Zong to Pay Full License Fee for 3G and 4G Spectrum in One Go!

During the 3G and 4G spectrum auction in Pakistan that was arranged last week, the part of chine mobile, Zong telecom, has won 3G license for US 306 million dollars and 4G license for US 210 million dollars. Zong Pakistan has announced that it will pay the entire total fee for the license of 3G and 4G network and will not go for the installment plans for the submission of 3G and 4G license fee that is offered by the government of Pakistan.

Government of Pakistan telecom operators had been offered by the Government of Pakistan to give 50% license fee as up front and apparent remaining dues in 5 years with markup of LIBOR plus 3% of the original billed amount. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zong, Dr. Fan Yunjun, said: “Zong will clear its dues in a solitary go within coming few days, instead of paying 50% license fee up front and after that paying five equal installments (with interest)”.

Read more at SimsPk

Mobilink Launches 3G Enabled Samsung Tablets

fter acquiring 3G license, Mobilink Pakistan has launched 3G enabled Samsung tablets that are compatible with 3G service exclusively for Mobilink customers. Mobilink 3G enabled Samsung tablets will be loaded with the internet data bundle offer for 3 months with the official launching of Mobilink 3G network. Mobilink consumers can easily purchase 3G enabled Samsung tablets by Mobilink at very affordable and cheaper price. These 3G enabled Samsung tablets will present Mobilink subscribers with 3G wireless broadband service as it is providing free internet data bundle of 6 GB that will be valid for 3 months.

On the launch, the head of Data Mobilink, Aamer Manzoor, commented: “With Mobilink’s booming purchase 10 MHz 3G spectrum, customers are at this instant looking for reasonably priced and quality 3G enabled devices.

Read more at SimsPk

Custom seized 150 mobile phone consignments

Custom authorities have seized 150 illegal mobile consignments that were imported to Pakistan without approval from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA)

This recent raid has even resulted in custom authorities starting an investigation in past month’s mobile shipments from China of mobile phones, fearing that there could be chances of forged NOCs.

Back in December 2013, PTA has directed custom authorities of Pakistan to not clear mobile consignments for which their importers have not submitted a list of genuine IMEI numbers of all the imported phone.

Read more at MoreMag.pk

Import of mobile phones has seen a drop in March 2014 as compared to the imports that were made in February or January 2014.

According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, in the month of March Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $ 44.82 million which is $ 12.12 million less than what was imported in February 2014. It was even less than the amount of money spent on import bill of mobile phones back in March 2013 which was $ 77.26 million.

It was 2^nd consecutive month when mobile phone import dropped because even February witnessed a drop of about $ 2million in the money spent on import.  

Read more at MoreMag.pk

Government orders PTA to curb Afghan SIMs usage

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has been ordered by Government to curb the usage of Afghan SIMs in the tribal Areas of Pakistan.

Afghan SIMs are being used in the country for many years now and are utilized for criminal activities like extortion, threats and planning of terrorist attacks. In a hearing at Peshawar High Court (PHC), authorities have said that more than 40,000 illegal SIMs are operating in the country. Their functioning is made possible with the help of roaming service agreements signed between Afghan telecom companies and Pakistan cellular operators.

Few days back interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had said in Senate that they are soon going to issue orders to PTA to curb Afghan SIMs. PTA has taken a stance that they have not received any formal request from the law enforcing agencies to curb the illegal traffic.

Read more at MoreMag.pk

Billions earned but Media can’t even say 3G & 4G correctly

It is a shame that billions have been earned by the auction of 3G and 4G licenses but media in Pakistan is actually unable to even say the word 3G and 4G correctly.

Today a Cartoon was published in Daily Jang, showing the ‘birth’ of next generation of mobile communications in Pakistan. Sadly, instead of being called 3G and 4G, as the names go, reputed cartoonist Jawed Iqbal called them G3 and G4.

It is not the first time that a leading media personality have got the names of these technologies wrong. Hamid Mir, who has now reached new heights of fame, had even spelled the 3G as G3.

Read more at MoreMag.pk

Mobilink users are more concerned about 3G then Pakistan Idol

It seems like Mobilink customers are more concerned about 3G then much famed and publicized Music ‘Reality’ show Pakistan Idol.

Last night on the official page of Mobilink, an announcement was made about the 1^st Pakistan Idol who was selected to be Zamad Baig. Mobilink was the official partner of the show, along side Clear and QMobile, that went on air on Geo TV channel.But in the comments section of the post, people totally ignored the prized idol and started asking about when Mobilink is going to launch its 3G services in Pakistan.

Read more at MoreMag.pk

Jang Group Still Can’t Differentiate Between 3G and G3 [Cartoon]

We thought it were politicians only saying things such as “G3”, “taknalogy Lasansss” and “Daalar”, but apparently our mighty Jang Group is not behind in the race.

Before we go into further discussion, have a look at following cartoon published in Daily Jang Today:

Cartoon depicts 3G and 4G technologies as newly born babies, just getting out of a birth centre in Pakistan.

However, the problem is that instead of terming them 3G and 4G, Daily Jang cartoonist conveniently mentioned them as “G3” and “G4”.

Read more at ProPakistani.pk

Ufone 3G Packages Get Leaked Ahead of Launch

Much anticipated 3G packages from Ufone have made it the internet.

However the confusing part is that there are three version such 3G packages available on the internet at various forums/blogs. All of these versions are claimed to be legitimate ones and interestingly all three versions of Ufone 3G packages hit the market at the same time.

Our hunch is that segments and pricing department might had proposed these three versions to the management, out of which one might get finalized, if it has to. But this is mere speculation.

Read more at ProPakistani.pk

Ufone Launches Free 3G Trial in Lahore

Ufone, one of the successful bidders of 3G spectrum, has launched FREE 3G services in Lahore for the consumers to get a first-hand feel of third generation mobile telephony and its wonders.

Ufone FREE 3G trial is available for both postpaid and prepaid customers and have a limited validity with unlimited data downloads.

This free 3G trial is likely to last till the commercial launch of Ufone 3G services in Pakistan.

Read more at ProPakistani.pk

PTCL and Dailymotion Join Hands

Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL) has joined hands with DailyMotion to offer improved user experience to PTCL customers in Pakistan.

The joint venture will allow wide-range of entertainment content from Dailymotion and multi-screen viewing options for PTCL customers.

Dailymotion – one of the largest video and user generated content platform – consumes a significant portion of the broadband traffic in Pakistan and with this partnership PTCL has paved the way for the legitimacy of Pakistani content on Dailymotion portal.

Walid Irshaid, President and CEO PTCL said at the occasion, “PTCL is spearheading the spread of digital services culture in Pakistan and this move will augment the growth of local content industry and talent as well as open-up new opportunities and  better monetization for Pakistan’s content industry”.

Read more at ProPakistani.pk

Telecom Companies are going to launch 3g Services in 2 Weeks

After effective closeout of 3g and 4g spectrum, every single cellular telephone client is presently sitting tight for the business launch of 3g administrations in the nation.

The data collected through the news which were coming, uncovered that in spite of winning the range, the business beginning of 3g administration may take a week or two at most.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said that it will hold License Award service after drivers will pay their remaining permit expense.

15% of earnest money is already with the PTA, while remaining license fee will be settled with-in a week or so”, said Dr. Ismail Shah,

Read more at SimsPk.com

3G & 4G licenses: Government expects 75pc payments before budget

Government is expecting 75% payments to be received before budget for the recently auctioned 3G & 4G licenses. Two of the mobile operators have shown interest in paying all their bidding price upfront as they don’t want to pay 3% additional interest on 5 years long installments.

Zong is planning to pay $500 million by next week as told by Minister for Information & Technology Anusha Rehman in a meeting held at Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). Zong won a 3G license for 10 MHz spectrum and another 4G license for 10 MHz spectrum during the auction that was held on this Wednesday.

Anusha Rehman said that another company was also ready to pay its promised amount of bid as soon as possible. PTA Chairman Dr. Ismail Shah said that the cellular operators are excited to launch 3G technology as soon as possible. Eagerness of these companies is visible with their advertisement campaigns getting started as soon as result of auction process was announced.

Read more at MoreMag.pk

How much a user is worth on Facebook?

Facebook has recently released its Q1 report for year 2014 in which it has recorded to have increased revenues to $2.5 billion. This meant that Facebook has outshined the estimates set by Wall Street Journal for its quarterly revenues.

Facebook also revealed that it now has 1.28 billion active users on its site out of which 1.01 billion are accessing their website from Mobile. Now this puts a clearer picture in front of us that how much an individual user is worth to Facebook. Simply mathematics show that Average Revenue Per User (APRU) globally was $2 dollar. This is amount of revenue that a common user helped Facebook to generate by using the social networking giant for his virtual social life.

Read more at MoreMag.pk

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

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

Huawei Ascend P7 to be launched on May 7, specs released

Huawei is going to launch its new flagship smartphone in the form of Huawei Ascend P7 on May 7^th. Specs of the smartphone are already available on internet.

Now as you can see that Chinese manufacturer has beefed up its new smartphone to compete in the market which has already been swayed by its competitors with phones like Samsung Galaxy S5,Nokia Lumia 930 and HTC OneM8.

Read more at MoreMag.pk

YouTube is running in Pakistan on Android Smartphones

There is no sure shot way of blocking YouTube in Pakistan as the website works fine on the Android phones in Pakistan. As you can see in the below video that PTA Chairman and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also admitted that there is no full proof way of blocking YouTube.

Reason is that the Android OS and YouTube belong to same parent company, Google. Protocols used by Google in its mobile OS makes it entirely impossible for Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to block largest video sharing website in Pakistan. Although non-android phones like blackberry and Nokia smartphones would still not be able to play YouTube but as we know users of these phones are far less in numbers thanks to local brands

Right now out of total phone users in Pakistan, 12% is smartphone users and out of them 95% are android smartphone user. With introduction of 3G, number of smartphones will skyrocket and so more and more people will be able to access it. A government official, who didn’t want to be named, accepted the fact that YouTube is accessible in Pakistan on Android smartphones and they can’t filter it completely. .

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

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