FLare June 2012 Issue

CONTENTS
08 | EDITOR'S NOTE
Editorial
JUNE 15 - JULY 15, 2012
09 | READER'S RESPONSE
Letters to the Editor
TELEPEDIA
10 22 29 44 | | | | Govt eyes 3G auction to bag Rs79bn PTCL nationwide celebrates 1million MoIT, USF and R& D mint LTOs funds Zong creating sporting history, mentoring future stars
COVER STORY
26 | PTA atlast wakes-up! Publishes tarrif awareness guide for consumers
INSIGHT
14 21 34 37 42 46 48 49 50 54 55 56 | | | | | | | | | | | | President invites Chinese to invest in Pakistan My first visit to Nigeria Qubee sacks 70% staff for nothing Trend of usage online banking surged Google former chairman meets PM Gilani Laptop distribution: a way forward How to choose a printer? How to repay credit card debt? Robots lift China's factories to next level Facebook CEO weds longtime girlfriend The politics of digital warfare Cyber villains step up weapons creation
COVER 26 STORY
EXCLUSIVE
12 | Budget 2012-13 tabled! 35 | BlackBerry in steep decline 36 | Who leads on social media?
44 Zong creating sporting history, mentoring future stars
EVENTS
16 20 23 30 31 38 39 | | | | | | | PTCL banks another milestone to have 1mn customers Warid transforming futures Ufone sponsored tent-pegging ended amidst cheers NPC XI takes over Ufone XI in a T10 encounter Sony Brand Ambassador Kareena unveils VAIO laptops 2012 Computex: Asia's leading IT trade fair E3 World's biggest videogame exhibition
SURVEY
18 | Scorching sun, power outages and exams: creates frustration in youth
NEWS
58 | National News 66 | International News 23 Ufone sponsored tent-pegging ended amidst cheers Budget 2012-13 tabled! 12
MOSAIC
52 | National Mosaic 53 | International Mosaic
TECH TOOLS
70 72 76 78 79 80 81 82 84 | | | | | | | | | Mobile Review Current Mobiles Upcoming Mobiles High Range Mobiles Low Range Mobiles Laptops Computers Accessories Gaming Zone 34 Qubee sacks 70% staff for nothing
2012 Computex: Asia's 38 leading IT trade fair
June 15 - July 15, 2012
N ote
Inept PTA, Chairman
Pakistans telecom sector is amongst the most lucrative in the world. The sector witnessed significant inflows of foreign investment. Telecom sector contributing in the national purse is more than any other; but when it comes to facilitating the consumers and relaxation in taxes, government forget it in every financial budget, however, its contribution increasing day by day but the relation of governement with telecom is often witnessed like a stepmother; governemnt, when needed utilises its potentail but never tries to provide it with some relief. After a long time Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has woken up by finnaly realising the value of telecommunications consumers and published a tariff awareness guide for the reverend telecom users. Indeed its a positive step to aware the valued consumers but why this guide has been introduced so late. Delay has become a trend in Pakistan, our governement or institutions never putup a step in time, which in reverse cost national treasury. The major causes of failures of PTA is its management team; if one looks into the tenure of PTA chairman; he will come across reality if he compares the failures and achievements of its boss; the five years long tenure of Dr. Yasin witnesses failures, irregularities, embezzlements, fall of foreign direct investments (FDI), lowering ARPUs and service quality, unbalanced price war, illegal SIMs and failed attempt of bringing 3G technology. PTA and its chairman are responsible for its failures and blunders; the newly report of Auditor General of Pakistan exposes the performance of Mr. Yasin; AGP has detected embezzlements, irregularities and mismanagement of more than Rs. 176.95 billion in telecommunication sector; weak management resulted in nonrecovery of Rs. 126.64 billion; irregular expenditure/payment was pointed out of Rs. 25.875 billion. The regulator should have to guard the interests of consumers by not accepting kickbacks from cellular operators. PTA has failed to conduct QoS survey which is why; it hasnt in the last 5 years penalise any operator, which is the root cause why operators are increasing their charges without the concent of regulator, which hurts the reverned consumers. All the offers and packages are confusing the consumers, which sometimes force them to waste extra money on very wasteful offer. PTA should have to ask these services providers, how and why they increase their service charges? Why and how they introduced wasteful packages to loot consumers? There should be some check and balance. The operators must not be given sole authority to increase tariffs but there should be a machenism in which all the stakholders must show their presence and take those steps which suits both the parties i.e. consumers and operators.
Zubair Ahmed Kasuri Irfan Khan Usman Yaqoob Director Marketing (Lhr) M. Farooq Malik Manager Marketing (Lhr) 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 Fakhir Ahmed Advocate Rana Naveed Ahmed Joya 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 PECHS Main Shahrah-e-Faisal. Tel: 021 34311781-3 Registration No PCPB/105 (Vol. 8 Issue:10) Price Rs: 400 URL: www.fla r e.pk Email: flare.mag@gmail.com Colour Sepration: Fotoscan Process, 25-C Lower Mall, Lahore. Ph: 042-37111906, 37234042. Editor Assistant Editor
Editor s
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.
Telepedia
Flare Report
Free download | flare.pk
After its failure to generate Rs 75 billion from the auction of 3G license during the current fiscal year, the government has now budgeted Rs 79 billion from the auction in the upcoming fiscal year 2012-13
akistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and governement of Pakistan failed to fetch a huge amount of Rs 75 billion to the national exchequer by failing to auction third genration technology in the current fiscal year. Now the Finance department looks to bring Rs 79 billion through 3G spectrum to fill national purse. After its failure to generate Rs 75 billion from the auction of 3G license during the current fiscal year, the government has now budgeted Rs 79 billion from the auction in the upcoming fiscal year 2012-13. According to the budget 2012-13 documents, the government had estimated Rs 75 billion from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in the year 2011-12 under the head of non-tax revenue income from property and enterprise. However, no amount has been shown under the revised figures. Senior officials of the Finance Ministry revealed that the government had estimated $ 850 million (Rs 75 billion) for the current fiscal year 2011-12 from the auction. The same amount ie $ 850 million is estimated for the fiscal year 201213, however due to eroding rupee value vis-a-vis the dollar, the estimated profit has been shown as higher in local currency (Rs79 billion). However top officials of PTA stated that the government did not consult the authority to revise the profits from 3G license auction upward. An official on condition of anonymity said the absence of coordination between the regulator of telecom sector and the Ministry of Information Technology has been creating unnecessary delays in the appointment of international consultant and consequently the government failed to meet the estimated $ 850 million on account of auction of 3G licenses in the current fiscal year. Officials maintained that the absence of a clear policy direction for hiring of consultant by the gov-
Govt eyes 3G auction to bag Rs79bn
ernment on auction of 3G licenses remains a major impediment. Once the international consultant is hired then he/she will review the auction process and only then the process could move forward, sources added. Officials said that they are not optimistic that the auction process would be completed even by the end of the current calendar year (December 2012) and the reason, they maintained, was lack of coordination between the government and the PTA.
The regulator has requested the Ministry of IT to schedule a meeting where a way forward should be sought. The agenda of the meeting would be to determine the process of hiring an international consultant. However, the meeting is yet to be scheduled
The regulator has requested the Ministry of IT to schedule a meeting where a way forward should be sought. The agenda of the meeting would be to determine the process of hiring an international consultant. However, the meeting is yet to be scheduled, sources maintained. Analysts say that massive increase in current expenditure of Rs317.052 or 13.69 percent, higher than the budgeted Rs2314.859 billion for the current fiscal year, does not lend credence to Finance Minister Hafeez Sheikh's claim of 10 percent reduction in current expenditure, especially nonsalary expenditure, during current fiscal year. An
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amount of Rs215 billion was earmarked in budget 2011-12 for running of civil government including increase in salaries. The current expenditure was budgeted at Rs 2314.85 billion for 2011-12 while revised current expenditure amounted to Rs 2631.91 billion during 2011-12. The budget document reveals that expenditure on account of general public services has been revised upward to Rs1898.028 billion (in excess of the budgeted target by Rs238 billion) about 14.34 percent higher from Rs1659.978 billion estimated in budget for the current fiscal year. The current expenditure for Defense Affairs and Services is Rs14.969 billion higher than the Rs495.215 billion budgeted for the year giving a revised figure of Rs510.179 billion; and current expenditure on Public Order and Safety Affairs has been estimated at Rs61.850 billion for the current fiscal year against the budgeted Rs59.609 billion. The government revised current expenditure of Economic Affairs to Rs72.243 billion from the budgeted Rs50.307 billion, reflecting an overrun of Rs21billion. The current expenditure on environment protection has been increased to Rs599 million from the budgeted Rs577 million, housing and community to Rs1.646 billion from the budgeted Rs1.602 billion. The current expenditure for health affairs services, which has been devolved to provinces after the passage of 18th Amendment, has been increased to Rs6.651 billion from the budgeted Rs2.646 billion and Recreational, Culture and Religious to Rs5.371 billion from Rs4.247 billion. The current expenditure on account of education affairs and services has been revised upward to Rs45.214 billion from Rs39.513 billion and expenditure on account of social protection has been estimated at Rs 30.130 billion from the budgeted Rs1.164 billion. n
InsighT
Flare Report
President invites Chinese to invest in Pakistan
Investors can further extend their business ventures in all the sectors especially in the areas of energy, oil and gas, mining, engineering goods, electronics, chemicals, infrastructure, telecommunications, IT and agriculture
resident Asif Ali Zardari held separate meetings with the four leading Chinese business executives inviting them to take advantage of the investment friendly policies of the government and to further extend their business ventures in all the sectors especially in the areas of energy, oil and gas, mining, engineering goods, electronics, chemicals, infrastructure, telecommunications, IT and agriculture. Giving details about the meetings, spokesperson to the President Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the President highlighted to the Chinese business executives great business and investment opportunities present in Pakistan and invited them to further extend their business ventures in the country assuring them all possible facilitation and safety of the Chinese personnel. He said that the business community must take advantage of some very important recent developments between the two countries such as currency swap agreement, the 2nd five years trade and economic program and the opening of Chinese Bank branches in Pakistan. The first meeting in the series was held with the Chairman of Orient Group/United Energy Group Mr. Zhang Hongwei. The President during meeting appreciated Orients existing investment in Pakistan in the area of oil & gas exploration and alternate energy and called for greater investment in the energy sector. He invited the Company again to set up an oil refinery at Karachi port as the company has the required competence for undertaking such a project. It may be recalled that the President has been continuously inviting the Chinese companies to undertake projects involving onshore and offshore drilling for oil and gas as well as for reactivating the depleted and abandoned oil and gas fields in different parts of the country. During meeting with Mr. Zhangs visit to Pakistan this May, the President proposed them to consider undertaking refinery proj-
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ect. He reiterated commitment to provide all possible facilitation to the Chinese Companies in their business ventures. The President said that the untapped tremendous natural resource potential of Pakistan offered great opportunities to the Chinese investors and entrepreneurs not only to get economic benefits but also to help in transforming the traditional PakChina all weather friendship into a comprehensive economic engagement. The meeting with Chairman Orient Group was followed by another meeting of the President with Mr. Ren Hongbin, Chairman of China National Machinery Industry Corp (SINOMACH)the largest machinery manufacturer in China. During meeting with Mr. Hongbin, the President highlighted that the 2nd Pakistan China 5 year for trade and economic cooperation programme launched in 2012 with 36 projects worth more than $10 billion in the energy, transport, infrastructure, ICT, industry, water, education, environment, health, and agriculture offered great opportunities to the companies such as SINOMACH as these companies had the required potential for undertaking maga projects in these areas. The President while noting with satisfaction the association of CMEC a subsidiary of SINOMACH- with various projects in Pakistan, including Machinery and Equipment for the Neelum Jhelum Hydropower project, expressed the hope that the company would be able to explore more economic opportunities in Pakistan especially in the projects of building new dams in Pakistan. He invited the company to invest in projects of infrastructure, construction of highways and railways and setting up of new industries with Chinese assistance in China specific industrial zones. The President especially invited their attention to Zulfikarabad city project which offered great business opportunities to the foreign investors. The
President invited SINOMACH to make investments in the Capital Goods industry in Pakistan with technology transfer and help in developing the industrial base of Pakistan. During meeting with Mr. Cao Guangjing of Three Gorges Project Corporation, the third meeting in the series, the President remarked that the Three Gorges Dam Project was a living testament to the genius and vision of the Chinese people and their leadership. While appreciating the interest of the company in building the Bunji, Kohala, Karot and the Diamer Bhasha dam projects and the wind Power and Thar Coal power projects, the President invited them to participate in constructing small and medium sized dams which he said were critical for the socio-economic development of those regions of the country. The President said that Pakistan was keen to learn from the Chinese experience of growth in every field, especially in the area of hydro-power generation, Wind Power, and coal technologies. The fourth meeting in the series was held with Mr. Shi Li Rong, President of ZTE. During the meeting, the President appreciated ZTEs role in the development of Pakistans Telecommunication sector. He reiterated his call that ZTE could further help Pak telecommunication sector by helping in technical skills development of the local labour force. The establishment of a R&D Centre and setting up of mobile handsets manufacturing facility in Pakistan would further help to promote Pak-China cooperation in the telecom sector, the President suggested to Mr. Shi Li Rong. Mr. Chen Qiufa, Administrator State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry (SASTIND) and Chairman China Shipbuilding and Offshore International Company (CSOC) also called on the President. Matters relating to promoting mutual cooperation in the respective areas were discussed during the meeting. n
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Mall of Lahore Zamzama,Karachi +92-42-36622259 +92-21-35824815
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Survey
Azhar Javed
Flare Magazine has conducted a survey and asked a number of students that how they prepare for exams during hours-long loadshedding? How adversely this power outages affected their studies and continue to do?
n intensive and excessive loadshedding is created frustration in the students of schools, colleges and universities, especially those preparing for examinations nowadays. The season of examinations have commenced in the whole country under the shadow of power outages; which is affecting on the study of depressed and frustrated students. The intermediate exams under the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Lahore and other boards kicked off in Punjab as students moaned and groaned of loadshedding. I visited many homes and asked students what hardships being faced during the power outages and how they prepare for examinations. The dejected and depressed students lamented the government and prayed Almighty Allah for its earlier ouster. They said present government failed to provide basic amenities to common man and engaged spending lavish lives. Some students said that we have no UPS and we faced hardship while studying especially during the examination period. Government immediately stop or reduce the power outages otherwise youth will lead the protest to oust the government very soon with the association of political parties, NGOs and civil society, they claimed. Flare Magazine has conducted a survey and asked a number of students that how they prepare for exams during hours-long loadshedding? How adversely this power outages affected their studies and continue to do? Some said their schools and colleges had power backup systems, like uninterrupted power supply (UPS), but these were not being used. They said that they are compelled to take classes and sit in examinations with no electricity in the halls. Students enrolled in semester system courses, especially those studying computers and other sciences, said they had an extra burden of studies owing to the semester system. They had to make presentations and submit the term reports and assignments, which was impossible in absence of regular electricity supply. Irsa Nadeem, a student of FSc Part 2, said she had to sit in her annual examination in a hall with
no electricity supply. It becomes difficult to sit in the examination hall due to the heat and poor light, she said, adding that there were no power generators at the college to facilitate the students. She said the students were also having trouble, as they could not frame a proper timetable for studies owing to unplanned and massive loadshedding. Waleed Akhtar, who resides in a private hostel, said the students had no choice but to prepare for examinations in candlelight during loadshedding. The situation gets worse when the hostel runs out of water due to power outage as we are not allowed to go out at night, he lamented. Another student of LLB Part 3 from a private college said at night students were unable to study properly and the next day they had to face another agony due to power outage while attempting the paper.
Mazhar, who is a computer science department student, said students at the department had to do most of their work on computers but the administration had ordered to close the computer labs during loadshedding
Mazhar, who is studying computer sciences, said students at the department had to do most of their work on computers but the administration had ordered to close the computer labs during loadshedding. We have to prepare our assignments and need the Internet for that, but now the computer labs are often closed and we have to suffer a lot, he said, adding that late submission of assignments was also affecting their grades. Waleed Akhtar, a student from the Islamia College, Civil Lines, said: I and my other classmates mostly read reference books for studies
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in the central library but now it has become difficult for us to visit the library due to frequent power failures. A final-year student at the Fatima Jinnah Medical College (FJMC) who requested not to be named, said he is residing in a hostel and the students sometimes used cellphone torches to prepare for the examinations. She complained that examiners and teachers did not understand their predicament, as they did not consider loadshedding a problem. With so much loadshedding, it is hard for me or any other student to study at night. If this continues, I will not be able to get good grades, she feared. Sanya Javed, an intermediate student who is appearing in the examination, was at her wits end. Whenever I start preparing for the examination the power shuts down and I start crying. The UPS and emergency lights also go out of charge after sometime. Because of weak eyesight I cant even study in candlelight, she complained. Mrs Rauf Sheikh, who is teaching at a reputed school, expressed her dissatisfaction at the situation. We have extended concession to the students carrying out research for submitting their works later than the stipulated time as we believe students are suffering the most due to the energy crisis, she explained. The economy of Pakistan was being destroyed intentionally and due to loadshedding, industries had closed down while workers had become jobless. 20 hours of loadshedding had made the life of people miserable, adding that industrial sector had been devastated and the workers were committing suicide due to unemployment The regional country telecommunications network operators are state-owned and the rate of development is slow due to government bureaucracy, budget constraints and uneconomical priorities. Similarly the power infrastructures in the region are predominantly owned by state companies. The same factors that affect growth of telecommunications infrastructure also affect the power infrastructure developments. In most of the power utilities do not cover many rural areas. n
Pervez Iftikhar
InsighT
My first visit to Nigeria

ICT infrastructure is vital for Nigerai Broadband uplift
SPF Nigeria was established under the National Communications Act 2003 and has not been doing really well, though still one of the best in Africa. In 5 years it has not achieved what it set to achieve internet to 474 schools countrywide is the biggest achievement that one speaks about. And even here the target was far higher. Other than that they have set up some Community Communication Centers (CCCs) and installed 50 to 60 BTS towers. USPF Nigeria is a part of the Telecom Regulator (Nigerian Communications Commission) NCC, which in turn is run by capable and experienced persons like Chairman (Peter Igoh) and Executive Vice-Chairman (Eugene Juwah). The Minister, Ms Omobola Johnson, an Electronics Engineer from University of Manchester, was previously Country Managing Director of Accenture in Nigeria. She took over the newly-formed Ministry 6 months ago and says that she is convinced that ICT infrastructure is as important as roads, rail and power networks and that Broadband network penetration in Nigeria should be doubled to 12% in 3 years. The draft of new ICT Policy, which also calls for a converged regulator, has been issued. And towards the end of 2011 USPF also got a new Head (they call it Secretary USPF) Abdullahi Maikano who was formerly head of projects at NCC. Abdullahi Maikano (ably assisted by Kelechi Nwankwo) looks really excited in his new job and shows a great passion of wanting to make a difference.
The smart Nigerian lady Minister of Communications and IT, with a slight British accent, is a truly amazing person something I witnessed during the 2-day retreat of Nigeria Universal Service Provisioning Fund (USPF)
One of the steps taken, under guidance of Ms Johnson, in order to revitalize USPF was to organize a two-day retreat a gathering of all the Government-side players involved with USPF, like: Ministry, Regulator, Advisors, USPF Board Members, USPF Management, etc. together with the consultants (USAID/GBIs David Townsend, myself and the KPMG team, who was also responsible for conducting and moderating the event, which they did marvelously) at Abuja. The objective of it all was to work out a Strategic Management Plan (SMP) for USPF. An SMP including redefining USPFs Vision and M i s s i o n statements, its goals, KPIs and the way forward to achieve those. A typical private sector-like exercise, the retreat included presentations, discussions, debates, analyses and breakout workshop sessions. Thirty people and not one did I notice looking at his/her watch even after 6 pm. Since the setting was not very formal, the atmosphere remained pleasant, plus dont forget the Nigerians are jovial people! The entire event proceeded smoothly in a very professional manner, proving all those negative stories about Nigerians as utter crap. Even otherwise, I found the Nigerians to be very friendly and helpful. Some of the issues and apprehensions raised by the participants sounded very familiar, just as in almost all other countries one goes to. One of the main apprehensions being that the government will take away the money that has been collected so far and use it elsewhere! If you talk to the universal service responsible persons, they always complain that it is the government itself that delays utilization of the fund. The most satisfying outcome was that now there is an SMP (which includes recommendation about capacity building within USPF) with direct contributions and thus the ownership of everyone, from the Minister to the junior officials of NCC/USPF and of course the consultants! With all on board, success is bound to come. This is a great example for all the USFs of the world that should be emulated globally. In fact it should be repeated every year to review the progress. So what was it that I found so amazing about Minister Omobola Johnson? Well, the amazing thing was that not only did she sit through the entire two twelve-hour sessions but was one of the most active participants throughout. I guess that is the advantage of having a dedicated Minister who also knows the subject especially if its a technical one like ICT. n
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Telepedia
Flare Report
22
s part of its national celebration of acquiring the first ever One Million Broadband customers in the country, Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL) held a series of commemorative activities at its One-Stop Shops located nationwide. Colorful cake-cutting ceremonies were held simultaneously at several of PTCLs 193 One-Stop Shops located in 98 cities and towns spread in 14 regions. Specially designed cakes were ordered and cut by PTCLs senior regional officials and customer care staff in the presence of cheering customers. Special gifts were also distributed among jubilant customers. PTCLs One Million Broadband customers was celebrated at One-Stop Shops in Rawalpindi, Mirpur, Manshera, Islamabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Gujrat, Kamoki, Mandi Bahauddin, Narowal, Sambrial, Hafizabad, Virkan, Nowshera, Phalia, ShakarGarh, Sialkot Cantt, Pasrur, Hyderabad, Karachi and Quetta. Since its launch in 2007, PTCL Broadband has become a household name. Available in more than 1,100 cities and towns, PTCL Broadband is revolutionizing the way people connect, work and surf the web. PTCL storms Karachi with Retailers Conference 2012 Countrys largest and integrated telecommunication services provider, Pakistan Telecommuni-
cation Company Limited (PTCL), held a rigorous Retailers Conference in Karachi as part of its sustained national outreach for retailers and distrib-
utors. The conference was attended by a large number of PTCLs retailers, business partners and national distributors.
PTCL SEVP Commercial, Naveed Saeed; SEVP Business Zone South, Furqan Habib Qureshi; and other senior PTCL officials led the event held at a local hotel. The conference gave participants a platform to share their observations, experiences
and successes regarding PTCLs product sales & services, promotions distribution & revenue streams. Special team-building sessions, a lucky draw for EVO Nitro, Evodriod, and a bumper prize of EVO TAB were held to participating retailers delight, while gift hampers were also distributed. PTCL holds Retailers Conference 2012 in Lahore Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) held a rigorous Retailers Conference 2012 in Lahore, which was attended by a large number of PTCLs retailers, business partners and national distributors. PTCL SEVP Commercial, Naveed Saeed; SEVP Business Zone Central, Jamal Abdalla Saleem Hussain Al Suwaidi; and other senior PTCL officials also participated in the event held at a local hotel. Comprised of teambuilding sessions, the conference gave participants an exciting opportunity to share their observations, experiences and successes regarding PTCLs product sales & services, initiatives & promotions, and distribution & revenue streams. A lucky draw for EVO Nitro, Evodriod and bumper prize of EVO TAB was held amid cheers of retailers, and gift hampers were also distributed. In addition, a signature wall and media wall was created to register participants feedback and comments. n
Flare Report
Event
Arrangements for this extraordinary event were going on for weeks in the ground adjacent to Darbar Pir Lakhi Shah. The whole area had been lit with colorful lights and convivial banners were hung for distinguished guests and participants
fone sponsored two-day tent-pegging competition and Horse show on the 115th Urs of Pir Lakhi Shah came to an end with memories to cherish for a long time to come both for participants and general public. The Horse show competition had been named Ufone Cup. The horse Aikan owned by Samar Abbas was awarded first position. The owner received the Winning Trophy along with the cash prize of Rs. 40,000/. while Fars of Malik Naveed Ahmad from Bhalwal stood second with cash prize of Rs. 30,000/. The horse Barkatanwala of Haji Meher Ali bagged third position with cash prize of Rs. 20,000/Ufone Tent-Pegging Singles was named Ufone Challenge Cup. Shaheen Club secured top position
Bukhari Club bagged second prize with Rs. 20,000/ cash prize. The small city of Samundri also made its presence felt with third prize and Rs. 10,000/ cash prize. Captains of all three clubs received their respective prizes.
of general public. The whole ambience wore a festive look as people took great interest in eateries and other stalls. This year saw 430 expert horsemen and 22 beautiful horses of superior pedigree, enthusiastically contesting the event. A spectacular firework followed in the end that was an icing on the cake for general public and participants alike. Arrangements for this extraordinary event were going on for weeks in the ground adjacent to Darbar Pir Lakhi Shah. The whole area had been lit with colorful lights and convivial banners were hung for distinguished guests and participants. Elaborate security measures had also been adopted. The various events, on both days, started after Isha prayers and continued till wee hours on next day. Members of local community enthusiastically
in the event and received Winning Trophy along with Rs. 30,000/ cash prize and Hussania Shah
Apart from tent pegging and Horse show, a colourful fair had also been arranged for recreation
participated in the event and also thanked Ufone for making the event possible. n
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The Challenge: For any organization, advertising represents the face of the company, its story and its communication with consumers. For a new organization, consumers do not have a perception about what the company represents and therefore do not have any brand equity. The challenge for Wateen was quite different when it was gearing for a re-launch in 2011. The company had a negative perception in the market and its communication had been entirely functional based on pricing, similar to what its competitors were doing. The company was only known by most consumers for only being a WiMAX operator, which did not wholly represent that it had deployed the 2nd largest fiber-optic network in the country, was a reseller for government and enterprise solutions, was a major player for selling long distance and international minutes and had a cable TV network in Lahore, Multan and Islamabad. The Solution: Wateen adopted a Blue Ocean Strategy clear sky thinking on thought leadership and leading the industry and the public in adopting technology to fulfill their needs for information, communication, education and entertainment. A new corporate identity with a new logo was developed. The new logo represents the concept of freedom to break free from all boundaries. The colour green is the colour of saplings which represents freshness and inception of new ideas. Key challenges for this relaunch campaign not only included improving the existing brand image of Wateen, atoning for the past experience and moving on with renewed faith in the company but also involved repositioning Wateen as a service provider that allows freedom of choice, ease of use and unlimited options to access the world. Wateen initiated its relaunch with a prelaunch campaign Hello Again. The purpose of Hello Again was to represent a new start abreast with a promise of improved products and services by Wateen. This was also meant to subtly introduce the new corporate identity. Once this preliminary phase was completed, the main launch of Jo Chaho was set into motion.
Jo Chaho embodies all the multi-faceted dimensions the world of the internet has to offer. It represents the free will and opportunity provided to undertake any journey one desires. Thus, in turn denoting a profound expression of intellectual freedom that would not exist if it wasnt for the internet. It transcends all geographical and psychological boundaries and is a muscle of empowerment accessible for everyone to flex. That is the ideology Wateen carries with its services. In a world demarcated with varied constraints and restrictions, Wateen brings to you a medium that breaks all the ties of bondage and unleashes you in a world of countless possibilities and experiences. For the functional aspect of the campaign, Jo Chaho represented the varied possibilities that are available through the array of services Wateen offers, ranging from the internet to telephony and multimedia. The communication strategy was based on a two-phased campaign. The pre-launch incorporated a teaser campaign which was based on the launch of the new company image. This was followed by the main launch which introduced Wateens new positioning through a corporate thematic campaign through a TVC, print, outdoor, and revamping the companys franchises and business centers. The company also revamped its corporate website which was fresh and simplistic in its navigation for consumers. The company also started its presence on the digital medium for the first time and has the fastest growing fan following on Facebook among broadband operators. These initiatives helped put a fresh face on Wateen, illustrating a new, mature start shouldered by seriousness in responsibility and delivery. On-ground activation activities were undertaken, which included Freedom Booths that were part of freedom rallies organized in different cities by Wateen. These booths were set up to encourage freedom of expression, signifying the values of the company which uphold the rights of the people. In order to raise the patriotic spirits of the country, another campaign Wateen Scouts, was also initiated. This was also aimed at the youngsters and ignited their fuel for bringing
about a change. This tackled the challenge of Wateen not delivering anything new to the market and managed to cut across the youth segment of their target audience. Moreover, it allowed for the integration of the customers, making them not only feel part of Wateen but act as their representatives as well. Social mediums like Facebook and YouTube were also used for the promotion of the campaigns, allowing the company to expand their mode of communication. Later, a non-branded video for a song was also shot to give Jo Chaho a life of itself. Due to the growing popularity of the jingle, a music video has been created that goes beyond the corporate attachment and extends into a persona of its own. This was created as an art-piece and embodies the positivity of achieving your dreams and potential by following your heart. The Result: Wateen's re-launch in 2011 didn't just get the customers talking. It created a buzz among advertising pundits and peers alike. On 18 May 2012, Wateen took home the 'best advertising campaign' prize at the Annual PAS Awards in the Computer and Internet Service Providers category. Pakistan Advertisers Society is one of the very few organizations in Pakistan that not only acknowledge and encourage effective and efficient communication but reward it as well. The biggest challenge perhaps was reestablishing Wateen as a dependable company pillared on quality and trust. In order to improve its services, Wateen relocated over 200 sites to areas of congestion and potential, as well as installing a caching solution to improve the browsing experience for customers. This led to Wateen being ranked the #1 wireless broadband service provider for quality of service and also winning the Consumer Choice Award for the best internet service provider. After the re-launch, the gross sales were tripled which is testament to the success of the campaign. The advertisement recall nearly doubled after the launch as well, improving from 29% to 53%, with the TOM increasing from 24% to 36%. The campaign placed Wateen back on the digital map, reinstating confidence and loyalty in its customers. n
Cover Story
Zubair Ahmed Kasuri
26

fter a long time Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has woken up under the Chairmanship of Dr. Mohammad Yasin by finnaly realising the value of telecommunications consumers and published a tariff awareness guide for the reverend telecom users. The irony of the fact is that, the regulator failed to guard the interests of consumers; event it couldnt make it to bring third generation (3G) technology for advanced and speedy communications. The five (5) year long tenure of Dr. Yasin witnesses the failures, irregularities, embezzlements, fall of foreign direct investments (FDI), lowering ARPUs and service quality, unbalanced price war, illegal SIMs and failed attempt of auctioning 3G licenses. Indeed its a positive step to aware the valDr. Mohammad Yaseen ued consumers but why Chairman, PTA this guide introduced so late. The chairman did nothing for the most lucrative sector, which is also the largest contributor to the national treasury, but took kickbacks and guard only cellular operators. Even, the regulator under the chair of Mr. Yasin failed to conduct a quality of service (QoS) survey to gauge the quality of services the operaots providing to their consumers. All the operators are competing against each other by introducing new and wasteful offers to bag money, in which the regulator is equally responsible. Cellular operators raise their service charges and deduct handsome amount on the account of packages without even considering the regulator or poor consumers. PTA and its chairman are responsible for its failures and blunders. Now, the regulator introduced the tarrif awareness guide for telecom consumers, its mandatory to publish/ onair this guide all sorts of media to educate the consumers. If its just limited to PTAs website then its of no use; this guide will be just a waste of money, effort and time. Guide said that authority has remained firm in directing telecom companies for providing accurate information to consumers regarding tariffs and to avoid misleading advertisements and promotions, however, in an effort acquire further customers of telecom companies kept complicating the tariff plans. PTA said that this awareness guide is aimed at providing retail customers, essential information for making well informed decision regarding choice of tariff package, informing them of their and the op-
Cover Story
For example if you talk almost equally on all networks then opt for package with low call rate on all networks. If you peak very little outside your own network then you are better off with a package that offers cheaper on-net rates. Therefore, before making a decision on which tariff package to opt for, you should be very clear about your needs. Ask yourself the following questions for each package under consideration. If you think you have answers to all of these questions, only then consider these packages for comparison, otherwise seek further information. What is the price of this package? (Pay attention to nuances such as Peak, Off Peak, Per Minute or Per Second call-charging features. Calculate the effective per minute price for better comparison) Taxes on telecom services: All telecom services (except internet) are subject to various Government taxes. These taxes are either charged upfront (for example Withholding Tax is deducted as soon as you recharge your pre-paid account) or are deducted on usage basis (for example Federal Excise Duty (FED) is charged on per call basis). The current rates of Withholding Tax and FED on telecom services are 10 percent and 19.5percent respectively. However, these rates keep changing and therefore you should find out the latest applicable tax rates. Tariffs advertised by the operators normally tend to exclude tax rates. Therefore, any calculation of effective out of pocket expense to a consumer must also take into account all applicable taxes. Service charges on scratch cards Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and easyloads: Federal Minister for MoIT Mobile operators and several Fixed Wireless Local Loop operators levy additional service charges on reload of pre-paid accounts through scratch cards and easy-loads. The following charges are currently being charged mobile operators on pre-paid accounts: All mobile operators except Telenor levy 5percent service charges on the face value of all recharges (through top-up / Jazz load/ easy load/ money load and scratch cards). This charge is 7.0 percent in case of Telenor. In simpler words, all operators charge 7 percent of your scratch card or easyload as service/maintenance/operational charges. Help line charges: Following are the help line/directory assistance charges of major operators (in Pak Rupees excluding taxes). These charges apply when you connect to customer service representatives through helpline. The charges may be lower if you only connect to the interactive voice response (IVR) and do not talk to the customer service representative. Furthermore, these charges are deducted on per call basis i.e. they are not dependent on call duration. Registering complaints: In case of any complaints, the first point of contact should be the operator concerned. If the operator does not resolve the issue, or you remain unsatisfied with the operators response, you can lodge a complaint with PTA at its Headquarters in Islamabad or with any of its Zonal Offices. The contact details for lodging complaints through email, postal mail, telephone, email or online at PTA website are given below. Telephone Numbers: 0800-55055 (Toll Free Number) 051-9225325 051-9225329-30 (Ext-155) PTA Exchange FAX. 051-2878127 E-Mail. complaint@pta.gov.pk On-line. http://www.pta.gov.pk > Consumer Support > Complaints > Complain Form Postal Mail/ Consumer Protection Directorate, PTA Headquarters, On the account of the above mentioned facts and figures provided by PTA, it shows, Telenor Pakistan, the second leading cellular operator charges our poor and innocent cellular subscribers with extra charges and more than anyone else at 7 percent while other charge 5 percent, while the other mobile operators provide helpline services free of cost but Telenor Pakistan charge 2 percent on both the pre-paid and post-paid numbers. It shows the inability of PTA that Telenor is not only looting consumers on the account of service charges and helpline charges but also it has a track record of most expensive and wasteful packages for its consumers. The regulator should have to guard the interests of consumers by not accepting kickbacks from cellular operators. PTA has failed to conduct QoS survey which is why; it hasnt in the last 5 years penalise any
Telenor Pakistan charges our poor and innocent cellular subscribers with extra charges more than anyone else at 7 percent; the other mobile operators provide helpline services free of cost but Telenor Pakistan charge 2 percent on both the pre-paid and post-paid numbers. Telenor is not only looting consumers but also it has a track record of most expensive and wasteful packages for its consumers
What is the on-net and off-net call price? Is this package a bundle offer that combines several services (e.g. voice, SMS, data) that cannot be separated? Is there any recurring charge (daily/monthly deductions, line rent)? Is there any security deposit? If yes, how much? What are the terms of payment (in arrears or in advance)? Is there any late payment penalty or other payment aspects that you must know? What are applicable other terms and conditions? (validity, downgrade charge package conversion charge, usage detail charges, balance inquiry fee. Such details are often written in fine print, so pay close attention to details)
Table taken from PTA Tariff awareness guide for consumers
erators rights with regards to tariff packages, and conveying the ways of seeking remedy should they feel the operator has not fulfilled its responsibility. PTAs tariff guide clarifies that there will be no cut in GST rate for telecom sector, which many had believed would be the case following the FY13 federal budget announcement. Salient features of this guide, I discuss the key pionts latter in this story. Selecting your package: Do not make a hasty decision that you may regret later on. Seek all the information associated with the service you are interested in. Every consumer has different need and a package available in the market may or may not suit your needs.
Does the package/promotion talk about free minutes or free balance? Bear in mind that free minutes are not the same as free balance. Free balance can be used on services other than voice calls as well. Does the package include an unlimited service? The word unlimited generally does not mean literally unlimited. Unlimited plans/offers tend to have a fair usage policy/non-abuse limit. Find out what it is. Do you know the cost of ancillary services? (Help line charges, credit recharge charges, fee for usage detail etc.) Whether the prices quoted are exclusive or inclusive of taxes?
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Cover Story
operator, which is the root cause why operators are increasing their charges without the concent of regulator, which hurts the reverned consumers. All the offers and packages are confusing the consumers, which sometimes force them to waste extra money. PTA should have to ask these services providers, how and why they increase their service charges? Why and how they introduced wasteful packages to loot consumers? Their should be some check and balance, if the coming days remained the same the regulator will ruin this lucrative market. The irony is that, the government didnt reduce taxes on telecommunications in the newly presented budget, but the PTA should have to come forward and forbad the companies not to over-charge consumers. If the government doesnt care for consumers, regulator enjoys lavish life and CMOs just start making money, then who will speak for consumers? Here, noboday is interested to guard consumers rights, Mr. Yasin and his team will change in the coming days, but the consumers will remain the same, the CMOs will remain here also; so the CMOs should have to build a relation of trust and harmony with the valued subscribers because these are the people who use the CMOs services and contribute to their profits, if there comes a corner of distrust then, the companies will fall to ground. CMOs spend billions of rupees on mere advertisement, they dont need marketing for their brands as already they are here, and they are not the new ones; so they have to spend this money on the betterment of its infrastructure and service quality to facilitate the consumers which the backbone of their business. They should have to improve their call centres, reduced service charges, debunk illegal use of SIMs to avoid any untaward situation, publish and share the original consumers. To provide a little relief to the consumers they will in reverse boost CMOs revenue streams. Dr. Yasin, Chairman PTA, ruined telecom sector. In his 5 years long tenure, he did nothing good for the consumers and telecom sector. On the other hand, Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has detected embezzlements, irregularities and mismanagement of more than Rs. 176.95 billion in telecommunication sector. The Audit Report of the Accounts of Telecommunication sector for Audit year 2011-12, revealed that the management of telecom entities remained weak, which resulted in non-recovery of a huge amount of Rs. 126.64 billion pointed out in eighteen paras. The report says that violation of rules, contract agreements and irregular expenditure/payment was pointed out in sixty five cases amounting to Rs. 25.875 billion. lion was noted in eleven cases. Loss to government of Pakistan due to non-investment of Rs 1.55 billion was observed by audit department in one case while non capitalization of assets amounting to Rs 63.47 million was noted in other case. The report pointed out to irregular investment of USF and R & D funds amounting to Rs. 43.215 billion. Federal Government vides Rule 7 of USF

directive as and when it considered necessary to the authority not inconsistent with the provision of the Act on the matter related to the telecom policy. However, MoIT formulated recovery wing under the chairmanship of additional secretary IT to devise mechanism for recovery of receivables from the operators. DAC in its meeting held on December 29, 2011 directed the management to pursue the recovery
Table taken from PTA Tariff awareness guide for consumers
rules 2006 had decided that the amounts from the fund shall be invested only in Government risk free financial securities or schemes.
The audit report revealed that the management of telecom entities remained weak, which resulted in non-recovery of a huge amount of Rs. 126.64 billion; irregular expenditure/payment was pointed out Rs. 25.875 billion. The report says that extra allowances and financial benefits, leave encashment, bonus and irregular payment of TA/DA were highlighted in fourteen cases amounting to Rs. 114.607 million
Contrary to the rule, USF Policy Committee had been investing amounts in term deposit receipts with commercial banks. Thus violating the rules and putting the funds at risk. Similarly in another case, the report pointed out to the receivables from PTA amounting to Rs. 64.085 billion and operators Rs 41.13 billion on account of USF. In violation of the rules, it said, PTA and operators had not remitted the amounts of USF to the administration of USF at MoIT at the close of June 2011 as reported in the audited accounts of Funds. There was no reconciliation between PTA, Finance Division and Administration of Funds. No proper records were with the Funds Administration; therefore, the actual status with correct figures was not verifiable. Chartered Accountant
from PTA vigorously. No further progress was reported till finalization of this report. The report further reveals that non-realization of Rs.11.897 billion from Ministry of Finance. Ministry of Finance on 05.05.2007 asked MoIT to open an assignment account and devise accounting procedure for USF and R&D funds in consultation with AGP so that Public Account amounts transferred by PTA may be shifted to that account. MoF further reiterated vide OM No. 3(17)-CF-11/2003-381 dated 12.03.2008 that accumulated amount on account of USF placed in the public account may be withdrawn by the MoIT through assignment account. It was further clarified on 09.06.2008 that the amount received by MoF will be earmarked for USF and R&D Fund and would not be utilized for any other purpose. Amount transferred by PTA to MoF will be transferred to MolT on their demand within seven days. MolT will utilize these funds for the purpose defined in the Act. It was observed that MolT had not opened an assignment account and no procedure was devised. Therefore, the amount of Rs. 11.897 billion transferred by PTA to MoF in Public Account was not transferred to funds account by MoF. This was an indicative of weak management of funds, the report added. In another case PTA did not recover an amount of Rs. 16.59 billion during the financial year 2010-11. Audit pointed this out to the management in September 2011 and to PAO in December 2011. It was replied that installment plan offered to world call under which first two principal amounts of Rs. 1.26 billion were recovered. In another case, the report says that unauthorized expenditure of Rs. 13.176 billion without budget allocation and expenditure incurred from main collection accounts. According to details, PTA incurred an expenditure of Rs 13.176 billion from PTA collection accounts for payment to FBR,
List of all prepaid packages of all cellular operators taken from PTA Tariff awareness guide for consumers
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The report further revealed that lack of internal controls in utilization of resources, promotions, appointments, amendment in regulations & award of work amounting to Rs 4.95 billion was noted in 56 cases. The report says that extra allowances and financial benefits, leave encashment, bonus and irregular payment of TA/DA were highlighted in fourteen cases amounting to Rs. 114.607 million while irregular/wasteful/unjustified expenditure amounting to Rs 1.599 bil-
firm had also given the following verdict "we are unable to determine the correctness of the balances shown against these accounts in the Financial Statements of Funds". Audit pointed out the irregularity to the management during February and October 2011 and the matter also reported to the PAO in December 2011. It was replied that the responsibility to recover receivable from operators rest with the Authority. MoIT had the power to issue policy
FAB, license fee for vehicles, employee's CPF, gratuity, repayment of World Bank Loan and Prime Minister Flood Relief Fund etc without budget allotment. If the regulator works like this what can we expect? We have brought the inabilities of regulator and its chairman Dr Yasin but no action was taken against him, we will write to protect our consumers rights by exposing the irregularities and mismanagement. n
Fr e e d ow nl oa d | f la re .p k
Flare Report
Telepedia
inistry of Information Technology (IT) has started pressurizing Universal Service Fund (USF) and R&D Fund, the two autonomous departments to gallop their funds of billions of rupees. This practice started following the appointment of Raja Parvez Ashraf as Minister for Information Technology. Highly reliable sources disclosed that the Ministry of Information Technology has spent a huge amount of around Rs 120 million out of Universal Service Fund (USF) on projecting the achievements of the government in electronic media over the last two months. The Ministry of Information Technology through its letter, the amount was spent without any budgetary allocation and approval of the Board of Director of USF. Competitive bidding procedure and Public Procurement Rules in award of the contract to a single advertisement agency were also not followed. The USF Company is now being pressurized by the
of Rs 120 million, some more startling revelations would come to light. They said he had no experience to run such a huge organization because he had been running a small IT firm till joining his
proved by the Secretary, IT and reports be provided to him within twenty four hours. The CEO said he has decided to bring the matter to the notice of the Board and that it will not be possible for him to continue servicing the fund in the given situation. Sources added that the R&D is not being allowed to call the meeting of the Board as that would expose the corruption at the level of the Ministry. In a letter issued on 29th March, 2012, a joint secretary in the Ministry issued a letter to all the attached organizations to seek prior approval of the Secretary IT before undertaking any type of official meetings. Meanwhile, a new scandal has been surfaced about promoting a young officer from grade 18 to grade 21 owing to political pressure in short span of just two years whereas the decision has created unease in the bureaucracy. Sources said that Establishment Division has appointed Federal Minister for Information and Telecom Raja Pervez Ashraf's sonin-law Muhammad Azeem-ul-Haq Minhas in grade 21 as senior joint secretary in Prime Minister Secretariat. M u h a m m a d Azeem-ul-Haq was in-
MoIT, USF and R&D mint LTOs funds

The Ministry of Information Technology through its letter, the amount was spent without any budgetary allocation and approval of the Board of Director of USF. Competitive bidding procedure and Public Procurement Rules were also not followed in awarding of the contract to a single advertisement agency.
Ministry of (IT) to pay the bills of media campaign which is not only in violation of Pakistan Telecommunication (Reorganisation) Act of 2005 but also contrary to the Public Procurement Public Regulatory Authority Ordinance, 2002. Licensed Telecom Operators who are sole contributors to USF, an autonomous body, are very perpresent post. Some of the honest officers in the USF who opposed to this wasteful expenditure unauthorized are being targeted. In fact a summary has been moved to remove the Convener of UFS Wahajus Siraj, and CEO, R&D Fund as they have been strongly opposing the misuse of the funds in the two departments. The CEO, R&D Fund Syed Aun Abbas in an email message to the Members of the Board has told them that since the new management has taken charge earlier this year at the Ministry of IT, the Fund has started to experience a number of issues that have significantly impacted the operations of the Fund. He said the R&D has received a letter from the Ministry that all official meetings be pre-apcome tax group officer of 28th common and was working in grade 19 in income tax department in 2010. Muhammad Azeem moved to Employees Oldage Benefit Institution (EOBI) on deputation and
Licensed Telecom Operators who are sole contributors to USF, an autonomous body, are very perturbed on ruthless spending of their hard earned contributions on wasteful media campaigns for political gains
turbed on ruthless spending of their hard earned contributions on wasteful media campaigns for political gains. Sources said that Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Universal Service Fund (USF) Riaz Asher Siddiqui, was appointed to the highly lucrative post by the Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani. On instructions of Secretary IT, Mr Siddiqui awarded the contract to the advertising company of his choice without following the competitive bidding procure. They said that that if an audit was carried out by the Auditor General of Pakistan in the utilization
was appointed in grade 20 equivalent to deputy director general. Later, he started working as joint secretary in PM Secretariat in 2011. Subsequently, Muhammad Azeem returned to income tax department and had been working as caretaker director general. n
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Event
Flare Report
he National Press Club (NPC) XI wins over Ufone XI in a close friendly encounter by 5 wickets in the exhibition cricket match played at MNA hostel Cricket Ground Islamabad. National Press Club (NPC) and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) with the collaboration of Ufone organized Inter-Media cricket tournament. According to details, the Ufone XI won the toss and elected to bat first. Ufone XI played well and scored 128 runs for 8 in allotted 10 overs. Saad Raqeeb scored 53 runs along with Khawaja Zulqadar with 33 were the main scorer. Afzal Javed took 2-12 while Mohsin Ali and Ayaz Akbar took one wicket each for NPC. Chasing the target, NPC XI started innings aggressively. They got good partnerships throughout the innings. Saeed Qureshis three consecutive sixes made the NPC XI win over Ufone as they required 14 in the last over.
guest on the occasion who distributed prizes within the participants while Secretary National Press Club (NPC) Shahryar Khan, Secretary Organizing Committee Afzal Javed, Director Sports Capital Development Authority (CDA) I. K. Rizwan, NPC Sports Committee Chairman Ayaz Akbar and senior journalists were present on the occasion. Afzal Butt and Saeed Qureshi were jointly declared man of the match while Mohsin Ali of NPC XI was declared best batsman for hitting most sixes for the winning side. Speaking on the occasion Head of PR & CSR Ufone Moazzam Ali Khan appreciated NPC for organizing such a colorful event for the journalists of twin cities. Ufone values its relationship with the media and will continue to support them in the future as we see this encouraging step towards along lasting relationship with media community, he urged.
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Mohsin Ali played an outstanding inning with 5 huge sixes and scored 32 runs with just 12 balls while Afzal Butt 29, Saeed Qureshi 23 and Afzal Javed made 18 runs respectively. From Ufone XI, Saeed Sarfraz and Muhammad Mehboob took one wicket each. Head of Public Relations & Corporate Social Responsibility Ufone, Moazzam Ali Khan was the chief
Secretary NPC Shahryar Khan thanked Abdul Aziz, President and CEO Ufone for his extra support towards healthy activities for the media. He also lauded the efforts of Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Cahduhry Zaka Ashraf and Chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA) Engineer Farkhand Iqbal for providing sports equipment and facilities in Islamabad for National Press Club. n
Flare Report
Event
Brand Ambassador Ms. Kareena Kapoor Kareena Kapoor dodges questions on her wedding; refuses to confirm wedding date with Saif Ali Khan. If grapevine is to be believed, actress Kareena Kapoor is set to tie the knot with beau Saif Ali Khan soon, but she is mum about it as of now.
She dodged questions related to her wedding at an event in Mumbai recently. Asked if she browses through bridal wear online, Kareena said: "Your question doesn't interest me."
It is a pleasure to be associated with Sony VAIO yet again for the Spark a Trend campaign, which highlights the accent design of the new VAIO E14A series. VAIO is a trendsetter, says Kareena Kapoor
Kareena Kapoor is the brand ambassador of Sony Vaio Laptops in India and was put to wedding-related queries on the sidelines of the launch of its new campaign - spark a trend. It is a pleasure to be associated with Sony VAIO yet again for the Spark a Trend campaign, which highlights the accent design of the new VAIO E14A series. VAIO is a trendsetter, said Kareena. n
Sony India announced its ambitious plans to sell a whopping 6.5 lakh VAIO units in FY12, up from 5 lakh units in FY11. This year, Sony India adds VAIO E14A, with unique wrap design with accent colours, VAIO T, the ultrabook and new models of E, S & Z series to its ever-expanding product portfolio
r. Masaru Tamagawa, Managing Director, Sony India and Kareena Kapoor, Brand Ambassador, Sony Vaio have launched new range of Sony Vaio. Sony India announced its ambitious plans to sell a whopping 6.5 lakh VAIO units in FY12, up from 5 lakh units in FY11. This year, Sony India adds VAIO E14A, with unique wrap design with accent colours, VAIO T, the ultrabook and new models of E, S & Z series to its ever-expanding product portfolio. Sony will also consolidate its distribution network by adding 500 more channel counters, taking the total count to 4,500 in FY12. Sony for the first time introduces on-site support for all VAIO models, beginning July 2012. Towards VAIO marketing, Sony will invest a huge sum of Rs. 90 crore in FY12, starting with Spark a Trend campaign with
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InsighT
Flare Report
ubee the worst internet service provider in Pakistan (ac cording to survey stats conducted by PTA), we have published about its poor and pathetic quality of service. Where we have recieved thousands of complaints, which irked Qubee consumers and they asked Flare to publish their complaints against the poor service of Qubee. Recently, Qubee has fired quarter of its staff comprising 150 officials in different departments to cut off its operational expenses as per austerity plan to reduce the gap between expenditures and revenue earnings. Official sources said that Qubee has continued to cut jobs in its organisation to restructure its business up to the current earning level after its
Qubee sacks 70% staff for nothing

Poor, pathetic service lead Qubee to fire employees to balance expenditure, revenue
more than 75,000 customers. Qubee, Augeres WiMAX arm in Pakistan, has laid off its direct sales staff in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad amid possible change in sales strategy of the company, we have confirmed with multiple sources with-in and close to company. We arent sure of exact number of employees who were impacted by this massive layoff, however, it is said that at least more than 100 employees were immediately fired. Though we were unable to confirm this officially but sources close to company suggest that Qubee is going to revisit its sales strategy, which is likely to be based on commission model, instead of having in-house sales staff. You may remember that Mubashir Naqvi,
Qubee has fired two third (2/3) of its staff comprising 150 officials in different departments to cut off its operational expenses as per austerity plan to reduce the gap between expenditures and revenue earnings
parent company Augere Holdings has directed its subsidiary key officials to run the organisation without foreign investment. Qubee, in this regard, has continued to reduce the number of employees from its sales, call centre, technical and different departments. They were almost 100 members in the sales department of Qubee, which was reduced to 25 in all four stations including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Besides, the company has reduced call centre operators from 110 to 55 working as officials in its outsourcing company. There is department called SQUAD in which four technical professionals were working previously but now the whole department is based on one person as the company has sent them to home in the past couple of days. Qubee also lay off two employees in its seven Customer Care Center in different cities whereas it fired senior manager of quality assurance, an official said on the condition of anonymity. The rest of the employees remain with the company are based in the head and regional offices and considered as principal staff besides key officials, he said. There is an uncertain situation in the company as nobody is sure about his or her job in the company. The company is focusing for retrenchment, which may also include massive cut of budget in marketing, advertising and PR. It has also planed to shift its flagship office from Clifton to somewhere else as the monthly rent of Rs 2.7 million is very high. Establishing in early 2009 with investment of $70 million, Qubee has maintained its cost-saving strategy in its operations including tower-sharing former CEO of Qubee and considered to be a sales guru, had employed direct and door-to-door sales staff when Qubee commenced its operations in Pakistan, that was unlike other WiMAX and broadband operators operating in the country which operate through franchises based on commission model. In related news Qubee recently lost Mr. Hashim Shaikh, the Head of Marketing along with Zuhaib Ahmed from Marketing Department too. Qubee is yet to fill both the positions. It maybe recalled that Qubee achieved of 75,000 subscribers in Pakistan for its WiMAX business at the end of March 2012 but now reduce gradually due to poor service and mismanagement within company. Mubashir Naqvi, CEO Qubee had resigned and company have appointed Jamal Nasir Khan as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Qubee who is claimed 21 years experience in services sector related to Telecom & IT covering R&D in Teleco system & software and much more but failed to protect and save Qubee to collapse in Pakistan. To observe the situation, Hashim Sheikh, Chief Marketing Officer of Augere Pakistans subsidiary Qubee has quit. He had been with the Qubee since pre-launch and had played a leading role in marketing operations and products designing of broadband the company in four citiesKarachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi. n
Qubee also lost Mr. Hashim Shaikh, the Head of Marketing along with Zuhaib Ahmed from Marketing Department. It maybe recalled that Qubee achieved 75,000 subscribers in Pakistan for its WiMAX business at the end of March 2012 but now reduce gradually due to poor service and mismanagement within the company
and outsourcing of the business units. It started its services in June 2009 from Karachi and expanded its network and services in three more cities to bag
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Irfan Khan
Exclusive
BlackBerry in steep decline

lackBerry losing ground rapidly in the smartphone wars, needs to take bold steps to revive its fortunes and compete with iPhones and Android devices overwhelming the market, analysts say. RIM, which pioneered the smartphone, risks falling further behind the competition, and the Canadian firm may even slip behind Microsoft, which is making a new effort with Nokia to develop Windows-powered devices. Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry, is in steep decline. The company, once the crown jewel of the Canadian technology industry, is now worth 1percent of Apple's market capitalization. One way for RIM to stop the downward tailspin: It could sell itself to a competitor or financial firm. But who would step up to buy RIM and why? RIM is planning to cut at least 2,000 staff out of the company's total current staff strength of about 16,500 as part of a global restructuring plan, according to relieble sources. The company's fortunes however continue on the downslide. Revenue for its fourth fiscal quarter ended March 3, 2012 at $4.2 billion was down 25 percent from $5.6 billion in the same quarter of fiscal 2011. The company's net loss in the quarter was $125 million. Recently, Patrick Spence, a 14-year RIM veteran and head of global sales, resigned from the company,
ware. Research firm IDC says BlackBerrys now account for 6.4 percent of the global smartphone market, a third of what they had two years ago. In that time, the company's financial performance has suffered. RIM reported a 25 percent revenue decline in the latest fiscal quarter, to $4.2 billion from $5.6 billion. For the full fiscal year that ended on March 3, it earned $1.2 billion, or $2.22 per share, on revenue of $18.4 billion. That's down from net income of $3.4 billion, or $6.34 a share, on revenue of $19.9 billion in fiscal 2011. Michael Walkley at Canaccord Genuity believes most of the company's value lies in the monthly fees it gets from phone companies in exchange for running the systems that deliver email and Web pages to BlackBerrys. RIM has 78 million users connected to this system, but Walkley estimates that only 20 million are corporate and government users who are likely to stick around because of the communications security RIM provides. The rest are consumers who will jump to competing phones, he believes. That business is worth about $2.75 billion to a competitor, Walkley wrote in a research report. The other major component of RIM's value is its patent portfolio. The company had an early scare in U.S. patent courts in 2006, when it was forced to pay $612.5 million to a small company founded by an inventor who had patents on wireless e-mail delivery. Since then, it's filed for thousands of patents to use as a defense against future suits. As a counter-move, Google bolstered its own patent portfolio by buying Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., a U.S. phone maker with only slightly better prospects than RIM, for $12.5 billion.
RIM to sell itself, wholl buy and why?

After failing in Pakistan, BlackBerry is in blue water globally as well; plans to cut at least 2,000 employees; Revenue for current quarter downby 25 percent; RIM's net loss is $125 million; BlackBerry stock has fallen 93 percent; RIM downs against Apples iPhones and Android devices globally
suggesting that reorganization at the company continues after a management shakeup in January. RIM also announced recently that Jim Balsillie, former co-CEO of the company, had resigned as a director on its board. Software CTO David Yach also retired from his role, while Jim Rowan, COO of global operations decided to pursue other interests.
Recently, Patrick Spence, a 14year RIM veteran and head of global sales, resigned from the company. RIM also announced that Jim Balsillie, former coCEO had resigned as a director on its board and Software CTO David Yach also retired from his role
The stock has fallen 93 percent since their peak in 2008. Since then, the BlackBerry's dominance as the smartphone for on-the-go business people has been eviscerated by Apple Inc.'s iPhone, and more recently, by phones running Google Inc.'s Android soft-
Where does that leave RIM? Christopher Marlett, the CEO of MDB Capital, said RIM's patents are worth more than $1 billion, and could be worth as much as $4 billion if a bidding war develops between Apple, Google, Microsoft Corp. and perhaps Samsung Electronics Co. "It's a question of how aggressive they get," Marlett said. His firm is an investment bank that focuses on intellectual property, including patents. Walkley puts the value of RIM's portfolio at $2.5 billion, excluding the patents RIM bought from Nortel and shares with Apple, Microsoft and other buyers. RIM has $2.1 billion in cash, but Walkley discounts this completely, since the phone business will likely start using up cash soon, and downsizing will require severance payments. That means the email network and the patents comprise RIM's entire value at $5.25 billion, by his estimate. That's very close to RIM's current market capitalization, at $5.4 billion, though a buyer could be expected to pay a premium. Microsoft is one company that's been suggested as a potential RIM buyer. The software juggernaut is trying to get back into smartphone software, but its Windows Phones haven't been popular so far. Buying RIM could give it a chance to establish itself as a provider of trusted wireless email services. n
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Exclusive
Flare Report
Who leads on social media?

he need to be social online is shaping up to be a new rat race for clicks, tweets, comments and user engagement among local news media outlets. With an estimated 20 million Pakistanis online and over six million on Facebook, the ability to convert these numbers into tangible, easy-to-measure consumers of news content is, even at this early stage, a new measure of success. Currently media groups are focused on growth and expansion of their user bases, experimenting with forms of content and content sharing mechanisms and for some, the first phases of trying to monetise their online presence all of which is impacted by social media. The local news media groups dominating on Facebook include the Jang Group, Express and Dawn, with Samaa close behind. These stats have been collected on June 9, 2012. Jang Group: The Jang group has established separate pages for each of their news brands, and segmented based on language as well. Their flagship brand Geo has separate English and Urdu pages. The English page has 429,430 followers, while the Urdu page has 139,384 followers. Interestingly, the Geo English groups Talking about this metric (a measure of how much conversation/stories are being generated by a page in a one week span) was lower (7,484) as compared to the Urdu page (6,626). The Daily Jang is also on Facebook with 66,038 followers and 2,627 talking about this. The English daily, The News has 35,573 followers and 1,022 talking about this. Geo News English also operates a Twitter account which has 32028 followers. The accounts Klout score (Klout is an online analytics company that measures an accounts social influence by using Twitter data) is 52. Jang Media Group is one of the largest media groups in Pakistan, while having the maximum number of users on Facebook and Twitter. Its pertinent to mention here that Jang Group has the most web traffic on all its news brands websites and the expensive most group which generates humongous amount of revenue through advertisements. Express Media Group: The Express Media group has two of its brands, the flagship Express News and The Express Tribune on Facebook, though their Urdu daily newspaper, the Roznama Express is missing. The Express News page has
Pakistani news media on social sites

Currently media groups are focused on growth and expansion of their user bases, experimenting with forms of content and content sharing mechanisms and for some, the first phases of trying to monetise their online presence all of which is impacted by social media
146,104 followers with 6,354 talking about this, while The Express Tribune page has 112,017 followers with 3,278 talking about this. Express News Twitter account has 15,570 followers with a Klout of 46, while The Express Tribune account has 22,355 followers with a Klout of 64. Dawn Media Group: Dawn also has two separate Facebook pages; one for their website Dawn.com, and another for the Dawn News TV channel. TheDawn.com page has 60, 274 followers with 1,058 talking about this, while the Dawn News page has 90637 with 906 talking about this.
Twitter followers: 4,883 Dunya TV Facebook likes: 41,278 Talking about this: 838 Twitter followers: 2733 Pakistan Today Facebook likes: 19,298 Talking about this: 1,032 Twitter followers: 1,155 The Nation Facebook likes: 17,805 Talking about this: 801 Twitter followers: 3,493 Business Recorder Facebook likes: 5,559 Talking about this: 87 Twitter followers: 560 In an online world increasingly dominated by dynamic communities such as those on Facebook and Twitter, media groups (and individual journalists) can now be part of the public conversation. The plus side? Instant feedback and measurable results. The downside? Its public, so media will be held accountable for its mistakes, and as in all good conversations, if the media group or individual is too slow in responding or too clunky and out of touch in their responses and content, they will die as quick a death. They key to this new social media venture by local media groups will therefore be one of assimilation with their existing media models and existing business models i.e. monetisation of their online followers and fans. In terms of assimilation, print and TV will both have to work on converging their online entities with their existing entities, ending the era of web operating as a separate unit. Newsrooms will have to be restructured to account for this change, and this will necessitate training staff to use and understand the value of online and weeding out those that do not and cannot change. Additionally, programs and articles will have to rely on and refer to their online entities more (from the most basic Join our Facebook page to the more advanced watch the behind the scenes edition of our show online). Finally, editorial direction will almost necessarily be dictated to some extent by the internet, the one medium where the most two-way exchange of ideas between content creator and consumer occurs. It is likely that in a few years time, social media trends and responses to online articles and TV shows available on YouTube will shape traditional media content significantly. Following just behind that will be the monetisation models, whether that is in the form of pay walls for specific online content or new forms of advertising and promotion, because eventually brands will want to leverage the news medias online clout. n
The Jang group has established separate pages for each of their news brands, and segmented based on language as well, Daily Jang, Geo News and The News International are the leading news media with the highest user base and viewership followed by Express media group
Dawn maintains two Twitter accounts for its news brands. The Dawn.com account has 9,605 followers with a Klout of 61, while the Dawn News account has 14, 348 followers with a Klout of 42. Other local News groups on social media Samaa TV Facebook likes: 114,440 - Talking about this: 9,335 Twitter followers: 4,655 Aaj TV Facebook likes: 72, 672 - Talking about this: 946
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E-banking infrastructure in terms of ATMs and RTOB also showed strong year-on-year growth as the number of ATMs increased by 13 percent and the number of RTOB grew by 29 percent on year-on-year basis
he volume and value of overall e-banking transactions in the country have surged by 5.9 and 6.47 percent to reach 70.9 million and Rs 6.871 trillion respectively during the 3rd quarter of the current fiscal year (FY12) compared to the preceding quarter. According to State Bank of Pakistan's Payment Systems Quarterly Review for the 3rd Quarter of FY12 released, the payment systems infrastructure in Pakistan continued to show an upward growth trend as 203 more automated teller machines (ATMs) were added during the quarter under-review bringing the total number of ATMs in the country to 5,612 whereas 269 more bank branches were upgraded to real-time online branches (RTOB). Currently, 9,174 bank branches are offering RTOB services out of total of 10,009 bank branches across the country, it added. Elaborating the yearon-year (YoY) growth trend, the Review said that the volume and value of e-banking transactions grew by 19 and 18 percent respectively in January-March 2012 quarter as compared to the same period of last fiscal year (i.e. January-March 2011). E-banking infrastructure in terms of ATMs and RTOB also showed strong year-on-year growth as the number of ATMs increased by 13 percent and the number of RTOB grew by 29 percent on year-on-year basis, it added. It said the number of plastic cards also increased by 9.47 percent during January-March 2012 quarter compared to the numbers recorded in the preceding quarter. By the end of quarter under-review, there were 16.7 million plastic cards circulating in the country, the Review added. The Review said that the overall number of ATM transactions showed an increase of 5.6 percent and the value increased by 8.6 percent. The average value per ATM transaction stands at Rs. 9,828, it said and added that the share of ATM transactions in total e-
Trend of usage online banking surged
banking transactions in terms of volume and value worked out to 59.6 percent and 6.0 percent respectively. The number of RTOB transactions also increased by 6.15 percent during January- March 2012 quarter whereas the value of transactions increased by 6.14 percent as compared to the previous quarter. The volume and value of transactions through Point of Sale (POS) terminals stood at 4.5 million and Rs. 21.2 billion respectively during the quarter under-review depicting 7.0 and 8.3 percent growth respectively as compared to the figures reported in the previous quarter, it added. The Review said that although the volume of large-value payments through Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) increased by 8.8 percent, the value of transactions, however, recorded a decline of 8.2 percent. The decrease is due to decline in securities settlement value from Rs. 18.7 trillion to Rs. 16.1 trillion, it said, adding that despite the above decline, the major portion of RTGS transactions continued to be in respect of settlements against securities followed by Interbank Funds Transfers and settlement of retail cheques through multilateral clearing contributing 57.7, 31.5 and 10.8 percent respectively. On the other hand, the banking ombudsman has directed commercial banks to ensure capability of customers for operating internet banking account before allowing such a facility. The banks should ensure before approving any request for internet banking that the prospective accountholder understands the basics of the facility, particularly the importance of maintaining the secrecy of the PIN and password, according to the seventh annual report 2011, which was unveiled by Mansur-ur-Rehman Khan, Banking Mohtasib Pakistan (BMP). The report revealed that several incidents were reported that recruiting agents are involved in offering jobs to uneducated persons in foreign countries fraudulently and withdrew money
from jobseekers online banking accounts. The ombudsman also advised the banks to warn the customers of the possible risk of misuse of internet banking by other persons. Preferably, an indemnity bond should also be got signed in order to safeguard the interest of the bank, the report added. The banking ombudsman said that it would also be helpful if a minimum education level is prescribed for extending such a facility to the customers. The ordinance was promulgated in 2002 much before the advent of the online banking in Pakistan, the ombudsman said, and suggested that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) may consider advising the federal government to issue notification in this regard. Regarding new business accounts, the ombudsman advised the banks to open a bank account in a business name and the person opening the account should be introduced by a reputable accountholder. The annual report pointed out complaints about deduction of withholding tax on purchase of prize bonds through crossed cheques. Purchase of a prize bond through cheques irrespective of whether these are drawn on the same bank or some other bank, should not be subject to the withholding tax, it said, suggesting that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) should issue clarification in this regard. The report identified cases related to frauds, involving pay orders issued by property purchasers where cash withdrawn immediately and when the original pay order is received in clearing from the bank of the seller, it is wrongfully returned with the objection reported lost and cancelled. For preventing such frauds, the ombudsman suggested that the particulars should be filled in with details of beneficiary and the purpose for which the pay order is being required. n
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Fr e e d ow n lo ad | fl a re. p k
A promoter stands at the NVIDIA booth during the 2012 Computex in Taipei.
Mr Tauseef Ahmed, Country Mana ger Sales and Marketing, Xconnect and a model present the GIGABYTE lightest, fastest and the most affordable notebook at Computex 2012 Taipei .
A promoter holds a Muzee Clou dia, a multimedia digital photo fram e during the 2012 Computex in Taipe i.
Visitors look at a laptop near the GIGABYTE area during the Computex 2012 in Taipe.
A model promotes an Alljack Bouem tique Home Theater Audio Syst at 2012 Computex in Taipei.
Two girls pose nest to the a Ford Focus car, equipped with will Microsoft powered SYN C, an in-car connectivity system, at the 2012 Compute x in Taipei.
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The promotion girls displaying information technology products during a press before Computex, Asia's leading conference IT trade fair.
A model shows a monitor in front of Acer's logo during the Computex 2012 in Taipei.
Fr e e d ow nl oa d | f la re .p k
Flare Report
Event
AttendeesattheElectronicEn tertainmentExpotryoutthe SonyPlayStationVitaonthe firstdayofE3inLosAngeles.
Modelsdressedincostumesof char Tournament2strikeaposeon actersfromTekkenTag t hesecond videogameextravaganzainLosA dayoftheE3 ngeles.
LaurenRawlinsplaystheWii FitUgame"CoreLuge"atthe ElectronicEntertainmentExpo (E3),inLosAngeles,California.
Gamerssamplegamesatthe NintendosectionontheopeningdayoftheE3videogame conferenceinLosAngeles.
Anattendeeplays"Fablethe Journey"duringtheElectronic EntertainmentExpo(E3),inLos Angeles.
AttendeesattheElectronicEn tertainmentExpotryoutthenew NintendoWiiontheopeningday ofE3inLosAngeles,California.
EA'szombiesposefoapicturea ttheOrpheumTheatre whereEAproducerheldtherpres entationsduringtheE3 2012mediabriefinginLosAngel es,California.
Gamerssamplegamesonthe openingdayoftheE3 videogameconferenceinLos Angeles.
Visitorsplaynewvideogames ontheWiiFitUattheNintendo boothduringtheE3gamingconference.
AscenefromZombieUpresentedbyUbisoftduringthe Ubisoft'smediabriefingatthe E32012inLosAngeles.
AttendeesattheElectronicEn tertainmentExpotryoutPlayStation 's All-StarsBattleRoyaleduringthe firstdayofE3inLosAngeles.
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Flare Report
Google Executive Chairman Mr. Eric Emerson Schmidt met Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, who called on him at his chamber. PM said that the government had rolled out several projects for promotion of higher education in ICT by establishing several ICT campuses and IT blocs. He asked Google Inc. to provide support in this regard
akistan is one of the most promising countries in the world, the geo-strategic location also enhanced its importance; it has banked a workforce more than 50 percent comprising of young energetic youth, which indicates the emergence of golden era of our history. Pakistani soil has produced talented youth, who not only brought fame for themselves but for the country as well around the globe. Our talented tech-geeks made world records by competing in various international events. The visit of Mr. Eric Emerson Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google Inc. is a good omen, tech-giant wants to helpPakistan in various projects initiated by the incumbent government and willing to invest here to educate residents of far-flung areas with modern education and prepare them to combate poverty, illiteracy, extremism, inflation and joblessness. The advanced education will trickle-down the benefits to all sectors which will result in improved living standards, low inflation, strong economy, a better educated and happier society. Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has said that Pakistan was observing a rapid growth for Broadband adoption with over 120 percent growth rate during past 3 years. He said that the number of Broadband Internet users have surpassed 7 million mark. This growth, he said, was expected to continue in future as more individuals would join cyber world. The Prime Minister expressed these views while talking to Mr. Eric Emerson Schmidt, Ex-
Google former chairman meets PM Gilani
effective delivery of ICT enabled services. He said that we were making efforts for establishment of an information-based society in the country where true potential of such massive ICT infrastructure could be utilized. The Prime Minister said that the government had rolled out several projects for promotion of higher education in ICT by establishing several ICT campuses and IT blocs. He asked Google Inc. to provide support in this regard. The Prime Minister said that he recently announced a Venture Capital Fund of $ 10 Million and would like Google Inc. to also contribute to it besides its Social Innovation Fund. I have, recently, directed the establishment of Universal Service Centers at Union Council level across Pakistan. The aim of these centers is to provide Government to Citizen and Government to Business services acting as an IT Hub in rural areas. I would also like your support to make these centers successful, the Prime Minister added. The Prime Minister said that the government was determined to set-up IT Centres in every Union Council as a measure for job creation as well as for promotion of IT-related knowledgeable in the far-flung areas of the country. The Prime Minister said that the government
ecutive Chairman of Google Inc. at his Parliament House Chamber recently. The Prime Minister said that Pakistan possessed a diverse market for broadband technologies encapsulating DSL, Cable, Fiber, WiMAX and EvDo. The introduction of 3G mobile broadband services would provide a further boost to the accessibility, he added.
Eric Emerson Schmidt assured the Prime Minister that his company was willing to help Pakistan to spread the information technology throughout the country. He said that connectivity offered the best choices to the youth to get themselves gainfully engaged, which in turn was critical to combat the extremist tendencies
The Prime Minister maintained that we deeply acknowledged and recognized the efforts being carried out by Google for undertaking various community-based projects in the country. The Prime Minister said that the government was doing everything to facilitate ICT sector for
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has spent billions of rupees to provide broadband internet connections in Balochistan, Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa and in rural areas for the sake of providing state of the art facilities. We are working on latest 3G technology, he said. The Prime Minister underscored the need of utilizing technology for electronic compilation of data about cross-border movement betweenPakistan and Afghanistan, which would help track down the terrorists. He said that over 40,000 people crossed the hundreds of kilometers long border on daily basis and it was virtually impossible to keep a physical check at some points of the terrain despite presence of Pakistani check posts. Speaking on the occasion, Eric Emerson Schmidt, Executive Chairman of Google Inc. said that demographic composition of Pakistani population was a great national asset and the Pakistani youth was talented and eager to get acquainted with the information technology. He assured the Prime Minister that his company was willing to help Pakistan to spread the information technology throughout the country. He said that connectivity offered the best choices to the youth to get themselves gainfully engaged, which in turn was critical to combat the extremist tendencies. The Chief Executive said that the building up and maintenance of database through use of information technology was crucial to deal with security issues as well as law and order situation. He said that it was also important for formulating the economic development strategy. n
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Dureen Ance Anwer
ust how unearthing the dazzle of diamonds cannot be achieved without carving, it is nearly impossible for talent to shine through without proper mentorship. A mentor is someone who sees aptitude and ability in you and does whatever they can to bring out your talent. It can be someone from your immediate family, your neighborhood, friends, teachers, colleagues or relatives. But sometimes guidance
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comes from the most unexpected sources and brings the opportunity of a lifetime. It then depends on you whether you want to open the door when the opportunity knocks on it or re-
main unresponsive inside. One such opportunity presented itself to the football fanatics in Pakistan recently and it was received with great zeal and excitement. ZONG, the digital partner of Pakistani nation, signed a 3 year content partnership agreement with Manchester United football club last year to bring the estimated 10 million football fans in Pakistan closer to Old Trafford. This one of its kind collaboration between a telecom operator and a sports club gave football lovers in Pakistan the rare opportunity to see all goals scored, as well as exclusive interviews, news and behind-the-scenes access. As if this wasnt enough of a treat the telecom company also decided to send 32 young football players to Manchester United Soccer School, Abu Dhabi for a 1 week training camp. Although football in Pakistan is as old as the country itself, it o n l y started
Event
to gain popularity among the masses during the last few decades. The game has had a checkered history but with its growing following internationally, football was also revived in Pakistan and is now possibly the fastest growing team game in our country.
UNITED KICKOFF Football Tournament was launched on May 04, 2012. Football matches were held among these teams and the winning team, Rooney United, comprising 16 players has left for their dream journey i.e. training at Man-
bling, short passing, turning and finishing. The program will also look to develop the young players in other fields, such as tactical understanding, and mental, physical and social growth.
From the streets to the league system, Pakistan is filled with immensely talented football players. All they needed was a little support which fortunately ZONG has now stepped up to provide. ZONG is a shining example of friendship between Pakistan and China and its initiatives in Pakistan are testimony to the love, commitment and support it has for Pakistan and its people. Partnership with an international football club of such notable repute is one such initiative through which the telecom operator is support-
ZONG is a shining example of friendship between Pakistan and China and its initiatives in Pakistan are testimony to the love, commitment and support it has for Pakistan and its people. Partnership with Manchester United is one such initiative through which the telecom operator is supporting emerging talent, irrespective of their social status, prior training in football and affiliation with clubs or leagues
chester United Soccer School in Abu Dhabi on June 11, 2012. Apart from these 16 outstanding players of the Carrick United Karachi team have
Manchester United Soccer Schools (MUSS) offer coaching courses for footballers of all ages, backgrounds and abilities, from six years old through to adults. MUSS skills development programs are consistent with the philosophy used by the famous Manchester United Youth Academy, with over 10,000 players each year learning to play the United Way across the world. All programs are coached by accredited MUSS, UEFA-qualified staff with each session being delivered in a fun, positive learning environment. What more can a football enthusiast dream off?
ing emerging talent, irrespective of their social status, prior training in football and affiliation with clubs or leagues. To shortlist players, trials were conducted in major cities of Pakistan including Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad/ Rawalpindi, Multan and Faisalabad. A total of 128 teams of young boys within the age bracket of 13-17 years of age were registered for the knock out round. Out of these teams, 58 belonged to different schools and 70 teams were of individual children selected by professional coaches. Individual registration was carried out to ensure that equal opportunity is provided to all children, even those who were not part of any school teams but had the potential to impress spectators with their football skills. After short listing 128 teams, ZONG
also gone to the school to participate in a 5 day program, which will include a series of fun and challenging coaching sessions focusing on a variety of different technical areas such as drib-
Our youth today undeniably needs constructive outlets to express themselves and through its partnership with Manchester United, ZONG has offered them not only a platform to showcase their talent to the world, but also an opportunity to groom themselves with the help of the best of the bests. There is a famous Chinese proverb that all great masters in any great endeavor of life first had an excellent mentor, similarly these young champions of football and our future stars will one day look back in time and thank ZONG for providing them this inimitable opportunity. By organizing this activity ZONG has once again become a pioneer, and this time it is not just technological innovation but also an endeavor to foster the talent of Pakistani youth. n
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Chaudhary Amjad
ur country of 190 million people has a vibrant economy, our growth rate is 7percent and our population is under 20 and this makes South Asia as the only large economic area that shall not face a decline in the number of people entering the labour force for the next 50 years, whereas, future is ours. This century and the next century belong to Asia just as the last two centuries belong to the West. 'To take part in this march we have to get our people ready, nearly 70 percent of our people are under-educated or illiterate. The Punjab government is implementing a comprehensive programme for providing modern educational facilities to the children and Daanish School project is a revolutionary step of Punjab government which will not only mini-
Laptop distribution: a way forward

laptop should be distributed through transparent system and keep the distribution ceremonies simple. A scheme titled Advancement of Information Technology amongst students through provision of laptop computers is included in the ADP of School Education Department for the financial year 2011-12 at Gr. Sr. No. 12 with an allocation of Rs. 2000.000 million. Major component / targets of the project are
the same purpose as reflected in the Annual Development Programme 2011-12 and no change has been made in the scope / targets of the project. School Education Department Punjab has already established IT Labs in schools throughout the province and Higher Education Department has also approved a project for provision of IT Labs in colleges during the current financial year. With the provision of laptop computers students can use the benefits of IT environment at their educational institutes as well as their homes. There is no comparison between the establishment of an IT Lab and provision of laptop computers because for the establishment of a lab civil work as well as purchase of hardware is involved, which is a time taking exercise, however, laptop computers can im-
With the provision of free laptop computers students can use the benefits of IT environment at their educational institutes as well as their homes. This project will provide better IT facilities to the brilliant students of the province
mize the divide between the rich and the poor but the children of the poor parents will also be able to acquire modern education and play their due role in national development and prosperity. The government is implementing a programme for providing modern educational facilities to the children, government schools have been given the status of English medium schools last year while Punjab government has also lunched a vigorous campaign for primary enrolment and lakhs of children have been given admission in the schools so far as a result of this campaign whereas governments was giving emphasis on the teachers training and funds have been provided to the concerned department for this purpose. The government is working hard to achieve 88 per cent literacy rate till 2015 so that to fulfill the international commitment under millennium development goals. 2,62,500 students under the age of 4 to 15 years are getting education under non-formal basic education schools, government is fully aware of its responsibility in developing educational sector by providing the basic education and this is the reason that government has started primary enrollment campaign to achieve 100 percent literacy rate in the province. The distribution of laptop to the talented students is a revolutionary step toward achieving the goal. One lakh 25 thousand laptops worth Rs. 3 billion are being distributed during current fiscal year, whereas, three lakh laptops amounting Rs. 12 billion will be distributed during next fiscal year. Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has directed the mediately be used. This project will provide better IT facilities to the brilliant students of the province on the following grounds, laptop computers allow students the freedom to easily transport all of their work and research anywhere they need, universities in Pakistan are switching to Wi-Fi so that students can access the internet on their own laptops to begin working on homework instead of having to wait for a lab or library computer to become available, laptops today weigh less than some textbooks, students can easily tuck them in their backpacks or under their arm for transportation to class and back, using a laptop to take notes during a class lecture allows a student to quickly and easily record a lecturers important points, the features on a computer can be specifically tailored to an individuals preference to allow for optimum and efficient organization of files and information and this is easier than dealing with hard copies of files, papers and folders enabling students to be more organized. The total cost of laptops is Rs.37700 which included 15 months warranty, after sale service, bag, storage expenses and air fare. If these charges are excluded, the price of laptop comes to Rs.31000. The education department or government has no concern with the distribution of laptops, heads of educational institutions prepare lists on merit basis and these lists are on display at the website. The list of those students who have been given laptops will also be placed on the website along with serial number of the laptop. The writer is freelance columnist, he can be reached at: ch.amjad59@gmail.com. n
The distribution of laptop to the talented students is a revolutionary step toward achieving the goal. One lakh 25 thousand laptops worth Rs. 3 billion are being distributed during current fiscal year, whereas, three lakh laptops amounting Rs. 12 billion will be distributed during next fiscal year
provision of laptop computers and IT environment to the students. Laptop computers are being provided to the students on purely merit basis and for the purpose students studying in higher classes have been declared eligible of all public sector educational institutes. Funds of this project are being utilized for
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Flare Report
ime was when homework meant foolscape sheets and handwritten assignments, and computers were meant only for the computer science lab in the school. Now, there may computers all over the house, and school assignments mean A4 printouts, even with spiral-binding. The future is here. So the question arises: do you have a printer at home? Are you planning to buy one? Are you fully clued-in to the world of inkjets and lasers and copiers and scanners? Read on to pick your machine. Identify your needs before you go further, ask yourself some basic questions: How many prints would you take a month? How many would be in colour? Are you okay with getting printouts and photocopies from a shop? Do you have multiple PCs at home? Do you know that you can send an email to your printer, and it would print? Would you be printing your digital photographs? Get set for Step 2. Inkjet printers: These are the most common printer family. It is difficult to compare various inkjet models but the moment you start looking at a printer that needs to print over 200 pages a month, specifications such as print speed and size of the paper tray become important. Most inkjet printers are colour capable. But the thing that matters is how much it will cost to
How to choose a printer

Identify your needs before you go further, ask yourself some basic questions: How many prints would you take a month? How many would be in colour? Are you okay with getting printouts and photocopies from a shop? Do you have multiple PCs at home?
member that it is difficult to come by monochrome printers off the shelf. In case photoprinting is important, inkjets fare better than laser printers, but with sites such as Snapfish that provide printing services, it works out better to get the job done professionally -- unless you want instant gratification. Laser printers: These need to be considered if high volumes are required. Print cartridges cost Rs. 2,000-3,000 -- and usually are in the four-colour format. At one time they used to be very costly, but now an entry-level laser printer costs about Rs. 6,000, and have begun ers are power hoggers. USB, Ethernet or Wi-Fi: If you plan to connect only one PC to the printer, a USB printer is a great option. If you want to use multiple computers on one printer, a networked printer is a better -- though costlier -- option. Iif you don't wish to run wires, wi-fi is the way to go. This writer prefers the wired route, personally. To e-print, or not to e-print: Send a mail to your printer, and find your printout waiting for you. Sounds like a dream? Some printers do have this facility. This can work if have a networked printer with your home broadband working, and everything powered on. Of course, you may still get some nasty surprises when you get home: a paper jam, maybe, or no printout. Or worse, several sets of printouts. All-in-one: Copier, scanner, fax. Why have seperate machines for each function when both inkjet and laser variants offer all functionalities? Even if you already have a scanner, it would not hurt you to have a backup device. Consider this option if you have an office-like needs to communicate frequently in many forms. Camera-friendly printers: Some printers sport a USB port that says "Picbridge" or "Camera-ready." This basically means you can hook up your camera directly to the printer via USB and print an image from the camera directly. This writer likes to get photos printed professionally, and is willing to lug a pen-drive or memory card to the photo-lab and wait for the printouts. But it depends upon your individual tastes and requirements. n
print a colour page. Work this out by dividing the cost of the cartridge with the number of pages one cartridge can handle -- about which the vendor would give you an idea. If the cartridge costs Rs 1,500 and it can print about 500
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pages, the cost per page is R3. It is a good idea to double that as an estimate, because if a printer is not used for some time, the cartridge may dry up and need to be replaced. Some printouts may be graphic-heavy, consuming up a lot of the ink. Also check if it will print with black cartridge if the colour cartridge runs out. Some do, but may not work in black mode without other colours. In some printers the colour part is also subdivided, so they take four cartridges -- black, cyan, magenta and yellow. This may appear an expensive alternative, but you get the benefit of needing to change only the particular colour that has run out. If the vendor talks of refilling an ink cartridge, let that not be a deciding criterion. The overall economics is what really counts. Even if you don't need colour printers, re-
Some printers sport a USB port that says "Picbridge" or "Camera-ready." This basically means you can hook up your camera directly to the printer via USB and print an image from the camera directly. But it depends upon your individual tastes and requirements
to gain popularity. If your turnover is likely to be high, laser is a viable alternative, with the bonus that the ink will not dry up as it is in powder form! The downside is that the laser print-
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e join two friends, X and Y (two fictional characters) in their conversation to know more about credit card balance transfers, how they work and things to keep in mind while using the facility. X is sitting dejected, staring at his credit card bill, when Y walks in. Y: Whats up? X: My credit card statement. Y: What does it say? X: I went overboard on my card, due to that foreign trip, the digital camera I bought and that iPad I could not resist. I dont know what I was thinking then. Y: Well, you were not thinking. Anyway, can I help? X: I am not sure how I will manage to pay this huge bill. It's over R1 lakh now. And the company charges an interest rate of 40percent per annum. Y: 40percent per annum is a lot. May be you should consider a credit card balance transfer. X: Whats a credit card bal-
How to repay credit card debt?

est waiver if you plan to get a new card. Of course, the interest rate offered would vary from bank to bank. X: I just have one card as of now. So I will anyway need to get a new card for balance transfer.
X: Okay, so how do I go about getting this transfer? Y: Just get in touch with the bank. Tell them you are interested in a balance transfer. Give details of your current card to the new bank. Do the required paperwork. After the new bank verifies the details, they will send you a demand draft within two weeks. The draft will be for the transferred amount in favour of the old credit card bank. X: Okay, so I will have to do some research to get a good offer. Y: Yes, you can avail a balance transfer if you already have cards from different banks and they offer such a facility. This means that the same bank will not let you transfer balance on another card. X: I will need to get in touch with another bank then. Y: Totally, most banks have information about balance transfer options on their website. In fact, if youve been a good borrower, you could also ask your original credit card lender to reduce your rate of in-
If you transfer your dues to another card, you would pay a much lower rate on the second card. This may help manage your debt better. But never make it a habit; if you make a habit of it, it may eventually get you into a debt trap
ance transfer? Y: Its a facility offered by banks on credit cards, wherein you can transfer outstanding balance from one credit card to another. X: Whats the benefit? Y: When you do a balance transfer, usually you pay a much lower interest rate on the card on which the balance is transferred. So that way, you are able to manage or pay the monthly dues with some ease. Lower the rate, lower the cost. X: Sounds good. Please tell me how this balance transfer works? Y: Usually, you can do two types of balance transfers. One is the fixed duration option and the other is the lifetime duration option. It depends on the bank you approach. X: Tell me a bit more about each option. Y: The fixed duration option is a limited period offer, usuterest. But that needs some good negotiation skills. X: Well, I have been a regular borrower. But I am just way too upset with my current bank. I hope this transfer thing does not cost me a huge fee. Y: You will have to shell out some money as a one-time processing fee. But that is anywhere between a few hundred rupees to around 2 percent of the amount you transfer. The fee varies from bank to bank. X: But, a word of caution. X: Word of caution? Y: Yes, this facility is a temporary solution to your current problem of out-of control dues, which you need to pay back at high interest rate. If you fall into the habit of balance transfers every now and then, you may fall into a deep debt trap. X: Thats the last place I want to be in. Y: True. X: Can I use the new
ally 3-12 months, where you need to pay your dues within that period of time. In this duration, the bank offers you a lower interest rate around 0.80percent per month or 9 percent per annum. In fact, some banks may even give you a full inter-
But what if I am unable to pay the due within the limited period of time, what happens then? Y: In that case, the bank will charge you the regular rate of interest, which could be similar to the rate you are paying on the current card. X: Okay. Y: A few banks also give an equated monthly installment (EMI) option to pay back the dues. But again if you miss a payment, then your rate will increase to the regular rate of interest. X: What about the second option? Y: In the lifetime option, you get a lifetime to pay back the dues. But the interest charged isnt as low as the fixed rate option. Its just slightly less than what you pay on your regular credit card. Around 1-2 percent per month or 12-24 percent per annum. However, most banks give limited period offer.
card to make purchases? Y: Yes, you can, but for the new purchases, you will need to pay the regular rate of interest. I suggest you just use the card to transfer the balance and get rid of the debt as soon as possible. Dont add more debt. X: Thanks. n
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Chaudhary Amjad
he giant orange robotic arms that swiftly weld together car frames at the Great Wall Motors factory in Baoding might seem like the perfect answer to China's fast-rising labour costs - they don't ask for a raise, get injured or go on strike. For Great Wall, a private sector Chinese car maker that employs 50,000 workers, the Swiss robots and other machinery that line its bright factory floor produce more than cost savings. The company hopes they will help it build cars good enough to compete with the global auto makers. "You don't have to be an expert see the (quality) gap between Chinese cars and those made by companies like Audi and Volkswagen," said Li Shaohui, who oversees automatic control engineering for the company. To beat those competi-
The army of cheap labourers that made China a manufacturing powerhouse is neither as vast as once thought nor as cheap as it was. In response, manufacturers have been spending heavily on machines that will both make them more productive and let them churn out higher quality goods
tors we have no choice but to use a higher level of equipment and technology." From car plants to microchip foundries, China's industrial sector increasingly runs by machine. According to Nomura, 28 percent of factory machines in China use numerical controls - one measure of automation. That may be far lower than Japan's 83 percent, but China is growing far faster than Japan did at a comparable stage of development, says Ge Wenjie, a machinery analyst with Nomura. One of the biggest could be Foxconn Technology Group, maker of products for tech giant Apple, which is talking of plans to put a million robots in its factories. The army of cheap labourers that made China a manufacturing powerhouse is neither as vast as once thought nor as cheap as it was. In response, manufacturers have been spending heavily on machines that will both make them more productive and let them churn out higher quality goods. That change will pose a growing challenge for U.S., European and Japanese industrial companies not used to competing with Chinese firms in the high-end segments of their markets. In other words, China may soon be known less for cheap Christmas toys and more for high-end medical equipment, luxury cars and jet engines. Automation doesn't come cheap. A factory floor robot of the kind in Great Wall's plant costs about 4 million Japanese yen according to Ge of Nomura, and a production line might easily have 100 of them. There is also the cost of downtime, when machines need to be maintained or adjusted to handle new products. For years, low wages meant automation was simply not worth the expense. A company didn't need to buy a packaging machine when it was cheaper to hire a room full of workers to do the same thing. But steady cost rises are tilting the balance in favour of Despite China's manufacturing prowess, its productivity is strikingly low. The average U.S. worker in a goods-producing job produces $84,580 worth of exports compared with just $5,228 for a Chinese worker, according to consulting firm High Frequency Economics. That gap - a ratio of 16 to 1 - is partly explained by the higher-value items made in U.S. factories, but also by the heavy application of capital and technology. "Automation and mechanisation is an incredibly important driver of productivity increase," said Louis Kuijs, an economist with the Fung Global Institute in Hong Kong. "There is huge scope for China to get more productivity out of its workers by doing this upgrading." China's investment levels are high in international terms - manufacturing investment reached 10.3 trillion yuan last year, up 31.8 percent from 2010 - with much of the spending resulting in newer, better factories. "What you're seeing is a really high level of investment in Chinese manufacturing, but most of this is not going to expanding capacity. It's making the workers more efficient," said Rothman. "The small private firms that I visit around the country, they're still a bunch of guys in T-shirts banging on metal with rock. So they can invest in machinery and move up the value chain. I think there's a long way to go for that in China."n
Robots lift China's factories to next level
rials is going up and wages are going up," said Andy Rothman, an economist with CLSA in Hong Kong. "So really, the only way that most companies can survive is to raise productivity and the best way to do that here is to add a little bit more equipment." Surging demand for automation is a boon for makers of such equipment as sensors, frequency converters, conveyor belts, pneumatic systems. Mitsubishi Electric Corp., which like Switzerland's ABB Ltd. , Japan's Fanuc and others supplies such devices to China, sees sales there rising from 60 billion yen in 2011 to 100 billion yen by 2015, according to Masaki Shiroshita, president of Mitsubishi Electric Automation (China), Ltd. The trend will also affect the broader economy.
China's investment levels are high in international terms manufacturing investment reached 10.3 trillion yuan last year, up 31.8 percent from 2010 - with much of the spending resulting in newer, better factories
machines. Last year, urban labour costs in China increased 12.3 percent in inflation-adjusted terms for private companies, which face a worsening labour shortage. "Everyone is doing this because there's tremendous competition in China and the cost of raw mate-
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Mosaic
National
Fr e e d ow n lo ad | f la re .p k
President Asif Ali Zardari during welcoming luncheon hosted by President Hu Jintao on the occasion of 12th SCO summit held in Beijing.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar arrive for a joint Press conference in Islamabad.
Mr Mian Zeeshan Pervaiz Akhtar, CEO, QMobile (R) and Zeeshan Qureshi, Director Marketing QMobile (L) presented awards and certificates to the lucky winners to retailer/distributor ceremony held in Karachi.
Imran Qureshi, Director Carrier & Government Relations wi-tribe, gives away an iPad to lucky winner Naqee-ur-Rehman.
Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (Operations) Rear Admiral Khan Hashan Bin Saddiqui SI (M), Ambassador of Czech Republic Miroslav KRENEK along with his spouse and Defence Attache of Czech Republic Colonel Lubos KOULDELK along with his spouse, posing for a group photo during a ceremony to celebrate the Armed Forces Day of Czech Republic.
Secretary Defence Nargis Sethi, shaking hand with Shashi Kant Shama, Indian Secretary Defence, on Ministry of Defence, Rawalpindi.
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A student watches the transit of Planet Venus across the sun using a welder's mask for eye protection while another takes a photograph using her iPhone in Lahore.
Jamal Nasir, Group Head HR UBL poses for photograph with students and faculty members of Lahore Stock Exchange.
Fr e e d o w nload | fl ar e. pk
International
Mosaic
Japanese actress Ayame Goriki displays a new smartphone of Japan's second largest mobile carrier KDDI, produced by HTC in Tokyo
A model displays a prototype model of NTT DoCoMo's smartphone with at a telecommunications exhibition in Tokyo
A model displays the world's first smartphone featuring a nuclear radiation detector named "Pantone 5" and produced by Japanese electronics giant Sharp as part of Japan's mobile carrier Softbank new lineup of handset offer in Tokyo
Models display a tablet and smartphones of Japan's second largest mobile carrier KDDI in Tokyo
Managing director, sales and marketing group Intel South Asia, Debjani Ghosh (R) and a model display the newly launched Intel Ultrabook at a function in New Delhi
Models pose with LG Electronics' new smartphones, the Optimus LTE II, in Seoul
Activists of Ukrainian women's rights group Femen (L-R) Yana Zhdanova,Alexandra Shevchenko, Oksana Shachko Anna Hutsol, Yulia Bondarenko and Inna Shevchenko look at pictures on a mobile phone at their office in Kiev
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Flare Report
Fr e e d ow n lo ad | fl a re. p k
day after the historic Facebook stock offering, Zuckerberg weds 27-year-old American-Chinese Priscilla Chan, his girlfriend of nearly a decade. Zuckerberg gave his new bride a ring he had designed with a "very simple ruby". The couple married at his Palo Alto, Calif. home in front of fewer than 100 stunned guests who thought they would be attending a party to celebrate Chan's graduation from medical school. Zuckerberg turned 28 and Chan graduated from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, where she'd studied pediatrics. Zuckerberg took his blue-and-white web behemoth public in one of the most anticipated IPOs in Wall Street history. The wedding had been planned for months and the couple was waiting for Chan to finish medical school, but the date of the IPO was a "moving target" not known when the wedding was set.
single largest shareholder, with 503.6 million shares, and he controls the company with 56 percent of its voting stock.
In what could be one of the first of such instances in India, a woman from Aurangabad has filed for divorce because her husband did not change his Facebook relationship status from single to married. The social network provides options to set the relationship status as single, married, or engaged. The 28-year old woman, who was married two months ago, has
Woman divorces for failing to change FB status to "married"
Attendees, including Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, were told after they arrived that they were not mere party guests but wedding guests. Everybody was shocked. Ditching his trademark hoodie and sneakers, Zuckerberg sported a dark blue suit and tie with a white shirt for the ceremony, while Chan wore
The social network provides options to set the relationship status as single, married, or engaged. The 28year old woman, who was married two months ago, has approached the family court seeking divorce stating that she cannot trust her husband anymore, as he has failed to announce their marriage on Facebook
a traditional white wedding dress with veil and lace. Food was served family-style and included dishes from the couple's favorite Palo Alto sushi restaurant. Zuckerberg met Chan at Harvard, where he founded Facebook in a dorm room in 2004, and have been together for more than nine years. Chan's own Facebook page, which now lists her as married to the founder, said she is a native of Braintree, Mass., and attended high school in nearby Quincy. She graduated Harvard in 2007 then taught science to fourth and fifth graders at the Harker School in San Jose for two years before starting medical school, according to her profile. Her page also says she "loves cooking and soft things." Even after the IPO, Zuckerberg, who grew up in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., remains Facebook's
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approached the family court seeking divorce stating that she cannot trust her husband anymore, as he has failed to announce their marriage on Facebook. Her husband, on his part, says that he forgot to update his status, because he was apparently so busy with family and business that he had no time to check his profile page or change the status. If Mark Zuckerberg could find time to change his status to married, I find this a bit hard to believe. The husband has since stated that he was now willing to change his status or even de-activate his account, although the woman has said that she is not keen on continuing the relationship any further. I once again fail to understand why he has not followed his words by action. A recent report by Divorce-Online has claimed that in the 5000 divorce petitions filed with the firm within the past one year, 33% have mentioned FB to be one of the reasons. Online social networking has been increasingly becoming a part of our lives, and this incident just proves how much of an impact it can have on us. We cannot roll back the advantages and disadvantages of the new digi-
tal age, and hence the best way is to be aware of the changes and start living accordingly.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg changed his status to married and received over one million likes from his followers. But the site he founded isnt always so marriage-friendly. In fact, lawyers say the social network contributes to an increasing number of marriage breakups. More than a third of divorce filings last year contained the word Facebook, according to a survey by Divorce Online, a UK-based legal services firm. And over 80 percent of U.S. divorce attorneys say theyve seen a rise in the number of cases using social networking, according to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. I see Facebook issues breaking up marriages all the time, says Gary Traystman, a divorce attorney in New London, Conn. Of the 15 cases he handles per year where computer history, texts and emails are admitted as evidence, 60 percent exclusively involve Facebook. The site did not immediately respond to requests for comment. n
Does Facebook wreck marriages?
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The politics of digital warfare

said ...'(For) a long time everything has been under the radar, no one was really sure that the US was practicing this kind of activity. The U.S. has acted like it was an innocent victim' of state-sponsored attacks by other countries, he said." The damning article details some pithy moments: "'Should we shut this thing down?' Mr Obama asked, according to members of the president's national security team who were in the room." Well, no, Mr President, that's not how properly constructed military-specification computer viruses work when they're in attack-mode. You don't hit the 'Like' button on your friend Mister Antivirus to make it all go away. Stuxnet, (ironically code-named 'Olympic Games' and initiated by the Bush administration in 2006) "was of an entirely different type and sophistication," according to the newspaper. "It appears to be the first time the United States has repeatedly used cyberweapons to cripple another country's infrastructure, achieving, with computer code, what until then could be accomplished only by bombing a country or sending in agents to plant explosives," said the article. "Mr Obama, according to participants in the many Situation Room meetings on Olympic Games, was acutely aware that with every attack he was
But now the Euro Cup graces the former turf of the "evil empire," and there's another presidential election stateside. Former U.S. chief executives could often conjure villains for the electorate. The now-kaput Soviet Union won't do. What now? What appeals to Generation Facebook?
n American local newspaper says Stuxnet was a joint U.S.-Israeli project. Will this loss of moral high ground expose U.S. interests to cyberwarfare? This year there's a Summer Olympics, a European football contest, and a U.S. presidential election. The Olympics return to London for the first time since 1948, the Euro Cup comes to Poland and Ukraine, and the U.S. election hinges on only a few states as the USA still uses a colonial-era "electoral college" which supersedes the popular vote. This year's Euro Cup features eastern Europe locations. While Ukraine struggles with its public political image, Poland emerges as a player within the EU. Five years ago, I visited the stadium in Warsaw. It was a derelict, overgrown open pit with rotting bleachers. Dodgy characters offered to sell me bootleg vodka and pirated CDs. Friends told me that handguns and AK-47s were sometimes on offer. You'll see the same stadium (considerably revamped) soon as a centerpiece for Euro Cup matches. Decades ago, Poland distanced itself from what former U.S. president Ronald Reagan called the "evil empire" (the Soviet Union), then the entire Iron Curtain came crashing down suddenly as Western newscasters struggled to pronounce the words "glastnost" and "perestroika"... and the USA lost its favorite arch-enemy. But now the Euro Cup graces the former turf of the "evil empire," and there's another presidential election stateside. Former U.S. chief executives could often conjure villains for the electorate. The now-kaput Soviet Union won't do. What now? What appeals to Generation Facebook? What else? Cyberwarfare. Given the rapid rise of
personal-computing power, with resultant gaps in public-understanding of technology, the specter of villains lurking online ready to crash essential systems in a concerted cyberstrike holds more appeal than comparing Putin to Stalin. But a new report has wrenched the cyberwarfare angle. According to the newspaper, the Stuxnet worm (one of the more sophisticated viruses ever found in the wild) is the result of "a joint U.S. and Israeli effort to target
But a new report has wrenched the cyberwarfare angle. According to the newspaper, the Stuxnet worm (one of the more sophisticated viruses ever found in the wild) is the result of "a joint U.S. and Israeli effort to target Iran's nuclear program
Iran's nuclear program." IDG journalist Jaikumar Vijayan writes that the report "is sure to trigger a sharp increase in state-sponsored cyberattacks against American businesses and critical infrastructure targets, security experts warn." "Alan Paller, director of research at the SANS Institute, said the revelation dramatically alters the cybersecurity landscape," wrote Vijayan. "'We are now going to be the target of massive attacks,' Paller
pushing the United States into new territory, much as his predecessors had with the first use of atomic weapons in the 1940s, of intercontinental missiles in the 1950s and of drones in the past decade. He repeatedly expressed concerns that any American acknowledgment that it was using cyberweapons ... could enable other countries, terrorists or hackers to justify their own attacks." And in 2012, as Londoners discover the Ministry of Defence is considering placing surface-to-air missiles on residential flats during the Olympics, the article said "another cyberweapon called Flame was recently discovered to have attacked the computers of Iranian officials ... American officials say that it was not part of Olympic Games. They have declined to say whether the United States was responsible for the Flame attack." The Olympic Flame seems to have acquired an unintentional double-meaning. But among these half-revealed tales of cyberwarfare, who are the real bad guys? Security experts know that malware is in a constant of flux, and actions often provoke reactions. Just ask Sony about their experience with Anonymous. Perhaps the U.S president was prescient by repeatedly voicing his concern over the U.S. government's actions. We can only hope that the technological expertise that created Stuxnet was also applied to hardening weak-points that may be attacked, now that the USA has lost the moral highground. No word yet on whether the U..S presidential candidates plan to make cyberwarfare a campaignissue. Perhaps this particular issue has become too hot for mere politicians to handle. n
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Flare Report
Cyber villains step up weapons creation

ou believe it or not cyber criminals are cranking out new weapons at a brisk pace, tailoring malicious software for a spectrum of gadgets including smartphones, tablets and Macintosh computers, a security firm warned. A "threats report" released by McAfee showed that the number of new pieces of malicious code, or "malware," targeting Windows machines in the first three months of this year was the highest in four years. There was also a rise in malware aimed at mobile gadgets running on Google-backed Android software and at Macintosh computers based on Apple operating systems, according to the report. "In the first quarter of 2012, we have already detected eight million new malware samples, showing that malware authors are continuing their unrelenting development," said McAfee Labs senior vice president Vincent Weafer. "The same skills and techniques that were sharpened on the PC platform are increasingly being extended to other platforms, such as mobile and Mac." For a long time cyber criminals concentrated their attention on getting into Windows-powered personal computers (PCs) because the popularity of the operating system meant a wealth of potential victims. But as Apple and Android devices have caught on around the world, they have emerged as a new target. "As more homes and businesses use these platforms, the attacks
tacks in the quarter, McAfee reported. Cyber crooks sell malware software kits and rent out use of botnets, according to Internet security specialists and law enforcement. On the other hand, In Asian countries, nearly 500 people were arrested by police across Asia over $11.5-million telecom scam targeting people in China. Most of the 482 people held were from China and Taiwan. They were arrested there and in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Fiji, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua said. The accused who said to have defrauded their Chinese victims of a total of 73 million yuan ($11.5 million), it said. The rest of the suspects are from Thailand and Myanmar. "The group mainly squeezed money from individuals or companies by calling them in the name of police or procuratorial staff and threatening to accuse them of money-laundering crimes," said Liu Ancheng, deputy director of China's Criminal Investigation Bureau. They asked the victims to transfer money into the gang's accounts and then told accomplices in Taiwan and Thailand to withdraw the money from local cash machines, Liu was quoted as saying. The ringleaders were from Taiwan, Liu said. What Xinhua called "money-laundering dens" were also found in Taiwan and Thailand. China's Ministry of Public Security launched an investigation in November and invited police from Taiwan -- a self-ruled island which Beijing considers part of its territory -- to "work out effective solutions". The report quoted the ministry as lauding the cooperation between all the territories and countries. "The ministry said it regards the coordinated crackdown on the tele-
The number of networks of virus-infected computers, referred to as "botnets," rose to nearly five million, with Colombia, Japan, Poland, Spain and the United States seeing the biggest increases
will spread," Weafer said. While Mac malware has been steadily proliferating, it is still a small fraction of what has been developed for PCs, according to McAfee. The amount of spam in the quarter dropped to slightly more than a trillion trash messages monthly, with significant decreases in Brazil, Russia, and Indonesia and increases in China, Britain, Germany, Poland, and Spain. The number of networks of virus-infected computers, referred to as "botnets," rose to nearly five million, with Colombia, Japan, Poland, Spain and the United States seeing the biggest increases.
NSA has two main missions: to protect U.S. government computer networks and to collect foreign intelligence through electronic means like satellites and decode it
Hackers use ploys such as booby-trapped emails or links to secretly infect machines with malware that can let them not only steal data or track keystrokes but use the infected machines to launch further attacks. The United States was the primary address for botnets and cyber at-
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com scam as a new paradigm of international police cooperation," it said. The National Security Agency is trying to expand U.S. cyber expertise needed for secret intelligence operations against adversaries on computer networks through a new cyber-ops program at selected universities. The cyber-ops curriculum is geared to providing the basic education for jobs in intelligence, military and law enforcement that are so secret they will only be revealed to some students and faculty, who need to pass security clearance requirements, during special summer seminars offered by NSA. It is not easy to find the right people for cyber operations because the slice of the hacker community that would make a quality cyber operator inside the government is only a sliver. The "quality cyber operators" the NSA is looking for are few and far between, says Neal Ziring, technical director at the agency's Information Assurance Directorate. "We're trying to create more of these, and yes they have to know some of the things that hackers know, they have to know a lot of other things too, which is why you really want a good university to create these people for you," Ziring told Reuters in an interview at NSA's headquarters in Maryland. NSA has two main missions: to protect U.S. government computer networks and to collect foreign intelligence through electronic means like satellites and decode it. n
Free down lo a d | fl a re. p k
NEWS
AIESEC lauds Ufones project Pakistan Tum He To Ho
Pakistan is a beautiful country and we are confident that the project taken forward by
Ufone Pakistan Tum He To Ho is one of the best projects which will neutralize the false neg-
ative impression of Pakistan globally, said by Haider Raza, one of the members of AIESEC Induty to maintain our core values so as to meet our obligations towards all the stakeholders in the most befitting manner. He said over 80 percent of the population has no access to banking facilities. Branchless banking is the tool to cater to the banking needs of this vast unbanked community, courtesy the mobile phone networking, which has penetrated to almost 60 percent of the population of the country. CEO of Zong Fan Yunjun said, Askari cellular operator, officials added. As part of their recent investments in customer-focused digital channels, the company's revamped website format is a great success as its new design is more organized and well defined and allows users to easily navigate through the entire range of Brands and offerings based on their requirements. All the latest offers by the operator are publicized through a slideshow, while links to social networking websites Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are also embedded in the website. Developed in HTML5 with a neat and clean look, the new improved and more user friendly website comes up with very relevant features and short links for Postpaid, Prepaid, Glow, Products and Services, International Roaming, Customer Services, Network Coverage and Career pages. n
ternational during a press conference held by AIESEC representatives here in Lahore. AIESEC representatives from foreign countries are currently visiting Pakistan to monitor Ufones project Pakistan Tum He To Ho and as part of the project they conducted a press conference in which they shared their review of the project with the media. Haider Raza briefed the media about the salient features of the project carried out by Ufone and AIESEC jointly. He said that the project in mainly initiated to neutralize the Bank is an opportunity for Zong to emphasis on its endeavors to provide best networking solutions to the people of Pakistan to enhance the comfort and quality of life through this new product the branchless banking services of Askari Bank. He assured the joint venture would be a great success. According to State Bank of Pakistans report, the average number of branchless banking transactions per month has increased to 7 million involving Rs 27 billion. n
negative image of Pakistan. Haider Raza urged the visiting AIESEC to go through the portal Pakistan Tum He To Ho. It would help them understand the positive side of Pakistan, he added. In the next phase, the AIESEC interns would share the available information about Pakistan on the portal to other websites, blogs and networking communities to create global mass awareness that Pakistan was a progressive and forward looking country, he declared. Ms. Zsophia Antal, a AIESEC member, while sharing her expe-
rience of this project said that this project is really an eye opener for the people. She said that Pakistan is really a beautiful country and the people here are very friendly and peace-loving. To conduct this project with Ufone was a wonderful experience for me and Im pretty hopeful that Pakistan Tum He To Ho will help highlighting the positive side of Pakistan in the international arena. Other AIESEC members Heer Ayoub and Aneeqa Khan were also present at the press conference. n
Zong, Askari Bank offer branchless banking services

Karachi: Zong and Askari Bank have entered into a joint venture to launch branchless banking services in the country. Askari Bank Ltd in collaboration with Zong has become one of the leading bank to offer Branchless Banking services under Bank Telco JV arrangement. The pilot launch is now offering conventional banking services currently salary disbursement for largescale organisations and account to account transfer through mobile channel. The service is powered by Inov8, which is one of the leading technology companies in Pakistan and one of the first to provide mobile commerce service in the country. President Askari Bank, M R Mehkari said, It is our
Nokia unveils new range of handsets
(L-R) Arif Shafique, GM Nokia Pakistan & Afghanistan, Saulo Passos, Nokia Global Director Mobile Phone Comunications, Imran Khalid Mahmood, VP Nokia Near East and Calin Turcanu, Head of Mobile Phone Business Unit Nokia Middle East & Africa unveil the latest Nokia devices-Nokia 110 and 112 at the 1st ever Nokia global launch from Pakistan.
Warid revampes corporate website
wi-tribe offers double volume on its 3rd anniversary

wi-tribe has announced free double volume (in June) for all its customers to celebrate companys third anniversary in the country. As per company website, because this month is extra special, we are bringing our customers Double Volume throughout June, absolutely free of charge, so you can now enjoy double time online. wi-tribe said that double volume will be activated on June 1st, 2012, that too automatically for all witribe customers. wi-tribe had started operations in Pakistan by soft launching the services in Karachi, Lahore and then in Islamabad on June 1st, 2009. n
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Lahore: Warid Telecom recently revamped its corporate website on the occasion of its 7th anniversary. With a contemporary design, the new homepage www.waridtel.com encompasses a handful of dynamic functions which are aimed at enhancing the online customer experience. The new website is
a result of positive changes taking place within the company at senior and mid-management levels and reflects a clear vision and focus on Warids commitment to keep serving the needs of its valuable customers. This is just the beginning of more good things to come from Pakistans most trusted
Karachi: Nokia, unveiled two new mobile phone models as it continues to accelerate its strategy to connect the next billion consumers to information and the internet. The Nokia 110 and Nokia 112 have been designed to appeal to young, urban consumers who want to experience a fast, affordable online experience. Both devices are perfect for communicating across Facebook, Twitter and social media networks. The internet experience is also smooth. This innovative technology allows users to consume less data by up to 90percent, by compressing websites in the cloud. Both devices offer direct access to Facebook and Twitter from their home screens. The Nokia 112 also features preloaded eBuddy instant messaging service right out of the box, so users can use popular chat services to keep conversations going 24/7.
Todays mobile phone users want a quick internet experience that allows them to discover great content and share it with their friends but without being held back by high data costs. said Mary T. McDowell, Nokias Executive Vice President, Mobile Phones, Nokia The new Nokia 110 and Nokia 112 devices combine browsing, social media, apps, worldclass entertainment and long battery life to create a great package for young, urban consumers who want to do it all. Commenting of the consumer habits in Pakistan, Imran Mahmood, Vice President, Near East, Nokia said, Our vision is to give the youth of Pakistan their first internet experience on a Nokia mobile device. And we are very pleased to have made great progress in this direction with our rich, affordable and power packed portfolio n
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PTCLs NTR-I wins cricket tournament

NTR-I defeated Islamabad Telecom Region. PTCL EVP Business Zone North, Abdul Sattar Naeem; EVP Technical, Dr. Riaz Inayat; and EVP Admin Muhammad Yaqoob, were guests of honor on the occasion. In a colorful prize distribution ceremony, Mr. Abdul Sattar Naeem gave the Champions Trophy to NTR-1. Abdul Manan of NTR-I was declared Man of the Match, while Khurram Khushal Khan (RTR), Shahid Saeed (NTR-1) and Umer Farooq(ITR) received trophies for Best Batsman, Best Bowler and Man of the Series, respectively. n
Zong Wateen achieves Pakistan introduces two Advertisers Society Award low end Lahore: Wateen Tele- standard of advertising handsets com, recently ranked as in Pakistan by honourZong has introduced two low finish feature phones for entry users with value as very little as Rs. 1,650 and Rs. 3,700 respectively. The stylish and reasonable G2800S handset from Zong is that the best in its category within the market and is in addition to a tremendous bundle provide of free SMS and calls. The G5510 is claimed to be a well style feature phone that comes with a crisp show and camera. the stylish handset is filled with various options and a noteworthy bundle provide of free calls and SMS. n Pakistans No. 1 wireless broadband provider by the PTA, was recently awarded the Pakistan Advertisers Society award for best advertisement in the 'Computer and Internet Category'. The award was presented at a ceremony held at the Expo Centre in Karachi recently, and attended by representatives of the countrys leading national and multinational brands. Wateen beat Wi-Tribe and Qubee who were also nominated in this category. The judges for the event included stalwarts from media, advertising agencies, and marketing representatives from leading organizations and faculty members from the top universities in the country. The judges based their score on the following basis; Strategic Challenge + Objectives: 30 percent The Big Idea: 30 percent Bringing the Idea to Life: 30 percent Results: 10 percent The objective of the awards is to raise the
Islamabad: In a nailbiting contest, Pakistan Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n Company Limited (PTCL) North Telecom Region-I won the annual inter-regional cricket tournament held at Marghazar Cricket Ground, Islamabad. The tournament was attended by a large num-
ber of PTCL employees and their families. PTCLs five regional teams comprising Islamabad Telecom Region, Rawalpindi Telecom Region, North Telecom Region-I, North Telecom Region -II and HTRAJK played ten league matches. In the final match,
USF awarded projects for providing basic telephony, data services

KPK Province. The USF has made immense progress under the present Government. In Rural Telecom Programme, USF has provided basic telephony and data services in more than 3,600 unserved muzas. Broadband services have been provided in 256 new 2nd and 3rd tier cities/towns along with providing more than 400,000 broadband connections while establishing more than 1000 Educational Broadband centers (EBCs) and 300 community Broadband centers (CBCs). Under Optic Fiber Programme, more than 4,200 kms of new optic fiber cable has been laid to connect 58 unserved tehsils and towns. To take broadband internet to the villages, USF has launched another Program namely establishment of Universal Telecenters (UTCs). With these achievements, USF has created a success story for the public-private partnership entities nationally and internationally. n
ing and acknowledging ideas, strategy and creativity that lead to strong business results. Over the past year, Wateen has taken several steps to help improve service levels and optimize the networks efficiency, including the relocation of over 200 sites. The brand had a negative perception in the market, was only known as a WiMAX operator and its customer communication was entirely functional with the tagline 'We Connect' and the new campaign was targeted at addressing these issues. Commenting on the award, Wateens CEO Naeem Zamindar said, We had the challenge of re-launching Wateen Telecom as Pakistan's leading converged communications service provider in a short period of time. This was not an easy task and it is representative of Wateens philosophy that no matter what the odds are, with the right platform you can achieve anything you want to Jo Chaho. n
Warid Sim Jagao brings 1000 free minutes, SMS
Federal Minister IT and Teelcom Raja Perviaz Ashraf launches and witnesses signing ceremony of one of the largest USF projects related to rural telecom services, Mastung Lot (Balochistan) at a value of Rs 3.15 billion.
Islamabad: Federal Minister for Information Technology Raja Pervaiz Asharaf said that Universal Service Fund (USF) has recently awarded projects for providing basic telephony and data services in Mastung Lot (Balochistan) and broadband services in Southern Telecom Region-V (Sindh). He further said that through the Rural Telecom Project in Mastung, basic telephony and data services will be provided to a population of 74,831 people which resides in 102 unserved muzas of Balochistan. This Lot consists of Mastung, Nushki and Ziarat Districts. He
praised the USF team for following Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules throughout the bidding process. He also stated that USF has been very actively running projects for providing ICT related services in Balochistan as well as rest of the provinces. So far, rural telecom projects for Pishin, Nasirabad and Mastung Lot which aim to provide basic telephony and data services in around 1,062 unserved muzas are benefitting a population of 791,000. Similarly under another programme, 44 unserved tehsil headquarters along with 29
towns will be connected through optical fiber cable benefitting more than 5 million population. During chairing the 28th USF Board meeting, The IT Minister also approved launching of five new projects of rural telecom for next fiscal year 201213, namely Kech, Kalat, Panjgoor, Sibi and Zhob Lots in Balochistan province. He also approved launch of three new projects of Broadband programme for Western Telecom Region (Balochistan), Northern Telecom Region I and II (KPK), and lastly he also approved the launch of optical fiber cable project for
Lahore: With a promise to keep coming up with consumer-friendly offers and promotions, Warid introduces a refreshing SIM Jagao Offer with more value than ever before. All those customers who have not used their Warid SIM since 1st April, 2012, can start using it now to receive 1,000 free on-net minutes and 1,000 SMS without any additional charges. Not only this, subscribers will also get 100 percent bonus on every recharge till the validity of this promotion. For every recharge between
Rs. 50 - 500, customers will get free bonus minutes worth the amount of the recharge. So the greater the recharge amount, the bigger the bonus! These bonus minutes will only be eligible for free calls to all Warid numbers with free SMS to all local networks. With the best quality network and customer services, users can enjoy amazing call rates as low as Rs.3.99/hour for all calls to FnF. No other network is offering such rewards, which makes this a unique opportunity indeed. n
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EVO brings fabulous new mega downloads packages

Islamabad: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has introduced fabulous new Mega Volume Downloads prepaid packages for its premier brand EVO, bringing an elevated connectivity experience to its customers. EVO Wireless Broadband truly has something for everyone, from daily usage Daypass package starting as low as Rs.100/day and going up to Rs.2000 with EVO Maxs Unlimited downloads for a month. EVOs new GO 5GB & Lite 10GB packages offer customers the biggest volume boost ever, giving five times the volume at the most economic prices and the lowest ever additional usage charges of just 10Paisa/Mb. Whether casual Internet surfing, live streaming or an HD movie download, EVO
Shahbaz opens countrys first IT university project
prepaid packages are designed to suit customers lifestyle and diverse recharge options to give them absolute freedom of connectivity. EVO 3G customers can avail the new packages by calling 1236 or visiting the nearest PTCL OSS center. PTCL continues it legacy of providing most innovative and affordable telecommunication packages to its customers, said PTCL Senior Executive Vice President Commercial, Naveed Saeed. The new EVO Mega Volume
Development Contest providing a platform for students and independentsoftware developers to test their skills atcreating gaming software for mobile platforms. Mobilink Jazbas mobile game development contest has been designed to evaluate the concept, technique and creative acumen of participants, whilst at the same time providing a new avenue for local mobile technology developDownloads packages ers to develop content for will enhance our cus- mobile users. Winners of tomer segmentation thecompetition willget and reinforce PTCLs image as the only integrated telecommunication customer-centric service provider. PTCLs top priority is to facilitate our customers to the maximum, said Executive Vice President Wireless Business, Omar cash rewards up to Rs. Khalid. The launch of 500,000, as well as other our new EVO packages valuable prizes such as will go a long way in handsets and internship ensuring PTCLs com- opportunities within Mopetitive edge in the bilink. The announceBroadband market. n ment of the game competition was pre-
NAB arrests Jazba launches Mobile Game Development contest director of Islamabad: Mobilink ceded by a series of na- Callmate Jazba has launched an tionwide workshops conexciting Mobile Game- ducted by Mobilink in Telips
partnership with We R Play, where participants were introduced to the basics techniques of mobile game development. Mobilink will also provide an additional incentive for participants by publishing all submissions on JazzBananas.com, which is Pakistans first mobile application store, with developers earningrevenue for each download through the store. Mobilink Jazba has also set up a web resource for aspiring moIslamabad: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested one of the directors of Callmate Telips Telecom Limited (CTTL), Hassan Jamil Ansari for corruption, cheating the public at large and causing major loss to the national exchequer. He was produced before the court, which remanded him into judicial custody. After the completion of investigation against CTTL, reference was filed in the Accountability court. The court issued unbailable warrants of all the accused directors of the company. According to details, a complaint was registered with NAB regarding alleged involvement of Callmate Telips Telecom Limited (CTTL) in corruption, cheating the public at large and causing major loss to the national exchequer. On receiving the complaint an investigation against the Directors of Callmate Telips Telecom Limited was launched. During the course of the investigation, it was noted that the company which was established as a result of a merger between Telefon International Project Services (Pvt.) Limited with Calltell (Pvt.) Limited in 2003, caused a loss of Rupees 6b to public and the government, from 2003 to 2008. The firm was involved in a number of illegal acts including purchase of properties, insider trading in Karachi Stock Exchange, non payment of dues to Pakistan Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n Authority (PTA) and Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL), and blockage of calling cards issued in public. n
bile game developers, where they will have access to tutorials and unique game development kits. This resource can be accessed at www.jazba.com.pk/gbg n
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Lahore: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said that the first information technology university in the country was being set up in the provincial metropolis and special funds would be allocated for the purpose in the next financial year. He was addressing a function after opening of the project of Punjab Technology University (PTU) at Arfa Karim Software Technology
Park here. Provincial education minister Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman, Higher Education Commission chairman Dr. Javed Leghari, Punjab Information Technology Board chairman Dr. Umar Saif, Higher Education secretary Ijaz Rahim, intellectuals, columnists and experts in IT education were also present. He said that the provincial government
would provide free of cost land for Punjab Technology University (PTU) which would be managed by an autonomous board so that it should have the highest standard of computer education. The first campus of the Punjab Technology University had been set up on the sixth floor of Arfa Karim Software Technology Park where classes would start from September this year.
More than one thousand boy and girl students would be equipped with modern education in computer science in this campus while six thousand students would study at the permanent campus of PTU at Dera Rakh Chahal on the Ring Road, he said. He said that the permanent campus of Punjab Technology University would be established with the collaboration of Middle East Technical University of Turkey. Replying to a question, the chief minister said that he was ready to set up campuses of Punjab Technology University in other provinces as well so that the project could benefit the whole country. CM condolence: Shahbaz Sharif has expressed deep sense of sorrow and grief over the death of Amin Dogar, Deputy Comptroller. n
Imran enjoys with his own Angry Imran smartphone app

Islamabad: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan has expressed pleasure over very own smartphone app Angry Imran, based on Angry Birds. Angry Imran has been downloaded several thousand times since it was released for android phones and tablets recently. Its developers say they are stunned by the excitement it has generated. Players catapult Imran into the giant heads of Pakistans political leaders, smashing his way through wooden planks and stone plinths, as he vies for control of key cities before marching on the capital Islamabad. I find it quite funny,. Status quo is terrified of PTI especially after our Rawalpindi tsunami, Khan told a newspaper. The game was put together by a group of budding young developers, who call themselves CreatiXe. n
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Etisalat to adopt ISO, GRI standards for sustainability, social responsibility

Islamabad: Etisalat has announced its ambition to deploy international social responsibility and sustainability reporting standards including Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and ISO 26000 across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) works towards a sustainable economy by providing organisations with reporting guidance. It has pioneered and developed a comprehensive Sustainability Reporting Framework that is widely used around the world. ISO 26000 is an ISO International Standard giving guidance on Social Responsibility and assisting companies in their efforts to operate in a socially responsible manner that society increasingly demands. The Etisalat Groups strategy was unveiled and launched in Dubai at the Groups first Etisalat Social Investment Summit (eSIS 2012) attended by its senior management, operating companies and an array of stakeholders, including representatives from the UAE Office for the Coordination of Foreign Aid, charities, and social responsibility experts and thought leaders. Nasser bin Obood, Chief Government Relations Officer and Ahmed bin Ali, Senior Vice President Corporate Communications led the proceedings which was also attended by senior representatives from Etisalat UAE, Afghanistan, Egypt, as well as Atlantic Telecom (Moov), PTCL and Ufone. Commenting on the summit, Nasser bin Obood, Chief Government Relations and Corporate Communications Officer at the Etisalat Group, said: As a multinational company and one of the top telecommunications corporations in the world today, Etisalat places significant importance on its contribution to society - it is a key pillar of our values as a company. To date we have undertaken a great many exceptional social initiatives across our global footprint, and we now need to take this a step further through our unyielding commitment to bringing our social investment reporting inline with international standards, through GRI and ISO 26000. Engineer Ahmed bin Ali, Senior Vice President for Corpo-
rate Communications, Etisalat Group, added: Social responsibility has always been key to our business decisionmaking and it is continuing to grow in importance for us, as we continue to grow our business. This summit is a testament to our commitment to uphold the highest ideals and standards in social responsibility, in terms of strategy, accountability and impact. A truly successful organisation is one that is also sustainable and I am very confident that we will greatly benefit from our clearer vision on social responsibility and coordination with internationally recognised guidelines. n
PTCL wins Subh-e-Nau National Tennis Championship
Islamabad: Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL) has won the Subh-e-Nau National Tennis Championship 2012. In a thrilling final, PTCLs Musa Khan and his partner Mahboob Ahmed Khan performed brilliantly and beat Gul Hameed and Justice Yousaf Ahmed in Veterans Double category of the tournament. Held at
Islamabad Club in the Federal Capital, the tournament was organized by Pakistan Tennis Federation. Mr. Hattay Kamaya from Toyota Japan was the chief guest on the occasion. Musa Khan is Tennis Coach serving in PTCLs Sports Directorate dedicated to the growth and promotion of sporting activities of PTCL employees. n
FBR freezes all bank account of PTA to recover Rs.3.6 billion

Islamabad: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has attached all bank accounts of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PAT) in an attempt to recover outstanding tax liabilities which owed Rs.3.6 billion on account of income tax. FBR in its ongoing campaign to recover outstanding tax liabilities against various companies, the Large Taxpayers Unit (LTU), Islamabad has attached all Bank Accounts of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) which owed Rs.3.6 billion to the exchequer on account of Income Tax. "The PTA was served with recovery notice under Section 138(10 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001, to deposit the outstanding liabilities n
Islamabad: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat summoned Pakistan Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n Authority (PTA) to seek details about criterions for allocation of frequencies. NA body also asked PTA and Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to brief the committee charges for renewal of contracts for allocation of frequencies and use of collected revenue as well as details of funds released to Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) in last ten years. The Standing Committee met here with Dewan Ashiq Hussain Bokhari in the chair to get briefing from FAB about its performance and functioning. Secretary Cabinet Secretariat Nargis Sethi along with concerned FAB officials were present in the meeting and Col. (R) Iftikhar Ahmad gave a detailed briefing to the committee about composition and working of the organization. Sethi told the committee that Secretary General International
NA body summons PTA Jazz supports Pakistan-Sri Lanka cricket series on criterions for Lahore: Mobilink Lanka-Pakistan series Jazz has sponsored the is unique as it will be frequencies allocation Pakistan-Sri Lanka the first time that PakTe l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n Union during his recent visit to Pakistan appreciated the endevours initiated by FAB modernize available infrastructure of IT and telecommunication sector. Committee also paid applause to the untiring efforts undertaken by Secretary Nargis Sethi for smooth running the business of her ministry as well as attached departments. Col. (R) Iftikhar briefed the committee that there were 28363 cellular BTs, 3451 WLL BTs, 72011 Microwave Links, 10568 total wireless stations in HF/VHF and 701 Broadcasting while 5801 cases of interference complaints were mitigated during 200811. While responding to questions of members of the committee, he said that FAB had total budget of Rs 487 millions and Rs 25 billions was non development while Rs 23 billions was development budget. And total strength of FAB was 200 employees and Rs 15 billions were being spent on salaries annually. n cricket series, which titled "the Mobilink Jazz Cup 2012". The announcement was made where representatives from Mobilink and PCB also inaugurated the official series logo. The Mobilink Jazz Cup 2012 for the Sri
istan's away series will be sponsored by a Pakistani brand. The series started on 1st of June and 12th of July 2012 in Sri Lanka, with the series comprising of two T20 matches, five One-Day Internationals and three Test matches.
PIA selects 10 employees via Hajj balloting
PIA selects 10 employees via Hajj balloting Lahore: The Hajj balloting for PIA employees was held at PIA Head Office recently, 10 employees were determined through computer balloting. Under the PIA Hajj Balloting Scheme five Officers and five Staff members are identified through balloting to perform Hajj. From PIA for this years Hajj (2012) the Staff picked in balloting include Mehar Aziz Aurangzeb, Salman Farooq, M. Anees, Waqar Javed and Bushra Siddiqui while from amongst the Officers Rafiq Muhammed, Abdullah Jadoon, Khawaja Mohtasim,
Ubaidullah and Nayyar Sultana would be performing the pilgrimage. Chairman & CEO PIA, Air Chief Marshal (Retired) Rao Qamar Suleman prayed that Almighty Allah may bless the 10 PIA employees on the holy pilgrimage and acknowledge their worship. Director Human Resources, Ms. Ghazala Rashid thanked the Chairman PIA for continuing the tradition of the airline, which every year support its employees in performing Hajj. Hajj Balloting was carried out in the presence of PIA employees and senior officials of the airline. n
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Pakistan to buy rejected technology from China

A multi-million dollars scam is brewing in the Ministry of Information Technology as it is planning to purchase $150 million Radio Trunking Technology for security purpose from a Chinese firm while a better technology is already being operated in the country, The News reported. Moreover the same technology was rejected by Ministry of Interior in 2009 but now the task to purchase GoTa Trunking System from Chinese has been given to MoIT by a top government functionary, the sources added. According to the report, the Secretary MoIT, Farooq Awan, when contacted, he said that the process of purchasing GoTa Trunking System was in a premature stage as in the first stage only a feasibility study will be conducted. Details reveal that Interior Ministry has already launched multi-million dollars Radio Trunking Project (TETRA) normally known as National Integrated Trunking Radio System (NITRS) for public safety network and the same system was used by China for 2008 Beijing Olympics and is better in quality than the system which the MoIT is looking at to buy, the sources said. The sources mentioned that after a detailed technical analysis in June 2009 it was found that the GoTa System was unsuitable. However the same case has now been again floated through Ministry of Information Technology instead of Ministry of Interior, they held. The sources also disclosed that a high profile meeting was held recently in Karachi in which it was decided to reinitiate the GoTa Project which had been aborted earlier under pressure of concerns over the lack of transparency in the project approval process. It is likely that the president would sign an MoU for the GoTa Project. There is already a Trunking system (Push to Talk) deployed under the auspices of National Police Bureau across the country, which is TETRA system largely used all over
the world. To construct a similar system through GoTa project is a duplicated investment, sources added. The sources said that a full fledge exercise has been done during the past one year by National Telecom Corporation, a subsidiary of MoIT and the Radio Trunking Project was advertised thrice in a year but no competent bidder qualified. All of a sudden a Chinese company introduced itself along with its financial bids to the NTC in May 2012 and it has been issued letter of Intent/ Contract for Consultancy Services for ER&SAIS Project, said
the sources. The sources said that the GoTa system would cost $150 million with operational cost of around $80 million annually. The GoTa system is being purchased through Chinese loan, they added. Secretary MoIT, Farooq Awan, while responding to a query replied, Only feasibility study will be conducted and then a decision for further course of action will be taken in accordance with decisions of ECNEC. It is premature at this stage. Feasibility study has not been conducted yet. n
Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) participated in the recently held Broadband-IPTV Asia Conference 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, to project its SmartTV and Broadband products and services to the international media and telecom community. PTCL Senior Manager IP Operations, Ather A. Baig represented his Company at the prestigious forum, which was attended by more than 1000 visitors, 150 internationally recognized industry experts & transformational players from over 62 countries of AsiaPacific region. Besides PTCL, other high-profile participating organizations in-
PTCL attends BroadbandIPTV Asia Conference 2012

cluded Google, News Corporation, Yahoo!, Motorola and NBC Universal. While participating in a conference panel discussion entitled What Can Maturing Market Players Learn from More Advanced Market Players in the Region? Mr. Baig discussed the landmark launch and growth of PTCLs SmartTV , Broadband services, and next generation IPTV services like OTT. The audience particularly appreciated PTCLs recent accomplishment of 1 Million Broadband customers a first ever in the countrys history. PTCL said that it is the pioneer of launching IPTV services in Pakistan on August 14, 2008
Etihad Airways gets 3.96pc stake in Virgin Australia
under the brand Smart TV having its own digital head-end and bundled with PTCL DSL Broadband Pakistan. Pakistan is the worlds 4th fastest growing Broadband market, and PTCL claims to be countrys single largest Broadband service provider with 95% market share. A prestigious annual forum, Broadband-IPTV Asia Conference focuses on delivering growth in an evolving ecosystem and enhancing the customer experience for the connected consumer. It aims to transform future Broadband and media strategies through dialogue and experience sharing. n
Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, confirmed that it has acquired a 3.96 percent stake in Virgin Australia Holdings. Etihad Airways believes that this equity investment in Virgin Australias domestic operations significantly strengthens the 10year strategic partnership forged by the two carriers in August 2010 and will enrich the commercial benefits which the alliance already provides for both airlines, as well as increasing the benefits to Australian consumers and visitors to Australia. Together, Etihad Airways (21) and V Australia (3) operate
24 flights a week between Abu Dhabi and Australia and Pakistani passengers have access to a combined network of more than 150 destinations. Etihad currently operates 23 weekly flights from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar. Etihad Airways began flying to Australia in March, 2007 when it launched services to Sydney. Melbourne and Brisbane were quickly added. Nearly 2.2 million passengers have been carried between Abu Dhabi and these three cities in the last five years. Etihad Airways has strategic codeshare partnerships with 35 airlines around the world. n
Mobilink conducts blood donation campaign

Islamabad: Mobilink organised a nationwide blood donation for its employees across 10 cities in partnership with Fatimid Foundation and Sundus Foundation. The initiative was organised by Mobilink Foundation and employee volunteers, who were also known as Mobilink Torchbearers, as part of build-up activities for World Blood Donor Day in June 2012. Over 500 Mobilink employees participated in the drive, collecting enough blood to help the treatment of over 1400 patients. Jahanzeb Taj, Vice President
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Marketing, Mobilink said, "Employee-Volunteerism is a core value at Mobilink and our employees are strongly encouraged to promote a humanitarian spirit. I am very glad that a single initiative by our employees has the potential to impact so many lives, and would like to thank the donors for their part in saving lives."
Mobilink blood donation camps were held in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala, Sukkar, Hyderabad and Bahawalpur .As a follow up activity, Mobilink plans to organise blood donation camps in collaboration with several universities to promote the spirit of blood donation. n
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Investment in electronic media to cross $3 billion

Karachi: The highlyprovocative, fast in news breaking and entertaining electronic media industry is estimated to expand its businesses with worth of $3 billion cumulative investment by the end of the current financial year 2011-12. There has been a cumulative investment of approximately $2.5 billion in the electronic media industry by March 2012, this was revealed by Pakistan Economic Survey 2011-12. The investment will likely to grow with expansion of infrastructure by TV and Radio channels particularly for coverage of upcoming general elections will be held by the end of the 2012 or next year. On the other hand, there are few TV channels granted licenses by Pemra are preparing to be live in the current year after completion of their test transmissions. According to the survey, more than 200,000 new jobs with diversified skills and qualifications have been provided. Among them, there are news anchors, news director, editors, VJs, RJs, reporters, cameramen, copy-editors, non-linear editor are major positions in the industry. Additionally over 7 million people have been accommodated through indirect employments, the survey reports, in which people are working in PR, media buying and research companies, advertising firms and private production studios. The electronic media in Pakistan has recorded tremendous growth in a decade in terms of audience reach and business both by television and radio has significant reach. TV channels have become the strongest form of media to perform all four functions, i.e. information, education, influence and entertainment due to its potentials to offer a greater variety than other elements of electronic media. Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) broadcasts began in 1964. Today, PTV has six channels, one of which, PTV Global, broadcasts in Europe, Asia and the US. PTV News is a dedicated news channel and PTV National sends programs in the many different languages of Pakistan. PTVs state monopoly was ended in 2003 when the market for electronic media was liberalized. This led to the boom in new private TV channels that today transmit soaps, news, dramas, and talk shows millions of viewers. The private channels have been issued licenses for cable or satellite only, which means that PTV is the only channel that provides terrestrial services to the population. After the de-regulation of electronic media sector, TV sector remains vibrant. By now, in Pakistan has more than 50 TV channels of which 15 are major news channels, 32 primarily entertainment and three religious. n
NA selects committee for prevention of electronic crimes
PTCL celebrates World Environment Day 2012 with fervour

Islamabad: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) commemorated the World Environment Day (WED) 2012 by reaffirming its commitment to align organizational efforts with environmental sustainability and energy efficiency. PTCL is leading from the front on initiatives for social and environmental welfare in an effort to meet international corporate social responsibility and sustainability standards. As part of WED 2012s theme Green Economy: Does it include you? PTCL creatively engaged its employees with the message, Every drop is precious. Treat water with respect. In the recent past, PTCL has made significant efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. By encouraging a paperless work environment, the telecom giant is aiming to reduce the adverse effect of greenhouse gases on the planet.
Islamabad: National Assembly legislative body informed that members of banned outfit are threatening parliamentarians' thorough text messages that their ideology should be accommodated and their policies should be given space. Meeting of National Assembly Select Committee was held under the chair of Anusha Rehman to consider the prevention of electronic crimes bills in which committee said that there are certain flaws in Prevention of Electronic Crimes therefore further legislation is essential. Members said that new offences should be included and punishment of the electronic crimes should be enhanced. Secretary ministry of Information technology Farooq Ahmed Awan said that a meeting of all stakeholders should be held to discuss this bill the clause by clause.
He said that instead of re-amendment new legislation should be done. Chairperson Anusha Rehman directed secretary information technology to call heads of Internet Services Provider (ISP) Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), representative of telecom sector and law enforcement agencies and a thorough meeting should be arranged over this issue. Members of NA, Nosheen Saeed and Palwasha Khan said that legislation should also be done to keep check and to control the text messages though different operating networks in the country. Both members said that Members of Parliament are receiving texts from banned outfits seeking support for their ideology. Special committee also showed its concerns
about the poor quality services by telecom operators and in this regard Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication authority (PTA) Dr Muhammad Yasin said that in 2009 PTA issued show cause notices but telecom companies got stay order from the court and now this matter is under proceedings in Supreme Court. Members of the special committee also showed their concerns regarding increasing trend by telecom companies of lucrative texts in which texts and calls are made and offers are given about certain prizes. Nosheen Saeed said that companies are swindling in forms of lucrative texts about cash prizes, free calls and texts. Chairman PTA responding to this matter said that if PTA takes any action then relevant companies' approaches to the court and that matter delayed for years. in various fields. He said that there were already many business projects going on between the two countries, which included agriculture and power sectors. He said he had been bestowed with a great honor by the Government of Pakistans Board of Investment to represent Pakistan in the business community abroad and bring these two longstanding friends closer. He also stressed the need for Pakistani authorities to make things further viable and investment friendly so that the country and its people could reap the fruit of such joint ventures in business between the two countries. Sheheryar paid tributes to BOI chairman Saleem Mandviwalla for his warm response and encouragement for the Pakistanis abroad. n
Huge potential for investment if security improves

PTCL is one of the few companies in Pakistan to switch from using simple paint to LED-free paint, thus making its buildings environment-friendly. Furthermore, the Company has installed solar panels at its Headquarters, which are powering its outdoor lighting through solar energy. PTCL is also replacing its normal light bulbs with energy efficient LED lights and energy-savers. PTCL is continuously striving for a greener Pakistan. Recently, it planted 300 tree saplings in its Headquarter grounds as well as residential colonies spread across Islamabad. PTCL is steadfastly using recycled material for its products. The Company also recently launched a clean drinking water project, installing 41 filtration plants for community welfare. Last year, the National Forum for Environment and Health recognized PTCLs continued efforts for sustainable environment by awarding the Company the prestigious National Environmental Excellence Award 2011. The United Nations has designated June 5th as World Environment Day, commemorated annually to increase global awareness about environmental hazards and to strive for a greener tomorrow. n Pakistan is potential haven for foreign investors and it has a lot to offer to them, provided secure and credible business environment. The views were expressed by Sheheryar Khan while talking to reporters. Sheheryar Khan is not only the youngest Pakistani Honorary Investment Counselor (HIC) in Italy but also the youngest businessman in the field of telecommunication in Central Europe. Currently in Pakistan, Khan has been recently appointed as the Honorary Investment Counselor (HIC) in Italy by the Board of Investment (BOI), Government of Pakistan. The young entrepreneur migrated to Italy back in 2002 and started off with a small scale telecommunication business in Milan, a city of the Central European historic country, Italy, which has been the cradle of civilization for many centuries and given the world many political institutions and artists. He had a dream to share this prosperity with his fellow Pakistani businessmen and eventually making people of Pakistan prosperous. He believes Pakistan has great potential for foreign investment and it is a heaven for investors in various fields. Sheheryar said that Pakistan and Italy had already enjoyed very cordial relations in business projects which included automobile, heavy machinery
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Security situation hampers telecom investment PTCL wins ESRI Sur- the past six years. It, Special Achievement veyThe Economic cate- however, admitted that an all-time high during past six years. Telecom (2011-2012) 2011-12, standing at Rs companies reduced FDI gorically stated that due there "are untouched 363 billion against last because they had alin GIS Award 2012 to tough terrain/security lands and grey areas year's Rs 344.2 billion, ready laid down the reIslamabad: Pakistan Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n Company Limited (PTCL) has been honored by the prestigious U.S.-based Environment Systems Research Institute (ESRI) with the ESRI Special Achievement in GIS Award 2012 for its outstanding achievements and organizational performance in geographic information systems (GIS) and programs. PTCLs GIS program stood out from amongst more than 100,000 others worldwide for its outstanding use of GIS technology in the existing network, said Founder & President ESRI, Jack Danger on the occasion. We have selected PTCL for this years award on the basis of its innovativeapplications of GIS technology in Pakistan. PTCL has been recognized by ESRI for its expert deployment of GIS in Islamabad region based on ESRIs ArcGIS platform with telecom intelligence added through Telcordias NE software for purposes of access network planning and documentation. Building further on its work, the telecom giants pipeline initiatives will be geared to create a geographical common operating picture for multiple applications. This is yet another global recognition of PTCLs technological edge and prowess in a competitive field, said PTCL President & CEO, Walid Irshaid, on the occasion. My heartiest congratulations and thanks go to all PTCL employees for their hard work and commitment, which continue to bring accolades for our Company. The ESRI GIS Award 2102 highlights our Companys talent and fortifies our resolve to take PTCL to new heights, said PTCL Chief Technical Officer, Muhammad Nasrullah, while congratulating his team on the occasion. n situation, telecom companies were reluctant to further invest in the country. It also stated that Pakistan's cellular sector faced a tough economic and business environment during the last fiscal year due to taxes, power crisis, untoward security situation and natural calamities. The survey stated that telecom companies had invested over $12 billion in infrastructure and other projects over that need new or improved infrastructure". It further states that telecom sector made its highest-ever contribution to the national exchequer in 2011, as almost Rs 117 billion were deposited by the telecom companies, showing 7 percent growth during the year. During the first two quarters of 2012, Rs 58.1 billion had been deposited to the national exchequer. Telecom sector's revenue, it said, reached showing an increase of 5.4 percent. During 2011-12, cellular revenue increased by 11 percent, reaching Rs 26.27 billion against Rs 23.6 billion in the previous year. During the first two quarters of 2012, Rs 19.76 billion worth of revenue has been generated by telecom sector. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by the telecom companies was more than 30 percent of the total FDI during the
quired infrastructure. In 2011, telecom sector attracted over $79 million FDI which is about 5 percent of the total FDI in Pakistan in 2011. According to the survey, there has been a cumulative investment of approximately $2.5 billion in the electronic media industry in Pakistan. New jobs to more than 200,000 people of diversified skills and qualifications have been provided. n
Chairman PIA inaugurates two day marketing conference
Telenor awards digital development contract to Isobar

Telenor Pakistan has awarded a contract to Isobar MENA, a UK based digital marketing company having its MENA office in Dubai, for the development of integrated online platform that will become the anchor for a series of initiatives targeting the urban youth of Pakistan, said a statement issued by Isobar. Isobar works with the likes of Nokia, Adidas and Coca-Cola internationally, is part of Aegis Media, owner of the communications agency Carat. Isobar, which develops websites, digital strategies and online media plans on behalf of its clients, has more than 50 offices worldwide. Isobars Contract with Telenor Pakistan will include the development of djuice website, in addition to specific apps that will integrate various online portals and platforms including social networking websites for djuice customers. Usman Javaid, Director Marketing for Telenor while commenting on the contract said: "We believe this to be the first of its kind, purely digital driven plan in Pakistan. We needed an international, reputed partner to integrate a plan of this magnitude into our marketing strategy." Sources aware of the development told ProPakistani that this contract will not impact digital marketing agency that is working for Telenor and its Djuice brand. We have reached out to Telenor to know more about the contract and why a foreign company was preferred over local firms. We will update this post when we get any word from Telenor. Lahore: Chairman & CEO PIA, Air Chief Marshal, Rao Qamar Suleman (R) inaugurated the PIA 2-Day Marketing Conference here being participated by PIA Station Heads, Cargo Managers and members of the Sales and Marketing Teams working throughout the country and abroad . On the occasion of PIA Marketing Conference 2012, a dynamic Marketing initiative of PIA Fori ticket in collaboration with Tameer Microfinance Bank Limited (TMBL) and Telenor Easy Paisa was also launched which will enable people living in the remotest part of the country to book their seats at PIA Call Center, make payments through 18,000 plus easy paisa outlets throughout Pakistan and get the printout of the ticket form their home computers, offices and PIA Service counters at airports. The Marketing Conference 2012 will have six working sessions during which Revenue performance and Divisional performance will be overviewed and presentations would be made by Country Managers. Chairman & CEO PIA, Air Chief Marshal, Rao Qamar Suleman (Retired) said that the simple turn-around strategy for PIA is to increase revenues and reduce expenses. Focus must be laid on Safe Engineering Practices, Aircraft Maintenance and better Customer Services. While serving customers with a smile, the airline would earn customer loyalty. PIA employees should extend maximum courtesy and make all its customers feel like VVIPs. PIA Chairman & CEO said that living in the age of Information Technology it has become easier to reduce cost of operations and Fori Ticket service is one initiative of PIA with the help of Tameer Microfinance Bank and Telenor Easy Paisa that the service to our customers can be provided at their door step without incurring any infrastructure costs. He thanked Mr. Nadeem Hussain, President and CEO of Tameer Microfinance Bank, Country President Abacus, and the team of Easy Paisa on the launch of the service beginning June 7, 2012. The first ticket was processed through Easy Paisa on the occasion and was booked for Mr. Nadeem Hussain on IslamabadKarachi-Islamabad sector and was presented to him by Chairman & CEO PIA, Air Chief Marshal, Rao Qamar Suleman (Retired). Speaking at the event, President and CEO Tameer Microfinance Bank, Nadeem Hussain said, The ticketing service will truly help the people of Pakistan especially those living in far flung areas who previously did not have access to PIA booking offices, will now be able to get their tickets through Easy Paisa merchants. Moreover, through Mobile Accounts, the purchase of tickets is now available for everyone with the convenience of printing the tickets at home. We appreciate the support extended to us by the PIA management and other stakeholders who have not only made this service possible but have played an integral part towards the vision of Easy Paisa, which is to bring financial inclusion to everyone in the country. n
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PTCL holds special retailers conferences across Pakistan
Ufone offers 500 SMS, 500 MMS, 5 MB Internet for Rs. 5

Ufone has bundled SMS, MMS and Mobile Internet services in one pack to offer its customers at a daily charges of Rs. 5 (including taxes). Ufone customers can now send as many as 500 text messages, 500 Multimedia messages and use 5 MB of mobile internet at a daily charge of Rs. 5 in-
cluding taxes. Customers will have to re-subscribe the service after 24 hours, i.e. it is not auto subscription offer. This offer is valid for all Ufone prepaid customers. All you need to do is dial 100 or send SUB as an SMS to 5505 or dial *5505# and start enjoying the power of 5 on Ufone. n
PTCL Senior Executive Vice President Commercial, Naveed Saeed, addressing PTCL Retailers Conference 2012 held across Pakistan.
Islamabad: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) recently organized special retailers conferences in major cities of the country, as part of its sustained national outreach for retailers and distributors. Special sessions were
arranged in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Multan, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Azad Jammu & Kashmir. These were attended by a large number of PTCL retailers, business partners, and national distributors from across Pakistan, as
well as senior PTCL officials. Various team-building sessions provided participants an exciting opportunity to share their observations and experiences regarding PTCLs product sales, services, initiatives and distribution. n
Warid brings low call rates for UK, USA and Canada
It appears that Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Kamra (PAC), a unit of Pakistan military, is getting serious with tablet manufacturing business. After introducing PAC Pad1, PAC eBook1 and PAC nbook 1 PAC is now offering Takhti 7, an android tabled-computer. Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) said that it has partnered with INNAVTEK International to produce Takhti 7, a better form of PAC Pad1. Takhti 7 is said to be a sister tablet of PAC Pad1, having enhanced hardware such as double RAM and better ARM Cortex-A8 processor packed with-in it. Takhti 7 boosts a 7 inch capacitative screen and improved
PAC introduces Takhti 7 runs on Android tablet
battery time as well. The Takhti 7 uses Android Ice Cream Sandwich instead of Android Gingerbread used by the PAC Pad1. Specifications include: Processor: 1 GHz Cortex-A8, Operating System: Android OS 4.0, Memory: 512 MB RAM, Micro SD Card: Up to 32 GB, Display: 7 inch, Connectivity: WiFi: 802.11 b/g, USB: Mini USB 2.0, HDMI: HDMI support available, Content Formats Supported MP3, WMA, AAC, 3GP, WAV, JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF, AVI, MKV, WMV, MOV, MP4, MPEG, MPG, FLV, Miscellaneous G-sensor, 3.5mm Earphone Jack. PAC said that Takhti 7 is priced at Rs. 15,500.
Serving its customers to the fullest, Warid yet again brings a remarkable International calling offer. Now Warid users can make International calls from Pakistan to UK, USA and Canada for just Rs. 0.99+tax/min. Subscribers can avail this
amazing offer by sending SMS to 4747 by typing 'ON' and then dial 111 before the desired international number to experience the lowest calling rates coupled with supreme voice quality. This offer is valid for USA (Land line + Mobile), Canada (Land
line + Mobile) and UK (Landline) only. Customer will have to dial 111 before the international number e.g. 111<country code><city code><number>. Offer is available for all Warid Prepaid and Glow customers only. n
Mobilink congratulates Pak team on Ufone offers low T20 series call rates for UAE, equalizingJazz extends of Jazz Cup 2012 Mobilink Moied Javeed, Mocongratulations to the bilink's Director MarketSaudi Arabia
Ufone has lowered international call rates for selected regional and Middle Eastern countries. Customers will have to subscribe to this offer on daily basis which will cost them Rs. 2.99 plus tax per day. Upon subscription, international calling rates will be: Saudi Arabia, UAE & Iran: Rs. 2.99/20 sec, Bahrain & Kuwait: Rs. 1.99/20 sec, Qatar: Rs. 3.99/20 sec and India & Bangladesh: Rs. 0.99/20 sec. To avail these low international calling rates, customers will have to dial *226#. n Pakistan cricket team on their exciting win in the second T20 of the Jazz Cup 2012. With this win, Pakistan draws the T20 series of the Jazz Cup, with an impressive exhibition of teamwork. Fast bowler Muhammad Sami played a vital role in this victory with 3 wickets, although the star of the show was Shahid Afridi with his invincible 52 and two crucial wickets that turned the match in Pakistan's favor.
ing (Jazz), highlighted, " Team Green has truly made the entire country proud with their passion and commitment to their sport during the T20 leg of the Jazz Cup 2012. I would like to extend heartiest congratulations to Team Green on behalf of Mobilink and the entire Pakistani nation for their commendable performance and wish them the best for the upcoming ODI and Test series." n
Lahore: Taking initiative to bridge supply and demand gap by implementing energy conservation policy during the ongoing energy crisis in the country, the PEPCO carried out supply contract of 20 million Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) on cost insurance and place of destination (CIP) under the National CFL Project - Prime Minister Energy Saver Programme with M/s Philips Electrical Industries of Pakistan. The total cost of this project (20 million CFLs) is Rs 2.8 billion and is being funded by ADB and AFD of France. PEPCO PMU Director Khalid Hussain Rai and Philips Chairman and CEO Asad.S Jaffer signed the contract deed at Wapda House here on Wednesday. PEPCO spokesman said the project started on the directive of Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani duly approved from Cabinet as well as ECNEC. Under the contract the first consignment of CFLs (energy savers) will be delivered to 36 warehouses all over the country within 12 weeks and free distribution of energy savers to consumers will start soon after the delivery. Ministry of Water and Power will carry out overall project management and PEPCO will act as project coordinator whereas DISCOs and KESC will act as executers, he added. Dilating upon the features of
Pepco, Philips ink contract deed for energy savers project
the contract, the spokesman said that the cost of per energy saver was Rs140 including the cost of insurance, freight charges to final destination, cost of containers along with inland transportation and port handling charges. The life of CFL is 10,000 hours with two years warranty whereas the market price of Philips CFL is Rs189 with life of 8,000 hours and one year warranty only. The difference of price will save a substantial amount of Rs980 million, according to the spokesman. It is said: The project will help in reducing peak demand over 1000MW, an amount $1.84 billion will be saved while avoiding overall generation of 1600MW. The project will yield Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) thus revenue of about $ 32 million will be returned by 2018. It will also help in reducing consumers bill Rs300 per bulb per annum. The electricity saved can be sold to higher tariff consumers generating additional revenue of approximately $ 29 million per year for DISCOs. The spokesman said that the contract of 2nd phase of free distribution of 10 million energy savers is likely to be signed in the same month for which notification of award has been issued. Performance board has also been submitted by the M/s Beauty Shadow Company of Hong Kong. n
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How low can Facebook go?
Two weeks after the largest, most anticipated IPO in years, Facebook shares keep going down. And down. And down. And investors want to know how far they can go. During trade the shares hit $26.44, more than 30 percent below the initial public offering price of $38, before rebounding slightly to $26.90. "It is difficult to argue for owning the stock," said Bernstein Research analyst Carlos Kirjner in a research note that added to the selling momentum. Kirjner forecast a price
of $25 over the next 12 months, but added that a real possible slowdown in Facebook revenue growth "will likely drive additional downside pressure on the stock beyond what is already reflected in our price target." "There are some real signs that Facebook may be in real trouble and could turn out to be a disastrous investment," said Oliver Pursche, President of Gary Goldberg Financial Services, a New York money Manager. "We told people to stay away because we didn't and still don't
know how it was valued," he told. By far the Internet's dominant social network, Facebook went public recently in a $16 billion share sale, the second largest IPO in the United States ever. The runup to the sale was marked by bubbly enthusiasm reminiscent of the dot-com era, to the extent that lead underwriter Morgan Stanley agreed to raise the offering price and increase the number of shares issued. But the shares barely held above the $38 level on the opening day and have fallen ever since, delivering real and paper losses of some $4.6 billion to the new investors. Price forecasts are all over the place, from $10 to the upper $40s, as more questions are being raised
about the company's real potential to turn an audience of nearly one billion users into an advertising bonanza. Bernstein Research's $25 estimate takes note of the company's great potential but also its stillunproven ability to fully tap that potential -whether it can make social network-based advertising as effective as, for instance, Google's search-based ads, and if it can do so as fast as many investors expect. "We do not think it is likely that the issues associated with the effectiveness of social advertising will be addressed, or that upside from new opportunities will become materially clearer in a few quarters," Kirjner said. "To the contrary, we believe that Facebook's revenue growth over the next twelve months will at best stabilize, and probably further decelerate." n
S. Africa investigators probe MTN corruption allegations

South Africa's elite police wing has opened an investigation into graft allegations in mobile giant MTN's securing of an operating licence in Iran, a police spokesman said. Turkish operator Turkcell in March filed a $4.2billion (3.4-billion-euro) lawsuit in Washington alleging MTN had bribed Iranian officials and pressed Pretoria to offer weapons and diplomatic support for its nuclear programme.
Microsoft links Xbox with smartphones, tablets

Microsoft stepped up its quest to be at the heart of home entertainment by synching Xbox 360 videogame consoles to smartphones and tablets while adding more blockbuster content. Microsoft unveiled Xbox SmartGlass software for linking the world's leading consoles to iPhones, iPads, Android-powered gadgets and, of course, devices powered by the US technology titan's new Windows 8 operating system. "Your devices aren't so smart because they aren't working together," Marc Whitten of Xbox Live online entertainment service said at a press event on the eve of the start of the premier E3 videogame gathering in Los Angeles. "Xbox Smartglass transforms devices you already own and love... movies are more immersive; games are more thrilling," he continued. "I can now take my phone and use it as the world's best remote control." The Smartglass application to be released worldwide by the end of the year could drain some of the enthusiasm that rival Ninten-
US Internet giant Google said it has lodged a complaint with European Union competition authorities against Finland's Nokia and its US software peer Microsoft. The complaint, lodged last week in line with action in the United States, alleges collusion between Nokia and Microsoft in order to increase prices for smartphones and tablets. "Nokia and Microsoft are colluding to raise the costs of mobile devices for consumers, creating patent 'trolls' that side-step promises both companies have made," a Google statement said. "They should be held accountable and we hope
Google lodges Nokia, KPN thwarts Microsoft complaint America Movil offer Dutch telecoms opera- Movil in May unveiled with EU tor KPN advised share- plans to buy a 2.6 billionour complaint spurs others to look into these practices." Google charged a Canadian company, Mosaid, with being behind some 2,000 "patent trolls" -- legal complaints that are so costly to defend against that they often succeed in preventing change on markets. This type of tactic is particularly prevalent in the pharmaceuticals industry where development costs for new treatments can be enormous. Earlier this month, EU anti-trust chiefs asked Google to offer remedies quickly to concerns that the company has abused its dominant position in the Internet search market -- or else face heavy penalties.n holders to hold off on an unsolicited offer by telecoms giant America Movil, as it reviewed strategic options for its German Eplus business. "The KPN Boards have carefully considered America Movil's partial offer and unanimously recommend that shareholders take no action in respect of the partial offer," KPN said in a statement. America Movil formally launched its bid on Wednesday for a 28-percent stake in the Haguebased KPN. Controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim, America euro stake in KPN, saying the move would give the Mexican group a foothold in European markets. KPN on Friday said America Movil's offer of eight euros ($9.8) a share was "too low for gaining significant influence" while it questioned the company's intentions for making the offer, calling its timing opportunistic. "The KPN Boards conclude that the price America Movil is offering is too low for gaining significant influence over KPN and substantially undervalues KPN on a standalone basis," it added. n
"We first did an assessment to cast the strength of the allegations. After this we decided to do a followup investigation," said McIntosh Polela, spokesman of the Hawks elite police unit. MTN, which denies the claims, owns a 49-percent stake in the Iranian mobile telecoms company Irancell, which holds the operating licence. Turkcell subsidiary East Asian Consortium won an earlier bid to acquire the licence, but this was reversed in 2005. The South African giant operates in 21 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. It has come under fire for its Iranian operations from the influential US lobby group United against Nuclear Iran in January. MTN's 34.7 million clients in Iran make up 21 percent of its total subscriber base. n
Nokia adds to Asha range with touch-screen handsets

games to download for free. Nokia executive VP for mobile phones Mary T. McDowell said: 'By introducing the Asha Touch phones to the market, we're accelerating our commitment to connect the next billion consumers. These phones deliver on what young, urban people value most - a great-looking device; and an intuitive and affordable experience for connecting to the internet, to their friends, and to a world of entertainment, web apps and content.' Neil Mawston, executive director of devices research at Strategy Analytics, said: 'Nokia is taking another interesting step forward in connecting consumers to the internet, seeking to improve their experience through a new touch user-interface that is allowing the company to compete in new mass market price bands. The mass market is a competitive segment, but we believe Nokia's upgraded Asha portfolio has included an attractive package that can enable consumers to have lower running costs, taking advantage of things like its compressed browser and a long life battery.' n
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The Asha 305, 306 and 311 are the first handsets in the 10-strong Asha family to feature a new touch interface. All three devices will sell for less than 100, although no UK release date has been confirmed. Nokia said the Asha 311 (pictured) is a 'fast and flu-
id 3.5G capacitive touchscreen device'. It has a 1GHz processor and a 3.2megapixel camera. The Asha 305 has a dual Sim, while the single Sim Asha 306 was described by Nokia as its most affordable Wi-Fi handset to date. All three devices come with 40 EA
One of the more interesting points to emerge from last nights Sony presentation at the E3 video game event was news of a partnership with HTC, which will be the first nonSony company to make smartphones thatll arrive with PlayStation certification for the playing of emulated old PlayStation games. Sony showed HTCs One X at its E3 press event, announcing that this highspec model and HTCs One S and One V are the companys first three PlayStation certified models. PlayStation content will arrive for those devices later this year. n
Sony teams up with HTC to offer PlayStation
do has been working to build for its next generation Wii U console featuring a tabletstyle GamePad controller. GamePads, the price of which is expected to be revealed at a Nintendo press conference Tuesday, are an extra gadget gamers would need to incorporate into their lives while Smartglass will let them use gadgets they already own. Nintendo has an advantage in that major publishers such as France-based Ubisoft are readying hot titles to release with Wii U GamePad consoles while Microsoft on Monday invited game developers to begin imagining possibilities. "We are opening the door for creative multi-screen entertainment," Whitten said. "Game makers can envision brand new ways to make all our games better." n
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Fr e e d o w n l o a d | fl a re. p k
South Korea's Samsung Electronics unveiled notebook and tablet computers running on Windows 8, the latest firm to showcase products that use Microsoft's eagerly-awaited new operating system. On the opening day of Asia's leading IT fair in Taipei, Samsung showcased the products, including the Series 5 Hybrid which has features of both a laptop and a tablet, in a low-key display. "Visitors should be able to see the tight partnership between Samsung and Microsoft and Intel," said Lorraine Tsao, a spokeswoman for Samsung in Taiwan. It came a day after Taiwanese rivals Acer and Asus
Samsung unveils computers running on Windows 8

unveiled products running on Windows 8, which is the focus of the annual Computex fair, in its 32nd year. A new survey meanwhile showed that Samsung overtook Amazon in the first three months of the year to take second spot in the global market for tablet sales, but still lagged far behind Apple with its ever-popular iPad. Windows 8 is touted as Microsoft's long-awaited ri-
LinkedIn hacked, 6 million passwords compromised

LinkedIn said that it had a data breach that compromised the passwords of some of the social network's members. LinkedIn engineer Vicente Silveira confirmed on the website's blog that some passwords were 'compromised.' 'We are continuing to investigate this situation,' he said. LinkedIn said it sent emails to members whose passwords were affected, explaining how to reset them since they were no longer valid on the site. LinkedIn, which made its stock debut in 2011, is a social media company that caters to companies seeking employees and people scouting for jobs. It has more than 161 million members worldwide. reach almost by 9 billion by 2017, versus 6 billion at the end of 2011. In the first quarter of this year, some 170 million new subscribers were added, to take the total to 6.2 billion. The report also looks at the growth in mobile broadband services, estimating the number of smartphone users will reach 3 billion by 2017, versus just 700 million at end-2011. After doubling already in the past year, global mobile data traffic is expected to grow 15 times by the One of the Mountain View, California-based company's main initiatives is to grow internationally 61percent of its membership is located outside the United States. Marcus Carey, security researcher at Boston-based Rapid7, said he believed the attackers had been inside LinkedIn's network for at least several days, based on an analysis of the type of information stolen and quantity of data posted on forums. 'While LinkedIn is investigating the breach, the attackers may still have access to the system,' Carey warned. 'If the attackers are still entrenched in the network, then users who have already changed their passwords may have to do so a second time.' n end of 2017. The number of mobile broadband subscribers will grow five-fold over the same period, to 5 billion in 2017. The data in the report also shows variations between countries and regions. In the case of mobile net additions, China added the most subscriptions for a single country in Q1 2012 with 39 million, followed by India with 25 million. The Asia Pacific region added in total 93 million subscriptions, followed by Africa with 30 million. n
poste to the rise of Apple and mobile devices powered by Google's Android operating system. There is no official release date but reports have predicted an October launch. Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer says that Windows 8 will support a wider range of devices including touch- and stylus-based smartphones and tablet PCs, as well as desktops and laptops. n
Chennai: Finnish telecom giant Nokia is regaining its lost ground in the global handset market, thanks to a strategy it adopted in 2011, said an official here. The company unveiled the 'Asha Touch' family of mo-
Nokia regaining lost ground in handset market
bile devices in India. "We are in transition. We have launched dual sim phone after a delay. We have also launched Lumia and Asha
range of smart phones. We are leading the consumers with innovation and setting new benchmarks in innovation," D. Shivakumar, senior vice president, India, Middle East and Africa told reporters. In early 2011, the handset maker had said that it would follow the three pillar strategy -- smart phones tying up with Microsoft, connecting the next billion to the Internet and introducing future new technologies. He said the company is focusing on offering innovative applications on its mobile phones and India will play an important role in that space. "There will be globally known applications as well as locally known ones. It will be like the television channels that are available in the country," Shivakumar added. In India Nokia will be beefing up its smart phones and services portfolio by expanding its Lumia and Asha range of phones. The company will soon launch Nokia Lumia 610 and Nokia Lumia 900 phone models. n
Global 3G coverage will reach 85 percent of the world's population by 2017, according to a report from Ericsson. The 'Traffic and Market Report - On the Pulse of the Networked Society' predicts that 4G coverage will reach 50 percent of the world's population by the same date. The number of mobile subscribers is expected to
Global 4G coverage to reach 50pc by 2017: Ericsson
Micro blogging website Twitter has revealed that it tracks its users' movements across the Internet in order to suggest relevant content to tweeters. The company made the disclosure in an email sent to its users today about changes to its service and privacy policy. "We've provided more details [in our new privacy policy] about the information we collect and how we use it to deliver our services and to improve Twitter," the email read. "One example: our new tailored suggestions feature, which is based on your recent visits to websites that integrate Twitter button or widgets, is an experiment that we're beginning to roll out to some users in a number of countries," it added. The company further explained the collection of users' data across third party websites that have a Twitter button installed in its updated privacy policy, a local paper reports.n growing rapidly. It is currently shipping 180 motive power battery chargers to just one of its United States-based customers Crown Forklifts each month, and about 500 a month to Australian customers. The company's chargers were being used or trialled by six of the top 10 forklift companies in the world, Foot said. n
Twitter admits to tracking users' across web
Hi-tech firm tips 40pc sales growth

Christchurch-based Enatel says its revenue growth this year will match last year's at 40 per cent, after winning significant contracts in overseas markets such as Russia. The hi-tech manufacturer produces standby power supplies for the telecoms industry, solar inverters (which convert electricity from solar panels into electricity suitable for everyday use) and subsidiary Enatel Motive Power produces charger systems for batteries used to power electric vehicles such as forklifts. Enatel Motive Power just picked up an award at the New Zealand Hi-Tech Awards for its charger systems, which use about 20 per cent less energy than traditional chargers, making them cheaper to use, and they are smaller about the size of a computer hard drive than traditional tumble dryersized chargers. Enatel managing director Gary Foot said Enatel Motive Power was
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ITU urges Global cooperation to tackle cyber threats Twitter becomes five
malware which was deleting sensitive information. Dr. Hamadoun Tour ITU Secretary-General said, "Flame is a prime example of why governments and industry must work together to tackle cyber security at the global level. "Early warning of new threats is vital and it is critical that best practice on required corrective steps is shared in order to best protect the global information society. This is the value in building a global coalition". According to ITU, international co-operation is a key element of ITU's Global Cyber security Agenda (GCA). Cyber security will be a major agenda theme at ITU Telecom World 2012 slated 14-18 October 2012 in Dubai, United Arab Emirates Twitter has reengineered its website to load tweets five times faster, as part of efforts to maintain users' interest in browsing its constant stream of short messages. The overhaul is also part of a microblogging service for the next generation of web browsers, introducing more interactive features. This new framework will help us rapidly develop new Twitter features, take advantage of new browser technology, and ultimately provide the best experience to as many people as possible, Twitter engineer Dan Webb said. The changes, which are currently being introduced across Twitter.com, will also do away with the "hashbang" symbol in its Skype jacks ads page addresses. The "#!" symbol in into free Internet Twitter URLs was used to phone calls Skype began showing notify web browsers to callers on-screen ads while fetch and render tweets they use the globally popular free Internet telephone service. What Skype euFinland's Nokia, one phemistically referred to of the world's biggest moas "Conversation Ads" ap- bile phone makers, saw pear in calling windows of its share price plummet users who don't pay for after a surprise ansubscriptions or have cred- nouncement that it would its in accounts at the serv- cut 10,000 more jobs amid ice. "We're excited to intro- deep additional cost-cutduce Conversation Ads as ting measures. an opportunity for mar"These planned reducketers to reach our hun- tions are a difficult consedreds of millions of con- quence of the intended acnected users," Sandhya tions we believe we must Venkatachalam said in a take to ensure Nokia's post at the official Skype long-term competitive blog."While on a 1:1 audio strength," company chief call, users will see content executive Stephen Elop that could spark addition- said in a statement. Following the news, al topics of conversation that are relevant to Skype Nokia, which only recentusers and highlight unique ly lost the world number and brand experiences.n one ranking it had held for 14 years, saw its share (UAE), supported by key partners, one of whom is Kaspersky Lab. The forum will explore issues such as mitigating risks posed by major coordinated cyberattacks at the national level, the threats posed by malware such as Flame, and strengthening international cooperation. Rwanda is looking forward to collaborate with Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA) to transfer information protection technology to the country. Internet security threats if not addressed properly lead to service vulnerability, weakens consumer confidence, government vital information leak and ultimately cause brand damage and serious revenue decline. n
times faster
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has called for greater international co-operation between governments and the ICT industry to tackle the global nature of today's cyber security threats. According to a statement released the recent discovery by Kaspersky Lab of the highly complex malware known as Flame,
reinforces the need for a coordinated response. Worm.Win32.Flame or "Flame" has the ability to steal data such as e-mails, audio recordings, photos, documents, messages and discussions from infected computers. It was discovered by Kaspersky Lab experts following a technical analysis requested by ITU into an unknown piece of
SingTel expands '4G' service, lowers data cap

Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) will be expanding its Long-Term Evolution (LTE) services for consumers even as it moves toward completing island-wide coverage by early 2013. The telco said on Monday SingTel customers who purchase LTE-enabled handsets will be able to access the Internet five times faster than via 3G networks. For areas without LTE network, consumers can fall back on 3G networks for wireless connectivity, it added. During the press briefing, Yuen Kuan Moon, CEO for Consumer Singapore at SingTel, noted that the company now has 50 percent nationwide coverage of "4G service". It expects to extend its LTE coverage to 80 percent of the country by end-2012 and island-wide coverage by early-2013. While often marketed by telcos as "4G", LTE is developed by the 3G Partnership Project and not regarded by some in the industry to be a true 4G technology. LTE Advanced is touted by others as a more suited candidate 4G system. SingTel first launched its LTE service in December 2011 but access was limited to USB dongle modems. At the event sidelines, Yuen explained the company had to wait for LTEenabled handsets to be ready and for its network coverage to reach a "reasonable" 50 percent before launching LTE services for smartphones. In conjunction with the service launch on Tuesday, SingTel will be launching three LTE devices: the
requested by the user, but now the process be handled by Twitters own servers. The improvements were made after engineers investigated the time to first tweet that the Twitter website delivered. This statistic, based on a sample of users, measured how long between clicking on a link on Twitter.com and tweets appearing onscreen. The new website removes a big JavaScript processing burden, turning raw tweet data into the HTML in which web pages are encoded, from the browser and lays it on Twitters servers. The bottom line is that [the old] architecture leads to slower performance because most of the code is being executed on our users machines rather than our own, Web explained. n
Nokia to slash 10,000 jobs amid deep cost cuts

price plunge more than 16 percent in late afternoon trading on the Helsinki stock exchange, which was down 1.25 percent overall. The company, undergoing a major restructuring for more than a year, said it would implement an additional 1.6 billion euros ($2.0 billion) in cost reductions by the end of next year, especially affecting its beleaguered Devices & Services unit.As part of the cuts, Nokia said it would close facilities in Ulm, Germany and Burnaby, Canada, and its manufacturing plant in Salo, Finland.n
HTC One XL, LG Optimus LTE, and Samsung Galaxy S2 LTE. Price plans for LTE devices will be the same as 3G handsets, said Yuen. As the telco runs its LTE service on the 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz spectrum, he said some LTEenabled devices bought overseas might not be compatible with the local network. n
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900,000 units per day Android devices activated HTC denies Microsoft
900,000 units per day to that 1.5 billion figure, and assuming growth in 2012 is the same as growth in 2011, means roughly one out of every five mobile phones that will be sold this year will have Android onboard. Half a decade ago we were impressed that Symbian had such a large share of the smartphone market, larger than Androids share today, but back then the smartphone market was incredibly tiny compared to the phone market as a whole. Now the smartphone market is exploding, and five years from now we may be asking ourselves if people are still interested in devices that cant do more than voice calls and SMS. To understand the future, just look at Samsung. They were early supporters of Android and now the majority of their portfolio is powered by Googles mobile operating system. Nokia meanwhile continues to depend on the ultra low margin, high volume sales of their feature phones to sustain their business. Is shouldnt have been a surprise to anyone when Samsung overtook Nokia to become the worlds largest phone maker earlier this year. The South Korean company is focusing on growth markets, while Nokia is milking the feature phone market while their brand still remains relevant. n
snub over Windows 8
With less than 12 hours to go until Apple gets on stage and shows off the next version of iOS, Googles Andy Rubin, (father of Android) used Twitter to announce to the world that over 900,000 devices running his mobile OS are being activated on a daily basis. Thats 81 million every quarter, or almost 330 million every year. Andy also
squashed the rumors that say hes going to leave the search giant, though to be perfectly honest we never even heard about those rumors in the first place. What should you take away from this new number? Consider this: Research firm IDC says 1.5 billion mobile phones shipped in 2011, 11.1% more than in 2010. Applying Googles rate of
Anonymous hackers protest over India Facebook opens online Internet laws Indian demonstrators pastebin.com. center for supporting the global hackHackers attacked the telecom ing social apps tookmovement Anonymous website of state-runpasting to the streets to protest provider MTNL,
against what they consider growing government censorship of the Internet. Rallies in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata followed a court order in March demanding 15 domestic Internet providers block access to file-sharing websites such as Pirate Bay. The order has resulted in access being denied to a host of websites that carry pirated films and music among other legal content, including isohunt.com and the logo of the Anonymous group -- the mask of 17th century British revolutionary Guy Fawkes -- on mtnl.net.in. Supporters also accused the government of trying to create a "Great Indian Firewall" to establish control on the web. "The government is bringing censorship through the back door and we will oppose it," said Alok Dixit, one of about 50 hackers and activists who shouted slogans at the rally in
Facebook began rolling out an App Center for miniprograms that plug offerings such as Pinterest or Draw Something into the leading social network. The App Center feature opened its virtual doors in the United States with 600 programs geared for Web browsers as well as those for Apple and Android smartphones or tablet computers. Facebook's App Center will expand globally in the coming weeks as part of a Facebook strategy to connect with its more than 900 million members on mobile gadgets. "The App Center is designed to grow mobile apps that use Facebook whether they're on iOS, Android or the mobile web," Facebook's Aaron Brady said when it was announced. "From the mobile App Center, users can browse apps that are compatible with their device, and if a mobile app requires installation, they will be sent to download the app from the App Store or Google Play." App Center mini-programs included workouttracker Nike+ GPS and a "Ghost Recon Commander" mobile videogame from France-based Ubisoft. n
Apple facing $2.22m fine over Australian '4G' iPad
Apple agreed to a $2.22 million fine for misleading Australian customers about the local 4G capability of its next-generation iPad, in a case brought by regulators. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) told the Federal Court that the US tech giant had agreed to the penalty for implying in advertising that the 4G function on its latest iPad worked in Australia. Apple offered in March to refund Australian cus-
tomers who felt they had been misled by the "iPad with WiFi + 4G" promotion and publish a clarification about the popular tablet's capabilities after the ACCC took it to court. Though the iPad's 4G function only works on networks in the United States and Canada it had been widely promoted as one of the tablet's features globally, which the ACCC said amounted to false advertising. It is now advertised out-
Taiwan's leading smartphone maker HTC denied reports that it would be excluded by Microsoft from adopting the new operating system Windows 8 in its products. "HTC has sold more than 40 million Windows Phones over the last 10 years and we are committed to future versions of Microsoft's Windows Phone platform more than ever," a company statement said. Windows 8 is touted as central New Delhi. Microsoft's long-awaited riAround 100 protesters poste to the rise of Apple and gathered near Mumbai's mobile devices powered by main rail station, while a similar number also attended a rally in the information technology hub of Bangalore and a smaller South Korea's Samsung group assembled in a Electronics vowed to press Kolkata shopping mall. ahead with the US launch of The new rules regulat- its newest smartphone this ing Internet companies -- month, despite a fresh lawproviders, websites and suit filed by rival Apple search engines -- instruct seeking to block the cutthem that they must re- ting-edge model. move "disparaging" or Apple has asked a court "blasphemous" content for the Northern District of within 36 hours if they re- California in San Jose to ceive a complaint by an ban sales of the Galaxy S III "affected person". n on grounds of patent infringement, Samsung said. The two technology giside North America as "Wiants are battling for suFi + Cellular" -- a change that came into effect on premacy in the lucrative May 12 -- with a clear caveat smartphone and tablet maron its Australian site that "it ket. They have launched is not compatible with cur- dozens of legal actions alrent Australian 4G LTE and leging patent infringements against each other in 10 WiMax networks." The matter was due to countries worldwide. Two days of court-digo to a full trial this week but ACCC lawyer Colin rected peace talks between Golvan said Apple had S. Korea game agreed to pay the Aus$2.25 million fine and the com- giant takes on mission's legal costs as part US mobile of an out-of-court settle- market South Korea-based Wement. It is half the maximum Made Entertainment went Aus $4.4 million fine opens shoulder-to-shoulder with titans at the E3 videogame to the ACCC in the case. extravaganza in Los Angeles Apple described it as "more than adequate having with games designed to bring computer-quality play regard to the conduct and all to smartphones or tablets. the other circumstances" The 12-year-old compaand stressed that the con- ny behind massively-multicessions made in the case player-online-role-playerwere only applicable in Aus- game (MMORPG) "Legend tralia. of Mir" planned to ride into The "iPad + 4G" promo- the US market on the back tion was in place for two of the mobile gadget lifestyle. months worldwide including The game has been a hit major technology-mad cities in Asia, particularly in Chiin Asia. n na, and boasts more than 100 million players.
Google's Android operating system. There is no official release date but reports have predicted an October launch. HTC touts its own brand of smartphones and also makes handsets for a number of leading US companies, including Google's Nexus One. The company faces stiff competition from rivals Apple and Samsung and has revised down its earning forecast for the 2012 second quarter citing delay in shipments to the US market.n
Samsung vows US launch of Galaxy despite Apple suit

the chiefs of the two firms ended in San Francisco last month with no sign of a truce. "Samsung believes Apple's request is without merit," the South Korean firm said in a statement. "We will vigorously oppose the request and demonstrate to the court that the Galaxy S III is innovative and distinctive." The Galaxy S III has so far been launched in 28 countries, mainly in Europe and the Middle East. It was being launched in China, and will be available in 145 nations by July. Samsung has not given an exact date for the phone's US launch but says it will be "later this month". "A little more than two years ago our company had an epiphany where mobile phones and tablets would dominate the game platform of the future," WeMade chief financial officer Gene Kim said at the E3 videogame fair in LA. "We want to be a vanguard to blur the line between PC (personal computer) and mobile games." WeMade promised 20 mobile games this year, including an MMORPG called "Project Dragon: The Roar from the Dungeon," a Viking-themed game with social networking components and a "Rhythm Scandal" title with "glitz, glam and music." n
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ApriPetit Robot Wants

Robots are perceived to be just as cold as their metallic parts: they only perform tasks and do not expect them to talk to you like in a conversation. Toshiba's R&D department comes up with a robot that breaks that stereotype. The little ApriPetit robot, a successor to the much larger ApriPoko, stands only six inches tall but it can follow along to conversations by moving its body and eyes in ways similar to a proper conversation. The robot is originally designed to help the elderly with their daily tasks; ApriPetit follows its owner across a room and can ask and answer questions about health and mood.
PlayStation Move Racing Wheel

Do you love living life on the fast lane? If you have answered in the affirmative and are not working just yet, chances are you have an affinity for video games that feature fast cars, such as Gran Turismo and Need for Speed after all, playing those titles are more or less the next best thing when it comes to enjoying super exotic vehicles, considering how it is nearly impossible to own one by working for people. Well, the classic video game controller for any console, including the Sony PS3, was not geared for racing games, which is why the PlayStation Move Racing Wheel was announced at Sony's E3 press conference.
Roadtrip Video Recorder

Recording the journey is always essential for people who like to go on road trips. Unfortunately, people may not be able to do so most of the time because they either have to concentrate on the road or others on the trip just don't want to be responsible for the task during the entire trip. One possible alternative to recording the trip is to have this Roadtrip Video Recorder on board for the next journey. The Roadtrip Video Recorder is a portable car mounted video recorder that can be easily set up in the car to record videos of your journey. It offers a hands free visual and audio journal of a vacation road trip. The suction cup mount enables the video recorder to be set up on the car windshield or side window.
Helicopter goes upside down

Helicopter blades that spin like crazy are definitely not something you would want to deal with, especially when it comes flying in your direction alongside all sorts of different debris after a particularly bad crash. Not so with what Raffaele Iannello has done with this 1:6 scale of the legendary Hughes/MD 500 helicopter, debuting not as a combatant on the battlefield, but rather, as a piece of home appliance that will definitely turn heads at the 2012 Milan Design Week. After all, this scaled down version of the helicopter is also turned upside down and remains permanently stuck on your ceiling, simply because it is supposed to function as a fan to keep you cool,
Void Watch Retro Gauge Stainless

There are timepieces which are laden with jewels and such, but if you do not happen to have the kind of deep pockets that warrant such luxurious purchases, then perhaps something more down to earth is in line for the average Joe? Enter the$199.99 Void Watch Retro Gauge Stainless while it is not exactly the cheapest timepiece available on the market, you know for sure that this is one timepiece that will turn heads whenever you slap it on your wrist. Why do I say so? For starters, speed demons will definitely fall in love with it, as it boasts of a slick interpretation of the classic speedometer. The analog display will feature Quartz Japan movement for that added touch of accuracy, and it is made out of 316 stainless steel and will be finished in brushed chrome.
Dictionary shows up Google images

They say that a picture speaks a thousand words, so for the number of pictures that appear in this unique dictionary that we are going to talk about, it will definitely have more than its fair share of words. After all, London designers Ben West and Felix Heyes have come up with this idea of doing things differently, where a standard dictionary will show an image that appears whenever you Google a particular word. This tome weighs in at a hefty 1,240 pages, and each word is represented by an image that has been printed out in order. Of course, to achieve this manually is going to be a real challenge, which is why there is this thing known as scripts, where running them will allow the search engine to search for a word automatically, download the first image associated with said word, and position it in the book's layout, resulting in the
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Sony NEX-F3 digital camera delivers

Once in a while, we get a digital camera that offers the best of both worlds a relatively portable size, not to mention a performance level that is high enough to be considered as semi-professional. Well, it is worth noting that the recently announced Sony NEX-F3 digital camera is one of those machinations, where it is capable of shooting professional looking photos despite housing its innards in a compact, pocket-sized chassis. This enables budding shutterbugs to explore the creative world of high-quality, interchangeable lens photography without breaking their back in the process. The Sony NEX-F3 will come with a similar space-saving mirrorless design.
Razer Taipan ups the ante

When it comes to video game hardware such as the mouse, there is one group of people that some hardware manufacturers tend to overlook folks who are left handed like yours truly, of course. I have trained myself to be able to play using my right hand, so my left hand is as useless as a banana in lieu of a racquet in a tennis game when it comes to gaming mice. Well, getting used to the right handed mouse is one thing, but somehow I have always favored the use of an ambidextrous design in gaming mice. It lends an air of understanding to southpaws like me, and it also looks nicer after all, symmetrical faces tend to be the best looking of the lot, don't they?
MH-2 robot acts as your digital

Telepresence might be the new buzzword in the days ahead, and with the MH2 robot, you would know why I said so. After all, this unique robot will be firmly seated on your shoulder (MH stands for miniature humanoid if you need to know), and it is powered by a rather large backpack that is filled with servos. These servos will no doubt animate the robot with a rather impressive range of motions that encapsulate its head, body and arms, enabling it to strike a range of poses to mimic the person whom you are having a conversation with. Of course, the person will need to wear some sort of motion capture setup in order for their actions to be sent over to the robot itself.
Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard

You can say that the world is extremely hungry for energy new and developing nations are consuming more and more resources as they focus on building up their infrastructure, while the more developed countries work on improving efficiency, by making the most out of the least that they have. Solar power is one renewable energy source that should be looked into serious by just about any company, as it is free, and many countries do get a decent amount of sunlight each year. With the Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K760, you know that your prayers have been answered, as it will target the Mac, iPad and iPhone.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF5 is another feather

When it comes to a compromise between DSLR performance and that of a standard issue digital camera, there is no other better example than the Micro Four Thirds family from Panasonic and Olympus, although others might want to pull in Samsung and Sony into the mix, but I would say that the two Japanese giants are at the front of the race at the moment. Having said that, Panasonic continues to work hard to remain at the top of the pack with the Lumix DMC-GF5 camera being announced. This is the latest interchangeable lens system camera from Panasonic that will feature a newly developed 12.1-megapixel Live MOS sensor and redesigned Venus Engine,
Cops wear Body Mounted Cameras

You see it everyday, a police officer involved in some sort of a scuffle that's been recorded on someone's Smartphone. It almost always makes the officer look bad. I watch these events unfold on my TV almost every night, and I wonder to myself, what happened BEFORE someone started recording? I mean, surely the bad guy wasn't just walking down the street minding his own business Well, in towns all over the country, we wont be left to wonder anymore, cops in many places nationwide have been outfitted with tiny wearable cameras. Unlike the often observed dashboard cameras, these little guys can be worn on a collar, head mount or with the Taser unit shown above, even mounted on Oakley sunglasses.
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The bad old days of movie tie-in games are back. MIB: Alien Crisis is an on-rails third-person shooter that is boring to play and ugly to look at. The musty dialogue fails to reproduce any of the charm of the movie franchise, and you can see everything the game has to offer in the span of an afternoon. This creaky relic of the past retails for full price in the present, making it one of the most shamelessly exploitative games in recent memory. You play as a disgraced archaeologist turned art thief turned man in black, Agent P, who joins the agency after stealing an alien artifact for the villain, the improbably named Emilio Chauncy. Agent P's sardonic attitude is clearly modeled after Agent J (played by Will Smith in the movies), but his attempts at witty irreverence fall flat. The by-thebook female agent you pair up with is a bland foil for jokes about authority and increasingly flirtatious banter, but the hackneyed writing utterly fails to capture the humorous juxtaposition of nonchalance in the face of the bizarre that serves the movies so well. With the hope of humor dashed, you are left to rely on spectacle and gameplay. Alas, Alien Crisis is an unattractive game that would have looked dated years ago. Homely character models waggle their mouth holes during cutscenes, and the barren backgrounds offer precious little distraction. Action sequences are a visual mess of bright, blurry projectiles and explosions, and your clumsy-looking alien enemies are covered in a milky sheen. There's nary an echo of the slick visual style of the movies, and so you are left with the gameplay. As in most light-gun shooters, you progress automatically to the next point in the level when you defeat all the enemies at your current point.At any given location you can jog between two or three cover positions or just hang out in the open and fire away. Moving is a good way to avoid grenades and get a better angle on some enemies, but you can usually clear most foes from a stationary position. You might have heard Dragon's Dogma compared to Shadow of the Colossus, the The Elder Scrolls series, the Monster Hunter games, or even Dark Souls. But while this open-world role-playing adventure has some superficial similarities to these games and others, it can't really be described through such comparisons. Dragon's Dogma is stubborn and defiant, wonderful and infuriating in the way it does its own thing without regard for whether or not it was the right thing to do. That defiant attitude will have you cursing the game and rolling your eyes at the frustrations, yet you will be enchanted. When a game plays by a set of rules this unique, there is always a surprise lurking around the bend, or ready to strike from above. Such moments are the culmination of Dragon's Dogma's outstanding combat scenarios. These are some of the bestanimated creatures in any game to date. You've never seen chimeras like this: part lion, part goat, part snake, and all fearsome. The lion's head roars and bucks, while the goat atop it yowls its displeasure at the flames you have rained upon it. When you lop off the serpentine tail and the beast falls, it kicks its legs wildly as it tries to get back on its feet. With substantial creatures, you can grab an appendage and climb your way to any body part accessible, provided you've got the stamina. These may be beasts of legend, but they behave in believable ways. Gravity affects them in ways that make sense, and armor falls from their bodies as you smash into it. That doesn't mean that Dragon's Dogma is always ignorant of your choices, only that you are at the tale's fickle mercies, as if it is tolerating your presence rather than welcoming it. You occasionally face decisions that might cause you to miss out on entire quests. The same decision, however, might inspire a newfound ally to make a welcome appearance during a challenging battle. Toward the game's end, it's hard to know what consequence your decisions might even have, considering all the vague high-fantasy soliloquies that ultimately communicate so little. Yet one choice stands out, and may even leave you horrified. When the world you know is being overrun by ferocious hordes of murderous aliens, things can get frantic. The Resistance series has always done a great job of complementing its dire circumstances with equally fraught action, but in Burning Skies, both elements lack their usual luster. The story fails to capture the desperation of humanity's plight, and your Chimeran enemies attack with patterned diligence as opposed to the swarming intensity of Resistances past. There are some fun guns to shoot and a competent online multiplayer offering, but if Burning Skies is any indication of the fervor with which we would fight for our survival, humanity is in trouble. Though fairly basic, the multiplayer action in Burning Skies is solid and satisfying. The array of weapons in play varies from game to game, and making good use of grenades, secondary fires, and salvaged firearms is key to success, especially when playing against higher level players with deadlier guns. You can die quickly and kill quickly, and this imbues the action with a welcome urgency. There are some issues that crop up, like missing sound effects and inconsistent explosives, but on the whole, this compact multiplayer suite delivers nicely. That is, if you can get into a match. Pre-release multiplayer sessions yielded hours of entertaining matches with no network issues, but retail release has put a serious strain on Burning Skies. In hours of trying, we were only able to join one active lobby, and similar matchmaking issues are widely reported. Technical issues may abate, but this entry in the Resistance series still falls well short of its pedigree. Burning Skies leaves little doubt that the Vita is a comfortable home for first-person shooters, but the platform's first FPS is disappointingly dated. Toothless enemies and simplistic level design make for tepid campaign action, and the solid multiplayer suite is too limited to be a big draw. There is definitely some fun to be had in Resistance: Burning Skies, but the series, the system, and the poor citizens of alternate-reality New York City deserve better.
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CONTENTS

JUNE 15 - JULY 15, 2012

44 Zong creating sporting history, mentoring future stars

2012 Computex: Asia's 38 leading IT trade fair

June 15 - July 15, 2012

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Govt eyes 3G auction to bag Rs79bn

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President invites Chinese to invest in Pakistan

Forum Mall,Karachi +92-21-35823824

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My first visit to Nigeria

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Zubair Ahmed Kasuri

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Table taken from PTA Tariff awareness guide for consumers

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MoIT, USF and R&D mint LTOs funds

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Qubee sacks 70% staff for nothing

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BlackBerry in steep decline

RIM to sell itself, wholl buy and why?

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Who leads on social media?

Pakistani news media on social sites

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Trend of usage online banking surged

AttendeesattheElectronicEn tertainmentExpotryoutthe SonyPlayStationVitaonthe firstdayofE3inLosAngeles.

Modelsdressedincostumesof char Tournament2strikeaposeon actersfromTekkenTag t  hesecond videogameextravaganzainLosA dayoftheE3 ngeles.

LaurenRawlinsplaystheWii FitUgame"CoreLuge"atthe ElectronicEntertainmentExpo (E3),inLosAngeles,California.

Gamerssamplegamesatthe NintendosectionontheopeningdayoftheE3videogame conferenceinLosAngeles.

Anattendeeplays"Fablethe Journey"duringtheElectronic EntertainmentExpo(E3),inLos Angeles.

AttendeesattheElectronicEn tertainmentExpotryoutthenew NintendoWiiontheopeningday ofE3inLosAngeles,California.

EA'szombiesposefoapicturea ttheOrpheumTheatre whereEAproducerheldtherpres entationsduringtheE3 2012mediabriefinginLosAngel es,California.

Gamerssamplegamesonthe openingdayoftheE3 videogameconferenceinLos Angeles.

Visitorsplaynewvideogames ontheWiiFitUattheNintendo boothduringtheE3gamingconference.

AscenefromZombieUpresentedbyUbisoftduringthe Ubisoft'smediabriefingatthe E32012inLosAngeles.

AttendeesattheElectronicEn tertainmentExpotryoutPlayStation 's All-StarsBattleRoyaleduringthe firstdayofE3inLosAngeles.

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AttendeesattheElectronicEn tertainmentExpotryoutthe SonyPlayStationVitaonthe firstdayofE3inLosAngeles.

Modelsdressedincostumesof char Tournament2strikeaposeon actersfromTekkenTag t hesecond videogameextravaganzainLosA dayoftheE3 ngeles.

LaurenRawlinsplaystheWii FitUgame"CoreLuge"atthe ElectronicEntertainmentExpo (E3),inLosAngeles,California.

Gamerssamplegamesatthe NintendosectionontheopeningdayoftheE3videogame conferenceinLosAngeles.

Anattendeeplays"Fablethe Journey"duringtheElectronic EntertainmentExpo(E3),inLos Angeles.

AttendeesattheElectronicEn tertainmentExpotryoutthenew NintendoWiiontheopeningday ofE3inLosAngeles,California.

EA'szombiesposefoapicturea ttheOrpheumTheatre whereEAproducerheldtherpres entationsduringtheE3 2012mediabriefinginLosAngel es,California.

Gamerssamplegamesonthe openingdayoftheE3 videogameconferenceinLos Angeles.

Visitorsplaynewvideogames ontheWiiFitUattheNintendo boothduringtheE3gamingconference.

AscenefromZombieUpresentedbyUbisoftduringthe Ubisoft'smediabriefingatthe E32012inLosAngeles.

AttendeesattheElectronicEn tertainmentExpotryoutPlayStation 's All-StarsBattleRoyaleduringthe firstdayofE3inLosAngeles.