The 3G License Auctions to be held on March 29, 2012 of which the PTA Chairman have given assurance recently could get postponed. Earlier it was just the EOIs of consultant due date (March 26)  indicating on this, but now we also have the official announcement of pre-bid meeting due on March 5 postponed to a later date.

This being done to facilitate interest shown by operators at the Mobile Word Congress held at Barcelona. The new date is yet to be announced. Official announcement on PTA’s website says:

Due to the great interest shown by operators through their representatives in World Mobile Congress being held in Barcelona, Spain, the Pre-bid meeting which was earlier to be held on March 5th, 2012 has been postponed to allow more time to the operators to evaluate the emerging situation and allow them more room to plan. The new date shall be announced shortly.

Amid resistance, questions on transparency, confusions and other views; PTA’s Chairman Dr. Yaseen in his recent interview have yet again expressed that 3G Spectrum Auction in Pakistan will take place next month.

The brief of Dr. Yaseen’s interview as reported by Mobile Business Briefing can be read below. Some key points have been underlined.

Pakistan is to hold 3G auctions next month and is aiming to attract 15 million mobile broadband users within the first year, the country’s regulator has told Mobile World Daily in an exclusive interview.

Dr Mohammad Yaseen, chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), said that three blocks of spectrum in the 1900/2100MHz band and another at 800MHz are to be sold off, with licences expected to be awarded to at least three operators. Both new and existing market players are invited to bid and Yaseen said the country’s regulatory framework was geared up to facilitate foreign investment.

Bids will start at US$210 million for the 1900/2100MHz spectrum and US$155 million for the 800MHz licence. In the first rollout phase, existing operators will need to launch services in four Provincial Capitals and the Federal Capital within six months after being allocated, while new players will be given a year.

Pakistan is the world’s tenth largest mobile market with around 113 mobile subscribers at year-end 2011 – but has a market penetration of just 66.5 percent.

“Keeping in view the situation for fixed line broadband in the country [under 1 percent], we expect that during first year of its introduction 3G mobile broadband services will attract approximately 15 million subscribers with a steady growth afterwards,” said Dr Yaseen. He added that the Pakistan government was looking at the mobile sector as a “major contributor” to the country’s economy. “The telecom sector contributes about 1.5 percent in the national GDP on annual basis [and] is providing direct and indirect employment opportunities to more than 1.5 million individuals. [The] government is putting all emphasis on cellular broadband proliferation for further economic growth.”

Dr Yaseen said that 3G will enable value-added services such as health, education, money and entertainment. “The majority of the population consists youth who are eager and excited to enjoy mobile entertainment and Internet service on the move,” he said.

It is worthy to note here PTA has recently sought for EOIs from consultancy firm of international repute to offer services for the auction of 3G license which is due for submission on March 26, that is three-days before the Spectrum Auction date. Also some recommendations of the Standing Comittee on IT are yet to be considered.

via MBB

Guest Post by Parvez Iftikhar

AS A CONCERNED CITIZEN, I WOULD LIKE TO URGE ALL THOSE WHO HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE ICT SECTOR TO DO WHATEVER THEY CAN, TO PUSH AND EXPEDITE INTRODUCTION OF MOBILE BROADBAND (3G OR WHATEVER).  I say this because yet another delay (albeit short and for good reasons) has appeared.

Irrespective of the on-going, completely unnecessary, “controversy” surrounding auction of 3G in Pakistan, allotting 3G frequencies to telecom operators is extremely urgent and essential for Pakistan. We have already been left behind by others who used to be our followers in 2G. Mobile broadband – or 3G – should have been introduced here already four years ago. The delay has made us lose huge opportunities relating to job creation, international trade, economic growth and Foreign Direct Investment (Telecom FDI 2007: US$1,824 mil and 2011: US$ 79 mil). Not to mention letting the technology gap between the advanced countries and us widen even more, despite the fact that more than 70% of our population is below 35 – normally considered early adopters of modern technology.

According to ITU’s World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, a total of 159 economies worldwide have launched 3G services commercially and the number of active mobile-broadband subscriptions has surpassed one billion.  Countries from New Zealand to USA are allocating huge amounts of national resources to deploy infrastructure, like Optic Fiber Cables, to facilitate delivery of broadband to the citizens. Whereas we are taking ages even to allocate the God-given resource of frequency-spectrum which will facilitate provision of broadband.

Some skeptics ask what we will do with 3G? Mostly they are only thinking in terms of mobile phones – and not mobile broadband. Although a lot could be done with 3G smart phones too (present estimate 15 mil smart phones in Pakistan, expected to increase to 50 mil by 2016), it is 3G mobile broadband, mainly using USB dongles, complementing fixed broadband, that is of bigger value and main attraction for countries like ours. While people in developed countries usually use mobile-broadband in addition to the fixed, mobile-broadband is often the only access method available to people in developing countries.

Broadband has tremendous commercial usages but one of it’s main benefits lies in it’s capability as a deliverer of basic services to hundreds of millions of citizens, especially those living in the hinterlands of the country. Education, Health, Governance, Commerce, Agriculture, Women Empowerment,… all can find their way. Greater access to broadband services has been found to help accelerate achievement of development targets like the internationally-agreed Millennium Development Goals. It is only using broadband that we can serve our exploding population (CAGR: 2.5%) at their doorsteps, not only to bring prosperity to them but also prevent mass migration to urban centers and save our bursting mega-cities from crumbling under their own weight.

Right now in Pakistan broadband is available in less than 300, small and big, towns and cities. All the present two million connections being of fixed broadband category (50% wireless). But then there is only so much fixed technologies can do. Fortunately, thanks to the ubiquitous 2G GSM network, 3G can take broadband to every nook and corner of the country, becoming accessible to more than 90% population, with relatively small effort. I have deliberately used the word “effort” and not investment because investment will come from private sector telecom operators. Here is a sector where the government doesn’t need to bother about development budget allocations and resource constraints. Just like 2G was such an effective engine of growth for our economy, 3G too could contribute significantly. Admittedly the private sector operators would like to invest and deploy 3G mainly in large cities, but for the rest there is USF!

As for the controversy, firstly, on a per-megahertz-per-year basis, the announced base price is equal to the peak price achieved last time around. Secondly it is likely to go higher during bidding, despite worse political/economic/security situation than in 2004. And thirdly the licenses are going to be technology-neutral, therefore it is the operators who would decide whether they deploy 3G or something else (incidentally 4G – the so-called LTE Advanced — is not even there yet). Yes, the only thing that all of us need to be vigilant about and jealously guard is the process being followed. The process must be fair and transparent. Period.

The author is the formar CEO of USF (Universal Service Fund) Pakistan. He joined the newly formed USF in May 2007 as it’s first employee. Within weeks he built the organisation and successfully started executing projects to bridge the digital divide in the country thru private sector telecom service providers. USF Pakistan is globally recognized as a success-story in it’s domain. Parvez receives frequent invitations to deliver talks at international forums on Universal Service Obligation issues (mainly sponsored by World Bank, ITU and USAID) as well as conduct workshops and provide consultancy services to various countries. Presently Parvez is working as an Independent Telecom Consultant. Before USF he was the country-head of Siemens Telecom in Pakistan. Has been to great learning institutions like Carnegie Mellon and Oxford Universities and has been extensively trained by Siemens in Germany.

This post first appeared on Parvez Iftikhar’s personal blog.

Samsung has unveiled a new tablet which runs the latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). The new tablet will be called Galaxy Tab 2 and will have a 7 inch screen.

A statement released by Samsung read:

It offers a variety of new and improved Android OS features,  using the latest version of the platform – which is intended to unify Google’s propositions for smartphones and tablets. It said that “an upgraded Android Market enables access to more than 400,000 applications.

The device will be a lighter one as it will weigh only 344 grams and will feature a 7 inch LCD Capacitive touch screen which will be able to display 16 M colors and have a resolution of 1024×600 pixels. The Galaxy Tab 2 will be powered by a 1 GHz processor which will be backed up with 1 GB RAM. Although the processor is good enough for a 7-inch tab but smart phones released by almost all vendors are featuring dual core processors, so a single core processor may render it slow when more devices running ICS are released in the market.

Galaxy Tab 2.0 will come in three variants according to storage i.e. 8 GB, 16 GB and 32 GB, all of these will have a microSD card slot adding an option of up to 32 GB more storage. The device will have a 3 MP camera mounted on its rear and a VGA secondary camera on front and the users wont have to worry about its storage as the latest Samsung device will feature a 4000 mAh battery which will be enough to serve those who are always on the move.

It is expected that the Galaxy Tab 2 will have both WiFi and 3G variants and there can be another Tab with a 10-inch screen in the pipeline. The device is set to be released globally at the end of Q1 2012 with an initial release in the UK in March.

Let’s hope that it lands in Pakistan soon after its release in England and we get our hands on it for a review.

We have discussed all things 3G manier times earlier. But as the Spectrum License auctions draws near we have some opposing elements to raise confusions over the matter. Recently the Senate Standing Comittee on IT have asked PTA to incorporte some of their recommendations in the in the 3G Policy.

The recommendations put forward are:

1. Auction one technology license i.e. 3G licenses only. The terms 4G/LTE and technology neutral should not be used
2. 4G/LTE should be licensed later
3. Increase the base price – US $ 210m to US $ 291m
4. Defaulters not be allowed to participate

Before we discuss on these recommendations it is worthy to note that these come in after the policy have been approved following a long process chain during last few years. It had gone from the MoITT to Federal Cabines, revised and only then approved by the PM before finally passing it on to PTA for implementation and calling in for the License Auctions.

Now as the investors have geared up for the show and the investment oppurtunities are all set to come in, the Senate Comittee have its reservations. Late, isn’t it?

Coming back to the recommendations, we shall try to make it easy for all to understand.

Number 1. It should be clear for all that it is not the technology being auctioned. The auction have clearly been called in for wireless specturm of 10Mhz band. Succesful bidders can opt to introduce any technology (3G/4G/LTE) they can in this spectrum band. Did we have license auctions for GPRS or for a fact for EDGE services introduction? No, because they were offered in the same spectrum being used for 2G. If I am not wrong, we also did not have a separate auction for WiMax services. Thus, arguing on calling it a 3G only license is baseless.

Number 2. As explained above this is technically not possible and is also against globally accepted norms. If its about a democratic revenge, it can only be made possible politically.

Number 3. We have discussed it technically in our earlier post. Putting it again; the standard and fair measure to compute the base price is ‘per-megaherts-per-year‘ and 3G being auctioned as a 10Mhz band license and not 13.xMhz band (2G), the base price comes to the same. Simple maths!

Number 4. Considering the dues PTCL owes to the government of Pakistan that are being delayed time and again, we find this as the only reasonable recommendation.

In Pakistan, it’s already late for upgradation of any spectrum dependant wireless technology. We now must not leave confusions in the air and try to push it backwards. For all the bright side ProPakistani has highlighted in its post on the same subject, let us act sensible and voice our opinion at all platforms to let these opposing elements know that we have every rights for better communication services for ourselves.

Here are the most recent updates from four of the eight SAARC nations. For news from the rest of the countries, please visit their respective national pages.
…

MALDIVES – A top US diplomat arrived in the Maldives on February 11 to help resolve a deepening political crisis sparked by the ousting of the Indian Ocean nation’s first democratically elected president.

Mohamed Nasheed, who came to power in 2008, says he was forced to quit on February 7 in a coup led by mutinous army and police officers who threatened him with violence unless he stepped down as leader of the famous holiday islands.

He was replaced by his vice president Mohamed Waheed, whom Nasheed accuses of being party to the conspiracy to topple him.

…

SRI LANKA – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa reached Pakistan on February 10 to Pakistan to further strengthen political, economic and defence ties between the two countries.

Pakistan and Sri Lanka are also expected to sign an agreement during President Rajapaksa’s visit under which the latter would get $200 million export credit facility through the State Bank of Pakistan.

The two countries are aiming to increase bilateral trade to $2 billon mark over the next three years and pledged to support each other at regional and international forums.

The commitment is significant in the light of the forthcoming UNHRC session, which is expected to put pressure on Sri Lanka to address the ethnic conflict between Sinhala majority and the Tamil minority of the island nation.

…

NEPAL – A top Maoist leader on February 10 said the government will finish the key task of concluding the peace process and framing a new constitution, amid a deadlock between the political parties over form of governance and federal structure to be adopted in the country.

“The peace process and the constitution drafting will be completed within the stipulated time frame of May 27,” Education Minister and senior Maoist party leader Dinanath Sharma said on the sideline of the inaugural function of the UK Education Fair in the capital.

The landmark peace process has been stalled amid the failure of the political parties to agree on the form of governance and federal structure.

…

BHUTAN – By the end of 2012 at least 40 locations in western and central Bhutan will have access to 3G or third generation high speed Internet connectivity, which is today available only in the core areas of Thimphu city.
Starting March Bhutan Telecom will start work to expand its 3G network in Thimphu, Phuentsholing, Paro and Gelephu.
3G is the ‘3rd Generation’ technology for mobiles which enhances internet speed and enables features like video calling, faster audio and video streaming and quicker downloads.

In urban Thimphu, six more locations will be added to the 14 existing 3G sites. The other 20 locations will be added in Phuentsholing, Paro and Gelephu and at tertiary institutes like Sherubtse College, College of Science and Technology and the college of business studies in Gedu.

“Many young people at these institutions are in need of these services and they are the people who use these services more often,” the CEO of Bhutan telecom, Nidup Dorji, said.

The present 3G sites in Thimphu are located within a five km radius of Bhutan Telecom head office. For 3G data service the speed range is 7.2 mbps.

- Agencies

As the upcoming license auctions draw close, news flows in that global telecom giants are cosnidering to participate in the bidding process. Prospective bidders to enter the Pakistan telecom market were informed to 3G/4G/LTE advisory committee.

As reported by Dawn News, they include:

• AT&T of USA
• British Vodafone
• Japan’s DoComo
• Qtel of Qatar
• Roshan Telecom from Afghanistan

The report further streghtens Warid’s un-fit financial position for the bid. Also, Warid can possibly make a joint bid with some telecom firm from Malaysia. Qubee is also reported to be in talks with current market players for a joint bid.

Complete report from Dawn News follows:

At least nine telecommunication companies including four world majors are likely to participate in bidding due by end-March for third and fourth generation telecom licences in Pakistan, raising hopes for a better foreign exchange yield.

An advisory committee on 3G/4G/LTE led by prime minister’s adviser on finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was informed on Thursday that British Vodafone, Japan’s DoComo, AT&T of United States, QTel of Qatar and even Roshan Telecom of Afghanistan were preparing for bidding to be new foreign entrants in the country’s fast growing telecom industry.

The information, based on market intelligence, was put forward by Ministry of Telecommunication and Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

The advisory committee was also informed that among the existing players Ufone, Mobilink and Zong were keen to get the new licences to be available for 15 years. Another player Warid was not in a position to independently vie for the future licence due to financial constraints but was in contact with a leading Malaysian telecom firm for a joint bid, according to market intelligence.

Qbee another firm that currently operates wireless and internet services in Pakistan and Bangladesh was also reported to be making contacts with some market players for a joint bid.

The advisory committee, said these sources, discussed a proposal to appoint consultant or a consortium of consultants to assist the government in transaction structure and bidding process but was informed that this could delay the transaction in view of procurement rules while the government was interested in over $800 million sale proceeds during the current financial year.

The finance ministry was of the view that the government could exercise its right to bypass procurement rules to reduce time for the appointment of consultants because that would help the government to maximise sale proceeds. The committee members remained divided over the issue, Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said the decision would be made in a couple of days after consultations with the ministry of law.

In the meanwhile, the PTA was directed to enhance its coordination with the major telecom players for wider participation in the bidding process. The committee decided to appoint a media consultant for the transaction. The committee also considered replies to objections raised by cross-party members of the senate over the base price fixed by the PTA for the bidding. It also decided to issue an international advertisement for competitive bidding.

The government plans to auction three 3G and one cellular licence for 1900/2100 MHz (3G/4G/LTE) band and 800 MHz Band. The base price for 3G licence to be effective for 15 years has been set at $210 million while the base price for cellular licence for 8 years has been set at $155 million.

Likewise, the earnest money to qualify for the bidding has been set at $31.5 million for each bidder of 3G and $23.25 million for cellular license. The spectrum capacity allocation has already been fixed for three 3G licences.

The bidders would be required to start their offers from the base price fixed by government with each increment of at least $2 million multiples. The successful bidder would be required to deposit 50 per cent of the auction price within 30 days of the auction and remaining 50 per cent in five equal instalments. The bidder would be allowed to launch its operations on 100 per cent payment of bid money.

The senators had objected to the bid price saying it was too low given the fact that cellular companies had paid $291 million per license in 2004 for 2G services (GSM), now considered an obsolete technology. The advisory committee was, however, told that base price did not mean a sale price that would go up on competitive bidding and reminded the senators that the base price for 2G licenses was set at $61 million that had increased to $291 through bidding.

The meeting was informed that base price for cellular licence was set at $155 million because it was being issued against the remaining 8 years period of the defunct Instaphone instead of other cellular licenses that were for 15 years. Even the bidding result for one GSM license would also go up.

The committee was informed that base price was arrived at after taking into consideration the 2004 auction result of 2G (GSM), expected service revenues, subscriber growth, economic growth, per capita income, political situation and population of the country.

via Dawn News

Almost at the verge of its operational collapse in India as a result of its license being cancelled on account of spectrum auction curruption case, the Ab Mera Number Hai operator Telenor is reported to shift its financial focus in Pakistan and double their investment here.

Report from an English daily in Norway, The Foreigner, also states that Telenor is content with relaxed policies of Pakistani Authoriries as compared to the counterpart in India.

It is worth mentioning here that the news of such investments from Telenor comes at the time when it has posted 20% revenue growth in the last quarter and is in the race to bid for the upcoming 3G spectrum auctions in March 2012.

Excerpt from the report follows:

Telenor representatives immediately approached the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Chairman to set their forthcoming agenda in Pakistan following the revocation of partner Uninor’s license in India. Senior sources in the office of the PTA Chairman informed The Foreigner that Telenor is to invest double the amount in Pakistan after winding up their business in India.

These officials also revealed that Telenor is content with the PTA’s relaxed policies compared with the very strict rules and regulation and their implementation in India.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Chairman Dr. Muhammad Yaseen, who has already been the subject of media criticism for being extra favorable to Telenor, refused to comment on this issue when approached by The Foreigner by mobile.

No senior Telenor representatives in Pakistan would make any statement to The Foreigner regarding the current situation and revocation of the Uninor license in India either. Company Corporate Media Communication heads are trying to the stop the publication of the news by major media outlets in Pakistan by pressuring journalists and media moguls.

Telenor in Norway has not commented on the issue after being contacted by The Foreigner.

via The Foreigner

There are many different internet service providers out there, each with their own set of services to sell. This can lead to a confusing array of different offers bombarding anyone who wants to get their first broadband connection or change from their current provider to a new company. If you follow these few tips you should be able tostreamline the research process and sign up to an internet provider which will meet your needs. 

Connection Types 

There are a number of different internet connections available, with some providers operating only one type of connection while others work across a range. ADSL is themost common, making use of traditional copper telephone wire networks to get the service to your home. This means it is widely available and most people should be ableto get online in this way. Cable broadband is faster thanks to its use of fibre optic technology, although coverage is not as widespread as ADSL which means the location of your property will dictate whether you can use a cable provider or not. Mobile broadband is the newest type of web connection, taking advantage of 3G and 4G wireless networks rather than fixed line services. This means you can roam wherever there is adequate network coverage and get online using your laptop and a compatible USB modem.

Download Speeds 

As mentioned above cable internet connections are typically faster than any other option, which means providers can sometimes offer up to 100Mbps download speeds or higher in some areas. However, if you do not think that you are going to need such speedy web access then it might be more financially sensible to opt for a package from an ADSL provider as faster connections are invariably at the more expensive end of the scale. Mobile broadband is typically the slowest of the bunch because speed is reliant on your location and the level of network coverage as well as the capabilities of your device. However, for many the added convenience of not being tied to a landline is worth the limits on speed.

Limits and Usage 

Many internet service providers will impose a cap on the amount you can use your connection. In particular a mobile broadband service will have a monthly limit ranging from a few hundred megabytes to several gigabytes, with additional charges incurred if you exceed this cap. For fixed line services you can find so-called ‘unlimited’ data bundles which will not restrict you in terms of total data used each month. However, fair use policies are usually employed by internet providers to dictate when you canuse your connection for heavy downloading sessions and when you should be more frugal with your bandwidth consumption. For example, most providers will set a window for peak usage each day, typically between 6pm and 12pm during which users are requested not to go overboard in how much they use their connection. You should read carefully the policies of providers before you sign up to a deal so that you know your rights and restrictions.

Equipment and Extras 

Finally you will need to compare what additional kit is provided by an internet company when you get your broadband. Most will offer a free wireless router and modem setup of some kind, although there can be other extras such as free antivirus software, online data storage and installation. Meanwhile others might have hidden costs which will add to the typical price of the tariff.

Do Check:  A Tale of Woes Internet Technology

These four criteria should give you a good starting point to check out internet providers and identify which will give you the best deal today.

About the Author:

Donna Baxter is a Freelance and Staff writer who writes informative & creative articles on Technology for various technology company. Her expertise are in writing articles related to internet providers, charter internet etc.

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• Why Our Internet Delivery Service is Broken – A Tale of Woes Internet Technology

Many of us already know about the spectrum auction curruption case in India. A year back we did a post on the lessons we can learn from the case India. Now when the PTA are all set to kick the specturm launch in March end the Supreme Court accros the border has given its rulling, cancelling 122 Telecom Licenses of worlds second larget mobile subscirber market.

This is a big setback for international investers, let’s see how this will effect the upcoming license auctions in Pakistan.

More from Reuters below:

India’s Supreme Court on Thursday revoked all 122 telecoms licences issued under a scandal-tainted 2008 sale, a fresh embarrassment for the government and plunging the mobile network market of Asia’s third-largest economy into uncertainty.

The ruling is a setback for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government, which oversaw the sale of the licenses at below-market prices, costing the exchequer up to $36 billion in lost revenues.

The licences affected by Thursday’s ruling include all of those held by Unitech Wireless, the Indian joint venture of Norway’s Telenor and Unitech.

“We have been unfairly treated as we simply followed the government process we were asked to,” the Telenor joint venture said in a statement. “We are shocked to see that Uninor is being penalised for faults the court has found in the government process.”

The telecoms scandal is the biggest of several that have emerged during Singh’s second term and triggered massive street protests last year. Two ministers, including former telecoms minister Andimuthu Raja, who presided over the 2008 grant process, have resigned. Raja is in jail awaiting trial.

“This country is no longer willing to allow these corrupt corporations and these corrupt public officials to retain the benefits of their illegal and corrupt actions,” said Prashant Bhushan, a lawyer and petitioner in the case.

India is the second-largest cellular market in the world by subscribers, with 894 million at the end of December, although the market is crowded with more than a dozen operators, making call rates among the lowest in the world and squeezing margins.

Investors and operators have long been calling for consolidation in the crowded industry, and Thursday’s ruling stands to benefit the country’s biggest operators, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone.

“Players like Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular with popular brands and strong balance sheets will be clear beneficiaries because they can take advantage of this situation and increase market share,” said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, Head of Research, SMC Investments and Advisors, Mumbai.

Stocks in telecoms companies including Reliance Communications and Unitech fell after the verdict, but shares in Bharti Airtel jumped.

“For foreign investors, it is a very bad news. What mistake did they do? They partnered with Indian companies, invested lots of money and followed the process of that time,” said Rishi Sahai, director at consultancy firm Cogence Advisors in New Delhi.

The Supreme Court said the current licenses will remain in place for four months, in which time the government should decide fresh norms for issuing licenses, a lawyer involved in the case said.

India’s image as an investment destination was dented over the past year as the economy slowed, government reforms stalled and the telecoms scandals along with other high profile graft cases heightened concerns about government policies.

“This is a collective failure of the government of India, said S ubramanian Swamy, an opposition politician who brought the petition to revoke the license. ” The court has said that the government must now get the market value of these licenses .”

Loop Telecom Pvt Ltd and Videcon Telecommunications, part of India’s Videocon group are also affected, along with Etisalat DB, the joint venture between Abu Dhabi’s Etisalat and India’s DB group; and S-Tel.

Thirteen licences held by Idea Cellular and three held by Tata Teleservices are also affected.

via Reuters

If you thought that booking MNP misuse under terrorism act was enough of stupity from Senator Rehman you haven’t seen what brains we have in the opposition.

Senator Pervez Rasheed of PML(N) who questioned the upcoming 3G and plus License Auctions process and most importantly the base price shared his views recently in Geo TVs talkshow Capital Talk hosted by Hamid Mir.

But guess what did they discuss about? G3; Yes, during the course of discussion on the matter the Senator and Talkshow host both kept talking about  G2, G3 and G4 proving absolute lack of knowledge for the technology.

Moreover, as far as the question on base price of the licenses is concerned,  we took an opinion from a telecom expert. Sharing that, let’s make it clear that the 3G base price is NOT lower than 2G base price.

Reason being that the standard and fair measure to compute the base price is ‘per-megaherts-per-year‘. Thus 3G being auctioned as a 10Mhz band license and not 13.xMhz band (2G), the base price comes to the same. Anyone with little telecom knowledge can figure this out, but we surely can’t expect this from our politicians.

Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL) is leading all operators in the country by providing to consumers the highest quality Broadband Internet service, according to the second nationwide Quality of Service (QoS) 2011 survey conducted by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

Released last week, the PTA survey places PTCL in category A (more than 95%) at Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Quetta, and in category B (more than 80%) at Karachi for the 1Mbps wire-line broadband service.

The survey was carried out in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi/Islamabad and Muzaffarabad for categories of 512Kbps and 1Mbps in both wire-line and wireless broadband services offered by different operators.

The survey measures operators’ overall performance based on PTA’s key performance indicators (KPIs), including service availability, download and upload bandwidth speed, round-trip time, and service retain-ability.

“Pakistan is the world’s 4th fastest growing broadband market, and PTCL is the country’s single largest broadband service provider with 95% market share,” said Senior Executive Vice President, Naveed Saeed. “In line with the Government’s vision for Broadband growth in Pakistan, we are leading the country’s broadband revolution from the front by making this technology affordable through lowered entry barriers; by geographically bringing the service within the reach of a common user across the country; and by continuous improvements in customer care.”

The PTA terms Broadband as “a significant economic stimulus for any country”, and PTCL DSL is spearheading its exponential growth in Pakistan with a footprint in over 1,100 cities and towns. PTCL is the world’s first operator to introduce “UltraNet” using VDSL2 bonding technology with speeds up to 50mbps on a copper network; and it has deployed the Fiber to the Home (FTTH) technology.

Last year, PTCL again became the world’s first operator to commercially launch 3G EVDO Rev B service. In the form of EVO NITRO, it gives consumers the market’s maximum speed of 9.3MBPs. PTCL has Pakistan’s largest and fastest growing 3G EVDO wireless broadband network, with connectivity and roaming in nearly 200 cities.

“PTCL is one of the most progressive data connectivity providers of the world and Broadband is now a driver for Pakistan’s national GDP,” said Mr. Saeed. “We have a responsibility to develop Pakistan’s technology and data network for establishing the echo system conducive for our country’s economic growth and social uplift, and PTCL is fully primed to facilitate that.”

The first to bring to Pakistan EVO dongles with Internet connectivity, PTCL has followed by launching its innovative 3G EVO Wi-Fi Cloud to connect multiple Wi-Fi devices simultaneously and the first ever PTCL 3G Android EVO Tab with built-in wireless broadband offering Internet connectivity on the go.

This month, PTCL launched Pakistan’s first 3G enabled Android Smartphone, IVIO Icon Pro that offers dual support for both EVDO and GSM/CDMA network.

Via: PTCL Media Center

© Pakistan Live News