Allied Bank to Offer Mobile Banking Services: ProPakistani

Allied Bank to Offer Mobile Banking Services
Recharge Vfone and EVO Connections with Uload
Ufone Sponsored Golfer Wins COAS Golf Championship
LDI Operators Agree to Implement ICH
Ufone Introduces HTC One V

Allied Bank to Offer Mobile Banking Services

Posted: 09 May 2012 07:43 AM PDT

Allied Bank Limited has inked a Technology Support Agreement for the deployment of mobile banking services with Sybase and Abacus Consulting, said a statement issued here today.

Sybase is a SAP Company with expertise in mobile commerce services while Abacus Consulting will help Allied Bank in adapting the technology for mobile financial services.

The deal was closed at the Head Office of the Bank today.

Khalid A. Sherwani, President/CEO, Jalees Ahmed, Executive Director – Strategic Planning, Zia Ijaz, Group Chief – Commercial & Retail Banking & Mujahid Ali, Group Chief – Information Technology from Allied Bank, Asad Ali Khan, President & Abbas Ali Khan, Senior Partner from Abacus Consulting and Hasan Jamal, Country Head – Pakistan from SAP were present on the occasion along with other officials.

Pakistan happens to be one of the fastest developing markets in the world for mCommerce and these services will create opportunities of unprecedented scale for bank customers. Allied Bank's decision to deploy mCommerce solution will enable it to offer mobile phone based financial and non-financial services to its customers.

On the occasion, Sherwani commented "Allied Bank, being one of the largest banks in Pakistan, has been capitalizing on technology to provide fast and cost efficient services to its customers. The imminent implementation of mCommerce solution would further enhance Allied Bank's capacity to extend its services to wide range of banking customers and help in extending financial inclusion to the hitherto untapped market segments".

Asad A Khan of Abacus Consulting commented "We are pleased to be a part of this goal in transforming the financial ecosystem in Pakistan in partnership with Allied Bank. At Abacus Consulting, we are fully committed to leverage our vast knowledge in the field of mCommerce. Our on ground team of experts in the field of mCommerce combined with senior management's robust efforts for client satisfaction shows our seriousness towards developing mCommerce and mBanking in Pakistan".

Recharge Vfone and EVO Connections with Uload

Posted: 09 May 2012 04:51 AM PDT

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Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has launched its newest "Life Made Easy" re-charge service through which Vfone and EVO (prepaid) customers can recharge their accounts through a nationwide network of Uload retailers.

PTCL customers of Vfone and EVO can now enjoy instant recharge for their Vfone and EVO connections of minimum Rs.20 to 2,000 through nearly 150,000 retailers situated across the country.

Customers and retailers will get SMS alerts for all recharges, which will help them keep track of their account status.

Following is the customer lifecycle implemented against different recharge amounts:

Load Denominations	Outgoing Validity	Incoming Validity	Temporary Out of Service
Rs. 20 – 49	02 Days	10 Days	45 Days
Rs. 50 – 99	07 Days	20 Days	45 Days
Rs. 100 – 299	30 Days	90 Days	45 Days
Rs. 300 – 499	60 Days	90 Days	45 Days
Rs. 500 – 999	90 Days	90 Days	45 Days
Rs. 1,000 – 1,999	120 Days	90 Days	45 Days
Rs. 2,000 & above	180 Days	90 Days	45 Days

These validities are applicable only for Vfone, for EVO we will follow the validities already defined for each package.
After 45 TOS (temporary out of service) days customer will go in POS (permanent out of service) status
5% service charges will be applicable on each load

"PTCL has always strived to provide the best services and exciting offers to its valued customers," said PTCL Senior Executive Vice President Commercial, Naveed Saeed. "PTCL's focus remains our customers' convenience and the new 'Life Made Easy' service will certainly bring a qualitative difference to the lives of our customers."

"Keeping in mind the needs of our customers, we will keep upgrading PTCL's services in future," said Executive Vice President Wireless, Omar Khalid.

Service Details:

This service is available at all retail shops (approx 150,000) who are currently offering Ufone's Uload service
Minimum recharge amount is Rs. 20/-
Vfone customers will be awarded active days as per lifecycle details mentioned above
Both customer and retailer will get an SMS alert in case of successful transaction
In case of fail transaction a failure message will be received at retailer's end and he will reimbursement the money to customer
In case of Temporary out of service or Permanent out of service status, customer will first have to get his account activated from PTCL call center/OSS and only then he will be able to recharge his account through Uload

Ufone Sponsored Golfer Wins COAS Golf Championship

Posted: 09 May 2012 04:00 AM PDT

Matloob Ahmed, one of the Ufone sponsored golfers, won COAS Open Golf Championship – 2012 which concluded recently at Rawalpindi Golf Club.

There were more than 400 participants in the event from all across Pakistan. The tournament throughout was led by Matloob Ahmed and Muhammad Nazir both Ufone sponsored golfers but at the end this was Matloob who stood strong to take away the winning prize. Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani handed over the winning cheque of Rs. 2 million to Matloob Ahmed at the grand prize distribution ceremony.

Ufone recently announced its ongoing commitment to sports in Pakistan by signing up the top golfers Pakistan has to offer. This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that golf has been endorsed at such a massive country wide scale. Ufone has signed on Shabbir Iqbal (Pakistan No.1), Matloob Ahmed (Pakistan No.2), Muhammad Munir (Pakistan No.3) and Mubariz Ahmed (Pakistan Junior Champion) along with other upcoming talent. This step has reaffirmed Ufone's conviction to support sports in the country. Soon after the signing of these players, Muhammad Munir won Mangla Open 2012 and the KP National Ranking Open Golf Tournament 2012 and Matloob has soon followed suit.

Speaking at the occasion beaming Matloob Ahmed said that Ufone's endorsement has built his self-confidence. The platform provided by the company has encouraged golfers to play local and international tournaments which has increased the spirit of competition between them and drives them to perform at their very best.

LDI Operators Agree to Implement ICH

Posted: 08 May 2012 10:22 PM PDT

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14 Telecom operators with Long distance and International dialing license have agreed to establish a centralized landing gateway for internet calls in order to curb grey traffic, reported Express Tribune citing a report by BMA Capital Research.

The gateway, International Clearing House (ICH), will make possible for all LDI operators to get international calls landed to a single technical gateway against the current practice of being handled by 14 Long Distance International (LDI) operators independently and that too at different rates, said the BMA Capital research note issued on Tuesday.

The largest LDI operator PTCL – with a 50% market share – will lead the technical consortium where the entire international traffic will land.

"The other operators will be allotted fixed quota in total industry revenues based on their respective market shares," says the note.

The idea is to curb grey traffic and at the same time enhance margins on incoming international traffic.

Once the International Clearing House comes into play, the rates for overseas callers may witness a massive jump as any foreign operator terminating calls into Pakistan would have to pay Rs. 7.64 per minute (USc8.4/min).

"PTA issued 14 LDI licenses of which many have been struggling and some have defaulted on their license and debt obligations in the past. This is a lifeline for small, struggling operators but bigger players may not like an agreement that lets others benefit at their cost. Hence, tussles on quota may create problems in the future," said KASB Securities in a research note. The entire arrangement is expected to be finalized by May 16.

Idea of International Clearing House was first tabled back in 2008, when PTA had proposed a centralized gateway for international traffic for all LDI operators in order to make illegal landing of voice calls impossible.

However, the implementation kept getting delayed for various reasons – mainly the revenue model and modalities of ICH. Even CCP had issued a verdict saying that ICH is anti-competitive and that LDI operators could withdraw themselves from ICH.

To read more, click: LDI Operators Agree to Implement ICH
ProPakistani.PK

Ufone Introduces HTC One V

Posted: 08 May 2012 09:42 PM PDT

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After Mobilink introduced HTC One X – couple of weeks go – Ufone has now announced the official launch of HTC One V, a mid-range smartphone from HTC One series.

Priced at Rs. 28,500 (network unlocked) HTC One V is offered with a free car charger and 30 MB of free internet data for three months. Ufone says that there is 12 months warranty included with the pack, which will be handled by Brightex Pakistan.

HTC One V comes with 1 Ghz processor on top of 512 MB ram. Powered by Google's latest mobile OS i.e. Ice Cream Sandwich, HTC One V has 4 GB of internal storage and 5 MP camera with Autofocus, LED flash and 720p recording.

Just to let you know, all HTC One V users can avail a special offer of 25 GB of Dropbox space free for two years.

Keep reading for complete specifications blow:

HTC One V Specs: