Warid announces its Tijarat portal/service which allows people of the same interest to sell/buy online different products or services like property, cars, bikes, mobile phones, join book clubs or even buy tickets for concerts or live events. Warid Tijarat allows warid users to buy/sell at the ease of the palm of there hands using services SMS, Web or WAP at http://waridtijarat.waridtel.com/.

Subscription package and charges details:

Registering is fairly simple, users can subscribe to package of their choice by sending “SUB” in an SMS.

To register to Basic Package SMS “SUB” to 8225, for Premium Package SMS “SUB” to 8226, for Business Package SMS “SUB” to 8227.

Once you have subscribed, you can set your location by sending “C<space>CITYNAME” to 8229 e.g., “C LAHORE”.

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

Warid Telecom recently participated with the theme of “Transforming Futures” at the LUMS Mega Career Fair recently held on Saturday, January 28, 2012.  Warid Telecom’s Recruiting & Staffing team advised the students about application process, requirements, eligibility criteria and job scope in the Telecom Industry. A good and positive response was seen by the LUMS graduates and final year students who were seeking career opportunities with Warid Telecom.

Some of the event pictures are given below:

via Press Release

Warid introduces an exciting new service, Warid Tijarat, which provides its customers with an easy to use Trading interface.

This Tijarat service is similar to Zong’s Zmart Mobile Marketplace and both are powered by MMatcher.

Now subscribers can engage in the buying and selling of goods and services simply through their Mobile Phones.

Warid Tijarat helps to bridge the gap between people with similar interests by allowing you to trade your goods and services with someone in the same city.

You can sell property, cars, and houses, buy mobile phones and other electronics, promote your own services and businesses, find jobs and join book clubs and even buy tickets for local events and concerts!

Anything and everything under the sky that might interest you can be accessed through a single SMS.
Register and begin posting what you want to sell or buy and Warid Tijarat will do the rest!

The Service is available on SMS, Web and Wap platforms.

• To access Web or Wap Platform go to http://waridtijarat.waridtel.com
• Terms of Use are available at http://waridtijarat.waridtel.com

Subscription Package and Charges Details:

* Basic Package – The Basic Package is a weekly subscription based package with charges of Rs. 10+tax. Users will be allowed to sell up to 3 goods and services at one time, while they can buy unlimited goods and services, depending on their choice.

** Premium Package – The Premium Package is a monthly subscription based package with charges of Rs. 20+tax. Users will be allowed to sell up to 10 goods and services at one time, while they can buy unlimited goods and services, depending on their choice.

*** Business Package – The Business Package is a monthly subscription based package with charges of Rs. 60+tax. To cater to Businesses and Retailers especially, users will be allowed to buy and sell UNLIMITED amounts of goods and services, depending on their choice.

Standard GPRS charges apply for Wap Platform.

How To ?

Simply register to your package of choice by sending “SUB” in an SMS:

Example:

Registering to Basic Package:

• SMS “SUB” to 8225

Registering to Premium Package:

• SMS “SUB” to 8226

Registering to Business Package:

• SMS “SUB” to 8227

Once you have subscribed, you can set your location by sending “CCITY NAME” to 8229 e.g., “C ISLAMABAD”


Now you can start posting your interests by sending “SELLINTEREST” or “BUYINTEREST” to 8229, e.g., “SELL Mobile Phone” or “BUY Honda Car”

Your job is done! Warid Tijarat will help you find people with similar interests and assist in trading your goods and services.


The live Tijarat powered by MMatcher can be accessed at http://waridtijarat.waridtel.com

With Warid Tijarat, Warid Telecom moves into the arena of Mobile Commerce which has internationally reached to the level where mobile phones have become wallets whereby customers can store money, cards and tickets and even pay bills by simply waving their mobile phones at cash counters!

Warid Tijarat provides an interface for users to bridge the gap between people with similar interests, otherwise unable to engage in trade. This real time trading service allows users in the same locality who otherwise would not have know their similarity of interests, to trade their goods and services, simply by posting their interests via SMS.

By making use of Warid Tijarat, members of the same locality can sell property, cars, and houses, buy mobile phones and other electronics, promote their own services and businesses, find jobs and join book clubs and even buy tickets for local events and concerts! Anything and everything that might interest them can be accessed through a click of their mobile phones.

© Pakistan Live News

We had covered on the subject early this month when the Telenor and Mobilink franchise attacked in December last year. As Januray draws to close we have more. In a recent attack Warid sales officer was shot dead and just today we have another attack on Telenor franchise taking life of women and a security guard.

This brings the death toll in Karachi telecom franchise attacks to 5 in last two months and 4 in particular to Telenor franchise.

More on the matter from Express Tribune excerpts:

A security guard and a woman was killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire at Telenor’s franchise in the Nazimabad area of Karachi on Tuesday, reported Express News.

Three other people sustained injuries in the incident and have been shifted to a hospital.

The police reached the franchise to investigate into the incident. SP North Nazimabad Chaudhry Asad said that four men came to the franchise on two motorcycles and opened fire at it.

The police said that it was planned attack.

The attacks on mobile franchises have been on the rise in the city.

Yet again, who are the attackers and what is their real motive behind these attacks still remains unclear. If is it about target killing, why suddenly did telecom franchises become the target?

via Express Tribune

Warid Telecom’s Head of Sales Mr. Amer Aman Khan giving away prizes to the winning retailers in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. Aimed at strengthening business relations, the company organized grand reward ceremonies in 14 different cities in which retailers won Car, Motor Bikes, TV’s and other exciting prizes worth Millions of rupees.

via Press Release

Warid Telecom recently launched “Warid Ezee Connection”. With this facility new customers can get Warid prepaid number of their choice from any designated retail outlet across Pakistan.

The process is already in place at Business Centers and Franchises, Warid now has empowered Retailers to further enhance their customer experience.

Mechanism:

1. Subscriber walks in to a Retailer shop & requests for a new Warid number.
2. Retailer dials *231# from EVC SIM and receives 5 new mobile numbers.
3. If the customer does not like any of the numbers, the Retailer will dial *231# again from EVC SIM to receive next 5 mobile numbers.
4. Once the customer likes one of the numbers from the available list then:
5. Retailer will dial 135 helpline for Number Mapping.
6. Retailer will provide the selected mobile number and ICCID (Written on the SIM) to the 135 agent for Number Mapping.
7. When the number is successfully mapped by the 135 agent, the customer will need to call 789 after one hour to activate the number.

Charges:
Regular Warid Prepaid SIM charges apply to Warid EZEE Connection SIM cards.

The first Put Your Sim Back offer of the year 2012 comes from Warid. All those Warid customers who have not used their Warid SIM since 1^st October, 2011, can start using it now to receive a bonus on every recharge for the next three months.

The bonus amount ranges from 5% for a reload of less than Rs. 100, upto 25% for a reload of Rs. 1,000 or more.

This bonus will not only be eligible for free calls to all local networks but also free SMS to all local networks.

Customers can also enjoy amazing call rates as low as Rs. 2.99/hour for all calls to FnF for the duration of the campaign.

Warid members can also get a chance to win free return tickets to Malaysia after a lucky draw.

Detailed terms and conditions can be followed here.

As the elections are expected to happen sometime soon we have seen the political parties making most use of technology, the recent being robocalls for inviting participation to the PTI Karachi gathering. Stepping ahead, National Database & Registration Authority, NADRA has developed an SMS based service application to facilitate citizens.

The application will allow CNIC holders to verify their vote registration and particulars in the voters’ list.

Cellular operators Ufone, Warid and Telenor have offered their platforms in best national interest while other companies are expected to get in to the loop.

NADRA and ECP signed agreements with telecom companies to forge a partnership in order to launch this service. “I congratulate UFone, WARID and Telenor who stood up and offer their platforms for this national interest, and expect the companies who are sitting on fence to step up to the challenge and contribute on national cause” said Tariq Malik. He added that this service would be initiated soon after the publication of Preliminary (ghair hatmi) electoral rolls (PER) for public display. The sender will send his CNIC number to a short code and will subsequently receive a message in Urdu. It will confirm registration of voter as well as location (electoral area) where voter is registered along with serial number of voter in electoral rolls.

This service will help the general public to check the status of their vote conveniently from anywhere, anytime across Pakistan. He said after the introduction of the new service, it would be the responsibility of every eligible voter to make sure that his/her vote had been registered and furthermore to report any discrepancy to ECP. The intent of using this service is to assist ECP to execute its constitutional duty as per electoral laws. “We want to use technology, to provide outreach” Malik added. ECP is considering more than 50,000 display centers countrywide where PER will be physically displayed but introduction of SMS service is expected to spike genuine public interest in electoral process.

While lauding the innovative service and NADRA role’s Mr. Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan, Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan said it is a milestone to facilitate the voters. He said it is a great convenience to the citizens to be able to check their vote status through e-governance using state-of-the-art technologies, first time in the world. He appreciated the cooperation offered by the Ufone and Telenor in this historic move leading towards ensuring free and fair elections. Deputy Chairman NADRA, Secretary ECP and Chiefs of Ufone, WARID and Telenor later signed the agreement.

Details on the procedure and short code for the service will be announced as soon as the electoral rolls are ready which is expected sometime next month.

via Press Release