Flare Dec+Jan

December 15, 2011 - January 15, 2012
Editor's Note
Editorial 8
Reader's Response
Letters to the Editor 9
Interview
PTCL the fastest growing telecom company: Naveed Saeed IT growth, energy challenges: Munib Khawaja Developing a winning team: Asad Rezzvi 20 30 34
Telepedia
Finally PM approves 3G policy PTCL to compete for 3G licence: Walid Irshaid 3G to land within 3 months: Dr. Yaseen Mobilink recycles billboard skins Pakistan offers liberal trade, investment climate: PM Mind your language! Proposed ban on obscene texts Ufone makes its presence felt at the UAE expo 2011 Internet phone market heats up Ericsson warns mobile operators to up macro networks 10 11 12 13 14 16 23 38 40
Cover Story
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Cover Story
Bill tabled in National Assembly To amend Pakistan Telecommunications Re-organization Act, 1996 26
InsighT
Watching adult content online Logistics, supply chain industry play pivotal role How to beat emerging web threats Dell Streak is deed, Kindle fire reigns supreme Cloud traffic growing fast Tech gets exciting in India 18 22 29 42 44 45
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PTCL the fastest growing telecom company
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Events
Warid Telecom organizes dengue awareness campaign Zong unveils Manchester United co-branded SIM Tokyo Motor Show, green tech cars go online 17 40 47
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Exclusive
Warid Telecom enjoys robust business growth minus Synergy 36
Tech Tools
Mobile Review Current Mobiles Upcoming Mobiles High Range Mobiles Low Range Mobiles Computers Laptops Accessories Gaming Zone 70 72 76 78 79 80 81 82 84
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Warid enjoys robust business Tokyo Motor Show, growth minus Synergy green tech cars go online
Synopsis
National News International News 48 61
Mosaic
National Mosaic International Mosaic 49 60
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Developing a winning team
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IT growth, energy challenges
Editor s No t e
Telecom Bill amendments
December 15, 2011 - January 15, 2012
for better or worse?

The telecommunication industry is regulated by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) an autonomous body established under section 3 of the Pakistan Telecommunication Re-Organization Act, 1996, an Act of the Parliament to regulate the telecommunication industry in Pakistan, including matters relating to protecting consumers' interest, licensing regime, tariff regulation, type approval of equipment and interconnection arrangements. The Authority has been vested with the necessary powers by the federal government to effectively perform its functions. When it comes to their regulatory body, the country's telecommunications sector can hardly complain. PTA has helped propagate the use of cell phones in the country to unprecedented levels within a few years. The sector witnessed significant inflows of foreign investment and usage rates charged to consumers in the country are relatively low compared to the regional and global average. Mr. Khurram Jehangir Wattoo, Member National Assembly has presented proposed amendments Bill in the National Assembly, which has been referred to the relevant Standing Committee on telecommunications. The Bill tried to insert new sections 31A, 31B and 55A. 31A, Issuance of SIM Cards, 31B, Intimidation or harassment through obnoxious telephone calls or messages, etc. 55A, Publication of telephone directory. The minister has proposed strict punishments for violators. Nobody is against the above proposed amendments, but, the reason of concern is if the Bill gets approved, then how it will affect the growth of telecommunications in Pakistan, as it will lead to open a new Pandora box; it is not so simple, as mentioned. Data Services getting tremendous growth, when we peek into reasons for this growth, one can easily term SMS Packages (that offer very low priced Unlimited SMS on any network) the sole responsible for it, as well as the low priced call rates and SIM Jagao offers. However, other things that supported this growth may also include the political situation of the country, which evolved the idea of SMS based political campaigns during and after elections, the traffic surge to unexpected heights on the National and Religious festivals. Along with SMS, GPRS backed internet on cellular phone is also getting momentum. Specifically, the unlimited GPRS and hourly based internet packages by all operators are causing more customers to get them equipped with internet while on the go. In this given scenario, we may not expect such amendments in the Act, because it will affect telecom growth adversely. By preparing telecom directory and publishing it in print and online will raise privacy questions. We are talking about, how to liberalize telecom sector to attract more investment to give a helping hand to struggling national economy but such efforts are making way to hamper all the positive initiatives which can boost telecommunications sector at par the global standards. The Standing Committee should have to think thrice not twice to recommend the above mentioned amendments, as it will definitely hamper the growth rate of our telecom sector as Chairman PTA has said; Pakistan's telecom sector is amongst the most lucrative in the world.
Zubair Ahmed Kasuri Irfan Khan Usman Yaqoob Director Marketing (Lhr) M. Farooq Malik Manager Marketing (Lhr) Rashid Hussain Mughal Marketing Executive (Khi) Zafar Khan Afridi Senior Graphic Designer M. Naeem Mughal Graphic Designer Azhar Javed General Manager Muhammad Saeed Chief Photographer Mobile: 0321 - 8404389 Legal Penal: Sardar Fakhair Ahmed Rana Naveed Ahmed Joua Maj (R) Habib-Ur-Rahman Editor Assistant Editor
Advocate Advocate Advocate
Lahore Office 46J-Gulberg III, Lahore-Pakistan. Ph: +92-42-38350195, 042-35880183 Fax: +92-42-35880183 Islamabad Office Phone: +92-51-5892027 +92-51-2254548 Kasur Office Phone: +92-492-770820-763250 Karachi Office 14 Star Marketing & Production 32-1-C-1/6, Block 6, P.E.C.H.S. Main Shahrah-eFaisal, Karachi. Tel: +92-21-34311781-3 Registration No PCPB/105 (Vol. 8 Issue:4) Price Rs: 300 URL: www.f lar e .pk Email: flare.mag@gmail.com Colour Sepration: Fotoscan Process, 25-C Lower Mall, Lahore. Ph: 042-37111906, 37234042.
Zubair Ahmed Kasuri, (Editor-in-Chief) publisher of FLARE leading telecom magazine, printed it from Qasim Naeem Art Press, Near Bank Road, Main Bund Road, Lahore and published from 46J, Gulberg III, Lahore.
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Finally PM approves 3G policy

Now Cabinet Committee has to say the last word
rime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has approved 3G policy in principle and directed the cabinet committee to bring the policy before the Cabinet meeting for its final approval. He was presiding a meeting on 3G and grey traffic and additional spectrum auction for Wireless Local Loop (WLL) at PM House recently. Ministry of Information Technology gave a presentation on recommendations formulated by cabinet committee comprising Dr. Hafeez Sheikh, Minister for Finance, Syed Naveed Qamar, Minister for Water and Power, and Mr. Ghos Baksh Mehr, Minister for Privatisation and Dr Asim Hussain,
simultaneously but in quick succession. To encourage competition, new international players as well as existing operators would also be invited for Instaphpne licence auction being the sixth of the existing licencee in the country and not a new licencee. Cellular teledensity in the country has reached 65.5 percent from just 33 percent in 2004 while almost 92 percent of the land area and more than 1,000 cities, towns and villages are under the umbrella of by cellular services. From only 2000 cell sites to 30,417 in just six years, cellular services have reached to every nook and corner of the country. According to official data available, from a mere 5 million cellular subscribers in 2004, cellular subscribers jumped to 108 million in 2011. Voice has been the focus of cellular operators since the inception of cellular mobile services in Pakistan but now the focus is shifting towards utilizing the huge potential lying in data and value added services. PTA sources informed they were aware of the situation and constantly pursuing the government to announce 3G licensing policy which is believed to be the right ingredient required to boost up the data services scenario in Pakistan. Cellular penetration had a topsy-curvy trend in the recent past due to continuous data cleaning
It was decided in the meeting that 3 blocks of 10 MHs each out of available 3G spectrums would be immediately offered for auction and existing operators can participate in this round as well
that winners of such auction will be amended licences and allocated frequencies will be able to start their services after by March 2013. New players will also be invited but with provision but if new player is successful in bid then they would be eligible to resume operation only after March 2013 when moratorium on new licensing as per previous cabinet committee decision would expire. In order to ensure professionalism and transparency, it was also decided that a committee of Public Sector stakeholders including representatives from Ministries of Finance, Information Technology, PTA and representative of Frequency Alloca-
process by the operators. According to latest available statistics, there are currently 108 million cellular subscribers in Pakistan at the end of November, 2011 as compared to 99.2 million. Earlier, Secretary Information Technology and Telecom, Saeed Ahmad Khan has assured his support to cellular companies in extending 3G mobile brand networking.
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Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources. It was decided in the meeting that 3 blocks of 10 MHs each out of available 3G spectrums would be immediately offered for auction and existing operators can participate in this round as well. It was also decided that more spectrum would be made available for 3/4 G services and offered for auction with the provision
tion Board would supervise auction process. PTA would devise an appropriate methodology to conduct varying component of this auction as decided under the supervision of the Committee. The Cabinet committee recommendations pertain to the auction of 3G frequencies and defunct Instaphone licence along with allocated frequency
In order to ensure professionalism and transparency, it was also decided that a committee of Public Sector stakeholders including representatives from Ministries of Finance, Information Technology, PTA and representative of Frequency Allocation Board would supervise auction process. PTA would devise an appropriate methodology to conduct varying component of this auction as decided under the supervision of the Committee
He said this in meeting with CEO's of various cellular companies. The focus of the meeting was to discuss on the issues of subscriber verification system, taxation on cellular companies, extension of 3G mobile brand networking. n
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We are going for 3G and we will be the first to compete for a 3G licence; when Etisalat entered the Pakistani market, four other regional and international telecom operators followed the suit; Our deep passion has been to transform PTCL from a state monopoly dominating the market to a world-class telecom company: President, PTCL
resident and CEO, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), Walid Irshaid, has said that his company is going for 3G and it will be the first to compete for a 3G licence in Pakistan. We have no option but to succeed," said Mr. Irshaid, while addressing the UAE Trade and Investment Conference 2011 held in Karachi recently. "We are going for 3G and we will be the first to compete for a 3G licence." Held as part of the first ever "Magnificent 7 UAE Expo 2011" in Pakistan, organised by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade and UAE Consulate Karachi, the event was attended by a large number of CEOs and top executives of UAE-based companies in Pakistan and other eminent personalities of the corporate sector. Addressing its first session, PTCL CEO & President said that when Etisalat entered the Pakistani market, four other regional and international telecom operators followed the suit. "This was the impact that Etisalat created for Pakistan by attracting foreign direct investment for the country, said Mr. Irshaid. Our deep passion has been to transform PTCL from a state monopoly dominating the market to a world-class telecom company which is able to favourably compete with 45 players on the ground." Mr. Irshaid said that today PTCL is not just the telephone company of Pakistan, but it is the integrated telecommunications company of Pakistan. He said that PTCL was the last company to enter Pakistan's broadband market, and yet today it is the largest broadband provider in the country. "This has been our transformation over the last 5 years," said CEO & President PTCL. We don't just have a business plan; rather we have a mandate to bring broadband to five million people of Pakistan - a mandate given to us by our shareholders, our Board of Governors and our valued customers." Mr. Irshaid was of the view that the UAE Trade and Investment Expo and Conference 2011 had been possible because of the brotherly relations
and strategic partnership between UAE and Pakistan. "Pakistan is replete and ripe with opportunities," he said. "We believe in this market and we are here to stay." Speakers at UAE trade and investment conference at Karachi Expo Centre said that Pakistan was a growing market and UAE companies operating here would stay and make long term strategic investment. Regional general manager Asia Pacific North and Indian subcontinent Etihad Airways, Joost den Hartog said that his airline was doing great business in Pakistan. "We are running daily flights from Karachi, Islamabd, Lahore to UAE and twice
Speakers at UAE trade and investment conference at Karachi Expo Centre said that Pakistan was a growing market and UAE companies operating here would stay and make long term strategic investment
a week from Peshawar. We are planning to enhance our operations in Pakistan in future with the expansion of our fleet", he noted. Hartog said that his airline is now catering for Pakistanis living in USA, Canada, Europe and Middle East and will soon start lifting Pakistani passengers for Frankfurt and Munich. Pakistani Ambassador in UAE Jamil Ahmed Khan advised Pakistani businessmen to take full advantage of opportunities in the Emirates for reexport business. He said that 40 percent of the exports to UAE are re-exported to African countries. He said that Pakistani exports to UAE can be enhanced from 2 percent of Emirates' global trade to 6 percent with the help of planned efforts. Chief
Executive Officer of Bank Al Falah, Atif Aslam Bajwa said that his bank is growing fast in Pakistan and "we have plans to further expand our operations in the country". Chief Executive Officer, FlyDubai, Ghaith Al Ghaith said that the business of his airline has increased in Pakistan by 10 percent while it is growing worldwide at 12 percent. "We are planning to further expand our business here". CEO Dubai Islamic Bank Junaid said his bank has plan to expand its branch network from 73 to 100 in Pakistan by next year and offer the entire range of Shariah compliant products in Pakistan. Director of IBA Dr Ishrat Husain said that foreign investors were never touched in Pakistan by any regime even during the nationalization in 1972. He said Pakistan has liberalized its foreign exchange regime and profits, royalties, fees can be fully repatriated. Acting President of FPCCI Khalid Tawab said that business chambers are playing their full to expand bilateral trade and investment between Pakistan and UAE.
Meanwhile, consul generals and commercial officers of USA, China, Germany, Japan, Russia, Afghanistan and Korea also visited UAE Expo 2011 Magnificent 7 and took keen interest in the products at display. n
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3G to land within 3 months: Yaseen

tor, he said. Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has recently given the go-ahead for the 3G Tech. The PTA chairman was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the data centre established by leading telecom company Transworld at the citys outskirts in Hawkesbay. The ceremony was largely attended by executives of the telecom industry and media personnel. Yaseen said that the PTA is fully committed to the task of regulating, issuing new licenses and introducing new spectrums and technologies. However, he emphasised that the private sector can play an important role in sector by investing in the ventures. The telecom industry has had to battle a host of issues ranging from the rupee devaluation, the energy crisis, the security situation and inflation that has greatly reduced the disposable income of the common citizens of this country. However, the industry has proven itself to be remarkably resilient and there are some notable achievements that the industry can be proud of. He said that cellular service coverage in Pakistan is one of the best in the region; cellular subscribers have crossed the 110-million milestone and there are multiple broadband options available to the consumer in every nook and corner of the country. Besides, there are more than 1.5 million broadband consumers in the country with the industry doubling year to year and 4 operational long haul networks in the country that connect various cities. He said that with the increase in broadband adoption, the need of the hour for the country is to continue improving its internet infrastructure. Internationally, there are two independent operators that connect Pakistan to the Internet and every destination of the world. Transworld is one of them.
ecently, the Prime Minister of Pakistan Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has given formal approval for 3G policy and directed the cabinet committee to bring the policy before the Cabinet meeting for its final approval, but didnt mention timeframe for the 3G auction, the authorities yet to answer. The most advanced and lucrative technology of the modern world 3G (third generation) technology would officially be launched in the country within a short span of three months after the Information Technology Ministry prepares the concerned draft, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Dr Mohammad Yaseen has said. The emergence of the 3G tech will benefit IT firms as well as the telecommunication sec-
sixth of the existing licencee in the country and not a new licencee. Cellular teledensity in the country has reached 65.5 percent from just 33 percent in 2004 while almost 92 percent of the land area and more than 1,000 cities, towns and villages are under the umbrella of by cellular services. Yaseen said that Transworlds data centre is unique due to its location and state-of-the-art technology and new applications and contents can be hosted with minimum CAPEX. Briefing the participants of the ceremony on the occasion, Transworld President Kamran Malik said that the data centre is the countrys first private submarine fiber optic cable operator. He said that Transworld data centre is located 20kms outside the clamour of the city in a fully owned purpose
The most advanced and lucrative technology of the modern world 3G (third generation) technology would officially be launched in the country within a short span of three months after the Information Technology Ministry prepares the draft
built Telco grade building. The centre, being built on Tier II architecture, ensures 99.995 percent uptime, uninterrupted power and cooling, n+n redundancies and fault tolerant infrastructure. It is the new standard of collocation services for multiple applications including disaster recovery, business continuity, virtual PoPs, mobile commerce, online media content and cloud computing. In this digital era, data must instantly be accessible round the clock, leaving no time for downtime. We have taken the initiative to launch data centre to create a marked difference in the market because not all data centres are created equal, he said. Malik said the Transworld data centre has the capacity to accommodate the collocation needs of any sized business. Its infrastructure is equipped with variety of space and power configurations to provide solutions which are engineered to scale and provide the reliability required by todays always-on enterprise. Transworld Commercial Division Vice President Zulfiqar Qazilbash explained the advantages that the data centre offers. The Transworld data center provides a unique mix of cutting edge power, safety, security, associated infrastructure and expert manpower and technical know-how of the data centre team, he said. Being at the hub of all local and international data traffic, it is able to provide single hop to any location locally as well as internationally and instant access to unlimited bandwidth has set the data centre apart from its competition. n
Cellular service coverage in Pakistan is one of the best in the region; cellular subscribers have crossed the 110-million milestone ; there are more than 1.5 million broadband consumers in the country with the industry doubling year to year and 4 operational long haul networks in the country that connect various cities
The Cabinet committee recommendations pertain to the auction of 3G frequencies and defunct Instaphone licence along with allocated frequency simultaneously but in quick succession. To encourage competition, new international players as well as existing operators would also be invited for Instaphpne licence auction being the
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Telepedia
utdoor advertising is critical to promoting a brand or product in Pakistan. Colorful, larger than life and intriguing billboards dot the Pakistani landscape and provide information and interesting diversions during traffic jams. These billboards might compel you to think about an important message or at times leave you thinking what happens to these billboards when a particular marketing campaign is over? Destined for landfills, thousands of square kilometers of billboard skins made out of non-biodegradable plastic materials are left to rot in landfills or are burnt and release toxic fumes into the air we breathe. In the spirit of being an innovative and responsible corporation, Mobilink, is trying to save these sheets of plastic from end-
ing up in landfills by turning them into school bags for underprivileged children. Mobilink has always been committed to inculcating corporate responsibility in its operations. Examples of Mobilinks corporate responsibility can be found in its enduring CSR efforts over the
while providing essential items to those who need them the most. Manufacturing process: The whole process of manufacturing starts off with the collection of discarded billboard skins. For this, Mobilinks own advertisement billboard skins are used. As a company that markets its products heavily and frequently through outdoor advertising, there is always a steady supply of pana-flex. Therefore, Mobilink reuses the disposed-off billboard skins to find a small but powerful way of protecting the environment. The skins are sent to the manufacturing facility in Lahore. The skins are washed thoroughly to remove color while damaged parts are disposed of. The material is then handed over to skilled workers who cut the flex sheet into the standard school bag designed to carry books. The cut materials are then sent for stitching. For stitching, Mobilink has chosen to empower marginalized women by providing them employment opportunities. These women collect the bags and stitch them in the safety and security of their homes, and collecting the wages upon returning the finished goods. Since Mobilink has always been committed towards the cause of education, the organization took the initiative to recycle the skins for manufacturing school bags and distributing them amongst underprivileged school children. However, building further on the benefits of used skins, Mobilink also used the method to pack relief goods for the thousands of victims of the floods that hit Pakistan in 2010. Mobilink is the first and so far the only corporate organization in Pakistan to implement a billboard heavy school fees, afford books or other educational expenses to ensure that the most deserving are reached through this endeavor. Mobilink GSM is a wholly owned subsidiary of Orascom Telecom Holding a leading international telecommunications company operating GSM networks in high growth markets in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Mobilink is Pakistans leading cellular and Blackberry service provider. With more than 32 million subscribers, Mobilink maintains market leadership through cutting-edge, integrated technology, the strongest brands and the largest portfolio of value added services in the industry, a broadband carrier division providing next generation internet technology as well as the countrys largest voice and data network covering more than 10,000 locations. A small effort can be a source of major changes: Mobilinks recycling bags efforts make a small but meaningful contribution in the lives of underprivileged children who can enjoy some semblance of normalcy in an otherwise difficult life, worsened by lack of a social support network in a third world country like Pakistan. On numerous occasions, Mobilink employees personally go and distribute these bags to the children in far flung schools to ensure that the most deserving students benefit from this initiative. n
years in the areas of disaster relief, education, environment, health and the empowerment of the underprivileged. The Recycled Schoolbags Initiative for Underprivileged Children is one such project that captures the essence of Mobilinks efforts. This project involves recycling discarded billboard skins to manufacture school bags that are distributed free of cost to underprivileged school children. This initiative is part of Mobilinks environmental conservation efforts and its commitment to promoting education. Through this initiative, used billboard skins are given a second life, thus contributing to environmental protection and promoting sustainable business practices
skin-recycling program of this scale. Mobilink has been initiating other recycling schemes such as selling office paper to be recycled with the proceeds collected are used for funding other community welfare activities. Since the launch of the Recycled Schoolbags initiative back in 2007, Mobilink has donated 35,000 school bags made from recycled advertising skins to leading local NGOs such as CARE Foundation, Zindagi Trust, JAQ Trust and various other schools with a known track record of working in the field of literacy. The Mobilink CSR team actively seeks out and supports schools that specifically provide educational opportunities to those children who cannot pay
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Pakistan offers liberal trade, investment climate: PM

could play their due role in a better way. The Prime Minister said Pakistan offers vast opportunities for foreign direct investments and joint ventures in infrastructure development; electricity generation, agricultural based industries, insurance and real estate. He said Pakistan has a huge market of around 180 million people and resilient economic fundamentals despite heavy odds that the country faced during floods and war on terror. He said, "Pakistan has a unique geo-strategic location and it is a gateway to South & East Asia and the Middle East." He said, "Pakistan offers liberal trade and investment climate, and is blessed with talented and hardworking manpower, rich mineral resources and plentiful agriculture production. Pakistan enjoys deep and cordial relations with UAE in almost all fields." The Prime Minister added the last 40 years have seen the strengthening and diversification of these bilateral relations. Pakistan was the first country to accord recognition to UAE after it attained independence in 1971. The present democratic government is committed to further consolidating the bilateral relations. He said the presence of the business community, executives of the national and multi-national companies and the professionals in such a large number demonstrated their passion and commitment to further strengthen trade and people-to-people relations between Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. The Prime Minister said the event of UAE EXPO 2011, also marks the celebration of 40 years of brotherly and friendly relations between Pakistan and UAE, which are characterized by religious, cultural and fraternal bonds and close geographical proximity. He said late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Founder of modern UAE, laid the foundation of these exemplary relations. Sheikh Zayad was a great friend of Pakistan who stood by the people of Pakistan during the challenging times. "The bilateral relations between our brotherly countries now enjoy the patronage of His Highness President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan," he said. The Prime Minister said the people of Pakistan greatly cherish the contributions and services of
rime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani urged the local and international investors to take full advantage from the investor friendly policies present in the country and enhance investment in different fields, he said, while addressing the inaugural session of UAE Expo 2011 Pakistan in Karachi, recently. The function was also attended by Governor Sindh Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Minister for Foreign Trade, United Arab Emirates Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi, Senior Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Faheem and a large number of local and foreign investors and businessmen. He said the government always took special measures to provide more incentives to business community so that they
project worth $100 million aimed at the reconstruction of infrastructure damaged by the devastating floods and natural calamities in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province, Bajaur and South Waziristan are the examples of close relations of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan President of UAE with Pakistan. He said four major sectors such as education, public health, roads, bridges and supply of water treatment plants are the major focus of the projects being completed by UAE cooperation. He said UAE's Free Trade Zones (FTZs) that offer 100 percent foreign ownership and zero taxes, are helping to attract foreign investors. Gilani said after Hong Kong and Singapore, UAE is ranked as the third most important reexport centre in the world. He said the re-export trade
The government always took special measures to provide more incentives to business community so that they could play their due role in a better way; Pakistan offers vast opportunities for foreign direct investments and joint ventures in infrastructure development; electricity generation, agricultural based industries, insurance and real estate: Gilani
forms a substantial part of the entire trading sector in UAE and it is one of the biggest foreign investor in Pakistan after USA and UK in key sectors such as energy, telecommunications, real estate, aviation and banking. The Prime Minister said UAE is the largest investor in Pakistan among the Gulf Cooperation Council and its public and private sectors made an investment of $3.74 billion from 2004 to 2010.
Yusuf Raza Gilani said the presence of the business community, executives of the national and multi-national companies and the professionals in such a large number demonstrated their passion and commitment to further strengthen trade and people-to-people relations between Pakistan and UAE
Sheikh Zayad bin Sultan Al-Nahyan and hold him in high esteem. He said they could not forget generous humanitarian assistance they got from the government and the people of UAE at the time of earthquake and floods. The Prime Minister said the
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Gilani said about 1.4 million Pakistani expatriates live in UAE who contribute remittances to the tune of well over $ 1 billion every year. He said Pakistan is also a supplier of quality food items to UAE. Numerous Pakistani businessmen are operating their units in the FTZs of UAE, he added. The Prime Minister congratulated the UAE government for putting up this mega event in Pakistan for the first time and felicitated the Senior Federal Minister for Commerce and Board of Investment for supporting the event. n
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IrfanKhan
Mind your language!
dictable, that the PTA would rely on a desire to protect consumers while putting in place the new ban. That is how freedom is interfered with each time a paternalistic desire to protect the people. But by merely concentrating on the list and by making fun of it, we have ignored a deeper issue. And that is the stance of a society on the prior restraint of speech. It is fascinating that this list seems intuitively wrong to so many peopleboth Pakistanis and others Consider pornography. Some countries ban it altogether while others merely regulate access to it for certain age groups. Europe, otherwise considered more liberal than the USA, is grappling with its own freedom of expression issues. Many European states ban and/or punish Holocaust denial. Such laws would not pass constitutional muster in the United States where the First Amendment jurisprudence sets an extremely high bar before restrictions can be imposed. In Pakistan, we find the PTA issued list of banned words laughable but the debate would be different if the words were lesser or more provocative. Why should it be that way? Why shouldnt we as a society take this opportunity to debate the merits of any prior restraint on speech? Is that
Proposed ban on obscene texts
Again brings us in news for wrong reasons

PTAs proposed ban on allegedly obscene texts has once again brought the country into the news for the wrong reasons. Apart from the fact that the list of obscene words has introduced many of us to shades of obscenity we may not have been familiar with
he legal challenges to the planned ban under the Protection from Spam, Unsolicited, Fraudulent and Obnoxious Communication Regulations, 2009 are likely to be successful. The Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organisation) Act, 1996 carries some fairly broad language which the PTA can rely on to argue that it is acting to protect the interests of consumers of telecom services. However, the list is not just absurd but clearly overbroad and courts generally find it easy to strike down such overbroad exercise of power. Well mind our own language, thank you Pakistan Telecommunication Authoritys proposed ban on allegedly obscene texts has once again brought the country into the news for the wrong reasons. Apart from the fact that the list of obscene words has introduced many of us to shades of obscenity we may not have been familiar with, this whole plot carries little redeeming virtue. Apart from the trivialities of the planned ban, there are many issues at play here. First up I think the Pakistani society deserves commendation for the fact that the mere talk of such a ban became big news and multiple fronts have already threatened legal action. We Pakistanis are a loud bunch but we dont always raise the right amount of noise in this case we have done that so, as they say in Pakistan, yeh cheez! The justification offered by the PTAs letter makes reference to the glory of Islam in Article
19 glory of Islam being one of the grounds under which freedom of press and speech can be restricted. The courts will hopefully not uphold an overbroad and absurd list of words under the banner of glory of Islam. Apart from legalities, even as a matter of policy, the PTA acted clearly in ignorance of its avowed aims. The 2009 regulations in question already lay down how each service provider in
But by merely concentrating on the list and by making fun of it, we have ignored a deeper issue. And that is the stance of a society on the prior restraint of speech. It is fascinating that this list seems intuitively wrong to so many peopleboth Pakistanis and others
the telecom sector must have a complaint handling mechanism to deal with issues of unsolicited calls and texts. Numbers can be blocked and subscribers can take effective action in this regard. The aim of the 2009 regulations is to protect consumers and it is laughable, yet pre-
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going too far? Access to pornographic websites has recently been banned in Pakistan shouldnt we have rights groups threatening legal action to challenge that too? These are just questions difficult questions at many levelswhich I think we as a society need to discuss. Surely, most of us concede that the state does have authority to step in and regulate speech but at what point is that line crossed? We already have laws in place that punish use of words that cause sexual harassment and assault. Implicit in such laws is a judgment call that certain results, if and when produced, deserve condemnation. At the same time, many would argue that the state has no business regulating words exchanged between two consenting individuals; that argument sounds fine and yet it captures the problem. There is a temptation for the state to be paternalistic in such matters but for the most part it must be resisted. Let no one convince you that Pakistan is a messed up country because of this PTA list. The world needs to get over its coverage of Pakistan in make or break terms. No country can claim never having acted out of a protective impulse in enacting repressive laws. This is an ongoing process a part of our growing up. But we will only truly grow up when we debate the issues at a deeper level and when enough among us rise to raise the most difficult questions. n
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Event
ontinuing to do its p a r t earnestly, Warid Telecom yet again takes another step towards well being of society. Dengue caused enough of the damage already and the threat of its reappearing after winter season is something very alarming. In this regard Warid Telecom recently organized a massive awareness campaign, aimed at helping communities to be more
prepared in fighting smartly against Dengue. Adopting unique approach towards engaging communities, over 300 young leaders were trained to volunteer for the cause Including both Warid staff members and students of Government College for Boys, Gulberg Lahore. Dr. Prof Tariq Salahudin, the principle doctor of general hospital, Dr. Shabbir Agha of General Hospital, Dr. Haroon Ihsan, CEO NUR Foundation and other renowned experts trained volunteer groups. An amazing technique of making effective Mosquito Trap at home was also shared with group. 1000 free
traps were also distributed, mainly in the less privileged areas of Lahore, where people are generally not able to afford the mosquito repellents and electric mats. This effectual drive is not just helping local communities to learn and be more prepared in fighting smartly against Dengue but it also helps them learn an easy way to develop an effective mosquito trap at home by using daily house-use items.
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InsighT
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Watching adult content online

The most concerning problem for Pakistan
recent survey conducted by Nielsen group concluded that the majority Youth of Pakistan are deeply frustrated and feel abandoned by the government. As more and more urban centers of our country, which hold the cream intellect of our nation, get connected to the communication networks the epidemic of Pornography grows. In light of growing socio-economic pressures & eroding religious and moral values our strength our youth could well be on its way to a Demographical as well as Social/Morale Disaster. The recent report commissioned by the British Council revealed that an overwhelming majority of young Pakistanis say their country is headed in the wrong direction and only 1 in 10 has confidence in the government. They are now entering a work force in which the lions share cannot find jobs, a potentially volatile situation if the government cannot address its concerns. The despair among the young generation is rooted in the condition of their lives. Only a fifth of those interviewed had permanent full-time jobs. Half said they did not have sufficient skills to enter the workplace. And one in four could not read or write a legacy of the countrys abysmal public education system, in which less than 40 percent of children are enrolled in school which is far below the South Asian average of 58 percent. The study interviewed 1,226 Pakistanis ages 18 to 29, from different backgrounds across the country, in March and April earlier this year. The combination of this increasing frustration among youth of our country and their growing access to World Wide Web and information unchecked is driving the youth of this country in a disastrous direction. In order to understand the
In light of growing socio-economic pressures & eroding religious and moral values our strength our youth could well be on its way to a Demographical as well as Social/Morale Disaster
growing epidemic of Pornography we need to consider the following information about this industry which sheds light on the magnitude of this growing problem: The above mentioned statistics are just some of the many that are available, this Information might vary in case of Pakistan due to our different social-economic and cultural condition yet we have to admit this fact that Pornography has
The despair among the young generation is rooted in the condition of their lives; the combination of increasing frustration among youth of our country and their growing access to World Wide Web and information unchecked is driving the youth of this country in a disastrous direction
started and gained a strong hold in the Pakistani society. There are numerous Public markets in major cities of Pakistan like Karachi, Lahore & Rawalpindi where this heinous trade is taking place. Apart from this as the Teleco penetration increases and more and more people get access to faster more reliable means to gain information, especially the internet, this epidemic promises to pose a great threat to our society if allowed to go unchecked.
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As we can clearly see from the Statistics that internet has proven to be a huge medium of transfer for this industry therefore measures need to be taken to ensure that Young ones, and Adults alike, do not have open access to such information. Blocking their path is one way, a short one I would say. Real need of the time, for the long run, is the awareness. We need to educate parents to make sure that they monitor activities of their children while they are using internet or mobile phones. These awareness campaigns should not focus on urban areas only, but those masses in rural regions should be educated as well. Awareness is all we can spread to sustain as a society with moral values. For the purpose, a large scale, government funded and supported by private sector, campaign is severely needed. Broadband companies need to develop Corporate Social Responsibility campaigns condemning this trade and they need to make sure that they take all measures to stop this process of degeneration from spreading. The government also has heavy responsibility on it because it is the government which needs to develop policies which can obstruct the trade & sharing of pornography. Let us not forget that the worth of a civilization is not the tall buildings, roads and the economy they construct but in fact it is their religious belief, their morale values, their civic dealings, arts, culture and their ability to bring up good human beings not animals which are driven by their desires. If we fail to provide the youth of our country a strong religious and morale basis we will only end up raising a generation which is not only frustrated but also ethically and morally lost. n
Interview
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The fastest growing telecom, broadband company

Naveed Saeed, Senior Executive Vice President (SEVP) Commercial, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited says the company is focused on deploying most modern telecom infrastructure in the country to enhance data connectivity for businesses to increase their productivity and bring prosperity in the country.
r. Naveed Saeed is associated with Pakistan Telecommunications (PTCL) as Senior Executive Vice President Commercial. He brings with him a professional and telecommunications industry experience. His latest achievement was winning APNS award. He is one of the pioneers of telecom industry preface in the country. He began his career about twenty years before selling phones to end-users. Tell us about your professional career? Naveed Saeed: My professional career began with Paktel in early 90s when technology was that much simple and was very expensive. After that, I have got an opportunity to launch operations of Instaphone in Faisalabad region. I have also worked for Mobilink and Thuraya for a number of years. In 2003, I have joined Warid Telecom as Head of Marketing and Sales to launch its operations across the country, added over 3 million subscribers during my tenure. After the successful launch, I was transferred to Bangladesh for another launch. These things lead me to come back to my own country to endorse telecommunications industry.
I translated my thought into a reality and so I came back to Pakistan, here I joined PTCL to look after its zonal and regional operations which included technical, customer and administrative
With privatisation there has been a phenomenal growth in the data connectivity and hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested just for deploying latest telecom infrastructure in the country. We are providing backhaul to all the players for internet connectivity
management, then I was given the task where I am now which is SEVP Commercial. What are PTCLs achievements after privatisation? Naveed Saeed: Before privatisation PTCL was a
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basic telephony company providing plain old telephony services. With privatisation there has been a phenomenal growth in the data connectivity and hundred of millions of dollars have been invested just for deploying latest telecom infrastructure in the country. We are providing backhaul to all the players for internet connectivity. We are also providing connectivity to big institutions like banks and other corporate entities for their services. Deployment of latest technologies have helped in significantly increasing efficiency of businesses and a seamless security has been provided in the deployment of IT enabled services by the corporate sector. On the domestic front, previously there was only dial-up internet available but now DSL has replaced dial-up internet. Speed has been increased from 256KB to 1MB and 100MB at very affordable cost. Fibre to the home (FTTH) technology is fully deployed; corporate solutions are being provided with dedicated customer services. Without these services no economy can move forward. On the wireless side, we deployed the latest CDMA 1X technology in the country. This year we launched high data speed EVDO Red B, which was the first launch in the world. The last six years has witnessed an or-
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Interview
ganisational transformation and pay for performance culture was introduced, new professionals were hired, trained and groomed, processes were reengineered and an aggressive sales and marketing strategy was adopted. We are not a monopoly company anymore we are now a profit driven company. Is there a decline in fixed line customers due to mobile phones? Naveed Saeed: Yes, there was a shrink but it was not a massive one, as the voice business globally did transfer to wireless. However, we did not lose business from the corporate and small and medium enterprises as we focused on them even though some migration was witnessed on the domestic consumer side but it was minimal as compared to developed countries that lost in millions. We are not losing any more domestic customers as data connectivity is being provided on the fixed line. Our PSTN voice revenues are growing as we have made new offers at bundle level. The voice, broadband and IPTV services on fixed line have improved our revenues. We are growing at present as the majority of our new customers are broadband users. As the subscriber base will grow, there will be more appetite for bandwidth. There are four elements to data connectivity, firstly the platform; it is becoming better with new investment. Secondly the connectivity pipe is steadily growing, thirdly the appetite for internet usage is growing and lastly the devices they are coming in huge numbers with growing storage and fast processing speeds. Even our phones have 32GB storage card. The appetite of consumers to digest and consume more is growing. The entire chain requires more investment and we are already on the move by investing more and more in telecom infrastructure. Our objective is to keep enhancing the data pipe as more usage of applications will benefit us.
ple connectivity in the next five years. Any plans to acquire telecom companies? Naveed Saeed: Yes we are interested in acquisitions. We are looking at other entities for more acquisitions. We have already acquired and merged Max Corp which was providing DNOBS services. We have made more investment than any other telecom company in Pakistan and hundreds of our new cell sites are coming up that will
and sharing experiences of other South Asian states with us. We are satisfied with PTA as they are becoming better by the day. People term customer care a grey area after privatisation. What is your response? Naveed Saeed: No the impression is not correct. We value all our customers and customer care is one of our top priorities. We deployed an automated complaint management system to address consumer complaints within 24 hours after registering of the complaint. The system is fully automated and monitored regularly with update information on the progress of all the complaints. However, there are some gaps, for example there is lot of development activity in Lahore, people of one department without informing us in advance dig up the road sides and cut under ground cables, this causes some delay. With our automated system, the customers can fix all their complaints by simply making a call. We are also working to further improve the system. What are your personal views on technology reshaping our lifestyle? Naveed Saeed: I think in this age and stage it is a duty on us all to do more for our country and for the prosperity of our people. Pakistan has all the ingredients to be a very successful country. We have a very good basic infrastructure in all the sectors, we have good institutions and human resource all we need is devising some processes for enhancing productivity that will lead to prosperity. We can achieve this by im-
We have complete network and ability to energise the copper lines with the right pricing mix. At present Pakistan is among the top five countries worldwide in broadband growth. PTCL has more than 95 percent customer share out of the total 750,000 broadband users in the country. The customer base will be reaching the 1 million mark very soon
How do you compare Pakistan with other regional countries? Naveed Saeed: If we look at similar economies like Sri Lanka, Iran and Bangladesh we are far ahead but as compared to developed world we still require more penetration and growth to catch up quickly. DSL was launched in Pakistan three years back and it has recorded a fast growth as bandwidth prices have become more affordable. We have complete network and ability to energise the copper lines with the right pricing mix. At present Pakistan is among the top five countries worldwide in broadband growth. PTCL has more than 95 per cent customer share out of the total 750,000 broadband users in the country. The customer base will be reaching the 1 million mark very soon. It will include customers using broadband over wireless and fixed line. We have made good progress but still there is a lot of room for enhancing penetration. According to international projections, machine-to-machine connectivity growth will be greater than the peofurther increase connectivity. We are also investing in another undersea cable that will further increase the availability of bandwidth. Furthermore we have started cache services and search engine giant Google Pakistan is hoisted on our servers. Pakistanis happen to be one of the top gigabit users in the world, you will be surprised to know that our per month usage is four times that of European users. Our EVDO service is 3G compliant even though no operator in the country offers 3G services. We have plans for 4G and have already tested LTE. That will give us a better network and PTCL will be the one of the most advanced operator in the world. Are you satisfied with the regulatory atmosphere? Naveed Saeed: Yes, we are satisfied with the regulator. Pakistani regulator is acknowledged worldwide for its role in the promotion of the telecom sector in the country. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has been advising
proving visibility to let people know what is happening and where the opportunities are. This will create a culture of accountability as people in authority will know which department was not performing its duties satisfactorily. The steps to curb inefficiency will lead to greater productivity and that will lead to prosperity of the people and the country. At PTCL we are focused on increasing our visibility by making investment in enhancing infrastructure, our data pipes are going everywhere; this will provide more connectivity, leading to more business opportunities and accountability and productivity. n
Courtesy: Pakistan Today
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InsighT
Tahir Malik
Fr e e d ow n lo ad | fl a re. p k
Logistics, supply chain industry play pivotal role to connecting world

Annually, the logistic and supply chain industry in Pakistan generates approximately $17 billion which is 10.2 percent of the countrys GDP. Pakistans strategic location and its sea ports have made sure that it has successfully established an important role in global logistic management
he world of today, in all respects, has truly become a small one. The rapid pace of globalisation, and the speed with which market trends become global ones, means that all industries and businesses now play a most crucial part in their countrys economies. None more so than the logistics and supply chain industry which today, has the pivotal role of connecting businesses across economic and territorial borders. Increases competitive pressure, heightened customer expectorations and emerging technologies have had a profound effect on the way organisations conducted their business. This means that competitive edge can no longer be maintained through merely having a superior distribution channel because these strategies can now be imitated. What matters more, is how a sustainable logistic arrangement can help your business survive. Put simply, having the right type of product or service at the right place, at the right time, for a right price and in its right condition can now not be managed by the business itself if it wants to maintain a strategic edge over its competition. For this
strategic
Due to lack of facilitation in airfreight by the government, the business community was inclined to go for foreign carriers and providing a business of $ 1.5 billion per annum to various foreign airlines
very reason, the development of the logistics industry has seen almost exponential growth with the addition of a large portfolio of value added services that help businesses develop supply chain management into an asset. Annually, the logistic and supply chain industry in Pakistan generates approximately $17 billion which is 10.2 percent of the countrys GDP. Pakistans
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location and its sea ports have made sure that it has successfully established an important role in global logistic management. One may be quite surprised about the magnitude of the infrastructure that exists in Pakistan and there is no reason why the logistics and supply chain industry cannot be a bigger contributor to this countrys DGP. Yet there is a need to tap into this potential. We have all those instruments available which are the basics for an established logistic industry. What is now more important is that these instruments be sharpened with the proper policies. For example, a lack of effective measures in customs inspection means that the average stay of containers in the ports is double the
international average. Revisiting some of these current policies will not only bring more vision to this industry, it will also quicken the way businesses develop their strategic management; inevitable developing an industry that can be the mainstay of the economy even in difficult times. The industry criticised the government for failing to cater to improve the airfreight to support business community, which was contributing billions in taxes every year. The national carrier didnt have a single cargo aircraft, no proper cargo complex was built in Pakistan till 2001 in addition to nonavailability of shells at airfreight units for perishable goods, which resulted in decay of a large quantity of items like mangoes and kinnos as well as pilferage. Due to lack of facilitation in airfreight by the government, the business community was inclined to go for foreign carriers and providing a business of $ 1.5 billion per annum to various foreign airlines. There is need to establish a proper cargo complex to house costly export goods including leather, textile, surgical and sports goods as well as livestock. The government must take this industry seriously to generate revenues and also recognise freight business as an industry as logistic and supply chain industry become world leader in air freight due to governments support but are lagging far behind due to lack of it. Pakistans leading logistics and supply chain management experts have observed that governments lack of support to this important sector has been causing a loss of two per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per annum. n The author is a Chairman and CEO of Trafco Group of Companies.
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Telepedia
Ufone makes its presence felt at the UAE expo 2011
UAE is a major investor in the country and we are proud to be part of the Etisalat group who has till date made one of the biggest investments in the Pakistani Telecom industry. At Ufone its all about our valued customers and our team strives to provide the best products and services in the country: Abdul Aziz
fone (the youth brand) is an Etisalat Group Company with its presence in all the major cities of Pakistan along with a comprehensive coverage across all major towns, villages and tehsil headquarters of the country. In order to cherish this cordial and mutually rewarding relationship and to explore more avenues of joint collaborations, the Consulate of the United Arab Emirates recently organized UAE Expo 2011 at Expo Centre Karachi where Ufone along with PTCL was the Gold sponsors for the event. The growing relations between Pakistan and UAE in trade and other industries have paved the way for strengthening the economy of the two states. UAE being one of Pakistan's major trading partners and the second largest source of home remittances from Pakistani emigrants working in UAE, the bonding of the two nations is a significant stepping stone towards the betterment of both nations and their respective industries. These growing liaisons also
provide ample opportunities to further strengthen bilateral ties. To further reiterate its stronghold in the telecom industry, Ufones stall displayed a variety of Ufone BlackBerry Handsets and promoted services such as restoration of BlackBerry Services. Services such as Utrack, business SMS and IDD offer UAE were showcased to display their unique and im-
Ufones stall displayed a variety of Ufone BlackBerry handsets and promoted services such as Utrack, business SMS and IDD offer UAE were showcased to display their unique and impressive options to the visitors. Apart from the services, handsets such as Uth Futura, Nokia N9 and various HTC handsets launched by Ufone were also exhibited at the stall to ensure that the onlookers got the real-time look at feel of the handsets
pressive options to the visitors. Apart from the services, handsets such as Uth Futura, Nokia N9 and various HTC handsets launched by Ufone were also exhibited at the stall to ensure that the onlookers got the real-time look at feel of the handsets. Ufone also employs more than 3,850 people
and operates with a network of more than 375 franchises and 22 company-owned customer service centers along with a distribution network of 150,000 outlets nationwide. Commenting on this special occasion, Mr. Abdul Aziz, CEO Ufone said, UAE is a major investor in the country and we are proud to be part of the Etisalat group who have till date made one of the biggest investments in the Pakistani Telecom industry. Ufone has been a key company within the Etisalat operations and has been a preferred ground for fast growth market exposure within the group. At Ufone its all about our valued customers and our team strives to provide the best products and services in the country. He further stated that by exchanging strategic views and sharing experiences from various markets, Ufone has adopted management practices which have enabled it to become the preferred choice of customers across the country. n
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Cover Story
Zubair Ahmed Kasuri
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or years, the land lined telephones of Pakistan Telecommunication was the mainstay of keeping in touch with each other. The seeking of a new connection was a nightmare and there was a time that people joked that if a father applied for a telephone, his son may get it when he grew up. We lived that way for long till the mobile telephone was introduced and Paktel became the first company to introduce this modern technology at an exorbitant price. But soon others came in and today the mobile phones are used by people on cycles, at a butcher's shop or even the plumber or sweeper has it. Today a dozens of companies offer competitive packages to choose from and the market is flooded with foreign mobile phones. One can buy a second set for as low as Rs. 500 or as high as one wish and today Pakistan is one of the fastestgrowing cellular markets in South East Asia. Companies from as far away as Norway have been tempted by Pakistan and its population of more than180 mill i o n . T h e telecommunication industry is regulated by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) an autonomous Yusuf Raza Gilani body estabPrime Minister of Pakistan lished under section 3 of the Pakistan Telecommunication ReOrganization Act, 1996, an Act of the Parliament to regulate the telecommunication industry in Pakistan, including matters relating to protecting consumers' interest, licensing regime, tariff regulation, type approval of equipment and interconnection arrangements. The Authority has the following major objectives and functions: Regulate the establishment, operation and maintenance of telecommunication systems and the provision of telecommunication services in Pakistan. Promote and protect the interests of users of telecommunication services in Pakistan; Promote the availability of a wide range of high quality, efficient, cost effective and competitive telecommunication services throughout Pakistan; Promote rapid modernization of telecommunication systems and telecommunication services; Make recommendations to the Federal Government on policies in the telecommunication sector. The Authority has been vested with the necessary powers by the federal government to effectively perform its functions. When it comes to their regulatory body, the country's telecommunications sector can hardly complain. The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) has helped propagate the use of cell phones in the country to unprecedented levels within a few years. The sector witnessed significant inflows of foreign investment and usage rates charged to consumers in the country are relatively low compared to the regional and global average. As the Chairman of PTA, Muhammad Yaseen has been instrumental in taking the country's telecommunications sector to its present state. But, far from the usual bureaucratic-style government officials that one usually expects to meet in such positions, Yaseen is an ardent supporter of free-market mechanisms. But recently, Mr. Khurram Jehangir Wattoo, Member National Assembly (MNA), has presented proposed amendments in Pakistan
Cover Story
Telecommunication Re-Organisation Act 1996. Insertion of new sections 31A, 31B and 55A. The Bill was referred to the relevant Standing Committee. The debate will open when the Standing Committee on telecommunications approve the above mention amendments in the Pakistan Telecommunication Re-Organisation Act 1996. The text of the proposed bill, which has been tabled in the National Assembly, is hereunder: A BILL further to amend the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act, 1996. WHEREAS it is expedient further to amend the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act, 1996 (Act No. XVII of 1996), for the purposes hereinafter appearing; It is hereby enacted as follows:1. Short title and Commencement. (1) This Act may be called the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) (Amendment) Act, 2011. (2) It shall come into force at once. 2. Insertion of new sections, Act XVII of 1996. In the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act, 1996 (Act No. XVII of 1996), hereinafter referred to as the said Act, after section 31, the following new sections shall be inserted, namely: 31A. Issuance of SIM Cards. (1) No telephone company, licencee, service provider or operator performing its functions and providing any type of telecommunication services under this Act shall issue more than one SIM Card to one person possessing computerized National Identity Card and the SIM Card issued to such person shall be delivered to such person at his residential address after verification of his credentials as contained in the database of National Database and Registration Authority. (2) Any telephone company, licencee, service provider or operator performing its functions and providing any type of telecommunication services under this Act issuing a SIM Card to any person in violation of the provisions of sub-section (1) shall be punished with a fine which shall not be less than rupees five hundred thousand on each such violation. services on such SIM Card shall not be restored until all necessary documentary verifications as required at the time of issuance of SIM Card are made again. 31B. Intimidation or harassment through obnoxious telephone calls or messages, etc. (1) No person, possessing a SIM Card, issued or provided on his name by a telephone company, licencee, service provider or operator performing its functions and providing any type of telecommunication services under this Act, shall use such SIM Card to intimidate or harass a person through different services available. (2) On a written complaint by any customer or telephone user relating to receipt of obnoxious telephone calls or messages or by any other electronic means, from any other person, with or without taking precaution to conceal his identity or telephone number, causing criminal intimidation, threat, undue alarm, fear or harassment by an obnoxious telephone call, message or by any other electronic means or communications, the telephone company or telephone operator, shall lodge a complaint before a Magistrate of the first class Khurram Jehangir Wattoo having jurisdicMember National Assembly tion, based on the complaint of the customer, against such person. (3) If after inquiry it is proved that an offence under sub-section (1) has been committed, such person shall be punished with imprisonment which shall not be less than three years and more than five years and with a fine which shall not be less than rupees one hundred thousand and twenty-five percent of such fine shall be paid to the complainant as compensation. (4) Notwithstanding sub-section (2), such caller shall be debarred for any telephone facility in future. 3. Insertion of new section, Act XVII of 1996: In the said Act, after section 55, the following new section shall be inserted, namely: 55A. Publication of telephone directory. (1) Every telephone company, licencee, service provider or operator performing its functions and providing any type of telecommunication services under this Act shall publish a telephone directory containing the names, addresses, telephone numbers and any other information as it deems fit and necessary about its service users, subscribers, connection holders for the information of its telephone users, subscribers, customers and for public at large on yearly basis. (2) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-section (1), such telephone directory or database shall be published electronically and placed on the website of such telephone Dr. Mohammed Yaseen company, liChairman PTA cencee, service provider or operator free of cost and such directory or database shall be revised or updated every fifteen days. (3) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or any other law in force for the time
Telephony services are the part of modern life with its uses and misuses and with the expansion of telecommunication services its side effects are also equally intimidating and disturbing when it is intruding in the freedom of privacy of individuals by misuse of its services. Obnoxious telephone calls and undesired and unwanted messages are becoming a nuisance for innocent citizens
(3) Any telephone company, licencee, service provider or operator performing its functions and providing any type of telecommunications services under this Act who shall issue more than one SIM Card to a person on whose name no computerised National Identity Card has been issued or is without possession of a valid computerised National Identity Card shall be punished with a fine not les than rupees one million for issuance of each such SIM Card. (4) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or any other law for the time being in force, any telephone company, licencee, service provider or operator performing its functions and providing any type of telecommunication services under this Act shall make inoperative or disconnect the services on a SIM Card if that SIM Card remains out of use for thirty or more days and
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Cover Story
being, a license, permission or authority under which such telephone company, licencee, service provider or operator is providing services shall stand cancelled automatically after lapse of a period of three months of not publishing a telephone directory or placing database on website. Statement of objects and reasons Telephony services are the part of modern life with its uses and misuses and with the expansion of telecommunication services its side effects are also equally intimidating and disturbing when it is intruding in the freedom of privacy of individcaring suitably telecommunication services and their quality. 4. The Bill seeks to achieve the above objects. Here, it is merit mentioning that, I am not against the above proposed amendments, but, the reason of concern is if the Bill gets approved, then how it will affect the growth of telecommunications in Pakistan, as it will lead to open a new Pandora box; it is not so simple, as mentioned. Data Services getting tremendous growth, when we peek into reasons for this growth, one can easily term SMS Packages (that offer very low priced Unlim-

handed. The rules define the powers of the regulator to conduct regulatory function with full force clearly charting out policy of public hearing; license conditions; grant and renewal of license; roll-out conditions; quality of service conditions (QoS); anti-competitive practices; procedure for appeal and penalties; universal service obligation condition; consumer protection; standardization of equipment; spectrum management conditions; numbering plan; and details about fees including chalking out details for effective monitoring and market survey commitments.
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uals by misuse of its services. Obnoxious telephone calls and undesired and unwanted messages are becoming a nuisance for innocent citizens when they are intruding their telephone sets without proper identity and number due to use of latest devices and causing intimidation, threats, fear and distress to telephone users which required to be stopped as peaceful living is the fundamental right of every citizen without any intrusion and interruption. 2. It is also a proved fact that Mobile Phones are being used for bombing and causing explosions through remote techniques and certainly that is only possible due to easy availability of SIM Cards. Similarly, at least 50 percent of criminal and harassing activities are going on through Mobile Phones due to those SIM Cards which are unregistered and owners of whom are not traceable. Persons involved in different crimes are keeping unlimited number of SIM Cards without any restriction by Service Providers without any legal or documentary formality which is encouraging them to harass and intimidate innocent citizens and in this way Mobile Phone Companies are collaborators and abettors in such crimes directly and indirectly and such practice cannot be allowed unchecked. It is also necessary that keeping SIM Cards out of use may also be checked and any SIM Card, if remain out of use for more than thirty days should be disconnected until fresh verifications are made. 3. Telecommunication service providers or licencees are earning billions of rupees as profit yearly but they are not facilitating their customers in a proper way. Telephone directory was a good source of information for public at large and the user of telephone services but with the increase of many-fold profits, telecommunication service providers or licencees are shy to provide such facility for the benefit of customers and public at large. Though it is the duty of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to take care of the interest of the telecommunication service users but that authority is acting like a usual public body in the disadvantage of citizens of Pakistan without
ited SMS on any network) the sole responsible for it, as well as the low priced call rates and SIM Jagao offers. However, other things that supported this growth may also include the political situation of the country, which evolved the idea of SMS based political campaigns during and after elec-
In this given scenario, we may not expect such amendments in the Act, because it will affect our growth adversely. By preparing telecom directory and publishing it in print and online will raise privacy questions as Mr. Wattoo has said in his Bill, the directory should have names, complete addresses etc. the other factor which is concerning is not using of SIM for 30 days, if it gets approved, then the valued users, who use SIM Jagao offers will be deprive of such opportunity to enjoy free talk time and free SMS buckets, I think, the political leaders are of the view to abandon each and every opportunity which gives some relief to the valued consumers.
tions, the traffic surge to unexpected heights on the National and Religious festivals. Increased awareness in Pakistani telco users can also be seen as a factor that boosted the usage of SMS. Using mobile phones for last few years, now we are getting familiar with mobile devices and their functionality. Now most of us can at least understand a text message. Cellular operators can further make the process easy by introducing (English to Urdu) translation services for SMS messages. Along with SMS, GPRS backed internet on cellular phone is also getting momentum. Specifically, the unlimited GPRS and hourly based internet packages by all operators are causing more customers to get them equipped with internet while on the go. Under Section (5) of Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-Organization) Act 1996 PTA (R&F) Regulations 2000 came into force. The rules provide a detailed regulatory framework for regulator to regulate the telecommunications sector heavy-
The political leaders are of the view to abandon each and every opportunity which gives some relief to the valued consumers. The Standing Committee should have to think thrice not twice to recommend the proposed amendments, as it will definitely hamper the growth rate of our telecom sector as Chairman PTA has said Pakistan's telecom sector is amongst the most lucrative in the world
We are talking about, how to liberalize telecom sector to attract more investment to give a helping hand to struggling national economy but such efforts are making way to hamper all the positive initiatives which can boost telecommunication sector at par the global standards. The Standing Committee should have to think thrice not twice to recommend the above mention amendments, as it will definitely hamper the growth rate of our telecom sector as Chairman PTA has said Pakistan's telecom sector is amongst the most lucrative in the world. n
Farooq Malik
InsighT
How to beat emerging web threats

o stay safe online, you need to use the common sense you apply to the real world. Traditional PC viruses are becoming less of an issue. Of the new malware strains Panda Labs found in the third quarter of 2011, 77 percent were Trojan horses, against 12 percent for viruses. Trojans are software designed to take control of your PC, whether to forward spam and phishing messages or to return data to a hackers server. Todays online dangers are more likely to come from organised criminal gangs than script-writing hacker kids. A malware infection could empty your bank account and damage your computer. These crooks are hunting down your private information, which includes much more than just your bank details. Login details for websites can give away enough information to get an identity theft underway. For this reason, youd be wise not to include your real-world address or date of birth on Facebook profiles or other publicly accessible websites. But there are other dangers that you might never even notice. A web-connected computer can be conscripted into a zombie network of machines that collectively run distributed-denial-ofservice (DDoS) attacks on websites or servers. Such software might drain the batteries more
quickly than usual on a laptop or other mobile device, but you might not notice any other changes while your computer is busy working for a criminal gang. If you do notice a change in how your machine or phone is behaving, be sure to investigate using an appropriate scanner. Another danger you might run into is fake antivirus, software that places pop-up adverts on your PCs screen. Dont be fooled into clicking a link in the popup to download software that purports to remove a supposed infection youll either end up forking out for unnecessary software or malware will be loaded on to your PC. The important message for new users is that staying safe online goes beyond installing an internet security suite on a new PC and promptly forgetting about it. Such products are useless unless theyre regularly updated every day, if thats how often you use your computer to get online. To stay safe online, you need to use the common sense you apply to the real world. Instruct less experienced users to trust their gut instincts. If something about a website or email looks or feels wrong, even if they cant put their finger on exactly why, it probably is or, at the very least, further investigation into its credibility is required. Social networkings primary danger is that you might give away enough information about your-
self to make identity theft possible. If your profile includes your date of birth and address, an ID thief is well on his way. A happy birthday message to your mum could lead to her maiden name, which is a common security question for many services. Start with the basics and dig into Facebooks security and privacy settings. Turn off everything, then start thinking about what you want to allow rather than the other way around. Look again at what information you are giving away and who can see it. Facebook is also increasingly used as a medium for virus and spam transmission. Requests to join game networks or sharing platforms that apparently come from friends might in fact come from criminals. Even if they are genuine, its not imperative to accept the request and hand over more information than youre happy with. Twitter is another service on which its all too easy to over-share information. A rapper tweeted about his bling gold necklace and how much he was looking forward to wearing it at his next gig. Someone saw the tweets, went to that gig and relieved him of his chain. Burglary is nothing new, but telling the world via Twitter when, for example, youre going on holiday, makes crooks lives much easier. n
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Interview
Flare Report
Mr. Munib Khawaja is vice president for Pakistan and Afghanistan at APC by SchneiderElectric. He is responsible for overseeing the vendor's operations in the two countries and for fostering open and ongoing communication with its local stakeholders, supporting their needs from desktop to the datacenter to the factory floor. Boasting almost two decades of experience, he possesses extensive operational knowledge of channel management, enterprise systems, P&L management, complex negotiations, and motivational techniques. Prior to joining APC by Schneider Electric, Mr. Khawaja was country manager for Pakistan at Innovative Private Ltd (IPL), where he was responsible for positioning IPL as a leading player within the power protection and datacenter infrastructure solutions market in Pakistan
ocio-Political Challenges faced by developing countries like Pakistan due to causes such as neglect and ineffective planning are the result of energy crisis. Major energy crisis seriously restrict the pace of a countrys industrial and economic progress and as such the need to find new ways and resources to ensure adequate and consistent supply of electric power, while improving efficiency in the utilization of currently available power supply, is the need of the hour. FLARE team talks to Munib Khawaja, here is excerpts of our discussion with him: FLARE: Please walk us through your professional career? Munib Khawaja: I did my MBA in marketing and have more than 18 years of experience with ICT industry in the fields of general management, country business operations, sales, marketing, professional services, and channel operations. I joined Schneider Electric (commonly known by its brand APC) as Territory Manager for Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2007 and promoted to Vice President Pakistan and Afghanistan on
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achieving exceptional results. Since 2007 APC has excellent business results in shape of over achieved revenue and growth targets. Prior to APC, I served IPL (Innovative Pvt Ltd) Pakistan as Country Manager and Board Member; in just 3 years span I made IPL a leading player in power protection and datacenter infrastructure solutions market. I maintained industry leadership position during whole work tenure with IPL. During my stay with IPL; efficient and effective utilization of resources brought best ROI and business reputation for the IPL in the Middle East region. Best Sales, Best Manger, Best Datacenter Solution Provider and several other awards in the Middle East region portray my success in the career. FLARE: what is awareness level towards energy crisis and its impact on environment? Munib: Your question has two parts i.e. awareness and social responsibility to the environment. To some extent, awareness is increasing here in Pakistan, while this practice been started in the developed world a decade ago, when they realized
that the energy resources are limited, and we need to utilize them effectively. The IT growth which been observed in the last 10 years is phenomenal. Today, we are having devices in our hands which generating data, which on the backhand expanding IT structure. As much as data usage increasing automatically it leads to expansion in IT structure, like financial, communication sectors. We can say, as the IT infrastructure is growing, the level of awareness is building. On the other hand, we should use energy resources effectively and do investment positively; therefore, it will make our business efficient and save energy, which can be used in somewhere else like, in hospitals to save innocent lives or other productive areas. FLARE: What is the philosophy of APC? Munib: The philosophy of APC is based on always on, always available. In todays world where businesses cant stop and downtime calculated as losses, APC (American Power Conversion) provides protection against some of the leading causes of downtime, data loss and hardware damage: power problems and temperature.
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Interview
As a global leader in network-critical physical infrastructure (NCPI) solutions, APC sets the standard in its industry for quality, innovation and support. Its comprehensive solutions, which are designed for both home and corporate environments, improve the manageability, availability and performance of sensitive electronic, network, communications and industrial equipment of all sizes. FLARE: What motivated you to work with APC? Munib: APC always been a R&D driven organization and launched several innovative products in the power protection and data center infrastructure sector. Those concepts and products were have resolved customer issues so successfully which made APC synonyms to the product category. I personally convinced with the APC philosophy and the solutions so I am associated with them till to date in different role. The most motivated thing about APC is that they keep alive your urge to learn and discover new trends and technologies. FLARE: How could you help customers to manage energy effectively? Munib: The Schneider Secure Power Systems will offer a comprehensive roster of hardware and services applicable to a wide range of industries, as well as direct development of new technology and services to meet evolving customer demands. The initiative would offer a dedicated line of business to Schneider Electric customers across multiple mission critical applications to further assist them in meeting all of their energy management and efficiency goals. FLARE: Is it possible to cater needs of ever-expanding IT sector? Munib: Yes, as the traffic in datacenters increasing proportionally IT growth expands with a constant rate, we provide a whole package of energy efficient solutions and environment friendly products. The Schneider Electric has a
Munib: APC is a global leader in power protection solution for the IT and ET (Emerging Technologies) solutions market. APC has achieved a unique position in Pakistan for power protection and datacenter design, energy efficiency solutions for datacenter and energy and environmental audits. FLARE: What edge APC has on its competitors? Munib: APC has market leadership position in Pakistan with a leading share in the power protection and NCPI datacenters solutions. We are serving almost all leading financial institutions, telcos, large national and multinational organizations and public sector. We are the only certified tier-3 datacenter company in the country and probably in the region.
Our target market starts from home offices to large corporations, mainly telcos, financial institutions, industry, public sector, large organization, and any other sophisticated equipment or environment which required clean uninterrupted power and precision cooling
long history as the market leader providing secure power services to the IT sector and is expanding its products and services to industries and facilities beyond data centres. The abundance of power-hungry mission-critical processes in industrial applications makes secure, reliable power more important than ever. We expand our ability to unleash the true potential of our customers high-performance, high-efficiency processes. FLARE: What services APC offers in Pakistan and worldwide?
FLARE: What is your target market in Pakistan? Munib: Our target market starts from home offices to large corporations, mainly telcos, financial institutions, industry, public sector, large organization, and any other sophisticated equipment or environment which required clean uninterrupted power and precision cooling. FLARE: Brief us about APCs Smart-UPS. Munib: APC award-winning Smart-UPS is the most popular UPS in the world for servers, storage and networks. It is trusted to protect critical data and equipment from power problems by supplying clean and reliable network-grade power. In addition to legendary reliability and manageability, Smart-UPS have extremely high efficiency at low, medium and high load levels making them ideal for todays multi-core or virtualized servers that have varying load consumption. Available in a variety of form factors there is a model for every application and budget. Smart-UPS models have long been considered the benchmark for all network and server UPSs. Smart-UPS feature a 16-segment LED display, extended range automatic voltage regulation (AVR), and pure sine wave output on battery. Additional manageability options are available through the Smart-Slot interface, which is an internal slot for the installation of optional accessory cards. The entry level Smart-UPS SC is an economical choice for small and medium businesses looking to protect small switches, networking devices and point-of-sale (POS) equipment. FLARE: Why we need surge protectors? Munib: Damaging surges associated with lightning or utility problems can travel along your utility and data lines, damaging your electronic devices and destroying your valuable data. Even
smaller everyday surges can degrade the performance of your electronics and decrease their life. The APC Surge Arrest Performance series offers the highest level of protection for your professional computers, electronics and connected devices, as well as provides surge protection for all of your data lines. Its state of the art circuitry provides our best protection for even the most sensitive electronic equipment. FLARE: What role government should play to support energy sector? Munib: At present, Pakistan is going through severe energy crisis and we are facing about 5000MW shortfall. Government can play a key role and can help the industry by curbing the low efficient design and products with the help of regulatory authorities. We at APC by Schneider Electric are helping the industry to optimize their energy utilization. We are bringing efficiency in design at component level, which can minimize not only the losses but will help to reduce electricity shortfall. FLARE: Elaborate specifically about this APC solution. Munib: Generally speaking by using APC solutions and products, approximately 30 percent energy can be saved in the datacenters and other IT environment. Cooling is the key components in datacenters and consumes lot of energy; by use of APC close coupled technology design 30 percent energy saving is possible. As world is moving towards cloud topology, need of the datacenters will be enhanced, APC is on advantageous position at the moment to offer the right energy efficient solutions. These solutions are verified from authorities and tested and already deployed, as seeing is believing customer can decide easily. FLARE: What milestone APC Pakistan achieved under your visionary leadership? Munib: This is not because of me only it is basically a team effort that APC becomes the market leader in datacenter solution providers in the region and hit a high success ratio in the projects. In this region, APCs market share has been increased by 20 points and direct customer interaction has increased 100 percent. FLARE: What are the future plans of APC in Pakistan? Munib: APC consider Pakistan as emerging market thats why we constantly strengthening our sales and services endeavor. Emerging markets are poised for significant growth; so that well also enhance capacity to meet the growing APC solution demand. At APC our mission is to create delighted customers by improving the manageability, availability and performance of information and communication systems through the rapid delivery of innovative solutions to real customer problems. As part of Schneider Electric, APC has long term standing in Pakistan and Schneider Electric also has enhanced its foot print in Pakistan. FLARE: What would you say to FLARE readers? Munib: FLARE has filled the gap which been observed in print media. FLARE is providing valuable content to readers, we are a sixth largest populous country in the world, the market is on, we are growing, our people are optimistic, loyal and talented and their resilience proved that we can fight this energy shortfall, very soon. n
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Interview
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sad Rezzvi, Chief Transformation Officer Wateen Telecom, is responsible for helping the organization develop its human resources to become leaders in their fields. Having studied at the prestigious Karachi Grammar School, Mr. Rezzvi went on to the University of California, Berkeley where he got his degree in Psychology. Asad is a protg of Anthony Robbins, a trainer for Fortune 500 organizations in the United States and was featured in the Leadership in Times of Crisis documentaries produced by the Robbins-Madanes Center for strategic intervention. The documentary was shot live on the day after the World Trade Center incident on 9/11. Asad came back to Pakistan in 2005 and setup his own consultancy E-Cube Global, with offices in Karachi and San Francisco, which specializes in organizational restructuring and turnaround. He has worked with a number of companies in the US and in Pakistan. Flare speaks to the talented Asad Rezzvi who is
The objectives of the turnaround were quite clear; we wanted to create a sense of security, belonging and eagerness to work in the employees, we wanted to improve employee satisfaction and then bring employee motivations in line with customer demands, so that employees are geared not towards pleasing their own desires, but doing the best for their customers
fluent in 6 languages including Spanish, Japanese and Italian.
Excerpts from interview: FLARE: How did you join Wateen Telecom? Asad Rezzvi: I joined Wateen in June 2011, but had been consulting for them since January 2011. Naeem Zamindar, the CEO, wanted someone to come on board for HR who would help in re-engineering and restructuring Wateen, and although I had recommended some people but he was not satisfied. His vision was to take up somebody who was very dynamic and could lead the transformation process. Ultimately, he was convinced that such a person, who has the relevant experience, was difficult to find in Pakistan, and he ultimately asked me to take on the role. Although I had a very busy practice, with offices in San Francisco and Karachi, but I thought this sounded like a challenging project, so I put my consultancy on hold and came here. FLARE: What is organizational transformation? Asad: Organizational Transformation is the
Flare Report
Interview
process of turning around companies with low sense of ownership, of belonging or team spirit among its employees. The purpose of transformation is not just to get people involved in the company but make them want to be involved, to make them feel that they in fact are the company. We have a tendency to think of companies and corporations as sort of homogenous business enterprises that can run without individuals, but thats not true. Organization simply means to organize something. In HR, this means organizing people to perform optimally for the organization to drive results. Making people understand that
a general division between employees and management where employees didnt feel comfortable approaching or talking to the management, whether with problems or questions etc. This is a common cultural problem in top heavy organizations and we had to work for creating a culture where people knew it was okay to come to management with problems, with ideas or with questions, instead of covering up problems and hiding mistakes. That is the death of any organization and is indicative of an inefficient working structure. This was a culture we had to build and it took time, but with a phased approach that in-
Wateen is one of the companies in the country that is actively working to build a better future for all of us. Wateen as a technology company has the ability to provide people here with the ability to get educated, to connect research institutes, to provide exposure, access; it can truly become a part of the technological driving force of this country, both by driving development and by providing the facilities for access to education, news, information etc
they have made a choice in joining a certain industry or an organization and how to make best of that choice, to be happy with it and giving them a sense of ownership is probably the biggest part of organizational transformation. FLARE: What is the purpose of transformation in a company like Wateen? Asad: As you know Wateen was going through a difficult period some time ago, with lay-offs, uncertainty about the companys future and dissatisfaction amongst its customers and employees. So the objectives of the turnaround were quite clear; we wanted to create a sense of security, belonging and eagerness to work in the employees, we wanted to improve employee satisfaction and then bring employee motivations in line with customer demands, so that employees are geared not towards pleasing their own desires, but doing the best for their customers. Then there were other, more obvious things, like trimming the fat in our expenses and finding out where the operational efficiency of the organization could be tightened, FLARE: Practically what does this mean? Asad: Practically it meant several initiatives. First, I divided the human resources into two wings, administration and transformation. Administration continued dealing with the day to day routine of the company while transformation was a team dedicated to changing certain aspects of the company. So firstly we eliminated redundant roles in the organization, secondly we compared our teams remuneration packages with the rest of the market and formulated a philosophy about the kind of organization we wanted; one focused on growth, development and investing in people. We have created a structure and raised a team for professional development training, softskills training and even personal training. This has helped create a great deal of momentum within the company and the change is obvious after a short time. FLARE: What was the biggest challenge you faced in this restructuring? Asad: Truthfully, it was the most basic thing, which was the trust of the employees. There was corporated employee development and team building, we have largely managed to do that. FLARE: What is the driving force or vision behind Wateens new philosophy? Asad: Pakistan is going through a tough time, economically, politically, and were also now facing a social decline. On a personal note, part of my reason for coming back to Pakistan was precisely this; I felt it was important to be here at this time and joining Wateen made it
logical driving force of this country, both by driving development and by providing the facilities for access to education, news, information etc. There is a huge demand in this country for education, a thirst for knowledge and to better themselves; that is something Wateen can help satisfy this through its converged communication services. FLARE: What is your major achievement since you joined Wateen in your opinion? Asad: Our major achievement in this time has been driving the organizational results by introducing an exercise called OPA (Outcome, Purpose and Action). This basically is setting the objectives for what each individual wants to achieve for the organization, their personal purpose or motive for achieving this and their action plan. This is where each individual develops his/her own Key Performance Indicators that will help them set a roadmap for the entire year. This is helped the organization gain momentum in its various businesses. It also raises the accountability, trust and transparency in the organization. In the last six months, we have gained through strategic thrusts in Enterprise land-grab and are working with over 200 corporations in Pakistan. Even with a lean operating model, our main thrust is to develop a winning team of professionals who could take up the challenge of engaging themselves in serving the customers and re-defining the broadband market in its infancy stage. FLARE: What is the total human resource strength of Wateen? Asad: We have around 2,000 plus employees countrywide including our contractual staffers on
clear to me because Wateen is one of the companies in the country that is actively working to build a better future for all of us. Wateen as a technology company has the ability to provide people here with the ability to get educated, to connect research institutes, to provide exposure, access; it can truly become a part of the techno-
special tasks. We have built their capacity to handle tasks efficiently completing them well in time. We provide them technical training, business training, customer care training, sales training and general soft skills training, which comprises communication skills for team building with the help of external and internal trainers. n
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Exclusive
Flare Report
36
n the previous Flare Magazine issue, a story published under the title Warid gets rid of plunder Synergy regarding dispute between Warid Telecom and Synergy Advertising Agency on that Synergy Advertising Agency has sent defamation notice to Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Warid Telecom, Muneer Farooqui, Chief Financial Officer, Warid Telecom, Suhail Jan and Editor-in-Chief, Flare Magazine, Zubair Ahmad. In the defamation notice, Synergy Advertising Agency has issued mammoth amount of Rs. 10 billion defamation notice against the Warid Telecom and Flare Magazine with details supporting documents which are published in the Magazine. This reflects the mentality of CEO Synergy Advertising Agency Ahmad Kapadia who demanded Rs. 10 billion to Warid Telecom and Flare as compensation through a notice sent through lawyer. It means something is wrong with the Ad Agency, they have nothing in their hands, they are lacking creativeness in their camp, so they thought they will bag some money through such non-sense tactics. The dispute prolonged when Synergy claimed outstanding payments to Warid Tele-
The tussle between Warid Telecom and Synergy Advertising did not settle uptil now. Warid has released its campaigns to the non-members of PBA and APNS, the non-members periodicals, TV channels and radio stations take full advantage of this tussle, while Warid business is growing day-by-day
com with late fees charges which is totally unlawful and unjustified. The tussle between Warid Telecom and Synergy Advertising did not settle uptil now. Warid (PBA) and All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS). Obviously, the non-members periodicals, TV channels and radio stations take full
Synergy has issued mammoth amount of Rs. 10 billion defamation notice against the Warid Telecom and Flare Magazine, which reflects the mentality of CEO Synergy Ahmad Kapadia who demanded huge amount to Warid and Flare as compensation; Synergy lacks creativeness in their camp, so they use such non-sense tactics to bag money
Telecom has released its campaigns to the nonmembers of Pakistan Broadcasters Association
Image of dispute between Warid and Synergy Advertising
Flare Report
Exclusive
advantage of this tussle and Warid business is growing day-by-day. It is matter of great concern that the members of PBA and APNS affected and deprived of the media campaigns of Warid Telecom due to undue tussle. It is pertinent to mention here the case of Warid Telecom and Synergy Advertising Agency is in the Sindh High Court regarding payment settlements. Flare management have received the documents of court which printed as it is. The aim to publish the documents was just to inform the concerned persons of advertisement businesses and organisations about the tussle of Warid Telecom and Synergy Advertising Agency. A leading TV channel has said that the Synergy drama will be end soon because if Synergy doesnt want to settle the dispute with Warid than we have options to open media buying because Warid is trustworthy client of the market. Flare always respect decisions of the august court and will accept the whole-heartedly in this case. Flare team is trying to solve the matter out of court and flourish media and its related companies.
It is merit mentioning that the unjustified tussle discourage the direct foreign investments in Pakistan as Abu Dhabi is one of the largest groups, who invested the most in telecom, banking, construction and health fields; Wateen Telecom suspended business with Synergy later Warid and now Bank Alfalah. The readers must judge after reading this story, who is wrong and who is right?
defame the Company but also trying to loot it. If we look into the matter, Synergy seems a looting agency which has very little with advertise-
APNS has given decision in favour of Warid and lamented the behavior of Synergy Advertising agency. The sources of APNS disclosed that the outstanding amount against Warid was Rs. 78 million but Ad Agency in the name of late fee claimed an amount of Rs. 420 million. Sources disclosed that Warid believes in fair play and never frightened of such activities. The sources further said we want to work with honest advertising agencies. Here, it is important to mention that, we are a responsible organisation and we mean what we publish, nobody dictate us nor we take sides of someone, as Synergy in its notice notified that we publish this news as per some dictation. We are performing our due role without any pressure; we publish what should reach to our reverend readers. We will play our due role in educating the public, if organisation like Synergy does the right things and not to give to media persons a chance to make public their wrong-doings, everything will be alright. We, as a news organisation trying to disseminate news with a quality description, its our
Images of dispute between Warid and Synergy Advertising
Here, it is merit mentioning that the unjustified tussle discourage the direct foreign investments in Pakistan as Abu Dhabi is one of the largest groups, who invested the most in telecom, banking, construction and health fields. It is remembered Wateen Telecom had suspended the businesses with Synergy Advertising and later Warid Telecom and now Bank Alfalah. Synergy Advertising has approached to APNS regarding this dispute as some members of publications are publishing the ads of Bank Alfalah without NOC. The readers must understand after the publication of this story who is wrong and who is right? Warid Telecom has suspended business deal with Synergy in 2011 due to over charges. In a short span of time, Synergy has earned million rupees with Warid advertisements, but failed to provide proper and transparent services to Warid Telecom. The management of Warid Telecom felt that we should get rid of such plunders who not only
ments to serve their clients, while focus more on using unfair means to bag money. Over this issue, Warid Telecom approached to All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS) and after examining the matter through its experts
obligation to inform the public, we want the dispute to be settled down as soon as possible, because telecom is the largest sector which attracts foreign direct investment in the country and at the moment is the cash cow for the government, as other sectors are facing the worst times as every sector is going through a phase of losses, which is indeed a matter against our national interest. Being a leader in telecom news, Flare wants all organisations, it may be telecom services providers or advertising agencies should work in a friendly and positive atmosphere to give a boost to national economy, because if they perform their due roles smoothly people will get a chance to enjoy seamless services which will give the valued consumers satisfaction, which will result in ultimate profitable environment, which suits everyone. If the sector goes smoothly, the national economy will kickoff, which will further give a room for more foreign direct investment that will change the phase of crisis. n
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Telepedia
Flare Report
Internet phone market heats up

basis. "The Chinese smartphone market is seeing an explosive growth, not least from domestic vendors such as Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp," said Nicole Peng, a Shanghai-based director for Canalys China. Apple's healthy sales were not diminished by the death of its former chief executive officer. According to a poll result published by the United States financial services firm Morgan Stanley, Apple's iPhone is now the most desired mobile phone among the Chinese people. The former leading company, Nokia Oyj, is falling out of favor rapidly. The poll, released days after Jobs died at his California home on Oct 5, showed that 34 percent of respondents say the iPhone would be their first chose for their next cellphone. Nokia, by contrast, received the thumbs up from only 16 percent of those polled, slumping by eight points. Morgan Stanley interviewed more than 20,000 Chinese cellphone users for the poll. Nokia is not going down without a fight. On Oct 26, exactly three weeks after Jobs' death, the Finish cellphone manufacturing giant released its first ever Windows phone - the Lumia 800 - hoping the gadget would close the gap between Nokia and other world-leading smartphone makers such as Apple and Samsung Electronics Co. The Lumia 800 is likely to be released in the Chinese mainland market at the beginning of 2012. However, stiff competition from its competitors is likely. Apple's iPhone 4S will be released at almost the same time on the mainland, and the sales momentum of Samsung's Galaxy S2 (also known as Galaxy S II) has remained strong four months after it entered the Chinese market. Both the iPhone 4S and Galaxy S2 feature dual-core processors but the Lumia 800 has just one processor. More bad news for Nokia is that Chinese local cellphone makers are entering the smartphone market with a vengeance. Chinese communications equipment maker ZTE sold more than 5 million smartphones in
he book peddlers in Beijing are busy seeking underground channels to purchase pirated copies of Steve Jobs' biography. Selling at $3.15 a copy, they say it's probably the last chance to exploit the memory of Jobs, the founding father of Apple Inc - the world's most valuable company in terms of market capitalization. Smartphone marketers are also using the Apple guru's death as a golden opportunity to create a bigger market share in China - one of the most valued smartphone markets worldwide. The nation is now the second-largest smartphone market, following the United States, said the multinational research firm Canalys Research. The number of smartphone shipments in China in the third quarter of this year was 23.2 million units, an increase of 160 percent on an annual
attractive smartphones on the Android platform for both the domestic and foreign markets, and their aggressive pricing strategies are enabling them to ship large volumes," Nicole Peng from Canalys said. "They will continue to be an increasingly disruptive force in the global market in the coming quarters." Both Huawei and ZTE are offering low- and medium-priced smartphones to the market. The lowest price for ZTE's smartphones was around 1,000 yuan, compared with iPhone 4's 4,492 yuan. The lower prices of Chinese cellphone makers make smartphones more accessible to more people. China is the thirdlargest smartphone market by adoption rate. About 35 percent of urban Chinese cellphone users use smartphones, according to a survey jointly conducted by Google Inc and research service company Ipsos in
Smartphone marketers are also using the Apple guru's death as a golden opportunity to create a bigger market share in China- one of the most valued smartphone markets worldwide
November. Singapore has the highest smartphone adoption rate of 62 percent, and Australia follows with 37 percent, the report said. Although the survey only interviewed about 2,000 Chinese cellphone users in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan, where third-generation (3G) communication networks are well-established and provide smartphone users with a higher download speed, China's overall smartphone adoption rate is put at around 20 percent. Given that there are more than 950 million cellphone users nationwide, that scale makes the Chinese smartphone market even more appealing to manufacturers. In the meantime, telecommunication carriers are also competing intensively to lure more 3G subscribers, which may help to boost the number of cellphone users. China's top three carriers have established their own 3G networks across the nation. China Mobile Ltd, one of the three, plans to sell 60 million cellphones by the end of 2012. It is expecting smartphones to make up 50 percent of total sales by then. The number of people in China accessing the Internet through mobile phones reached 303 million as of the end of 2010, statistics from the China Internet Networks Information Center show. China had more than 102.46 million 3G subscribers at the end of September, accounting for more than 10 percent of total mobile phone users, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. n
There are more than 950 million cellphone users nationwide, that scale makes the Chinese smartphone market even more appealing to manufacturers; China had more than 102.46 million 3G subscribers at the end of September
China during the first half of this year, an increase of more than 400 percent year-on-year, said the company. ZTE's rival, Huawei, also expects its mobile phone sales to hit 14 billion yuan ($2.19 billion) by the end of the year with a total shipment of 22 million units in China. "Huawei and ZTE are delivering good quality,
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Event
Flare Report
ong, the fastest growing network of Pakistan, has launched its highly anticipated Manchester United co-branded SIM in an exciting event held at Royal Palm Golf and Country Club Lahore recently. The event hosted to officially launch the cobranded SIM, which was well attended by socialites, celebrities, industry leaders, experts and members of the Zong family. The SIM includes services like Follow the Star where customers will get free minutes and SMS whenever their favourite player scores a goal, Manchester United following in different leagues, premium content, Club News, video content, Fantasy Football, contests, exclusive games and to top it all dial tunes in players own voice! Users can also participate in special trivias & win exciting prizes including Manchester United original merchandise and tickets to their
CEO Zong Mr. Fan Yunjun said: By establishing a strategic partnership with one of the most renowned football clubs in the world, Zong has once again proved that it is a brand that truly reflects the interests and desires of the consumers. Both share many common traits teamwork, strategy-making, high energy, commitment to excellence to be the best
games. On the occasion of unveiling the SIM, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Zong Mr. Fan Yunjun said: By establishing a strategic partnership with one of the most renowned football clubs in the world, Zong China Mobile Pakistan has once again proved that it is a brand that truly reflects the interests and desires of the consumers. Zong and Manchester United, both are operating in a highly competitive environment. Both share many common traits teamwork, strategymaking, high energy, commitment to excellence to be the best! China Mobile is the largest operator in the world; Manchester United on the other hand is undoubtedly one of the toughest teams to compete. I believe what we are looking to is the coming together of 2 life forces, which will give the over 10 million football fans in Pakistan a treat that they have so far only dreamt off. he further added.
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Flare Report
Event
Speaking at the launch ceremony Mr. Sajid Mahmood, CCO/CIO of Zong said: Through this partnership, Zong aims to offer a constructive platform to the youth of our country. For those who are enthusiastic about football, a dream is finally coming true; and for those
who are not too passionate about the game, this deal will provide an opportunity for them to get acquainted with not only the biggest spectator sport in the world, but also a most prestigious. Apart from the main activity of the event,
the unveiling of Zong-Manchester United cobranded SIM, the ceremony featured enthralling performances by musical bands Club Caramel and Overload. Standup comedian Saad Haroon also entertained the audience with his humorous jokes.
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InsighT
Flare Report
Dell Streak is dead, Kindle Fire reigns supreme

The 7-inch Dell Streak, running on Googles Android mobile operating system but had failed to generate any significant interest amongst consumers; now that the Streak is over with, will Dell walk away from the tablet market altogether?
he Dell Streak is no more following an announcement by Dell that the Streak 7 is no longer available. The end of Dells Android tablet line doesnt come as much of a surprise to anyone after the fadeout of the 5-inch Streak in August, when that device failed to create the 5-inch tablet market. The 7-inch Dell Streak, running on Googles Android mobile operating system, went on sale in January 2011 and was priced at $200 with a T-Mobile contract, but had failed to generate any significant interest amongst consumers. Dell still has one 10-inch tablet available in China. Meanwhile, the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet is catching on amongst consumers. The device only went on sale on November 15, with heavy promotion on Amazons website featuring details about the tablet. The Kindle Fire has already knocked the 16 GB iPad from its perch as the best-selling tablet at least on Best Buys website. So now that the Streak is over with, will Dell walk away from the tablet market altogether? That is apparently not the case. During an August call with analysts and journalists, Dell CEO Michael Dell said that our early work on Windows 8 on the tablet side looks to be pretty encouraging. So, its more than likely that Dell will now focus the Windows 8 platform to remain a player in the tablet market. Dell has thrown in the towel on its last Androidbased Streak tablets in the US as new analysts step forward to note that Apple's only competition in tablets is coming from Amazon, although saying it needs to do so by selling at cost."
The Kindle Fire has already knocked the 16 GB iPad from its perch as the best-selling tablet; Apple sold more iPads in the last quarter than all the PCs Dell sold in total. While unable to deliver a credible tablet competitor to Apple's iPad using either Google's Android or Microsoft's current Windows 7
Dell introduced its Streak 5 (originally named Mini 5) as a hybrid small tablet/smartphone in May 2010, with both a 5 inch display and 3G calling features that placed it somewhere between Apple's iPod touch and iPad. It also introduced a 7 inch Streak, which has featured 4G connectivity. Dell cancelled the Streak 5 in August, and is now noting that the online sales of the Streak 7 have also been cancelled. Dell says the Streak 7 will continue to be avail-
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able through some retail outlets, and continues to sell an Android-based Streak 10 in China. However, the company is recommending both Windows Phone smartphone models and talking about Microsoft's Windows 8, which is expected to support iPad-like devices sometime at the end of next year. Apple sold more iPads in the last quarter than all the PCs Dell sold in total. While unable to deliver a credible tablet competitor to Apple's iPad using either Google's Android or Microsoft's current Windows 7, the company has had any prospects for selling smaller, low end Android devices destroyed by Amazon's entry of the $199 Kindle Fire. Evercore Partners analyst Robert Cihra released a note saying he expects Amazon's Kindle Fire to make up half of all Android-based tablets sold in 2012. Cihra wrote that Amazons Kindle Fire "looks like the only tablet to so far mount any credible iPad challenge," while observing that it "apparently needing to do so by selling at cost." He added, "Amazons success may just vaporize other for profit Android tablet OEM roadmaps," after noting that his firm sees "Apple maintaining its competitive lead," writing, "meanwhile Apple goes on as the only vendor able to cream off the most profitable segment of each market it targets, whether tablet, smartphone or PC. Amazon's efforts to sell the low cost Kindle Fire running a custom version of last year's Android 2.3 threatens to completely derail Google's intentions to mount this year's Android 3.0 Honeycomb and
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as a driving force behind profitable iPad competitors. Last October, Apple's then chief executive Steve Jobs predicted that competitors' existing 5 to 7 inch tablets wouldn't often enough in functionality to compel smartphone users to carry a second device, while also failing to act as differentiated tablets large enough to run the type of sophisticated apps the iPad could. Jobs called mini tablets "dead on arrival," and predicted that "manufacturers will realize they're too small and abandon them next year. They'll then increase the size, abandoning the customers and developers who bought into the smaller format." Amazon hopes to skirt Jobs' dire prediction for 7 inch "tweener" tablets by selling the Kindle Fire as a essentially a big iPod touch, aimed at watching movies, reading ebooks and browsing the web, rather than a fully functional tablet. Amazon has also given up on actually making any hardware profits on its efforts to distribute the Kindle Fire, hoping that its software, media, and cloud service sales will cover its hardware losses. Apple executives have regularly stated that they intend to run their own iTunes Store and its App Store at "a bit over" break even, and have since released iCloud as a free service, pitting Amazon in a challenge to see which business model works best for sustainable profits, the platform and for users. n
InsighT
Prof Hafiz Umair Munawar
Cloud traffic growing fast

isco announced their inaugural Global Cloud Index report, providing statistics and forecasts on both the current and future use of the cloud. While Cisco has been predicting for years the growth of the network by way of their Visual Networking Index, the Cloud Index takes a look at traffic both inside and outside of the data centre. Among the key forecasts from the new Cloud report is that overall data centre IP traffic will grow between 2010 and 2015 at a compound annual growth rate of 33 percent. Overall traffic will grow from 1.1 Zettabytes in 2010 to 4.8 Zettabytes in 2015. "The interesting part about the 4.8 Zettabytes figure is that it is higher than what we forecast in the Visual Networking Index for the network itself and this caught us by surprise," Doug Webster, Sr. Director of SP Marketing at Cisco told. "The vast majority of traffic is staying within the data centre itself." It noted that approximately 76 percent of traffic stays within the data centre as virtual machines migrate from one server to another. Data centre to data centre traffic is also on the rise, accounting for as much as 17 percent of total traffic. Cisco analyst Shruti Jain added that many people dont realise how much supplementary data is generated for different types of transactions. For example, Jain told that if you send a 1 MB email to four people, you'd expect to have used 5 MB of data. As it turns out according to Cisco's findings, that transaction can generate as much as 30 MB of data due to all the storage, replication and backup that goes on. Looking specifically at cloud traffic, ac-
From a workload perspective, only 21 percent of workloads were cloud based in 2010. Cisco expects that number to grow to 51 percent by 2014. While cloud will represent the majority of workloads in 2014, it will not represent the majority of data centre traffic. "That is due to more efficiency on the cloud side," Jain said. "Also there is the fact that some workloads are less traffic intensive to begin with." While cloud workload traffic within the data centre will grow faster than traditional workload traffic over the next five years, cloudy apps will only consume a little more than a third of total data centre network bandwidth by 2015. And most of that cloudy traffic will be outward-facing toward consumers with only a small portion being inward-facing for business users. Cisco reckons that of the 131 petabytes of aggregate cloudy network bandwidth consumed by data centres in 2010, 115 petabytes was pushing or pulling data to or from consumers and only 16 petabytes were for internal business users doing their day jobs. According to Cisco, by 2015, this cloudy bandwidth will grow by a factor of 13, to 1.5 zettabytes while cloudy bandwidth consumed by apps aimed at business users will grow by a factor of 9 to 139 petabytes. The Cisco Cloud Index provides a slew of interesting statistics, including download and upload speeds by geographical region and by user type, broadband penetration by market, and its assessment of the network requirements for cloudy ap-
The Cloud Index takes a look at traffic both inside and outside of the data centre; the overall data centre IP traffic will grow between 2010 and 2015 at a compound annual growth rate of 33 percent. Overall traffic will grow from 1.1 Zettabytes in 2010 to 4.8 Zettabytes in 2015
cording to Cisco, the cloud represents only 11 percent of data centre traffic today. That number will grow to 34 percent by 2015. Overall cloud traffic is set to increase as well, growing from 130 Exabytes today to 1.6 Zettabytes in 2015. In terms of defining the cloud, Cisco is using the NIST definition of cloud, which isn't just about virtualization, but also includes the idea of elastic services that are billed on a usage basis.
plications. Here's what Cisco reckons you need for different cloudy apps: And as you might expect, Cisco says that the network infrastructure in the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America is suitable for basic cloud apps, and that companies in the
The cloud represents only 11 percent of data centre traffic today. That number will grow to 34 percent by 2015. Overall cloud traffic is set to increase as well, growing from 130 Exabytes today to 1.6 Zettabytes in 2015. Only 21 percent of workloads were cloud based in 2010, the numbers to grow to 51 percent by 2014
"We're aligning with a broader view than just saying that anything that is virtualised is cloud," Jain said. "We're not equating cloud to virtualization and we're making sure we include things like usage based pricing."
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Asia/Pacific region are able to handle some intermediate cloudy apps. North America, Central Europe, and Western Europe are better able to handle these cloud-based ERP and CRM software, basic video conferencing, and high-def video streaming. And guess what? Surprise, surprise: no region as a whole has the kind of high-speed, low-latency networking that is necessary to take gaming, video streaming, conferencing, and file sharing up to 11. South Korea and Japan do, according to Cisco. But that's it. n
Flare Report
Interview
Tech gets exciting in India but yet to match China

Indias fast-growing digital communications markets are a catalyst for the subcontinent countrys emerging tech economy; Yet Indias entrepreneurial journey is at least five years behind Chinas path
he only other tech market in Asia that is halfway as exciting as China is India. It has the promise to close the gap with China but is no match yet. Indias mobile market is large, venture spending is vibrant, and high-profile IPOs such as MakeMyTrip are happening, with more on the way soon from up such swift up and comers as mobile ad service inMobi and PC help center iYogi. Plus, India has proven it is rich in R&D and a lot more than outsourcing. Even so, red tape and poor infrastructure hold back the entrepreneurial spirit here. Investors Bill Draper, Lip-Bu Tan, and Sumir Chadha did the trailblazing in India. Today Indias venture leaders such as Ashish Gupta and Sudhir Sethi are looking for the next, new thing in mesmerizing India the worlds second-fastest-growing economy and Asias thirdlargest economy. At IDG Ventures in Bangalore, I met with Sethi, who is chairman and managing director and runs the tech media companys $150 million India fund. Its one of five funds in the IDG Ventures network established by Pat McGovern, the visionary founder and chairman of International Data Group in Boston. If a strategy works in one locale, then IDG works to bring the formula to startups in other places. China has proven to be a gold mine for IDG, where its made multimillion-dollar returns from early investments and successful IPOs of instantmessaging service Tencent and search During a trip to India, I met founders of startups with advances for everything from detecting lung cancer at an earlier stage to recycling electronic waste in a cost-effective way, to bringing solar power to villagers, to offering superfast mobile searches, to three-dimensional online games, to robotic-powered vacuum cleaners. Indias also become a mecca for low-cost and sometimes jerryrigged inventionsin Hindi, jugaad. Tata Motors
tiny Nano car at an itty-bitty price tag of $2,500 and the Indian government-backed tablet computer selling for $35 are some examples. So is my favorite find: a Nokia cell phone with a built-in flashlight. India may not have a Google, Apple, Baidu, or Tencent yet, but it is moving into more technical work than writing software and answering phone. Yet Indias entrepreneurial journey is at least five years behind Chinas path. Theres no Jack Ma or Robin Li in sight or a big-time IPO like Youku. India lacks the entrepreneurial buzz and fast pace of China tech clusters. Indian entrepreneurship has been led by grassroots efforts, and the government hasnt always been venture friendly.
If India is ever to break through, it needs to ditch an image as just for outsourcing or low-cost engineering and business servicesa major challenge for the world leader of the booming $500 billion global outsourcing market. But India could eventually become a tech minipower and grab some of the limelight from China
If India is ever to break through, it needs to ditch an image as just for outsourcing or low-cost engineering and business servicesa major challenge for the world leader of the booming $500 billion global outsourcing market. But India could eventually become a tech minipower and grab some of the
limelight from China. Contemporary corporate centers such as Whitefield on the outskirts of Bangalore and the Gurgaon satellite city in Delhi showcase that India is rising. For sure, India needs a lot more deals with the stature of online travel site MakeMyTrip, a deal that barely gets noticed next to Chinas higher-profile Internet home runs. After all, MakeMyTrip listed on NASDAQ in August 2010, nearly seven years after Ctrip, Chinas leading travel site, had its own debut. Indias fast-growing digital communications markets are a catalyst for the subcontinent countrys emerging tech economy. While only 74 million of Indias 1.2 billion people had Internet access in 2010, the number of mobile phones in India surpassed 752 million in 2010, second worldwide only to Chinas 842 million users. Whats also fueling Indias startup engines is a large venture capital pool of $5.8 billion. India is the worlds third-largest venture capital investment market, after the United States and China. Look-alike Indian startups have gotten funding in all kinds of Internet and mobile plays. For job portals, theres Monster.com in the United States, 51.com in China, and Naukri in India. Yahoo has SINA in China and Rediff.com in India. In digital mapping, theres MapQuest in the United States, AutoNavi in Beijing, and MapMyIndia in Delhi. For online payment, theres PayPal, 99Bill in China, and PayMate in India. The highly popular online gaming sector has sparked multiple copies, too: in India, three up-and-coming players are Kreeda, Nazara, and Games2Win, Indias first online games site. Indias always-on mobile communications, global customer outreach, engineering talent, and thirst for education all spell promise. China may be a nerve center of tech innovation globally but look to India to close the gap with its creative thinking culture. n
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Telepedia
Flare Report
Ericsson warns mobile operators to clean up macro networks

Ericsson urged mobile operators to focus on optimising their macro network infrastructure in order to bolster capacity before embarking on large scale deployments of small cell solutions
sands of small cells every time one is accidentally broken, painted over or is going to drive up opex," he warned. Ericsson is not anti-small cells, however. As part of its heterogeneous network, or HetNet strategy, the company in February this year unveiled its antenna integrated radio (AIR) unit, which as the name suggests cuts down on size, power consumption and installation time by integrating a cell site's antenna into its radio unit. On the other hand, a new report from Ericsson has revealed that the Middle East has one of the highest mobile penetration rates in the world, with 96 percent of the population having access to mobile communications. In comparison, global mobile penetration currently stands at 82 percent. Ericssons November 2011 Traffic and Market Data report also revealed that the number of new connections in the Middle East grew by three percent in the third quarter of 2011 alone, with the number of connections increasing to 244 million. Significantly, the region saw more growth in mobile penetration during this time than North America and Western Europe combined with 7.7 million new mobile subscriptions added between July and September 2011. Comparatively, 3.6 million new subscriptions were added in North America and 3.1 million in Western Europe. The Middle East region is seeing a tremendous amount of growth in mobile telephony and this is being driven a combination of new technologies and a culture of connectivity or what we, at Ericsson, call a Networked Society, said Anders Lindblad, President, Region Middle East and North Africa. The data reveals more than just the fact that there is still a tremendous amount of potential in the mobile market. I would go so far as to say that it reflects the evolution of society and the way we interact and communicate. phones. However, according to Ericsson, only around 10 percent of the worldwide installed base of subscriptions use smartphones, which translates into considerable room for further growth. We are tracking an extraordinary surge in broadband data consumption here in the Middle East and around the world and we are expecting a 10-fold increase in mobile data traffic by 2016. Importantly, we are also seeing that telecommunications operators in the region are keeping pace with this change in demand, as demonstrated by the recent 4G/LTE launches, Lindblad said. Ericsson also predicts that global mobile broadband subscriptions will reach almost 5 billion in 2016, up from the expected 900 million by the end of 2011.That would represent 60 percent year-onyear growth, at the same time as the data consumed by smartphone users is surging. Total smartphone traffic is expected to triple during 2011. Across all devices, internet access will continue to drive mobile traffic development and mobile data traffic is expected to grow by nearly 60 percent per year around the world, between 2011 and 2016, mainly driven by video. Ericssons presence in more than 180 countries, where it supports more than 1,000 networks, enables it to measure mobile voice and data volumes. The result is a representative base for calculating world total mobile traffic in 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. n
wedish kit maker warns flooding networks with thousands of small cells is an unnecessary and expensive means of adding capacity. Ericsson urged mobile operators to focus on optimising their macro network infrastructure in order to bolster capacity before embarking on large scale deployments of small cell solutions. "Operators need to sort out their macro sites, then roll out 'fill-in' sites with a layer of small cells at the same order of magnitude as their macro sites," advised Magnus Ewerbring, vice president and head of Ericsson's mobile broadband division. "Don't just spray an area with thousands of small cells." He highlighted the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, Japan a heavily-contended area approximately 1.5 square kilometres in size that is home to a large number of businesses and a busy train station as a good example where 16 macro base stations have been augmented by approximately 20 indoor sites to provide sufficient mobile capacity for the 3.5 million people that commute into Shinjuku every day. "Operators would prefer to reuse their existing macro sites," Ewerbring insisted. He told that it is more cost effective for operators to enhance the performance of their macro networks, for instance by attaching additional carriers to their base stations, than it is to build out a vast network of pico and micro cell sites. One of the main reasons for this is that it costs operators more to rent, build and backhaul additional sites than it does to optimise existing ones. There are also maintenance costs to consider, he said. "The cost of going out and fixing one of thou-
Global mobile subscriptions now total around 5.8 billion, with the actual number of subscribers estimated to be around 3.9 billion, since many subscribers have several subscriptions
According to Ericsson data, global mobile subscriptions now total around 5.8 billion, with the actual number of subscribers estimated to be around 3.9 billion, since many subscribers have several subscriptions. The report also notes that there is continued momentum in smartphone uptake around the world, with 30 percent of all handsets sold in the third quarter of 2011 considered smart-
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Flare Report
Interview
Tokyo Motor Show Green tech cars go online

Companies showcased concept cars with "transformable" bodies and automotive computers linked to smart phones, while showing off energy-efficient vehicles with electric, fuel cell and hybrid engines. Compact, fuel-efficient cars are also on display
lectric cars with cutting-edge green technology and vehicles remote-controlled by smartphones caught the eye at the first Tokyo Motor Show held since Japan's devastating earthquake. Companies showcased concept cars with "transformable" bodies and automotive computers linked to smart phones, while showing off energy-efficient vehicles with electric, fuel cell and hybrid engines. Compact, fuel-efficient cars were also displayed, with Japanese carmakers hoping they can galvanise moribund domestic sales as the sector tries to pick itself up from March's quake-tsunami and the ongoing global economic downturn. "2011 has been an unprecedented year of challenges -- the March earthquake and tsunami, the highly uncompetitive yen, the flooding in Thailand (which forced pro-
which is part-owned by France's Renault, is trailing several electric concept cars, including the Pivo 3, which can be remotely manoeuvred with a smart phone. Honda President Takanobu Ito said the automaker planned to install large solar panels at its factories to make its entire operation free of carbon emissions -- from its plants to the products they churn out -- as it looked to "a society of the future where no environmental stress is imposed." Toyota is also looking to burnish its green credentials, unveiling the "Aqua", a compact hybrid and an advanced fuel cell car touted as the world's most fuel efficient vehicle. Akio Toyoda, the president of Toyota which also displayed a plug-in hybrid car, said future consumers will have even more choices when it comes to cutting-edge vehicle technology.
duction shutdowns for Japanese automakers)," said Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn. "The Tokyo Motor Show this year, more than any previous year, demonstrates the resilience and tenacity of Japan and the strength of its people." Japan's second-largest automaker Nissan,
"I don't think the debate over cars in the future would be whether it should be an electric car or a plug-in hybrid," he said. "Many different cars will probably find their own positions in the market." n
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Synopsis
National
Fr e e d ow n lo ad | fl a re. p k
Mansehra: November 20 is celebrated as the Universal Childrens Day all over the world. The purpose of celebrating this day is to increase awareness about Child Rights. As per the definition by UN convention, every individual under the age of 18 is considered as a child and demands special rights and attention from the society. Right To Play, an international humanitarian organization, led the Universal Childrens Day celebrations in Mansehra. Working in partnership with 55 Government schools, Right To Play is directly engaged with more than 25,000 children in Mansehra through its trained young coaches and leaders. Right To Play has organized two different events to celebrate the Universal Childrens Day in Mansehra. The main event for boys held in GHS Sherpur where students from different schools participated. Another such event took place in coordination with the Agahi School, a partner NGO, of Right To Play where female students from 6 different schools also participated. More than 6000 students, teachers and parents attended these colorful events which focused to educate the children about their rights. In Sherpur, children staged a walk to build awareness regarding child rights.
RTP celebrates Childrens Day

Right To Play is the leading international humanitarian and development organization using sport and play as tools to effect behavior and social change. Its trained coaches and community leaders implement its programs which are designed to develop basic life skills, prevent diseases, teach conflict resolution and instill Founder of RTP, Mr. Johann Olav Koss (Four-time Olympic Gold Medalist) looks on, while child leader explains sports activity. hope in children affected by war, poverty social entrepreneur, RTP fosters the hope and and disease. Right To Play implements programs skills that are essential to envisioning and realin 20 countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East izing a better future. RTP started direct impleand South America. A pioneer in its field, Right mentation of its programs in Pakistan in 2007 To Play sets standards for quality sustainable and is currently working with more than 80,000 programming, promotes best practices and ad- children in Pakistan with 180 Government vances research on the efficacy of sport-based schools in the earthquake and flood affected disdevelopment efforts. Founded in 2000 by Johann tricts of Mansehra, Mardan, Peshawar and Olav Koss, four-time Olympic Gold Medalist and Thatta. n products. Mr. Hasan Jameel, Head of Marketing and Sales said, This initiative has been taken to realize Dawlance vision to be a reliable and caring brand. We have always believed in providing relevant solutions to our consumers at affordable prices and make them more accessible to a greater number of people. We are hopeful that a large number of people will take advantage of this valuable offer which is valid for a limited time period. n
Karachi: Where the prices of everyday products and services are increasing by the day for an average consumer, Dawlance has extended relief to the consumers by offering discounts of up to 12 percent on its product range for a limited time period. The discount applies to a wide variety of Dawlance products including refrigerators, washing machines and microwave ovens. By offering discounts of up to 12 percent
Dawlance introduces its new products
on its product range, Dawlance wants to make its products more affordable for a larger group of consumers to help them benefit from the convenience and comfort that is part and parcel of all Dawlance
PM appoints MD PSO, CEO USF

Islamabad: Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani appointed Naeem Yahya Mir as Managing Director PSO and A Riaz Asher Siddiqui as CEO Universal Service Fund (USF) with immediate effect, a press release from the PM House said. According to the release Naeem Yahya Mir was described as an expert in refinery facility planning and management, technology support, marketing and process and problem solving. Yahya Mir was previously in the lead to secure the MD spot after he had scored highest marks and stood at top of the shortlisted candidates for post of MD PSO. Mir has wide experience of working in the oil industry and has also worked in Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC). A Riaz Asher Siddiqui was described as an expert in business development, Brand strategising and project management. He is a telecom professional having vast experience of business development, telecom brands and project management. n
Walid Irshaid honored at UAE Magnificent 7 EXPO
CEO & President PTCL, Mr. Walid Irshaid (center) receives an honorary shield from Mr. Ahmed Nasir Alzaabi, representative from Ministry of foreign trade in the presence of UAE Ambassador to Pakistan, H. E. Eisa Abdullah Al Basha Al Noaimi (left), Council general H.E Suhail Bin Matar Al Katbi at the UAE Trade and Investment Conference 2011
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Karachi: CEO and President, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), Walid Irshaid received an honorary shield from Mr. Ahmed Nasir Alzaabi, representative from Ministry of foreign trade in the presence of UAE Ambassador to Pakistan, H. E. Eisa Abdullah Al Basha Al Noaimi, Council general H.E Suhail Bin Matar Al Katbi at the UAE Trade
and Investment Conference 2011. Held as part of the first ever "Magnificent 7 UAE Expo 2011" in Pakistan, organized by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Trade and UAE Consulate Karachi, the event was attended by a large number of CEOs, top executives of UAE-based companies in Pakistan, and other eminent personalities of the corporate sector. n
Islamabad: Once again Ufone has managed to delight its valued customers by restoring the much desired BlackBerry Internet Services. The BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) is a service that provides BlackBerry smartphone users with access to Internet browsing, allows email messaging, instant messaging using the BlackBerry Messenger service, and more. The service also allows users to access POP3, IMAP, and Outlook Web Access email accounts without connecting through a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES). After more than a year and a half, Ufone is the first operator in the country which has managed to restore applications for BlackBerry users after developing a content filtering solution which blocks specific pages of a website, a technology not yet available with BlackBerry mobile manufacturer Research In Motion. Speaking on the restoration of BlackBerry services, Akbar Khan, Chief Marketing Officer at Ufone, said that we are the only telecom company that has managed to develop a content filtering system which has resulted in restoration of BlackBerry services for users in Pakistan. This is a moment of great pride for the company as we are living up to our promise to deliver the best services to our esteemed customers. He further stated that this move will empower the technologically fast paced youth and corporate sector of Pakistan as they will now be able to enjoy complete benefits of their smartphones once again. By enabling the BB users to use BIS services, the need to stay globally connected with friends and family on the go via various social mediums will be catered to. Truly at Ufone, it is all about U. n
Ufone restores BlackBerry Internet services
Fr e e d o wn l oa d | fl ar e. pk
National
Mosaic
Islamabad: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Dr.Firdous Ashiq Awan receives flower bouquet from Aljouhrah A.Alarifi, wife of Saudi Arabia Ambassador.
Islamabad: Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hina Rabbani Khar in meeting with US Ambassador Cameron Munter.
Karachi: Sindh Minister for Information and Electric Power Shazia Marri standing along with Matt Cronje,CEO, Emaar Pakistan and his team at Emaar Stall UAE Expo 2011.
Karachi: Khuram Rahat, MD Teradata Pakistan and Chris Armitage, VP Teradata (UK) Ltd attending the Press conference on 10th Teradata IT Excellence
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Mosaic
National
Fr e e d o w n l o a d | f la re .p k
Managing Director PIA, Mr. Nadeem Khan Yousufzai, Mrs. Zareen Khan Yousufzai and President -Make a Wish Foundation Pakistan, Mr. Ishtiaq Baig along with the children, from Make a Wish Foundation - Pakistan, who visits PIA Head Office.
Karachi: Humaid Abdullah Al-Khatri presenting a shield to Sindh Information Minister Shazia Mari during an exhibition Magnificent-7 at Expo Centre.
Intel team celebrate 40 years of digital revolution in Pakistan.
Lahore: A gypsy woman talks on mobile phone.
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Synopsis
National
Fr e e d o w n l o a d | fl a re. p k
PTCL President elected vice chairman SAMENA BoD

Dubai: SAMENA Telecommunications Council has announced that Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) CEO and President, Walid Irshaid, has been elected as the new Vice Chairman of its Board of Directors. Mr. Irshaid succeeds Mr. Riad Bahsoun of Telecommunications Information Technology (TIT). The SAMENA Board of Directors now comprises 11 major regional operators, including Batelco Group, Omantel Group, Saudi Telecom Group, Etisalat Group, OrangeJordan Telecom Group, Qtel Group, Turk Telekom Group, PTCL, Viva Kuwait, and Bravo. Mr. Walid Irshaids selection to the Board adds to the leadership support that Sheikh Mohamed bin Isa Al Khalifa, Group CEO of Batelco Group, is now extending to SAMENA as its Chairman, said Chief Executive & Executive Managing Director SAMENA, Tom Wilson. SAMENA is making strides on multiple fronts, of interest to our operator membership, and Mr. Irshaids leadership and experience in the regional ICT are precisely what SAMENAs membership will gain from. It is a great for me to have been entrusted with this esteemed position, said PTCL CEO & President, Mr. Irshaid. This new for PTCL actually reflects SAMENAs recognition of our Companys frontline role in fostering and leading the telecommunications revolution in Asia. In his capacity as vice Chairman of SAMENA, Mr. Irshaid will aid SAMENAs relationship-building efforts with policy circles in the SAMENA region. As SAMENA Vice Chairman, I envision this as a great opportunity for PTCL to expand its outreach with both regional and global
Mr. Walid Irshaid, President & CEO PTCL
players, thus putting Pakistan firmly on the international map as a global telecom market leader, said Mr. Irshaid. An international information and communications technology (ICT) expert, Mr. Irshaid has more than 30 years of professional experience in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia regions. Throughout his career, he has led a multitude of high-value telecom projects in several markets. His previous international stints include
Emirates Telecom (Etisalat ), Datanet (Lebanon), Paltel (Palestine), and FLAG (Middle East & North Africa). SAMENA Telecommunications Council is a tri-regional, non-profit telecommunications association that represents over 40 telecommunications operators in 25 markets, representing an aggregate subscriber base of 700 million mobile users, 79 million fixed-line users, and 22 million broadband users in Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. n
Ufone organizes awareness seminar on the dangers of breast cancer

Islamabad: Ufone recently arranged a seminar for its female employees highlighting the alarming increase in the rate of breast cancer patients in Pakistan. The seminar was conducted in collaboration with Pink Ribbon Pakistan and underlined the importance to significantly reduce breast cancer mortality in the country by creating widespread awareness on early detection and increased access to treatment. Pink Ribbon Campaign Pakistan is a project of Women Empowerment Group (WEG). The Campaign aims at imparting awareness about the high danger of breast cancer in Pakistani women. Pakistan has the highest rate of Breast Cancer amongst all Asian countries and the numbers are alarming as every 9th woman in Pakistan is at high risk of getting initiatives. Since inception Ufone has taken serious interest in inhouse and external CSR projects and over the last few years, has carried out various initiatives related to health care and environmental sustainability. These initiatives have benefited the populace as well as the employees of Ufone simultaneously. The attendants appreciated the awareness seminar and volunteered to become ambassadors for Pink Ribbon and impart knowledge on the risks attached with breast cancer amongst their families and general public. On the occasion Moazzam Ali Khan, Head of PR and CSR at Ufone said, Various issues in our society face major challenges of misconceptions and social stigmas. There is a severe lack of medical facilities and awareness and there is a huge resistance in making people realizes the prevalent dangers of breast cancer that can prove fatal for women. It is every organizations duty to fill in this awareness gap and ensure that its employees are provided the relevant information on prevention and treatment options. In the months to come we will be arranging similar seminars in Ufone offices nationwide. n
Breast Cancer at some point in her life, leading to over 40,000 deaths every year. Ufone, being a socially responsible organization continues to be at the forefront of many health
wi-tribe introduces pocket modem

Karachi: With an aim to provide internet users the opportunity to access richer broadband and to further enhance their online experience, wi-tribe has launched the Pocket Modem, a convenient plug n play device that allows users to connect to the internet from absolutely anywhere. Through its easy-to-carry, portability feature, the Pocket Modem adds immense value to the experience of internet users. It also delivers a perfect solution with its attractive packages. Without the need for electricity, this USB powered device plugs right into laptops and PCs, giving users absolute flexibility to connect as and when needed. It comes equipped with a USB cable and is compatible with both Windows and Macs. Speaking about the Pocket Modem, wi-tribe Pakistans Director of Marketing, Ali Fahd said: We understand the evolving needs of todays internet users. With this launch, we aim to provide users with a convenient, portable solution to instantly connect. wi-tribe customers can now enjoy always-on connectivity, without the fear of sudden or unexpected power failure. The Pocket Modem is available (introductory price of Rs.1500, reduced from Rs.2500) at all customer care centres and select retail partner locations in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. n
PTCL awards its Top Agent of Outbound Contact Center

PTCL Outbound Contact Center, Rawalpindi reaches out to customers spread all over Pakistan for conducting telemarketing, feedback and other outreach activities. Ms.Riaz received Ms.Riaz receives her award from SEVP Commercial, PTCL Naveed Saeed (center), her award from EVP Contact Centers, Junaid Azim (left) and other dignitaries are also present. PTCL Senior Islamabad: In recognition of her Executive Vice President outstanding efforts for provision of Commercial, Naveed Saeed, who best customer outreach services by was the chief guest on the occasion. Pakistan Telecommunications PTCLs Executive Vice President Company Ltd (PTCL), Humaira Contact Centers, Junaid Azim; EVP Riaz was given the "Top Agent of the Business Zone North, Abdul Sattar Contact Center Award at the Naeem; EVP Customer Care, Annual Dinner Gala and Awards Mohammad Kamran Malik; General Ceremony of PTCL Contact Center Manager HR Aslam Baloch, and Rawalpindi. other dignitaries were also present.n
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Fr e e d o w nl oad | f la re .p k
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Synopsis
Ufone launches stylish Blackberry Curve 9360

Islamabad: Ufone proudly market, such as Bold 9000, 9700, introduced BlackBerry Curve 9360, 8780, 9900, Torch 9800, Curve 8520 another industry first BlackBerry and 9300. launch in Pakistan. The As always Ufone is offering the
BlackBerry Curve 9360 is equipped with the new BlackBerry OS 7.0 and features a powerful 800MHz processor with built in 3G, GPS, NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and BBM. Once again Ufone has proved to be a pioneer in presenting the most advanced and latest technology to its valued customers. Ufone has been the first company to introduce various BlackBerry smartphones for the first time to the Pakistani
customers something extra in the form of functional and stylish devices which ensure that the customers get the best value for their money. Blackberry 9360 is only 11mm thick and as light as a feather with a weight of 99g. The back side sports a 5MP camera on one side and LED light flash for taking pictures on the other end. The BlackBerry 9360 is equipped with a 2.4screen with
480x360 resolution. The compact QWERTY keyboard, optical track pad and four BlackBerry shortcut keys appear to be fused to the bottom of the screen. The exterior of the phone has a stylish frame and elegantly sculpted surfaces. The slim design of the phone gives an easy grip on the device which gives the end user exceptional experience. Speaking at the launch Akbar Khan, Chief Marketing Officer at Ufone said that in todays day and age staying connected 24/7 is the need for all business functions. This BlackBerry handset is one of the most technologically advanced BlackBerry to date and shall facilitate the empowerment of the fast paced Pakistani corporations and businesses to remain ahead in the race to be the best. Ufone always has and shall continue to strive and deliver the best offerings in innovation and technology for its valued customers. The devices will be sold from corporate sales and regional sales and service centers for Rs. 29,999/.n
Senate body asks PTA to control grey traffic

Islamabad: A meeting of subcommittee of Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunications asked Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to take appropriate steps for controlling grey traffic. The committee which met here under the chairmanship of Senator Muhammad Zahid Khan,discussed the transparency in tendering process of companies (LDI operators) made by the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications and Universal Services Fund (USF). It was also discussed during the meeting that contract for laying optical fiber in rural areas is not given on merit and transparency was not ensured during the process. Representative of Dancom Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd said need is to take steps to control grey traffic. n
IT sector attracts 120pc more FDI in Q4

Karachi: Pakistans Information and Technology (IT) industry has gained limelight as foreign investors are seeking healthy opportunity to work with local software houses and service providers as shown by the substantial inflow of foreign investment in the country. State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) statistics said the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the IT sector witnessed growth of 120 percent, attracting capital of $ 9.4 million in the first fourth quarter of the current fiscal year 2011-12 compared with corresponding year of previous year. The FDI inflows were recorded in software development with $6.5 million, IT services with $ 1.8 million and hardware services with $ 1.1 million respectively. companies with their subsidiaries are tapping potential of local market in various fields including software programming, mobile applications, networking services and hardware production. Industry people said that global companies are seeking joint ventures with local firms or planning to set up their outlets for exploiting talents of the local industry in different fields. Foreign companies having offices in Pakistan are trying to scale up their business with expansion of their networks and production volume, Despite lots of challenges, local they said. IT companies and foreign The recent achievements in the IT sector, which include the regional recognition at APICTA Awards, Tenpearl and Pepper.pk, must have grabbed the attention of the world. Hence, the FDI witnessed handsome growth in the current fiscal year and a business volume has been increasing with number of employment in the IT sector. According to Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), there are 83 companies having comprehensive authorised and paid-up capital were listed in the four months (Jul-Oct) 2011 in Pakistan. n
Microsoft to launch surface technology in Pakistan

Karachi: Microsoft will launch latest state-of-the-art surface technology in Pakistan on December 14, 2011, said Platform Group Manager, Microsoft Pakistan Tahir Masood while addressing a seminar on Microsoft Developer NetworkAcademic Alliance (MSDNAA) jointly organised by the Information Technology Resource Centre, Databank and the Department of Computer Sciences, UAF. He said that surface technology was a multi-touch product that allowed a user, or multiple users, to manipulate digital content by the use of gesture recognition. This could involve the motion of hands or physical objects. He said that Imagine Cup 2012 would be held in Australia in which students from UAF should participate. He said Imagine Cup 2012 was an annual competition sponsored and hosted by Microsoft Corporation, which brings together young technologists world-wide to help resolve some of the worlds toughest challenges. He said that in Imagine Cup 2010, as many as 35 million people had been registered in a bid to prove their mettle on the horizon of the information technology and to avert the various crises facing the world. He said that students fromNational University of Science and Technology (NUST) had submitted 43 projects while FAST submitted 100 projects in the said competition. He said NED University Karachi clinched the second position in Asia pacific. He said that it was the best opportunity to showcase their skills in the form of the project at the international level.
PTI starts online membership by sending SMS to 80022

Lahore: Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaaf (PTI) has commenced an SMS service in order to raise its membership all across the country. PTI is now the first political party which is utilising cellular services for raising its membership. PTIs Facebook page provides this info that the well wisher of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf can become its members by just sending an SMS to 80022. They should mention the name as well as the citys name in SMS. By following this procedure, they will become the members of PTI and the party will keep them informed about the various activities through messaging. n
He said that as many as 57 percent of the people had been using the internet so it was the best time to capture the market by using their skills. He said that the Microsoft has launched a portal for the one million students and 41,000 teaching staff from where they can download the educational stuff like books etc free of cost. n
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Warid helps deserving GC University Lahore students

Lahore: In-line with its corporate social responsibility, Warid GLOW this year again supports deserving Government Head of Sales and Distribution handed over the cheque to GCU VC Prof. Dr. Muhammad Khaleeq-urRahman at a ceremony held at
Amer Aman, Warid Head of Sales gives away a cheque of Rs 800,000 to VC of GCU for GCU Endowment Fund Trust.
College University students by GCU. donating Rs. 800,000 for GCU Speaking on the occasion, Warid Endowment Fund Trust (GCU Head of Sales Mr. Amer Aman said EFT). Mr. Amer Aman, Warid Warid Telecom has always been at
the forefront of supporting youth in Pakistan which is the most important part of our country. We always keenly explore the best opportunities to help our young leaders through the platform of our youth centric brand GLOW. The costs of education are rising every year and it needs collective efforts to help the bright students of the society who cannot afford their academic expenses. GCU is an international standard institution in Pakistan and it is a privilege to support the bright students of such an esteemed educational institution, he added. He pledged that Warid Telecom would give more donations to GCU Endowment Fund Trust to support its great cause to support youth. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Khaleequr-Rahman while giving comments said that the recent economic crunch has greatly affected the institutions of higher learning in Pakistan and companies like Warid Telecom should come forward to support quality education in Pakistan. n growth in revenues in the closing quarter of financial year 2011-12 compared with quarter of previous fiscal year, showing a continuation of positive trends in earnings despite tough financial circumstances.
Wateen to offer TShirts to competition winners

Lahore: Wateen Telecom had finished receiving the entries for the competition Shoot Your Emotions on November 25. The participants could contribute in Shoot Your Emotions by just sharing the variety of emotions of their faces. The first part of this offer has finished now; the videos and the photos have been chosen for the second round, and will soon be posted on the Facebook page. Wateen has declared that it will offer T-Shirts as awards to all the winners of the first round. So those qualifiers who have not informed the company about their residential addresses, they should instantly send their postal addresses to wateentelecomltd@gmail.com for grabbing your T-Shirt. The ultimate successful winner will be gifted with a free adventurous tour, in addition to another 200 prizes will be given to other partakers. n current financial year 2011-12 that supported the corporation to sustain its eroding earnings on the back of high operational costs. According to estimates its profits up by 141 percent to Rs233 million in the first quarter on the back of sustainable service business thanks to new packages. Ufone positive growth in this period supported its parent company to sustain financial position with minimum losses. The groups net profit after tax at Rs2.2 billion was 8pc lower as compared to corresponding period last year. PTCLs net profit after tax at Rs1.4 billion was 32pc lower mainly because of decreased level of other operating income. n
PTCL injects Rs11b for Ufone expansion

Karachi: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has injected Rs 11 billion in its subsidiary, Ufone, for expanding its countrywide operations in different areas including network infrastructure, technical advancement and marketing. Official sources said the PTCL has lent huge amount of Rs11 billion to its subsidiary on softterms under subordinated debt agreements. These loans are recoverable in eight equal quarterly instalments commencing after a grace period of 3 to 4 years by 2015, carrying mark-
up at the rate of three months KIBOR plus 82 to 180 basis points. An official of Ufone said that the companys expenses have been increased substantially on high cost of operations in the country; therefore, it has sought financial aid to meet its spending with smoothly. Ufone expansion plans need a financial assistance on long-term basis in order to scale up its services in the future, hence it has been aided its parents company Pakistan Telecommunication which has strong liquidity Company Limited (PTCL) financial position, an official added on the results showed the revenues condition of anonymity. increased to Rs11.6 billion in the Ufone witnessed 7 percent
Mobilink reaches out to underprivileged students

Lahore: Mobilink Foundation Torchbearers reached out to students at the Pehli Kiran School System through the JAQ Islamabad, engaging the children with fun activities such as facepainting, drawing and singing. The Torchbearers also utilised the opportunity to emphasise the importance of education and its benefits for the children and the country as a whole. Omar Manzur, Director PR and CSR, Mobilink highlighted, The Mobilink Foundation and its Torchbearers remain committed to the betterment of lives across Pakistan. The donation of art supplies, story books and recycled skins to the Pehli Kiran Schools are a token of Mobilinks support and continued effort to give back to Pakistans children, who are the future of the nation. n
Etihad Airways and Panasonic Avionics sign deal

Lahore: Etihad Airways has selected Panasonic Avionics Corporation to provide the inflight entertainment systems and in-flight connectivity, including broadband Internet and live TV, for the airlines entire long-haul fleet of wide body aircraft. James Hogan, Etihad Airways Chief Executive Officer, and Paul Margis, Panasonic Avionics Chief Executive Officer, recently signed a letter of intent for a 10-year exclusive agreement for in-flight entertainment and communications (IFEC) solutions, including mobile phone services in conjunction with AeroMobile. The deal currently being finalised, which is valued at more than $1 billion at list prices, will include a full service maintenance contract. Etihad Airways and Panasonic are developing a plan to deploy Panasonic's eX2 and eX3 IFEC systems on 100 new aircraft, in addition to the 16 aircraft already equipped with the eX2 system. Under the agreement, Etihad Airways will install Panasonics eX2 system on its new Airbus A380s, Boeing 787s, and Boeing 777-300Ers, and will use Panasonics eX3 solution for its new Airbus A350 aircraft. Mr Hogan said: It is essential that we offer the most engaging and dynamic in-flight entertainment for our guests especially on longhaul flights. We went through a comprehensive technical and commercial evaluation of what was out there in the market. Panasonic will support Etihad Airways commitment to delivering a system that will enable us to stay at the leading edge in this allimportant area.n
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Educational Trust, donating art supplies and story books, as well as recycled skins for the insulation of eight schools, says a press release. Torchbearers spent three days at one of the Pehli Kiran Schools in
Fr e e d o w nl oad | fl ar e. pk
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Synopsis
LG, Ruba sign agreement

Karachi: LG Electronics and Ruba Electronics signed a distributor-ship agreement according to which Ruba Electronics will provide sales, marketing, after sales service and distribution support to LG Electronics in Pakistan. The agreement was signed by Mr. H.S. Paik, President LG Electronics Gulf region and Mr. Manzoor Khan, Director Ruba Electronics in a ceremony, says a press release. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. H.S. Paik, President LG Electronics Gulf FZE said We are very much satisfied with the services provided by Ruba Electronics for our Home Entertainment business in Pakistan. n
Osama wins Mobilink Artpad contest

Karachi: Mobilink has accomplished its first Artpad contest. This competition was the first contest of its kind and it got the interest of lots of in the online community of Pakistan. In this contest the participants were given the chance to unleash their creativity for the promotion of art in Pakistan. Lots of unique entries were received by the Artpad competition organizers in the period of two week; all entries were able to deserve the top prize of Evo 3D phone. The partakers have unleashed their creativity through digital art and pencil sketches. Every qualifiers entry exhibited his own theme for Reshaping Lives and all partakers used their creativity for depicting of how the peoples lives could be changed for good in Pakistan. Mobilink guaranteed the full transparency in the decision making. The Mobilink brand ambassador and renowned singer Ali Zafar joined the judges for judgment of the best entry. The partaker, whose entry was found to be the best on the creativity, theme and depiction basis, was Muhammad Osama of Karachi. He has been awarded with an Evo 3D HTC phone. n
Director Mobilink Customer Care Karachi Asif Naseer Pervaiz hands over HTC EVO 3D to the winner of the first Mobilink Artpad competition.
Etihad Airways sponsors art exhibition Samsung wins 30 CES

Lahore: Etihad Airways is sponsoring a world-class art exhibition featuring renowned French glass maker Jean Claude Novaro, recently held in Karachi. Jean Claude Novaro is a celebrated artist famous for his distinctive art-glass creations. His work is prized by connoisseurs and displayed in museums and galleries all over the world. His name also appears in the Guinness Book of World Records for making the largest hand-blown coupe. This is the first time an artist of such global stature is exhibiting in Pakistan. Amer Khan, Etihad AirwaysCountry Manager in Pakistan, said: Etihad is very pleased to be the principal sponsor of this event. The promotion of art and cross-cultural events is an important feature of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) philosophy at Etihad Airways, so we are proud to present Jean Claude Novaro to art enthusiasts throughout the country and hope this will enrich the art scene and open the door to artists from across the world to showcase their art in Pakistan. Novaro expressed his delight, saying: I always enjoyed travelling to show my work in Europe and America. I am very happy today to see my art displayed in Pakistan. This is a great honour for me and I hope it will be the start of a long story between Etihad, this beautiful country and I. Novaros artistic creations will be exhibited in the Unicorn Gallery, one of the leading art galleries in Pakistan. Etihad operates 23 weekly flights from Pakistan with daily flights from Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, and twice a week from Peshawar. n
innovation awards
Wi-Fi service in PC, Marriott

Islamabad: Hashoo Group Hospitality Division, having its fold of all the Marriott and Pearl Continental hotels in Pakistan, now offers to its distinguished guests round the clock free access to Wi-Fi Internet service in addition to the existing endless amenities, Hashoo
Lahore: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd has won 30 prestigious awards in the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2012 Innovation Awards - The worlds largest consumer technology tradeshow. Samsung Pakistans Managing Director, Mr. Hee Chang Yee said: Were honored that CES recognizes Samsungs commitment to research and development across 36 product categories. During the past 3 years Samsung has won 90 CES awards. For the year 2012, Samsung won 2 awards for Best of Innovation and 4 honours for Eco-Design. These award-winners are judged by leading experts, since 1976. Samsungs award-winning products included TV, home theater, mobile phone, tablet PC, mobile PC, monitor, SS Drives & LCD panel etc. n
Group hotels are known for their expertly designed hospitality and unsurpassed luxury and have been honoured with many national and international prestigious awards in the past, says a press release. n
PTCL launches easy load service Samsung launches the MV800

Islamabad: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) has launched Easy Load service for maximum facilitation of its valued customers. Now PTCL Vfone and EVO customers can instantly recharge their accounts with whatever amount they want through a large network of approximately 150,000 Uload retailers situated all over the country for a minimum recharge of Rs.20. Both the customer and retailer will get an SMS alert in case of successful transaction. In case of failed transaction, a failure message will be received at retailers end and he will reimburse the money to the customer. PTCL has always strived for providing the best services and offers to its customers, mostly with the convenience of without leaving their homes or offices, said PTCL Senior Executive Vice President Commercial, Naveed Saeed. With this launch, PTCL will have an added affect on the lives of its customers. This launch will have a very positive impact on our performance all over the country, said PTCL Executive Vice President Wireless Business, Omar Khalid. We are upgrading our services to meet the needs of our customers instantly. For more information, call PTCL helpline: 1236 or visit the nearest PTCL franchise/One-Stop Shop.
camera
Lahore: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd has launched an innovative and compact digital camera - the stylish Samsungs MultiView MV800. It is the perfect combination of style and ease-of-use, which enables social
extroverts to capture and record all the highlights of their activities. This Multi-view camera is available in colors like vivid red, stylish black and snow white. With a 3.0 Wide Flip-out Display, the MV800 shoots and record 16.1 mega pixel pictures from extremely high and low angles for Online profile self-portraits, group shots or festive concert pics. A sophisticated, minimalist design with metallic finish makes it ultra-slender to be carried in a pocket or purse. It offers the best-inclass imaging technology that ensures premium results, even for the beginners. Limitless creative features and artistic possibilities are at the touch of a button, to make your pictures truly memorable. n
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Fr e e d o w n l o a d | fl a re. p k
Schneider Electric launches new business line

Lahore: Schneider Electric has announced the launch of a new business line - Schneider Electric Secure Power Systems for Industry and Infrastructure, providing fast and effective solutions for large facilities to increase power availability and systems uptime of mission critical applications. Schneider Electrics new business line comes as part of its strategy to expand its products and services range for industries and facilities beyond data centers. The companys move comes at a time when organizations in healthcare, semiconductor fabrication, transportation, water, oil and gas as well as energy rely heavily on uninterrupted power for missioncritical processes such as security systems and automated manufacturing. The online engineering design guide also offers support on APCs vast range of offerings that include rack power distribution, racks and enclosures as well as security and environmental products such as sensors, cameras, licenses and security as well as environmental appliances. Software management guidance is also available to cover data center facility management, data centre infrastructure management and UPS management. Munib Khwaja Vice President IT Business Pakistan & Afghanistan APC by Schneider Electric, said The online engineering design guide is an indispensable tool for integrators working with our solutions. Included within the service are approved configurations for a host of solutions available for download in PDF format. Brochures can also be obtained as well as step by step specifications detailing assembly and construction information. Submittal drawings are additionally available with stage by stage diagrams and illustrations, not to forget that a team of our own engineers is readily available around the clock. n
NBP turns online in Gilgit & Baltistan

Karachi: National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) has transformed its complete branch network to online system in the province of Gilgit & Baltistan. NBP wants to convert majority of its branches online by the end of this year. The work, in this regard is going on rapidity. It is noteworthy that NBP is present in afar and remotest regions of Pakistan. It is like a gift of NBP to the people of Gilgit Baltistan that it is supplying Online banking to these remote and afar regions in such a short period of time. Recently, NBP has started many IT projects to make the bank one of the most technologically advanced financial institutions in the country. Currently the Bank is in the implementation phase of Core Banking System which is one of the largest IT projects in Pakistan and covers all the banking functions. President NBP, Qamar Hussain valued the hard work of Information Technology team and uttered hope that very soon more branches will come online all over the country. n
NADRA so far issues 8,21,888 Pakistan Cards rain-hit families

Islamabad: National Database and Registration Authority (NARDA) claimed that it had so far issued 8,21,888 Pakistan Cards to heads of the rain-hit families in Sindh to provide them cash assistance. Deputy Chairman NADRA, Tariq Malik said since launch of Pakistan Cards, Rs. 6.69 billion has also been disbursed against these cards. Through Pakistan Card, head of an affected family can get cash assistance of Rs. 20,000 in two equal installments. He said 47 distribution centers are operational in districts of Sindh i.e. Badin, Tando Muhammad Khan, Shaheed Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas, Tando Allahyar and Sanghar to facilitate the affected families. Whereas other 15 centers, on completing task, are now addressing the complaints from genuine beneficiaries, he added. He pointed out that throughout the distribution process, the Authority has ensured strong checks in the software so that only deserving families belonging to provincially notified calamity hit areas could obtain Pakistan Cards. Deputy Chairman said the Authority had also launched mobile SMS service in collaboration with Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and all operating telecom companies to determine a person's existence in the beneficiary list for Pakistan Card project to facilitate the rain affected people in checking the status of their requests. The eligibility of the applicant for Pakistan Card can be checked by simply sending his/her Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) number to the designated short code i.e. 9777. In response, a text message is sent from NADRA central server confirming CNIC existence in the beneficiary list. He said the intent to use this service is to assist provincial and local governments to curtail down rush at the Centers and to help the flood victims by using technology. In addition to setting up Centers, NADRA has also mobilised its Mobile Registration Vans (MRVs) to process CNIC free of cost in all affected areas in coordination with the public representatives and district administrators. n
wi-tribe Pakistan celebrates Qatar National Day

Islamabad: wi-tribe, Pakistans highest rated broadband company for customer satisfaction, celebrates with the people of Qatar on their National Day, recognizing the tremendous progress and achievements under the leadership of His Highness Amir Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani. While celebrating the auspicious occasion of Qatars 133rd National Day, the CEO of witribe, Mustafa Peracha said, On behalf of wi-tribe Pakistan, I congratulate the people of Qatar and Qtel on your National Day. Qatar has risen to become a leader in scientific and technological development and a hub of educational and cultural
Wateen rewards on-time bill payments

Lahore: Wateen Telecom, Pakistan announced the winners of its Recharge and Reconnect campaign through which it is incentivising subscribers to recharge their accounts within time. The Recharge and Reconnect lucky draw campaign is aimed at building a connection with Wateen customers, while encouraging them to recharge their accounts before the recharge date for each month. Zeeshan Hasan, General Manager Customer Care, said, Wateens goal is to improve lives of its customers through the internet. The Recharge and Reconnect lucky draw campaign was launched in October, with the first draw held that month. This second lucky draw was held last week, with the prizes presented at a small ceremony held in the Wateen head office in Lahore. Shaukat Ali from Sahiwal won a Hewlett Packard laptop,
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advancement. Having won the bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, one of many recent milestones, Qatar shows immense promise for future expansion and development in the GCC region. Qatar and Pakistan share many valuable relations, of which one is wi-tribe Pakistan, a proud part of the Qatar Telecom family. Together, we celebrate this day in great honor and happiness, looking forward to continued prosperity. n
Faisal Altaf from Lahore was the winner of a Dell Streak tablet and Amber Nasir from Karachi won an Apple iPad2 tablet. n
National
Synopsis
Shahbaz to confront Imran in cyber war

Lahore: Berserk social media more than alleged backing of the establishment gave such a boost to Imran Khans political onslaught that forced Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif to hire the same new media tutors. According to sources in the Punjab provincial government, following the success of Khans public meeting in Lahore, Sharif went crazy to hire the same web portal that Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf was using. Resultantly, he had a meeting with the head of the social media facilitation website named Pring and hired him at lofty fees to have extensive tuition. Mian Shahbaz Sharif spent over a couple of hours with Mohiuddin, Chief Executive Pring running company e-Business (Pvt) Limited in the very first meeting , the sources added. The sources also informed that the Punjab Chief Minister has gone active on different social media sites including Facebook after having tuition from his social media coach. According to its website, Pring is Pakistans fastest growing mobile social network where you can connect with existing friends by telling them what you are up to. It is also good to make new friends based on interests, get deals and discount vouchers from brands on Pring by following them, or advertise your business to your target audience directly! Pring has been developed keeping the masses in mind and, therefore, it can also be used by users with low capability handsets via SMS. This way information is accessible to people in even the most remote areas of the country. Pring is run by a dedicated team of engineers, graphic designers, marketers and telecom industry veterans and owned by eBusiness (Pvt) Ltd. n
Toshiba increases footprints in Pakistan

Karachi: Toshiba Singapore Digital Products & Service Group (DS) announced the official appointment of another new distributor, ABM Data Systems (ABM), in Pakistan. With this appointment, Toshiba increases the resellers network footprints in Pakistan with ABM as Toshibas authorised distributors and service provider in Pakistan. This appointment reaffirms Toshibas commitments to meet the high demands and demographics of mobile business professionals and tech savvy consumers who recognise Toshibas long history of reputation that builds scalable mobility platforms on quality and reliability. It is an honour to have this appointment, said Sarfaraz Ali Khan, CEO, ABM Data Systems. And to keep the level of commitment intact, ABM has established a strong team of sales and post-sales set-up to facilitate customers needs. Warranty and after-sales claims can also be processed easily from any of ABM offices across Pakistan in Lahore, Islamabad, Hyderabad and of course, Karachi. Buying a Toshiba notebook and accessories becomes more easily accessible now. We chose ABM for their high business credibility in the market and their reputation for being the leading IT solutions provider with more than two decades of industry experience, said Max Lee, Regional Manager of Distributor Business for South Asia, Toshiba Singapore Pte Ltd, Digital Products & Services Group. Given Toshiba's technology achievements and expert craftsmanship in our products, customers will naturally realise great brilliant and fully thought-through innovations when selecting from the wide range of Toshiba notebooks. n
Lahore: In recognition of his outstanding efforts for provision of best customer outreach services by Pakistan Telecommunications Company Ltd (PTCL), Haroon Khan was given the "Top Agent of the Contact Center Award at the Annual Dinner Gala and Awards Ceremony of PTCL Contact Center Lahore. PTCL Contact Center, Lahore reaches out to customers spread all over Pakistan for conducting Customers through 1236 and 080080800, with a diversity of services, This Contact Center is awarded ISO 9001:2008 certification and is providing customer services according to the industry standards. This Contact Center is dedicated for carrying out Sales and Pre-Sales related activities for PTCL products/ Services and also respond
PTCL awards its Top Agent of Contact Centre Lahore
customers for Order registration, Order Verification/Confirmation, Services Deployment Status, Order Management, Complaint Status, billing issues, etc. The 250 seats center operates on 24 / 7 basis, and hosts over 360 Customer Service Agents.
Mr. Haroon Khan received his award from PTCL Senior Executive Vice President Commercial, Naveed Saeed (center), who was the chief guest on the occasion. PTCLs Executive Vice President Contact Centers, Junaid Azim, and other dignitaries were also present. n Lahore: Continuing to honour its corporate social responsibility part, Warid Telecom recently joined White Ribbon Pakistan campaign that is aimed to end violence against women and girls in all its forms. Men and boys in their various roles as individuals, community members, leaders, educators, fathers, family members have a responsibility and important role to play in promoting gender equality and ending violence against women and girls. Warid staff members marked White Ribbon day at their office while company also broadcasted awareness text messages to its subscribers. n
Warid joins White Ribbon Campaign
Group photo of Warid staff members pledging gender equality and ending violence against women.
NIB contracts ZRG for recording

Karachi: In order to handle proper logging and documentation of outbound calls related to collection and recovery, NIB Bank has acquired professional IT services for a collection call recording platform from ZRG International, says a press release. Through an innovative call logging and management platform from ZRG, NIB collection and recovery teams throughout the country will have a transparent way for making the calls to the customers and have the convenience of automated logging and documentation. The management will have access of monitoring tools for quality mechanism to verify who said what. assurance. ZRG platform does not require any specialised devices at the user end. According to the guidelines issued by regulatory authority, financial organisations that contact customers for collection and recoveries by making telephone calls are required to have complete documentation of such call interactions including recording of voice and call data. Such documentation provides a sure way to check for abuse, below standard communication and a
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Fr e e d o w n l o a d | fl a re. pk
Lahore: Schneider Electric, a global specialist in energy management, has announced two new facility module power and cooling solutions for the Europe, Middle East and Africa region (EMEA). The new modular units enable data centre power and cooling capacity to be added in 500kW increments, allowing physical infrastructure to be right-sized to the IT load and eliminating a major cause of inefficiency and wasted energy. With leading power and cooling product brands including APC and Uniflair in its portfolio, Schneider Electric is uniquely positioned as an end-toend solutions provider to address the need for fast, flexible, easy and predictable data centre solutions. The new facility modules simplify the process of data centre construction, removing unnecessary complexity as well as saving time, money and other resources involved in field construction and integration. Munib Khawaja, Country Vice President for Pakistan & Afghanistan, APC by Schneider Electric said, Facility modules are a step towards the commoditization of data centre physical infrastructure. Instead of waiting months, customers can expect to deploy additional capacity within weeks. Because Schneider Electric pre-engineer, configure and test facility modules prior to delivery ensuring reliability and efficiency, site installation is also made simpler and speedier, reducing associated costs and the risk of human error. n
Schneider Electric launches containerised power and cooling facility modules
Dawlance gains stronghold in foreign markets as a Pakistani Brand

Karachi: With a sustainable expansion strategy, Dawlance makes its presence felt at the Big 5 exhibition held in Dubai recently. At the exhibition, Dawlance stood out from the crowd as the only Pakistani
home appliances company that managed to impress a fair number of foreign countries in the MENA region and other African countries. Exploring export opportunities in the Middle East and African region, Dawlance showcased its refrigerators and freezers at the exhibition. Dawlance established its Dubai office in 2009 to focus on export segment whereby it manufactures and distributes refrigerators, washing machines, chest freezers, air conditioners and microwave ovens in the region. Mr. Hasan Jamil - Head of Sales and Marketing, Dawlance said, We at Dawlance are proud to be a Pak-
Bright future of Pakistan in hands of smarter kids

Karachi: KidSmart is an IBM corporate programme which intends to build up the role of IT in early childhood education and help bridge the digital divide. The programme operates in joint venture with a professional early learning partner (e.g. an Education Ministry), which gives staff training, supports the selection of schools and participates in evaluation. Independent reports have shown strong developmental outcomes for plorer computers to four non-profit organizations including Development in Literacy (DIL), Mountain and Glacier Protection Organization (MGPO), Kaghan Memorial Trust (KMT), and PAFs Special School of Education. This donation was carried out under IBMs KidSmart Early Learning Program which is the companys program to make Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) broadly available to Pakistani children. Khurram Khan, Managing Trustee at The Kaghan Memorial Trust., mentioned that, IBMs Young Explorer computers are perfect for introducing computing tools to the young children ages 3 to 5 at our Kaghan Memorial School. The KidSmart software provides fun interactive programs that help children to get acquainted with computers while supporting their curricular learning. The icing on the cake is the colorful and childfriendly design of the workstations; their sturdy fabrication protects the systems from damage no matter children and a very positive impact how young and uninitiated the user on teacher skills and bridging the may be. KidSmart truly lives up to digital divide. its name and we feel privileged to IBM has offered 26 Young Ex- have been chosen by IBM to receive
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istani appliances company operating in Dubai. The Dubai office is our first international office for entire Islamabad: A young and talented global distribution of Dawlance Pakistani, Sherjil developed Multi products. This is Dawlances first Texter for Android smart phones. He overseas participation and we are has also made other applications, which comprise an Urdu writing application. Sherjil Shabih, not a typical technology geek but only 16 years old boy, who has developed a bulk text messaging application for Android smartphones. The application, Multi Texter, allows sending a bulk of text messages to numerous contacts at once. The user does not have to go back to the inbox and select each message to forward individually. It is available on the Android application market for displaying our latest products in the free. event. We are also looking at other According to Sherjil: I developed Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia, the software in only three weeks in Bahrain, Qatar and different parts July, no other application on Android of Africa and East Africa for new phones provide this option. He shows off the application on his business opportunities. HTC phone. According to a recent research, Sherjil said that he and his friends Dawlance is the 7th most favorite always found forwarding messages inbrand in Pakistan out of 3,500 dividually a big irritate. brands in the country. The research But now, we simply select the further revealed that Dawlance is messages and send it to multiple conin every second household in Pak- tacts at the same time. The application also has other feaistan (out of those households which have appliances). The brand is con- tures. It can be used to search messidered to be the most Reliable & sages by its subject or the senders Innovative brand amongst all home name, just like email. One can also save custom messages, edit and then appliance brands in Pakistan and resend them. The unsent messages wishes to continue the same legacy can also be viewed. But according to in international markets. n its developer, the application can also be misused to send SMS bombs. Sherjil said that he paid $25 to upload the application. But it is free for the users. So far 2,860 people downloaded Multi Texter most of them in the US. He said that Just as kids love to these excellent systems for our watch television I love to make proschool. grammes. While others might find The KidSmart program adds programming difficult and dull, for me new interactive teaching and learn- it is a hobby. Sherjil was only a year-and-a-halfing activities using the latest technology into the pre-kindergarten old when he got his V-tech, a childs curricula. IBMs KidSmart program laptop. His love for technology kept growing and he moved on to basic proincludes the Young Explorer, a gramming on his V-tech when he was computer housed in brightly colored, only eight. He developed websites and child-friendly Little Tikes furni- internet application before moving on ture and equipped with award-win- to Windows programming. In his ning educational software to help short 16 years, Sherjil has also develchildren learn and explore concepts oped other applications, which include in math, science and language. The an Urdu writing application. During Young Explorer units are specially the semi final of Pakistan and India designed for children ages three to during the last World Cup he developed an application for sending the five years with a focus on creating a words Out, four and sixer with a sinpositive impact on preschool learn- gle key, he added. ing and teacher training in line with It is interesting fact that he did government education agendas. The not seek the professional help. He said program is now widely acknowl- that Every programming language edged as a catalyst for curriculum has resources and code samples which development and learning innova- are available on the internet. They were my only tutors. While tion in Middle East and Africa. Sherjil sends a good amount of time on IBM Pakistan launched the his laptop and phone, he makes sure KidSmart program in 2006 and has his studies are not ignored. He loves to donated more than 80 Young Ex- dance hip-hop and play the African plorer units to NGOs across Pak- drums, something he picked up from istan, partnering with Education his early life in Ivory Coast, where his Ministries (of Nankana Sahib, Pun- father was stationed. Sherjil is indeed a brilliant projab and Sindh) and renowned NGOs including The Citizens Foundation, grammer but he does not want to pursue it as a career. I want to do a PhD Care Foundation, Behbud Associa- in nanotechnology. But for now, he tion, Edhi Foundation and Zindagi said, he will keep on making applicaTrust. n tions for the benefit of people. n
Pakistani developed multi texter for Android smart phones
Fr e e d o w nload | f l ar e. pk
National
Synopsis
PTA saves Rs 1.5b through action against grey telephony

Islamabad: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has saved Rs.1.5 billion ($ 18 million per month) so far by taking action against the illegal operators and after installation of latest equipment in April 2008 at PTA. PTA has established a dedicated Vigilance Cell of experts whose expertise are well recognized in monitoring such illegal telecom traffic with the help of state-of-the-art equipment to curb the grey traffic. International regulators have shown their interest to acquire similar system to curb grey traffic in their respective jurisdictions. The increases in Approved Settlement Rates (ASR) are made on the basis that the level of ASR directly affects the contributions towards Universal Services Fund (USF) for proliferation of telecom services. Same was increased to help the government to expand the USF projects in remote areas. Number of projects has lately been completed by USF Fund in Sindh and Balochistan. According to official data available, five optical fibre projects costing Rs 4.5 billion and twelve broadband projects costing Rs. 6.35 billion have already been awarded. Owing to this, the broadband proliferation has increased manifold in Pakistan, showing a growth of 150percent, thus putting Pakistan amongst the top ten countries in the world in terms of growth. The broadband subscribers have reached approximately 0.8 million. Official sources in PTA said it is baseless allegation that government has suffered a loss of Rs 30 billion on account of collection of Access Promotion Contribution (APC). On account of APC for USF, PTA was collecting Rs.12 million/month in January, 2005, Rs.85 million in October, 2007, Rs.86 million in May, 2008 while Rs.1083 million/month and Rs.1564 million/month in Feb, 2009 and July, 2009 respectively. According to data, changes in the APC and ASR over the period of time have helped in increase of revenues to the USF Fund. Historically, when ASR was at its minimum level from October 2007-April 2008, the average monthly minutes were 499 million per month. In May 2008, when the ASR was increased to 10 cents/minute, there was no negative impact on the traffic pattern due to the installation of equipment to curb grey traffic. From May 2008 onwards, average incoming traffic remained at 500 plus million minutes per month, resulting in an increase in APC for USF contribution of $ 14 million per month (May 2008-Jan 2009) which further increased to $ 22 million per month from February 2009 to June 2009 when PTA increased the ASR to 12.5 cents/minute. According to official sources in PTA Since the reported traffic never reached to the level of one billion minutes per month even when ASR was at its minimum level, the assumption that the legal traffic fell below 400 million minutes per month, thereby resulting in a loss of Rs 30 Billion, as being projected in the media, is not based on facts. PTA conducted 28 successful raids, on grey traffickers, since March 2009, which included small and big gateway operators. Numbers of persons including, foreigners were also apprehended. In the campaign against illegal telephony 20,092 mobile SIMs were blocked. Furthermore, licenses of local loop operators and LDI operators were suspended, while LDI operators were also fined on this account. Thousands of operators/equipments involved into grey traffic are being blocked every month. n
Pakistan unleashed its potential once again at the global platform as it has been ranked No. 2 on Arabia Fast Growth platform, terming it an emerging hub of talented entrepreneurs. Pakistans 70 fast growing companies qualified for the Arabia500, putting the country in second position after Turkey with 117 winners. AllWorld Network announced the Pakistan winners of the Arabia500+Turkey, a ranking of the fastest growing young companies in the Middle East and North Africa, Turkey and Pakistan. Each Pakistan entrepreneur on the ranking has grown an average of 40 percent annually between 2008 and 2010, created an average of 200 jobs per company, and is succeeding in industries ranging from web technology to transportation, food to textiles, and construction to consulting. An average of only 42 years old, nearly all of them plan to establish another entrepreneurial venture in the next two years. The fastest growing company from Pakistan, E2E Supply Chain Management, grew at 1,918 percent between 2008 and 2010, with revenues above $50 million and 297 employees. Of the Arabia500 winners from 15 countries, E2E was the third fastest growing company. Taking the second spot for Pakistan was Exceed Private Limited
Pakistan ranked 2nd in Arabia Fast Growth 500
with a annual growth rate of 1,320 percent and 90 employees, and became sixth in overall Arabia500 positioning. Pakistan also had the most number of women entrepreneurs on the Arabia500 list, and Luscious Cosmetics of Pakistan topped the list of the fastest growing Arabia500 women entrepreneur with growth of 392 percent and 82 employees. In January 2012, AllWorld will announce the winners of the Pakistan 100, with 70 having already qualified. Pakistan is open for business. Pakistani entrepreneurs are defying widespread misperception about our country and building world-class enterprises that are globally competitive, official statement quoted Pakistan 100 Founding Director Malik Ahmad Jalal. Pakistan Fast Growth entrepreneurs show that the best bet for the countrys economic future is relying on the entrepreneurial spirits of its citizens, he added. The strong performance of Pakistani companies in Arabia500 illustrates that in spite of the challenges there continues to be strong business and investment opportunity in Pakistan. Pakistani companies in Arabia500 are surfacing new horizons for growth and quickening the pace of economic development and regional integration.
Urbansole unveils winter collection

Lahore: Urbansole, a renowned brand of Shafi (Pvt) Limited, organised an exhibition to launch its Spring-Summer Collection at a local hotel in Lahore recently. With only a few months left until summer, Urbansole and Pierre Cardin wanted to give its dealers a taste of the stylish and modern designs that are a trademark of its collections. Mr. Jawad Musaddiq, Director, Urbansole, Mr. Shahid Nawaz their new collection to the media and dealers from across the country. All the participants were highly appreciative of the new designs incorporating the highest standards of comfort and durability. While talking to the media present at the event, Mr. Kashif Zorain assured that the new Spring-Summer Collection will be available at all Urbansole outlets in summer 2012. He also said that this new collection is a result of
Cheema, BDM and Mr. Kashif Zorain, Brand Manager, Urbansole were representing the Urbansole team at the event and showcased
Urbansoles commitment to high standards and innovative designs and will continue to produce such inspiring collections every year. n
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Mosaic
International
Fr e e d ow n lo ad | f la re .p k
Black Friday shoppers check out a Samsung I-Core 7 laptop on sale on Black Friday, , at the Fair Lakes Best Buy store in Fairfax, Virginia.
Jordan's Queen Rania (R) speaks to students during her visit to Rahma bint Al Hassan Elementary school in Amman.
A woman talks on the phone while waiting for a performance during the opening ceremony of the Youth Day of Hanoi Archdiocese in Vietnam.
A hunter hold his tame golden eagle while speaking on a mobile phone during an annual hunting competition outside Almaty.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton checks her phone while sitting next to South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan (R) at the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan.
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A model uses her mobile phone as she gets ready backstage before the 2012 Korea Hair Collection in Seoul.
A model poses with ZTE smartphone "Skate" in a booth at the Mobile Asia Congress in Hong Kong.
International
Synopsis
NSN wins SAMENA Best Green Technology of the Year 2011 award
Nokia Siemens Networks has won the SAMENA Award for Best Green Technology of the Year 2011 at an event held in Doha, Qatar. SAMENA Awards recognize leaderMany areas in the SAMENA region are underserved telecom territories and we find that our wireless broadband and cost efficient green technology solutions allow operators to economically provide critical services to a much wider audience than was previously possible. This award reaffirms our commitment to creating a sustainablefuture by using smart technology and solutions. Nokia Siemens Networks was assessed on the basis of an individual, anonymous voting of the Awards Evaluation Committee (AEC). The process included a thorough review of the eligible awardees, independent study of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and other data gathered through market research. The key criteria for selecting Nokia Siemens Networks included social impact, contribution to profitability, innovation and utilisationof technology. Nokia Siemens Networks was also named Best Vendor at the Telecoms World Middle East Awards, held recently. These awards are designed to identify and reward companies that have positively contributed to the development of telecoms in the Middle East. n
Apple faces iPhone, iPad ban

Apple faces the prospect of having its iPad and iPhone devices banned in Germany, just months after securing a ban on Samsungs Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the country with a similar ruling. Motorola Mobility, which is the subject of a prospective takeover by Google, won a ruling in a German court against Apples European sales company, Ireland-based Apple Sales International, based on a patent relating to a method for performing a countdown function during a mobile-originated transfer for a packet radio system. The Court has granted Motorola Mobilitys requests for an injunction and damages, the company said. The news will come as validation for Google, which is pursuing the business primarily for its patent portfolio. We will continue to take all necessary steps to protect our intellectual property, as our patent portfolio and licensing agreements with companies both in the U.S. and around the world are critical to our business, said Scott Offer, senior vice president and general
ship and excellence in the telecoms sectors of the South Asia - Middle East - North Africa (SAMENA) region. Nokia Siemens Networks was recognized for contributing the most towards the environment via use of energy-efficient technology and adoption of green initiatives, thereby helping operators reduce their carbon footprint. We are honoured to receive the SAMENA Award in this category for the second consecutive year, said Igor Leprince, Head of the Middle East region at Nokia Siemens Networks. We have always believed in the power of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to reduce the globes carbon footprint.
counsel of Motorola Mobility. We have been negotiating with Apple and offering them reasonable licensing terms and conditions since 2007, and will continue our efforts to resolve our global patent dispute as soon as practicable. n
Panasonic eyes European smartphone comeback

Japanese electronics vendor Panasonic has confirmed that it will be re-entering the smartphone space, with its sights fixed on the European market. The firm aims to launch new products into Europe in March 2012, targeting sales of 1.5 million smartphones in the region over the next fiscal year. Panasonic has set itself the goal of selling 15 million units of its smartphones globally by 2016. Nine million of these devices will be sold in Europe, Asia and the United States, and five million in the domestic Japanese market, if the firm reaches its targets. The firm said that it aims to use Europe as a stepping stone to achieve a global reach for its products. With the mobile phone market rapidly shifting to smartphone usage worldwide and a steady growth expected particularly overseas, Panasonic aims to tap into this growth with its first global model smartphone for the European market in March 2012, the company said in a statement. The firm created the Systems & Communications Company (SNC) in April this year in order to handle products and services related to system, network and mobile communications. Phones for the Japanese market are manufactured in its factory in Malaysia and the same factory is also scheduled to manufacture the first global model. Panasonic will continue to expand its product lineup and increase sales in a speedy process by thoroughly utilising the groups technological assets and development resources as well as its production and sales sites around the world, thereby strengthening development, production, and sales structure and product competitiveness, added the firm.
NSN sheds broadband access unit

Nokia-Siemens Networks (NSN) has announced that it is selling its broadband access unit to US firm Adtran, as it continues with a major restructuring project. The infrastructure vendor has already sold its WiMAX unit to infrastructure player NewNet Communication Technologies and its microwave business to DragonWave. NSN is now looking to sell off its fixed line VoIP, carrier Ethernet, narrowband, business support systems and communications and enand is expected to close by the end of April 2012. The staff reduction is in addition to the 300 staff that will move to NewNet and the 360 employees transferring to DragonWave, all of which are in addition to the 17,000 staff reduction announced in November, taking the total number of staff reductions announced so far past 18,000. Such upheaval might be expected to cause concern among NSNs customer base, but a spokesperson told Telecoms.com that the firms customers have been buoyed by the news. She said they have acknowledged that the move will make the firm a more attractive proposition as a supplier, as it aims to focus on improving the quality of the mobile broadband and customer experience solutions it offers, rather than simply looking out for its own financial motives. We want to focus on improving quality. With this new strategy, there will be more focus on quality and on customers, so that we can provide solutions to customers that they need and are so good, right from the beginning, that there are never any issues with them, she said. n
Googles Motorola takeover suspended by EC

Googles takeover of Motorola Mobility has hit a stumbling block as the European Commission (EC) has suspended its review of the merger. An EC spokesperson confirmed to Telecoms.com that it needs certain documents from Google that are essential to its evaluation of the transaction. The EC was set to make a decision on Googles bid to acquire the business on January 10, but has suspended that deadline until it receives the necessary information. Upon receiving it, it will re-start the clock and publish a new Phase I deadline on its website. Google responded to the news claiming the request for more information was routine. Were confident the commission will conclude that this acquisition is good for competition and well be working closely and cooperatively with them as they continue their review, a Google spokesperson told Telecoms.com. Most recently, Motorola Mobility won a ruling in a German court against Apple that could see Apples iPad and iPhone devices banned in the country. n
tertainment solutions units, but will maintain the units if a suitable buyer doesnt come along. The Adtran deal will see 400 of NSNs staff transfer to the US firm,
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Synopsis
International
Fr e e d o w n l o a d | f l ar e.p k
Samsung targets 2m sales of Galaxy Note

SEOUL: South Korea's Samsung Electronics launched domestically its latest Android-powered Galaxy device the Galaxy Note and said it hopes to sell as many as two million. The company gave no timeframe for the forecast sales of the Note, which is already available in other countries. The Note, with a 5.3-inch (13.5 centimetre) screen, is positioned between the firm's flagship Android-equipped Galaxy smartphone and its Galaxy Tab.
LG Uplus, the nations thirdlargest telecom carrier recently unveiled a plan to introduce a new high-speed network integrating voice, data and other media. We will open a new era of telecom service, which has never been experienced thus far, LG Uplus CEO Lee Sang-chul said during a news conference. The First All-IP Seamless Total Network, or FAST, enables the multiple use of telecom services such as voice, data and video and offers users unrestricted wired and wireless access, the company said.
LG U+ to commercialize worlds first all-IP based network
LG Uplus said it will start the worlds first nationwide service of the all-IP network as early as next year based on the companys widespread long-term evolution network and more than 1 million Wi-Fi access points. We have long been at the bottom. And we will not be able to survive if we fail to change now. Starting an IP-based convergence service is a new turning point, the CEO said. The ambitious plan came as the distant third-place service provider is gaining fresh momentum through soaring sales of LTE smartphones. n
Nokia Siemens to axe 17,000 employees

Nokia Siemens Networks has announced plans to cut 17,000 employees around the world by the end of 2013, including about 4,000 mainland Chinese employees. This is reportedly the largest layoff in the history of Nokia Siemens. According to the company, it had about 74,000 employees worldwide by November 1, 2011, which means one out of five employees will be cut. This new measure will reportedly save EUR1 billion in operating and manufacturing costs for the company. trend for the company. The telecom infrastructure industry is not a high return business anymore. Apart from the layoffs, Nokia Siemens will also make adjustments to real estate, information technology, and joint venture structures, aiming to reduce expenditures across the board. Since the founding of Nokia Siemens five years ago, the company has steadily been losing money. Its financial report for the third quarter of 2011 stated that based on non-International Financial Reporting Standards, Nokia Siemens' operating profit was EUR6 million. However, the profit was mainly contributed by its acquisition of the solutions network assets of Motorola. Nokia Siemens implemented several layoffs before. In 2008, the company cut about 1,820 employees in Finland and Germany; in 2009, it cut about 6,000 employees worldwide due to the financial crisis; at the end of July 2011, it cut 1,500 employees, including 240 Chinese positions from manufacturing, service, sales and functional departments. n
The Note, with a larger screen than the smartphone but smaller than the tablet, suggests the company is seeking a head start in the market for a model combining both functions. Samsung said the device combines the portability of a smartphone with the larger screen of a tablet. "Galaxy Note is a revolutionary product opening a new category in the market," said JK Shin, head of the mobile communications business, in a statement. n
Samsung beats Apple, ban lifted

An Australian appeals court overturned an Apple-petitioned ban on the sale of Samsungs Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, a ban Apple pursued because it claimed the Galaxy Tab was too much like its iPad. Sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 can begin as soon as December 2, according to a federal appeals judge, and the decision among a three-member appeals panel was unanimous. But Samsungs not out of the woods yetApple can file an appeal to Australias High Court requesting that the ban remain in place. The High Court would then have to decide by December 2 whether to continue the ban, and if it does, Apple would then have 28 days to appeal the latest ruling. The court was of the opinion that Apples minimalistic design isnt the only technical solution to make a tablet computer, other designs are possible, said Judge Johanna Brueckner-Hoffman in the September verdict. For the informed customer there remains the predominant overall impression that the device looks like an Apple iPad 2. n
Rajeev Suri, chief executive officer of Nokia Siemens, revealed the strategic adjustment during a conference call and said they are very unhappy with the current profit
HONG KONG: ZTE Corp, the world's No.5 telecommunications equipment supplier, aims to boost overseas revenue and produce more higher end telecoms and consumer products to enhance margins, its chief executive said. ZTE, based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, ranks behind Ericsson, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, Nokia Siemens Networks GmbH and Alcatel Lucent SA in overall sales. Even as Europe and the United States suffer from economic doldrums, the impact on ZTE is limited due to its close cooperation with major overseas telecommunications operators on selling its handphones and network gear, Shi Lirong told. It hopes that will help boost the contribution of overseas revenue to 60-70 percent eventually from 54 percent now, the 24-year ZTE veteran said. The group hopes its total revenue would grow by 30 percent this year, after climbing 17 percent to 70.26 billion yuan ($11 billion) last year, of which 60 percent came from equipment business and 26 percent from consumer devices including handsets, he said. "I'm very hopeful that we'll be able to make it to the top three in future," the 47-year-old, who is an engineer by training, said in his first media interview in more than a year. "ZTE may be No.5 now, but our business is growing the fastest among our peers," he said. ZTE set a target to ship over 80 million cellphones this year, including over 10 million smartphones, higher than its crosstown rival Huawei, which also has a similar diversification strategy to capture the consumer market. n
ZTE aims to become world No.3 telecom supplier
Russia launches Apple to launch 'voice-activated' TV GLONASS satellite

cloud services to stream films. He said: 'I'd like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. 'It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.' In October, Apple filed a patent for 'real time video control' using the movements of users - and it is believed this as well as the technology used on the iPhone 4S's voicecontrolled personal application, Siri, will be utilised for the TV set. Apple already has a TV box that connects the TV to the internet and can be controlled by the iPhone, but it has so far failed to take off commercially. n
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Apple is developing a TV set that reacts to a viewer's voice and gestures - and it could be available by summer next year, according to reports. Dubbed the iTv (although it is highly unlikely the company will be allowed to use this name), Apple hopes its latest product will be as ground-breaking and transformative as the iPhone was to mobile phones and the iPod was to portable music players. According to sources, Japanese firm Sharp will begin commercial production of the hi-tech flatscreen TVs in February before a release in the latter half of 2012. Before his death last month, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs told his biographer of his plans for a revolutionary TV set that connects to
MOSCOW: Russia on Monday successfully placed in orbit a GLONASS satellite for global navigation purposes. The GLONASSM spacecraft was launched by a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Russia, federal space agency Roscosmos said. The spacecraft, after being separated from the rocket, was placed in its designated orbit. The new satellite will join a constellation of 30 GLONASS spacecraft already in orbit of which 23 are operational. GLONASS is the Russian equivalent of the US Global Positioning system, or GPS, and is designed for both military and civilian use. At least 18 satellites are essential to provide continuous navigational signal for the entire territory of Russia and 24 are needed for global coverage. n
International
Synopsis
Internet becomes 'surveillance machine': Assange

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange blasted the mainstream media, Washington, banks and the Internet itself as he addressed journalists in Hong Kong via videolink from house arrest in England. Fresh from accepting a top award for journalism from the prestigious Walkley Foundation in his native Australia, Assange spoke to the News World Summit in Hong Kong before keeping a regular appointment with the police. He defended his right to call himself a journalist and said WikiLeaks' next "battle" would be to ensure that the Internet does not turn into a vast surveillance tool for governments and corporations. member of the profession. He said his written record spoke for itself and argued that the only reason people kept asking him if he was a journalist was because the United States' government wanted to silence him. "The United States government does not want legal protection for us," he said, referring to a US Justice Department investigation into his whistle-blower website for releasing secret diplomatic and military documents. The former hacker criticised journalists and the mainstream media for becoming too cosy with the powerful and secretive organisations they were supposed to be holding to account. n
"Of course I'm a goddamn journalist," he responded with affected frustration when a moderator of the conference asked if he was a
Washington: Facebook has agreed to tighten its privacy policies and submit to external audits in order to settle charges that it abused users' personal data, US authorities said. In a deal with the Federal Trade Commission, the social networking giant promised to honor users' privacy preferences and to stop making claims about the security of personal information that are untrue. The deal settles two year old accusations that Facebook (which has some 800 million users) had allowed advertisers access to users' personal data when users were told it was being kept private. "The proposed settlement requires Facebook to take several steps to make sure it lives up to its promises in the future," the FTC said in a statement. That includes giving consumers "clear and prominent notice and obtaining consumers' express consent before their information is shared beyond the privacy settings they have established." Facebook did not admit guilt and was not fined in the case, which arose from an investigation by privacy groups in December 2009 that it had deceived users over the protection of their personal data -- such as their name, age, location, gender and friends -- when it changed its privacy settings. The FTC said Facebook had deceived users in several ways: promising it would not share personal data with advertisers and then doing so; saying that third party apps had limited access to personal data when they had full access; and making public data users specifically chose to remain private. Facebook was barred from "making any further deceptive privacy claims" and ordered to regularly undergo a third party audit over the next 20 years to ensure it is keeping its promises. n
Facebook settles privacy violation charges
Seoul: South Korea's LG Electronics Inc has replaced the head of its home appliances division but kept its mobile chief despite the business posting six consecutive quarters of losses. Lee Young-ha, president of LG's home appliances division, will be replaced by its head of overseas marketing, Shin Moonbum, Park Jong-seok, who has been leading LG's mobile division since late last year, will stay in his role, LG spokesman said. The world's No.3 handset maker declined to elaborate on the changes. A source with knowledge of the matter said LG, which recently released new smarpthones running on faster fourth-generation mobile networks, hopes its current management will continue to focus on the new technology and turn the
LG replaces appliances head, mobile chief stays
business around next year. Lee of the home appliances unit, however, was replaced as the division's performance failed to live up to expectations, the source said. LG's handset business has reported nearly 1 trillion won ($873.2 million) in losses over the last six quarters, as it has failed to introduce compelling models to challenge the likes of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co. Koo Bon-joon, the younger brother of the LG Group chairman and a member of its founding family, took over as CEO of LG Electronics in October last year to rescue the troubled mobile division. But he failed to restore its profitability and LG announced a $945 million cash call earlier this month mainly to finance a revival of its smartphone business. n
Toshiba to close chip plants as demand slides

Toshiba Corp said it would close three of its six discrete chip-making facilities in Japan and also trim output of certain types of chips over the year-end as demand for PCs and TVs slides in Europe and the United States. Discrete chips are relatively simple semiconductors used in a wide range of electronic products from audio-visual equipment to cars and mobile phones. The three plants are scheduled to be closed in the first half of the fiscal year starting in April 2012, in a bid to slash costs, with Japanese makers at a disadvantage because of strength in the yen. "It's because demand is so weak," said analyst Yoshiharu Izumi at JP Morgan in Tokyo, adding that the announcement
S. Korea game maker vows tighter user security

South Korea's top games developer vowed to tighten security after the personal information of 13 million users of its popular online game was leaked. Nexon Korea apologised for the hacking recently, which revealed low-up measures to ease your anxiety," CEO Seo Min said in a statement on the firm's website. He said Nexon would step up data protection by establishing global security control centres in key regions such as North America, Asia and Europe to monitor computer security around the clock. Nexon said it would hire 30 more security experts, ask all users to change their passwords and introduce an integrated log-in process highly protected from hackers next year. Police and telecom authorities are probing the case but it is still unknown who gained access to Nexon's server. South Korea, the world's most wired nation with more than 90 percent of homes connected to the Internet, has expressed concern about cyber attacks. In March last year authorities launched a probe into the security systems of major retailer Shinsegae and 24 other companies after private data on 20 million customers was leaked. n
data including user IDs, names, passwords and residential registration numbers, on the subscribers to its game MapleStory. The game has a global user base of 18 million but Nexon said no data on overseas users had been leaked. "We are taking all measures to prevent possible damages from the leakage and will come up with fol-
would likely be mildly negative for the company's stock. "There is the high yen, cutbacks by domestic setmakers, especially Sony and Panasonic, and PC sales are weak around the world." He said that Toshiba relied heavily on struggling Finnish maker Nokia for sales of its mobile phone chips. Toshiba said in a statement it will temporarily halt production of analog chips and image sensors at its Oita plant, discrete chips at its Himeji plant, and photonic chips at its Kita Kyushu plant -- all in western Japan -- from the end of December to the beginning of January. n
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Synopsis
International
UK broadband providers told to come clean on speed

British telecom regulator Ofcom said broadband suppliers should be clearer about how they manage traffic on their networks and the speeds users can expect to achieve. Most Internet Service Providers (ISPs), including BT, Virgin Media and TalkTalk, restrict the speed of some bandwidth-heavy services such as peer-to-peer file sharing to help protect the performance of their networks. They started voluntarily publishing data on traffic management earlier this year, but Ofcom wants them to make it clearer to consumers or else it will force them to make changes. "How ISPs control access to the Internet affects us all and it is important that we are able to understand how our access might be restricted," Ofcom Chief Executive Ed Richards said. "Ofcom is now looking to the ISPs to ensure that transparent information is available, and will consider intervening if it does not see improvements." The regulator said traffic management was in general beneficial, but it could cause concern, if for example, it was used by ISPs to target competing services without its users knowing. It said ISPs should make information available at the point of sale about the speed consumers should expect, the impact of traffic management, and whether any specific services would be blocked.n
Nokia Siemens sells WiMax unit

Struggling mobile telecom gear venture Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) said it had agreed to sell a unit working on a niche WiMax technology to private-equity backed NewNet Communication Technologies. The sale is the first for loss-making NSN since it last week announced plans to sell units and axe 17,000 jobs, nearly a quarter of its workforce. The price of the deal -- which includes the complete WiMAX product portfolio, the related employees and assets, as well as active customer and supplier contracts -- was
NewNet is owned by Californiabased private equity firm Skyview Capital LLC. not disclosed. "This transaction represents a NSN said in a statement the deal significant milestone in our stratwas expected to close next month egy of building a strong global presand some 300 NSN employees ence in the telecommunications would transfer to NewNet. marketplace," Alex Soltani, chairman and CEO of Skyview Capital, said in a statement. NSN, which has struggled to make a profit since being set up in 2007, was formed by Finnish cellphone maker Nokia and German conglomerate Siemens in the hope of building enough scale to lead an industry dominated by Swedish company Ericsson and, increasingly, by Chinese entrants.n
China has overtaken the United States to become the world's largest smartphone market by volume although the US still leads in terms of revenue, a market research firm said. Strategy Analytics said that smartphone shipments hit 24 million units in China during the third quarter of the year compared to 23 million units in the United States. "The United States remains the world's largest smartphone market by revenue, but China has overtaken the United States in terms of volume," said Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston. "China is now at the forefront of the worldwide mobile computing boom," Mawston said. "China has become a large and growing smartphone market that no hardware vendor, component maker or content developer can afford to ignore."
China overtakes US as top smartphone market

Strategy Analytics said smartphone shipments in China grew 58 percent in the third quarter over the previous quarter to 23.9 million units and fell seven percent to 23.3 million units in the United States in the same period. "China's rapid growth has been driven by an increasing availability of smartphones in retail channels, aggressive subsidizing by operators
of high-end models like the Apple iPhone, and an emerging wave of low-cost Android models from local Chinese brands," Strategy Analytics director Tom Kang said. Finland's Nokia leads China's smartphone market with 28 percent share while Taiwan's HTC heads the US smartphone market with 24 percent share, according to Strategy Analytics. n
Twitter buys Android gadget security startup

A San Francisco startup specializing in security for smartphones and tablets powered by Android software said that it had been bought by Twitter. Whisper Systems did not disclose the terms of the deal. "We started Whisper Systems with the goal of improving security and privacy for mobile devices," the startup said in a blog post at its website. "Now that we're joining Twitter, we're looking forward to bringing our technology and our expertise into Twitter's products and services," it added. Whisper Systems products include encryption, software firewalls, and secure text messaging for mobile devices running on Google's Android platform.n
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A bill intended to increase sharing of information about cybersecurity threats between government and the private sector was introduced in the US House of Representatives. "There is an economic cyber war going against US companies," said Republican Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a co-sponsor of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. "Economic predators, including nation-states, are blatantly stealing business secrets and innovation from private companies," Rogers said in a statement. "This cybersecurity bill goes a long way in helping American businesses better protect their networks and their intellectual property," he said. Unveiling the bill at the National Cable and Telecommunications Association headquarters here, Rogers said it "will be the first sentry on duty to make sure that
US bill seeks to improve cyber information-sharing
the Chinese, the Russians, the Iranians, other nation states, individual hackers, thieves are caught before they penetrate our systems." Democrat Dutch Ruppersberger, a co-sponsor of the legislation, said "sharing information about cyber threats is a critical step to preventing them. "This bill is a good start toward helping the private sector safeguard its intellectual property and critical cyber networks, including those that power our electrical, water and banking systems," he said. Anticipating a potential backlash to the legislation from digital rights and privacy groups, Ruppersberger said the bill "maintains vital protections for privacy and civil liberties." The bill would grant the government the authority to share classified cyber threat information with approved US companies and encourage US businesses to share threat information with the government on a voluntary basis.
TEPCO to sell $2.4 bn KDDI stake for nuclear payout

Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) will sell its entire stake in telecom operator KDDI worth about $2.4 billion to help pay compensation for the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the utility said. The operator of the crippled nuclear plant holds nearly 360,000 shares in KDDI, about an eight percent stake, making it one of the telecom giant's biggest shareholders. In a company statement, the embattled power firm said it would sell 357,541 shares in KDDI for 186.28 billion yen ($2.4 billion). The share sale would result in a loss of 35 billion yen, TEPCO said, adding that it would help it "streamline operations" and raise money for the "urgent special project plan," referring to the Fukushima payout. KDDI said it would offer to buy back about 250 billion yen worth of its own shares, including those sold by TEPCO. n
Fr e e d o w nl oad | f l ar e.p k
International
Synopsis
IBM launches enterprise social collaboration RIM tests new server for its apps for tablets
Responding to increased use of tablets within workplaces, IBM will release several mobile applications designed to let employees use IBM enterprise social collaboration software with iPads and other mobile devices. The new applications, free to customers with active licenses of the IBM software being tapped, have been built specifically for tablet interfaces and have security, IT management and compliance features. "The apps are very lightweight and talk directly back in a secure manner to the enterprise systems that people who don't have these devices are using inside the company," said Rob Ingram, senior manager of IBM's Mobile Collaboration Strategy. One of the applications lets employees use IBM Connections via iPads, while another one is for LotusLive Meeting users to participate in online meetings using iPhones or Android, BlackBerry or iPad tablets. For IBM Sametime, another application lets employees engage in one-on-one or group instant messaging sessions on iPad and Android tablets. There is also one application for Lotus Symphony Viewer that lets users view ODF-based files, including documents, spreadsheets and presentations, on iPads, iPhones or Android devices. There are also applications for managing telephony tasks within IBM Sametime from tablets and for Android device users to add widgets to home screens as shortcuts to Sphere tool for companies to enhance their sites' mobile interfaces. The applications will be available in popular mobile app stores like the Apple App Store and Android Market. With this batch of mobile applications, IBM is advancing the cause of tablets in the enterprise by letting end users use those devices to access core collaboration and communication services normally accessed from PCs, said analyst Chris Hazelton, mobile research director at 451 Group. "This batch of native mobile apps connects tablet users to all the core IBM [collaboration and communication] services -- email, IM, document viewing and enterprise social networking," he said. The new development tools are also important because they will let in-house enterprise programmers create custom mobile applications and optimise their company's sites for mobile devices, Hazelton said. The growth in usage of tablet devices in workplaces is significant, and currently the iPad is by far the most popular, according to a 451 Group survey of about 1,600 corporate IT decision makers conducted in November. n
BlackBerry
Canadian manufacturer Research In Motion unveiled a new server for its BlackBerry smartphone that also supports competitors' smartphones and tablets. Currently in early beta testing with select customers, the server marks RIM's entry into the "multiplatform mobile device management marketplace," it said. Thus it allows customers to manage emails and data for RIM's BlackBerry smartphones and PlayBook tablets as well as those running Google's Android and Apple's iOS operating systems, from one web-based console.
their Lotus Notes mail and calendar. "All of these capabilities together provide a workable set of solutions for people that are coming to us in droves now looking for iPad and other tablet support," Ingram said. IBM is also releasing on its developerWorks website preview versions of new tools for enterprise developers to create mobile applications for Android devices. The company also has a new Web-
RIM renames BBX as BlackBerry 10 after trademark dispute

Research In Motion has rebranded its next generation mobile platform as BlackBerry 10, after its use of the BBX brand ran into a trademark dispute in the US RIM said in a statement that it had anthe BlackBerry and QNX platforms to customers and partners. Tech arguments: IOS vs. Android vs. BlackBerry OS vs. Windows Phone "The BlackBerry 10 name reflects the significance of the new platform and will leverage the global strength of the BlackBerry brand while also aligning perfectly with RIM's device branding," RIM said. RIM was barred by a court in the US from using the BBX name at the Singapore conference, after a software company, Basis International filed for a temporary restraining order. Basis of Albuquerque, New Mexico, which claims the BBX trademark, threatened legal action in October, less than a week after RIM announced plans for its new platform called BBX for smartphones, tablets and embedded systems. RIM said at the time that although it has not yet seen the legal complaint, it did not believe the marks are confusing because the two companies are in different lines of business. The United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, however, observed that Basis and RIM offer their products to the same class of consumers and in the same channels of trade. The BBX mark is identical to the mark which RIM is allegedly using to present its BBX product, it added. n
"We are pleased to introduce BlackBerry Mobile Fusion -- RIM's next generation enterprise mobility solution -- to make it easier for our business and government customers to manage the diversity of devices in their operations today," RIM vicepresident Alan Panezic said in a statement. "It provides the necessary management capabilities to allow IT departments to confidently oversee the use of both company-owned and employee-owned mobile devices within their organizations," he said. n
nounced at its DevCon Asia conference in Singapore a new brand name for its next generation mobile platform for smartphones and tablets, which will bring the best of
Nigerias telecom users to hit 152m in 2016

Nigeria will continue to be Africas biggest mobile market by subscriptions, with a forecast of 152.09 million subscriber base by 2016, according to a research by Informa Telecoms and Media, a provider of business intelligence and strategic services to telecom markets. The report said Africa has become the second most connected region in the world in terms of mobile subscription count, up from fourth place last year. It added that there were over 616 million mobile subscriptions in Africa at the end of September, which means that the mobile market on the continent is second only to Asia-Pacific in terms of numbers. Africas mobile-subscription count overtook that of Western Europe during the second quarter of 2011 and then overtook the Americas in the third quarter of 2011. At the end of 2010, less than a year ago, Africa was the fourth largest regional mobile market by subscriptions, coming after Asia-Pacific, Western Europe and the Americas. The combination in Africa of a still relatively immature telecom market with factors including population growth, strong competition among providers and the increasing affordability of mobile devices, explains Africas move up the regional mobile-market rankings as well as its strong growth forecast. n
Nairobi: Bharti Airtel, a leading telecommunications services provider with operations in 19 countries across Asia and Africa, celebrated a significant milestone when it acquired its 50 millionth mobile customer in Africa. Airtel has achieved this milestone within just 17 months of acquiring Zains mobile operations in 16 African countries and added 14 million new mobile customers during this period. This milestone demonstrates our continued dedication and commitment toAfrica, said Mr. Manoj Kohli, CEO (International) and Joint Managing Director, Bharti Airtel Limited. We would like to thank our customers for reposing their faith in brand Airtel and we are committed to serving them with world-class services. I would also like to thank the governments and regulators for their support and would like to reiterate that we share their vision of bridging the digital divide with affordable telecom services.n
Airtel crosses 50m customers mark in Africa
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Synopsis
International
Hackers exploit Adobe Reader zero-day

Adobe confirmed that an unpatched, or zero-day, vulnerability in Adobe Reader is being exploited by criminals. Those attacks may have been aimed at defense contractors. Adobe promised to patch the bug in the Windows edition of Reader and Acrobat 9 no later than the end of next week. The upcoming patch will be Adobe's sixth for Reader and Acrobat this year. "A critical vulnerability has been [found] in Adobe Reader X (10.1.1) and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh, Adobe Reader 9.4.6 and earlier 9.x versions for Unix, and Adobe Acrobat X (10.1.1) and earlier versions for Windows and Macintosh," Adobe said in an earlywarning email. "This vulnerability could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system." The company issued a security advisory with what information it was willing to share. Adobe acknowledged that the vulnerability is being exploited in what it called "limited, targeted attacks" against Reader 9.x on Windows, but did not provide any additional information about where and when the attacks were occurring, or who had been targeted. Adobe identified the bug as a "U3D memory corruption vulnerability," U3D, which stands for "universal 3D," is a compressed file format standard for 3-D graphics data promoted by a group of companies, including Adobe, Intel, and Hewlett-Packard. Reader vulnerabilities are typically exploited by attackers using defense contractors: Adobe originally credited the security response teams at both Lockheed Martin and MITRE with reporting the vulnerability. Lockheed Martin is one of the U.S's largest aerospace and defense contractors, and manufactures the F-22 Raptor fighter jet and won the contract to build the F-35 Lightning II, the planned successor to the F16 Falcon aircraft. MITRE manages several research centers funded by U.S. government agencies, including the National Security Engineering Center for the Department of Defense, and the Center for Advanced Aviation System Development for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Lockheed Martin was in the computer security news last May when it admitted it had been the target of a "significant and tenacious cyberattack," which was allegedly conducted by leveraging information stolen several months earlier from RSA Security. It's not unusual for companies targeted by hackers to be among the first to report a previously-unknown vulnerability, as they are, of course, in the best position to do so. n
Patricia Dunn, who was forced out as HP chairwoman in the wake of a spying scandal in 2006, has died in Orinda, Calif., at the age of 58 following a long fight versus cancer. Dunn was among the most powerful women in business during the 1990s and 2000s, having led Barclays Global Investors as CEO. She was trained as a journalist at UC Berkeley. She succeeded Carly Fiorina as HP Chair in 2005. n
Ex-HP Chair Patricia Dunn dies at 58
Google wins US antitrust approval to buy Admeld

Google Inc won approval from US antitrust regulators to buy online advertising company Admeld Inc without any conditions, the Justice Department said. The deal, announced in June, was designed to give Google, the world's largest search engine, a bigger slice of the market for graphical display ads. "The division concluded that the transaction is not likely to substantially lessen competition in the sale of display advertising," the Justice Department's antitrust division said in a statement. Google's purchase of Admeld is the latest deal in a buying spree of technology and engineering talent to bolster initiatives outside its Internet search business, from social networking to mobile advertising. Google has made 57 acquisitions so far in 2011. It has declined to put a dollar value on the purchases of the companies, most of which were tiny. The Justice Department is also reviewing Google's planned $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. Google in general faces increasing regulatory scrutiny. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the European Union are both investigating Google's business practices. The company faces accusations it uses its clout in the search market to beat rivals as it moves into related businesses.
malicious PDF documents that are attached to email messages with baited subjected heads that try to dupe recipients into opening the document. Doing that also executes the malicious code -- in this case, likely malformed U3D data -- hidden in the PDF, compromising the victim's PC and letting the attacker infect the machine with other malware. The attacks exploiting the unfixed flaw may have targeted U.S.
AT&T is now set to venture into the Chinese telecom market. The company has joined hands with one of Chinas largest telecom companies, China Telecom Corp Ltd. to expand both companies market presence by offering cross-country corporate telecommunication services like telepresence, managed hosting, cloud-based services, network integration services, enterprise mobility and other technological solutions to multinational companies. The financials of the deal were not disclosed but the deal terms entail AT&T to expand its Internet and corporate services into the Chinese market. In turn, China Telecom will avail access to AT&Ts superior network
AT&T, China Telecom hook up
and cater its corporate customers in the U.S. Further, both these companies remain keen on jointly exploring new markets and provide mutual support to strike a long-term association. AT&T made its foray into the Chinese telecom market in 2000 and formed a joint venture called, Shanghai Symphony Telecommunications Co, partnering China Telecom and Shanghai Information Investment Co. Over the past decade, Chinas telecom market has grown leaps and bounds with a yearly turnover of approximately $128 billion in 2010. Over the coming years, the telecom industry in China is expected remain
a major contributor to the domestic economy with key drivers like mobile data and broadband Internet services. Given more than 1 billion telecom users in China and industry growth rate exceeding GDP levels, AT&T is once again set to tap one of the biggest emerging markets riding ahead of its peers, Sprint and Verizon.n
RIM caps dismal year with another profit warning

Research in Motion capped an already dismal year with a steep profit warning, taking a huge charge to write down inventories on its languishing PlayBook tablet and sending its shares tumbling more than 8 percent. Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM, the company whose ubiquitous BlackBerry virtually invented the smartphone, said it now no longer expects to meet its forecast for fullyear adjusted earnings of $5.25 to $6.00 a share, due to the $360 million after-tax writedown on PlayBook inventories and a $50 million charge related to a damaging service outage in October. RIM launched the PlayBook to unfavorable reviews in April, making it a late arrival to a new market segment where Apple's iPad had established an overwhelming dominance. It slashed the price of the underwhelming device last month in an effort to drive up anemic sales. RIM sold only about 150,000 tablets in the third quarter, which ended November 26, down from 200,000 in the second quarter - a tiny fraction of the 11 million iPads that Apple sold in its latest quarter. "RIM is continuing to suffer from its Playbook endeavors," said CCS Insight analyst Geoff Blaber. "It hurt RIM initially by diverting focus, but muted demand is now becoming clearly visible in the financials." RIM, which launched its first BlackBerry in 1999, has rapidly fallen out of favor with investors as it struggled to keep pace in the rapidly evolving smartphone market it once pioneered. n New York-based Admeld provides technology that allows Web publishers to sell display ads as quickly as Web surfers visit different pages on a site. Several companies offer different technologies that, working together, allow instant bidding for ads, including advertising exchanges such as Google's DoubleClick and Yahoo Inc's Right Media. The Justice Department said Web publishers' reliance on multiple display advertising platforms reduced the risk of the market tipping to a single dominant platform. n
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Fr e e d o w nl oad | f l ar e.p k
International
Synopsis
China broadband to get faster, cheaper

Beijing: Two government-owned Chinese telecom firms said they would raise the speed of their broadband services while lowering their costs over the next five years, staterun media reported. The announcement by China Telecom and China Unicom -- which together serve 90 percent of China's broadband market -- follows an anti-monopoly probe launched last month by the nation's economic planner. The National Development and Reform Commission in November alleged the two firms had hindered other companies from entering the broadband market by working together to increase access costs and slow down Internet speeds. The NDRC, which said the two companies were using market dominance to set prices, it had received the companies' requests to end its probe and would handle them according to the law, the local media said. The two telecom companies are estimated to command two-thirds of overall Internet access in China, where 500 million people surf the web, more than 360 million using broadband. China's average broadband speed is less than one-tenth that of the United States, Britain and Japan, yet fees are as much as four times higher, says the Advisory Committee for State Informatisation, which operates under the State Council, or cabinet. n
Gold ATM offers convenience, not glamour, to India jewellery

Teenage girls pose for pictures beside the latest arrival in Mumbai's modern Phoenix Mills mall -- a gold ATM machine selling jewellery and $600 (382 pound) gold coins -but for more than just window-shopping, it faces stiff competition from traditional stores. grabbing their credit cards. "I'm sceptical about buying from the machine," says 26-year-old Shalini, a self-confessed jewellery addict. "I suppose it's a good idea for people who might be in a rush, but it's just much more fun to go to a real shop, and it makes buying something more special," she says, standing next to the ATM in India's financial capital, her two gold loop earrings glittering. India's obsession with gold and jewellery is legendary. The country consumed more than 900 tonnes of bullion last year, and demand looks set to stay strong with a growing middle-class and rising incomes, despite high prices that are hitting sales now. Indian fund houses offer systematic investment plans (SIPs) in gold, alongside rising interest in goldpegged exchange-traded funds. Many banks run television spots to sell accounts with the lure of saving up for wedding jewellery. And now some of the glitz comes out of a machine. "There is investment purchase in this machine, there is gifting in the machine and there is self-indulgence," says Sanjeev Agarwal, chief executive of Gitanjali Exports, which operates the machine. "The sales so far have been very, very encouraging," said Agarwal, whose firm is a unit of India's largest jewellery retailer Gitanjali Gems Ltd. "On the first day of launch (earlier this month) we had some 28 transactions." His modern answer to the rising demand is an automatic dispenser for diamond jewellery and products that range from a 10 gram gold coin for 31,000 rupees (386 pounds) to a 20 gram silver coin for 1,400 rupees. The smallest gold coin on offer weighs a gram and costs the equivalent of $60. n
India's first such machine may be grabbing the attention of passersby in the world's biggest bullion market, but upstairs in an air-conditioned store, the sparkling gold and silver bangles offered by smiling sales assistants have customers
SRK leads TV advertising charts

Mumbai: Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, backed by more than a dozen brand endorsements, has emerged as the most visible celebrity on television in the first nine months of the year followed by Katrina Kaif and Kareena Kapoor. The top ten advertisers list, on the hand, is dominated by the consumer goods majors. While Hindustan Unilever (HUL), Procter & Gamble (P&G), and L'oreal India led the pack, telecoms major Idea Cellular and jewellery brand Gitanjali Gems emerged as the only nonFMCG advertisers on the list, according to TAM, a television audience measurement agency. Film actors, who continue to dominate television screen space thanks to their multiple brand endorsements, have seen their presence decline, even as sportspersons led by M S Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar upped their share by 7 percent between January-September this year compared to the corresponding period last year. n
The biggest legal battle for the technology industry is playing out in a federal court in Silicon Valley, where Apple is trying to stop Samsung from selling Galaxy phones and tablets in the United States. In the lawsuit, filed in April, Apple accuses Samsung of "slavishly" ripping off its designs for the iPad and iPhone. Although there is worldwide interest in the case, the proceedings have largely been shrouded behind a veil of secrecy: most of the court papers are sealed, meaning they can't be viewed by the public. Filing documents under seal has become almost standard procedure in many intellectual-property cases -like Apple versus Samsung -- as companies claim their trade secrets and confidential information could come out during litigation. Judges have surprisingly wide latitude in deciding what should be kept under wraps and what shouldn't.
Apple vs Samsung lawsuit full of secret combat

Some courts, like the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, where the case is being heard, have rules requiring that judges specifically sign off on every request to seal a document -- but these rules set no deadline. In the Apple/Samsung case, some secrecy requests have languished for months while investors, academics and tech bloggers struggled to piece together whatever bits of information were available.
Jose granted the request. Just this week she approved six more motions to seal. Samsung's most crucial legal brief became available after months of delay -- and then only in redacted form. The stakes here are high: Samsung had 23.8 percent of the global smartphone market in the third quarter, nine points higher than Apple. Yet Samsung's holiday sales could be jeopardized if Koh, who is expected to rule any day, grants Apple's motion to halt Samsung's sales of Galaxy. Lack of transparency in the courts troubles many observers. "For the judicial system as a whole, we want transparency so the public can have confidence in the judicial decision-making process," said Bernard Chao, a professor at the UniIn every instance that she did versity of Denver's Sturm College of issue a ruling on a sealing motion, Law. "When things aren't transparU.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San ent, that view is undercut." n
Alibaba Group, China's largest e-commerce company, said it is beta-testing a new social-networking-product, as the firm expands outside e-commerce to seek other revenue streams. An Alibaba Group spokeswoman confirmed that the socialnetworking product will be called "Laiwang" and according to its website, it will be available on the PC and downloadable onto Android smartphones and iPhones.
Alibaba Group testing a new social networking product

(http://www.laiwang.com/) "This product is currently under beta testing," said Dora Chai, an Alibaba spokeswoman in an email, declining to give further details. It is unclear if the product is being developed by Alibaba Group or its unit Alibaba Cloud Computing or when it will be released for public use. Tencent technology news reported quoting sources, that the product resembled Google Inc's
latest social networking product, Google+. Alibaba Group, which is 40 percent owned by Yahoo Inc, diversified into search by investing into Sohu's Sogou search engine in late 2010. This year it launched its own mobile device running a self-developed operating system. Alibaba Group owns Alibaba.com, China's largest B2B e-commerce website, Taobao and Taobao Mall. n
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Synopsis
International
Verizon shuns Google smartphone wallet

US telecom titan Verizon is shunning Google's nascent smartphone wallet, saying the technology reaches too deep into handsets for comfort. Verizon asked the Internet giant not to include the payment feature on new Android-powered Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphones tailored for the carrier's network, Google said. Verizon spokesman Jeffrey Nelson said that the carrier was not blocking Google Wallet from Galaxy Nexus smartphones but was "continuing our commercial discussions with Google" regarding including the technology in handsets. Verizon maintained that its reservations stem from the fact that Wallet requires access to secure chips deep in smartphones. "Google Wallet does not simply access the operating system and basic hardware of our phones like thousands of other applications," Nelson said. "Instead, in order to work as architected by Google, Google Wallet needs to be integrated into a new, secure and proprietary hardware element in our phones," he added. Some industry insiders suspect that Verizon shunned Google Wallet because it is working with other US telecom firms on a competing smartphone NFC payment system called Isis. A pair of US consumer advocacy groups weighed in saying Verizon was using its hold on mobile service subscribers to keep them from reaching for Google Wallet. "Verizon shows no hesitation in using its gatekeeper position over its subscribers to restrict or block applications that compete with its own offerings," Free Press policy di-
rector Matt Wood said in a statement. "Verizon should stop pressuring third parties, including its own business partners, into removing competing applications from consumers' hands," Wood said. Free Press and consumer group Public Knowledge cited Verizon's move as evidence that stricter "net neutrality" regulation is needed to keep the Internet landscape free and fair. Google in September opened Wallet to the public, clearing the way for customers to pay at participating shops using Google Nexus S 4G smartphones on the Sprint telecom network and promising more Android handsets to come. Google Wallet uses a near field communication chip embedded in a phone to allow a user to "tap-andpay" for purchases at a checkout register equipped with the PayPass system from CitiMasterCard. Chips essentially transmit credit
Apple tops PC World reliability, satisfaction surveys

Our colleagues across the hall at PCWorld have completed their latest reader survey on laptops, desktops, tablets, and smartphones, and one company walked away with a win in every category. Here's a hint: It is not Dell. Rather, Apple scored top marks for all four product categories. that Apple's approval rating for laptop reliability rose from 82.3 percent in 2008 to 90.6 percent in 2011. In desktops, Apple received similar ratings, though it did score just an average rating on problems that resulted in dead PCs and a below average rating on expandability--as a trade trade, however, it picked up
card details to sensors at checkouts to consummate purchases. Customers can also use a Google Prepaid card to pay for purchases, topping up the Google card with any payment card, and take advantage of Google Offers, the Mountain View, California-based company's online discount coupon program. NFC technology is being tested or used in a number of countries already, notably France, but Google Wallet was the first to bring it to the United States on a potentially large scale. n
The survey included responses from approximately 63,000 PCWorld readers who were asked about the reliability, features, and service and support of their devices. Results for the companies were then compiled and compared to their peers to yield the ratings. In the laptop category, Apple got the best overall marks for reliability, scoring a better-than-average rating on problems on arrival, significant problems encountered, failed components replaced, major component failures that resulted in a dead PC, and overall satisfaction with reliability. In terms of features, Apple received better-than-average ratings in every category except for performance for price and ports, where it got merely average ratings. And the company also beat the average in all four categories of service, including phone hold time, Web and phone support, incidents where problems were not resolved, and service experience. PCWorld notes
better-than-average scores for those performance for price and ports/connectivity categories. For tablets, the iPad unsurprisingly walked away with the crown, though it picked up a perplexing average rating on Internet browsing, putting it alongside every other tablet manufacturer except for HP. (Apparently the TouchPad had great Web browsing! If only users had had the chance to find out.) Under features, the iPad did end up with a worse than average rating on "available ports." What can we say: It seems folks like plugging things into their tablets. Finally, the most contentious battlefield: smartphones. The iPhone aced reliability, with betterthan-average scores across the board as well as perfect scores for its ease of setup, Internet browsing, data syncing, music/video location and playback, and overall ease of use. n from a direct assault on its business from the cable providers, it also bridges the gap between the two sides as consumers increasingly turn to wireless services for entertainment like movies once only available via cable at home. "There's no question that we live in a world that is becoming more connected and more mobile every day," Comcast Cable president Neil Smit said in a statement. "These agreements enable us to execute our long-term wireless strategy and expand our focus on providing mobility to our Xfinity services, to give customers even more ways to experience entertainment, communicate and connect." The sale remains subject to the approval of the Federal Communications Commission, which has recently expressed concern about the lack of competition in cellphone services, opposing a merger between AT&T and fourth-ranked T-Mobile.
Verizon pays $3.6 bn to buy spectrum

US cellphone giant Verizon Wireless said Friday it will pay $3.6 billion to buy wireless spectrum from three leading cable providers which are bowing out of plans to plunge into the cellphone business. But at the same time, Verizon and the three -- Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks -- will begin cross-marketing their services, in a move that further closes the gap between two sides of the phone, Internet and entertainment carrier business. The country's largest cellphone carrier, Verizon Wireless will pick up 122 Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum licenses from SpectrumCo LLC, a joint venture of the three big providers of cable television, Internet and telephone land line services. Verizon said the airwaves would open up access to 259 million potential customers for its newest generation 4G LTE wireless service. "Spectrum is the raw material on which wireless networks are built, and buying the AWS spectrum now solidifies our network leadership into the future," said Dan Mead, president and chief executive of Verizon Wireless. The three cable companies meanwhile were giving up their effort to push into the hard-to-crack US cellphone business, dominated by Verizon, AT&T and Sprint. They said they earned a good return on the investment into the wireless spectrum licenses, bought in an US government auction in 2006 for $2.4 billion but never made use of. Time Warner Cable is "pleased to have obtained an attractive price for the spectrum we're selling," said president Rob Marcus. Instead the three have reached agreements with Verizon to cross market products, meaning a company like Comcast will be able to add Verizon cellphone services to the
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bundle of cable television and Internet and land line phones it currently offers home subscribers. In four years the cable companies could begin buying Verizon's wireless service in bulk and selling it to their customers under their own brand. While the deal preserves Verizon
International
Synopsis
Nokia, facing fierce competition to remain the world's top mobile phone maker, plans to sell its luxury unit Vertu that makes niche handsets. No buyer was mentioned and the sale is still in the early stages, noting that Vertu has yet to be given a value though annual revenue is estimated to be between 200 and 300 million euros ($268-402 million). Nokia refused to comment on the report. "We can't comment on those reports," Nokia spokesman James Etheridge told foreign news agency. Vertu was established in 1998, when the concept of haute-couture mobile telephony was approved by the board of leading mobile handset maker Nokia. The corporate headquarters was later set up in England in 2000 and the first phone, the Vertu Signature, was launched in Paris in 2002. A luxury smartphone, the Constellation Quest was introduced in 2010. Vertu luxury mobiles, typically adorned with diamonds and other gems, run on the Symbian operating system with prices starting at around 4,000 euros ($5,500) for the Constellation model.
Nokia to sell luxury phone unit Vertu
Google eyes Asia growth with new datacentres

Kowloon, the firm said. "We're working as quickly as we can get to this facility operational so we can keep up with rapid growth in capacity demand across the region," said Simon Chang, Google's Hardware Operations in Asia, at the groundbreaking ceremony. "We're targeting early 2013 to start bringing the facility online," he said, according to a statement. Two other data centres -- which usually house computer and telecom systems with high security and backup power supplies -- are also planned for Singapore and Taiwan. The firm has said the Taiwan facility will cost over $100 million but has yet to release any figure for Singapore. Google figures show Asia has the fastest growing number of Internet users in the world. But the US company faces stiff competition, particularly in China where domestic search engines like Baidu are popular and censorship last year forced it to move its Chinese search engine overseas. China has the world's largest internet population with 485 million users. A study released by the Economist Intelligence Unit in September said Asian economies are closing the gap on the West in terms of their IT competitiveness, as they strengthen copyright protection and implement regulatory reforms. The study said the US retained its position as the world's most competitive IT industry, but seven Asian economies made it to the top 20, including Singapore, which ranked third overall, as well as Australia, Taiwan and Japan.
Google began construction of a new data centre in Hong Kong, the first of three planned for Asia as the Web giant expands to meet the region's growing thirst for information technology. The facility, Google's first outside the United States and Europe, will cost $300 million and is being built on 2.7 hectares (6.7 acres) in the Tseung Kwan O industrial estate in
Africa, the new pot of gold for mobile telecoms

Johannesburg: Africa's lag in land-based telecoms infrastructure has propelled the continent directly into the mobile age, opening up short-term growth prospects unparalleled in the world. Sector players have seen growth especially in mobile Internet and banking services, as people use cellphone technology for lack of landlines or cable Internet. "Africa is the last market to emerge. China's emerged, India's emerged. So where else outside Africa need emerging? The growth opportunity is right here," said Nicolas Regisford, co-founder of Mi-Fone, a South African company that specialises in producing low-cost handsets. Mobile subscribers in Africa have increased by 20 percent annually over the past five years and will reach over 735 million by the end of 2012, a study by global mobile operators association GSMA found in November. "Africa is now the worlds second largest mobile market by connections after Asia, and the fastest growing mobile market in the world," according to the GSMA Africa Mobile Observatory 2011 report. "Samsung is expecting revenue within Africa to amount $15 billion, with the SADC region contributing about 25 percent of that figure, by 2015," said Gavin Clare, the company's representative in Zimbabwe, referring to the 15-country Southern African Development Community. n
In keeping with its up-market profile, Vertu phones have a "concierge" button, which launches a global bespoke lifestyle assistance service providing priority bookings, recommendations and other exclusive services. Vertu currently has more than 600 points of sale globally, including more than 90 Vertu boutiques in almost 70 countries worldwide. The company now operates as an independent division of Nokia. n
DRC bans SMS and social media networks to curb violence

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has banned the use of SMS and access to social media networks on phones in what it says is a bid to curb the escalating violence following last week's presidential and parliamentary elections, whose partial results put incumbent President Joseph Kabila in the lead. The country is now on the verge of slipping back into civil war as the opposition parties have rejected the election results. Several people have already been killed by security forces during clashes with protesters. People have been using text messages and social media networks to coordinate rallies to protest the expected outcome of the presidential results. The police responded by banning political rallies to avoid further deadly clashes with protesters. As a rush of conspiracy theories about President Kabila and the election commission circulated by text messages, the service crashed on two consecutive days for the country's largest telecom operator, Vodacom, as well as for other operators. Reports indicate that the DRC government ordered Vodacom to interrupt SMS services, although Vodacom and the DRC government denied there was such an order. n world-class 4G network for Britain. We are devoting huge resources including our 15,000 workforce and significant investments in technology and already trialling, learning and laying the groundwork so that we are prepared to introduce 4G services as soon as its feasible. Everything Everywhere will also implement a phased programme to modernise network sites, with an aim to reduce its carbon footprint. This will also help the operator to achieve its savings target set in September 2010 of 3.5 billion net present value by 2014.n
Everything Everywhere 1.5bn network spend

London: Everything Everywhere, the joint-venture firm which runs Orange and T-Mobile in the UK, will invest more than 1.5 billion in network development programme over the next three years. With this investment, the operator intends to further integrate its Orange and T-Mobile mobile networks. It will invest in mobile backhaul and will start planning for 4G technology, following recent trials. The UK firm, owned by Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom Orange, is aiming for double digit growth in its next years network investment compared with 2011. It will enhance the cross-network signal sharing in the first half of 2012, which will allow Orange and T-Mobile customers devices to choose the stronger 2G and 3G signal automatically from either net-
work. The company said that it is in the last stage of the big switch on. Fotis Karonis, the companys CTO, said: Everything Everywhere is committed to building a
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Mobile Reviews
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The Galaxy S line gets all the attention, but troopers like the Samsung Galaxy W I8150 will see plenty of action too. With a 3.7" screen, it's more compact than the original Galaxy S, but it uses the same souped-up chipset that ticks inside the S Plus. If youre after SuperAMOLED, the Galaxy S and S Plus are the phones to go to. The LCD screen of the Samsung Galaxy W I8150 has the same WVGA resolution as the Sline, which means higher pixel density (252ppi vs. 233ppi). And, we're talking proper RGB pixels here, rather than PenTile. The Galaxy W uses the Qualcomm MSM8255T chipset (1.4GHz CPU, Adreno 205 GPU), which has been used in several upgrades of popular phones - the Galaxy S Plus, obviously, but the Sony Ericsson Xperia arc S too. The Galaxy W is pretty high up Samsung's ladder, but unlike the S and R premium lines, the emphasis here is on value for money. And you do get quite a bit of features - here's the summary.
Ever since the Aria, HTC have had a petite Android on offer and the HTC Explorer is the latest in the line. With an affordable price tag, the plucky little smartphone will appeal to people looking for a compact set or users who are just about getting started in smartphones. The Explorer's outer shell is made of patterned plastic that has a rubbery feel to it - creating an impression of ruggedness to match its name. The plate of brushed metal at the center of the rear backs that up too. The phone is not actually shock proof but we still appreciate the tough feel. The HTC Explorer earns extra points for handling too thanks to its compact size. The diminutive body and rounded corners make it feel like a pebble in the hand. Small as it is, the Explorer has Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread with Sense UI 3.5 on top, just like its elders. Here are the rest of the specs along with the downsides.
The LG Nitro HD for AT&T Wireless comes with some seriously heavy expectations to meet. It was back in August, when we first reported about the award winning AH-IPS screen with HD resolution, developed by LG. The unit is reportedly better than anything else on the market, including Samsungs Super AMOLED Plus displays, and the Nitro HD is the first device to feature it in the United States. It also stands out as the first device in AT&Ts impressive smartphone lineup to feature an HD screen. It is the end of 2011 and all the cards are on the table. The LG Nitro HD is the last major player to enter the uber-smartphone competition. It surely has a spec sheet up to snuff: an HD screen to marvel at, LTE network capacity, 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, 8MP autofocus camera, etc. The list is long. Spec sheets are something weve come to expect in the price category, where the LG Nitro HD will compete. It is the way that the components are integrated together and the user experience they create which counts. This is what were going to try and find out in this review. As always, well kick things off with the key features and main disadvantages of the smartphone.
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It will take crowds erupting in delight to silence the ring of the "burning platform" speech in the Nokia Lumia 800's ears. The speaker being Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and the burning platform Symbian. As Nokia are starting over, the Lumia 800 would do well not to look back. It's certainly beyond the ifs and buts. A shadow still lingers though. And there are people out there - loyal Nokia users too - who would've jumped in the fire with MeeGo rather than the freezing waters of Windows Phone. But it was for others to decide. The N9 was ordered to share its impressive unibody design with the Lumia 800. Good decision by Nokia - not saying fair - to give its WP7 pioneer a strong start. There are some Windows Phone mandated changes like the touch-sensitive Back, Menu and Search keys and a hardware shutter key. The screen lost 0.2" and 54 pixels in height to make room for the capacitive controls. The oddly positioned secondary camera is gone as well. Still, the image quality of the screen seems unchanged and we quite liked that AMOLED unit. What else has changed? Well, there's a new chipset, among other things. To make this short, here're the pros and cons of the Nokia Lumia 800.
This QWERTY messenger is compact and to the point, with clean and grown up design. The Curve 9360 is sure it can deliver, its confidence unshaken by unknowns and uncertainties. RIM must've enjoyed the safety and comfort of doing what they're best at. The new Bold flagship and the next Torch generation did the Curve 9360 a favor by taking the pressure of high expectations off it. All it needs to do is focus on the important stuff: giving business users and heavy texters the quality service they deserve. And by the way, it should be the best Curve experience they ever had. The higher-res screen, robust processor and the new BlackBerry OS 7.0 with NFC support propel the 9360 into an entirely different dimension. Well out of reach for the Curve as we knew it - stuck at QVGA screens and 2 or 3 MP cameras. In fact, it's an option that Bold 9700 and 9780 users would do well to consider. Blasphemy - upgrading from a Bold to a Curve! Well, no more. Just take a closer look at the specs.
Armed to its newly sharpened teeth and carrying the legacy of a legend, the Motorola RAZR XT910 is out looking for blood. The blood of the best Android phones on the market. And it will cut them where it hurts - their screens, chipsets, cameras and build. The 4.3" SuperAMOLED screen boasts higher resolution than, say, the Samsung Galaxy S II. It bumps up the pixel density to 256ppi (up from 217ppi). And with a dual-core processor running at 1.2GHz and 1GB RAM, it's got enough processing power to challenge the other dual-cores. It has an 8MP camera with 1080p recording too. But even those specs just arent as impressive as the sheer look of the thing. The RAZR droid is only 7.1mm thick throughout (take that Japan-only phones) and about 10.7mm at the bulge that holds the camera and loudspeaker. And by the way, the rest of the specs are pretty exciting too. Here's the best part of them - and the not so good.
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Current Mobiles
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Rs. 5,450
Rs. 7,700
Nokia C2 05
Social meets Style Nokia C2-05 - Discover a beautiful compact slider that's designed to fit snugly in your pocket. Sporting elegant curves & a premium metallic finish, the Nokia C2-05comes with a 2inch QVGA colour screen. With the Nokia C2-05, it's more convenient than ever to stay connected to what's important to you. Facebook, Twitter, hotmail & yahoo all on homescreen. Nokia C2-05 features a music playeras well as FM Radio which lets you tune into your favorite stations wherever you go
Samsung C3322
Sleek & Ready To perform. Mixing Dual SIM mobility with sophisticated style & useful features Samsung C3322 is the ideal choice for value conscious users, From the sleek & slim bar from to the premium metal front Samsung C3322 completes your polished look from the office to your busy family life, The cool metal chassis surrounds the 2.2 QVGA screen of Samsung C3322 the perfect medium for communicating via instant messages on mFluent IM, socialising on SNS, or reading your syncedemail, Samsung C3322 is the Perfect Match to your polished look.
Rs. 5,950
Rs. 7,400
LG GM200
Multi-Pleasure at Economic Price LG KP175, the perfect replacement for KG195, featuring 262k color TFT display, VGA camera, MP3 player, microSD slot for memory and FM Radio. LG KP175promises multi-pleasure at economic price. All in all LG KP175 is a superb little phone that does everything (and more) that most people would need.
W710 Wi-Fi
Living the Wireless Life !!! Dual SIM/ Dual Standby 3.2 Full Touch UI W-LAN 3.2 MP Camera with Video Recording Advance Media Player (MP3, MP4, 3GP AVI) , Facebook, MSN, Yahoo, Youtube Google, Twitter, Skype, Opera, Email Bluetooth, JAVA, EDGE Webcam, Live Wallpapers
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Above prices are subject to change as per market
Current Mobiles
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Rs. 9,900
Rs. 9,200
Samsung S5350 Shark

Curved for Comfort, Curved for style Unconventional & innovative Curvilinear Design of Samsung S5350 Shark offers a better grip & with metal finishing Samsung S5350 Shark presents a premium look, elevating visual impact. Samsung S5350 Shark features only a mere 11.9mm thickness for easy portability. Moreover multi IM on Samsung S5350 Shark enables instant Communication solutions for all your friends. Remember memories with 3.2 Mp Camera, Round-the clock FM radio fun & acoustic enjoyment that keeps your grooving. Samsung S5350 Shark is packed withfeatures that make a difference.
Nokia Asha 300

Fun & Fast. Get the speed that you need with Nokia Asha 300 when you want to go online, Make the home screen yours on Nokia Asha 300 with everything you want just a touch away, The Nokia Asha 300 makes staying in touch really easy. Update your Facebook status or send a tweet, Use the 5 MP camera of Nokia Asha 300 to snap all the nice things and the surprising things you find in your daily life.
Rs. 8,500
Rs. 9,750
Nokia C2 03
Fun At Your Fingertips. Get more of what you want with Nokia C2-03 because fun is always at your fingertips, Use your finger to scroll through websites, photos & music on yourNokia C2-03, Unlike many touch-screen phones Nokia C2-03 has a slide-out keypad for fast & easy typing like never before, Keep one SIM inside your NokiaC2-03 & use the easy-swap slot to switch between multiple cards as often as you want & you can See whats happening on Facebook & Twitter on Nokia C203from one app.
Samsung S3653 WIFI

What Color is your Life? Samsung S3653 WIFI Corbys changeable, colorful Fashion Jackets let you dress it up and express it all . We dont want you to drop your Samsung S3653 WIFI Corby, thats why the back of the Corby bends in a wide, sweeping curve, giving you a firm and easy hold. No matter how you look at it, Samsung S3653 WIFI Corby really has a grip on style. No matter where in the world you are. WithSamsung S3653 WIFI Corbys cool Pop-up SNS you get easy access to Facebook, MySpace & Twitter. So you never miss out on your friends updates. Samsung S3653 WIFI Corby also grants you easy access to your 5 other favorite community sites YouTube, flickr, Picasa, friendster & photobucket. Connecting has never been this convenient with WIFI. Above prices are subject to change as per market
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Current Mobiles
Rs. 11,300
Rs. 11,400
Nokia 6303
Beautifully Balanced A pleasure to see, hold, & use. The Nokia 6303 classic combines enduring design with up-to-date features. Nokia 6303 classic has a lasting design so enjoy the feel of durable stainless steel. The compact size & rounded design ofNokia 6303 classic fits comfortably in hands. Capture & share special moments right from your Nokia 6303 classic. It's easy to take photos & videos, & exchange them on-line with friends & family. Nokia 6303 classic is a modern convenience.
Samsung S5620 Monte

Truly You You will appreciate the charismatic design statement Samsung S5620 Montemakes. With sleek form & visually striking colour stripe Samsung S5620 Monte is impressive to look at, making it the stylish choice for modern users full of personality. Enjoy The wireless freedom on Samsung S5620 Monte. through Wi-Fi hotspot or 3G, you will have ready & convenient access to the internet & email. The built in accelerometer automatically adjusts, letting you get the best views out of Samsung S5620 Monte. With Native Social Networking Applications, True-tolife Music quality through DNSe, Enhanced Touch UI, GPS, Google Maps & a 3.2 MP Camera, Samsung S5620 Monte will rock your world!
Rs. 11,900 Samsung B3410W Ch@t Wifi

Your Social Life Partner With Hybrid and Compact Design of Samsung B3410W Ch@t Wifi, use both the full touch screen & the slideout keypad for easier navigation of specific tasks. Stay Connected with Full Social Networking, Samsung B3410W Ch@t Wifi makes it easier to keep in touch with your buddies. Samsung B3410W Ch@t Wifi let's you connect without Limitations as Wi-Fi on Samsung B3410W Ch@t Wifi ensures your easy access to the internet. With Music, multimedia & Personal Information Assistant, Samsung B3410W Ch@t Wifi will truly rock your life.
Rs. 14,450 Sony Ericsson T700

Slim elegance Sony Ericsson T700 simply shines in your palm. This headturning phone combines classic elegance and metal finish with a sleek, slim shape Sony Ericsson T700 is just 10 mm thin. Snap great shots with the 3.2 megapixel camera of your Sony Ericsson T700. And when you want yourself in the picture, use the self-portrait mirror to make sure you look your best. Sony Ericsson T700 -All you need for great pictures
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Current Mobiles
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Rs. 19,200
Rs. 24,000
Samsung S7230 wave Nokia 6260 Slide 723 Made for high speed sharing
A Waving Hand. Searching for a new phone based on specs and budget Samsung S7230 Wave 723 willpop up quite often in the search results thats for sure, excellent connectivity is one of the key features of the Samsung S7230 Wave because Wi-Fi tethering & USB tethering are rare but you can find in this, With Samsung S7230 Wave 723 you can enjoy hefty number of games on-the-go, the build quality of Samsung S7230 Wave is uncompromised. Nokia 6260 Slide is an all-inone device with advanced web & navigation features & a handy 360 Navi key to help you stay in control. with new Nokia 6260 Slide, Access the web with just a click & find the info you need with the powerful Nokia Web Browser & fast 3.5G internet connections. Shoot quality photos & video while you're on the go coz Nokia 6260 Slide has 5 MP camera with Carl Zeiss lens.Nokia 6260 Slide - The World Wide Web in your hand.
Rs. 20,000
Rs. 23,600
HTC Wildfire S
A Phone That Reveals The Real You. Your HTC Wildfire S knows that the online world is your world because being offline is not an option, With the HTC Wildfire S, surfing the web is easy & in style, Whether it's a photo you've snapped with your HTC Wildfire S camera, or one you've received, it's easy to share it on Facebook and other social networks, Express yourself with HTC Wildfire S in a unique & stylish way.
Nokia E72
How we respond is who we are Nokia E72 is a high-performance device tailor-made for seamless business and personal communication. Use the highly responsive Optical Navi Key of NokiaE72 to scroll quickly & smoothly through webpages, emails, & menus. Nokia E72is the best-in-class messaging device offering emails in real time through Mail for Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes Traveler, directly on your Nokia E72. its about all-day efficiency. Nokia E72 is the perfect balance of form & function with its innovative design & cutting-edge technology.
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Fr e e d o w n l o a d | f l a r e .p k
Nokia X2-02
SIZE Dimensions 113x50x15mm, Weight 71 g DISPLAY Type TFT Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.2 inches (~182 ppi pixel density), Sound Alert types Vibration, MP3 ringtones, Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack Yes MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, Phonebook Yes, Photocall, Call records Yes, DATA GPRS Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 48 kbps EDGE Class 12, Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, USB Yes, v2.0 microUSB, Camera Primary 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, Video Yes FEATURES Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, IM, Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS; built-in antenna, FM transmitter Games Yes Java Yes, MIDP 2.1 Colors Bright Red, Dark Silver, Orange, Violet, Ocean Blue, Dual SIM, SNS applications, MP4/H.263 player MP3/AAC+ player, Organizer, Voice memo Predictive text input BATTERY Stand-by up to 443 h, Talk time up to 9 h 50 min
Samsung R680 Repp

SIZE Dimensions 110x57x12.2mm, Weight 105 g DISPLAY Type TFT capacitive touchscreen, Size 320 x 480 pixels, 3.2 inches (~180 ppi pixel density), Sensors Accelerometer, proximity, compass Touch-sensitive controls, Sound Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones, Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack Yes MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, 2 GB included, buy memory, Internal 2 GB DATA 3G Rev. 0, upto 2.4 Mbps, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth Yes, v3.0 with A2DP, USB Yes, v2.0 microUSB, Camera Primary 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels Video Yes FEATURES OS Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread) CPU 800 MHz Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM Browser HTML, Adobe Flash, GPS Yes, Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator, Colors Wine Red, SNS integration, MP4/WMV/H.264/H.263 player, MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ player, Organizer Image/video editor, Document viewer, Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration, Voice memo/dial Predictive text input (swype) BATTERY Stand-by up to 300 h, Talk time up to 8 h
Samsung I110 Illusion

SIZE Dimensions 114.4x59.9x11.7mm Weight 120 g DISPLAY Type TFT capacitive touchscreen, Size 320 x 480 pixels, 3.5 inches (~165 ppi pixel density) Multitouch Yes, Sensors Accelerometer, proximity, compass Touch-sensitive controls, Sound Alert types, Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones Loudspeaker Yes, 3.5mm jack Yes MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, 2 GB included, buy memory Internal 2 GB storage, 512 MB RAM DATA 3G Rev. A, up to 3.1 Mbps, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, DLNA, Bluetooth Yes, v3.0 with A2DP, USB Yes, v2.0 microUSB Camera Primary 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels FEATURES OS Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread), CPU 1 GHz Cortex-A8, GPU PowerVR SGX540 Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS Browser HTML, Adobe Flash, GPS Yes, with A-GPS support, Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator Colors Black, SNS integration DivX/XviD/MP4/WMV/H.264/H.263 player MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+ player, Organizer Image/video editor, Document viewer Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration,Voice memo/dial Predictive text input (swype) BATTERY Stand-by up to 250 h, Talk time up to 6 h
Motorola XT615
SIZE Dimensions 117.7x60.5x9.9mm, Weight 123.6 g DISPLAY Type TFT capacitive touchscreen Size 480 x 854 pixels, 4.0 inches (~245 ppi pixel density), Multitouch Yes, Sensors Accelerometer, proximity, Touch sensitive controls Moto Switch UI 2.0 Sound Alert types, Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones, Loudspeaker Yes 3.5mm jack Yes MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, Internal 1 GB ROM, 512 MB RAM DATA GPRS Yes, EDGE Yes, 3G HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot Bluetooth Yes, v3.0 with A2DP, EDR, USB Yes, microUSB v2.0, FEATURES OS Android OS, v2.3.7 (Gingerbread) Chipset Qualcomm MSM7227A-0, CPU 800 MHz, Messaging, SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email Browser HTML GPS Java, Yes, via Java MIDP emulator Colors Licorice, Ultra white, SNS integration MP3/WAV/WMA/AAC+ player, Divx/MP4/WMV/H.263/H.264 player Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, BATTERY Stand-by up to 110 h, Talk time up to 5 h
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Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V

SIZE Dimensions116x57x13mm, Weight 126 g DISPLAY Type LED-backlit LCD, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, Size 480 x 854 pixels, 3.7 inches (~265 ppi pixel density) Multitouch Yes, Sensors Accelerometer, proximity, compass, Scratch-resistant surface, Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine Timescape UI, MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, 2 GB included, Internal, 320 MB storage, 512 MB RAM DATA GPRS Yes, EDGE Yes, 3G HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, USB Yes, microUSB v2.0 Camera Primary 5 MP, 25921944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash FEATURES OS Android OS, v2.3.4 (Gingerbread), planned upgrade to v4.0 Chipset Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon CPU 1 GHz Scorpion, GPU Adreno 205 Messaging SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM, Push Email Browser HTML, Adobe Flash, Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS GPS Yes, with A-GPS support, Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator Colors White, Blue Gradient, Silver, SNS integration, HDMI port, MP4/H.264/WMV player, MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+ player, TrackID music recognition, BATTERY Stand-by up to 430 h (2G) / up to 400 h (3G) Talk time Up to 6 h 55 min (2G) / Up to 7 h (3G)
LG Extravert
SIZE Dimensions 105x53x15.7mm, Weight 122 g DISPLAY Type TFT touchscreen, 256K colors, Size 240 x 400 pixels, 2.8 inch, es (~167 ppi pixel density) Sensors Accelerometer, QWERTY keyboard Sound Alert types, Vibration, Polyphonic(64), MP3 ringtones, Loudspeaker Yes, 3.5mm jack Yes MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, buy memory, Phonebook 1000 entries, Photocall, Call records Yes DATA 3G CDMA2000 1x, 153 Kbps, Bluetooth Yes, v3.0 with A2DP, EDR, USB Yes, microUSB v2.0 Camera Primary, 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, Features Geo-tagging, Video Yes, QVGA, FEATURES Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, IM, Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS, Games Yes, GPS Yes, with A-GPS support, Colors Black, SNS applications, MP4/H.264 player, MP3/WMA/eAAC+ player Document viewer, Organizer, Voice memo/dial/commands, Predictive text input BATTERY Stand-by up to 550 h, Talk time up to 5 h 50 min
HTC Rezound
SIZE Dimensions 129x65.5x13.7mm, Weight 170.1 g DISPLAY Type S-LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, Size 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.3 inches (~342 ppi pixel density), Multitouch Yes Sensors Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, HTC Sense v3.5 UI, Sound Alert types, Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones, Loudspeaker Yes, 3.5mm jack Yes, SRS WOW HD sound enhancement, MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, 16GB included, buy memory, Internal 16 GB storage, 1 GB RAM DATA 3G Rev. A, up to 3.1 Mbps; LTE Class 13 WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot Bluetooth Yes, v3.0 with A2DP USB Yes, microUSB (MHL) v2.0, Camera Primary, 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, dual-LED flash FEATURES OS Android OS, v2.3.4 (Gingerbread), Chipset Qualcomm MSM8660 Snapdragon CPU Dual-core 1.5 GHz Scorpion, GPU Adreno 220 Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM Browser HTML, Adobe Flash, Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS, GPS Yes, with A-GPS support, Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator Colors Black, SNS integration, TV-out (via MHL A/V link), Google Search, Maps, Gmail YouTube, Google Talk, Picasa integration MP3/AAC+/WAV/WMA player
BlackBerry Bold 9790

SIZE Dimensions 110x60x11.4 mm, Weight 107 g DISPLAY Type TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors Size 480 x 360 pixels, 2.45 inches (~245 ppi pixel density) QWERTY keyboard, Optical trackpad Sound Alert types, Vibration, MP3 ringtones Loudspeaker Yes, 3.5mm jack Yes MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 32GB, buy memory Internal 8 GB storage, 768 MB RAM, DATA GPRS Yes, EDGE Yes, 3G HSDPA, 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, UMA (carrier-dependent), Bluetooth Yes, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR, NFC Carrier dependent USB Yes, microUSB v2.0, Camera Primary 5 MP, 2592x1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash FEATURES OS BlackBerry OS 7.0, CPU Marvel Tavor MG1 1 GHz, Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM, Browser HTML, GPS Yes, with A-GPS support, Colors Black, SNS applications, Document viewer, MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+/FLAC player, MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player, Organizer Voice memo/dial, Predictive text input BATTERY Stand-by up to 432 h (2G) / up to 408 h (3G), Talk time up to 5 h 10 min (2G) / up to 5 h 20 min (3G)
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High Range Mobiles
Rs. 54,000
Rs. 54,000 Samsung Galaxy S II I9100
Feel every single beat Introducing HTC Sensation XL with Beats Audio. A stunning display, Hi-Fi audio & a truly immersive HTC Sense experience, plus on-demand movies HTC Sensation XLis HTC's best hi-def multimedia phone yet. When it comes to doing music justice, youre way ahead of the crowd with HTC Sensation XL. With Beats Audio & its superb, inbox customized Beats headset. HD quality video to complement your audio experience with this incredible superphone. HTC Sensation XL is the BEST sound & sight you can get on anymobile device.
HTC Sensation XL
Simply The Best Smart Phone. Making the impossible possible, Yes Samsung Galaxy S II is indeed the bestsmart phone, Samsung Dual Core Application Processor feature of Samsung Galaxy S II is the ultra responsive answer to mobile performance, providing high-speed multitasking and high performance gaming, Express your colour! This brilliant display of Samsung Galaxy S II delivers the best colouminimise, high contrast ratio as well as ultimate sharpness of image.
Rs. 59,000 BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900

Touch. Type. Together. Sleek and thin, the BlackBerry Bold 9900 smartphone iconic design, complete with stainless steel frame body and sculpted surfaces, makes this the lightestBlackBerry to date, With a full touch screen and the iconic BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard you can easily work on your BlackBerry Bold 9900 around apps, websites & messages, The fastest & most powerful BlackBerry experience yet.
Rs. 57,000 Apple iphone 4 16GB FU
This changes everything. Again. Apple iphone 4 - In both hardware and software, Apple iphone 4 is a major leap over its already-excellent predecessor, the iPhone 3GS. The combination of gorgeous new hardware, amazing display, upgraded cameras, and majorimprovements to the operating system make Apple iphone 4 an extremely formidable package. Apple iphone 4 is a GSM cell phone with a high-resolution display, FaceTime video calling, HD video recording, a 5-megapixel camera, and more.
Rs. 36,800
Rs. 45,000
Nokia X6
Simply complement your life. With an exquisite unibody design, the HTC Rhyme is more than a phone it is a total offering. A stylish wired headset, a docking station that transforms into an alarm clock & music center, & a charm that notifies you of an incoming call or text message, HTC Rhyme adds nice finishing touches to your look. & HTC Rhymealso offers a premium camera with instant shutter that takes great shots with no delay & lets you touch up your photos so that everyone looks great. HTC Rhyme isthe phone that fits perfectly with your life.
Nokia X7
Play It Like It's live. If you want to ply a HD game on a mare cell phone than you need to go for Nokia X7, Yes with 4" Amoled Touch Screen Nokia X7 gives you real HD gaming experience, With Nokia X7 you can get Emails straight to your home screen & can be live 24/7 on Facebook & Twitter, Enjoy the best the web has to offer with Adobe Flash videos & other interactive content right on your Nokia X7.
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Low Range Mobile
Tech Tool
Rs. 1,975
Rs. 2,200
Samsung E1175
CompleteStyle. You can enjoy effective basic mobility with Samsung E1175 because of stylish touches, With Samsung E1175 You dont have to settle for a phone that doesnt appeal to their aesthetics, Samsung E1175 has enough panache to satisfy trend-seekers looking for affordability, The ergonomic shape and size of SamsungE1175 feel great in the palm.
Nokia 1616
Makelifeabiteasier The Nokia 1616 is durable, simple and easy to use mobile phone to make your life easier. Nokia 1616 comes with a host of practical features for your everyday communication needs. Keep on talking Nokia 1616 is powered by a long-lasting battery. And the large colour display adds a touch of class to your connected life. The robustly designed Nokia 1616 also has anti-scratch covers and a dustresistant keypad.
Rs. 2,425
Rs. 3,200
Nokia C1 00
TwoSimCards A convenient, two SIM card phone with a longlasting battery, Nokia C1-00 has a built-in FM radio, torch and a host of practical features. Now Enjoy the flexibility of two SIM cards in Nokia C1-00 - switch between them at the touch of a button to stay in control of your calls. Stay entertained & informed with FM radio of Nokia C1-00 - and get quick access to practical features Nokia C1-00 also has a built-in torch & a long lasting battery
Megagate 5210 ROCKSTAR

PumpTheMusicLoud! Dual SIM/ Dual Standby Explosive Sound MP3 Player with Music Keys Large 2.0 Display Digital Camera with Video Recording High Quality Video Player (MP4, 3GP) Bluetooth, FM Radio, 3.5mm Audio jack Facebook, MSN, Yahoo External Memory upto 8GB
Rs. 2,800
Rs. 2,400
Qmobile E170
TheMobileThatFitsYourPalm&Pocket. Qmobile E170 is another stylish phone form the makers of Qmobile, Qmobile E170 has every thing that you want in a low priced mobile, The Dual sim feature ofQmobile E170 is useful for those people who want to keep there both sims on at the same time, The Qmobile E170 has a powerful battery life so you can talk all day long.
LG KP105
ExtendedBatteryLife A Dual-band GSM 900/1800 MHz network mobile phone. LG KP105 features 1.5 inches, CSTN 65k colors at 128 x 128 resolution. LG KP105 is here for extendedbattery life!
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Tech Tool
Latest LapTop
GIGABYTE Booktop M2432
Acer Aspire S3
Rs 92,099
GIGABYTE, a longtime leader in computer technology and innovation, today unveiled the 14-inch Booktop M2432, the successor to the unique and highly regarded Booktop M1405. The Booktop M2432 is a sleek and mobile notebook that comes with an innovative docking station with a desktop grade graphics card built-in and full I/O ports to provide a complete desktop PC experience. The notebook also has a powerful 2nd generation Intel Core i5 Processor, USB 3.0, THX TruStudio Pro and many other exceptional features.
Color Silver, Series Aspire, Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium, Processor Type Intel Core i5, Processor Speed 1.60 GHz, Processor L2 Cache 3 MB, Processor Model i5-2467M, RAM Capacity 4 GB, RAM Type DDR3, RAM Slots 2, Hard Disk Capacity 320 GB, HDD RPM 5400, HDD Interface SATA, Screen Size 13.3 inch, Screen Type CineCrystal, LED, Screen Resolution 1366 x 768, Graphics Intel Integrated Graphics, Video Memory Shared Optical Drive No Optical Drive
Sony Vaio EH15FX

Rs 76,099
Acer Aspire 5749

Rs 45,499
Color Black, SeriesEH Series, Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium Processor Type Intel Core i5, Processor Speed (2.30GHz Turbo Up To 2.90GHz), Processor L2 Cache 3 MB, Processor Model i5-2410M, RAM Capacity 4 GB, RAM Type DDR3, RAM Slots 2, Hard Disk Capacity 500 GB, HDD RPM 5400, HDD Interface SATA, Screen Size 15.5 inch Screen Type LED, Screen Resolution 1366 x 768, Graphics Intel HD Graphics 3000, Video Memory Shared, Optical Drive Multiformat DVD Writer
Color Mesh Grey, Series Aspire, Operating System Windows 7 Home Basic, Processor Type Intel Core i3, Processor Speed 2.20 GHz, Processor L2 Cache 3 MB, Processor Modeli 3-2330M, RAM Capacity 2 GB, RAM Type DDR3, RAM Slots 2, Hard Disk Capacity 320 GB, HDD RPM 5400, HDD Interface SATA, Screen Size 15.6 inch, Screen Type CineCrystal, LED, Screen Resolution 1366 x 768 Graphics Intel Integrated Graphics, Video Memory Shared, Optical Drive Multiformat DVD Writer
Dell Inspiron N5110

Rs 66,594
Apple MacBook Pro

Rs 1,17,999
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Color Black, Series Inspiron, Operating System Dos, Processor Type Intel Core i5, Processor Speed (2.40GHz Turbo Up To 3.00GHz) Processor L2 Cache 3 MB, Processor Model i5-2430M, RAM Capacity 4 GB, RAM Type DDR3, RAM Slots 2, Hard Disk Capacity 500 GB, HDD RPM 5400, HDD Interface SATA, Screen Size 15.6 inch, Screen Type LED, Screen Resolution 1366 x 768, Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M, Video Memory 1 GB, Optical Drive DVD/RW
Color Silver, Series MacBook Pro, Operating System Mac OS X Lion, Processor TypeIntel Core i5, Processor Speed 2.4 GHz, Processor L2 Cache 3 MB, Processor Model Info n/a, RAM Capacity 4 GB, RAM Type DDR3, RAM Slots info n/a, Hard Disk Capacity 500 GB, HDD RPM info n/a, HDD Interface info n/a, Screen Size13.3 inch Screen Type LED, Screen Resolution 1280 x 800, Graphics Intel HD Graphics 3000 Video Memory 384 MB, Optical Drive Super Drive
Latest Computers
Tech Tool
HP Elite 8200 SFF

Rs 75,999
HP Elite 8200 CMT

Rs 73,498
Monitor No, Operating System Dos, Processor Type Intel Core i7, Processor Model i7-2600, Processor Speed 3.40 Ghz turbo upto 3.80 GHz, Processor L2 zache8 MB, RAM Type DDR3, RAM 4 GB, Hard Disk Capacity 500GB, RPM 7 2 0 0 , Chipset Built In, Graphics HD, Video Memory Shared, Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Monitor No, Operating System Dos, Processor Type Intel Core i7, Processor Model i 7 2600, Processor Speed 3.40 Ghz turbo upto 3.80 GHz, Processor L2 Cache8 MB, RAM Type DDR3 RAM 4 GB Hard Disk Capacity 500GB, RPM 7200, Chipset Intel Q67 Express, Graphics HD, Video Memory Shared, Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Dell OptiPlex 780

Rs 46,999
Dell Vostro 230 Mini Tower

Rs 41,999
Monitor No, Operating System Dos Processor Type I n t e l Core 2 Duo Processor Model E7500, Processor Speed 2.93 GHz, Processor L2 Cache 3 MB, RAM Type DDR3, RAM 2 GB, Hard Disk Capacity 500GB, RPM 5400, Chipset Intel Q45 Express, Graphics X4500 HD, Video Memory Shared, Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Monitor No, Operating System Dos Processor Type Intel Core 2 Duo Processor Model E7500, Processor Speed 2.93 GHz, Processor L2 Cache 3 MB, RAM Type DDR3, RAM 2 GB, Hard Disk Capacity 500GB, RPM 5400, Chipset Intel G41 Express Chipset, Graphics X 4 5 0 0 HD, Video Memory Shared, Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Compaq Business Desktop C500B

Rs 37,990
Apple iMac 27 Inch 2.8GHz

Rs 1,99,990
Monitor No Operating System Dos Processor Type Intel Core 2 Duo Processor Model E7500 Processor Speed 2.93 GHz Processor L2 Cache 2 MB RAM Type DDR3 RAM 1 GB Hard Disk Capacity 320 GB RPM 5400 Chipset Intel G41 Express Chipset Graphics Built In Video Memory Shared Optical Drive DVD Super Multi
Monitor 27 Inch Operating System Mac OS X Leopard Processor Type Intel Core i5 Processor Model Processor Speed 2.80GHz Processor L2 Cache 8 MB RAM Type DDR3 RAM 4 GB Hard Disk Capacity 1 TB RPM 7200 Chipset Built In Graphics ATI Radeon HD 5750 Video Memory 1 GB Optical Drive DVD Super Multi 81
Tech Tool
Accessories
The Best Budget Headphones

For our budget headphone Battlemodo, we tested five pairs of headphones with an MSRP between $50 and $150. Sound quality was obviously the number one priority here, but it wasn't about hooking these up to elaborate rigs to see which headphones could most accurately reproduce wind instruments from an uncompressed FLAC file. Remember, we're talking about good sound on the cheap here. In pursuit of that goal, we used these canslike regular people: With our computers, smartphones and stereo systems. We used MP3s (albeit ones ripped at 320 kbps), and we tested from a variety of genres ranging from classical to jazz to classic rock to modern pop and hip-hop and electronic. Different genres require different attributes from a headphone and we wanted to find the one which could best accomodate as many as possible. And then we looked at comfort, portability, durability and aesthetics. But enough of that, let's talk results.
The Best Wireless Mouse

The Apple Magic Mouse is a work of art. Stark white and minimalist. An a l m o s t parabolic curve and hard, sharp edges. It's beautiful and it belongs in a m u s e u m . However, like most things that belong in a museum this object is not really meant to be touched. Yeah, zing, but that's not really a joke. The curves are vastly more pleasing to the eye than they are to the handit's just not shaped for humans. The cursor tracks pretty accurately, and it's multi-touch which gives it a few advanced gestures, like flipping between pages. There are no gestures to open Expos or Spaces, though.
Flyboard lets you fly like a bird, swim like a dolphin

The Flyboard doesn't put all the thrust on the back, but puts it on boots. Not only that, the user has hand jets so he or she is capable of some seriously cool stunts. I would imagine that learning control of it is like how Tony Stark learned to fly in Iron Man, but the crashes are a little softer. You can watch a video of it after the jump, and you can see how cool it really is. You will note that the user can essentially fly above the water like a bird, and swim in the water like a dolphin. Yes, I'll bet all the animals don't know what to make of the Flyboard. As you might have noticed on the video, there is a certain umbilical contraption attached to the pilot/swimmer here. Apparently, this can connect to any jetski with a 100 horsepower motor. The price of this is about $6,600, which is pretty expensive, and that does
Take smarter videos with your smart phone

Now smartphones have the Mobislyder, which is a portable dolly designed for small video enabled devices. It requires a lot less set up than professional video equipment. There is a video of the Mobislyder in action after the jump. As you can see, it can be placed on any surface with its glider track and a swivel for many angles. Of course, it will take a little bit of setting up, but not like some big Hollywood production. I believe that this is worth it just to get the emotional effect that a moving camera can create. I once heard that scenes from the upcoming Avengers film were filmed with iPhones, but it turned out that this was just a rumor. Clearly, director Joss Whedon could get some great shots with an iPhone if he had one of these.
Hercules Dualpix HD720p for Notebooks

According to the company site, this is the first 720p high definition (1280 x 800 pixels) webcam fro the PC, and it comes with a wide-angle autofocus lens. It can shoot at up to 30 frames per second, with a photo resolution of 5 Megapixels. I found that it has a wide viewing angle, which means it can allow the user to be seen from head to toe. That is different from other webcams that can get a little too close to the face. It also has a terrific built-in microphone. two on top of adjusted degrees. a lot of Evolution to iPod,
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Panasonic does the 3D gig with Lumix DMC-3D1

Just what kind of lenses does the Lumix DMC-3D1 pack? Well, for starters, it comes with 25mm ultra-wide angle lenses alongside 4x optical zoom that will deliver the outstanding capability to shoot high resolution 8-megapixel 3D photos and 1920 x 1080 60i high quality 3D HD video thanks to a side-by-side method. Thanks the kind of optics found in the Lumix DMC-3D1, you will be able to enjoy a wider range of composition possibilities as you have approximately 169% larger viewing space compared to that of 35mm cameras. We used to have to make a choice do we shoot photos or videos with a single camera? With the Lumix DMC-3D1, such a dilemma is no longer part of the equation, since it can do 2D photos and videos simultaneously. Shooting 12megapixel 2D photos and recording 1920 x 1080i full HD 2D videos, you can always capture a particular moment in time for all immortality in two different formats, now how neat do you think that is?
The Dualpix is probably named for the rotation axes that can work on the side or the laptop's screen. The image an be automatically just by twisting it ninety In addition to this feature, the Dualpix has software like Hercules Webcam Station for photo/video capture, for file conversion PSP, or just YouTube.
Tech Tool
Creative Labs Aurvana In-Ear2
Evoluent Vertical Mouse Review
UE Technologies' Television Remote-Control Watch
Big Blue and Big Blue Live Wireless Speakers announced
Jabra PRO 900 Series unveiled
Triple display support coming to MacBook Air
83
Tech Tool
Game Review
84
One day, an adventurous girl named Pixie climbs the side of a skyscraper. She almost reaches the top before a tremor causes her to lose her grip. Her climbing cord snaps and she falls hundreds of feet toward the concrete street. Luck is on her side, though, as she falls through a manhole cover and falls far below the surface, finally landing on the tiled floor of an underground research lab. She rises to her feet, completely unharmed, and walks over to a pedestal where a glowing console beckons. Curious, she presses a button, and a power suit appears. She equips that suit, of course, and thus begins The Kore Gang: Outvasion From Inner Earth, a cute and quirky platformer that overcomes its frustrations with plenty of surreal charm. Pixie's unlikely survival is only the first of many twists in this fantastical plot. The journey upon which Pixie embarks grows steadily stranger as she meets a boy named Madboy, and later his dog, Rex. The three heroes wind up sharing control of the same suit, which has a huge belly that improbably houses whichever two characters aren't in charge at a given moment. You can swap out characters at the press of a button, which you do frequently to complete each of 32 stages. Pixie is the athlete. Her attempt to climb a skyscraper may have failed, but she finds more success as she navigates the fantastic world that the two humans and dog find beneath the earth's crust. She can doublejump, pirouette like a ballerina (useful if she needs to float over a field of poisonous vapors), swing from grappling points, and climb high ledges. Madboy, meanwhile, is the muscle. He's able to punch in either standard or charged forms, and he can also whirl like a cyclone to easily dispatch enemies that rush him from all sides at once. When the situation requires it, he can even deflect projectiles and throw items such as bombs and snowballs, though most of those abilities are put to only limited use. Typically, he's a melee kind of guy.
Playing The Book of Unwritten Tales is like opening a game preserved in a time capsule for the past two decades. This traditional point-and-click adventure originally released in Europe in 2009 harks back to the days when Sierra and LucasArts ruled the world with legendary franchises like King's Quest and Monkey Island. German developer King Art has crafted a lighthearted fantasy grounded in an earthy sense of humor and grown-up story themes and has avoided the impossible, illogical puzzles well known to plague other games in the genre. In short, this is a great achievement in both story and design that should be played by anyone who appreciates an old-school adventure. While The Book of Unwritten Tales is a striking name for an adventure, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense when you start thinking about it. How exactly does one put together a tome filled with "unwritten" stories anyhow? Thankfully, the plot makes more sense than the title. The cinematic saga on tap here tells the story of a medieval fantasy land embroiled in a war between the good-guy Alliance of humans, dwarves, gnomes, and the like, and the evil Shadow Army stocked with the usual trolls and goblins. The bad guys are on the offensive as the game begins, with the monstrous Munkus, son of the Shadow Army's boss witch Mortroga, kidnapping the rather Yoda-like Professor MacGuffin. You could call The Book of Unwritten Tales a sort of comfort food for anyone who hungers for a good old-fashioned adventure, but that compliment doesn't fully describe just how charming this game is. King Art has done a great job crafting this point-and-click adventure, while also remaining pleasantly self-aware of its own conventions. It's just a shame that it took two years for this outstanding game to come to North America. Still, better late than never.
There's an old Klingon proverb that says, "Revenge is a dish best served cold." In the case of Infinity Blade II, it's not so much a dish as an all-you-can-eat buffet of revengefuelled sword combat, dressed with some of the most beautiful visuals to grace an iOS game. It's a game that plays to the platform's strengths; there's no battle so long that you can't finish it on a bus, and no unwieldy touch-screen analogue sticks to get in the way of the action. It takes just a few swipes of your finger to execute brutal slashes and stabs, all with a precision and intuitiveness rarely seen in games played with a traditional controller. Role-playing game elements and an imposing sense of scale combine with the excellent combat to create a beautiful, compelling experience that's a shining example of how to make a superb iOS game. You play as Siris, a knight who's on a quest to find the mysterious Worker of Secrets and avenge his father's death. To do so, you must battle your way to the top of a tower known as The Vault of Tears, where you face off against various enemies and eventually battle the God King. Most of your time is spent in combat. You're armed with a sword and a shield, as well as a range of magic spells, all of which are controlled via the touch screen. This isn't your standard hackand-slash fare, though--think Nintendo's Punch-Out!! rather than the likes of Diablo or Dark Souls. Your opponents have a very specific set of moves they perform, such as sword strikes, kicks and punches, or magic spells. Anticipating those moves to block, dodge, or parry them is the only way to succeed. By swiping smoothly back and forth you perform combos, which deal more damage. Or, if you're on the ropes, you can perform a magic attack that can't be blocked by replicating a specific swipe pattern, depending on the spell.

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December 15, 2011 - January 15, 2012

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December 15, 2011 - January 15, 2012

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