Breaking: Wateen Layoffs Employees, Outsources Call Center, Shuts Down Business Centers: ProPakistani

Breaking: Wateen Layoffs Employees, Outsources Call Center, Shuts Down Business Centers
Telenor Increases Tariffs for Postpaid Mobile Internet
Jazba Launches Music and Video Portal
Ufone Double Deal: 10,000 SMS and 3 GB Internet in Rs. 200
Ufone Announces Winners of ShahCar Offer 2
Twitter Finally Launches its Official App for Symbian S40 Devices
Warid Eid Offer: Win Rs. 1 Crore, Motorbikes, Swift Car & Umrah Package
Wateen to Deploy WiFi Hotspots at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital

Breaking: Wateen Layoffs Employees, Outsources Call Center, Shuts Down Business Centers

Posted: 16 Jul 2012 01:58 AM PDT

Wateen today fired notable number of employees, outsourced its entire call center and shut down business centers across country, confirmed us official sources from company.

Wateen is reportedly facing tough time for its WiMAX division, amid tough business environment and sluggish growth that has impacted company's margins and made it hard for the company to keep the WiMAX operations running.

Through sources close and inside the company, we are communicated that Wateen is set on its track to to give WiMAX business a last try (through restructuring and outsourcing major part of business) to make it profitable or to eventually shut it down in near future.

Having said this, Wateen has its obligation towards Government of Pakistan through USF projects, which will continue and may get withdrawn as per rules and procedures defined by Universal Service Fund.

Wateen's WiMAX operations, back in 2007, was world's largest WiMAX deployment and was initially seen with a lot of prospect and had brought with it several WiMAX operators namely wi-tribe, Qubee and Mobilink Infinity, promising tremendous career opportunities for Pakistani telecommunication professionals.

However, tough competition from PTCL EVO (which is allegedly using extra spectrum without paying dues) and low ARPUs, WiMAX operators are now finding it hard to keep up with their businesses.

Wateen didn't communicate us the number of employees who are going to get impacted by today's layoffs – but said that the process may take a week or so. Our sources mention that about 40 percent of Wateen's permanent and contractual employees, including AMs and executives, mainly from consumer division will be laid off.

Reportedly, Wateen will outsource its whole call center to TRG, which it claims to have arranged better packages for employees, while Wateen's eight business centers across the country are going to get closed immediately.

Activity at Wateen's offices remained high today where firing of employees is underway. Morale of workforce has been low, naturally; who are uncertain of their future.

In an email to all employees today, Mr. Naeem Zamindar, CEO Wateen, said:

"Every business comes with its share of challenges. Whilst we are sad that many of our esteemed colleagues will no longer be with us, the current restructuring will enable us to align our cost structures, to ensure business sustainability and success.

I am confident that by working together in a positive and energetic manner, we will succeed in achieving our vision of transforming the lives of every Pakistani. Wateen has come a long way since its rebirth and the company has seen much progress in the past year.

While WiMAX continues to be a challenge for all operators across the industry, Wateen's other business lines have shown considerable improvement. The company's LDI business has grown from being number eight to the second largest player in the industry and the enterprise connectivity and solutions business is prospering."

Telenor Increases Tariffs for Postpaid Mobile Internet

Posted: 16 Jul 2012 01:29 AM PDT

Telenor Internet GPRS 550x448 Telenor Increases Tariffs for Postpaid Mobile Internet Telenor Pakistan has increased mobile internet tariff for its postpaid subscribers by 20 percent for some packages and up to 25 percent hike for others.

New mobile internet bundles offered to postpaid customers will be as following:

35 MB @ Rs. 90
100 MB @ Rs. 250
2 GB @ Rs. 600
Default Charges: Rs 1.13+tax

Interestingly, customers were not communicated of this change in prices, which are effective already – in fact a message posted on Telenor's website, without indicating the prices, reads:

It is informed to all business customers that Telenor will revise internet charges for Telenor business and Telenor corporate customers from 16^th July 2012.

P.S. Telenor terms its individual postpaid subscriptions as "Telenor Business" and corporate postpaid customers as "Telenor Corporate Customers".

Jazba Launches Music and Video Portal

Posted: 16 Jul 2012 12:42 AM PDT

Music20Video20Poster20showreel Jazba Launches Music and Video Portal Mobilink has launched a music portal for its Jazba customers, who can stream or download thousands of MP3s, Videos, Ringtones, and Wallpapers featuring Pakistani, Bollywood and International Artists, and Movie Soundtracks.

Jazba Music & Video Station is a subscription based WAP Music and Video store (Rs. 5 plus tax per day) optimized for handsets and provides you with officially licensed ready-to-download and as well as ready-to-stream content.

Mobilink said that the music portal supports all the popular handsets and devices available in Pakistan.

You can access Jazba Music and Video Station here: http://jazba.com.pk/services/jazba-music-and-video-station

Mechanics:

Users can access www.jazbamusic.com from their Mobilink Prepaid (Jazba/Jazz) GPRS-enabled handsets
Users can subscribe by clicking on the 'Subscribe' button and will receive a confirmation message of the subscription
Users can ‘download’ or 'stream' their choice of content by clicking on 'Download' or 'Stream' button in the content description

Charges:

Subscription charges for this service are Rs. 5+tax/day
In Rs. 5 plus tax per day you can:

Enjoy 5 content downloads
OR 10 Video Streams.

Standard GPRS charges as per package plan will separately apply to users who download or stream the content

Terms & Conditions:

Only Mobilink Prepaid subscribers using Mobilink GPRS/EDGE can buy and download the content
Content is only available for all major handsets available in the market

Ufone Double Deal: 10,000 SMS and 3 GB Internet in Rs. 200

Posted: 15 Jul 2012 09:05 PM PDT

This probably is best SMS and mobile internet offer from Ufone or from any other operator till date, but there's a catch – we will tell you of it in a bit.

You can get 10,000 SMS and 3 GB of mobile internet from Ufone, that too for a whole month for Rs. 200 only. Yes, including taxes.

But you need to subscribe to this package before July 18th, 2012 only. Yes, very limited duration to avail such a treat.

How to subscribe:

dial *5506# to subscribe

Charges:

Rs. 199 inclusive of tax.

Terms & Conditions:

Double Deal Offer is available on all pre-paid packages
Fair Usage policy of 10,000 SMS and 3 GB internet limit apply
Double Deal Offer is available for Limited Time Basis only
Offer does not include Premium/International SMS
Bucket will not be on auto-subscription
SMS will be applicable for both on-net & off-net

Ufone Announces Winners of ShahCar Offer 2

Posted: 15 Jul 2012 09:00 PM PDT

DSC 0059 Ufone Announces Winners of ShahCar Offer 2 Ufone, on Saturday, introduced 20 winners of its ShahCar Offer 2 to the national media in a press conference held here at a local hotel. The lucky winners have won a fabulous Suzuki Swift car through Ufone's offer.

Speaking at the press conference the Chief Commercial Officer Ufone, Mr. Salman Wassay said, "being a caring company Ufone has always been mindful of the prizes it offers through its different campaigns. We share the dreams of Pakistanis and try to come up with such a prize that actually adds value to their lives."

Wassay added, "today we are giving away the prize of car to 20 lucky customers of Ufone that is a basic necessity and cannot be afforded by many. Similarly, we have launched Umrah offer for our customers that is again a ‘dream come true’ for many".

He said, "a huge majority of Pakistanis keep on saving all their life to perform this religious ritual. Ufone has come forward to make their dream a reality." Wassay assured "we believe in transparency in whatever we do and by the grace of God the result of the lucky draw is the testimony of our claim". He also congratulated the winners and wished them best of luck.

The Chief Marketing officer Mr. Akbar Khan was also present at the occasion who welcomed the 20 winners of Shahcar-2 offer. The offer was designed to cater to all and sundry all across Pakistan and after the draw the same fact was reflected amongst the winners as they hailed from all the four provinces of Pakistan and cross section of the society.

This lucky draw has successfully bridged the demographical gap between people living in smaller towns and urban metropolis. Majority of the car recipients hail from smaller cities from across the country where chances to improve living standards are comparatively thin. The result of this lucky draw has showed that when it comes to Ufone anyone from anywhere can be a winner.

The lucky Ufone customers who have won cars are:

Saeed Iqbal from Faisalabad,
Ahmad Khan from Karachi,
Mashood Ahmad from Rahim Yar Khan,
Mehfoz Khan from Tando Muhammad Khan,
Muhammad Mushtaq from Vehari,
Jamil Shah from Shabqadar,
Charsada, Muhammad Shafiq Saleem from Gujranwala,
Umer Rahim from Karachi,
Muhammad Idress from Pindigheb,
Suhail Majeed Shah from Quetta,
Haris Tanvir from Islamabad,
Arslan from Karachi,
Liaqat Ali from Haripur,
Muhammad Kamran from Tank,
Sulman Jalil from Karachi,
Suba Khan from Dera Ghazi Khan,
Syed Bilal Hassan from Taxila,
Shakirullah from Karachi,
Muhammad Rafique from Larkana and
Amar Lal from Jacobabad.

The offer that took the subscribers by storm was in operation from 10th April 2012 to 30th June 2012 and was valid for all new, MNP, Prepaid and Postpay customers.

To get a chance to be a part of the ShahCar offer 2 lucky draw, the customers required either to buy a Ufone SIM, use the existing Ufone SIM's or simply port in to Ufone's network and consume a minimum balance of Rs.200 before the 30th of June 2012. The minimum consumption of Rs.200 automatically ensured a chance to win a Suzuki Swift via lucky draw; interestingly, the more the customers consumed the more chances they got to win.

Twitter Finally Launches its Official App for Symbian S40 Devices

Posted: 15 Jul 2012 08:55 PM PDT

Twitter, after years of waiting has finally released an official app for the Symbian Series 40 feature phones, the most widely used set of devices in the world.

Twitter's product manager Brian Frank announced the release in a blog post on the Twitter blog. Twitter's app now joins Facebook and Google+ apps on the Ovi Store to keep the Symbian feature-phone users more connected and more social. The interface of the app seems to be user-friendly enough.

If you own a Nokia Symbian series 40 device too, what are you waiting for. Here you go: http://store.ovi.com/content/256340 The file is only 0.57 Mb big so you can download it even from the slowest of EDGE/GPRS connections.

Good luck!

Warid Eid Offer: Win Rs. 1 Crore, Motorbikes, Swift Car & Umrah Package

Posted: 15 Jul 2012 08:53 PM PDT

Month of Ramadan is around and Warid has already announced this new offer for its customers to win Motor bikes daily, a swift car and three Umrah Packages weekly, in addition to 1 Crore bumper price on Eid Day.

Keep reading to know all the details:

Win daily 1- Motorbike on using Rs 15
Win Weekly 1-Swift car and 3-Umrah Packages on using Rs 25
Bumper prize of 1 Crore after 30 days on using Rs 50

Promotion Duration

12th July 2012 till 10th Aug 2012.

Terms & Conditions

Subscribers will automatically be made participants to this scheme upon usage of Rs.15 daily, Rs 25 weekly and Rs 50 for 30 days.
The person is using a PTA registered SIM is eligible to participate.
Tax will be deducted from reward as per Tax policy.
All documentation and expenses pertaining to the registration of the prize car will be the winner's responsibility
Car delivery is dependent on the delivery schedule of the manufacturing company
Customer will get cash equivalent of Umrah Package
In Case of any discrepancy the decision of Warid will be final.
Announced winners will have a period of seven (07) days from intimation to claim their reward failing which the reward will be considered forfeited.
Warid employees, their family members and employees of related organizations cannot be a part of this lucky draw
Prizes can be availed through Warid business centers.
Winner will receive call from 321.
Do not entertain any calls or SMS asking for credit transfer or balance load/share to win the prize. Warid will not be responsible for any loss that may occur due to any such activities
All charges include government taxes and levies as well as a 19.5% federal excise duty.
Each recharge done through scratch cards and Warid Ezeeload includes 10% withholding tax.
Using SIMs without proper documentation is a crime – PTA

Wateen to Deploy WiFi Hotspots at Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital

Posted: 15 Jul 2012 08:50 PM PDT

Wateen Telecom has signed a MOU with Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) whereby Wateen would deploy Wi-Fi hotspots at different locations across the Hospital premises.

This is another step towards Wateen providing the general population access to the internet at numerous public places such as restaurants, cafes and hospitals across Pakistan; through its Wi-Fi hotspots. This will enable people whether patients, their relatives or the hospital staff to surf the internet while they are in the designated areas to use their time more efficiently as opposed to watching TV or skimming through magazines.

Speaking on the occasion Mr.Syed Jibran Ali, Chief Commercial Officer Wateen Telecom said, "Wateen Telecom strongly believes in internet access for all. It's an honor for us that Shaukat Khanum Memorial cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) has chosen our services amongst others. We think it is very important to make the larger population part of the digital wave – broadband internet possesses the capability of influencing our lives in numerous positive ways. This endeavor of Wateen is all about enabling every Pakistani to have access to information."

Wateen would provide internet access at the OPD waiting area, main reception, visitors Café, 4 inpatients floors, main building 3rd floor library and class rooms, ICU and radiology reception ,walk in clinic and CC office area, nursing and doctor's flats, services building and the nursing Institute.

While signing the MOU Dr. Faisal Sultan, Chief Executive Officer, Shaukat Khanum Memorial cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC), stated, "There is an increasing trend world over to have internet access available in hospitals. With Wateen's WiFi hotspots, our medical staff will have access to cutting-edge cancer treatment methods and research at any location within the Hospital premises. In addition, our patients will be able to use the internet while they wait for an appointment or while they are admitted in the units. SKMCH&RC welcomes this partnership with Wateen."

world on your screen

Monday, July 16, 2012