PTCL Starts Offering 50 Mbps Internet to Beta Testers: ProPakistani

PTCL Starts Offering 50 Mbps Internet to Beta Testers
RIM Enters the Arena With PlayBook
GovernorPunjab.gov.pk Needs to be Updated
Internet Freedom: Pakistan Stands in the List of ‘Partly Free’
Nokia and Microsoft Sign Definitive Agreement
IT Companies Can Help Celcos for Speedy Re-verification of SIMs

PTCL Starts Offering 50 Mbps Internet to Beta Testers

Posted: 22 Apr 2011 06:23 AM PDT

PTCL Starts Offering 50 Mbps Internet to Beta Testers is a post from: ProPakistani

bb50mb pb 300x73 PTCL Starts Offering 50 Mbps Internet to Beta Testers Soon after PTCL’s press release regarding 50MB broadband connections for home users, people started tagging this thing as something from the far far future.

But the news is that PTCL has once again banged the industry by launching 50MB broadband connection for beta testers, with the name “UltraNet”.

For now, network deployment is under way, and during this company is offering test account (as part of network testing) to limited home and business users in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.

Moreover PTCL is conducting, kind of, survey on what people really think about this new launch and is collecting their feedback before the official launch of this plan.

During a joint press conference of PTCL and Alcatel-Lucent, held today, PTCL said that home users will be offered 50 Mbps for Rs. 10,000 per month, while corporate users will be charged Rs. 20,000 per month. PTCL announced that service will be commercially launched with-in 3 months from now.

PTCL says that this high speed network in Pakistan will be first commercial use of VDSL2 technology in the telecom industry globally.

PTCL said that it will be using VDSL2 Bonding technology to provide existing digital subscriber line (DSL) customers with speeds up to 50 Mbps. The project leverages Alcatel-Lucent's VDSL2 Bonding expertise and will be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2011.

During the conference, while commenting on this achievement Walid Irshaid – President and CEO PTCL stated

"PTCL is the first service provider worldwide to deploy a commercial VDSL2 Bonding solution that aims at doubling the bandwidths provided to its existing customers.

We are thus setting the trend in international telecoms, and are taking the broadband experience in Pakistan to the next level. Alcatel-Lucent's VDSL2 Bonding technology and comprehensive services and network integration expertise is helping us to keep pace with the increasing bandwidth requirements of our customers, while capitalizing on the existing copper infrastructure. This will enable us to quickly deliver high-quality, high-speed and high-availability business and residential services – even in areas where it was not possible before."

Alcatel-Lucent is providing PTCL with its Intelligent Services Access Manager (ISAM) IP access platform – which is the first platform to commercially support VDSL2 Bonding. Alcatel-Lucent will also supply Bonding-ready customer premises equipment (CPE). Alcatel-Lucent serves as the project's master network integrator, and is providing a range of professional services – including project management, installation and commissioning, integration and technical support.

"We understand that service providers need the right tools to bridge the gap until fiber deployments have become ubiquitous. VDSL2 Bonding is an ideal approach: service providers like PTCL can almost double the speeds supported by their DSL infrastructure or expand their network's reach. This makes it a fast and cost-effective approach to bridging the digital divide," said Aadil Rauf CEO Alcatel-Lucent. Pakistan Ltd,. "This commercial VDSL2 Bonding project with PTCL marks the beginning of VDSL2 Bonding deployments outside of the US – where the technology is typically used to expand the reach of the copper network."

Alcatel-Lucent is the driving force behind the world’s most advanced VDSL2 roll-outs, with customers such as Belgacom, STC, Swisscom and Telekom Austria. Our VDSL2 solution has also been deployed by competitive operators, including M-net (Germany) and South Yorkshire Digital Region (UK).

RIM Enters the Arena With PlayBook

Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:10 PM PDT

RIM Enters the Arena With PlayBook is a post from: ProPakistani

After its announcement and preview last year, Research In Motion (RIM) made delays to the launch of its tablet device, the PlayBook. The BlackBerry makers have put their belief of challenging Apple's iPad dominance in a 7-inch sleek machine that runs on a completely different OS to its other counterparts.

The PlayBook could be considered as the most anticipated launch of the year, or at least the first half of the year. While there was little expectation of any long queues forming outside selling points when the registers start clinging on April 19^th in North America, RIM is hoping that the device will prove a strong attraction to salvage some pride.

Initial reviews of the device were less than flattering, with many arguing that the company was releasing an unfinished product just to ensure shareholders could be convinced of the fight still remaining within the once smartphone king. The bone of contention has been the lack of an email client within the device; all PlayBook owners would need to bridge their device with a BlackBerry handset in order to gain access to their emails. While the bridging functionality is a useful tool, it does dampen the all-in-one feeling that an owner would like to exude.

RIM has committed to an update in the summer that would bring more functionality to the PlayBook, but the present pitch is around the fast processor and true multi-tasking capabilities of the device. With a user base of 60 million worldwide, RIM is hoping to lure its current users away from Android and Apple tablets by keeping its Berry handsets as a vital tool to the full experience of the PlayBook. The continued slogan of secure communication has enticed several corporate customers to pre-order devices; however, exact numbers have not been revealed.

Early reports of sales on launch day for the PlayBook suggest about 50,000 devices flying off the shelves. While this pales in comparison to the 300,000 iPads that Apple off-loaded on its launch day, the number still holds strong against Android devices like the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Analysts are still skeptical of RIM taking any big chunk out of the iPad-dominated tablet market; it is likely that Berry fans would be the main focus of sales for the initial period. On the local front, Mobilink has taken the pre-order route to become the first region outside of North America to offer the device to its subscribers. With Berry services still on the blink in Pakistan and no SIM insertion for GPRS, it is unlikely to draw a huge response in its early days, except from the die-hard, cash-infused clientele.

Click here to view the embedded video.

GovernorPunjab.gov.pk Needs to be Updated

Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:08 PM PDT

GovernorPunjab.gov.pk Needs to be Updated is a post from: ProPakistani

Having and maintaining official websites in Pakistan Government is considered to be a thorny task from the past experiences, came on the scene. And keeping them updated is a something what-should-not-be-discussed since the official personnel may have other "important" tasks to do.

It's been three and a half months now since the last governor Mr. Salman Taseer got assassinated in Islamabad.

The official website for the governor of Punjab is www.GovernorPunjab.gov.pk, which still shows Salman Taseer as governor of Punjab, really need to be updated. Interesting fact is that the website has been redirected to Salman Taseer's personal website www.SalmaanTaseer.com

So if you are in a mood to visit the official website of Governor Punjab, you will simply land on the personal website of late Salman Taseer.

Though you can visit the website manually http://www.governorpunjab.gov.pk/index.html but still, Slaman Taseer is there.

I wonder whether Mr. Latif Khosa (present governor of Punjab) is unaware of this situation or he is just ignorant enough to pay heed to the issue. Whatsoever, there must be some dedicated department/group under the federal government to tackle such issues as three and a half months are more than enough.

Federal government had started something named as e-government campaign back in the past, which started off, launching official websites for government body. But when it comes to updating? Huh! What's that?

Internet Freedom: Pakistan Stands in the List of ‘Partly Free’

Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:04 PM PDT

Internet Freedom: Pakistan Stands in the List of ‘Partly Free’ is a post from: ProPakistani

Freedomhouse has published it’s annual report consisting of the level of the freedom different countries have on the internet. For those who are unaware, freedom house is a non-governmental organization that published reports showing the level of democratic freedom in different countries.

Freedom House is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights. It publishes an annual report assessing the degree of perceived democratic freedoms in each country, which is used in political science research. (Wikipedia)

A study done under the name of “Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media” was carried out in 37 countries of the world, including Pakistan and showed the stats regarding the level of freedom each country has over the internet.

Pakistan stands in the category of Partly Free out of the following three categories.

Total Free
Not Free
Partly Free

Pakistan stood eligible for this title because of the bans government implemented on different portals consisting of the video-sharing website YouTube, the photo-sharing application Flickr, twitter and the social-networking tool Facebook alongwith partial ban on different sites and other links as well.

As per report, the first incident of blocking occurred at the end of February 2006 when the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) issued instructions to all internet-service providers (ISPs) in Pakistan to block any website displaying the controversial cartoon images of the prophet Muhammad that had been published in a Danish newspaper. The block particularly focused on Google and Blogspot ban ban. The ban continued for approximately two months.

More recently, upon orders from the Lahore High Court, the PTA, using the pretext of limiting the circulation of blasphemous content, instituted an extensive blockage of internet content from May 19 to 31, 2010.

The heightened restrictions were in response to the creation of a "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" contest on Facebook and a legal appeal initiated by a relatively unknown organization called the Islamic Lawyers Movement. The ban resulted in the blocking of 10,548 websites and critical information sources like YouTube, Flickr, the user generated online encyclopedia Wikipedia, and more.

Mobile-phone providers also halted Blackberry services, at first completely, but then only web-browsing functions.

FreedomHouse report on Pakistan states that in Pakistan, with a population of 184.4 million, the internet penetration is only 11 %. Which has faced blockage on web 2.0 applications as well as substantial political censorship. Whereas no bloggers/online users have been arrested ever in this regard.

In the worldwide report, Estonia tops the list with maximum internet freedom followed by United States.

Iran stands first in observing maximum blockage/censorship in the country where government had taken strong steps to implement the restrictions.

Amongst the list of 37 countries examined for internet freedom, only 8 countries got the title of Totally Free whereas 11 stood in the list of Not Free, while the remaining ones including Pakistan(with 55 points) are Partly Free.

Complete score table can be downloaded here.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Nokia and Microsoft Sign Definitive Agreement

Posted: 21 Apr 2011 10:02 PM PDT

Nokia and Microsoft Sign Definitive Agreement is a post from: ProPakistani

Nokia and Microsoft today announced the signing of a definitive agreement on a partnership that will result in a new global mobile ecosystem, utilizing the very complementary assets of both companies. Completed ahead of schedule, the definitive agreement is consistent with the joint announcement made on February 11.

In addition to agreeing to the terms of their partnership, including joint contributions to the development of the new ecosystem, Nokia and Microsoft also announced significant progress on the development of the first Nokia products incorporating Windows Phone. With hundreds of personnel already engaged on joint engineering efforts, the companies are collaborating on a portfolio of new Nokia devices. Nokia has also started porting key applications and services to operate on Windows Phone and joint outreach has begun to third party application developers.

Stephen Elop, President and CEO of Nokia Corporation said:

At the highest level, we have entered into a win-win partnership . It is the complementary nature of our assets, and the overall competitiveness of that combined offering, that is the foundation of our relationship.

Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, said:

Our agreement is good for the industry. Together, Nokia and Microsoft will innovate with greater speed, and provide enhanced opportunities for consumers and our partners to share in the success of our ecosystem.

The relationship is structured around four broad areas:

One:

A combination of complementary assets, which make the partnership truly unique, including:

Nokia to deliver mapping, navigation, and certain location-based services to the Windows Phone ecosystem. Nokia will build innovation on top of the Windows Phone platform in areas such as imaging, while contributing expertise on hardware design and language support, and helping to drive the development of the Windows Phone platform. Microsoft will provide Bing search services across the Nokia device portfolio as well as contributing strength in productivity, advertising, gaming, social media and a variety of other services. The combination of navigation with advertising and search will enable better monetization of Nokia's navigation assets and completely new forms of advertising revenue.
Joint developer outreach and application sourcing, to support the creation of new local and global applications, including making Windows Phone developer registration free for all Nokia developers.
Opening a new Nokia-branded global application store that leverages the Windows Marketplace infrastructure. Developers will be able to publish and distribute applications through a single developer portal to hundreds of millions of consumers that use Windows Phone, Symbian and Series 40 devices.
Contribution of Nokia's expertise in operator billing to ensure participants in the Windows Phone ecosystem can take advantage of Nokia's billing agreements with 112 operators in 36 markets.

Two:

Microsoft will receive a running royalty from Nokia for the Windows Phone platform, starting when the first Nokia products incorporating Windows Phone ship. The royalty payments are competitive and reflect the large volumes that Nokia expects to ship, as well as a variety of other considerations related to engineering work to which both companies are committed. Microsoft delivering the Windows Phone platform to Nokia will enable Nokia to significantly reduce operating expenses.

Three:

In recognition of the unique nature of Nokia's agreement with Microsoft and the contributions that Nokia is providing, Nokia will receive payments measured in the billions of dollars.

Four:

An agreement that recognizes the value of intellectual property and puts in place mechanisms for exchanging rights to intellectual property. Nokia will receive substantial payments under the agreement.

With the definitive agreement now signed, both companies will begin engaging with operators, developers and other partners to help the industry understand the benefits of joining the new ecosystem. At the same time, work will continue on developing Nokia products on the Windows Phone platform, with the aim of securing volume device shipments in 2012.

The scale of the mutual commitment from both companies is significant and is in keeping with the intention to build a new ecosystem based on a long-term, strategic partnership.

IT Companies Can Help Celcos for Speedy Re-verification of SIMs

Posted: 21 Apr 2011 09:58 PM PDT

IT Companies Can Help Celcos for Speedy Re-verification of SIMs is a post from: ProPakistani

The IT solutions service providers could design a secure and rapid verification and blocking system of SIM and handsets provided that the integrated working environment will be ensured along with government support.

Hassan Jamal, Country Manager SAP Pakistan stated this while talking to ProPakistani.

The IT solutions and application provider such as SAP is highly advance to aid the government and cellular industry for speedy and transparent re-verification of SIM and blocking of handsets without IMEI numbers.

"It will be a challenging task for any resource provider to design a sophisticated and advanced IT applications in order to re-verify gigantic subscribers' base of more than 100 million," he said.

There should be integrated system in which cellular operators, manufacturers, dealers, franchisees and retailers are connected with database department, National Database Registration Authority (Nadra), Jamal added.

The data is very complicated and sensitive issue, which must be tackled sophisticatedly Therefore it needs a realistic time frame for accomplishing a fool proof task, he replied on the query if software providers can re-verifiying SIMs data in 30 days.

The data is very complicated and sensitive issue, which must be tackled sophisticatedly, he commented.
SAP Pakistan is well-equipped with its consultants who can design phase wise process for SIM verification with complete transparency but stakeholders' level of cooperation should be high in this process.

Hassan Jamal said the SAP's Mobile Apps platform is looking forward to get its share in emerging mobile banking in Pakistan, which will make the system secure and rapid as per international standards. He said the SAP's organization is capable to design different value-added services to the mobile operators as per needs and demands of the customers.

SAP Unveils Future of Analytics

SAP Pakistan has launched its new software on Business Intelligence and Enterprise Information Management (EIM) here on Thursday in Karachi.

The software provides a database of different companies to foreign investors, businessman and entrepreneurs to take timely and right decision through the assessment of provided information.

The software provides intelligence of different companies in 25 different sectors of the country including oil and gas, automotive, pharmaceutical, telecommunication, engineering, banking, distribution and others.

The latest BI and EIM solutions of SAP are designed to help tackle big data, integrating structured and unstructured data and even information from social networks.

The software is mutual product of SAP and Business Objects.

SAP Pakistan has been working in Pakistan for last 10 years. It has 500 consultants and 150 clients base in the country.