When is 3G & 4G coming to your city?

Now that Government of Pakistan has successfully auctioned licenses for 3G & 4G, everyone is wondering that when they will be formally receiving signals on his/her phone.

Now that depends on various factors like

• When Telecom companies fully acquire the licenses for 3G &4G by paying at least 50% of their bidding price in 30 days from auction date
• 3G enabled and 4G enabled phones
• SIM of networks who actually offer 3G (Warid users can switch)
• Last but not the least, from which city they belong 

Luckily, there’ll be no need of buying new SIMs as these faster technologies will be available on the current SIMs. Now the timeline when 3G & 4G technology must hit your city is already set by PTA in information memorandum for spectrum auction. Telenor is already beaming free 3G internet on trial basis in cities like Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad & Rawalpindi.

Read more at MoreMag.pk

Free Telenor 3G internet available in Karachi, Lahore & Twin Cities

Telenor is offering its customers to enjoy free 3G internet on their Telenor SIMs in cities of Karachi, Lahore & twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Telenor has just recently won a license for 5MHz band at the auction held at Marriott Hotel Islamabad on 23^rd April for a price of $147.5 million. Although part of trial run that was started back in march, internet will be available on exquisite speeds by Telenor to its customers.

All you have to do is to dial *7799# to check that whether you are in coverage area of Telenor 3G trial or not. You might also want to check that you have a smartphone that is enabled to work with 3G technology.

Read more at MoreMag.pk

How government made 3G and 4G possible in Pakistan, Ishaq Dar tells

Finance Minster Ishaq Dar briefed in the press conference that how his government was able to launch 3G & 4G technology in Pakistan.

He started his briefing by hitting his predecessor government of PPP who was not able to auction the licenses. He said that in 2010 it was decided to sell the license for Rs 50 billion according to budget estimates. The in 2011, it was decided to sell this spectrum for Rs. 75 billion. He also mentioned the target of selling the licenses for 3G of Rs. 79 billion according to budget of 2012-13. He went to tell that when we took over Government last year, Ministry of IT assessed that about 120 billion can be raised by auctioning the licenses. He told that due to the delay caused by previous government, industry and technology sector of country suffered badly.

He went on to add that government formed an auction supervisory committee that took over the control for auction of these licenses after Prime Minister formally issued policy directive for auction of 3G licenses.

Read more at MoreMag.pk

Check Availability of 3G Services in Your Area [Tutorial]

While we know that 3G services will be commercially launched – in major cities of Pakistan – with-in few days, it would be a good idea to check if 3G services are already available at your location or not.

This can be specifically good because cellular companies are already testing 3G services at major locations in Islamabad / Rawalpindi, Karachi and Lahore. In Multan too, we have heard.

One more thing, at least two operators are allowing its customers to experience 3G services. Meaning that you can just join their 3G networks and start using 3G services.\

Here’s a simple way to check if 3G services are available at your location or not:

Read more at ProPakistani.pk

Zong 4G ad is a ditto copy of french ad, will their service be original?

We all are pretty excited to think about Zong 4G service which it is going to launch in Pakistan. At least their print ad in yesterday’s leading newspaper suggested the same. Like most of the people we liked the idea unless we found it to be a 100% copy of a French artwork which they used it for their “Auto Show”

 

Below is the image we found on eventcom.fr which is advertising an event “1^st Auto Show Bastia”.

Here is what Zong advertised to boast about its speedy 4G service.

Read more at MoreMag.pk

Analysis of 3G and 4G auction by ICT Forum Pakistan

 
The experts of ICT FORUM PAKISTAN have attempted a dispassionate analysis of strengths and weaknesses of the Spectrum Auction conducted on 23^rd April 2014. The experts have also briefly analyzed some of the criticism. The result is presented below.

The biggest achievement of this auction – and consequently of PTA and the Government – is that it has been conducted in a very smooth and orderly manner, without generating any controversy of any wrong-doing. Therefore congratulations are due to all those who worked for this achievement – in the Government as well as the PTA.

The whole process was carried out in a transparent and fair manner. The consultation process was open and accommodating. This resulted in PTA revising its first draft IM a couple of times, which is a proof that PTA remained flexible in accommodating views of stakeholders as far as possible.

Read more at MoreMag.pk

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif congraulates on 3G and 4G auction

Prime Minister Nawaz Shairf has congratulated all the people who made 3G and 4G auction a success in the country.

According to a Press Release from Prime Minister’s Office Mr. Sharif has said that successful auction of 3G and 4G spectrum has opened up new world of exploration and achievement. He also grieved on such a late launch of this modern day technology in the country but added that this  initiative has brought Pakistan to the cutting edge of technology,  upon which our nation will achieve new frontiers of advancement.

Read more at MoreMag.pk

When to Expect 3G Services in Your City?

While we know that telcos are all set to commercially launch 3G services with-in two weeks from now, mobile phone users across country are super anxious to know the expected arrival date of 3G and 4G services in their respective areas.

Exactly like how it had happened with 2G services, the commercial launch of 3G services won’t go beyond few major cities of Pakistan.

For now, let’s just absorb the fact that rollout of 3G services across the length of the country will be little sluggish, however, demand of 3G services and associated ARPUs are going to remain major factor in increasing operators’ quest to reach out in more areas of Pakistan.

Read more at ProPakistani.pk