 12x
optical zoom and 4x digital zoom. It has a 2.8-inch large LCD screen
and a self-timer. It has features like built in flash, auto flash and red eye
reduction. It has an in built memory and can be upgraded with SDHC,
SD, MMC, MMC plus cards. It captures images in JPEG and RAW for-
mats. The camera comes in black colour and can capture 60 continous
shots per second. HDMI Mini Connector (output), Hot shoe, external
microphone jack, Face Recognition, You-Tube Capture Mode are the
additional features of the digital camera.
Kodak-EasyShare Z1085 IS
This 10 mega pixel digital camera comes with a CCD sensor, 5x
optical zoom and 5x digital zoom. It has a 2.5-inch Touchscreen LCD
and a self-timer. It has other features like built in flash, auto flash and
red eye reduction. It has an in built memory of 32 MB and can be
upgraded with either a Secured Digital or a Secure Digital High
Capacity . It comes with USB and audio-video interface connectivity.
The camera also captures video in MPEG format, thus saving the mem-
ory. It comes in black colour and has added features like Face
Detection, High Definition Images and Video, Text and voice tagging,
Histogram feature, Multimedia slideshow.
Upcoming Digital Camera Informative
Pentax-Optio V20
This 8 mega pixel digital camera comes with a CCD sensor, 5x optical
zoom and 5.1x digital zoom. It has a 3-inch large LCD screen, image
stabilizer and a self-timer. It has other features like built in flash, auto
flash and red eye reduction. The camera comes with an inbuilt
memory of 51.1 MB and the memory can be upgraded using Secured
Digital or SDHC cards. It works on a Li Ion battery which can capture
upto 200 images in one battery recharge. This camera comes in Silver
Colour and comes with a unique feature called Smile Capture.
Sony-DSLR A300
This 10.2 mega pixel digital SLR camera comes with a CCD sensor. It
has a 2.7 inch large tiltable LCD screen, optical viewfinder and a self-
timer. The camera comes with a rechargeable Li Ion battery which can
capture upto 740 images in one battery charge. Images captured can
be saved on Memory Stick Duo, Memory Stick Pro Duo cards. This SLR
camera saves images in JPEG and RAW image formats.
Polaroid-t737
This 7 mega pixel digital camera comes with a CCD sensor, 3x optical
zoom and 4x digital zoom. It has a 3-inch large LCD screen and a self-
timer. It has other features like built in flash, auto flash and red eye
reduction. It has an in built memory of 16 MB and can be upgraded with
a Secured Digital card. It comes with USB and audio-video interface
connectivity. This camera comes with a rechargeable Li-Ion battery and
comes in Black colour.
63

Informative Latest Laptop
Acer-Aspire One (Linux)
This laptop comes with Intel 1.6 GHz Atom Processor, 512 MB RAM
which is upgradeable upto 1 GB and a 8 GB HDD. It has a 8.9 inch
Widescreen display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 dpi. The laptop has
an integrated sound card, Built-in camera, inbuilt speakers, Wifi and
Touchpad mouse. The laptop comes has interfaces like 2 USB ports
and a 5 in 1 Digital Media Reader. It works on a Li Ion battery with a
battery life of 3 hours and comes with Linpus Linux Lite operating sys-
tem.
HCL-Leaptop Z23-Z2301
This laptop comes with Intel Core2 Duo 1.5GHz processor, 1GB RAM
which is upgradeable upto 2GB and 160GB HDD. It has a DVD Writer,
15.4-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 800dpi. The laptop also
has an integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 video card,
integrated modem and sound card, Wifi, Touchpad mouse, inbuilt
speakers and microphone. The laptop has interfaces like Express Card
slot, Four USB ports, Firewire port, Bluetooth and a 4 in 1 Digital Media
Reader. The laptop comes with 1.3 megapixel camera, Windows Vista
Home Premium and a Li Ion battery.
Lenovo-3000 Y410 775788Q
This laptop comes with Intel 1.83 GHz Core2 Duo Processor, 2 GB
RAM, which is upgradeable upto 4 GB and a 160 GB HDD. It has a
DVD writer, 14.1-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 dpi. The
laptop also has an integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
video card, integrated modem and Intel High Definition sound card,
Wifi, Touchpad mouse and inbuilt speakers. It has interfaces like PCM-
CIA slot, S-Video port, Firewire port, bluetooth, infrared port and a 6 in
1 Digital Media Reader. The laptop comes with an inbuilt camera and
Windows Vista Home Basic operating system.
64
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Sony-VAIO VGN-NR38GN/L
This laptop comes with Intel 1.8GHz Core2 Duo Processor, 1 GB RAM,
which is upgradeable upto 4 GB and a 200 GB Hard Drive. It has a
DVD Writer, 15.4-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 dpi. The
laptop also has an integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
video card, integrated Intel High Definition sound card, Wifi, Touchpad
mouse and inbuilt speakers. It has connectivity options like Express
Card slot, 4 USB ports, firewire port and a 3 in 1 Digital Media Reader.
The laptop comes with Windows Vista Home Basic operating system.
Dell-Studio 17 (Core2 Duo T8100)
This laptop comes with Intel 2 GHz Core2 Duo processor, 3 GB RAM
which is upgradeable upto 4 GB and 250 GB HDD. It has a DVD Writer,
17-inch display with a resolution of 1440 x 900 dpi. The laptop also has
an integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 video card, inte-
grated modem and sound card, Wifi, Touchpad mouse and inbuilt
speakers. It comes with interfaces like Express Card slot, 5 USB ports,
firewire port, bluetooth, infrared port and a 8 in 1 digital media reader.
The laptop comes with an inbuilt 2 megapixel camera, HDMI port and
Windows Vista Home Premium operating system.
HP Compaq-tc4400 Tablet PC
This laptop comes with Intel 1.83 GHz Core2 Duo Processor, 1 GB
RAM which is upgradeable upto 4 GB and a 120 GB HDD. It has a
12.1-inch display with a resolution of 1024 x 768. The laptop also has
an onboard Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 video card, inbuilt
Sound Blaster Pro sound card and inbuilt speakers. The laptop comes
with connectivity options like PCMCIA slot, S-Video port, 3 USB ports,
firewire port, bluetooth, infrared port and a 2 in 1 Digital Media Reader.
The laptop comes with a Dual Point and Digital Pen and has Windows
Vista Business operating system.
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Canon-CanoScan-8800F
This flatbed scanner provides an Optical resolution of 4800x9600 dpi
and can scan papers of maximum size 216x297 mm. It allows
producing high-resolution scans of photos, documents, even 120mm
format filmstrips also possible. It comes with high-speed CCD film
scanner packer equipped with a full range of digitization features. It
supports conversion of scans into digital data. Digital filing and
enhanced PDF functions with MP Navigator EX to ensure easy
searches and information management.
Xerox-One Touch 2400
This scanner provides an Optical resolution of 1200x4800 dpi and has
48bit colour depth. It scans papers of maximum size 210x297 mm. It
allows colour correction, text enhancing technology, optical character
recognition and has an USB interface. It has direct scan to print
feature. It has five One Touch buttons, four of which are pre-configured,
allowing you to send scanned images straight to Paper Port for editing,
email, OCR for editing text or a printer. It includes a built-in backlight
and film holder for scanning 35mm slides and negatives that also
archives old photos from negatives for higher quality.
HP-Color LaserJet CP6015xh
This Network colour printer has a print capacity of 41 A-4 ppm for both
colour and black. It comes with the resolution of 1200 x 600 dpi with
print capacity of 16500 papers per cartridge. The printer holds a
maximum input capacity of 2100 sheets of A3 size and comes with 512
MB inbuilt and 1 GB upgradeable memory. It has a USB port, two EIO
slots, HP Jetdirect Gigabit Ethernet Print server, Jetlink and accessory
port for Kensington lock. Additionally it features 5 paper trays.
Latest Scanners and Printers Informative
HP-Scanjet G4050 Photo Scanner
This flatbed scanner provides an Optical resolution of up to 4800 dpi
and can scan papers of maximum size 216x311 mm. It allows bright,
vivid scans with six-color, 96-bit scanning at hardware resolution of
4800x9600dpi. This scanner scans 3D objects and comes with built-in
transparent materials adapter holds sixteen 35 mm slides and 30
negative frames. The front panel comes with 4-buttons (Scan, Scan
Film, Copy or Scan to PDF) and has a USB 2.0 Interface.
HP-Color LaserJet CP1518ni
This Colour printer has a print capacity of 8 A-4 ppm in Colour and 12
ppm in black. It comes with the resolution of 600 x 600 dpi with print
capacity of 1400 papers per cartridge. The printer holds a maximum
input capacity of 150 sheets of A4 size and comes with 96 MB inbuilt
and 342 MB upgradeable memory. It has a USB port, one 144-pin DDR
2 DIMM slot and memory card slots that supports cards like SD, MMC,
CF, XD and Memory stick.
Samsung-CLP-610ND
This colour laser offers an auto-duplex feature and integrates the power
of a 360MHz processor and speed of an embedded 64 MB RAM that is
expandable to 384 MB. It prints at resolutions of 2,400X600 dpi and at
speeds of up to 20 pages per minute legal size and 21 ppm letter. It can
yeild an average monthly duty cycle of 48,000 pages and comes with
USB and Ethernet 10/100 base TX port.
65

Informative Upcoming MP3 Player
iRiver-E100 (8GB)
This MP3 player comes with a storage capacity of 8GB, which saves
upto 2000 songs. It comes with a 2.4 inch display with a resolution of
240 x 320 pixels and a micorSD card expansion slot. The player plays
MP3, WMA, ASF, OGG and FLAC audio formats, has voice recorder,
FM Radio and FM Recorder. It also has a Photo Viewer displaying JPG,
BMP, PNG and GIF image formats and a Video Player supporting
MPEG and WMV video formats. Text Viewer, Timer Recording, Audio
LineIn, External MIC in are the unique features of this player.
SanDisk-Sansa Fuze (8GB)
This MP3 player comes with a storage capacity of 8GB, which saves
upto 2000 songs. It comes with a 1.9 inch display and an expansion slot
which supports micorSD card. The player plays MP3, WAV, Audible and
WMA audio formats, has voice recorder and FM Radio. It also has a
Photo Viewer displaying JPEG image formats and a Video Player sup-
porting MPEG-4 video format. The player plays on an inbuilt battery
providing music playback time of 24 hours and video playback time of
5 hours.
Sony-NWZ-S616F/B
This MP3 player comes with a storage capacity of 4 GB, which saves
upto 1000 songs and has a 1.8-inch coloured TFT display with a reso-
lution of 240 x 320. It supports MP3, WMA, AAC and Linear-PCM audio
formats. It also has FM Radio, an in-built Lithium Ion battery, which pro-
vides music playback time of 33 hours, video playback time of 9.5
hours and has an equalizer with 6 preset options. The player has a
Photo Viewer which supports JPEG image formats and a video player
which supports MPEG4, AAC-LC and AVC video formats. The player
comes with earphones and USB cable.
66
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iRiver-E100 (4GB)
This MP3 player comes with a storage capacity of 4GB, which saves
upto 1000 songs. It comes with a 2.4 inch display with a resolution of
240 x 320 pixels and a micorSD card expansion slot. The player plays
MP3, WMA, ASF, OGG and FLAC audio formats, has voice recorder,
FM Radio and FM Recorder. It also has a Photo Viewer displaying JPG,
BMP, PNG and GIF image formats and a Video Player supporting
MPEG and WMV video formats. Text Viewer, Timer Recording, Audio
LineIn, External MIC in are the unique features of this player.
SanDisk-Sansa Fuze (2GB)
This MP3 player comes with a storage capacity of 2GB, which saves
upto 500 songs. It comes with a 1.9 inch display and an expansion slot
which supports micorSD card. The player plays MP3, WAV, Audible and
WMA audio formats, has voice recorder and FM Radio. It also has a
Photo Viewer displaying JPEG image formats and a Video Player sup-
porting MPEG-4 video format. The player plays on an inbuilt battery
providing music playback time of 24 hours and video playback time of
5 hours.
Transcend-T.sonic 850 (8GB)
This 8GB MP3 player saves upto 2000 songs and comes with a 1.8-
inch Colour LCD display. It supports MP3, WMA, WMA-DRM10, and
WAV audio formats and has an Equalizer with 7 presets and has addi-
tional features like FM Radio, Voice Recorder and FM Recorder. It
saves and displays the images in JPEG and BMP formats and video in
MTV format. The player works on in-built Lithium Ion battery that pro-
vides a music playback time of 22 hours. The player comes with ear-
phones, USB cable and is available in Onyx Black colour. The player
has unique features like Voice Activation Detection, Karaoke-type lyrics
display, Displays text files and World Clock.
 www.
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67

Flare Report
Telecom
Wateen launches
Self-Care Portal for online details
Finally Wateen’s WiMAX in Pakistan is showing some signs of
improvements in the field of telecom. Wateen Telecom has launched
Self-Care Portal service for the customers to get online information
about account status. Wateen Telecom has included some features
that help the subscribers:

Service information-regarding your current package and other
information.

Favorite links-save your favourite links.

Remaining balance-shows your remaining account balance.

Internet usage-shows how much data has been used from your
account.

Last 5 internet sessions-shows detail statistics regarding your
sessions.

Last 5 calls-details about your last 5 calls called from Wateen
Telephony Services.

Email notification-receive notifications alerts your usage limit
depending on your chosen settings.
Log in to the Self Care Portal, you will have to use your Wateen’s
internet username/password which Wateen provides when you at the
time of joining.
If you have changed your Internet login password and do not
remember what it was - then you will have to contact Wateen to get
that password back.
The commercial launched of Wateen WiMAX services is in 22
major cities. Wateen Telecom launched with many expectations from
both the providers and customers. However, having capped packages,
poor customer service, uncooperative franchise employees and poor
quality of service (QoS) have negatively impacted Wateen’s reputation
with its customers.
HP captures first position in
Asia Pacific UNIX Server Revenue
HP announced that it took first position in overall UNIX Server revenue
in Asia Pacific (inc. Japan) in CYQ1, 2008 according to industry analyst
firm IDC. HP captured 31.7 per cent revenue market share of the Asia
Pacific UNIX Server market in CYQ1, 2008. UNIX server revenues for
HP in Asia Pacific (inc. Japan) grew more than 5 times faster than the
overall UNIX server market growth on a Y/Y basis. The company also
held top positions in the High-end Enterprise and Midrange Enterprise
segments of the UNIX server market in Q1 2008 garnering 41.2 per
cent and 34.4 per cent of the market respectively.
Customers’ requirements in terms of high-availability, security,
scalability and virtualization were the major reasons for the growth of
HP-UX in Asia Pacific. Companies across industries have been
deploying business critical applications for core banking, payments,
billing, mediation and ERP/SCM on HP Integrity Servers with HP-UX
as operating environment. HP Integrity with HP-UX is also used
extensively to power key Business Intelligence infrastructure projects in
the region.
Other key drivers for the increase of UNIX Server revenue include a
significant growth in migration projects from mainframes to HP Integrity,
rapid implementation of blade servers including HP Integrity BL870c
and the adoption of HP Superdome servers.
“We replaced our mainframe systems with HP Integrity servers to
reduce high operational and maintenance costs in managing hardware
and software applications caused by proprietary legacy technologies,”
said Sang-Ho Yoon, General Manager, Information Strategy Team
Samsung Life Insurance. “The HP systems helped to move into next-
generation data center environments by significantly reducing costs of
68 more than $30 million over four years, while enhancing business agility
and flexibility.”

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Lahore High Court: Cellular Companies
must avoid link-towers
in residential areas
When they were about to finish setting
up their 22 meters high tower in
Faisalabad and Kot Lakhpat, the DO
(Environment) sealed the BTS as well as
the equipment. They protested as the
petitioner was not issued just a single
notice
It has been observed, since the
begining of telecom revolution in
Pakistan, that link-towers of various
cellular operators have been erected
in residential areas without any
measures of residents and residential
safeguards. Recently, link-tower of a
well-known mobile operator was
burnt, due to unknown reason, in a
populous area of Lahore. After
various consective accidents and questions about habitants’ health has
coerced the jurisdiction to indulge in the process to avoide any further
mishappening.
Justice Syed Asghar Haider of the Lahore High Court has observed
that the cellular service provider companies should not be allowed to
erect antennas in residential areas because it threatens human being’s
health.
Justice Syed Asghar Haider handed down the observation while
disposing of a petition by Pakistan Mobile Telecommunications Limited
against sealing of their two towers by the District Officer Environment.
The judge directed the petitioner to raise his grievance before the
District Coordination Officer, who shall decide the matter in 30 days.
The petitioner said that the District Officer (Environment) stopped
them from erecting the base transceiver station (BTS) at Data Colony
Faisalabad and Kot Lakhpat. The petitioner added that they are
working as a company, set up under the Companies Ordinance 1984,
after obtaining a license from the government of Pakistan. They told
that they have set up BTS throughout Pakistan with the permission of
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.
When they were about to finish setting up their 22 meters high
tower in Faisalabad and Kot Lakhpat, the DO (Environment) sealed the
BTS as well as the equipment. They protested because the principle of
natural justice was not followed, as the petitioner was not issued just a
single notice.
They said that the DO wrongly invoked section 12 of Environmental
Act 1997 before sealing their equipment. They were not required to file
initial environmental examination (IEE) unless the project was likely to
cause an adverse environmental effect. They added that the petitioner
and other cellular companies had been in the business of setting up
towers since 1992 whereas the Environmental Act came into existence
in 1997. The legislature had excluded the setting up of tower from the
act.
A report of the Pakistan Telecommunication Limited said that the
antennas might have some negative effect but their impact on human
beings was not known. The report added that the international bodies
have "recommended precautionary approaches and have set
conservative limits for exposure to radiations".

 www.
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Pakistan’s IT industry achieves two billion dollars size
Pakistan produces approximately 20,000 IT graduates annually. All of them need proper guidance
in order to utilize their potential. Currently over 110,000 IT professionals are working in IT sector
and there is a lot more space and need for quality IT human resource
Ms Jehan Ara, President Pakistan Software
Houses Association (PASHA) said on the
occasion of a day-long Career Expo for IT
students and professionals, “The information
technology (IT) exports stand at $ one billion,
according to a research study commissioned
by Pakistan Software Houses Association
(PASHA)”.
Thousands of young IT professionals and
fresh graduates visited the Career Expo to
explore and apply for Jobs posted by
participating companies. Applicants appeared
in on-the-spot interviews, listened to eminent
speakers, and interacted with CEOs, CIOs
and HR heads of ICT local and international
companies regarding career opportunities.
IT professionals and students learnt about
different career tracks in various segments of
the ICT sector. They also participated in
interactive workshops, listened to company
presentations and attended career
counselling sessions.
Jehan Ara said that her organization is
creating a career experience for young
people so that they may acquire more
knowledge about those challenging careers
and remuneration which are waiting for them
across the spectrum of ICT. They must be
aware of the growth and maturity of the
IT training
for women councillors
In a country like Pakistan where more than half
population is of females, female representa-
tives at national and provincial level are in-
evitable. MoWD’s recent initiative in educating
women counsellors brings with it long lasting
promises
Ministry of Women Development
(MoWD) has planned to make
women councillors computer literate
through an information technology
(IT) training programme.
An official of the ministry told that
the training would start soon
throughout the country. The ministry
has already trained 3,100 women
councillors by giving them basic
know how of computer skills. About
Rs 97 million are demanded for the
five years programme by the
Flare Report IT
sector they have already joined or will join.
She said that Pakistan produces
approximately 20,000 IT graduates annually.
All of them need proper guidance in order to
utilize their potential. Currently over 110,000
IT professionals are working in IT sector and
there is a lot more space and need for quality
IT human resource.
The IT industry needs people with different
skills-in addition to computer science
graduates (BCS) - they require business
analysts, domain specialists, project
managers, senior managers, marketing
professionals, call center professionals,
animators and interface designers.
Other than lots of jobs openings, students
were also provided with free workshops and
panel discussions, career counselling with
CEOs of IT companies, special interest
groups in different technology areas. Start-up
Insiders session for young entrepreneurs led
by a panel of experienced entrepreneurs.
An IT graduate while appreciating
PASHA's efforts in organizing this career
expo for young professionals and graduates
said that young IT graduates have benefitted
a lot from this initiative as they are provided
with extensive job opportunities under one
roof.

ministry.
The programme, he told, was mainly started to educate the women
councillors belonging to remote areas at Tehsil council and Union
council level with computer education. The motive behind is to make
them qualified enough to play their vital role in national progress. It will
also provide them with direct access to not only the higher authorities
but also to the world of information and technology.
The training programme would raise computer literacy among
female-elected representatives at grassroots level. Under the plan,
basic IT training will be imparted to 11,500 women councillors in the
next five years from July 2008 to July 2013.
He said women ministry would formulate the training modules while
NGOs in the respective areas at provincial level would impart training
in different districts.
The computer centres with well-equipped laboratories would train
women councillors by hiring skilful IT teachers.
He said that the proposed project would enable 11,500 women
councillors to use technology with ease and comfort in their
constituencies and improve their marketing and corporate skills.
For the training, the ministry has set matriculation as the minimum
education qualification for female councillors from the Punjab, urban
Sindh and the NWFP, and middle (8th grade) for those coming from
Balochistan, interior Sindh and distant areas of the NWFP.
The training will be undertaken in the Punjab's 35 districts, Sindh's
23, the NWFP's 24, Balochistan's 29 and 22 districts of Azad Kashmir,
Northern Areas, Tribal Areas and Islamabad.
The official also informed that women councillors will be paid Rs
400 TA/DA per day and Rs 2,800 for participation in the seven days
training session. The amount of TA/DA will later be enhanced to Rs 500
per day. The trainees will also be provided with enough material to
69
read.

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brings
Holy Quran to your handsets
Ufone has added another value in its line of VAS by offering a service
through which one can read Holy Quran on his or her Mobile Phone
not only in Arabic but also its English and Urdu translations. When
compared to existing Quran mobile software, Ufone’s service is
expensive.
Activation: You need to download an application on your phone by
sending an SMS Quran at 981. Simply click on the link to download the
application. Once application is installed, you may browse through all
Surahs and Chapters of Holy Quran.
Limitation: Application required for Ufone Quran service is compatible
with only Symbian, Windows mobile, S and N series mobile phones
that means only those phones which allow third party applications.
Charges: This service cost you Rs 5 per week + tax.
Remember

You can enable or disable the translation feature; all you need is to
simply visit translation settings.

This application allows you to go back to the last page viewed every
time you wish.

You can search any verse you wish page by page or chapter by
chapter by simply selecting the search option.
Zem offers Pakistan Package PTCL’s Buzz entertainment portal
50 Minutes + 500 SMS/MMS per day at Rs 15
Warid’s Zem customers can
avail 50 minutes and 500 SMS
or MMS (between 9 am to 9
pm) per day at a flat rate of Rs
19.96 per day.
Activation: Simply call 100
and follow instructions to
activate the package.
After first activation, you
will be automatically
subscribed to the other day’s
Pakistan Package if you have
Rs 19.97 in your account.
Remember

ZEM Pakistan is a daily subscription based package offering 50 on-
net minutes, 500 SMS/MMS between 9am-9pm.

Daily subscription charges are Rs 19.96.

SMS/MMS can be sent on both on-net (Warid-Warid) & off-net
(other mobile numbers)

This is a package designed on daily bases and the un-consumed
quota of one day is not transferable to the other day.

Subscriber can use his 50 minutes at once or in segments.

Customers of all Warid packages can avail this offer.

After finishing your quota, you will be charged casually.

After 9 pm, normal call and SMS/MMS charges of ZEM lowest call
rate package are applicable.

This offer is limited time offer and is expected to last only for the
month of August.
National Telecom
Djuice Jagtay Raho Sari Raat Free Calls
Telenor’s Djuice brand offers free calls at night from Djuice to Djuice
and all Telenor Numbers. Along with free night offer, you can enjoy
economical day time call rates to friend and family numbers.
Subscription

Send <MIGRATE> to 345.
You will recieve an inquiry SMS. Reply with 1 to activate djuice Jaagtay
Raho.
Charges

Friend and family calls from 1 am to 6 am (call setup fee of Rs 0.05
is applicable).

Friend and family calls from 8 am to 12 am at just Rs 0.5 + tax per
30 second.

Friend and family calls from 6 am to 8 am at just Rs 0.4 + tax per
hour.
Remember
 Above mentioned prices are only for friend and family numbers on
Jagtay Raho.
 Service activation charges are Rs 25 including tax.
 For calls at night, call set up charges (Rs 0.5 + tax per call) is
applicable.
 Rs 3.99 + tax will be deducted daily.
 Minimum balance of Rs 5 is crucial to make any call.
 This is a limited time offer.
Pakistan Telecommunication Company
Limited (PTCL) has launched PTCL
Buzz, the complete entertainment portal
across the country. Access to the portal
will be absolutely free of cost exclusively
for PTCL Broadband customers.
The Broadband Portal offers to
subscribers a variety of professional
media content without limits to
mainstream music (Urdu and English),
movies, naats and sports.
PTCL Broadband Pakistan is now
offering incredibly cost effective,
constantly available internet access as
the internet access speed for existing
subscribers has been doubled while they are now allowed unlimited
downloads for the same amount that they were previously paying. New
subscribers will also be required to pay the new tariff while the modem
and DSL installation is completely free.
Broadband customer service is available twenty-four hours a day,
seven days a week at 1236 with highly trained and professional
representatives.
Broadband Pakistan, high-speed internet, with a high rate of data
transmission that offers extremely fast unlimited online internet time to
customers, is a stellar example of innovative services and packages
offered by PTCL while the PTCL Broadband Entertainment Portal is
powered by Converge Technologies and provides a unique experience
to the user.
The broadband video market is the next frontier on the Web and
broadband video in the next generation of television. All the largest
telecommunications companies have a presence in this market and the
PTCL Broadband Portal is set to emerge as a principal player in this 71
context.

Informative Flare Report
W
ateen Telecom and Intel joined
hands to launch sizzling
summer campaigns to maintain their
commitment to increase access to technology
across Pakistan,. This will be an IT
Awareness Carnival across Pakistan. WiMAX-
enabled PCs will be the particular focus of the
Carnival. Dates will be announced later.
The Carnival will visit 11 cities including
Karachi, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Multan,
Faisalabad, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Jhelum and
Bahawalpur. Special offers on the purchase of
computers, laptops and WiMAX connectivity
will also be offered during the campaign. It is
Canon established its display stalls and lucky draws to promote its latest printer named Black
Beauty
B
lack Beauty is a printer by Canon, with
a fashionable smooth curve, that is
useful for both official and domestic
purposes.
Canon deals in large number of products
as printers, scanners, laser beam printers,
digital camera, digital camcorders, projectors,
and visual communications.
Black Beauty is able to print about 70
high-quality 4×6 pictures. It can print up to 20
General Manager of Mega Business Machines Syed Khursheed
Abbas hands over the Black Beauty to the winner of lucky draw
held at Hafiz Centre, Lahore.
black-and-white copies per minute and up to
16 colour copies per minute. It has a colour
and a black cartridge like any other printer but
72 with a more easy access to replace or refill.
hoped that through these campaigns
Pakistanis can acquire greater 21st century
digital literacy skills which can benefit
Pakistan's socio-economic development over-
all.
With the Intel World Ahead Program,
Pakistan's first-ever telco connectivity pro-
gram will be started. Through this program,
Wateen's WiMAX services will be offered at
selected 3rd party Genuine Intel Dealers
(GID), wherein selected 3rd party Genuine
Intel Dealers can offer add-on WiMAX con-
nectivity on behalf of Wateen.
CEO Wateen Tariq Malik said that we
Its print outs are clearer and cleaner as com-
pared to other equipments in market. It prints
two pages by the help of two softwares: Easy
LayoutPrint and Easy PhotoPrint which
makes it more helpful in usage.
Easy-Layout Print instructs users to create
album, calendar or sticker. This printer also
supports two sides print with many different
side of paper. Easy photo Print helps users to
print their pictures in three easy steps. PIXMA
iP1880 is compatible with Windows
2000/XP/Vista, Mac OS X v10.2.8 or even
more latest.
Canon Black Beauty launched a two day
mega event stall at first, second and third
flours of Hafiz Centre in Lahore. It remained
an attraction for visitors throughout the day.
People not only came to see the stall but also
to participate in lucky draws, arranged by the
company. Canon was drawing lucky winners
of printers, scanners, cameras, and other dig-
ital accessories every hour and every day.
General Manager, Mega Business
Machines, Syed Khurshid Abbas and National
Sales Manager, Tauseef Ahmed distributed
the awards among the lucky winners.
Canon’s displays were for the conven-
ience of general public and visitors. Almost
www.
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have a commitment to spreading technology
awareness across Pakistan and this cam-
paign helps us to realize that objective.
WiMAX has a lot of potential and our collabo-
ration with Intel will allow the public to experi-
ence the power of our technology.
Ashar H. Zaidi, Country Manger, Intel
Pakistan Corporation, further added; "This
announcement is a strong example of Intel's
commitment to bring the benefits of technolo-
gy to more Pakistanis. We're particularly
pleased to work with Wateen who has a
strong reception from network operators
globally."
Tauseef Ahmed Khan, National Sales Manager of Mega
Business Machine is giving the award to the luck winner.
everyone was appreciating the unique idea of
customer convenience and product promotion
stirred by Canon.
Mega Business Machines is efficiently
working to offer quality products to all its
clients. They are dedicated to quality and
above average customer support. They are
running a huge business in Pakistan with a
list of some best and most reliable companies
nationwide. This stall of Canon, arranged by
Mega Business Machines is just a glimpse of
the capacity with which it is functioning.

 www.
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Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution
In Civilization, players strive to become rulers
of the world by establishing and leading any
civilization from the dawn of man to the space
age waging war while conducting diplomacy,
discovering technologies, going head-to-head
with some of history’s greatest leaders and
building the most powerful empire the world
has ever know
Hall of Fame Game designer Sid Meier, has been called “the father of
computer gaming” with such early hits as F-15 Stealth Fighter,
Railroad Tycoon, and Pirates. He put computer gaming on the map
however, in 1991, when he delivered Sid Meier’s Civilization® to the
gaming world launching the “God Game” genre and creating one of
the most award winning and addicting games on the planet.
Civilization remains one of the world’s top selling computer game
series with over 8 million units sold and is recognized by the press as
one of the greatest game franchises ever created.
Sid Meier’s Civilization® Revolution™ is the latest offering in the
legendary award winning Sid Meier’s Civilization® series of strategy
games, featuring the famous “just one more turn” addictive game-play
that has made this one of the greatest game series of all time.
Choose your civilization: Choose from 16 Civilizations throughout
history (from Africa to Germany to America to China) to lead to victory.
Each time you defeat a rival civilization you will add an exhibit to your
Hall of Achievements paying homage to your great accomplishments.
Lead your civilization: Choose a civilization and play as one of the
world’s most famous historical leaders (like Abe Lincoln, Otto von
Bismarck, and Mao Tse Dong) and compete against the other leaders
as you strive to create your own history in this epic game.
Real-time interaction: Leaders and advisors will actively
communicate with you-even turning and pointing to things in the world
as they speak-making the interactions more realistic and engaging
than ever before.
Explore the world: Your quest to explore and discover will have you
traversing the globe in search of long lost relics, rival civilizations,
technologies, barbarians and much more.
Xbox Live and Play Station network: Up to 4 players can battle as
teams, head to head, or have a complete free-for-all online. Auto-
matching, ranked games, leader boards, and achievements make the
online play more versatile and fun than any previous version of
Civilization.
Game of the week: Each week a new Firaxis created map will
become available to players for download. Finish the game with the
highest score you can achieve, and have it posted to the Civilization
Game of the Week Xbox Live leader boards to see how you stack up
against players around the globe!
Downloadable content: Players with Xbox Live and Play Station (R)
network will be able to download extra content like multiplayer maps
and scenarios not available to offline players.

Falre Report IT
Thought control: Computer
world's latest game plan
EPOC headset features 16 sensors that push
against the player's scalp to measure electrical
activity in the brain. In theory, this allows the
player to spin, push, pull and lift objects on a
computer monitor, simply by thinking
Followed by joystick is an impressive range of unbelievable digital
inventions, such as motion-sensing Wii remote. Here comes another
radical and rather unsettling leap in video games technology: thought
contro-a nurotic substitute to today’s mindless games.
As far-fetched as it sounds, Iwata's claim-brings to mind 1984 by
George Orwell and Firefox by Craig Thomas-is already coming true.
The world's first thought-controlled game is expected to launch by the
Sydney company Emotiv by the end of this year.
The US military has been working on thought-control technology for
years. Most of the projects that it has made public, however, have
focused on thought-reading systems rather than, say, thought-guided
missiles.
Satoru Iwata, the president and chief executive of Nintendo-which
is expected to sell about 25 million units of its successful Wii video
games to console this financial year-is cock sure about the next
gaming boom. “As soon as we think something in our brain, it will
appear within a video game,” he told in an exclusive interview. “You
will probably need to wear some kind of hat or helmet.”
“We don't have that kind of technology right now, but when we're
talking about a 20-year time period, anything's possible. If you look
back 20 years from today, things that were thought impossible are now
the reality-for example, it was a distant dream that we would construct
a 3D world with computer graphics.”
Co-founded by Allan Snyder, a neuroscientist and former University
of Cambridge research fellow, Emotiv says that its EPOC headset
features 16 sensors that push against the player's scalp to measure
electrical activity in the brain-a process known as electro-
encephalography. In theory, this allows the player to spin, push, pull,
and lift objects on a computer monitor, simply by thinking.
Despite widespread scepticism, pre-release tests have suggested
that the technology works. “This is the tip of the iceberg for what is
possible,” said Tan Le, another Emotiv's co-founders. “There will be a
convergence of gesture-based technology and the brain as a new 73
interface-the Holy Grail is the mind.”

 www.
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Beijing Olympics
encountering numerous hurdles
There are not only issues related to nationals’
accommodation but also to the security and freedom
of those international journalists who are lodging in
Beijing for Olympics
O
lympia, the site of the ancient
Olympic Games, is in the western
part of the Peloponnese which,
according to Greek mythology, is the island of
“Pelops”, the founder of the Olympic Games.
Imposing temples, votive buildings, elaborate
shrines and ancient sporting facilities are
combined in a site of unique natural and
mystical beauty.
The pictogram for the Beijing 2008
Paralympic Games cover all 20 Paralympic
sports: Archery, Athletics, Boccia, Cycling,
Equestrian, Football 5-a-Side, Football 7-a-
Side, Goalball, Judo, Powerlifting, Rowing,
Sailing, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis,
Volleyball (sitting), Wheelchair Basketball,
Wheelchair Fencing, Wheelchair Rugby and
Wheelchair Tennis.
Besides all preparations, there are many
controversial issues of management and
security.
China promised by the time of applying for
Olympics and later at the awarding of games
arrangement for 2008 that it will give media
and visitors complete freedom to capture
what they like with all possible facilities. Now
when visitors have started to reach there for
Olympics, they are complaining about
management and excessive security.
Journalists are not allowed to work as they
want; they rather have to follow many
policies. They are not allowed to move as
they would like to and shot as they would
prefer to. There are also restrictions in
internet usage and one is not allowed to visit
all web sites. China has built a firewall which
is easy to cross for tricky netziens but for
layman they are as high as the Great Wall of
China. Some wicked Internet users from USA
were able to cross the firewall but they were
soon arrested by the Chinese government as
they violate the law. Visitors have finally
started to raise questions about their rights
and unnecessary restrictions.
Chinese government hoped that hosting
the world’s largest sporting event would help
the country gain acceptance as a modern
superpower. However, many observers are
alarmed at the number of people who have
been displaced by the construction projects
and by the government’s ties to the
Sudanese government. According to the
Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and
Evictions (COHRE), 1.25 million Chinese
citizens have been displaced to make way for
Olympic-related construction, and has grown
to 1.5 million by the time the torch was lit on
August 8, 2008. Many human rights activists
and government officials have voiced their
concerns over China’s cruel initiatives against
natives, even some have proposed a boycott
of the Games.
On March 10, 2008, protests arose in
Tibet on the anniversary of the failed uprising
Flare Report Event
against Chinese rule. Chinese officials beat,
arrested, and killed protesters in Lhasa, Tibet.
Riots spread and many buildings were
burned. Tibetans say over 100 people were
killed, but China claims only 22 people died.
While China’s political involvement around
the world is of great concern to human rights
activists, it is the government’s policies during
the Olympics that most concern those who
will actually be attending the event. Four
different factories have already been accused
of using child labor in the manufacturing of
official Beijing 2008 souvenirs, and some dog
food and toothpaste products that originated
in China have been recalled due to the
presence of poisonous ingredients in them.
These developments have led to concerns
about the safety of the food and supplies that
will be provided to the 10,000 athletes,
500,000 foreign tourists, and 1 million
Chinese guests who will travel to the Games.
Of even greater concern to the athletic
community is the fact that, according to
numbers released by state-run Chinese
television, the security budget for the Games
is $300 million – 20 per cent of what was
spent on security in Athens for the 2004
games.
Beijing Olympics has disturbed all those
markets which are dealing in Chinese
products world wide. Visas are not granted to
traders because country is already busy in
serving tourists. The products of China are
also coming in patches, where consumers
and dealers are perturbed by the delay.
Although Chinese companies are trying to
keep the situation under control but there are
many subterranean market controversies.
Chinese officials say they have kept
security costs down by relying on domestic
suppliers, but they have otherwise been tight-
lipped about their plans to protect athletes
and spectators. However, security concerns
are nothing new to the Olympic Games, and
outside sources, such as the FBI, have
stepped in to offer organizers information that
will help secure the event. The Olympic
Games offer the Chinese people an
unprecedented opportunity to cast the
country in a new light and to show that they
are equal to the world’s most prosperous
nations. Despite the criticism they have
received in the lead up to the games, a safe,
successful two weeks will go a long way
toward making this a reality.
Pakistan’s only medal hope is its hockey
squad of thirty four members. “We have done
everything to facilitate the hockey squad and
announced good incentives. Now it is up to
them to deliver their best at the Olympics,”
Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary
Asif Bajwa briefed. Pakistan will face Great
Britain on 11 August in the very first matchs.
Meanwhile, the management of the hockey
team is confident that there will be no doping
issues for the green shirts despite the fact
that the squad will be leaving without
undergoing dope tests. Khawaja Zakauddin,
the head coach of the Pakistan hockey squad
assured, “Doping was never a matter of
concern for Pakistan hockey.”

75
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77
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A challenge for Muslim states Gates launches
Lack of latest IT skills and professionals anti-smoking campaign
Muslims represent one-
fourth of the world's
population, with the
possession of 70 per cent
of the world's energy
resources and 40 per cent
of the global availability of
raw materials. However, the
collective OIC share in
global trades is barely six
to seven per cent. The
human development
indicators are among the Punjab Minister for Excise and Taxation Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman, President LCCI
lowest in the world Muhammad Ali Mian and Counsul General of Islamic Republic of Iran H. E. Saeid Khirazi cut the
ribbon to inaugurate the LCCI OIC Telecom and IT 2008 International Conference and Expo.
G
od has blessed Muslim states with all
kinds of resources but unfortunately,
due to lack of knowledge and efforts,
they are unable to successfully utilise them.
In this context, a three day OIC Telecom
and IT conference held in Lahore under the
banner Lahore Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (LCCI) with the collaboration of,
Small and Medium Enterprise Development
Authority (SMEDA) and Institute of
Telecommunication Engineers (INSTEP).
The participants expressed their views
and emphasised on the lack of proper
communication system, on the non-utilisation
of modern skills and equipment in the field of
information technology. They agreed that the
greatest challenge faced by the Muslim world
is the lack of latest IT skills and IT
professionals.
"Dependence on foreign communication
networks and lack of achievements in modern
technology and advanced scientific
knowledge did not allow it to make a
breakthrough in the global arena." It is the
upshot of the speeches delivered at the
inaugural session of LCCI OIC Telecom and
IT Conference and Expo.
The speakers including Provincial Minister
for Excise and Taxation Mujtaba Shujaur
Rehman, LCCI President Mohammad Ali
Mian, Iranian Consul General in Lahore
Saeed Kharazi, Mian Mohammad Javed,
President Institute of Telecommunication
Engineers, Shahid Rashid, CEO SMEDA,
LCCI Vice President Shafqat Saeed Piracha
and Chairman Standing Committee on OIC
Mian Fazal Ahmad spoke on the importance
of telecommunication network in today's
world.
The speakers were of the view that
Muslims have made little progress either
politically or economically. Islamic
Development Bank (IDB), the financial wing
of the OIC was formed to promote economic
cooperation between Muslim states. But it
has a low-key profile from a long time. The
IDB should not only proactively promote
Flare Report IT
World’s one of the richest persons, Bill
Gates along with Michael Bloomberg has
recently launched a worldwide anti-
smoking campaign, fuelled with $500
million.
Microsoft founder Gates told media
that he will donate $125 million for the
campaign, while New York Mayor
Bloomberg said that he would chip in with
major infrastructure projects such as telecom $250 million, on top of the $125 million he
and IT but also provide funding in these had already committed.
fields. Gates has recently resigned from
They participants said that the idea of a Microsoft and has donated himself to
real Islamic common market especially with public welfare and charity work. After his
regard to telecom industry has always resignation, anti-smoking-campaign is his
appealed to Muslims all over the world. first initiative in this regard.
Although religion is a common bond among "Our goal is to support and
the 57 member states of the Organisation of complement the Bloomberg initiative,"
Islamic Conference (OIC), but there are Gates said. The campaign will back
several missing links for effective and strategies to raise taxes on tobacco
adequate economic cooperation between products, to change the image of smoking
them. in society, protect non-smokers from
Nowadays, communication plays a vital second-hand tobacco smoke and help
role in confidence building process among all smokers to give up their habit.
nations and governments. Therefore, one of The campaign has already start to
the prime responsibilities of all Islamic states meet results: Egypt has recently raised its
in the present milieu is to encourage public taxes on tobacco products, the Philippines
sector for research and investment in the field banned all tobacco media advertising,
of IT as much as possible. while in Brazil and other countries tobacco
The LCCI President Mohammad Ali Mian, packaging bears graphic images to
speaking on the occasion, said that the discourage sales.
Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry Bloomberg said the smoking
by holding this International Conference and population in New York City has dwindled
Expo has tried to identify potential areas of by some 300,000 since he launched his
mutual economic cooperation regarding anti-smoking campaign when he took over
telecommunication sector. He said that the as mayor in 2005.
Conference would also help in identifying the They told reporters that one billion
bottlenecks in the way of promotion of people will die from tobacco-related
business among Muslim countries. He said diseases during this century unless
that the telecom and IT sector had been something is done to reduce smoking,
identified as a major potential area of growth which they called an "epidemic."
all over the world. A world without tobacco, said
The Provincial Minister for Excise and Bloomberg, "is a world in which people
Taxation Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman live longer and have happier lives."
highlighted the role of Punjab government for Currently one in four adults is cigarette
the promotion of IT in the province. He said addicted or about one billion people
that all necessary steps are being taken in approximately are smokers.
this regard. More than 80 percent of tobacco-
Iranian Consul General Saeed Kharazi in related deaths from 2009-2030 will occur
his address said that during the last few years in low and mid-income countries, the
some of the developing countries in Muslim campaign reported. So far, only seven
world, including Islamic Republics of Iran and countries have banned smoking in all
Pakistan have made concentrated efforts for public places, including Britain, France,
achieving valuable success in the field of IT, Italy, Ireland, Pakistan, New Zealand and
which is still continuing.
Uruguay. 79
 www.
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Alcatel-Lucent signs contract to build

PT Comunicações, S.A.; Saudi Telecom Company; Telecom Egypt;
Telkom SA Ltd.; and Verizon Business. Alcatel-Lucent is one of two
submarine cable network suppliers for the project, which has a total

Atlantic-Mediterranean segment
value of over USD 700 million.
EIG will connect three continents, with landings planned in the
United Kingdom, Portugal, Gibraltar, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, United Arab Emirates, and India.
First direct high-bandwidth optical-fibre Providing much needed diversity for broadband traffic currently relying
submarine cable system from United largely on traditional routes from Europe to India, EIG will also provide
seamless interconnection with other major cable systems connecting
Europe, Africa, Asia and North America.
Alcatel-Lucent will provide complete turnkey work for its portion of
the EIG system. Alcatel-Lucent will have responsibility for the design,
manufacture, installation and commissioning of the Atlantic-
Mediterranean submarine segment, which spans 7,100 km. The
company will also use the 1678 Metro Core Connect, and deploy its
latest generation 1626 Light Manager (LM) DWDM (dense wavelength
division multiplexing) transmission equipment to provide seamless
Kingdom to India connectivity across the two terrestrial links in the UK and Egypt at
Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris 40Gbit/s. The Alcatel-Lucent offering across the EIG system provides
and NYSE: ALU) has signed a terabit transmission capabilities to accelerate the delivery of broadband
contract to deploy the Atlantic- services and applications.
Mediterranean segment of the "EIG utilises the most advanced submarine cable system
15,000 km (9,000 mile), Europe technology to provide a high quality solution to help meet the continued
India Gateway (EIG) submarine growth of broadband adoption rates around the world," said Mr. John
cable system. EIG is the first Russell, chairman of the EIG Consortium Management Committee.
direct, high-bandwidth optical- "Alcatel-Lucent's turnkey expertise and technological lead in the build
fibre submarine cable system from United Kingdom to India, and will of submarine networks will help us deliver a highly flexible and scalable
significantly enhance capacity and diversity between the countries and infrastructure that will support the delivery of innovative applications
territories of the three continents. With completion scheduled in the across the regions."
second quarter of 2010, EIG will deliver an ultimate capacity of up to "EIG further confirms the need for cable route diversity and
3.84 terabits per second (Tbps) to provide upgradeable transmission enhanced capacity to meet end-users' demands for bandwidth to
facilities that support Internet, e-commerce, video, data and voice support broadband traffic," said Etienne Lafougère, President of
services. Alcatel-Lucent's submarine network activity. "This new contract is
EIG was announced in May 2008 in London by the EIG Consortium. recognition of the reliability of our submarine, terrestrial and network
Currently EIG Consortium members include AT&T; Bharti Airtel; BT; solutions, as well as of our end-to-end ability to provide every part of a
C&W; Djibouti Telecom; du; Gibtelecom; Libyan Post, Telecom, and global transport network.

Information Technology Company (LPTIC); MTN Group Ltd; Omantel;

Flatron W52's Fun Key provides easy access to special functions-4:3 in wide for gamers,
e Zooming for elderly, photo & sound effects, and much more

L
G Electronics, a major player in the
global flat panel display market,
announced its new Flatron W52 series
with Fun Key that enables one-touch access
to many of its special functions. This cute
and user-friendly monitor for general con-
sumers is available in 19"w, 20"w, 22"w and
24"w.
The Flatron W52 series has a Fun key
front-and-centre, emblazoned with LG's sig-
nature smiling logo. A press of this button
launches a special menu with features that
will appeal to serious gamers, fans of online
video and even the visually impaired. Main
functions include 4:3 in wide, ez Zooming,
photo effect and sound.
The 4:3 in wide function is a gamer-
focused feature accessible through the Fun
Key that covers 4:3 sources to wide screen
without distortion, providing a more immerse
environment. Another of the easy to access
features, ez Zooming, allows viewers with
less-than-perfect eyesight, such as elders or
people with bad eye sight, to effortlessly
lower the monitor's resolution, by pressing
the Fun Key. This provides larger icons and
text that is easier to read. The monitor uses
a native resolution of 1680 by 1050 pixels,
which is adjusted to 1440*900 with a press of
the Fun Key.
Photo effect is for fans of online video or
on-screen slideshows. Here, the Fun Key
allows users to select four special effects to
add some spice to what might otherwise be a
bland experience. It also allows the users to
preview different effects prior to using photo
editing software. Options include "Natural,"
"Gaussian Blur," "Sepia" and "Monochrome."
Sound adds even more pop to the experi-
ence. A press of the power button provides a
crisp experience by delivering a refreshing
sound effect.
The monitor is designed to look as if it is
smiling back at viewers to create a friendly
connection with those sitting in front of it. A
glossy black façade adds a touch of ele-
gance with the gently curve.
Along with the Fun Key features, the
monitor also touts a DFC 1000:1 contrast
ratio, 2 ms (GTG) response time and LG's
proprietary Flatron f engine. The Flatron W52
series will be available in select markets.
A break from the stark official demeanour
that most every other monitor presents, the
Flatron W52 is expected to provide con-
sumers with a bundle of fun and excitement 81
upon its launch recently.

 www.
flare.
com.pk Free Download Usman Yaqoob Telecom

Squaring the circles

in India. This has resulted in a fragmented
cellular landscape with carriers offering a mix
of GSM and CDMA services.
There are currently 13 mobile operators of
varying sizes in India. Eleven are shown in
table 1, the 12th and 13th are CDMA carriers
called Rainbow (Shyam Telelink) which has
57,600 subscribers in the Rajasthan circle
and Connect (HFCL Infotel) which has
204,300 subscribers in the Punjab circle—
both have plans to roll out nationwide GSM
networks.
Informa currently lists a further six
planned or potential networks: Agrani
Telecom, ByCell, Datacom, S Tel, Swan and
Unitech. However, the new, smaller entrants
are going to find it hard to compete with
larger national players. In order to avoid the
India is a land of opportunity for operators. existing players simply acquiring new
However, challenges of such a vast and variety entrants, the Department of Tele-
communications (DOT) has tightened the
market are daunting merger rules. “The DOT has brought in new
M&A regulations, the most controversial of

I
ndia is growing at a staggering rate. It is Information Service. Falling ARPU figures in which lowers the market share of
the second most populous country in the India are compensated by surging growth. subscriptions and revenues that a merged
world and is expected—if current growth Penetration has more than doubled since entity can hold in a given circle, from 67 per
tends to continue—to overtake China before June 2006 and stood at 21.67 per cent in cent to just 40 per cent,” says Tony Brown
the mid of this century. The economic March this year. Informa Telecoms & Media editor AsiaCom.
strength of India and Indians is undoubtedly With 242 million mobile phone The DOT also announced that it will not allow
on an upward curve, although ARPU is low subscribers, there is much scope for growth. new Unified Access Services Licence holders
by Western standards, ranging from $ 4.60- A license is required to operate in each of the to merge with existing operators until they
8.90 per month according to Informa 19 Telecom Circle Service and four Metro have been operating for three years.
Telecoms & Media’s World Cellular Service Areas, known collectively as circles The content market in India has vast
potential. However, there are issues that look
likely to stifle the development of the
TABLE 1: TOTAL HISTORICAL SUBSCRIBER premium value added services (VAS)
Operator Jun 06 Sep 06 Dec 06 Mar 07 Jun 07 Sep 07 Dec 07 Mar 08 segment of the market. Mobile operators
Aircel 3,123,330 3,689,010 4,380,710 5,375,740 6,577,400 7,691,780 8,953,650 10,002,810 stand accused of being high-handed and
BPL Mobile 1,297,280 1,045,300 1,056,280 1,070,850 1,087,990 1,153,360 1,239,470 1,294,760
offering little by way of support to content
providers.
BSNL 18,293,710 20,935,320 23,618,550 27,428,780 28,425,290 30,303,230 32,701,240 36,209,960
This, say the content providers, is stifling
Bharti 23,072,590 27,061,380 31,974,070 37,141,260 42,703,920 48,875,680 55,162,970 61,984,730
the growth of the industry. For their part, the
Dishnet Wireless
75,490 115,230 131,980 138,740 197,820 347,580 474,450 607,620 mobile operators in India have stated that
(owned by Aircel)
although they want to support the VAS
Hutchison 17,544,360 20,357,230 23,306,190 26,441,850 30,751,510 segment, they have to be sure about the
Idea 8,537,080 10,363,570 12,442,450 14,010,560 15,126,410 18,671,880 21,054,020 24,001,580 quality of the content, as well as the revenue
MTNL 2,169,660 2,290,260 2,424,530 2,746,820 2,608,810 2,772,120 2,954,880 3,241,850 generating potential.
Reliance
There is further disquiet in the market
19,025,020 21,934,760 25,336,110 24,958,860 27,839,780 31,039,780 36,004,160 39,035,470
Communications linked to the revenue that operators are
Spice Telecom 2,054,620 2,196,970 2,449,660 2,728,950 3,170,430 3,481,720 3,800,640 4,210,670
willing to share with third party content
Tata Teleservices 6,620,120 8,435,420 10,248,910 11,432,930 12,747,160 14,200,000 15,989,960 17,421,400
providers. Of the total VAS industry—
including operator revenue—consumer
Vodafone Essar 35,657,550 39,864,870 44,126,260
revenue and including ringback tones VAS
Total 101,813,260 118,425,450 137,369,440 153,475,340 172,234,520 194,194,680 218,200,310 242,137,110
providers receive not more than 12.5 per cent
Source Informa Telecoms & Media’s World Cellular Information Service according to Informa Telecoms & Media. The
usual mobile entertainment suspects—music,
TABLE 2: FORECAST SUBSCRIBER GROWTH BY 2013
gaming and TV—are slowly building in India.
Indian consumers purchased more mobile
Carrier GSM CDMA WCDMA
than physical music in the first three months
Aircel 27,304,000 4,590,900
of 2007, and will buy almost nine times more
Bharti Airtel 103,995,000 36,778,000 mobile music than any other format by 2009.
BPL Mobile 12,827,000 355,200 With low internet penetration, for many
BSNL 50,150,000 444,600 14,593,000 Indians their first taste of life on the web will
Idea 55,774,000 7,520,700 be trough a mobile phone. In markets, mobile
HFCL Infotel 1,029,900 social networking has proved popular.
MTNL 3,422,000 688,200 However, the costs to the majority of
Reliance Commuincations 35,639,000 37,729,000 17,878,000
consumers are prohibitive and until 3G
networks and handsets are fully rolled out,
Shyam Telelink 10,308,000 1,245,800
the user experience is likely to be uninspiring.
Spice Telecom 11,981,000 3,226,000
But with plenty of headroom for growth,
Tata Teleservices 12,626,000 20,052,000 8,628,000
operators still have more than enough to play
Vodafone Essar 82,912,000 22,489,000 83
for in what, one day, could well be the largest
Source Informa Telecoms & Media’s World Cellular Information Service mobile market on the planet.

 www.
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Islamabad: A group photograph of PM Yousuf Raza Gilani and Federal Minister for Information
Sherry Rehman with the film artists of Ramchand Pakistani on its Premier show.

Islamabad: A local artist performs during Light and

Music Show organised by CDA at open-air theater
Shakarparyan.

Lahore: Chairman Trafco Trackings Tahir Malik receives best achievement award
from PM Yousuf Raza Gilani in Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Karachi: Rear Admiral Syed Afzal presents a shield to the
Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping Qamar Zaman
Kaira on the occasion of 35th anniversary of Port Qasim
Authority.

Lahore: GM Hotel Sunfort Shahid Manzoor and Manager Sales and Lahore: Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif listens to a
Marketing Zulqarnain Chaudhry with Coach of Pakistan Hockey Team position-holder student after giving award and medal, while his
Naveed Alam at Mango Festival. mother cannot control her sentiments.

Islamabad: Regional Director of Saudi Public Assistance for Pak-

istan Earthquake Victims Dr Khalid M. Othmani along with Saudi
Lahore: Managing Director Dawlance Shabbir Dawood Ambassador Ali Awadh Asseri presents a model house to Deputy 85
presents the keys of a car to the winner of a promotional Chairman ERRA Lt- Gen Sajjad Akram.
scheme of the company.
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Tokyo: Star Wars exhibition employees in Stormtrooper outfits

take a look at lunch boxes and other items at the Makuhari
Messe convention complex.

Hong Kong: A model shows a 3G iPhone during its launch sale. Apple's international launch of iPhone 3G
began in New Zealand and Japan as a freshly-opened "App Store" tempted fans with independently created
mini-programs for the coveted devices. Sales of iPhone 3G models begin later in the day in 21 other countries.

Massachusetts: A student working on her laptop raises her

Mumbai: Bollywood actors Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek Bachchan pose with
solar lanterns at a press conference to announce the Unforgettable Tour.
hand at the Lilla G. Frederick Pilot Middle School during a
class. From online courses to kid-friendly laptops and virtual
teachers, technology is spreading in America's classrooms, re-
ducing the need for textbooks and notepads.

Amman: The relatives of Jordan-

ian prisoners in Israeli prisons
take part in a sit-in outside the
Prime Minister's office on July 26,
2008. Dozens of Jordanians gath-
ered in Amman to show solidarity
with Jordanian prisoners in Israeli
prisons.

Sollentuna: A Vittra School student works on an assignment at

school. It may sound out of place in Sweden, that paragon of
taxpayer-funded cradle-to-grave welfare. But school choice has
87
survived the critics and 16 years later it is spreading and attract-
ing interest abroad.
 www.
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Quetta: People recover computer monitors from the well,
which were threw by unidentified men at private girls school
in Khilji Colony .
Tokyo: Toyota Motor Corp Partner Robot Di- Seoul: Pedestrians walk past in front of Samsung Elec-
vision Project General Manager Yoshihiro tronics advertisement banner. Samsung Electronics
Kawaharazaki demonstrates the company's says that its second-quarter net profit grew 51 per cent
Winglet "M" personal transport assistance from the same period last year, amid strong perform-
robot on August 1, 2008. The robots, which ance in flat panels and mobile phones.
are under development and have a top
speed of 6 km/h, are designed to allow peo-
ple to travel in an upright standing position
with regular pedestrians.

San Francisco: Advanced Micro Devices CEO Hector Ruiz gives a presentation during a conference.
Ruiz was pushed aside. after six tumultuous years as CEO of Advanced Micro Devices Inc., as the chip
maker tries to pull itself out of a deep financial hole caused by a questionable acquisition and a major
product gaffe. AMD also reported its second-quarter loss widened as the computer chip maker was
hurt by a large asset impairment charge from discontinued operations.
Nairobi: Zain's chief executive Saad al-Barrak addresses the media about the rebrand-
ing of the company from "Celtel". Zain, a Kuwaiti mobile phone company, and the lead-
ing telecommunications mobile operator servicing over 50 million customers in 22
counties across the Middle East and Africa had rebranded its entire African operation
from Celtel to Zain. Theyexpects revenues of $7.2 billion and EBITDA of $3 billion in
2008.

88 Karachi: A partial solar eclipse is seen on August 1, 2008.

 www.
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Moscow: Space tourist Richard Garriott of the U.S. (C) and his back-up Nik Halik of Australia (R)
take part in a zero-gravity flight as an attendant watches.

Mumbai: Bollywood actress Lara Dutta poses with a Fiat 500 dur-
ing its launch in INDIA.

Mumbai: An Indian model poses with the ASUS Eee PC 904H notebook.
Taiwanese company ASUS in collaboration with Intel and Microsoft
launched two models of India's first notebook priced $630-700. The
notebooks powered by an Intel Atom processor and pre-installed with
Windows XP, Microsoft Works are targeted for the lower end of the
internet usage spectrum.

Enschede: Maarten Dors browses through his pictures posted on Flickr.

Without prior notice, Yahoo deleted a photo showing a young Romanian boy
smoking a cigarette from it's photo-sharing service, Flickr, on the grounds it
violated an unwritten ban on depicting children smoking.

Pamplona: A "recortador"
leaps over a wild cow during
an exhibition of riding and
acrobatic skills at the bullring
on the third day of the annual
San Fermin festival.

Beijing: A resident rides a bicycle past a pictogram sculpture of 89

the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games at a park.
 No Line Rent
Competitive Rates
Crystal Clear Voice
Free VAS
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A shower is seen inside the Emirates' Airbus A380 after the jet arrived on
its maiden flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York
August 1, 2008. Airbus's A380 superjumbo touched down in New York.
Marking the first commercial arrival of the giant, double-decker passen-
ger plane on U.S. soil.

Munich: Peter Loescher, CEO of German conglomerate Siemens attends a news conference in Munich, south-
ern Germany. Siemens AG says it would cut 4.2 per cent of its global work force, mostly administrative-related
positions to streamline its operations in the face of a slowing economy.

Agra: People carry a colourful cloth to pray for world peace at Taj Mahal Kolkata: An Indian model wears traditional gold jewellery as she poses for a photo session
in India. during a promotional campaign.

Karakoram: Undated file photo provided by the Pakistan Tourism Office in Islamabad, shows the world's second tallest peak K-2 in northern area of Pakistan. A Pakistani tour 91
operator says nine climbers have died in an avalanche after scaling the world's second-highest mountain.

Informative Asmatullah
T
he word ‘blog’ is a shortened form
of web logs which most people
use. A blog is an online journal
where users post thoughts, com-
ments or news in a chronological
format. Updates are often frequent and done
on a regular basis. Blogs are publicly avail-
able web pages with personal views and links
expressing the opinion and observation of a
particular person, usually on a specific topic or
theme and are usually updated regularly re-
flecting the personality of the author.
In other words, blogs are online
diaries/news forums that feature links to news
items and stories from across the Internet’s
World Wide Web. Most blogs are headed by
an individual called a blogger and many of
these are those who want to bring their own
views online. Other bloggers are journalists or
industry insiders who create forums for ex-
pressing their opinions without editorial con-
straint. There are a few Web logs that are a
collection of vocal individuals providing opin-
ion, commentary and links. Some of these
sites have an editor filtering through submis-
sions and a few allow members to grade con-
tributions.
Concisely, the activity of updating a blog is
‘blogging’ and someone who keeps a blog is a
‘blogger’. Blogs are increasingly important to
92
search engines as they are viewed as inde-
pendent sources of information.
‘Blogs’ in this highly technologically ad-
vanced age are much more than just a neces-
sity
There are different categories of bloggers:
journalists, politicians, film stars, sportsper-
sons, business tycoons, intellectuals and
scores of other individuals who have their
blogs and they are updated frequently regu-
larly keeping in line the developments taking
place in their various concerned fields or lines.
So, speaking broadly, blogs range from
just a ‘needle’ to an ‘aeroplane’ and beyond
that, meaning that there can hardly be any-
thing on which we cannot blogs. There may
be hundred and one topics on which blogs
can be made. Yet it depends on the category
of the blogger and his or her needs. So the
number of words varies from one blog to an-
other, ranging from the popularity of the per-
www.
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Free Download com.pk
son for whom a blog is prepared.
We live in an age of sharp contrasts and
advancement where every new production
springs up with preliminary hoopla. A critic
maintains: “I genuinely miss the joy of discov-
ering something for oneself, which now only
happens with unpublicised fringe productions.
But precisely because we live in age of relent-
less public relations, the professional critic’s
voice becomes ever more vital. I see it as part
of one’s job to shut one’s ears to the relent-
less din and simply judge a show on its mer-
its. I never thought much of Les Miserables or
The Lion King: something which had no im-
pact on the box office whatsoever but which I
owed it to my conscience to say. Equally, it
can be a positive pleasure to stand up for a
show that is unfashionable or has been bad-
mouthed.
In the light of the above discussion profes-
sional critics live or die by their independence
of mind and ability to string a few sentences
together. And, although the blog has made us
all the more democratically accountable, that
will remain true as long as the art of criticism
exists. Indeed, it goes without saying that the
new concept of blogs has almost revolu-
tionised the scientific discoveries and worked
wonders --- doing some really incredible
things that one may call miracles.

 www.
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Cuil: Internet has grown; U.S. Web firms customize
why not search engine? their international presentations
The internet has grown exponentially in the last fifteen years but
search engines have not kept up until now. Cuil searches more pages
on the web than anyone else — three times as many as Google and
ten times as many as Microsoft — Cuil claims. Cuil is an old, almost
forgotten, Irish word for knowledge.
Management says that rather than rely on superficial popularity
metrics, Cuil searches for and ranks pages based on their content and
relevance. When they find a page with requested keywords, then they
stay on that page and analyze its content, its concepts, their inter-rela-
tionships and page’s coherency. Then Cuil offer helpful choices and
suggestions until one find the page he or she is looking for.
Cuil management says, “We believe that analyzing the web rather
than our users is a more useful approach, so we don’t collect data
about you and your habits, lest we are tempted to peek. With Cuil,
your search history is always private.”
Cuil execs spent launch day in duck-and-cover mode. We've only
been live for twelve hours, YP of Communication Vince Sollitto told,
and the opening surge of traffic swamped the servers, causing not only
the temporary service disruptions but also, because of the system's ar-
chitecture, poorer search results. Cuil, he said, "will only improve with
time. ... It's day one. Traffic is massive. We're new. There are bugs to
fix, results to improve."
Cuil’s Advantages over Google

On Cuil user’s history remains private. It is not accessibale as it is
on Google.

Cuil’s search is rather advance or analyzed. Unlike Google they are
not going to give you thousands of similar pages but only relevant
websites.

It gives you not only website address but also some short image
plus a synopsis of what is given over there. Thus, it saves time and
mind of netizens during search.
Cuil’s disadvantages over Google

Page navigation is easier than Google where Cuil gives page num-
bers in a relatively small font at the bottom.

As Cuil is new, so there are many key-words or commands for
which it is unable to find any match. However, this flaw is expected
to remove soon with Cuil’s development.

Video and image search is not yet accessible on Cuil.
As we have seen many lately introduced features or developments at
Google so we will see changes in Cuil. But one thing is sure, Google is
going to have a tough time with Cuil, Let’s see…

Flare Report Informative
AOL splashes images of Bollywood celebrities on its new home page
for India. MySpace accepts sign-ups from mobile phones in Japan.
Google departs from its customarily Spartan home page and peppers
its Korean site with colourful, animated icons.
As major U.S. internet companies stake their ground abroad in
anticipation of the next billion people coming online-and the
advertising revenue they might generate-the flags they are planting
aren't the Stars and Stripes.
Companies are trying to expand globally without seeming to,
designing market-specific services with customized features that
reflect differences in connection speeds, payment options and
attitudes toward sex or violence.
The stakes are
high as the United
States faces a
weakening economy
and a slowing of
online ad-growth and
the opportunities are
large. People in two
populous countries,
India and China, are
just getting online.
The research firm IDC
projects worldwide
Internet ad spending
at nearly $107 billion
in 2011, compared
with $65 billion this
year.
AOL has launched
about two dozen
international sites
over the past 18
months. As the one-
time internet access
powerhouse transforms itself into an advertising business, executives
decided to push into several emerging markets that they knew
wouldn't pay off for another few years.
The Indian portal, for instance, is heavy on Bollywood films,
covering their stars as fiercely as American sites follow Lindsay Lohan.
Instead of baseball, the Indian portal covers cricket, with schedules,
team profiles and an online fantasy game.
AOL, a unit of Time Warner Inc., also customized its popular AIM
instant-messaging service for India and other markets with heavy
usage of text messaging on cell phones. Messages sent over AIM are
automatically converted into phone texts, and vice versa.
Microsoft Corp. has more than 80 people worldwide tasked with
making sure its products and services do not stereotype, offend local
sensibilities or prove irrelevant in a particular culture. Microsoft's
instant-messaging product, for example, varies icons and emoticons to
reflect flowers, animals and characters popular in each market.
Tom Anderson, co-founder of MySpace, said dominance in one
market means nothing as the company expands to nearly 30 other
countries and regions. He said local incumbents have a key
advantage because "it's difficult to get people to change their behavior.
MySpace is nonetheless trying.”
But getting it right will be tough as American companies that merely
translate their U.S. focused sites into other languages risk losing to
home grown businesses that can better respond to cultural nuances.
"A lot of times, the U.S. companies, because they were successful
in the U.S., they tend to repeat their current business models," said
Tian X. Hou, a Pali Research analyst who follows China. "Most of the
93
time, that doesn't work."


National
Abu Dhabi Group PTCL upgrades its customer
laments Punjab for
change Mubarak
services
The Pakistan Telecommunication
Centre project Company Limited (PTCL), in its
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), efforts to provide callers updated
Abu Dhabi Group and Chairman information, has upgraded its 14, 17
Warid Telecom, Bashir Ahmad Tahir, and 18 services to 1214, 1217 and
has lamented the Punjab govern- 1218 respectively.
ment regarding the change of aban- The new 1217 service is
doning the 71-storeys Mubarak equipped with updated customer's
Center project. data. PTCL initiated the 0800-01217
service so that correct information is
available for each caller. Moreover,
the directory assistance number, 17,
is already transformed in to 1217;
as all two-digit abbreviated dialling
numbers are changed to four digits
as PTCL has upgraded its system
and services.
"PTCL is determined to develop
systems and services that focus not
only on customers but also cus-
CEO Abu Dhabi Group
Bashir A. Tahir. Shopkeepers arrested on
Punjab government will take its
due share of 30 per cent as per
selling unregistered SIMs
commitment after the completion of Police has arrested five
the project and Abu Dhabi group in shopkeepers on charge of selling
this regard invested $90 million. If SIMs without registering details
this project changed or abandoned including identity card numbers.
than the Group will bear $90 million The action was taken after the
loss. shopkeepers sold the SIMs while
He said, no doubt, Pakistan is completely disregarding the instruc-
trust-worthy country for investment tions from Interior Ministry and
and Abu Dhabi Group invested in Pakistan Telecommunication
telecom sector around $675 million Authority (PTA) to the franchisees
so far. and sale outlets to issue the SIMs
Warid Telecom is backed by the after registering complete details of
Abu Dhabi Group, one of the the buyer.
largest business groups in the
Middle East and the single largest
foreign investors in Pakistan. His
HEC selects Huawei
Highness Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak
network for researchers
Al Nahayan leads the Abu Dhabi
Group. His Highness is the Federal
With an objective of deploying
Minister for Education of the United
the young generation of the country
Arab Emirates and Chairman of
education and research network
Warid Telecom. The Abu Dhabi
(PERN2), the Higher Education
Group's other successful invest-
Commission (HEC) has selected
ments in Pakistan include Bank
Huawei Technologies network,
Alfalah, United Bank Limited,
which would be implemented by
Taavun, Wateen Telecom and
early 2009.
Raseen Technologies.
The PERN2 network will use
Huawei's Quidway NE80E/40E and
IHC set a side PTA as part of the project a 10G
judgment against IP/MPLS backbone will be built and
the campus network bandwidth will
Dancom be upgraded from 2Mbps to 1Gbps.
Islamabad High Court (IHC) has As a result, students and schol-
set a side the impugned order of ars will be able to explore internet
PTA through which the Dancom LDI at a much higher speed, to use
license was suspended. IHC while video conferencing facilities, as well
passing the order critically remarked as VoIP, remote e-education and
that PTA ha not compiled with direc- digital e-library. The PERN2 net-
tion of the court. In his detailed work will be also interconnected
decision the honorable judge Syed with China CERNET2, Internet 2
Qalb -i- Hussain order to reinstate and other education networks.
the license and explain why PTA The PERN2 network will adopt
was practicing his authorities MPLS VPN technology to isolate
94 when dispute as between PTA and different services, enhance security,
the company. provide good quality of service
tomer-friendly. PTCL is providing
facilities to its customers through
phone calls as well as on their
doorsteps," said PTCL spokesman.
The revamped network will offer
a number of services and features
directly aimed at customer conven-
ience. Customers can lodge a com-
plaint for any number by dialling 18
services. Subscribers will be con-
nected to the PTCL centralized fault
management system where com-
plaints can be registered through an
automatic voice recording, where
each number thus registered will
remain on record till the fault is rec-
tified. A few thousand complaints
are registered nation wide on daily
basis, most of which are attended
within 24 hours.
DSP Saifullah Khan Khattak has
asked all the franchisees and shop-
keepers not to sell SIMs without
identifying the buyer.
The arrested shopkeepers
include Naveed Naseem rounded
up by PS Sadar Muzaffargarh,
Zahid Iqbal, Rana Zeeshan, Khalid
Javed and Saleem Shehzad appre-
hended by Jatoi police. FIRs have
been registered against them under
sections 420 PPC and 29
Telegraphic Act.
(QoS) and support IPv6.
The Network will also become
the first 10G IP/MPLS with the IPv6
feature next generation education
and research network in South
Asia.
Huawei Technologies (Huawei)
is a leader in providing next genera-
tion telecommunications networks,
and now serves 35 of the world's
top 50 operators, along with more
than one billion users worldwide.
The company is committed to pro-
vide innovative and customized
products, services to create long
term value and growth potential for
its customers.
The Higher Education
Commission is committed to facili-
tate the development of indigenous
universities to be world-class cen-
tres of education, research and
development across country. By
doing so, HEC intends to play its
vital role in spearheading the build-
ing of a knowledge-based economy
in Pakistan.
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Offshore fibre
optical cable
SMW4 got severed
The offshore Fibre Optical Cable
SMW 4 that connects Pakistan with
the entire world has severed near
Karachi which has given rise to
severe defects in Internet services
and telephone services, The News
learnt this through reliable sources.
However, PTCL acted promptly
and switched over the telecom and
It services to the substitute system
i.e. SMW 3 has helped in overcom-
ing this crisis to some ex tent.
E-banking fraud
deprives man of Rs
0.4m
In the first reported case of
electronic banking fraud in
Hyderabad, a man has been
deprived of four lacs.
Sardar Ali Shah, who has a
current account in the Civic Centre
Branch of UBL, had Rs 1.7 million
in his account on April 4. An amount
of Rs 4,00,000 was drawn from his
account on four occasions-April 4,
May 3, June 2 and July 10-via e-
transaction. “I never activated my e-
banking.” He was not informed by
the bank about the withdrawals. “I
was shocked to know that the
amount had been drawn through e-
banking and I was not informed by
e-mail!” Mr Shah said that the bank
authorities were taking the matter
lightly.
IT financial
business become
FDI generating
sectors
The Information Technology and
Financial Business have emerged
the leading Foreign Direct
Investment (FDI) generating
Sectors in the country in last fiscal
year 2007-08.
The communication and financial
business sectors have received
$1.625 billion and $1.607 billion FDI
respectively in June-July 2007-08,
however, the communication sector
faced a decline of14.4 per cent as
against the corresponding period of
fiscal year 2006-07.
According to sector-wise break-
up of FDI, the economic group of
communication down by 21.1 per
cent in telecommunications to
$1438.6 million whereas inflows in
information technology jumped by
151.4 per cent, software develop-
ment increased by 163.7 per cent,
hardware development witnessed
increase of 44.5 per cent, I.T serv-
ice increased by 158.2 per cent and
postal and courier services inflow
increased by 130.1 per cent.
 www.
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Mobile companies
barred to issue
SIMs sans valid
CNIC
The government has asked the
Pakistan Telecommunication
Authority (PTA) to make sure that
no mobile company can issue SIM
without attaining the valid
Computerised National Identity
Card (CNIC) of customer and dis-
patch it on postal address rather
giving in his hand.
Any violation of this order and
procedure will not be tolerated and
violators will be punished under rel-
evant law, said a statement of the
Interior Ministry. The Interior
Ministry took notice of the issue
raised by the Senate Standing
Committee on Interior and asked
the PTA to make sure complete ver-
ification before issuing of SIM card.
The Senate Standing Committee
on Interior has raised the issue of
7.454 million unauthorised SIMs in
April and asked the PTA to make
sure the immediate deactivation of
these illegal SIMs by companies
and on failure impose fine of Rs350
million on each company.
Following this move by Senate
body, the cell-phone companies
have deactivated more than 5.1 mil-
lion unauthorised SIMs and asked
the extension in deadline, which
was later, extended to July 31.
PTA vigilant for
all uplifts for
telecommunication
PTA remained vigilant for all
developments in the telecom sector
during the current quarter as the
cellular mobile phone sector
showed immense growth and the
cellular mobile phone operators
remained aggressive.
China Mobile (Zong) came up
with increasing subscribers at a
rapid pace while Warid, Telenor,
Ufone and Mobilink offered various
value-added services at lowered
rates to attract more customers.
The competition among cellular
mobile phone operators has
become more intensive.
With the shifting from seven to
eight digit numbers, all switches in
PTCL have been enabled for eight
digits, which was a huge task for
the PTA who took it bravely. The
verification of unauthorised sub-
scriber identity modules (SIMs) was
another Herculean task, which was
sorted out tremendously from all
aspects.
The PTA, in collaboration with
NADRA and mobile operators, has
devised a comprehensive mecha-
nism to verify the SIMs.
National
Universal Service Fund signs Mobilink employee
another contract with PTCL wins IT Excellence
Universal Service Fund and level of telecom penetration signifi-
Award
PTCL have entered in yet another cantly in the rural areas. Teradata has conferred the
nationally acclaimed 8th Teradata IT
contract to provide basic telephony Chief Executive Officer of USF,
and data services to the population Parvez Iftikhar, shed light on the un- Award for Excellence in Business
Intelligence to Atif Ahmad, Director
in the yet un-served areas of Dadu served areas of Dadu. In his
lot, consisting of identified areas in speech, he enlightened the partici- Strategy, Innovation and Budgeting,
Mobilink Pakistan.
Badin, Dadu, Hyderabad and Thatta pants about the status of auction
districts. process of telecom services in vari- The award aimed at spotlighting
an individual who demonstrated
exceptional skills in integrating a
successful Business Intelligence
plan within an organization, and
thereby increasing business per-
formance and productivity.
It is said that the entire Data
Warehouse and Business
Intelligence Project at Mobilink is,
the largest in the entire South East
Asia, Middle East and Africa region,
a brainchild of Atif Ahmad who
brought this laurel to his
organization.
Chief Executive Officer-PTCL, Walid Irshaid and Chief Executive Officer-Universal Service Fund,
Parvez Iftikhar exchanging documents after signing the contract in Islamabad. Federal Minister for
Information Technology, Mr Qamar Zaman Kaira was the Chief Guest.
Big decline in
The contract signed between ous un-served areas of the country. telecom FDI in
PTCL and USF marks the launching He informed that an un-served pop-
of new telecom services to be pro- ulation of around 650,000 people
2007-08
vided by PTCL in the above-men- will benefit from this project. He fur- After an impressive growth for
tioned areas. Chief Executive ther told the audience that starting two successive years, the foreign
Officer-PTCL, Walid Irshaid and from October 2007, so far USF has direct investment (FDI) in Pakistan
Chief Executive Officer-Universal signed six contracts in the un- telecom sector substantially
Service Fund, Parvez Iftikhar signed served areas of Pakistan where the declined during the last fiscal year,
the contract in Islamabad. Federal licensed telecom Operators were Sources said that FDI in telecom
Minister for Information Technology, hesitant to venture because of high sector amounted to only $810.9 mil-
Mr Qamar Zaman Kaira was the expenditures and low expected rev- lion
Chief Guest. Mr Hifz-ur-Rahman, enues. during first three quarters of 2007-
Federal Secretary IT and Mr Noor- Walid Irshaid, Chief Executive 08, showing declining trend in the
ud-Din Baqai, Member-Telecom Officer-PTCL said, "The Pakistan successive quarters against $1.824
was also present at the ceremony. Telecommunication Company billion for 2006-07.
Speaking on the occasion, Limited (PTCL) as a socially
Federal Minister for information responsible company has been in Mobilink blocking
technology (IT), Mr. Qamar Zaman the forefront to spread the benefits
Kaira said that the Government of of telecommunications to every cor- spam SMS
Pakistan is striving to increase the ner of Pakistan.
Mobilink GSM, has deployed
Pakistan IT exports touch Tekelec's TekMedia AntiSpam
Firewall Solution to try and block
SMS spam messages being sent to
$1billion benchmark its subscribers.
"SMS spam is a growing prob-
The country's Information fields of interest in the industry. lem around the world and it is
Technology (IT) exports have However, Jehan Ara said the directly affecting our customers
marked one billion dollar bench- size of the industry was much high- today," said Yousaf Allah Dad,
mark in fiscal year 2007-08, a er to attain $2.8 billion level with the Senior Manager of Engineering at
research commissioned by Pakistan exports $1.8 billion to various coun- Core Value Added Services Group.
Software Export zoard (PSEB) tries. Currently over 110,000 IT pro- "We have chosen Tekelec's SMS
reported. Currently over 110,000 IT fessionals are work- Firewall solution to help us fight the
According to this ing in IT sector and problem because it allows us to use
research, the coun-
professionals are working there is a lot more
rules-based filtering to stop the
try's IT and related in IT sector and there is a potential for quality
delivery of unwanted messages,
industry has wit- lot more potential for IT HR, she added. and to protect our network and cus-
nessed $2 billion quality IT HR IT industry needs tomers from costly viruses, flooding
increase in its worth, people with different and spoofing attacks."
maintaining 50 per cent handsome skill sets, in addition to computer Mobilink has been a Tekelec
growth rate in 2007-08. science graduates, also requires customer since 2004, when they
President Pakistan Software business analysts, domain special- first deployed the EAGLE 5
Houses Association (P@SHA), ists, project managers, senior man- Integrated Signaling Solution, To
Jehan Ara said Pakistan produces agement, marketing professionals, monitor network activity, Mobilink
approximately 20,000 IT graduates call center professionals, anima- also chose Tekelec's IAS Monitoring 95
annually for pursuing their right tions, interface designers etc. solution.

National
Traders urge PTA
to unblock China
sets
A delegation of All Pakistan
Franchises Association (APFA)
called on Chairman Federation of
Pakistan Chamber of Commerce
and Industry (FPCCI) Islamabad
Chapter, Munawar Mughal.
The President of Islamabad
Mobile Association, Waseem
Chaudhry led the delegation. He
briefed FPCCI president about the
obstacles faced by the cell phone
traders.
Munawar Mughal said that PTA
has introduced a system to block
the illegal SIMs which has dropped
down street crime ratio. After launch
of this system, he said, million
Chinese cell phones have been
blocked harming the mobile phone
business in the country.
Waseem Chaudhry said that
PTA has blocked t one million SIMs
has not only badly affected the
sales but also reduced the govern-
ment revenues.
AIOU gets
accreditation of
BE telecom from
PEC
Pakistan Engineering Council
(PEC) has granted accreditation to
Allama Iqbal Open University
(AIOU) for its currently enrolled stu-
dents of BE Telecommunication
Programme. It was decided in the
53rd meeting of the Board of
Governors (BOG).
AIOU has received the criteria
for the accreditation of its currently
enrolled students from PEC which
are being followed by AIOU while
the criteria for the registration of the
graduated students are being final-
ized by the PEC governing board
and will be communicated to the
students as soon as they are
received by the university.
The long issue of the accredita-
tion of Allama Iqbal Open University
BE (Telecommunication) has been
resolved and all of the currently
enrolled students who successfully
complete the programme will be
benefited after passing some addi-
tional courses offered by the univer-
sity as recommended by the PEC.
Mobile tower
bombed in Kohat
Mobile phone company’s tower
was partially damaged in a bomb
blast in Bilitang area. According to
the sources, the bomb planted by
identified miscreants who went off
96
early in the morning. No casualty
was reported in this regard.
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Telenor becomes second largest operator
Telenor Pakistan has become with increased inflationary pressure investor."
the second largest operator in have continued, in particular in "We believe that the impact of
Pakistan during the second quarter Bangladesh, Pakistan and these factors will become more pro-
of the year, according to its financial Thailand." nounced in the future. World over, it
results for April-May-June 2008, Elaborating on the subject of is accepted that mobile telephony is
retaining its position with more than ensuring telecom growth in Pakistan one of the most effective ways of
18 million subscribers. despite difficulties, Executive Vice breaking socio-economic barriers,
Highlighting the Telenor President and Acting CEO Telenor and trickling down wealth and infor-
Pakistan's contribution, President Pakistan Irfan Wahab Khan, asked mation to the bottom of the pyra-
and CEO of Telenor Group Jon for friendlier taxation and regulatory mid. It helps businesses, communi-
Fredrik Baksaas said, "The number policies. "With subscribers already ties, and the country. Therefore, we
of subscriptions in our mobile oper- experiencing double digit inflation also ask for frameworks that make
ations reached 153 million at the and rising fuel costs, spending on it more accessible for masses
end of the quarter, with the growth telecom services has to compete rather than increase associated
mainly coming from Bangladesh, with very basic requirements, and costs."
Pakistan and Thailand. The tenden- extra taxation and stringent policies
cies seen in the previous quarter do not help the customer or the
Court directs to comply with Siemens and
NIRC order in PTCL case Bosicor sign
agreement
The Islamabad High Court lems. He informed that employees The Siemens Pakistan has
ordered the Chief Commissioner are not allowing authorities to even entered in an agreement with
and SSP Islamabad to comply with perform their duties. Bosicor Chemicals Pakistan Limited
the orders already passed by the PTCL provides service not only
National Industrial Relations to the government organizations
for the erection, refurbishment and
installation of the Chemical Plant
Commission (NIRC) in favour of the and departments but also to all vital (Aromatic).
management of the Pakistan organs in the country and disruption An announcement said that the
Telecommunication Company in its services would have serious plant would be relocated from Italy
Limited (PTCL). repercussions, the court directed and to be erected adjacent to the
Justice Mohammad Munir the respondents to comply with the existing Bosicor Refinery at Mouza
Paracha issued the order on a writ order of the Chairman NIRC dated Kund, Hub (Baluchistan). The
petition filed by the PTCL manage- July 15, 2008 to the respondents to Aromatic Plant is expected to come
ment. He directed the authorities to ensure law and order and protection on stream in the first quarter of
protect PTCL properties and busi- of PTCL assets and business. 2010 by producing Benzene,
ness. The IHC judge said that the Cyclohexane, Toluene, Mixed
Counsel for the petitioner Syed respondents should protect the Xylenes, MetaXylene, OrthoXylene
Naeem Bukhari appraised the court property and business of the peti- and ParaXylene (BTX). Para-Xylene
that the PTCL employees' continued tioner. They should proceed in is a raw material for PTA, which at
strike and threat of locking the accordance with the law, if any law present is being imported.
PTCL installations is causing prob- is violated.
Pakistan’s 3D Technologies [Pvt.] Ltd. eyeing Middle East
3D Technologies (Pvt.) Ltd. is Pakistan’s leading manu- made-to-order solutions”.
facturer and supplier of world class data and communi- Wide range of equipments is
cation cabinets for housing precious servers, switches easy to install into racks. Fully
and other computing and communication equipments. adjustable vertical and horizontal
The ideal rack enclosures maximize flexibility with a mounting rails, ensures maximum
progressive, nonproprietary feature-set as an extensive compatibility. Three basic foot prints
line of scalable accessory products to address current and five heights enable you to
needs and adapt to future technology trends. select the rack which fits your envi- Faisal I. Siddiqui,
Director Marketing
3DT offers the most comprehensive rack solutions ronment. The 3DT Series of
to protect the critical components of IT and telecommu- Networking and Telecom racks are ideal for today's
nication. Its customers include IT, telecom, media, bank exacting equipment demands. The wide racks provide
and financial institutions. “Looking forward to Middle more than adequate space for structured cabling, net-
East market with confidence,” says Mr Faisal I. Siddiqui work and telecom needs. Cable management features
Director Marketing 3DT. “Value, quality, availability and combined with the rack design allows for installation
excellent prices are the cornerstone of 3DT's success. and organization of non standard size equipment and
The 3DT Series of Server Racks offers an excellent variety of related products. 3DT offers the installer an
combination of quality, features and cost effectiveness opportunity for multi practice installation allowing combi-
and includes features such as system expandability, nation of 19" metric and ETSI Mounted equipment in
multi system compatibility, structural integrity, security the same rack. 3DT’s sales engineers are the highest
and compliance to internationally recognized standards trained and most skilled personnel in the industry. The
to protect the customers’ investment in expensive serv- team at 3DT excels at providing an industry leading pre
er equipment. It offers both standard products and and post sale support.
 www.
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iPhone 3G gets Microsoft would reopen Facebook

unlocked challenges German
Just a few days after its launch,
Yahoo talks with new board rival
a group from Brazil has managed to Microsoft said it was willing to the alternative, purchasing the whole
unlock Apple's iPhone 3G to oper- reopen talks on a 'major transaction' company,' Microsoft said in a state- The German company that is the
ate on almost any GSM carrier. On with Yahoo if the Internet giant ment. subject of an intellectual property
its Web site, DesbloqueioBr posted replaces its board of directors. Microsoft said 'it would be prema- lawsuit from social networking firm
a video showing the unlocked hand- The world's ture to discuss at this time important Facebook has said the case is
set making a phone call. biggest software details such as the price or other without merit.
In an interview with gadget blog firm confirmed terms of a possible transaction.
Gizmodo, developer Breno comments from The statement added: 'We
MacMasi said the unlocking corporate raider respect the right of Yahoo's share-
process involved modifying the Carl Icahn about holders to determine the destiny of
phone's SIM hardware so the talks that could lead to a new their company, and we do not intend
International Mobile Subscriber takeover bid if Yahoo replaces its to engage in ongoing commentary
Identity can be overwritten, said a board of directors next month. on these issues in advance of Facebook's complaint, filed in a
report. The procedure allows 'We confirm that after the share- Yahoo's shareholder meeting. California Federal Court, accuses
iPhone 3G users to makes calls holder election Microsoft would be Icahn made his comments in an Studivz of copying the look, feel,
with any compatible GSM carrier, interested in discussing with a new open letter to Yahoo shareholders features and services of Facebook.
not just ones with which Apple has board a major transaction with nearly a month after the California It is also seeking compensation,
an exclusive agreement. But users Yahoo, such as either a transaction company said negotiations on a tie- to be determined at a trial.
of an unlocked phone wouldn't be to purchase the 'Search' function up with Microsoft were apparently Studivz said it had not been
guaranteed to have 3G-network with large financial guarantees or, in dead. served with any court papers and
access, and Apple could potentially that the Facebook claims were with-
wipe out the hack with a software out merit.
update, the company plans to Saudi IT industry contributes Oman kicks off
charge between $250 and $375 to
unlock a phone, according to more than 5pc to GDP telecom stake sale,
reports, the jailbreaking software for The Saudi Arabian IT industry Speaking to Khaleej Times, Al
free soon, and the final version will contributes more than 5 per cent to Soma, said: "That's the basis for the
invites investors
also let users use their iPhones on the Kingdom's GDP, according to Ali Yesser e-government project, and Oman kicked off its planned sale
any compatible network. Al Soma, adviser to the Minister of we're keen to explore ways of of 25 per cent in Oman Telecom
Information and Communication working with countries such as Co, inviting investors in a deal it
ACCC still eying Technology (ICT) and Malaysia who were hopes will boost the state-controlled
Director-General of the the first to pioneer and firm's competitiveness as it expands
eBay Saudi e-government pilot e-government ini- abroad.
EBAY Australia is still under the programme. tiatives." The talks The govt, which owns 70 pe
competition watchdog's microscope Al Soma, who held centred on how the rcent of Omantel, wants to
despite last week's decision by the talks with representa- Kingdom can best "strengthen Omantel's market posi-
online auction giant to drop its case tives from Malaysia's improve upon the on- tion" through a stake sale this year,
for PayPal exclusivity. ICT industry as well as going accomplish- and could give an investor voting
EBay flagged plans in April for a worldwide ICT execu- ments of Yusr pro- rights in the firm, the Ministry of
two-stage website revamp: on May tives during the 16th World gramme. Saudi Arabia is looking for Finance said in a statement on the
21, a new rule would make PayPal Congress for Information new means of cooperation to bourse website. Govts. across the
mandatory on all sales listings and, Technology (WCIT) held in Kuala become the first country among the world's biggest oil-exporting region
on June 17, all other forms of pay- Lumpur recently, said that the goal Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are opening up their telecom sec-
ment would be banned. is to create an economy based on nations to develop a tors to competition as their
Public debate largely focused on knowledge and learning. complete e-government platform. economies surge on a seven-fold
the latter component, which also rise in oil prices since 2002.
drew the ire of the Reserve Bank,
the Australian Bankers' Association, Omantel, Mena sign deal for Unhappy users
Google and the Australian
submarine fibre optics cable want their data
Securities and Investments
Commission. Omantel signed an agreement besides providing alternative lines
back
The proposal was largely viewed with the Middle East and North for international telecom networks, More than 80 Australian busi-
as anti-competitive by the banks Africa Company (MENA) of Egypt as well as upgradable transmission nesses are alleging the defunct
and eBay sellers. for laying a 8,000-km submarine facilities in support of Internet, e- Gold Coast 2Clix software company
However, the first component fibre optics cable on the Omani commerce, video, data and voice. is holding years of their accounting
went under the radar and was wide- coast to enhance international Wohaibi said the MENA Cable data to ransom.
ly assumed to be approved by the telecommunications traffic between Project was "vital for the telecom Eighty-two of 2Clix Australia's
Australian Competition and the country and rest of the world. sector as a whole" because the customers have created an action
Consumer Commission. Omantel CEO Dr Mohammed cable passes through many coun- group that also alleges 2Clix sold
Many eBay members have cried bin Ali Al Wohaibi, who inked the tries besides Oman, including faulty accounting software and
foul and requested the competition deal with Dr Nagi Anis, the director Mazara in Sicily, Italy, Crete in failed to deliver customizable fea-
regulator to stop the practice and of Middle East and North Africa Greece, Alexandria and Suez in tures that were promised on a cus-
the ACCC says the auction giant is Cable Project, said the project Egypt, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and tomer-to-customer basis.
still in its sights. would introduce "huge capacities for India. John White, Executive Director
"Given that eBay and PayPal are submarine cables in the Sultanate." The cable landing point will be of Uni-Flooring Resources and
related companies, eBay require- He explained that it would offer created in the wilayat of Seeb, in leader of the action group, has
ments that traders make available significant services for international the Muscat governorate, where the been documenting 2Clix Australia's
PayPal among the payment choices telecommunications traffic, especial- Omantel submarine cables centre is movements since first experiencing
offered is, in itself, unlikely to raise ly the Internet, through fibre optics located. problems with the software when
97
exclusive dealing concerns," ACCC in case of any cable cut-offs, his company purchased it in early
spokeswoman Lin Enright said. 2006.

International
Only 3 per cent
people recycle old
mobile phones
Only three per cent of mobile
phone users recycle their old hand-
sets and 74 per cent have never
even considered doing so, a study
published by the world's leading cell
phone maker, Nokia reported.
The survey, based on interviews
with 6,500 people in 13 countries
including China, Finland, India and
United States, indicated that half of
cell phone users did not even know
old mobile devices could be recy-
cled.
Nokia said on average one per-
son owns around five mobile phone Jim Prentice, Canada's Minister of ders
sets, adding that between 65 and
80 per cent of each of its products
are recyclable.
Call rates in UAE
go down by next
year
Call tariffs in the United Arab
Emirates (UAE) are likely to go
down by 2009 through an initiative
to introduce carrier pre-selection
service (CPS) by the country's tele-
com regulator.
The UAE Telecommunications
Regulatory Authority (TRA) has
directed Etisalat and Du, the only
two telecom operators in the coun-
try, to make network adaptations in
order to provide CPS in the fixed
line telephone.
The service allows phone users
to have their calls automatically
routed through a network offering
lower call cost, but without the need
to dial a prefix or use special equip-
ment.
Nokia market
share up in 2nd
quarter
Net profit of Nokia for the April-
June period, excluding one-off
items, rose 8.0 per cent to 1.37 bil-
lion euros (2.17 billion dollars) from
the same quarter a year ago, while
sales grew four per cent to 13.15
billion euros.
The group's biggest market is
now the Asia-Pacific region, where
it sold 36.4 million phones, a rise of
42.2 per cent from a year ago and
ahead of Europe where it sold 27.1
million handsets.
The company saw its average
selling price for handsets continue
to fall. In April-June its phones on
average sold for 74 euros each,
down from 79 euros in the first
quarter. Analysts said that the figure
was a slight disappointment, which
98
could partly be explained by the
weakening dollar.
$4.3b paid for wireless license
at Canadian auction
Industry Canada announced that
282 wireless licenses have been
assigned to 15 companies, who
paid a
total $4.3
billion
dollars at
auction
for the
spectrum
rights.
The
success-
ful bid-
Industry, speaks during the auction included
of Spectrum license leading
Canadian cell phone service
providers Bell Mobility, Telus and
Yahoo offers coupons as a
solution to blocked songs
Yahoo is offering coupons or
refunds to users who find songs
they bought inaccessible after Sept.
30, when the company shuts its
music-download service.
The decision to close the Yahoo
Music Store had added fuel to criti-
cisms over copy-protection meas-
ures known as digital rights man-
agement, but Yahoo promised it
won't entirely abandon loyal cus-
tomers. Spokeswoman Carrie Davis
said a "small number" of users are
affected by the change. Yahoo
wouldn't disclose the actual number.
For people who bought songs
outright-paying a one-time fee for a
specific track rather than a continu-
ing subscription for unlimited music-
Yahoo will be shutting the digital-
Blogger charged with defaming
Deputy PM's wife
Abdul Razak Baginda, a close
friend of Deputy PM Najib Razak,
has been charged with abetting the
murder of 28 years old Mongolian
woman Altantuya Shaariibuu,
whose body was blown up with
explosives.
Two police officers from an elite
force, whose duty is to guard the
prime minister and Najib, were also
mentioned in accuse.
Police charged Raja Petra
Kamaruddin, founder and editor of
the Malaysia Today website, after
he lodged a statement in court last
month linking Najib's wife Rosmah
Mansor with the murder.
"He will be facing three charges
for criminal defamation on the two
colonels and Rosmah," the blog-
Rogers Communications, as well as
several newcomers to the market-
place.
Of the 105 megahertz of spec-
trum made available, 40 Mghtz was
set aside exclusively for new
entrants to bid on, the government
ministry. The aim was to increase
the number of service providers in
Canada and boost competition,
leading to lower cell phone service
prices for consumers.
"The auction exceeded our
expectations in terms of the level of
competitive bidding activity. I hope
the industry keeps this competitive
spirit alive as it enhances and
expands its services with improved
access to the spectrum,"
rights management servers needed
to verify eligibility. Copy-protection
measures placed on the tracks
require access to those servers
when users buy a new computer or
upgrade their operating system.
Yahoo says users can burn
songs onto a regular audio CD and
rip them back as an MP3 file with-
out the copy-protection technology,
but that requires time and blank
CDs, and can result in a loss in
quality.
Critics of digital rights manage-
ment point to Yahoo's decision to
end support for legally purchased
music as yet another reason to
push for tracks free of such limits,
something the recording industry is
starting to embrace.
ger's wife Marina Lee told reporters.
The military personnel were men-
tioned in Raja Petra's statement,
but are not facing any charges.
Najib-who is heir apparent to PM
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi-has
repeatedly denied the allegations.
Raja Petra, 57, arrived at police
headquarters to face the charges, in
a defiant mood and accompanied
by supporters and fellow bloggers.
"I am ready to face my day in
court," he told reporters. Raja Petra
is already facing sedition charges
for an article he wrote in May, which
also implicated Najib and his wife in
the case.
The trial on that charge will
begin on October 6. If convicted, he
will face three years in jail.
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Nokia Siemens
wins deal with
China Mobile
The Finnish Telecom Group
Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN)
said it had won a network expan-
sion deal for $867 million with
China Mobile.
NSN will design, build, maintain
and optimise the radio and core
network for China Mobile, including
base sta-
tion,
mobile
soft-
switching
and operating support systems in
provinces and cities across China.
"This agreement represents the
strengthening of our position as a
leading solution provider to China
Mobile," Zhang Zhiqiang, the head
of Nokia Siemens Networks Greater
China Region, said in a statement.
Established in 2000, China
Mobile has a registered capital of
51.8 billion RMB Yuan (4.8 billion
euros, 7.6 billion dollars) and is
Asia's largest telecom carrier.
E-commerce soars
in China
Commerce on internet in China
is expanding rapidly, with invest-
ment rising to 60 per cent in the first
half of the year, an industry body
said.
China's
Internet
users
spent
256.1 bil-
lion yuan
(37.5 bil-
lion dol-
lars) in the
first six
months of
the year,
up 58.2
per cent from the same period in
2007, research institute Data Centre
of China Internet said in a report.
Spending online for 2008 is
expected to hit 587.4 billion yuan,
up 47.3 per cent from the previous
year, the Beijing-based agency
said. "The growth is mainly attrib-
uted to fast expansion of China's
internet population and an increase
in average online consumption," it
said.
During the first six months of the
year, Chinese netizens spent an
average of 211.8 yuan each month
through the Internet, up 13.9 per
cent from a year earlier.
The research institution fore-
casts China's internet population
would reach 263 million by the end
of 2008.
 www.
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com.pk Free Download
British clamp
down on illegal
downloads
Britain's biggest internet
providers have signed an agree-
ment with the country's recording
industry to clamp down on illegal
downloading, in a move announced
by the government.
Under the deal to get tough on
the estimated 6.5 million Britons
who have downloaded music and
video illegally; letters will be sent to
the most prolific offenders warning
them that they have been detected.
The British music industry could
lose up to one billion pounds (two
billion dollars, 1.27 billion euros) in
lost revenue over the next five
years from illegal downloading via
file-sharing sites.
Telenor’s net profit slip by 8.5 per cent
Norwegian telecom group
Telenor posted mixed second-quar-
ter results;
reporting a rise in
sales but revising
down its outlook
for its full-year
revenues.
For the April
to June period,
the company saw
its Performa net
profit slip 8.5 per cent to 3.53 billion
kroner 689 million dollars) from
3.86 billion kroner for the year-ago
quarter.
Telenor's Performa operating
profit inched three per cent higher
year-on-year to 5.57 billion kroner
on a virtually unchanged margin of
20.5 per cent, while its Performa
Collapse in Ericsson’s
earnings
Ericsson, the world leader in
mobile phone network equipment,
reported a 70 per cent collapse in
net profit for the second quarter and last quarter of last year, said that
a two-thirds fall in operating mar-
gins.
The group said it had been hit
by the slowdown in Western
Europe, weakness of the dollar and per cent while its multimedia divi-
restructuring charges.
Ericsson shares fell abruptly,
closing down 11.05 per cent to
66.80 kronor as the wider market
lost 2.61 per cent. Net profit fell to shows stable development,"
1.9 billion kronor 320.6 million dol- Ericsson chief executive Carl-Henric ous year. Operating profit fell 11.7
lars) from 6.4 billion kronor in the
same period of last year. However
sales rose 2.0 per cent to 48.5 bil-
lion kronor, beating analyst fore-
casts for 47.5 billion euros.
International
India mobile phone giant World’s oldest
Bible is now online
Bharti Q1 profit up 34%
Codex Sinaiticus, the world's
Net profit of Bharti Q1 for the maintain its guidance for standalone oldest Bible, is now available at
three months to June was 20.25 bil- capital expenditure at 2.5 billion dol- www.codex-sinaiticus.net.
lion rupees (470 million dollars) lars for the year to the end of According to the library, the
from 15.12 bil- March, company officials said. Codex is "a treasure beyond price."
lion rupees for Bharti shares fell 18.05 rupees or More than 100 pages of the Bible
the same peri- 2.21 per cent to 797.95 while the are online, including 67 from the
od a year ago. benchmark Mumbai stock exchange British Library and dozens from the
Revenues Sensex index closed 165.27 points University of Leipzig.
climbed 44 down or 1.11 per cent to 14,777.01. Within the next year pages
per cent to 84.83 billion rupees. The Indian telecommunications would be added to the Codex web-
"On the mobile side, monthly sector has been witnessing site as digitisers scan more of its
customer addition crossed the 2.5 unprecedented growth, led by the intricately inscribed vellum sheets.
million mark in the quarter," Bharti mobile segment, spurred by the Since a German scripture expert
chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said in world's lowest tariff structure. discovered it in Egypt more than
a statement. "This demonstrates the Bharti, the market leader in the 150 years ago, pages from the
Indian telecom growth story is Indian mobile sector with a 24.2 per Codex have found their way to
intact, with the rural markets wit- cent market share, is 30 per cent London, St Petersburg and Leipzig.
nessing strong uptake." owned by Singapore's SingTelNet. The remainder is still held by St
The company said that it would Catherine's monastery in Sinai,
Egypt, where scholar Constantine
Tischendorf unearthed it in 1844.
Half a century later Josef Stalin,
the Russian dictator, sold 694
pages to the British Library. The
revenues grew 3.4 per cent to was still consolidated.
entire Codex comprises 1460
27.18 billion kroner. Telenor revised its full-year 2008
pages.
The Performa revenue growth forecast, including
In 2005, a 650,000 pounds digiti-
figures take Kievstar, down to 3.0 per cent from
zation project was launched to
account of a previously expected 5.0 per cent.
reunite the far-flung sections of the
Kievstar, a With a grasp on 54 per cent of
Codex.
Ukrainian sub- the highly competitive Norwegian
sidiary in which mobile phone market, Telenor
Telenor has a 56.5 nonetheless remained upbeat, Bangladesh's
per cent stake but pointing out that the number of its
which it at the end subscriptions had jumped by 48,000 Grameenphone to
of 2006 was forced in the second quarter. raise $300m IPO
to deconsolidate from its overall Following its report, Telenor's
The board of Grameenphone,
group accounts due to a dispute stock price, which has plummeted
Bangladesh's biggest mobile phone
with a large Russian shareholder. 34 per cent since the beginning of
operator has approved plans for
After a court injunction was lift- the year, slipped 3.15 per cent to
what is set to be the country's
ed, Kievstar resumed its financial 82.90 kroner in early afternoon trad-
largest initial public offering, claimed
reporting to Telenor in the fourth ing on the Oslo stock exchange,
by the company.
quarter of 2007, permitting the which on average was down 0.24
Grameenphone, 62 per cent
Norwegian company to present its per cent.
owned by Norwegian telecom com-
results as though the Ukrainian firm
pany Telenor and 38 per cent
owned by local Grameen Telecom,
Canon profits slide is expected to apply to list on the
country's two main stock exchanges
for third straight
quarter
by the end of the month.
It plans to raise 300 million dol-
Japanese camera and office lars through the IPO, half by floating
The group, which has been equipment maker Canon Inc. said shares on the Dhaka and
restructuring its activities since the its operating profits slumped for a Chittagong bourses and the other
third straight quarter, hit by a US half by selling pre-IPO shares.
sales on a constant exchange rate economic slowdown and a stronger The company, valued at 3.75
basis had risen by 7.0 per cent. yen. dollars earlier this year by its issue
Ericsson's sales in its main busi- First-half operating profits fell for manager Citigroup, has more than
ness unit, networks, slipped by one the first time in six years as soaring 20 million of Bangladesh's 44 mil-
raw material costs piled on addition- lion cellular subscribers.
sion saw sales climb 16 per cent al pressure. The move will be the biggest in
and its professional services unit Net earnings tumbled 13.0 per Bangladesh's history and comes as
was up seven per cent. cent to 107.84 billion yen (1.0 billion stocks on both of its two main
"The overall business activity dollars) in the three months to June bourses have been plunging.
from the same period of the previ- The telecommunications sector
has emerged as a key driver of the
Svanberg said, “sales continued to per cent to 160.15 billion yen as economy of Bangladesh, which is
pick up in the United States but revenue dipped 1.9 per cent to 1.11 one of the world's poorest coun-
remained weak in Western Europe, trillion yen. tries, with nearly 40 per cent of its
its main market”. 144 million populations surviving on 99
less than a dollar day.

International
Yahoo inks deal
with Icahn to end
proxy battle
Yahoo announced that it had
reached an agreement with corpo-
rate raider Carl Icahn ending his
effort to oust the Internet giant's
board over its handling of a
takeover bid from Microsoft.
Under the deal, Icahn, who owns
around 5 per cent of Yahoo shares,
agreed to withdraw his nominees
for consideration at the company's
annual meeting of shareholders and
will get a seat on the board, Yahoo
said in a statement.
"I am much pleased that this set-
tlement will allow me to work in
partnership with Yahoo's board and
management team to help the com-
pany achieve its full potential,"
Icahn said in the statement.
MTN, Reliance fail to
strike deal
South African
mobile phone
group MTN and
India's Reliance
Communications
called off talks
aimed at creating a top-10 global
telecoms group, saying they could
not reach a deal. MTN - sub-
Saharan Africa's biggest mobile
phone group - and Reliance
Communications, controlled by bil-
lionaire Anil Ambani, started exclu-
sive talks on May 26 and the dead-
line had been extended to July 21.
"Owing to certain legal and regu-
latory issues, the parties are unable
to conclude a transaction.
Accordingly, it has been mutually
decided to allow the exclusivity
Sony Ericsson cuts 2,000 jobs
as earnings plummet
Mobile phone maker Sony
Ericsson announced it was cutting
2,000 jobs world-wide after report-
ing an operating loss in the second
quarter due to difficult
market conditions. "We're
going to cut 2,000 jobs
within a year all over the
world, out of 12,000
employees," spokeswoman
Susanne Andersson told the media.
Sony Ericsson posted an operat-
ing loss of two million euros (3.1
million dollars) in the second quar-
ter, compared to a profit of 315 mil-
lion euros in the same period of last
year. Net profit plunged by 97 per
cent to six million euros from 220
100 million a year earlier, while sales fell
by 9.4 per cent to 2.82 billion euros.
ME telecom markets
reaching saturation levels
Over the past three years, the
Middle East telecom sector has
been witnessing tremendous growth
in terms of telecom subscribers and
mobile penetration rates, especially
in GCC countries, but the most
markets are reaching saturation lev-
els, found a new study conducted
by Booz & Company.
The sector witnessed a phenom-
enal compound annual growth rate
(CAGR) of 44 per cent between
2003 and 2007, with subscribers
increasing from 24 million to 103
million. This growth is also reflected
in mobile penetration rates, most
notably in the UAE, Qatar and
Bahrain, where penetration levels
have reached 178 per cent, 129 per
agreement to lapse," MTN said in a
statement.
The extension, announced on
July 10, came after a claim on
shares in the Indian company by
Mukesh Ambani, estranged brother
of Reliance Communications chair-
man Anil Ambani, and a sharp drop
in share prices created obstacles to
completing a deal by the original
deadline of July 8. A deal would
have created a $66 billion emerging
markets telecoms giant with opera-
tions in about two dozen countries
and around 120 million subscribers.
"I am not surpassed it isn't a
deal. I don't think it is a train smash,
they (MTN) will look for other areas
to access the Indian market," said
Jan Meintjes, telecoms analyst.
The group has been trying to
develop its business on fast-grow-
ing emerging markets in order to
reduce dependence on its tradition- decline of 2.0-5.0 per cent. Russo
al, near-saturation
European outlets. As a
result it has sold more low- net loss of 586 million euros in the
end phones, where prices
are lower and the competi- strategy is showing through pro-
tion is tougher than in the high-end gressively."
segment, the company said.
The company's average selling
price for handsets continued to
drop, to 116 euros from 125 euros a
year ago.On the Stockholm stock
exchange, the Ericsson share was
up 1.79 percent at 70.70 kronor in
late afternoon trading, in an overall director of Lucent up to January
market up by 1.70 percent.
cent and 124 per cent respectively.
"Because competition in the
sector is further intensifying, opera-
tors are seeking new sources of
growth to capitalise on their share
of the market," explained Ghassan
Hasbani Vice-President, Booz &
Company. The market's competitive
landscape in 2007 highlights the
competition. In Jordan, there was
one fixed operator in the market,
with four mobile operators compet-
ing for the country's 85 per cent
mobile penetration level, and last
year in the UAE, two fixed opera-
tors and two mobile operators com-
peted for a share of the 178 per
cent mobile penetration rate.
Alcatel-Lucent
founders quit
Alcatel-Lucent reported a sec-
ond-quarter loss of 1.1 billion euros
(1.7 billion dollars) and signalled
coming changes in governance.
The price of the shares rose 4.44
per cent to 4.0 euros. This was
sixth quarterly loss in a row and
came amid a global restructuring to
shed 16,500 jobs by 2009.
Tchuruk will leave office on
October 1, where Russo had decid-
ed to resign by the end of the year
but that she "will continue to direct
the group to ensure the transition".
The group, which has issued
several profits warnings and
launched a number of restructuring
operations, made a net loss in 2007
of 3.5 billion euros after a loss of
176 million euros in 2006.
The loss was far bigger than
expected by analysts, but the sales
were in line with their estimates.
The group stood by its sales fore-
cast for the year, signalling a
insisted that despite the worsening
second-quarter loss, about double a
second quarter of last year, "our
The board said it would "immedi-
ately begin the search for a new
non-executive chairman and a new
chief executive," and would also
change its composition to reduce
the number of its members.
Consequently, the managing
2002, Henry Schacht, would also
resign from the supervisory board.
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Sony Ericsson eyes
Spice Mobile
Sony Ericsson is in talks to
acquire the BK Modi-led Spice
Mobile, which sells mobile handsets
under the Spice brand. Sources
said the Modi Group has demanded
Rs 80-100 per share, which values
Spice Mobile at around Rs 700
crore.
Spice Mobile is a listed company
and BK Modi directly owns about 64
% in it, it is not clear whether Sony
Ericsson will accept this price. Spice
Mobile shares closed at Rs 22.7 on
BSE, which gives the company a
market capitalisation of around Rs
177 crore.
In the last 40 days, Spice Mobile
shares have lost one-third of their
value, from a high of Rs 35.9, a
Spice Group source confirmed the
development and said while talks
are on between the companies, the
deal has not been finalised.
Russian firm
enters Vietnam
mobile phone
market
Russia's Vimpel
Communications will invest 267 mil-
lion dollars in the Vietnamese
mobile telephone joint venture
GTEL-Mobile, the company said in
a statement. VimpelCom will hold a
40 per cent stake while Global
Telecommunications Corporation, a
Vietnamese state-owned enterprise,
will hold 51 per cent, and one of its
Vietnamese subsidiaries will own
the remainder, VimpelCom said.
"With a population of 86 million
and a fast growing economy, the
Vietnamese market holds great
promise for VimpelCom," said the
Russian company's chief executive
officer, Alexander Izosimov.
Video game
industry wins
broader audience
Whether a bane or a boon,
video games are in mainstream,
and it's not just teenage boys play-
ing them anymore, an industry
leader said.
Despite controversies over sexu-
al and violent content, 65 per cent
of US households play computer or
video games, said Michael
Gallagher, chief executive officer of
the Entertainment Software
Association, releasing the trade
group's latest statistics at the 2008
E3 Media & Business Summit,
which wrapped up in Los Angeles.
With nine video games sold
every second last year, 38 per cent
of homes now have a gaming
console, Gallagher said.
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