Telenor Invents a New Way of Minting Money: ProPakistani

Telenor Invents a New Way of Minting Money

Posted: 22 Mar 2012 01:14 AM PDT

When businesses go unchecked by authority and making money becomes the only goal, companies will do any possible thing to empty the pockets of customers, without considering the long term consequences of their deeds. One such example is SMS based trivia quizzes, which every telecom company is now playing with.

Going to next level, Telenor Pakistan is sending text messages to its customers to win as much as half kilogram of gold for FREE in its "Sonay ki Jeet" contest, which could potentially mislead customers by not communicating the actual terms.

Text message received by Telenor customer claims that participation (shirkat) in the contest is free, which is untrue.

Before going into further details, let's have a look at the SMS:

Text message is in roman Urdu, which would translate into English as following:

Free participation for 3445433332!

Telenor has selected your number for free participation for a prize of Half Kilogram gold. Send FREE to 8999 now

Rs. 0 this SMS

What a customer will get from this message is apparent, i.e. participation in contest is free. He/she will immediately send a reply back to this message assuming that he/she will qualify for the prize. Which doesn't happen in reality.

In real, participation in "Sonay ki Jeet" contest requires at least one reply to short-code 7775, which costs Rs. 10 plus tax.

When we asked Telenor's viewpoint on it, Telenor said that SMS from 8999 is not misleading. It argued that customer is given an opportunity to enter into the competition by sending a free SMS to 8999. Once that is done, customer then receives questions for the Sonay Ki Jeet competition to which the customer responds to, at 7775. Telenor said that Messages from 7775 informs customers that sending SMS to 7775 will be charged at Rs10+tax.

Obviously participation isn't free, which Telenor admitted to us, unlike it claimed in text messages sent to customers (shown above).

Almost all cellular companies use tactics to trigger customers for action, but Telenor’s this action of claiming the participation as free is unique and new.

No words on PTA's role; they are so good at showing deaf ears to things where customers suffer. Just imagine the number of customers (especially from rural areas) who will washout their credits just because of a twist Telenor invented to earn more money. Millions of Rupees will change pockets, on which Telenor deserves a bravo; and so does PTA.

URL Filtering System to be Reviewed Again Before Implementation

Posted: 21 Mar 2012 10:07 PM PDT

Read this post in Urdu

Controversial URL Filtering System that the government of Pakistan is planning to implement (for blocking obscene material on internet) is going to get reviewed before implementation, we have confirmed with sources.

According to details we have got, a committee comprising of various ministries, Telecom and IT bodies, PTA, ICT R&D Fund and others are likely to meet soon to review the entire procedure of centralized URL Filtering System, mainly to bring transparency in the whole system of blocking obscene content on internet.

A source well familiar with the situation told ProPakistani that review process is likely to bring the consensus for URL filtering system to make sure that all stakeholders are on the same page. He hinted that government is aware of concerns raised by stakeholders, especially about making this filtration lot more transparent.

Source ruled out any possibility of not implementing URL fileting system, however, formation of regulation and a proper policy making is in the pipeline before the URL filtering system is implemented.

A source in ICT R&D fund, on condition of anonymity, revealed that RFP might not be floated again. He said that tools are going to remain the same, however, usage will depend on what government will decide in coming days.

Internet activists earlier had opposed the URL filtering system, saying it could pose a serious threat to free accessibility of information on internet. They are of the view that government could block websites based on political reasons in the name of obscene material. They had demanded government to withdraw its plans of implementing centralized URL filtering system.

While others said that URL filtering system needed more transparency. They were of the view that system should be made more transparent to make sure it isn't used for political reasons.

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Thursday, March 22, 2012