Mobilink Launches Blackberry Playbook in Pakistan!: ProPakistani

Mobilink Launches Blackberry Playbook in Pakistan!
Imran Calls for Electronic Voting Machines for Polling
Allegations Against USF are Baseless: Senate Body
Pakistan to Celebrate World Telecom Day on May 17

Mobilink Launches Blackberry Playbook in Pakistan!

Posted: 19 Apr 2011 11:47 PM PDT

Mobilink Launches Blackberry Playbook in Pakistan! is a post from: ProPakistani

Mobilink Blackberry Playbook Mobilink Launches Blackberry Playbook in Pakistan!

Mobilink has announced that it will be exclusively launching RIM's iPad rival tablet Blackberry Playbook in Pakistan.

We are yet to ascertain the availability of Blackberry Playbook on Mobilink stores, for now we know that Mobilink is accepting pre-orders at its sale and service centers or contact your account manager in case you are club Indigo Member.

Price:

Mobilink retail price of Blackberry Playbook is PKR 62,000/- inclusive of all taxes.

Pre-Order & Delivery:

Currently Mobilink is accepting pre-order requests through Business Centers (Customer Care Centers, excluding franchises). Corporate customers can contact their account managers for pre-booking

Mobilink said that delivery of Blackberry Playbook will be made in 10 days after order confirmation.

Specs:

Size and Weight

Height: 5.1" / 130 mm
Width: 7.6" / 194 mm
Depth: 0.4"/ 10 mm
Weight: 0.9 lbs / 425 g

Display

7" LCD HD 1024×600 pixel color display
Multi Touch Capacitive

Camera & Video Recording

3 MP high definition forward facing camera
5 MP high definition rear facing camera
Video recording

Voice Input & Output

3.5mm stereo headset jack
Built-in speakers

Media Player

Video formats: 1080P HD Video; H.264, MPEG4, WMV
Video Output: HDMI video output Micro USB and Micro HDMI ports

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth & GPS

802.11 b / g
Bluetooth® v2.1

Web without limits

Games, media, apps and everything that real internet offers
Full Adobe ® Flash ® 10.1 enabled
Built-in support for HTML 5
Un-parallel rendering of text, graphics and video

Memory

1 GB RAM
6 GB onboard memory (32 GB & 64 GB)

Imran Calls for Electronic Voting Machines for Polling

Posted: 19 Apr 2011 09:52 PM PDT

Imran Calls for Electronic Voting Machines for Polling is a post from: ProPakistani

SMS based electoral system, a self explanatory idea was first proposed at ProPakistani, where Jabran rafique, in detail, explained this revolutionary idea on how can we make this into practice.

To review in a nut shell, the idea was to develop a voting system for elections that will work via SMS service, where the CNIC number of the voter will be used to get his/her identity via NADRA.

Working on the similar grounds, Imran Khan, Chairman PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf) has filed a constitutional petition in Supreme Court, whereby he proposed Election Commission to introduce electronic voting machines. One may opine here that it is different thing as compared with the SMS Based Electoral System but the sole purpose behind the idea is same.

To make the system more efficient, clean and bogus free, voter is to be verified via National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) using the electronic system to make the vote casting process, as cleaner as it can be.

The idea was well explained through the following flow chart, on how a voter can be identified as well as verified from NADRA so that once he has casted the vote, he is not able to vote again and only exact and accurate number of votes may be counted for the results.

The petition is filed under the Article 184(3) through advocate Hamid Khan, where he prayed to direct the election commission of Pakistan to introduce eltronic rolls, which will help in making the system white as well as efficient.

He prayed that the new electoral rolls should be introduced in a manner that should include the name of voter in such electoral area wherein his address mentioned on the CNIC exists.

Imran Khan further stressed on the importance of this system by arguing that photographs of the voters should also be included in electoral rolls in the future elections as well as praying that the election commission should take into account the following points:

Bogus electoral rolls would destroy the basic right of vote given by the constitution and the laws to the citizens
Nadra had reported the authenticity of 37.18 million voters, but it could not verify them when the Election Commission sent electoral list to it for verification
It is thus self evident that there are 37.18 million bogus votes registered by the Election Commission in the electoral rolls
This would constitute 45.67 percent of the total voters entered on the electoral roll
These new machines will not only rule out the possibility of dual voting by a voter but will also result in accurate number of vote counts
Violation of sanctity of the ballot boxes may also be eradicated
India and Bangladesh have already adopted this technology in their election systems

On a personal note, this system, in doubt, has many fruitful outcomes as well as the eradication of different kinds of frauds and mishaps but one point that may lead the idea to the “files” is that in an under developing country where load-shedding is a big problem, these machines may face electricity issues in some areas, though can be overcome using the generators and other resources but huge capital is required to implement the system.

Whereas the idea, earlier given, SMS Based Electoral System is much easier to implement and is more hassle free.

Allegations Against USF are Baseless: Senate Body

Posted: 19 Apr 2011 09:51 PM PDT

Allegations Against USF are Baseless: Senate Body is a post from: ProPakistani

"All allegations against Universal Service Fund are baseless, procedures for issuance of tenders are smooth and flawless and organization is not supporting or favoring any telecom company or vendor during the allotment of development projects and hence there is no need for further investigations in this regard".

This was stated in a conclusion note of sub-committee of senate's standing committee for Telecom and IT in its recent meeting, which was convened by Senator Moula Baksh Chandio and attended by Senator Pervez Rashid and Senator Mir Mohabbat Khan.

Committee was called upon to conclude the hearing on those allegations which were put forward during Mr. Latif Khosa's minister-ship.

According to the meeting minutes, made available to ProPakistani, Senator Pervaiz Rashid said:

After having perused the record provided by USF, all concerned authorities and companies, no apparent irregularity has surfaced. Therefore, sub-committee may allow continuation of tendering process to USF.

Secretary, Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunication supported the view point of Senator Pervez Rashid. He said that USF's specifications do not favor any specific vendor/manufacturer. He maintained that ministry of information and technology has never received any complaint from any party against USF.

Senator Moula Baksh, at the end, concluded the committee at a note that USF can continue its tendering process.

Pakistan to Celebrate World Telecom Day on May 17

Posted: 19 Apr 2011 09:50 PM PDT

Pakistan to Celebrate World Telecom Day on May 17 is a post from: ProPakistani

In line with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Strategic Orientation the 'World Telecommunication and Information Society Day' will be celebrated on 17th May, 2011.

A preparatory meeting chaired by the secretary IT & Telecom was held in the Ministry to deliberate on the various aspects to make this event a success.

This year World Telecom Day's theme is, "Better Life in Rural Communities with Information and Communication Technology (ICTs)" with the aim to ensure that ICTs will contribute to a better future for rural populations.

The theme is approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The activities of this year World Telecom day will revolve around this theme.

While talking to the participants of the meeting, Saeed Ahmad Khan, Secretary IT & Telecom, said that all Telecom Operators should focus on mainstreaming the rural communities with rest of the country. He said that such events are organized to create awareness among the people about the upcoming modern technology and how they can benefit from these innovations to improve their living standards and emphasized that the role of the companies providing Telecommunication facilities to the people is vital in such campaigns.

He told the participants that presents government is doing at lot to boost this vibrant sector and ever increasing connectivity in the far flung and rural areas of the country is an evident proof. He also ensured the Telecom Operator that the problems and issues faced by the industry are being addressed at the appropriate levels but the quality of service for the consumer is government's prime focus.

"Ministry of IT & Telecom and all its attached departments are striving in collaboration with the telecom operators to provide Information and Communication Technology (ICTs) to the people of Pakistan", he added.

Chairman PTA Dr. Muhammad Yasin, senior officers of the Ministry and representatives from all telecom operators including Mobilink, Ufone, Telenor, Zong and PTCL were present in the meeting.