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Volume # 1 Issue 12

I can hear the voices, Pakistan is about to adopt the 3G technology by the end of this year. I heard the same voices last year. For sure, there are delays due to the reason very known, a combined pressure maintained by the mobile phone operators, those which are not interested for any 3G operation in Pakistan. In the cover story we have tried to throw light on this issue as to why there is a strong resistance in the way of 3G in Pakistan.

With this edition, MORE has completed 1 year of its journey. It was never easy to publish a magazine on regular basis of this quality with ever increasing production cost looking at the weakening of economy. But with the grace of Almighty Allah and a support from our valuable clients and readers, we have been able to move ahead. We will keep increasing our pace by putting more and more efforts.

We wish to see a prosperous Pakistan, a country, technologically strong enough which could compete the world in every aspect. For this we need to have education for everyone at every level. MORE has started to play its role in this regard.

We will keep sharing our ideas with you every month and we request our readers to support us in this cause.

May, June 2009

Editor Note

Mudassar Jehangir Mufti Editor-in-Chief

Editor-in-Chief Mudassar Jehangir Mufti Group Editor Sumaira Mudassar Editor M. Atif

All information in the magazine is verified to the best of the authors’ and the publisher’s ability. However, MORE does not accept responsibility for any loss arising from reliance on it.

DISCLAIMER: Where opinion is expressed it is that of the authors and does not necessarily coincide with the editorial views of the publisher or MORE.

Content Coordinator Zubair Rehman Advertising Manager Abdul Qayyum (Lahore) Ahmed Sher (Lahore)

COVER STORY

08

In Pakistan the literacy rate is very low and the current technologies are not even fully utilized as yet. How can we make plans for another higher end technology?

Bureau Chief (Faisalabad) Irfan Anjum Designer Assaad Chughtai Sales Executive Syed Faisal Ahmed Zain Zahid International Correspondents Ireland: Alina Amir Canada: Halima Quershi Contributors Muhammad Arif Sargana Malahat Rab Syed Nasrul Karim A. Ghaznavi Ashar H. Zaidi Shahid Khan Cheow Yu Yuan Legal Advisor Abdul Fayyaz More Magazine Published by Mudassar Jehangir Mufti at 2nd Floor Ali Mansion, 41-A, Lower Mall, Lahore Registration No PCPB 286 Price:150 PKR

3G has no future in Pakistan?

TELECOM

10 12

Telecom day in the eyes of celebrities Telecom sector of Pakistan: Past, Present and Future The Authority is taking every measure to ensure previous growth patterns in the industry.

Reduction in telecom taxes is one area where PTA is working intensely...

13

FDI in telecom sector of Pakistan

16

Mobilink starts real-time mobile navigation

24

Global Telecommunication Congress TeleCON 2009

The effectiveness of a regulator can be measured by the influence it has on the degree of competition and vibrancy of the market by the number of players...

Soon after the Mobilink launched its navigation services, Ufone came with its UTrack.

According to their tag line,

I believe the saturation level is nothing to worry about as there are countries where tele-density is over 100%.

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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

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The results are already being seen. According to a report from IT researcher IDC, sales of printers globally dropped by 17 per cent in the last quarter of 2008

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COVER STORY Mudassar J. Mufti

In Pakistan the literacy rate is very low and the current technologies are not even fully utilized as yet. How can we make plans for another higher end technology? l Indian MTNL launched its 3G services on May 15 in Mumbai after launching it in Delhi few months back. The two companies, MTNL and BSNL, are into 3G fight and following each other’s moves very closely.

In Pakistan, the debate is not new. Few weeks back on one of the forums I heard PTA Chairman saying that they are waiting for the cabinet’s decision to go ahead with 3G licensing.

Once approved, it will be offered to operators for the bidding. But contrary to the intentions of PTA, it is being heard quite loudly that no operator is in favor of 3G operations except for the Telenor, which was the first one to have announced future policy in favor of 3G in Pakistan. I met several telecom people during the last one month and there was just unanimous decision from them on individual level that 3G is not feasible for Pakistan yet.

At a telecom conference in Lahore, I happened to talk to couple of Telecom dignitaries. There was a strong reasoning on the issue of 3G in Pakistan. Chairman PTA Dr. Muhammad Yaseen representing the authority was assertive enough to implement the 3G once an approval is given from the federal cabinet.

Rizwan Tiwana, CTO, Wateen was the first to talk on this. According to him “Is Pakistan ready for 3G deployment? Does user have the requirement to use 3G? Are operators technically ready or do they have technical support to start 3G? Is there any business viability for the 3G operation in Pakistan? The answer lies in the question itself depending upon how you put forward the question to the individual or particular stake holder of the industry to answer that”.

Does he mean that 3G is acceptable to few of the decision makers? In my opinion, these questions require comprehensive answers.

3G is generally used for Distance learning, 08

Video communication, Rich content on the go, Location based services, Online banking, Online procurement, Distance meeting, Internet access, Gaming, Surveillance etc.

From its features we can simply translate into “Mobile Broadband” connectivity. We will need to see do we have enough users who are interested in this list to make it viable for the operator to do the investment?

Advocating further, Mr. Tiwana said, “Relation between the education level in any given country and the percentage of internet usage is very important. Internet usage is better where education level is higher. In Pakistan, first of all, the literacy rate is very low and the

“

Dr. Muhammad Yaseen , Chairman PTA

If we bring 3G as a broadband alone there are barriers as the addressable market is very small, prices of PCs and 3G enabled phones are high, internet knowledge of masses is not there, package prices will be high and above all the local content is not available

”

current technologies are not even fully utilized as yet. How can we make plans for another higher end technology?”

Though we have the examples like people are using blackberry and iPhone using 2.7G but the point to see is what the percentage is? There are approximately 3% users availing the blackberry services out of a customer

base of over 90 million. On the technology side, few of the five operators are able to upgrade their network but rest of them can just not because they are not simply technologically advanced. So for them, their will be a complete new investment activity provided the license are available and there is a business feasibility.

Dr. Tanveer ul Haq, Regional CTO, Zong was even more outspoken and statistically impressive. He said, “We have a population of 160 million, young people are 50% of the population, matriculates are 27 million, graduates are 7 million, cell phone users 90 million, GPRS users 5 million, PCs are 5 million approximately and 80% of them are being used in educational institutions, broadband users are around 290,000 and dial up connection are approximately 4 million”.

3G is not about technology only; it is about providing services both broadband and multimedia. According to ministry of IT, a broadband connection is an always-on internet connection with a 128K download speed. Ac-

COVER STORY

Mustafa Paracha, Vice President, Mobilink-Infinity

Dr. Tanveer ul Haq, Regional CTO, Zong

cording to a past estimate of Mr. Noor u din Baqai, Ex Minister for IT, by 2010, industry will be targeting some 2 to 2.5 million customers.

And the possible number of users that we can achieve for DSL is 5 million. For the broadband connection, user needs to have previous knowledge of internet which is currently not very promising, that is the reason we have very low number of broadband user in Pakistan. In 2006 we had some 45000 user and now we have just less than 300000 users in 2009.

One of the barriers to the expansion of broadband is the price of PC and the CPE. According to the study of Ministry of IT (MoIT), if the price of broadband/internet is Rs. 350 at an average, it will be acceptable for the masses to adopt it. We have all the availability of technologies like DSL, HFC, WiMax etc but the education level of user is not up to the mark.

Therefore, the adoption is not there at a massive pace. Last year prices of PCs increased by 20% as the duty on PCs increased to 16% causing the PC market growth rate to decrease.

If we bring 3G as a broadband alone there

are barriers as the addressable market is very small, prices of PCs and 3G enabled phones are high, internet knowledge of masses is not there, package prices will be high and above all the local content is not available.

If 3G is implemented for the multimedia then it can target a bigger market of cell phone users where penetration level is already near 56% and for multimedia services there is not prior knowledge of internet required and here literacy become a non-issue. We have seen operators providing VAS, already very popular in 2G and there are 5 million GPRS users in Pakistan already.

According to a survey done by Nokia Siemens, the most popular applications on mobile phone are Music, Sports, Games, News, Education, Email and Job/Career related services. We can see most of the services are multimedia related where as the usage of email is much lesser.

“On the brighter side if 3G has to be successful in Pakistan the killer applications will be multimedia related services. Creativity in

the content is required. Other very important ingredient is cheap license; different packages need to be created in a manner that it could create a difference between current 2G services as the current ones are very cheap” added Dr. Tanveer.

Mustafa Paracha, Vice President, Mobilink-Infinity was of the view that “there are some 2.5 to 3 million houses in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi and these are the cities where some 70% of the broadband users are expected from. Buying a CPE for these 3 million houses should not be a difficult task and that is what we are targeting. We launched WiMax operations in Karachi under the umbrella of Mobilink-Infinity and chose this city as a test bed. Fortunately we received a very good response and our sales figure proven to be fastest than our older and bigger competitors. It was much easier for us to control a new technology in a small area” he added.

“Currently DSL is still the leader in Pakistan it has some 2/3 of the market. Other technologies are WiMax, EvDO. For home users cable internet is the cheapest and most popular in Pakistan. These all technologies are contributing in the penetration of broadband in Pakistan. As far as 3G is concerned I do not see it a competitor for next 3 years at least not in the fixed broadband domain”, he added.

There were just 20000 broadband users in 2005 and 2006 and that number has grown to almost 0.3 million in just few years time.

Same was the case with GSM, there were just few thousands connections initially which grown to multi-million with in next couple of years due to a race among operators to grab the customers and still that is going on.

Since the start, operators are busy handling unecessary 2G issues. A series of problems could have avoided at a very early stage. For the deployment of a single cell site, companies still have to deal with dozens of government departments like Wapda, Environment, City Government etc. These cumbersome activities create hurdles in the way of rapid roll out of networks. PTA and the concerned ministry could have easily solved these problems by creating just one window operations hence making the expansion much easier. An undue price war could have been avoided as well had the PTA intervened at a proper time with acceptable regulations.

GSM and Broadband operators started the price tool at a very early stage to gather more market share. If same happens to the 3G it will prove to be a disaster for the technology. l 09

TELECOM

The recent developments in the Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have effectively improved the international communication systems leaving a great impact on the developing countries as well. According to International Telecommunication Union (ITU) statistics, in the past decade there were just 182 million people using the internet globally and by early 2009 there were over 600 million users only in Asia. Internet usage in Pakistan has also increased many folds thus affecting positively the development processes and of course growth patterns.

As the internet usage is growing in the country, a large number of internet users comprise of children and youth. The world is open to

youth and children in cyber space while they surf for information, research, and entertainment, chatting and making new social networks. Open access to cyber world do expose children to unsafe material which can be dangerous and injurious to young minds. Undoubtedly, children are the future of any nation; therefore, every effort should be made to protect them from any such harm. The negative impact of the cyber space has potential to be a threat rather than an opportunity for the promising future of our new generations.

This year’s theme is “Protecting Children in Cyber Space”. In connection with the World Telecommunication Day, apart from other measures, PTA has also organized an essay writing competition and has invited papers from the general public on the topic of “Protecting Children in Cyber Space”. On this occasion, I assure you that PTA is making utmost efforts to ensure safe environments for the youth of Pakistan and for the smooth and steady development of ICTs in Pakistan.

It is an honor to greet the Pakistani Nation on World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) on behalf of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL). 17th May marks the creation of the International Telecommunication Union and hence World Telecommunication Day has been celebrated since 1969.

Today, PTCL has redefined the conventional boundaries of the telecommunication market and has shifted from a conventional fixed telephony service provider to a market & commercially driven company. Our infrastructure spreads over almost every city, town and village of Pakistan.

I am proud to say that today PTCL is the largest Broadband service provider in Pakistan. In less than two years of it launch, PTCL has acquired over 150,000 Broadband customers in over 150 cities and towns across Pakistan, leading the proliferation and awareness of Broadband services across Pakistan.

PTCL has nurtured the broadband culture in Pakistan by making the

broadband technology affordable and accessible by geographically bringing the service within the reach of a common user across Pakistan.

Being one of the largest corporations in Pakistan we are well aware of our responsibilities in the socio-economic uplift of the country. PTCL has been regularly partnering with educational and welfare organizations to pass on the benefits to the society. To name a few, donations to SOS villages for well being of orphans, educational scholarships to the disable, collaboration with Universal service fund to benefit ill served areas, donation to Benazir Income Support program, donations to earthquake effectees and now PTCL would do its utmost to aid the recent surge in number of IDP’s of swat. We help the environmental cause and have turned into literally a “Green” company by embarking on a plan to trim down use of paper in customer bills. This would help save at least 12 million papers each month, consequently benefiting our environment. We also pledge to plant a million trees all over Pakistan and create a healthy environment to our children.

I humbly take this opportunity to address policy makers, parents, practitioners, educators, business owners and civil society members to join hands with PTCL in creating awareness to protect and shield our nation from any transgressions rooted from cyberspace.

At Mobilink, we aim to become a total telecommunications service provider and are already evolving towards that goal with products such as Mobilink Infinity under our belt. We have already invested over $ 2.5 billion in our network and infrastructure that has enabled us to become Pakistan’s largest voice and data network.

As we all know, Pakistan’s communication sector has evolved manifold in the recent past.

Growth opens many windows;

some not so favorable. Even though the World Wide Web provides an amazing educational and learning environment, young children can also be at risk in cyberspace due to certain illicit and immoral materials readily available to anyone.

Just like learning how to ride a bike or drive a car, children need to be taught the rules of the road for the cyber highway.

Parents are the best adjudicators for all kind of media or social exposures for their children and can play a very active role in this regard.

As the country’s leading cellular and broadband communication solution provider, Mobilink supports the vision of the International Telecommunication Union to connect the world responsibly.

10

Dr. Muhammad Yaseen Chairman, PTA

Mr. Walid Irshaid President, PTCL

Mr. Rashid Khan President & CEO, Mobilink

TELECOM ZONG, the first international brand of China Mobile has lauded the pioneering role of the Government of Pakistan, the Ministry of IT & Telecommunication and the PTA in development and growth of the telecommunication industry in Pakistan and also extended greetings to its customers and telecom industry on the occasion of World Telecom Day. The day carries added significance as 17th May has been identified to be celebrated as the "World Telecommunication and Information Society Day’ by the International Telecommunication Union with its theme, “Protecting Children in Cyberspace".

In his message on the occasion, Qian Li, Chief Executive Officer ZONG said, “All of us need to contribute positively towards promoting the objectives behind this year’s theme for our future generations.

Given the rapidly developing nexus of cellular technology with the Internet and full internet capability on cell-phones already a reality, ZONG is fully committed to make its contribution to this cause.”

“Thus while we take this opportunity to extend our greetings to all our customers on the occasion of the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, we would also like to assure them that ZONG will take all necessary measures to safeguard the security of networks and protect children in cyberspace”, he added.

ZONG has so far invested US $1.66 billion in Pakistan and has generated more than 2000 direct and over 40,000 indirect jobs in the country.

A day dedicated to international telecommunications is also an occasion for introspection. As far as catching up with the international trends in telecommunications is concerned, we still have a long way to go. However, there is great hope and ample evidence to prove that Pakistan is not lagging in the race to formulate national policies that govern the successful integration of the newest telecommunication in our market and facilitate players who wish to offer them. Opinion leaders are working hard to bridge technological differences between Pakistan and other countries, while interconnectivity and interoperability of systems is also a continuous point of research and analysis.

As we bridge the technological divide and continue to work towards universal telecom integration, we must also shoulder the responsibility that comes from having easy and frequent access to all sorts of information, especially in cyberspace. As the theme of the World Telecom Day 2009 suggests, we need to take into account protecting our children’s interests online. The State should consider and execute laws that work as safeguard against children being exposed to potentially harmful or incriminating information online, whereas the Industry needs to establish best practices that support larger plans to promote children’s safety in cyberspace. A collective effort made by the Government and the Industry can curb the evil of cyber-bullying and access to questionable material or hate literature while keeping our children’s experience with technology a positive and fruitful one.

Mr. Qian Li C.E.O, ZONG

Aamer Manzoor CCO, LINKdotNET

On World Telecom Day "As we understand that the purpose of commemorating a World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICT) can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide.

We at Nokia believe that the next generation will experience their first internet interaction on a mobile screen and the leadership in converged and internet optimized devices by Nokia clearly shows that it is a priority for us. " The future of Pakistan telecom looks very positive for Nokia. We have some amazing products lined up for the low-income market and that is where the growth will come from. Nokia has been the market leader in Pakistan and around the globe for many years. We have a very clear leadership in the market with the next competitor not even half the size of ours.

In Pakistan specifically, low-end phones and music phones are primary areas where Nokia has proven that it understands the consumers better than anyone else. Our vision is to enable the youth of Pakistan to experience internet and mobile services at an affordable price and we are very proactively working on creating price efficiencies and need the government to give us certain tax relaxations to fulfill our promise to Pakistani consumers. "

As a part of ORASCOM telecom, Ring Distribution having a vision to be the “most innovative and reliable providers of mobile handsets and services in the world” having its offices in Egypt, Italy, Algeria, Iraq, Tunisia, Bangladesh, Dubai and Pakistan.

Currently, Ring Distribution is in partnership with Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericcson and Motorola and distributing their products in Asia / Africa / Middle East and European regions.

In Pakistan we have entered the market with Sony Ericsson and Motorola and established our offices in major cities of Pakistan. We have an objective to bring on board other handset brands available in Pakistan in order to create best value and variety for consumers.

On world telecom day we extend our heartiest greetings to Consumers, industry players, PTA and the Government of Pakistan. In the past few years this country has seen a phenomenal growth due to liberal and investment friendly policies causing the tele-density to reach 60%.

Ring Pakistan has significantly invested on the Consumer services end and created the First after Sales Services brand “CARING”, which is official service partner of Motorola in Pakistan. We are also providing after sales services to Sony Ericsson and Hauwei customers in the official capacity. We are working closely with our sister concerns in Pakistan and we all have same aim, “Quality, client support and innovation are the heart of everything we do, constituting our business values”.

Adeel Hashmi Manager Communications, Nokia

Hesham Said Country Manager, Ring Distribution 11

TELECOM Muhammad Arif Sargana &

Malahat Rab

l Pakistan inherited 12000 lines of fixed line telephone at the time of independence in 1947 and telephone remained a luxury commodity for decades in Pakistan. Its access was limited to only influential and rich men of the country living in metropolitan cities of Pakistan. Waiting period to get a telephone connection was more than two years and access was limited to only few metropolitan cities. Similarly the tariffs for local and international call were too high and service remained unaffordable for general masses in Pakistan.

The only telecom service provider for fixed line telephony before the creation of PTA was Pakistan Telecom Corporation (PTC). Although the corporation was earning huge profits from the services and investing the same back into the sector but the investment was not enough. Further with the technological advancement, more and more telecom services were introduced but there was not enough money available with the corporation to install new telecom systems for the provision of modern services.

Till very recent the Telecom sector consisted of PTC only and after a long while National Telecommunication Company (NTC) and Special Communication Organization were established to provide telecom services to specific groups in specific areas. Special Communication Organization (SCO) was solely operational for AJK & NA whereas NTC was providing telecom facility to Government servants.

Towards the middle of the 1990’s the Pakistan telecom consumers were offered Mobile cellular services. In the cellular market, there were only three cellular players namely Instaphone, Paktel and Mobilink who were providing the service in Pakistan, however, their service was limited to only few major cities of Pakistan. The growth of the sector was very slow and the cost of the service was so prohibitive that cell phone was merely a rich man’s toy for almost more than a decade.

PTA was created in 1996 by the enactment of Pakistan Telecom (Re-organization) Act 1996 by the Parliament. Prime objective of PTA is to promote the availability of a wide range of high quality, efficient, cost effective and competitive telecom services throughout Pakistan. With this objective PTA started working towards liberalizing the telecom sector. The government announced first ever telecom deregulation policy, mobile policy and broad band policy respectively between 2003 & 2004.

These years are considered as a historical years in the history of telecommunication in Pakistan. PTA successfully implemented the telecom deregulation and mobile polices. With deregulation and liberalization setting in the Pakistan telecom sector, the sector showed encouraging results in terms of increased choices, availability of latest technologies, increased investments, better services, satisfied consumers and increased revenues to the government. A total of 5 mobile operators, 14 Long Distance & International, 37 Local Loop operators and 11 WLL operators are working in the country. Today, the overall teledensity in the coun12

try has reached 61% (April 09). There are currently 91.9 million mobile subscribers with mobile penetration reaching 57.1% (April 09). Almost 91% of the land area of Pakistan is covered with telecom access. Tariffs of LDI witnessed stability in terms of tariffs reduction.

The WLL services are getting popular especially in rural areas and total subscribers of WLL are now 2.5 million (April 09). Similarly the fixed line subscribers stand at 3.5 million (March 09). Pakistan broadband market is taking off and at the end of 2008 there were 267,180 broadband subscribers showing 140% growth rate in a year and more efforts are being made to provide broadband across the country. There are today 384,187 PCO’s with major portion of these PCO’s are on wireless and mobile networks.

The total revenues of telecom sector in 2007-08 reached Rs. 279 billion whereas total investment remained at US $ 3,113 million.

In the last years the telecom sector attracted huge FDI, during 2007-08, telecom sector received US $ 1,438 million FDI, which is about 28% of total FDI. During 2007-08 total revenues collected by the Government in the form of taxes and regulatory fee was more than Rs. 111 billion. This has not only set new records in telecom growth in Pakistan but also increased the telecom share in GDP up to 3%.

The Authority is taking every measure to ensure previous growth patterns in the industry. Reduction in telecom taxes is one area where PTA is working intensely to ensure that the Telecom users are not over burdened. Similarly the Authority is also working towards introducing new technologies in Pakistan and in this regard PTA plans to introduce the 3G services soon.

It is expected that once the service is available with all mobile operators it would increase the data usage and more value added services. There are number of other initiatives that the Authority is taking and with the help of operators and the telecom consumers we would take Pakistan Telecom Sector to new heights. l

TELECOM Syed Nasrul Karim A.› Ghaz

l Steady investment environment is a prerequisite to attract foreign investment. A right case for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) would entail sustainable financial environment, low inflation, low fiscal deficit, low markup, controlled credit expansion and low forex fluctuations.

Emerging economies are competing with each other to win over foreign investors, therefore, liberalization of the economy by freeing up markets, transparency in macroeconomic policies and statistics, ease of repatriation of profits, lower import controls, removal of subsidies on export, privatization of overstaffed organizations, streamlining of legal systems and allowing prices to come on international standards are some of the essentials to attract FDI. Other measure include effectiveness of regulators, implementation of policies, steady tax policies, fair allocation of scarce resources (Spectrum), un-building of networks, interconnection regime, susceptible to technological changes, political stability and social set up of a country.

FDI is important because it supplements low domestic savings and provides substantial parts of the shortfall in capital needed to finance economic growth and development.

Deterrents of FDI in recipient countries are: l l l l l

High-perceived risks.

High transaction cost.

Fear of policy reversals.

High degree of economic volatility.

Civil strife and political instability.

FDI is not only about moving the capital beyond borders but is generally termed to have a range of advantages to both host and the recipient country. The recipient country is benefited from expanded business activity due to increased employment, transfer of technology, enhanced competition, introduction of international standard and improved management techniques.

While the donor country gains access to raw material, diversification of businesses and markets for operations and increased profits.

Historically speaking development of telecom infrastructure has played an important role in supporting the economic development of a country. There is a direct relationship between investment in telecom infrastructure and economic growth. The growth of telecom development globally has brought rapid expansion of new and advanced information services, domestic and foreign investments and proliferation of global business.

Growing globalization and economic integration across regions have actually changed the trends in world economy especially in terms of increased international trade and cross boarder investments. Policymakers and governments around the globe have been considering Foreign Direct Investment as an instrument for economic growth of the country. However, countries do fear disadvantages of unrestricted FDI in strategic industries, which generally results in capital flight from the country.

Traditionally the Telecoms have remained public entity for years together. Two organizations the WTO and ITU played major role in restructuring of telecom markets across the globe. The WTO agreement support foreign and domestic investment in the telecom sector and, as a consequence, the development of each country's telecommunication infrastructure and services.

Under the WTO, GATTS on Telecommunication which was concluded on February 1997 and which entered into force on February 1998 commits 72 countries to a program of progressive opening of their basic telecommunication service markets to competition and increased foreign investment.

Those agreeing countries made commitments to liberalize their telecommunication market to open them to foreign investment in basic telecommunication services, provision of voice, telephone, telex, telegraph, data transmission and privately leased circuits.

With the signing of GATTS a series of deregulation started in telecommunication and thus the cross border investments took off

around the globe. The countries that have been opening up their sectors with the help of their regulators have been successful in attracting foreign investors, keeping in view the array of advantages associated with it.

After considering the degree of stability in macroeconomic scenario and political situation of a country, effectiveness of a regulator is of prime importance in terms of implementation of policy, regulations, transparency and providing level playing field to all stakeholders in the sector. Sometimes regulators have to plead with government on issues relating to operators, which helps in augmenting investor’s confidence.

The tax regime, foreign ownership policy and competition policies are the corner stones of making a viable case for attracting FDI in a country. In addition local government stance on repatriation of capital and policy on mergers and acquisitions also influence the decision of investors. Any investor equally considers the availability of basic infrastructure, unbundled network elements of the incumbent operator and its mindset towards new operators before joining the sector.

Getting into the more technical aspect the strict license conditions, Quality of Service (QoS) standards, interconnection regime, spectrum policy and basis of tariff are areas to be looked into before making investment decisions. Similarly dispute settlement mechanism and right of way have become increasingly important in order to attract the FDI in already liberalized market with number of foreign players.

Investors also weigh innovative ability of regulator in addressing the upcoming issues and introduction of new technology in local sector. On the other hand transnational investors also weigh the opportunities, risks and returns involved in making investments outside the home country.

Pakistan Scenario While taking the case of Pakistan, the local telecom market was liberalized in 2003-04 13

TELECOM since then every possible regulatory measures have been taken into account in order to attract maximum FDI in the country. Table shows the total FDI in telecommunication sector of Pakistan, in relation to revenue generated and growth in teledensity since the introduction of liberalization.

Consistency in Telecom policies The government of Pakistan announced telecom deregulation policy and mobile cellular policy in 2003 and January 2004 respectively, followed by broadband policy in 2004. Till this date the policies are in place and have been implemented by the regulator in its true letter and spirit. Companies like Telenor (Norway) & Etisalat (UAE) and Warid (UAE) brought huge investments as a result of confidence in the local market. The telecom policy has expired in January 2009; the government is working on framing the new telecom policy shortly.

Market Entry There are no barriers to enter the local market whereas transparency in licensing process and ease in obtaining license are there for the both local and foreign investors.

100% foreign ownership rights of telecom operations in Pakistan supplement this. In addition there are no ceilings for capital repatriation from the country.

Effectiveness of Regulator The effectiveness of a regulator can be measured by the influence it has on the degree of competition and vibrancy of the market by the number of players and the level playing field it provides. The Pakistan Telecom Authority implemented the telecom policies and since then has been following up in increasing competition in the sector. In this regard rules and regulations as and when required by the sector have been framed and implemented. These rules include the interconnect agreement, anticompetitive practices, access promotion charges, universal service obligation etc. Similarly on the other hand the Authority is presenting sector issues to the government for its growth, which includes reduction in taxes on telecom, grant of status of an industry to telecom, subsidies on import of telecom equip14

ment etc. The authority thus is playing the role of mediator between the operator, the government and the telecom consumers.

Mergers & Acquisition For the stability in competition, more consolidation and integration of market structure, mergers and acquisitions must take place.

The government of Pakistan and the Authority do not restrict and encourage mergers and acquisitions in the telecom sector except where there is a possibility of anticompetitive conduct by operators.

Tariff Regulation One of the major considerations of the investors is degree of dependence on market forces of demand and supply for the purpose of getting price for the services provided. The Pakistan Telecom Authority does not regulate tariffs for any telecom service in the retail markets, however the wholesale market i.e. mainly the interconnection is slightly regulated where the interconnection rates are cost based and the Authority sets ceiling for it.

Anticompetitive Practices The two main players who can be involved in anticompetitive practices are the incumbent operator and the significant market power operator in all the segments of the sector.

Anti competitive practices include price discrimination, unavailability of essential facilities, cross subsidization, non-availability of

information on timely basis and economic distribution of bottleneck facilities. The Authority under the policy can regulate the tariffs of SMP operator, and to deal with a range of anti competitive practices/ regulations are in place.

Government Stance on Scarce Resources While making decision scarcity of availability of spectrum and its management, right of way and numbering issues are foremost in the minds of investors. The authority has a very clear view on all these resources. Spectrum for commercial services including mobile and WLL had been auctioned. The spectrum available has been allocated to the operators, the authority has provided spectrum for latest telecom services, which include 3G & 4G mobile services.

While Pakistan Telecom sector has smoothly liberalized its telecom sector and in the process huge inflow of FDI has been witnessed. This has not only set new records in telecom growth in Pakistan but also increased the telecom share in GDP upto 2%.

The stakeholders of the sector have now position themselves for long term presence in the country. Although the world is going through a phase of recession, the US government is making recovery plans for its own economy and for the underdeveloped world.

One can only benefit from the upcoming opportunities if they have prepared themselves by removing any impediments that are left in the inflow of FDI. The writer works as Member (Finance) with Pakistan Telecom Authority

TELECOM MORE TEAM

l Mobilink has announced the launch of Pakistan’s first cell-phone based navigation service ‘Mobi Track.’

The introduction of Mobi Track, the cell phone based mobile navigation solution with street level navigation and search facility, is another milestone for Mobilink which continues to reiterate its commitment to providing cutting edge communication solutions to its customers in Pakistan.

Wasif Mustafa, Director VAS, IR, LDI & Market Development, Mobilink said, “Mobi Track is a first-of-its-kind cell phone based navigation service in Pakistan. The use of state-of-the-art digital mapping system enables users not only to find their way to specific destinations but also includes options to locate the nearest ATM, favorite restaurants, fuel stations etc. The interface is hassle free, enhancing the user experience and making this service one to watch out for.”

Initially covering Karachi, Lahore & Islamabad, and nationwide highway (N5)/motorway networks, Mobi Track relies on the extensive maps provided by Trakker, the region’s largest vehicle tracking & fleet man-

Product

MobiliNk ANd UfoNe ServiCe CoMPAriSoN Mobi Track U Track

Navigation Turn by turn voice assistance 3D map display Real time GPS guidance and position tracking 2D vector route layering Mapping Street Level Maps ( Karachi , Lahore , Islamabad ) Map accuracy Data reliability Map updating frequency Map updating method Cities Covered Searching House number level search Street level search Trip report Share location feature POI (Point of interest) Scalability Charging Method Monthly fee Cost per search Additional features Weather report Trip report Dedicated portal with private space for every user 16

agement service provider.

Omar S Hatmi, COO Trakker shared, “We are happy to partner with Mobilink on this groundbreaking service and hope cell phone users in Pakistan will be able to enjoy the convenience and comfort of GPS navigation powered by Trakker NAV. We are committed to empowering our partners in the Telecom industry with best-in-class navigation products for the benefit Wasif Mustafa, Director Mobilink and Omar S Hatmi, C.O.O, Trakker signing the agreement of Pakistani consumers.”

Customers can subscribe to this service by typing ‘Test’ and sending it to short the trip. A user can plan an optimal path to code ‘1000’ from any Mobilink number. As his destination with the help of “easiest, fastest an introductory offer Mobilink subscribers can or shortest route” function, including a trip reavail 5-day free trial of the service. Mobi port to enable user to further analyze the trip Track is compatible with most medium range and help plan future trips more efficiently. and high end mobile handsets, It allows users Soon after the Mobilink launched its navigato search the shortest path to their destina- tion services, Ufone came with its UTrack. Action from current location with the help of cording to their tag line, “Get on the right turn-by-turn voice guidance function. Using track with UTrack Maps. With UTrack Maps the route demo function, a user can also it’s always the right way”. We have tried to check the estimated travel-time and familiar- do a little comparison between these two ize with the actual route before even starting services which is as follows:

Yes Yes Yes Yes

No No No Yes

Yes High High Every 30-60 days Dedicated resources & User feedback 3

Yes Low Low Unknown Unknown 6

Yes Yes Yes Yes 50,000+ (In 3 cities) High (international standards)

No Yes No No 20,000+ (In 6 cities) Unknown

Rs. 295+ Tax No cost

Location: Rs. 1, POI: Rs. 2, 2D route display: Rs.3

Yes Yes Yes

No No No

IT Ashar H. Zaidi

In the 21st Century, the widespread availability of broadband access will be a determining factor in a nation’s economic prosperity as the Digital Revolution picks up where the Industrial Revolution left off, says Ashar H. Zaidi, Country Manager, Intel Pakistan Corporation. l History has shown that the prosperity of nations is rarely the direct result of the monetary and fiscal policy of the reigning government, but rather, the outcome of strategic economic declarations to invest and innovate for the future made generations before. It was out of the Industrial Revolution, one of the most significant events in history, in the late 18th and early 19th Centuries that the different economic powerhouses in Europe emerged. During this era, major changes and investments were made in agriculture, manufacturing, transportation and logistics infrastructure. Out of this emerged a period of economic growth in capitalist economies including the United States and Britain.

The cornerstone of success was the ability for countries to gain access to information or “know-how” during that period – whether it was in farming practices, textile manufacturing, or locomotive transportation. Prior to the explosive emergence of the Internet, or information superhighway, the common method for information exchange was getting involved in travelling study tours such as the Japanese Iwakura mission in 1871 that took two years to complete. The information exchanged, however, maintained the momentum of industrialisation and is responsible for making Japan the economic powerhouse of today.

Likewise, the digital revolution is fast-moving into its next phase, creating the ‘knowl18

edge society’ or ‘information economy, where knowledge – as opposed to machines and equipment – is both commodity and capital. At a time where a single idea can spur an innovation worth billions of dollars, how quickly that idea is developed and monetised – before the competition beats them to it – broadband Internet access becomes the present-day determinant of today’s successful economies.

Thus far, developed nations have forged ahead with heavy investments in this new sector, while many of the developing countries fall short in investing enough to keep them competitive as the 21st Century gets underway.

The Asia Pacific region contains some of the most diverse, and potentially powerful, emerging markets in the world, including China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea and Vietnam. Goldman Sachs reported it had identified several of these markets that may eclipse the current richest countries by 2050 to become the great economies of the world. These emerging markets have built much of their economic wealth on the agriculture and manufacturing sectors to date but these industries, alone, may not be enough to sustain their growing populations ten, twenty or 100 years from now.

Governments and private enterprises in Asia Pacific would be prudent to prioritise more investment in broadband infrastruc-

“

Digital revolution is fast-moving into its next phase, creating the ‘knowledge society’ or ‘information economy, where knowledge – as opposed to machines and equipment – is both commodity and capital

”

IT AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY Ashar H. Zaidi is the Country Manager for Intel Pakistan Corporation. In this role he oversees the overall business for Intel Pakistan, including functions such as sales, channel marketing, business development, public and government relations.

Prior to assuming this role in August 2007, Ashar was responsible for managing Intel’s channel network in Pakistan.

He joined Intel in 2003 as a Channel Account Manager, a role in which he built a solid reputation with Intel channel customers. He has over 10 years experience in the IT industry.

ture in order to fuel their Information Economy, and benefit from its significant influence on national productivity, economic growth, international competitiveness and social cohesion.

This fundamental reality has not gone without notice amongst Asian leaders. In 1997 and 1998, a decade from our current financial ails, the Asian Economic Crisis forced the region’s leaders to rethink their strategies to steer their countries into the next millennium. This was certainly the context in Malaysia. In 2002, the Malaysian government – realising the importance of the information age – legislated for the further development of broadband by creating the National Broadband Plan with the vision to “enable Malaysia to be economically competitive overseas as broadband becomes an increasingly important tool for business.”

Malaysia is not alone. The Australian government has allocated AUD$4.7 billion dollars towards the deployment of the country’s National Broadband Network, mandated to reach 98 percent of the population. These actions indicate that the future of these economies will be heavily linked to their access to broadband infrastructure.

In emerging markets, broadband can also address indirect factors of GDP such as health and education. Broadband access will enable significant advancements in both telemedicine and distance education that is simply not possible now. The Australian government’s research division, CSIRO, developed ECHONET, a mobile broadband telemedicine system built to virtually bring a remote specialist to help intensive care units operate without a specialist on site. Technology like this is critical in developing nation where there is a severe shortage of medical

specialists and the existing workforce is stretched beyond its means.

The prevailing economic drivers of many larger Asia Pacific nations are sectors, such as agriculture, manufacturing and services, where business is geographically dispersed across rural and urban areas and is predominantly being conducted in remote locations and in-land regions. In such cases, it is not enough for broadband internet to be ‘fast’, but it must also be ‘mobile’ so critical information is available at the site of where work is being conducted, and not just where a wire runs.

Fixed broadband installations exhibit geographic limitations for countries with rural populations, and because of this, there is growing demand towards mobile broadband services. For emerging markets, there is a matter of practical reality to rule against a fibre or ADSL broadband network because it is financially unviable to fund a wired network that spans across an entire country to reach a billion people such as in India.

Next-generation technology such as WiMAX can be the more cost-effective, back-haul solution to help build out this infrastructure to help drive growth in the Information Economy in these countries. To date, WiMAX is the only 4G wireless technology that is commercially available in Asia Pacific with active deployments in both Malaysia (Packet One) and Singapore (QMAX).

Broadband and knowledge-based advancements are a powerful catalyst for growth. In fact, a direct correlation has been drawn between broadband and economic growth that was modelled on the ‘teledensity’ used by the ITU. Comparison of the GDP and broadband statistics support this.

Pakistan had an estimated population of 172,800,000 as of July 2008, making it the world's sixth most-populous country, behind Brazil and ahead of Russia. Pakistan is a rapidly developing country and a major emerging market, with an economic growth rate of 7 percent per annum for four consecutive years up to 2007. Pakistan's service sector accounts for about 53.3% of GDP. Transport, storage, communications, finance, and insurance account for 24% of this sector, and wholesale and retail trade about 30%. Pakistan is trying to promote the information industry and other modern service industries through incentives such as long-term tax holidays.

The government is acutely conscious of the immense job growth opportunities in service sector and has launched aggressive privatization of telecommunications, utilities and banking despite union unrest. Pakistan’s IT industry has been rising steadily since the last three years. A marked increase in software export figures are an indication of this booming industry’s potential. Total no of IT companies increased to 1306 and the total estimated size of IT industry is $2.8 billion.

This is good news for the region as long as the momentum continues. Most Asian leaders recognise the importance of the Knowledge Economy and, to date, have been diligent to invest. The infrastructure being built now helps businesses, school children and the government of the day have access to a worldwide body of knowledge that builds the foundation for wealth tomorrow. It is probable that 100 years from now the hub of Internet innovation will come not from Silicon Valley but from the Klang Valley or the shores of the mighty Mekong. l 19

IT Shahid Khan

l Multi-function printers (MFP) are becoming increasingly popular in offices everywhere as companies are realizing the numerous benefits that MFPs bring. Simply by replacing a single stand-alone printer or fax machine with a MFP contributes to significant savings for the company. The cost of one device is much lower than the cost of a separate printer, scanner, copier and fax machine. In addition, that single device naturally has a smaller footprint and consumes less power than the four devices put together. Companies need to buy only one type of toner, which makes bulk buying feasible, and advanced faxing and scanning capabilities can lead to savings in terms of telecommunications costs.

However, to truly maximize the savings and increase the productivity gain that employees get from the office MFP, there are several things that you need to consider when consolidating and optimizing your print infrastructure. This is especially so when planning the printing environment for a new office. The MFP is a key part of any modern office printing infrastructure, in addition to single function printers. Here is a simple five-step guide to optimise the use of MFPs with other printers in your imaging and printing fleet and derive a mix that is ideal for your needs.

Step 1: Understand usage patterns First, estimate the maximum number of pages each staff will print each month. Also note how often they need to scan, fax or copy.

In addition, record the security level of the documents that they work with. Do they regularly work with highly secret or confidential 20

documents? Finally, determine if they need to be seated close to another employee for functional reasons.

Step 2: Assign MFPs to groups of staff who regularly fax, scan, copy or work together While some employees will need to do lots of faxing and copying (for example, administrative and accounts personnel), others will need to do hardly any of these functions. For the former group, they will benefit most from easy access to an MFP. Therefore, grouping them together and positioning an MFP close to them will allow them to do their work with the minimum amount of walking around. If people in functional groups like accounts, marketing, human resources etc, need to be physically seated together, easy access to an MFP for each group will also be optimal.

In either case, the idea is to consolidate the printing, scanning, copying and faxing needs of staff and address them with the optimal number of MFPs while allowing them to do their tasks with minimal movement.

To find an appropriate device for a group, buy a networked MFP that has a Recommended Monthly Print Volume (RMPV) which is slightly higher than the total estimated monthly printing volume of that whole group. The RMPV of a device is an indication from the manufacturer about how much printing that device is designed to reliably handle each month.

IT

Shahid Khan

Step 3: Assign single function printers for the rest If the rest of your employees do only very occasional scanning, copying or faxing, then they should be assigned single function printers. To find an appropriate model, once again estimate the maximum number of pages they need to print each month and buy a networked printer that has an RMPV which just exceeds that amount, just to be safe.

Step 4: Minimize staff movement To optimize your budget and ensure the reliable operation of your printing devices, encourage staff to use the MFP and printers assigned to them as far as possible. This can also be enforced by setting access rights using printer administration tools like HP’s Web Jetadmin. Doing this will reduce unnecessary staff movement and ensures that you do not push the MFP or printers beyond their RMPV.

Step 5: Plan for information security Some staff regularly handle confidential documents such as payroll or personnel files.

These documents should not be printed to a shared printer that is accessible to everyone else in the office. Such staff, whether they be accounts clerks, human resource personnel, or company head, need to have a personal MFP. An MFP will still provide them with flex-

ibility to print, scan, fax or copy without fear of confidential information getting into the wrong hands.

For this group of people, consider getting a USB-only device. By isolating such personal devices from the network, you are increasing the security of the data they handle. For even greater security, there are even MFPs that come with secure fax and copy features.

As you have read, with a bit of planning, you can optimize your printing and imaging infrastructure so that you get the most out of your investment on printing devices. By adding an MFP to your printing fleet, you immediately increase overall productivity because everyone gets access to new functionality.

However, by optimizing your infrastructure, you end up with the best mix of devices that deliver the lowest total cost of ownership, minimize unnecessary staff movement, guarantee reliable operation and enhance overall data security in the office; all while saving you lots of money.

“

with a bit of planning, you can optimize your printing and imaging infrastructure so that you get the most out of your investment on printing devices. By adding an MFP to your printing fleet, you immediately increase overall productivity

”

To ensure that your savings are not frittered away though, take care to buy printing devices from a reliable and reputable manufacturer. All your savings and careful planning will go to waste if the device is not available because it is being repaired constantly. HP has won PC Magazine’s Readers’ Choice Award for service and reliability 16 years in a row, which is a remarkable achievement. When you see the “HP LaserJet” brand, you know that you can expect performance, quality and reliability.

For more than 50 years, HP has been an in-

dustry leader in sustainability. Through its Eco Solutions program which spans product design, reuse and recycling, as well as energy and resource efficiency, HP sets high environmental standards in its operations and supply chain, while providing practical solutions to make it easier for customers to reduce their environmental impact.

HP has chosen to focus on three areas which they believe have strategic importance to their business, stakeholder concerns and their ability to make a positive impact: climate and energy, product reuse and recycling, and supply chain responsibility.

To this end, HP's Imaging and Printing Group recently announced aggressive goals and an unrivaled portfolio of printing solutions focused on giving customers real choices and offering practical ways to help them reduce their environmental impact. For instance, HP has committed to improving the overall energy efficiency of its HP ink and laser printing products by 40 percent by 2011 (relative to 2005) and tripling the amount of recycled materials used in HP inkjet printers by 2010.

Furthermore, solutions such as the Carbon Footprint Calculator for Printing allows individual consumers and businesses of all sizes to evaluate their energy consumption, paper usage, carbon output and the associated monetary costs of their printing environment.

Significant energy savings by HP printer fleets are also made possible by breakthrough technologies, such as HP’s Instant-on Technology(1) in HP LaserJet devices that provides up to 50 percent energy savings over traditional fusing; HP Web Jetadmin (WJA) enables customers to install, configure, troubleshoot and manage all of their networked imaging and printing devices. This can enhance management efficiency and provide environmental benefits at the network level, such as setting printer sleep and wake modes to reduce their entire printing fleet’s energy use.

With the HP Eco Highlights label, which calls out environmental attributes of qualified products on packaging and online, it helps customers better understand how they can reduce their environmental impact through responsible printing.

Despite its history, HP knows there is still much more to do and continues to work toward improved innovation and further environmental progress. l The writer works with HP as Director Marketing, Pakistan 21

IT

l

As organizations seek to slash operational costs amid darkening economic storm clouds, many are turning attention to their printing infrastructure.

Often given little thought compared with other elements of technology infrastructure, printers can be a considerable hidden cost for a business. One factor contributing to the challenge is the relatively low cost of printing devices. For a few thousand rupees, an employee can have a fully functional, color printing device on their desk.

In many companies the result is a plethora of printers spread across offices and through different departments. Because they've been purchased indiscriminately, the result is a diverse range of brands, models and types.

As well as presenting maintenance and replacement challenges, this also means multiple types of consumables must be purchased and stored.

Now, however, with cost-cutting campaigns in full swing, organizations are seeking to reduce spending on printing. Everything from reducing print volumes to cutting the number of devices is being considered.

The results are already being seen. According to a report from IT researcher IDC, sales of printers globally dropped by 17 per cent in the last quarter of 2008, compared with the same period 12 months earlier. It was the second quarter in a row that printer shipments declined.

"IDC expects the market to bottom out in 2009 in response to the international economic crisis, and then start a recovery in 2010," hardcopy peripheral trackers and forecasts director Alyson Frasco says.

According to IDC, multifunction printers, which incorporate a range of functions such as fax, copy and scan as well as printing, remain the most popular corporate printing device. IDC says they made up 63.3 per cent of the 20.7 million printers shipped in the last quarter of last year.

22

The printer market is dominated by five major vendors. Topping the list is Hewlett-Packard, which IDC estimates to have 41 per cent of the total market. Some of this is attributed to the company's strength in the color multifunction devices, in which its shipments rose 82 per cent over the previous year.

Canon is in second place with 19 per cent market share, followed by Epson with 15.4 per cent of sales globally.

Declining demand for printing devices is perhaps not surprising in current business conditions.

Indeed technology analyst Gartner says the economic slowdown will cut global spending on IT equipment and services by 3.8 per cent this year from $3.4 trillion to $3.2 trillion.

"IT organizations worldwide are being asked to trim budgets, and consumers are cutting back on discretionary spending," says Gartner research vice-president and global forecasting head Richard Gordon.

"The speed and severity of the response by businesses and consumers alike to these economic circumstances will result in an IT market slowdown in 2009 that will be worse than the 2.1 per cent decline in IT spending in 2001, when the internet investment bubble burst."

Although purchases of new devices are slowing, businesses are not dispensing with printers altogether. Rather, many are reviewing their printing practices and finding ways to cut volume.

HP imaging and printing senior vice-president Christopher Morgan, recommends that companies comprehensively review all printing equipment before making changes.

"Often documents are printed when they could really be dealt with in digital form," he says. "We can work with customers to show them how to build systems that reduce the volume of paper in their organization."

HP has created software that integrates with existing corporate applications to move doc-

uments through a workflow process. Such processes are often paper-based.

Dubbed Print 2.0, the HP strategy builds on the growing number of multifunction devices that can scan documents into the system and then print them as required. "You'll never get rid of paper totally," Morgan says. "But through efficient planning you can reduce the volumes."

Another alternative being adopted by growing numbers of companies is outsourcing of printing infrastructure. In the same way that many hand responsibility for the servers and PCs to an external IT company, many are farming out their printers.

Using managed print services, a company can opt to simply pay a per-page charge and have its printing partner deal with everything from the selection of devices to the ordering and replacement of consumable items such as inks and paper.

CUTTING OFFICE PRINTING COSTS l l l l l

l

l

Audit all printing devices and consider the cost benefits of consolidation Set all printers to create duplex (double-sided) output as a default Encourage employees to reduce color printing Encourage employees not to print out emails Change office workflows to allow documents to remain in digital form longer Make use of the corporate intranet to disseminate information rather than print it for internal distribution Consider outsourcing all printing infrastructure to an external provider

The article is shared by www.australianit.news.com

TELECOM

l TeleCON 2009 was conducted by Shamrock Communications at the end of April 2009 in Lahore. The conference meant to focus on innovations in telecommunication especially broadband, 3G and other upcoming technologies in Pakistan. Participants belonged to Government, Regulator and Telecom companies. Speakers openly talked about the issues and future prospects in the telecommunications sector. Large number of people from technology sector attended the event and took part in the interactive sessions. Following are the briefs from respected speakers.

Dr. Muhammad Yaseen Chairman PTA The country is just coming out of economic crisis, foreign reserves are increasing and stock market is doing well. There are good signs of telecom recovery during the last quarter. Positive trends are emerging in Pakistan in the telecom sector. Although we had a bad times in 2 or 3 quarters of 2008 But if you look at the last 4 or 5 years, we have done a tremendous job in the telecom sector of Pakistan. We have developed a state of the art infrastructure of GSM, WiMax, Local Loop and other technologies.

From now on we must go into the development of services and applications and I must say what ever we have done in terms of the deregulation policies, it now requires a push from SMEs, The businesses, and entrepreneurs because this is very important to come up with the contents, applications and the services to exploit this infrastructure which we have developed during the last 4 to 5 years.

Society needs these services in health, agriculture, educations and lots of other areas.

is one of the most attractive destinations for foreign investment.

Our duty structure is very friendly that it is very easy to bring in all the equipment. Earlier we did it with great pace but now saturation levels have arrived in Pakistan I believe the saturation level is nothing to worry about as there are countries where tele-density is over 100%. It is just new ideas, services and applications which are mostly required at this time from different entrepreneurs to give a further push in the telecom sector.

Tariq Iqbal Puri Secretary, BOI, Pakistan Our investment is policy is very open and liberal and the interest has been seen over the last 8 years. The investments were under 1 billion and now it has gone up to 5 billion USD. Now if you go to compare Pakistan’s investment policy with other regional countries it is very clear that Pakistan stands out. Pakistan

Mr. Sikandar Naqi, SEVP, PTCL On the event, Mr. Sikandar Naqi, SEVP, PTCL appraised the efforts for giving operators and regulator a chance to sit together and discuss about the prospects and issues in the telecommunication industry in Pakistan.

He said, “Since Etisalat has taken over the PTCL, it has gone through lots of improvements, for example we have introduced NOC to monitor the entire network, we are

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(L-R)On the opening ceremony of TeleCON Pakistan 2009, President & CEO of Shamrock Pakistan Menin Rodriques, Chairman PTA Dr. Muhammad Yaseen, Executive Director HEC pakistan Dr. Sohail Naqvi and Country Head Samsung Mr. Steve Han are standing in front of Inaugural Plague

also focusing on HR and by doing this we are introducing fresh and energetic youth and grooming them as well”.

To a question he replied, “PTCL will never go into any kind of price war, it is our aim to revolutionize the data industry. We are focusing on the education sector and pursuing this we are providing special packages to school and other educational institutions”.

Talking about the Telecon 2009 he said, “It is a good event and I am very happy that these kinds of activities are happening in Pakistan and I wish them good luck”.

Huawei presents Green Solutions Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. discussed its impressive lineup of end-to-end green solutions at the conference. Jacky (Zhang Jing), Wireless Product Manager, said: "As nowadays telecom operators are increasingly becoming more environmentally concerned and challenged with higher operating expenditure due to high energy costs, Huawei

TELECOM has developed a series of innovative green telecom solutions, including green base station with less power consumption and heat emission, green power solution based on the local renewable resource, green equipment room with modular design that is more space-saving and easier to install."

Huawei's Base Transceiver Station is engineered to reduce equipment energy consumption by up to 30 percent and its small footprint takes up 40 percent less space in equipment rooms. Additionally, Huawei actively cooperates with operators on energysaving and emission reduction projects. l For the complete video and pictorial coverage of the event, please visit www.apnatime.com

Mr. Rizwan Tiwana, CTO, Wateen addressing the conference

Mr. Zhang Jing, Wireless Product Manager, Huawei receiving award at the event

Mr. Mustafa Paracha, VP, Mobilink-Infinity handing over Blackberry phone to the winner.

Mr. Menin Rodriques, CEO of Shamrock Pakistan and Dr. Naveed A Malik, Rector, Virtual University are observing the ceremony

Mr. Tariq Iqbal Puri, secretary, BOI, Pakistan

Mr. Pervaiz Iftikhar, CEO, USF

25

IT PR

The HP business notebook lineup is one of the first to offer a choice of the latest processor technologies, including AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processors and the latest Intel® Centrino® 2 and Intel Centrino 2 with vPro technology l HP last month introduced the durable, aircraft-inspired HP EliteBook 6930p Notebook PC as one of 9 newly designed products added to its business notebook lineup that merges functionality with sophisticated design.

The HP EliteBook is the first in a new family of notebooks joining the HP Compaq 2000, 6500 and 6700 series to create one of the most versatile business notebook portfolios

in company history. These product families are distinguished by their contemporary look and design that provides the ultimate highperforming PC experience.

Incorporating the latest mobile technologies and engineered to meet multiple durability tests, the EliteBook includes HP DuraCase, a complete set of visually appealing and reliable features such as a brushed anodizedaluminum exterior combined with a

Seen in the photo are (L-R), Faraz Noorani, Channel Marketing Manager, PSG & Solution Partners Organization, HP Pakistan, Philip Lau, General Manager, PSG Asia Emerging Countries, HP, Faisal Habib, Distribution Business Manager, Intel Pakistan Corporation and Khawaja Waqas Masud, National Enterprise Segment Manager, PSG, HP Pakistan

26

magnesium alloy chassis designed for maximum protection to keep the PC looking good, longer.

“The EliteBook’s sleek, innovative designs combine a sophisticated look with the durability needed to withstand the evolving mobile work environment,” said Philip Lau, General Manager, Personal Systems Group, Asia Emerging Countries (AEC). “Furthermore, HP has incorporated the right mix of hardware and software features to deliver a dependable business notebook PC that delivers enhanced security and improved ease of use in a stylish new package.”

The HP business notebook lineup is one of the first to offer a choice of the latest processor technologies, including AMD Turion™ 64 X2 Ultra Dual-Core Mobile Processors and the latest Intel® Centrino® 2 and Intel Centrino 2 with vPro technology.

All HP business notebooks are also designed with the environment in mind, with energy-efficient features, selected materials for easier recycling and lower levels of environmentally unfriendly substances. For example, several HP notebooks are available with the choice of an optional mercury-free Illumi-Lite LED display, which is lighter and more energy-efficient than standard notebook display technology. In fact, HP has set a goal to remove all mercury – a potentially hazardous substance commonly found in notebook screens – from its notebooks by 2010. l

IT

Elite mobile professionals

Business-critical mobility

With a design inspired by aircraft engineering, the HP EliteBook is built for the corporate road warrior. It features a shock-resistant hard drive and spill-resistant keyboard to help defend data against bumps, drops and spills. It was designed to meet the tough MIL-STD 810F military-standard tests(7) that measure levels of environmental reliability and operation at extreme temperatures of over 60 degrees Celsius/140 degrees Fahrenheit and below -29 C/-20 F, while withstanding vibration and high humidity.

The inner magnesium shell of the notebook’s HP DuraCase is equipped with a honeycomb pattern that is thermally bonded to anodized aluminum for a solid construction. The HP EliteBook also includes enhanced impact protection for a display panel that can withstand up to 80 percent more force to twist than display enclosures in older models. Additionally, anodized aluminum is used on the palm-rest surface with HP DuraFinish, a protective coating that is six times more scratch-resistant than previous notebooks. These materials also are highly recyclable, facilitating environmentally responsible disposal at end of life.

The initial ENERGY STAR® qualified HP EliteBook 6930p configuration weighs only 2.1 kilograms. It features a 14.1-inch diagonal widescreen display and is available with an optional, mercury-free Illumi-Lite LED display.(8) Setting a new standard for on-the-move productivity, the HP EliteBook 6930p provides up to 15 hours(9) of combined battery life with optional Ultra Capacity battery for fullday productivity. It also offers the choice of ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3450 Graphics with up to 256 megabytes (MB) of dedicated video memory for more graphics-intensive environments, or Mobile Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD for sharp images and intense 3D graphics while balancing memory usage for optimal performance.

The newly redesigned business notebook “b”-series is distinguished by its silver finish and magnesium alloy support structure. The new design includes HP DuraFinish, a clear coat applied over the display enclosure and palm-rest that is three times more scratch resistant than in previous models. Offering an ideal combination of features for mainstream business mobility, the b-series notebooks include: l HP Compaq 6530b and HP Compaq

6535b – These notebooks are designed for business professionals who commute, move around the office for meetings or travel occasionally. The 6530b and 6535b are highly mobile and offer the latest Intel and AMD processors to fit customer connection needs when using Wi-Fi certified WLAN(10) and Bluetooth® wireless technology. With a 14.1-inch diagonal display, a magnesium alloy support structure and a starting weight of 2.41 kg, these durable notebooks provide a solution for on-the-go schedules without compromising functionality, security or performance. l HP Compaq 6730b and HP Compaq 6735b – Aimed at professionals who want a large 15.4-inch diagonal widescreen display, enhanced security and extensive connectivity with HP Mobile Broadband, the 6730b and 6735b feature the latest Intel and AMD processors with HP Universal Accessory compatibility. With a starting weight of only 2.69 kg, both devices are sturdy in form and composition. l The standard “s”-series sports a satin, reflective black-on-black finish to modernize the look and feel of the classic business notebook. HP s-series notebooks are loaded with strong security features, including HP ProtectTools Security Manager. Drive Encryption for HP ProtectTools encodes information on the hard drive to make sensitive information unreadable if a notebook is

lost or stolen. For added data security, File Sanitizer permanently deletes individual files, folders and personally identifiable information from the notebook. Additionally, s-series notebooks have HP 3D DriveGuard, which uses a three-axis accelerometer to detect sudden movement and initiate protective action, helping protect the notebook’s hard drive against bumps or drops. l HP Compaq 6530s and HP Compaq 6535s – The 6530s and 6535s offer small business customers flexibility with an entrylevel, mainstream notebook for a dispersed workforce. These notebooks include Intel or AMD processors to offer a variety of options for mobility and longer battery life. Keeping connected through Wi-Fi certified WLAN(10) and integrated Bluetooth wireless technology, customers can choose between the 14.1-inch diagonal widescreen antiglare WXGA display or an HP BrightView display that improves brightness, contrast and clarity. l HP Compaq 6730s and HP Compaq 6735s – Also for the small business and mobile workforce, the 6730s and 6735s offer a 15.4-inch diagonal widescreen display and include a choice of Intel or AMD processors to meet high demands for performance and connectivity. Offering Wi-Fi certified WLAN(10) and integrated Bluetooth wireless technology, customers can send and receive emails or access the Internet – at work, at home or at their favorite hotspots.

Pricing and availability The “s”-series notebooks are available with our Managed Final Tier Partners and the “b” and “p”-series notebooks are available with our Corporate Reseller partners. Estimated Pakistan street pricing starts at just over Rs. 60,000/- for the HP standard “s”-series notebook, just over Rs. 85,000/- for the “b” series notebook and just over Rs. 105,000/for the HP EliteBook series.

27

IT Zubair

Rehman

l Anyone in tune with the technology sector can attest, the rivalry in the PC graphics card market between ATI and NVIDIA is as intense as ever. If one of the two companies releases a new product, the other will release a competing product a few weeks later. Even in this current economic slump the two rivals continue to fight for superiority by releasing new graphics card with high capabilities.

We have selected ATI Radeon HD 4890 and Nvidia GEFORCE GTX 285 to check out which company is producing the best graphics card in industry today.

vATI Radeon HD 4890(1024MB) Price: Rs. 29,000 approximately

Specifications: l l l l l l l l l

Fabrication Process: 55nm PCI Express: 2.0 x16 bus interface Total Video Memory: 1 GB Core Clock: 850 MHz Shader Clock: 850 MHz Memory Clock: 975 MHz GDDR5 Frame Buffer: 1 GB Memory Bus Width: 256-bit Supports DirectX 10.1

The Radeon HD 4890 is based on an updated variant of the popular RV770 GPU which powers Radeon HD 4850 and 4870 cards, dubbed the RV790. It is an incremental update to HD 4870. In this review we'll cover the Radeon HD 4890 armed with a weaponry of 1024MB memory, we'll take it through all our test paces.

First Look at the Card: At first sight, the card looks just like the Radeon HD 4870 1024MB, but there are some very clear differences;

Connectivity: For connectivity there are two DVI Connectors. Both dual-link DVI of course, in the middle you'll find a 7-pin HDTV-out mini-din, a user can plug an S-video cable directly into the connector, or use a don28

gle for YPrPb (component) or composite outputs, or use the 3-way RCA HDTV analog connector.

Installation: It is very easy to install, just slide the card into a free PCIe 8x / 16x slot and connect a monitor. Connect the two 6-pin PCIe power cables. After booting the PC install latest ATI’s Catalyst Driver and your system is ready for some real gaming experience.

Power requirements: For a single Radeon 4890 series it is recommended to have 800 Watt power supply unit for your system.

Thermal Testing: 4890 GPU was tested at a room temperature of 21-24 Celsius for a couple of minutes. The Results were something like this: l the GPU idles at a temperature of roughly ~50 Degrees C l the GPU stressed maxes out at roughly ~80 Degrees C

Noise Testing: All graphics cards produce a lot of heat; the heat needs to be transported away from the hot core as fast as possible. Fans move heat away from the hot components of a PC. Yet these fans make the PC a terrible sound producing machine. To test the noise levels, a certified dBA meter was used and the results were something like this:

IT

l In IDLE the cooler can hardly be heard. Roughly 39 dBA(39

Our Game Testing Results:

For this game the following image quality (IQ) settings were selected. l 4x AA(Anti Aliasing) l 16x AF l ALL settings @ HIGH l DirectX 10/10.1 mode For HAWX Radeon 4890 work out well with 36 frames per second (fps) which was exceptionally good. With the Radeon HD 4890 you can play HAWX really well up to 1920x1080 with 4x AA in DX10.1 mode, that is really impressive.

For game testing the system selected was something like this:

l FAR CRY2

dBA= living room sound) l When the GPU reaches higher temperatures during gaming the fan will start to rotate at roughly 2500 RPM. It creates a lot of airflow, audible airflow. We measured that level at 43~44 dBA(44dBA=office sound).

System: l l l l l l

Mainboard (CHIPSET INTEL X58i XFX (3 WAY SLi READY+TRI CHANNEL DDR3 SUPP)) Processor (INTEL CORE i7 920 2.66GHZ (8MB CACHE 4.8 GT/S)) Memory (CORSAIR DOMINATOR DDR3 6GB TRI CHAN NEL KIT 3X2048-1600 (2GBx3)) Power Supply Unit (COOLER MASTER HAF932 WITH 1250 WATTS POWER SUPPLY) Windows Vista 64-bit SP1 ATI Catalyst 9.3 WHQL

Far Cry 2 is the next-generation first-person shooter from Ubisoft that will take you deep into the most beautiful but also most hostile environments in the world: Africa with just an AK 47 in your hand to defend yourself.

For this game the following image quality (IQ) settings were selected. l 8x AA(Anti-Aliasing) l 16x AF (anisotropic filtering) l ALL settings @ HIGH l DirectX 10/10.1 mode DX10 and 8x AA remains fairly difficult for the card with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 as it was able to only render 24 frames per second (fps) which is a poor performance for any card. But fair enough, 1920x1200 is very playable and enjoyable.

Games Selected: 1. HAWX 2. FAR CRY2 3. Call of Duty 5 l HAWX

HAWX is the best air combat game available these days. There are well over 50 planes in the game, each of which carries a destructive payload. You'll need it, as you'll engage multiple hostilities across war-torn but still gorgeous looking terrain. However, you won't be alone, and you'll have the option of issuing orders to your squad mates.

l Call of Duty 5

It is the fifth installment in the Call of Duty series excluding expansion packs. The game's setting returns to World War II, after the previous title Modern Warfare's modern settings. It focuses on the Pacific Theater and Eastern Front of World War II. For this game the following image quality (IQ) settings were selected. l 4x AA (Anti-Aliasing) l 16x AF(Anisotropic Filtering) l ALL settings @ HIGH l DirectX 10/10.1 mode Even at 2560x1600 resolution the games ran very smoothly with 29

IT Nvidia GEFORCE GTX 285(1024MB) Price: Rs. 33,000 approximately

Specifications: l l l l l l l l l

Fabrication process: 55nm PCI Express: 2.0 x16 bus interface Total Video: Memory 1 GB Core Clock 648 MHz Shader Clock: 1,476 MHz Memory Clock: 1,242 MHz GDDR3 Frame Buffer: 1 GB Memory Bus Width: 512-bit Supports DirectX 10.1

The GTX 285 is built on a 55nm fabrication process, making that chip (GT200b) die size smaller, aim for better yields, and in the end, a product that requires less voltage. It is an upgrade of GTX 280, which means that it is more power packed than its predecessor. Let take a closer look at this upgraded piece of chip.

Noise Testing During gaming the fan, we measured the sound level at 43dBA, which is the office sound.

Our Game Testing Results: We used the same specifications as we did with Radeon HD 4890.

For a better test we used the same games as above. l HAWX

As usually HAWX was selected in Air Combat category and the same settings were used, which were previously used for Radeon 4890.

For this game the following image quality (IQ) settings were selected. l 4x AA(Anti Aliasing) l 16x AF l ALL settings @ HIGH l DirectX 10/10.1 mode For HAWX it worked out well with 32 frames per second (fps) which was good at a resolution of 1920x1080. l FAR CRY2

First Look at the Card: Its glossy black color turns a lot of heads, if on display.

Connectivity: For connectivity there are two DVI Connectors. On the left you will find a 7-pin HDTV-out mini-din, a user can plug an S-video cable directly into the connector, or use the 3-way RCA HDTV analog connector.

Installation: Just slide the card into a free PCIe X8/X16 slot, connect the DVI cable to one of the DVI connectors, and connect both the 6-pin power connectors to the card. Boot the computer and install its driver and the card is ready to rock and roll.

Power Requirements On an average system, a single GTX 285 series requires you to have 800 Watt power supply unit at minimum, so that your PC will run smoother.

Thermal Testing: 285 GPU was tested at a room temperature of 21-24 Celsius for a couple of minutes. Following were the results: l the GPU idles at a temperature of roughly ~40 Degrees C l the GPU stressed maxes out at roughly ~83 Degrees C 30 May-June 09

In first person shooter Far Cry 2 was selected again.

For this game the following image quality (IQ) settings were selected. l 8x AA(Anti-Aliasing) l 16x AF (anisotropic filtering) l ALL settings @ HIGH l DirectX 10/10.1 mode Unlike 4890, this card performed well at a max resolution of 2560x1600 pixels, with a record rendering of 31 frames per second. l Call of Duty 5

As usual in War, call of duty was selected with the same game settings that were selected in Radeon 4890.

For this game the following image quality (IQ) settings were selected. l 4x AA (Anti-Aliasing) l 16x AF(Anisotropic Filtering) l ALL settings @ HIGH l DirectX 10/10.1 mode Its performance is much higher than Radeon, at 1920x1200 pixels resolution with 43frames per second (fps), it performed real good.

Verdict Performance wise both cards are really best and when it comes to testing these cards with the most highly graphically challenged games, they performed well, but in some case like Far Cry 2 Nvidia’s GTX 285 was exceptional, on sound and thermal emissions both cards were on the same scale. Settings wise Radeon 4890 was exceptional and for over clocking thing, our recommendation is definitely 4890, although there are some tweaks required to make it run smoothly, but it is the best choice for over clocking in the market.

When it comes to price, ATI is cheaper than the Nvidia. l References: http://www.guru3d.com , http://www.tomshardware.com

LATEST IN TECH

l

Nokia E97 is a concept design by Fabien Nauroy, shows an incredible thought and a stylish phone. This concept phone has a complete keyboard in an AZERTY layout and there is a small LCD display above the keyboard. This envelop like design aims to set a limit between professional and personal life. The included leather case contains a second pocket to hold an additional screen. The parcel post like packaging of this phone has made it even more attractive and the best part of this concept phone is the futuristic pull-out LED display that can be used as a storage device and can create and share files or pictures. l

l Razer seems to be fond of dangerous creatures. The logo of the company consists of green snakes and they have a habit of naming their products after dangerous snakes like the boomslang, copperhead, deathadder etc.

For their keyboards they seem to be following a different naming strategy. As you probably know the tarantula is a spider.

Tarantula is Razer’s first attempt at creating an ultimate Gaming Keyboard for gamers. Let’s take a look at its features: Features l Anti-ghosting capability for up to 10 keys l 32KB onboard memory — Powered by Razer Synapse l On-The-Fly Sensitivity profile switching l 10 programmable gaming hotkeys l 1000Hz Ultrapolling / 1ms response time l Hyperesponse gaming keytop with fully interchangeable keys l Headphone-out and microphone-in jacks

l l l l l

Media center keys Two USB ports Gold-plated USB connector Battledock for add-on accessories Approximate size: 522mm (length) x 220mm (width) x 33mm (height) 31

LATEST IN TECH

Car Changes with Moods l Now changing the outer shell of your vehicle according to your mood is made possible with the BMW Layer ON Concept. Layer On is a design study of a futuristic rental vehicle which can be customized in shape by means of electrically controlled outer panels. It was created by students at The European Institute of Design in Turin, Italy. The three designers are Aydar Nigmatullin(Russia), Patrick De Laet Moreno(Spain) and Rocco Sergio D’Argento (Italy). l

All the Information at your fingertips l NeatReceipts is a mobile scanner with a built-in digital filing system that allows you to scan business cards, receipts and other important documents that can be safely stored and organized as you like. NeatWorks 4.0, the software of this device, can identify and extract the more important information and can automatically organize them for you. The dimensions of this product are 10Ă—14x4 inches with a maximum resolution of 600dpi and weighs 3 pounds only. The approximate speed of this scanner is 3 to 4 receipts per minute and can run on a Microsoft Vista or Windows XP operating system. l 32

LATEST IN TECH

A stylish Mp3 player l An ogre definitely isn’t a great living thing, rather the appearance of an ogre makes us hate it but, when it is about Shrek, the total hatred theme disappears immediately. This is because this peach loving weird character is very much popular with us and consequently he deserves a special gadget that makes him

more extraordinary. Sang Hoon Lee, a South Korean designer, has designed a concept Shrek MP3 player with a couple of chic headphones which will surely come to the focus with its release.

The ease of finding a place of the headphone on the player reflects the approach that Shrek portends. l

Get Rally Experience l The concept bike ‘Mitsubishi i4x4’ was created just about to make the senses of Mitsubishi rally experience through this individual 4x4 machine that you have a lot more way to go with it, in straight mode, suits to hispeed courses and would have fun with some dirt tracks, in the free-running mode, the special height lift-up give the machine an ability to jump or climb through a rough way with fun. It comes with 4 in-wheel motors working instead of an engine. l

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LATEST IN TECH

l Tramspiral is a fascinating concept structure created by Rodolfo Ciudad Witzel that can be compared with the nature and universe. The concept is to design a Tramway as a combined element leaving out-of-the-way the idea of interior and exterior. Integrating all the parts is the main intention, opening up in the way the inner side to the outer. This structure embraces the inner side with the outer, working as a unifying nexus. All the working elements of the interior emerge from this structure and the outer design is also dictated by it. Thus, the designer created a profound communication between all its elements. This vehicle gets the inspiration by the spiral because of not only what it symbolizes or its dynamism, but also due to the transmission sensations. The seats in it are multifunctional; we can use them as a disabled seat area, as a bicycle area and also, during rush hour, we can pull them all back in order to use the inner space efficiently. The seats are made of a flexible material and they have a retractable mechanism that allows pulling them out and back in. l

l

Snowcorn is a bracelet like concept device developed by Mac Funamizu with sixth sense which includes a built-in projector, a camera and Wi-Fi connectivity. Moreover, this device can be placed anywhere on around your neck or chest. The transparent part of this device is a screen that can show basic functions or time and more complicated controls are done by the projected UL. You will be able to customize it with your desired color and style. This device will allow you to scan a business card to include the person’s particulars to your address book via Wi-Fi. Another key benefit of Snowcorn is you can translate a word or phrase that is unfamiliar with you in a book. l

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LATEST IN TECH

Each square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of plastic, having a severe effect on its ecological system l

British scientists may have developed the solution to the growing ocean pollution dilemma. Engineering company BMT Group has created a lifelike robotic fish that will be tested in the sea off the coast of northern Spain near Gijon. Its purpose is to detect pollution in the ocean through its chemical sensors and navigation controls.

The coolest thing about this invention is that, unlike its former sibling experiments that required remote controls, the fish will be guided using Wi-Fi handlers. Its design mimics the body of a carp, but on a larger scale. Scientists compare its size to a seal, about 5-feet long. Each fish will have a price tag of about $29,000.

In the past, scientists have worked with different robotic designs to detect pollution. The company says that the fish-shaped de-

sign was the best choice because nature has already proven it to be efficient. This efficiency is something we need to ensure that our pollution detection sensors can navigate in the underwater environment for hours on end.

According to National Geographic, of the 200 billion pounds of plastic produced each years, an estimated 10 percent ends up in the ocean. So where does a portion of our un-recycled waste end up? A 2006 United Nations report calculated that each square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of plastic, having a severe effect on its ecological system.

If the testing of the robotic fish is successful, scientists hope to use the technology in oceans, lakes and rivers around the world. However, you can still do your part in keeping trash out of the ocean by recycling and reducing your waste. l

l The DTI-520 Serial Model combined with a high quality 15" XGA TFT LCD display. This state-of-the-art display allows you to operate your PC directly on-screen with a pen making navigation faster and allowing you to operate annotation features available in many software applications.

Businesses in the retail, finance, healthcare and education industries utilize the DTI520 for such applications as contract signing, document annotation, presentations and lectures. In addition, the 15" display is often used in the call center and order processing industry as money-saving and efficiency improving solutions because navigating with a pen on screen is both significantly faster than navigating with a mouse and reduces the risk of repetitive stress injury.

For better line drawing experience, 512 levels of pressure sensitivity levels are integrated into the pen. It comes with certain features that make it superior to other rivals in the market: Features l Cordless & battery-free for free movement and consistent reliability l 2 Pen buttons (or side switches) at the tip of your finger for easy access to right-click and a dozen other customizable functions. l Tether holes in the pen and display frame to prevent easy pen misplacement l Security hole to prevent theft 35

TECHNOLOGY Cheow Yu Yuan

Things to take note of when installing Air Conditioning for your office

l The temperature in your office is an important factor that determines the efficiency of the people working in it. If your office is warm and stuffy, or it is too cold, people cannot work properly. Therefore, installing the right air conditioning unit is very important to create a pleasant working environment. The right unit will ensure that your office maintains at the right temperature and not affect the performance of you and your colleagues.

Before you buy an air conditioning unit, there are certain things that you must consider. You need to know the size of your office, the number of people in the office and how many windows your office has.

Other than the above mentioned, there are other information that you must look out for.

You need to find out what is the thermal unit rating. A higher rating means that the unit can remove more heat from the room and keep the temperature cool. Therefore, you need to choose the right rating according to the size of your office.

Next, you must find out how much energy is needed to power the unit. Air conditioning unit is usually the main culprit for expensive utility bill. So, it is advisable for you to install a unit with a high energy efficiency ratio number as it will use far less energy. This can help you save money on utility. For an office unit, the energy efficiency ratio should fall between 8 and 11.5.

Today, most air conditioning units have a thermostat that controls the temperature of

the room. I will recommend you to get a unit that has a thermostat which can control fan speed too. This will further help to cool the room if needed. You may also want to get a unit that has features such as a remote controller and a timer.

Last but not least, you may want to get a unit which is easy to maintain where the filters can be easily removed so that if you want to clean the unit yourself, you can do it easily.

Once you have gathered the above information, is time to look for a right company to install the units in your office.

Go to the market or the web to look for a few reputable companies. By conducting a simple search you should be able to shortlist a few companies. Call and tell them what you need and ask for quotations. Compare the prices and specifications first before you engage a company to install air conditioning units in your office l

The Cool History Of Air Conditioning l

The whole concept of air conditioning was planned before the machine itself was created, allowing a machine that would provide the cooling effect desired. The first attempt to ever make air conditioning unit was made by Dr.John Gorrie (1803-1855), an American physician from Florida, USA. During work within his practice he created an ice-making machine that simply blew air over cold ice in hospital rooms for all of his patients that suffered from both malaria and yellow fever.

In 1881, when President James Garfield was dying, his naval engineers built a boxshaped structure that contained clothes that were saturated with melted ice water when a fan blew hot air overhead. This contraption by the naval officers kept the overall temperature of his room lower by about 20 degrees Fahrenheit but consumed an impressive half a million pounds of ice within

a mere two months.

A close ancestor to the modern air conditioner components was first made in 1902 by an American engineer by the name of Willis Carrier. The machine at the time was not known as air conditioning like it is today but known as 'Apparatus for Treating Hair' and was built especially for a company in New York, called Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing and Publishing Co. Coils that were chilled were used in the machine to cool the air around and lower humidity by about 55 percent. Although the machine was so precise that customers were able to adjust the humidity level to that desired.

After the first invention by Carrier the air conditions began to bloom and become popular, they first became available in buildings in the industry such as printing plants, textile mills and even some hospitals. The first ever house with air-conditioning was

that of Charles Gates, son of John Gates in 1914. However these units were considered dangerous as the toxic ammonia that was used as a coolant.

By 1922 Carries had several breakthroughs surrounding his invention; he replaced the toxic ammonia with a benign coolant known as dielene and added a central compressor to make the unit much smaller. The next advance for his company was when he sold his invention to movie theatres with his debut in 1925 in the Rivoli on Broadway. In a short amount of time they began to be purchased everywhere in buildings, department stores and railroad cars.

After World War 2, window unit air conditioners appeared with sales growing from 74,000 in 1948 to 1,045,000 by 1953.

Today, the invention of air conditioning is a difficult device to imagine living without in some of the hottest parts of the world. l Dominic Donaldson

36 May-June 09

TECHNOLOGY

l Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has redefined luxury air travel even further following the unveiling of its new first class cabin suite at this year’s Arabian Travel Market (ATM) in Dubai.

The new first class cabin contains 12 individual suites, which have been designed to provide first class customers with more privacy, greater comfort and increased storage.

The highlight of the US $70 million (Dh 257 million) first class revamp is an extra-large seat that extends to a fully-flat bed, 80.5 inches in length, which is equipped with built-in massager, lumbar support and adjustable headrest, as well as power sockets for a laptop, iPod and other electronic devices.

Each private suite is accessed by its own sliding door and includes a personal wardrobe and mini bar, as well as 23" wide-screen LCD screen which features more than 600 hours of ‘on demand’ entertainment. Spacious stowage compartments are built into and around the seat.

Meals are served on an extra large wood finished table. Furthermore, a middle seat divider can be lowered to allow a dining space for up to four people.

The first class cabin also features a large and luxurious changing room with a full length mirror, new style wash basin and leather fold-down seat to allow passengers to freshen up and change after take-off and prior to landing.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ chief executive, said: "Competition for premium customers remains intense and during the last 12 months a number of airlines have unveiled significant enhancements to their first class cabins, with others deciding to remove the cabin completely from their aircraft. A downturn is exactly the time when an airline needs to demonstrate its commitment to the very highest standards of service excellence.”

Etihad Airways’ chairman His Highness Dr Sheikh Ahmed bin Saif Al Nahyan, added: “Etihad Airways has always built its success on the back of a strong confidence in Abu Dhabi and its future. Our investment demonstrates our continued commitment to the customer

and to provide the very highest standards of service excellence.”

The new first class cabin has been developed following extensive global customer research, including input from many of Etihad’s most frequent flyers.

The cabin interior was created by craftsmen from some of the world’s top designers, including luxury leather upholstered by world-renowned Poltrona Frau, which also provides interiors for Ferrari cars. The new-look first class also includes new luxurious soft furnishings and designer amenity kits.

Key features of the new first class cabin include: l l l

l l l l l l l l l

82 inch long private suite with a 80.5 inches fully flat bed, with bed width of 29.75 inches Each suite with Arabic styled sliding privacy doors 23 inch personal TV/video screen, with in-flight entertainment system that allows customers to pause, stop, fast-forward or rewind up to 600 hours of films, TV and radio programmes, and play games Personal mini bar Illuminated wardrobe with a personal mirror In-seat massager, lumbar support and adjustable headrest Spacious compartment areas where customers can stow their belongings Poltrona Frau leather upholstery Extra large (24 inches by 25 inches) wood finished meal table In-seat power sockets for PCs, iPod connector, USB ports, Ethernet port and audio jack Luxury changing room with full length mirror, raised wash basin and leather fold-down seat Luxurious soft furnishings and designer amenity kits Etihad is also upgrading its business and economy class cabins, including improvements to the seats and the on-demand in-flight entertainment system. l 37

MORE team talked to Mr. Baber Mehmood, CEO, Hong Kong Mobile, to know his views on the current mobile handset market and the current company-dealer relationship

What is the percentage of Chinese mobile phones in Pakistani market?

To my knowledge, Chinese mobile phone business started from Hall Road, Lahore and it has made its roots across Pakistan. Its dealer network has been established and they are working all over the country.

If you ask me the percentage share of Chinese phones, I tell you, for example, if i used to sell some 200 branded phones in a month, but now I sell 130 Chinese phones during the same period.

Customer is a lot satisfied now as more and more options are available. For us, it gives us more profit than a branded phone. In the past there were few companies selling branded mobile phones and we had to face their monopoly but Chinese phones have diversified this area.

Now every dealer is importing directly and getting good margins. Companies never transferred these benefits to us. I am pretty hopeful that this new trend will keep working.

Is the crisis in mobile phone industry affecting the sales of Chinese mobiles also?

The current crisis has affected every business and if we take mobile phone sales into account, I think Chinese phone is more in demand than a branded one as it has the same features which a branded phone offers. All the modern features like Camera, Memory Card, GPRS etc are present in a Chinese phone and above all the price is very low as compared to the branded product.

I can bet, one can not differentiate between a Chinese and a branded phone.

This product is giving us good business and for the last 3 years I have experienced a tremendous growth in Pakistan. The success rate has attracted other major dealers, who used to sell only branded phone, they are also turning to us.

38

Who are the prominent Chinese importers and which is the major Chinese brand?

Currently, the best selling mobile phone in Pakistan is Mobo International’s Club-Mobile, which is giving a tough time to branded phones. Taking care of the market demand, we have introduced 9 models in the market and we are adding more to it. Pakistan is a big market for mobile phones; nobody is a threat to anyone. All the brands are getting their share.

In Lahore, Hall Road is considered to be a market for Chinese phone only.

Why? Yes this is right for the Hall Road, but soon you will see Hafeez Center, another major market in Lahore, acting the same way.

There will be Chinese phones all over.

Do you mean that there will be no more branded phone in the market?

Branded mobile phone will remain in the market but its presence will not be more than 25-30% as the rest of market share will belong to the Chinese product.

If the trend of direct import continues, do you think other official distributors will also join the race and what effect it will have on the government’s revenue?

Those distributors who earned a lot in the past never invested back into the business.

Duty and taxes are not the only reason for these distributors. The truth is they are not finding themselves capable to handle 100% LC. When the LC was 10% they enjoyed the fruits. They must invest now as well. As far as government is concerned, either we import directly or company does it, government will always get the taxes. But as the next budget is around, I would request the concerned to reconsider the duty barriers and help the mo-

bile phone industry by categorizing the tax levels on mobile phones on the basis of its value.

I do not see the advertising and branding of mobile phone manufacturers at the Hall Road as it was the case in past, do you want to monopolize the trade?

If companies are not ready to share the benefits with us, we will not support them in any ways. We dealers are the front end force who is at risk all the times. As I said earlier, we should be given our rights otherwise we will play the way we like.

In your opinion, what should be the best model of company-dealer relationship?

The rules of company-dealer chain must be honored to protect the relation. In Pakistan, companies killed their own main dealers by supporting sub dealers directly. Main dealers were those who helped companies initially and sold handsets on their behalf. These dealers created their sub-dealers and it took years to establish this network. Later, companies or official distributors started contacting our sub dealers directly and offered them more percentage. How can we see this happening, where we would sell if companies will sell them directly? So there has to be a balance, you can’t afford to kill your own army. We will always welcome a balanced policy.

One of the major dealers, Ibrar Mobile in Lahore has changed the way of business and opted for a more corporate look, what is your view point?

I don’t think this model is successful yet and known to us. We will definitely appreciate if this model produces some good result. I am sure that Mr. Aslam Butt will succeed in his efforts. He has always produced good results.

IT MORE Team

l Teltecx technology show 2009 was organized by Out of the Box Communications on April 18 and April 19 at Pearl Continental Hotel Lahore. This two days event was participated by prominent players of the telecom and IT industry.

Matthew D. Lowe, Acting U.S. Consulate, Mohammad Ali Mian, Chairman Standing Committee on IT (LCCI) and Mr. Ibrahim Qureshi, Director Raffles Computers Pvt Ltd inaugurated the event.

Later, the celebrities visited various stalls and appreciated the efforts.

Saeed Nazir, Assistant Manager Marketing Mobile Zone, holding a mobile phone on Samsungs’ booth

Ibrahim Qureshi, Director Raffles Pvt Ltd is seen in his booth with Apple Mac 2009

(L-R) Sarmad Sufian, CEO Out of the Box Communications, Ibrahim Qureshi, Director Raffles, Matthew D. Lowe, Acting U.S. Consulate, Mohammad Ali Mian, Chairman Standing Committee on IT (LCCI) and Mr. Rizwan, Sales Head Raffles Pvt Ltd

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IT

“

Lucky draws and gift hampers from various stall holders remained focal point for the visitors. People enjoyed winning mobile phones, DVD players and other accessories

”

While talking to media Mr. Lowe said, “The exhibition is a success and these kinds of events are very important in a tensed global economic situation. I am pleased to see the pro business attitude of Pakistanis and hope that it will bring fruitful results”.

Mohammad Ali Mian said, “Lahore Chamber of Commerce has always supported the business oriented activities. IT and Telecom are the focus of the today’s economic activity and Pakistan has performed well in this area. We must encourage our local business community to show their strength and give foreign investor the much needed confidence to attract more investment for the betterment of business on the whole”.

Lucky draws and gift hampers from various stall holders remained focal point for the visitors. People enjoyed winning mobile phones, DVD players and other

accessories. Raffles Pvt Ltd was present with all the 2009 models of Apple computers and ipods. Director Raffles, Ibrahim Qureshi told MORE that, “Apple brand is in demand, since its introduction in Pakistani market, people are getting aware of its benefits over other platforms. To further educate people about Apple’s useful features, we are participating in exhibitions and conducting road shows and workshops and this has brought home the results. We have all the new variety of 2009 on our display centers and our help line team is available 24 hours”.

The second largest stall was of Samsung which was highlighted with mega LCD and home theater system, LCD monitors, range of mobile phones, printers other gadgets. Among the other prominent participants were Mobilink, Warid, Zong, Wateen, Advance Telecomm, D-Link etc.

A group photo of Samsung team

Visitors are writing their messages on Zong’s Message Board. Zong had this facility for visitors to express their views in the form of written and video recorded messages

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MONTH IN FOCUS Mobilink celebrated Earth Day

Omar Manzur, Director CSR and PR, Mobilink participates along with students of TCF Schools in the Earth Day celebrations by Mobilink Foundation

Mobilink celebrated the “Earth day” in association with The Citizens Foundation (TCF). Planned under the auspices of Mobilink Foundation a cleanliness drive was conducted by Mobilink employees and students of TCF schools of select prominent spots in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, and Hyderabad.

Earth Day, celebrated April 22, is a day designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment.

Commenting on the Earth Day activities, Omar Manzur, Director CSR and PR, Mobilink stated, “We believe that maintaining a quality environmental habitat is not only of grave importance to business and profitability but also our responsibility. We are grateful to the teachers and students of TCF who have expressed support to this drive scheduled for April 22.”

As Pakistan’s largest private sector organization, Mobilink has a history of environment friendly CSR efforts. Amongst key initiatives are the manufacture and free distribution of school bags from outdated billboard skins to more than 25,000 students of CARE Foundation, refurbishing obsolete cell phones for distribution among physically challenged citizens.

Mobilink and Box Office bring STAR TREK to Pakistan Mobilink, along with Box Office, Pakistan’s leading distributor of international movies, announced the official launch of the latest blockbuster movie “Star Trek” in Pakistan.

Talking about the movie, Bilal Munir Sheikh, Vice President Marketing, Mobilink stated, “Star Trek is yet another addition to our blockbuster hit movies library which we have released with Box office. Mobilink will continue to provide genuine quality family entertainment to further strengthen the cine-going as an avenue of recreation.”

Interestingly, Pakistan will be the first country in the South-Asian region to release this film. The cast of the new “Star Trek” also includes Farhan Tahir, a Pakistani born actor, in the role of “Nero”. This will be Farhan’s second appearance after “Iron-Man”.

Maria Lotia, General Manager, Box Office said, “We are extremely thrilled at the opportunity to be able to release this film one week after worldwide launch. We hold a very strong relation with Mobilink and they have genuinely supported us in all our Box-Office movie releases.

I am sure this movie will thrill a both Trekkies and movie lovers alike.”

A futuristic, space exploration thriller, Star Trek is the incredible story of a young crew’s maiden voyage onboard the most advanced starship ever created. With unmatched visual effects & animations Star Trek reignites a classic franchise with action, humor and a strong story.

During recent years, the cinema craze has seen an upward trend in Pakistan, with more and more people going to the cinemas. Mobilink and Box Office have successfully launched some of the greatest hits like Casino Royale, Spiderman 3, Mission Impossible 3, The Incredible Hulk, Kung Fu Panda, Indiana Jones, Wanted, and more recently, Fast & Furious-4

Telenor Mother’s Day: “All for Mom” To pay tribute to all mothers, Telenor extended its concern by arranging “Mother’s Day Expression Contest” on web and “All…..For Mom” on ground festival in six different cities.

Mothers Day expression contest was a three days activity ( from 7th May-09 to 10th May-09) in which Telenor customers sent their message for their mothers, the best expression won iPod and many other fabulous prizes. Customers could also log on to www.telenor.com.pk to participate in the Mothers Day Expression Contest and download true tones, wallpapers etc specially made for this occasion.

Taking the event on ground to interact directly with the audience especially mothers, Telenor conducted “All……for Mom” festival round the nation in six different cities. The activity was one of the best in its kind where different fun filled activities took place e.g. who knows mom best, song for mom, lovely quote for mom etc. Exciting prizes specially tailored for Mother’s Day event were distributed to families. At the end of the activity in each city lucky draws were conducted in which the winners were given fabulous prizes and beauty kits.

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MONTH IN FOCOUS Telenor Pakistan Announces New CTO, Deputy CTO Telenor Pakistan has announced its new Chief Technology Officer. Khalid Shehzad has been appointed as the company’s new CTO with immediate effect. Formerly, Khalid was heading the IT division of the company as its Chief Information Officer (CIO). Atiq Ahmed, Director Operations & Maintenance, Technical Division, is taking up an expanded role as Deputy CTO. The changes in higher management were announced by CEO Telenor Pakistan Jon Eddy Abdullah at the company’s headquarters in Islamabad yesterday. The new positions were introduced in the wake of the recent merger of the Technical and IT divisions in the company.

Khalid Shehzad brings with him over 14 years experience in the field of IT and telecom. He has been heading the Information Technology Division at Telenor Pakistan even before the company’s launch in March 2005. He has previously also managed the Business Support Systems, IT Operations, and IT Security departments as VP IT and CIO. As CTO he will be heading the Technical and IT Divisions, working closely with Atiq Ahmed, the Deputy CTO.

Enterprise Storage Consolidation contract signed between Ufone and Jaffer Group of Companies at Ufone Head Office in Islamabad. Signatories of the agreement were President & CEO Ufone, Abdul Aziz Khan and CEO Jaffer Group of Companies, Nasser N. Jaffer

COMSATS University students posing after winning the Djuice LanClan Interuniversity Gaming Competition at Cinepax Rawalpindi. The interuniversity electronic gaming competition was dominated by COMSATS University who beat Bahria University in MOHAA and Need For Speed. The title for COD4, however, went to Bahria University. The winners were awarded Cinepax golden tickets as free movie passes.

Ufone’s another new exciting offer

Wateen wins the USF contract

Ufone, one of the leading telecom companies in Pakistan has once again provided its valued customers another reason to reactivate their connection and talk to their near and dear ones with amazing returns.

This new package offers 300 free minutes, chance of winning 100,000 and 50,000 free minutes for 6 months against the use of only Rs.50 for the next 6 months and to be the part of the lucky draw to win 20 return tickets to Dubai.

This offer is valid for those valuable subscribers who have not used their Ufone SIM since March 20 this year. After using their Ufone connection, all qualifying subscribers will be liable to receive free 50 bonus on-net minutes for the next six months. Moreover a lucky draw will be held once a month of one 100,000 and one 50,000 bonus on-net minutes for the next six months. Furthermore these customers will automatically enter into a lucky draw which will enable them to win 20 return tickets to Dubai. Ufone exclusively offers all these fringe benefits against the usage of just Rs. 50 each month for the coming six months.

Mr. Akbar Khan, GM Pricing & Strategy Ufone, while commenting on this offer said, “At Ufone, our customers are our foremost priority. Besides facilitating the existing customers, our utmost efforts are directed towards facilitating the inactive customers as well. This special offer is the part of the campaign which will positively push back our disconnected customers to the state of the art network offered by Ufone.”

Wateen participated in the USF bidding process and was awarded the contract for: l Optical Fiber network spanning 704 km in rural Sindh covering all districts in the province. This is in addition to the already deployed optical fiber network of over 1,000km in the province. This project will be completed by June 2010 l Broadband Wireless network deployment in districts of Sargodha. This project will be completed by December 2009 l Deployment of a 840 km long optical fiber network in the province of Baluchistan Wateen’s three years of operations in the Telecom industry of Pakistan speaks for itself as it successfully acquired over 70,000 broadband customers, 2,000 corporate links (including 26 of the 31 commercial banks), and almost all the major telecommunication companies as its customers in such a short span of time. Such performance has made Wateen the fastest growing Telecom Company in Pakistan.

“Wateen will continue to collaborate for the upcoming initiatives from USF, including deployment of optical fiber and broadband networks in the country. A socially inclusive Pakistan, is as much our dream as it is for the people of Pakistan,” said Tariq Malik, CEO of Wateen

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MONTH IN FOCUS ZONG brings SMS to Email, Email to SMS ZONG, Introduced a unique service which allow subscribers to send sms from their mobile phones to email addresses and emails to mobile numbers, which will be delivered as an sms on the mobile phone.

This service is primarily targeted for people who are on the move and want to remain connected. Statistics show that 28 percent of total sms text messages are exchanged between mobile phones and email accounts and vice versa. Now, with the introduction of this unique valueadded service, all ZONG subscribers will have this facility readily available to them. All this is possible with just a few clicks and customers can send sms to email addresses and even receive texts from those email addresses on their mobile phones.

This new service offers great convenience in terms of usage. To send an sms to an email address, customers need to go to the sms menu of their mobile, then simply go to the Write Message option, write EMAIL <Email Address> <Message> and send it to ‘Send SMS’ and send this sms to 987. When subscribers want to send an email to a mobile number, they will compose the email and in the recipient’s address, type <mobile number@zongsms.pk>.

“While it is our constant endeavour to introduce cutting edge technology and provide our customers with the latest and most innovative products at par with international standard, this time we have gone even further and sought to enhance the experience of ZONG’s subscribers,” said Awais Malik,Director Segment and VAS, ZONG. “With this initiative, people can stay in touch with their family and friends in major destinations of the world with the ultimate ease of getting connected on a single touch of a button” Awais added.

ZONGs exciting new Mobile Phone Offer ZONG has announced the launch of ZONG Mobile Phone offer. This offer provides a brand new, sleek and stylish colored handset with a new ZONG connection having one year advance FREE airtime and FREE unlimited SMS and MMS to all mobile networks in Pakistan. This combo offer will greatly benefit entry level mobile customers, as getting a mobile, was never so easy and affordable before.

Building upon the huge success of ZONGs first mobile phone offer - launched in 2008 - the new offer has lots of additional features such as GPRS, FM Radio, Torch, Urdu language support, hands free, and six months warranty.

Commenting on the launch of this new offer, Awais Malik, Director Products, Segment & International Business, ZONG stated, "ZONG has always endeavoured to offer to the people of Pakistan NEVER-BEFORE value in mobile services and therefore has constantly been breaking new ground with exciting offers and promotions. The launch of the ZONG second Mobile Phone offer is an initiative that will revolutionize mobile usage in the country, by making mobile telephony affordable and reducing the price-barriers to entry."

It is pertinent to note that given the success of ZONG Mobile Phone deal in 2008 and anticipation of this year’s offer, the limited stock of mobile phone deals have already been pre-booked by business partners and retailers across Pakistan.

Pakistan safe for investment We will continue to support local telecom sector, boost investments: Deputy. President Pakistan is safe for investment and its growth in telecom is highly impressive. We have found policies of Pakistan very friendly towards local as well as foreign investors and we plan to boost our investments here, said Mr. Qiu Xuefeng, Deputy President, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. This he said while talking to Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President Pakistan Economy Watch, who was on a visit to Huawei’s global core network workshop to acknowledge company’s contribution towards the development of telecom sector.

Mr. Qiu Xuefeng informed him that our core network solutions are the key to operational excellence, the foundation for increasing revenues from new services and the backbone of service specialisation.

We want to share our achievements with telecom operators of Pakistan who are neck-to-neck with top operators of the world, he said.

“We have conducted workshops in Pakistan, Indonesia and Thailand and will soon Mr. Qiu Xuefeng, Dy. President,Huawei giving shield to Dr. Mutaza Mughal, President Pakistan Economy Watch arrange such workshops in Middle East, Europe, Latin America and USA.” Mr. Qiu informed. Presently one billion people are benefiting from our technologies.

At the occasion, Dr. Murtaza Mughal said we admire the phenomenal growth achieved by our Chinese friends. They have achieved in a couple of decades what others could not.

He drew attention of Huawei officials to step into other IT related fields and internet security business in a bid to serve the humanity.

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MONTH IN FOCOUS PTA promotes the broadband Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Dr. Mohammed Yaseen has said that broadband services have potential to uplift the socio-economic conditions of the country and these can be utilized to enhance usage of information in different spheres of life.

He said this while speaking at the inauguration ceremony of Connect Conference 2009 as chief guest, organized at Karachi Expo Centre.

The Chairman PTA said that effective measures are required to bring broadband revolution in Pakistan and PTA has taken number of initiatives in this regard. He said apart from reduction in rates the growth of broadband is also dependent on development of local contents and applications for users. If contents are prepared locally they can help in bringing awareness and education among the public.

Chairman PTA said, that PTA is facilitating growth of various telecom services including broadband. He said some operators have launched Wimax Broadband services while Telecard and Wi-tribe are preparing to launch these services.

He said that PTA has also formed a Broadband Stakeholders Group to enhance industry coordination for the promotion of broadband services. The operators should also make their awareness and marketing campaign effective to attract new users.

Samsung started Microwave Oven local assembly in Pakistan Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, World’s no.1 manufacturer of semiconductors, mobile handsets and LCD monitors has started local assembly of its high-technology Microwave Ovens (MWO) in Pakistan, under the supervision of Samsung’s Korean engineers.

Samsung entered the global Microwave Oven business in 1978. Therefore, today this company brings to Pakistan, a vast experience of 20 years in MWO production. This MWO assembly operation will be conducted under the competent guidance and supervision of Korean experts, with the aim of maintaining its no.1 quality standards. Samsung uses award winning technology and design for convection MWO which offers easy to use features with multiple capabilities in cooking and defrosting.

Mr. Baber Ali Kazmi, Category Head Home Appliances, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd while expressing his views stated, “Samsung started local assembly of Microwave Ovens, keeping in mind its extensive usage and potential demand Mr. Baber Ali Kazmi Category Head Home Appliances standing with in Pakistani household market. It demonstrates Samsung’s will to encourage Korean and local engineers introducing Samsung 1st MWO assembled in Pakistan transfer of technology from developed countries into Pakistan. Samsung Microwave Ovens’ are preferred globally because of its Triple Heating system that penetrates the food deeply and evenly, saving time and energy”.

The local assembly of both solo and grill technology has started in Pakistan. These models include healthy features such as; Power steam Bowl for a healthy and nutritious lifestyle, steam-clean, easy-to-wipe surface that keeps the oven clean and hygienic, while the ceramic enamel cavity with antibacterial coating maintains surface hygiene.

Samsung to bring solar charging mobile in Pakistan Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd has launched Solar Crest mobile phone, the first of its kind which charges its battery by solar cells and gives 2 hours talk-time if its solar cells are exposed to light rays for 12 hours.

Zeeshan H. Qureshi, Head of Marketing, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, expressed his views and stated, “Samsung’s Solar Crest phone will be a very useful phone in Pakistan where we all face long duration of electricity load shedding, and it will also benefit consumers everywhere by enabling significant conservation of energy.” The phone will be available by the end of 2nd quarter in Pakistan.

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Mr Zeshan Qureshi, Head of Marketing Samsung, Mr. Irfan Aziz, Director Mobile Zone presenting the prize to the winner of "Jeeto Lakhon kay inamaat Samsung Kay Sung"

MONTH IN FOCUS

Mr. Steve Han, Country Manager Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd with Mr.Rizwan Butt, COO, Digital World Pakistan, Mr. Ahmed Uzair –Assistant Marketing Manager-Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, Mr. Baber Ali Kazmi- Category Head for HA Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd and Mr. Naeem Basheer- National Sales Controller Digital World Pakistan on the opening of Samsung Brand Shop in Lahore

Nokia E75 now in Pakistan The Nokia E75 has brought the company's best efficiency and productivity solution to the Pakistani market.

The new arrival is the first device to ship with the new email user interface, offering full desktop email functionality, and complete integration of Nokia's email and messaging services.

Made from the quality materials one expects from Nokia Eseries, the Nokia E75 has a slide out QWERTY keyboard and efficient three-step email setup. This simplicity is achieved with the integration of Nokia Messaging, which ships with a device for the first time in the Nokia E75.

Nokia Messaging is a service that opens up the world's leading consumer email accounts - including Yahoo!

Mail®, Gmail and Windows Live Hotmail - and is joined

by Nokia's corporate email clients, Mail for Exchange and IBM Lotus Notes Traveler, which provide direct access to Country General Manager Nokia Pakistan-Mr. Imran Khalid Mahmood along with his team at the launch of Nokia E75 over 90 percent of the world's corporate inboxes as well.

Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Imran Khalid Mahmood, Country General Manager Nokia Pakistan shared his views about Nokia Messaging, “With an extremely easy-to-use application that allows consumers to access multiple email accounts on the same device, and an affordable data plan, mobile email with Nokia Messaging has the potential to become as popular as text messaging.”

Mr. Khurrum Pradhan, Product & Portfolio Manager Nokia Pakistan said, “Building on the success of award-winning Nokia E71, Nokia continues to provide business mobility convenience to Pakistani consumers. E75 is the first device to come pre-loaded with Nokia Messaging. Nokia Messaging removes the complicated steps and the need to remember technical data, making the service extremely easy to set up. Push email technology ensures that emails are sent to the mobile device as soon as they arrive at the mail server. Nokia Messaging also makes it simple to read, send, forward and reply to emails, download and read attachments, and attach files to emails directly on the Nokia device.”

The Nokia E75 also integrates tightly to other Ovi services and ships with Ovi Files, for storing files online, Nokia Maps (this service is not currently available in Pakistan), which works with the onboard A-GPS, and Nokia's games service N-Gage which is supported for the first time in a Nokia Eseries device.

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MONTH IN FOCOUS LG gets 14 International awards LG Electronics has been recognised a total of 14 times by two of the design industry’s most prominent competitions - red dot and iF (International Forum) design awards.

LG was awarded the 2009 red dot award for product design in seven categories including “Best of the Best” for its Bluetooth speaker (MSB200). Other LG products recognised by red dot include the Secret phone (KF750), 3G Watch phone (GD910), Universe washer/dryer pair with square doors (F1314FDS2/RV1308BS), microwave oven with wide transparent screen (UD A2), the world’s first aluminium body air conditioner (AS-W126BMSO) and stylish DVD player (DV4S2H).

LG’s “Best of the Best” winning product is a stylish and easy-to-use portable speaker with a swivel hinge and free-form design. The unit can be easily connected to music devices such as MP3 players and mobile phones via a Bluetooth wireless connection. With its unique swivelling hinge, this stylish product is fully adjustable to provide optimal usability. Users can twist the stick-like speaker into a variety of positions to either stand up straight on a flat surface or be hung on a wall. In addition, LED lights on the unit blink in a unique rhythm, bringing a visual element to the listening experience.

LG also received Germany’s iF design award in seven categories for its trendsetting products such as the 8MP touchscreen Renoir phone (KC910), plasma TVs (PS80 and PS70), and four-door refrigerator (LMX25981).

“Every LG product is designed with the needs of our customers in mind,” said K. W. Kim, CEO of LG Electronics Middle East and Africa Regional Company. “Our design expertise is what sets LG apart from others in the industry. We are committed to bringing consumers a refreshing and unique experience with the products they use every day.”

Last year LG was recognised in 11 categories at both the red dot and iF awards. Some of the winners from last year included Viewty, Venus, Voyager, LCD TV Matching Home Theatre System and Triton washing machine. In 2006, LG was named the “Design Team of the Year” by red dot, becoming the second Asian company to win the organisation’s Radius trophy.

Amir Rao, Country Manger Motorola Pakistan speaking at Connect-2009.

Chairman PTA Dr. Muhammad Yasin was also present on the ocassion

A model displays a prototype model of the digital 3D camera "FinePix Real 3D", which has two lenses and two CCD camera system enabling it to shoot 3D or 2D images, produced by Japanese camera giant Fujifilm

Dimension-4 displays its products at Hyperstar, Lahore. The products include the Bluetooth and Accessories by all the major brands like Motorola, Sony Ericsson and LG

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A promotion event for China's computer giant Lenovo in Beijing

MONTH IN FOCUS Kingston Adds Mac Compatibility to DataTraveler Vault 256-Bit AES Hardware Encrypted Drive Now Available to Mac Users Kingston Technology recently announced that its DataTraveler Vault – Privacy Edition (DTVP) USB Flash drive is now compatible with Apple Mac operating systems (OSX 10.4x – 10.5x).

“Our DataTraveler Vault – Privacy Edition has been popular with enterprise and government customers who use Windows-based systems and are looking for a safe and secure way to transport portable data,” said Nathan Su, Flash Memory Product Manager, APAC Region, Kingston.

“We are happy to add Mac support to this 100-percent secured drive

so the Apple community can be assured they have an on-the-go storage solution that is the best on the market at safeguarding data.”

Data onboard the DTVP is secured by hardware-based, on-the-fly, 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). The drive has fast data transfer rates and is protected from brute-force attacks by locking down after 10 unsuccessful login attempts. After lockdown, a reformat is necessary to make the Flash drive operable again. For additional protection, the DTVP is made of aluminum and is waterproof up to a depth of four feet.

Kingston DataTraveler Vault Privacy Edition

Operating System

Part Number

Mac OSX 10.4x-10.5x

Yes

Yes

Windows Vista

Yes

Yes

Windows XP (SP1, SP2, SP3)

Yes

Yes

Windows 2000 (SP4)

Yes

Yes

DTVP/2GB DTVP/4GB DTVP/8GB

File Transfer

Password Protection Data Encryption

DTVP/16GB DTVP/32GB

Ovex and Cisco together

Photo shows Mr. Faisal S. Khan, CEO, Ovex Technologies with the participants of the seminar

Ovex Technologies; a Silver Certified Partner of Cisco Systems, the second largest exporter of IT Services in Pakistan and the largest Third-Party, Offshore BPO & IT Solutions Provider, recently highlighted the importance of “Infrastructure for Growth”, at an I.T. seminar, jointly held with Cisco.

The seminar illustrated the capabilities and opportunities of using the CiscoOvex Silver Partnership to expand the possibilities and efficiencies of the clients’ business. The participants were also provided with valuable insight on the benefits and features of Cisco Powered Solutions, and the competitive advantage held by these two highly competent partner companies. A large number of IT professionals from various organizations gained beneficial knowledge by participating in this seminar.

Speakers at the seminar also acquainted the participants with the stringent requirements for becoming a Silver Certified Partner of Cisco.

The CEO of Ovex Technologies, Mr. Faisal Khan said, “Staying competitive in today’s market requires agility and efficiency. Using Cisco Powered Solutions, our clients can find ways to meet their customers’ demands and adapt to changes in the marketplace while mitigating risk and controlling costs without sacrificing performance.”

Ovex to deploy hi-tech IT and IP systems Ovex Technologies is signing an agreement with Quaid-i-Azam International Hospital (QIH) for the deployment of a state-of-theart IT infrastructure & IP Unified Communication System, for establishing connections with sources of global medical research.

It is for the first time ever that this level of IT technology solutions and Communication Systems are going to be implemented in the Healthcare industry of Pakistan.

By adopting the new communication system, the QIH seeks to revolutionize its quality of service, by gaining access to the extensive

knowledge base, experience and latest research available with the medical specialists in the developed world. The access to prompt insight on latest medical research, gained through this system, will enable the Doctors at QIH to save precious lives.

Through this system, the hospital will also be enabled with Wireless coverage for doctors and quick mobility of medical equipment within the hospital premises. Once the system is implemented, the patients will be able to experience unmatched possibilities, efficiencies and agility at the Quaid-i-Azam International Hospital.

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MONTH IN FOCOUS MoU between Arena Multimedia & United Producers Association

Ms. Samina Ahmed, CEO, UPA and Mr. Arshad Khalil, CEO, Arena Multimedia, signing the MoU.

United Producers Association and Arena Multimedia have signed an exclusive Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Arena Network Support Office, last month. The signing of the MoU between Arena Multimedia and United Producers Association would develop the synergy between television professionals with the opportunity to pool strengths and good human resources. So we are aiming at win-winsituation.

Ms. Samina Ahmed, CEO, UPA and Mr. Arshad Khalil, CEO, Arena Multimedia, underline that both the organizations will work together to develop the synergy between the television professionals. This would help to provide an opportunity to exchange speakers, organize joint ventures, and promote creatively and trade in both organizations and to further establish the friendly relationship between Arena Multimedia & United Producers Association.

Jalal A. Ansari (Member UPA), Asif Altaf (Member UPA), Najeeb Ahmed (Director Operations UPA) and Haris Farooq (Head of Public Relations Arena Multimedia) were present at the signing ceremony.

File Photo: This picture was taken at the launch of first Nokia shop (ITC) in Lahore.

Seen in the picture are Mr. Imran Mehmood, Country GM, Nokia Pakistan, Mr. Hannan Asif, Director Advance Telecom and Mr. Aslam Butt CEO Ibrar Mobiles 50

(L-R) Sashi Reddi FXLabs Founder & CEO,Ramkumar Subramani,sales and marketing vice president, AMD India and Janet Matsuda,Senior Director of Professional Graphics.JPG

AMD and FXLabs partner to improve gaming Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), a leading graphics processor provider and second-largest supplier of microprocessors, and FXLabs Studios Pvt. Ltd., India’s leading end-to-end game development company, announced a strategic technology alliance to foster game development in the country.

The association makes FXLabs the first Indian game development company to join forces with AMD to deliver a compelling gaming experience. As a part of the alliance, FXLabs will deploy the latest ATI FirePro™ series of workstation graphics technology for the development of upcoming games, provide a test base consisting of AMD Radeon™ series of consumer graphics processors and in addition, provide the technology expertise of its graphics engineers.

In June 2008, AMD demonstrated a milestone achievement in ultra-realism and interactive visual computing through the processing power of its teraflops graphics chip. The demonstration of what AMD termed, “Bollywood 2.0 experience”, eradicates the sensory barrier that separates today’s visionary content creators and the interactive experiences they desire to create for audiences around the world. The Bollywood 2.0 demo showed the fusion of dynamic real-time interactivity with convincing cinematic digital effects that appear to be real places and things captured on video.

Ramkumar Subramanian, sales and marketing vice president, AMD India, said, “Gaming consumers in India have begun to demand content that is near life-like and flawless. AMD is in the right position to provide the technology that drives this content with its platform combination of processor and graphics. In addition, through our technology alliance with FXLabs we expect to break the next frontier in gaming.”

MONTH IN FOCUS Intel Honors Three Young Scientists For Second Year in a Row, Females Dominate Intel International Science and Engineering Fair The Intel Foundation recently announced top winners of the world's largest pre-college science fair, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), a program of Society for Science & the Public. Tara Adiseshan, 14, of Charlottesville, Va.; Li Boynton, 17, of Houston; and Olivia Schwob, 16, of Boston were selected from 1,563 young scientists from 56 countries, regions and territories for their commitment to innovation and science. Each received a $50,000 scholarship from the Intel Foundation.

Three students from Pakistan also participated in this prestigious international competition. Winners of the Intel National Science Olympiad, held early this year in Islamabad, who represented Pakistan were individual project winner Malik Usama from Pak Turk International School and College, Khairpur with his project ‘Waste water sewage treatment’ and Group project winners, Mohammad Naeem Khan, and Zaki Hussain from Sir Syed Science College, Rawalpindi with their project titled ‘Hovercraft.’

“The real end point of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is to elevate the recognition of achievement of the younger generation in academic and learning exercises,” said Intel Chairman Craig Barrett. “I hope that more young people will look at these students and realize they can be recognized for using their brains. You don’t have to be a quarterback, a basketball player or a baseball player to be recognized by your peers and the public.”

In addition to the three $50,000 top winners, more than 500 Intel

Models display Japanese electronics maker Sony's new single lens reflex (SLR) digital cameras "Alpha 380 (L) and 330 (R)" in Tokyo. The Alpha 380 has a 14.2 mega-pixel CCD while the 330 has a 10.2 mega-pixel CCD on their image sensors and a 2.7-inch LCD screen which enables a user to tilt up and down for extended angle shooting. Sony will put it on the market in June

International Science and Engineering Fair participants received scholarships and prizes for their groundbreaking work. Intel awards included 19 "Best of Category" winners who each received a $5,000 Intel scholarship and a new laptop powered by the Intel® Core™2 Duo processor. Intel also awarded a $1,000 grant to the winner’s school and the Intel ISEF-affiliated fair they represent.

Society for Science & the Public (SSP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to public engagement in scientific research and education, owns and has administered the International Science and Engineering Fair since its inception in 1950.

Finalists are selected annually from more than 550 International Science and Engineering Fair-affiliated fairs around the world.

Their projects are then evaluated onsite by 900 judges from nearly every scientific discipline, each judge typically with a Ph.D. or the equivalent of 6 years of related professional experience in one of the scientific disciplines. A full list of 2009 finalists is available at www.societyforscience.org.

Sunil Nayyar, Head of Sales, Sony India poses with the BRAVIA ZX1 during its launch in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh .Sony's BRAVIA ZX1 is the world slimmest LCD TV measuring 9.9 mm 51

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MOBILE PHONE

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