Mobilink Breaks Media Blackout to Present 2011 Highlights: ProPakistani

Mobilink Breaks Media Blackout to Present 2011 Highlights
Economic Indicators of Telecom Industry [2011]
Tips on Buying Your First Smartphone
wi-tribe Funded wi-cam Utility Launched

Mobilink Breaks Media Blackout to Present 2011 Highlights

Posted: 25 Jan 2012 04:50 PM PST

Mobilink Press Conference Mobilink Breaks Media Blackout to Present 2011 Highlights Mobilink today held a press conference to reach out to media, eventually breaking media blackout by telecom operators, to highlight its performance in 2011 and to present company's strategy for year 2012.

Though the real aim of this media activity is unclear, however, seemingly Mr. Rashid Khan, President and CEO of Mobilink wanted to highlight company's achievements in year 2011.

Mr. Khan started his presentation with thorough emphasis on Mobilink's network capabilities, enhancements made during last year and the investments made to stretch the coverage.

He revealed that Mobilink has so far invested USD 3.9 billion or Rs. 251 billion for its operations in Pakistan. Company invested USD 139 million or Rs. 11.9 billion in 2010 while another USD 254 million or Rs. 22.1 billion were injected into company in 2011, demoing almost 100 percent increase in investment over the last year.

Rashid Khan told media that Mobilink is operating with 8,575 cell sites in the country; 6,500 kilometers of fiber optic backbone covering 20,000 towns, cities, and villages with cellular services. Mobilink has roaming services enabled for its prepaid and postpaid customers in 144 countries across the globe.

Other highlights he mentioned were:

Mobilink stretched its cellular coverage to 5,000 new locations in 2011
Company deployed unique Intelligent Network (IN) to enable immediate changes in customers' profiles, services with a single call to helpline.
Mobilink network transferred nearly 80 TB of Data during the year
Mobilink processed 100 million customer support calls through 3 contact centers
Mobilink served 4.5 million walk in customers through its 452 Customer Care Centers (including franchises) across 256 cities
Company had over 4 million active monthly GPRS prepaid users
Mobilink launched Pakistan's first online app store, which has 5000+ apps / 2.7 Million+ visits / 6.7 Million+ views / 100,000+ app downloads

CEO Mobilink also mentioned that Mobilink was rated as "Excellent Cellular Service" in PTA's consumer perception survey held in October 2011. He said that another customer survey conducted by the PTA for 2011, declared Mobilink's International Roaming services to be the best amongst Pakistan's cellular operators, based on quality of service and billing.

He said that 2012 promises to be another landmark year for Mobilink, following the implementation of Mobilink's state of the art intelligent network (IN), which will enable subscribers more control and freedom over their services, and provide a consumer experience that is the best in Pakistan's cellular environment.

Economic Indicators of Telecom Industry [2011]

Posted: 24 Jan 2012 09:39 PM PST

Despite tough working conditions and hit on national economy due to floods and inflation, telecom sector exhibited stability in the FY 2011 as revenue of telecom operators swelled to an all-time high Rs. 363 billion in 2011, at the end of financial year, it was revealed in Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) report.

Telecom Revenues

Revenues of the telecom sector reached all time high during the FY 2011 as these touched the mark of around Rs. 363 billion, registering boost of 5.4% compared to the year before.

During FY 2011, cellular revenues enhanced by 11% to reach Rs. 262,761 million in comparison with Rs. 236,047 million last year.

Rise in telecom revenues is mainly attributed to the swelling of revenues of mobile services, as other services except WLL have reported reduction in their total revenues.

Contribution to the National Exchequer

Telecom sector made its highest ever contribution to the national exchequer in the FY 2011 as around Rs. 117 billion were placed by the telecom companies and PTA compared to Rs. 109.1 billion that were deposited in the kitty last year, showing 7% growth during FY 2011.

Telecom companies deposited over Rs. 100 billion on average a year totaling an amount of Rs. 627 billion deposited in the national exchequer during the past six years.

The Authority alone has deposited over Rs. 72 billion in national exchequer during the last six years which include Initial and Annual License Fee, Annual Spectrum, USF and R&D Fund Contributions. However, a modest decline of Rs. 2 billion was witnessed since last year in PTA deposits owing to non-payment of APC for USF by a few telecom companies owing to litigations in the Court of Law.

Taxes

Tax collection from telecom sector remained the principal contributor in the total taxes received by the Government. Telecom sector has more than 93% share in total GST/FED collection from services sector.

During FY 2011 telecom companies contributed Rs. 52.6 billion in the form of GST/FED, 20%
more than Rs. 44 billion contributed in FY 2010.

If one looks at the share of each service in total GST/FED collected from telecom sector, it is seen that cellular services contributed Rs. 44.9 billion (FY 2011) compared to Rs. 36.2 billion (FY 2010), reflecting an increase of 25% in one year.

As Basic Services have been exhibiting slow growth their GST collections dropped by 18%. Apart from GST/FED, activation tax collections also spiked from Rs. 6.6 billion (FY 2010) to Rs 7.1 billion (FY 2011) owing to improvement in net addition in mobile subscribers base.

Telecom Investment

During FY 2011, telecom sector invested US$ 495.8 million with cellular mobile sector being the leading contributor. In addition, USF invested Rs. 3.5 billion in un-served and underserved areas.

In FY 2011, telecom sector attracted over US$ 79 million FDI in the country which is about 5% of the total FDI which came to Pakistan.

Analysis of FDI reveals that the telecom sector of Pakistan needs more investment to boost these figures in the near future. An ideal case could be the auction of 3G licenses which is expected to bring much needed FDI in the country. Better economic and security conditions in the country will further coax the investors to bring capital into Pakistan.

Telecom Imports

Telecom sector imports showed an upward trend as these jumped to US$ 766.3 million from US$ 725.7 million in the year before. After getting relief in regulatory duty on the imports of cellular mobile handsets, mobile imports grew to US$ 218 million in the FY 2011 as compared to US$ 169 million in the previous year.

Tips on Buying Your First Smartphone

Posted: 24 Jan 2012 08:17 PM PST

Read this post in Urdu

Its always a great moment when you're buying your first phone and even bigger when you are buying your first smartphone.

Some people make this decision easily (and happily) but others aren't so lucky and after the purchase they realize that they chose the wrong path.

If you are one of those then you MUST keep following points in mind before buying your first phone:

1. Keep the OS in mind. If you want to go through the 'old way' then symbian is for you. iOS is still the most smooth OS however, Android is not far behind either and considering the fact that Android phones offer even more features and are considerably cheaper, the decision really depends on you.

2. Keep the design and company in mind. A lot of people love Nokia's design and even their Symbian OS. A lot of people want to have a phone with a good build quality. If you are that 2nd kind of person, you should stay away from Samsung and their plastic build quality. Maybe, HTC will suit your needs a little. iPhone and a lot of Nokia phones (like the N8, N9, Lumia 800) offer outstanding build qualities.

3. DON'T FORGET THE APPLICATIONS! Applications are one of the biggest reasons people buy smartphones. iPhone OS (iOS) currently offers the most applications on any mobile platform but Android isn't very far behind either. And don't forget, Android offers a large number of free applications (including Angry Birds). The Application library of Windows Phone 7 is growing too. If you don't want apps, then Palm OS and Symbian will fare you well too.

4. The screen. Make sure you know the size of screen you want. Currently most people like 3.5 and 4 inch screens. Also don't forget about the pixel density. iPhone and Samsung Galaxy Nexus are the phones that currently offer the most pixel densities (some others have the same resolution as well but they are not so common). If you want, you can make the screen size even bigger, to 5 or even 7 inches through Samsung Galaxy Note and Samsung Galaxy Tab.

5. The camera. A lot of people (including me) left their cameras on getting their first camera-phone. If you want a phone for taking snaps, then it must have at least 5mp camera and HD video too if you make videos as well. Its recommended that the camera should be autofocus too. Phones such as Nokia 603 are not only cheap but also have good cameras (but without autofocus).

6. The processor and RAM. Every good Android phone must have at least 1 Ghz processor with at least 512 Mb RAM to run smoothly. Windows Phone 7 and iOS don't have these limitations as they run smoothly due to Microsoft's and Apple's restrictions. Take a phone with better processor and RAM if you want it to be the fastest in the crowd (i.e works faster than other phones).

7. Memory and Sim card. Keep in mind how much memory you'll need on your phone as a lot of manufacturers produce several versions of their phones which have different amounts of memory (e.g iPhone comes in 16, 32 and 64Gb models). And don't forget about sim card slot. In Pakistan, there are only a few people who know about micro-sims which work with some phones, such as iPhones. A micro-sim is a sim card which is quite smaller than the traditional sim cards available. So to make it work on your phone, you'll have to cut it.

8. The color. Believe me, the color of your phone reflects your personality! For example, if you are a guy with a pink Nokia N8, you know what people will think about you… Make this decision carefully.

9. Battery Life. There are some dual-core phones with extremely high-end specs and completely poor battery life. It might not seem a big deal but your phone is nothing more than curved, beautiful brick without good battery life. There are some phones such as Motorola Droid Razr that come with a huge 3300mAH battery which are ideal for you if you use your phone a lot.

10. Most important, the budget. If you're on a tight budget, then you might have to make some sacrifices. Symbian phones might help here as a lot of Symbian devices come quite cheaper than the ones with Android OS. If you don't know, let me tell you, it is not recommended to buy an Android phone with weak processor and less RAM because Android is a processor-consuming OS and Android devices do grow a bit slower with time. However, if you have an unlimited budget, then there aren't any boundaries.

To read more, click: Tips on Buying Your First Smartphone
ProPakistani.PK

wi-tribe Funded wi-cam Utility Launched

Posted: 24 Jan 2012 08:05 PM PST

wi-tribe Pakistan and Al-Khawarizmi Institute of Computer Science, University of Engineering and Technology (KICS-UET) unveiled 'wi-cam' a tool to remotely debug CPEs.

wi-cam, a CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) Management and Administration tool, developed by students and graduates of KICS-UET using open-source technology, allows broadband companies to remotely configure and manage CPEs, while receiving instant notifications and access to live data.

Not only does this result in an improved customer care experience, it also enables customers to continue enjoying seamless connectivity.

wi-tribe entered into a strategic public-private partnership with KICS-UET to conceive, develop and launch a fully funded research and development program, enabling the innovation of this breakthrough feature-rich management tool.

With wi-cam, wi-tribe and UET jointly demonstrate that sourcing local development of critical customer service innovation is not only possible, but also essential to the proliferation of technical capabilities within Pakistan.

"At wi-tribe, we thrive on the potential of the Pakistani youth and are eager to foster innovative ideas that can elevate the local IT industry to international standards. With remote CPE management capabilities, providing real-time updates and support allows wi-tribe to stay focused on customer satisfaction", said Dr. Tanveer-ul-Haq, Vice President Technical at wi-tribe Pakistan.

This is the first of many other locally developed business tools that will aid the industry in setting new global standards in customer care, operational efficacy and return on investment, while ensuring a long-term vision with public-private partnerships between academic institutions and the internet service industry.

"At KICS-UET, researchers are keen on capitalizing open source technologies and developing cost effective solutions for local telecom and IT industry. wi-cam is a product built with local talent and it has helped KICS-UET researchers better understand software needs of the telecom industry. With these leading steps we foresee significant growth in such collaborative arrangement in telecom industry in Pakistan", said Dr. Waqar Mahmood, Director KICS-UET.

Lt. Gen. (R) Muhammad Akram Khan, Vice-Chancellor of UET, said "This is an achievement, not just for UET and wi-tribe, but for the entire telecom industry. KICS-UET is extremely proud of this successful collaboration with wi-tribe and looks forward to continuing the partnership. wi-cam is innovation brought to life by Pakistani students and graduates, showcasing local capabilities."

By significantly enhancing customer care, wi-cam has already begun to revolutionize customer experience and promises to do so for the industry at large. Going ahead, wi-tribe is looking forward to continuing its contribution to the industry's growth through such initiatives, especially those showcasing the technology-capable youth of Pakistan.

world on your screen

Wednesday, January 25, 2012