No Blackberry Services for Foreign Missions: PTA Says Service Continues: ProPakistani

No Blackberry Services for Foreign Missions: PTA Says Service Continues
Ufone Introduces Micro SIMs
Ufone Celebrates its 10th Anniversary
Do Not Use My Name In Text Messages: Zubaida Tariq
Telenor Decides to Give VimpelCom a Legal Fight
NRSP Microfinance Bank to get Connectivity and Surveillance Services from PTCL
File Hosting Services – Simplify File Sharing Without Paid Accounts
Knowledge for Development – Where does Pakistan Stand?
Khushhali bank Deploys Oracle Human Capital Management

No Blackberry Services for Foreign Missions: PTA Says Service Continues

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 03:19 AM PST

No Blackberry Services for Foreign Missions: PTA Says Service Continues is a post from: ProPakistani

PTA has instructed cellular operators to stop BlackBerry services to foreign missions in the country amid concern about the security of the communications, reported Reuters and independently verified by ProPakistani through industry sources.

Industry sources confirmed ProPakistani that cellular companies received letters from PTA in January 2011 for the suspension of Blackberry services to foreign missions.

A source in one of cellular company, requesting anonymity, told ProPakistani that PTA had sent a similar directive some 10 months ago to all cellular companies. This recent letter (in fact 2 letters are sent in January 2010) are to make sure that no cellular company is providing the services to foreign missions.

A highly placed source at PTA communicated ProPakistani that no cellular company can provide Blackberry services to foreign missions and in-bound roamers in first place, so any instruction for suspension of service is supposedly the re-enforcement practice.

Source confirmed that a clause for this is in place when cellular company obtain the clearance certificate before providing blackberry services in the country.

Industry sources revealed that despite the year ago directive, cellular companies were providing blackberry services to foreign embassies and high commission staff.

PTA spokesperson was not available for the comment.

Update:

We just received following response from PTA

In response to a story carried in a section of media, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has clarified that PTA has not issued any directions to mobile service providers to discontinue Blackberry Services to any users.

Operators have been advised to continue providing Blackberry Services to the users .

In an update, Reuters opines that decision has been reversed by the Government of Pakistan.

Earlier on Monday, Pakistan called on mobile phone operators to stop BlackBerry services to foreign missions amid concern about the security of the communications, industry sources said. But the instruction was later reversed.

“Now they have again asked the operators to continue providing BlackBerry services to the foreign missions,” an industry source told Reuters, who declined to be identified.

A spokesman at the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Khurram Ali Mehran, confirmed that the services continued. “The blackberry services are on for the foreign missions,” he said.
It was not immediately clear why the Pakistani government retracted the earlier decision to restrict the services.

Earlier Reuter had reported:

Pakistani industry and government officials say that the government had never allowed BlackBerry services to foreign missions and inbound roamers when the services were launched in Pakistan in 2005.

The government also initially banned the more secure BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) services in Pakistan.

BES allows users to send and receive secure email and messages, which is difficult for governments to intercept and read.

However, the instructions have since been flouted by all five Pakistani mobile operators. It was not clear why the government allowed them to do so or why it was acting now to enforce the restrictions.

An industry source said that the government had asked all operators in the country to enforce the restrictions.

"The most critical issue is the provision of BlackBerry services to the foreign embassies, missions and high commissions," said the source.

"Therefore, all the operators have agreed to close all BlackBerry connections provided to them by January 31," he said, adding discussions would be held with the PTA to gain more time on the provision of BES to local customers as well as BlackBerry services to incoming roamers.

If fully enforced, the restrictions would mean no BlackBerry services for many of the multinational companies and aid groups, who use the BES service rather than the Blackberry Internet Service, or BIS, which is much less secure.

Ufone Introduces Micro SIMs

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 03:15 AM PST

Ufone Introduces Micro SIMs is a post from: ProPakistani

Ufone has launched Micro SD SIMs, first time in Pakistan, used for iPhone 4, iPads and products / brands that require micro SIMs.

Details:

The new iPhone 4 and iPads are designed as such that they support only new generation of Micro SIMs, other global brands are also planning to launch products that require these phones.

These new SIMs function as normal standard SIMs and have the same capacity, the only difference is the smaller Chip Size. These new SIM will function on all products requiring micro SIMs.

Price:

SIMs will be charged as per exiting rates inclusive of tax:

New Sales: Rs.150
SIM replacement: Rs.50

Terms & Conditions:

These SIMs are designed for IPhone, IPads and all those product that require micro SIMs
Any customer can purchase these SIMs from any of the service centres.
SIMs are available in limited stock only.

Ufone Celebrates its 10th Anniversary

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 03:10 AM PST

Ufone Celebrates its 10th Anniversary is a post from: ProPakistani

Ufone turns 10 as the company celebrated its 10^th anniversary on 29^th January.

Ufone started out as a service for the masses and it pushed to remove the perception and reality that cellular services were only for the elite in the country. Today cellular services are enjoyed by people from every walk of life which has been made a reality thanks to the promise that Ufone once made to the people of Pakistan and has fulfilled that promise through this journey of 10 years.

Ufone has shown vast growth and endurance throughout the decade, even though with the intense competition; the organization has shown great reverence with its increase in revenue and has always remained profitable.

Over the last few years the world has witnessed one of the worst global recessions during which downsizing was one of the major cost cutting techniques used by organizations, On the other hand Ufone stood out by not following the trend and instead motivated and acknowledged its employees by giving more financial benefits and focused on growth in all business areas with a major focus on corporate social responsibility and has always come out to help the people of Pakistan through testing times.

Mr Abdul Aziz CEO Ufone speaking at this auspicious occasion said:

This is indeed an emotional moment for me as 10 years ago I was part of a very small but highly committed and focused group of individuals who helped start Ufone.

We stand tall today in the market because of our incredible service orientation, and a great team spirit that did not fade out due to time; it only grew stronger. From the day that we launched till now, we as an organization value the essence of our corporate mission and vision of Becoming the Best Cellular Option Available for U!.

Ufone has surely come a long way and today is one of the most aggressive and competitive telecom companies in the country. I would like to thank our family of more than 20 million customers our strategic partners and thousands of Ufone employees around the country for helping make Ufone the driving force that it is today. I would liketo add, for Ufone "Success is a journey, not a destination!"

Do Not Use My Name In Text Messages: Zubaida Tariq

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 02:41 AM PST

Do Not Use My Name In Text Messages: Zubaida Tariq is a post from: ProPakistani

SMS (Short Message Service) is the easiest way of written communication among the users, where it is becoming a tool for disturbance at large as in the case of veteran and renowned cooking expert, Zubaida Tariq.

Zubaida Tariq has expressed her resentment and mental uneasiness over the exchanged of fabricated SMS with indecent contents attributed to her tips and solutions of various problems.

In a private channel's TV program recently, she denied that she had suggested any tips and formulas for foolish and inappropriate activities in the SMSes.

Zubaida Tariq requested people to stop misusing her name in SMSes with inappropriate text.

She said that she does not restrict people to have fun with them but they should respect their elders at least.

The growing trend in the youth particularly and mobile phone user generally for disrespecting and ridiculed elders in the SMSes are not appropriate at any cost.

A VAS expert, while speaking with ProPakistani. commented that content providers, who design and compose text messages for the cellular companies and SMS based websites are primarily responsible for this. However, it is almost impossible to track and convict anyone in this regards.

Besides Ms Tariq, SMS users also make fun of the great poet Ahmed Faraz.

If we can't respect our elders then how can we expect our next generation to respect us in future? The nation becomes prospers only if it pays reverence to their heroes and elders.

Via Telecom Recorder

Telenor Decides to Give VimpelCom a Legal Fight

Posted: 31 Jan 2011 12:11 AM PST

Telenor Decides to Give VimpelCom a Legal Fight is a post from: ProPakistani

VimpelCom announced today that it received a notice of arbitration from Telenor, against proposed 6 billion dollar deal deal with Wind Telecom S.p.A., to enforce its alleged pre-emptive rights under the VimpelCom shareholders agreement because it believes the Transaction is not a Related M&A Transaction.

The VimpelCom Supervisory Board decided at its January 16, 2011 meeting that the Transaction constitutes a Related M&A Transaction and consequently the VimpelCom shareholders agreement does not provide pre-emptive rights to Telenor.

In the notice, Telenor requested that VimpelCom adjourn the special general meeting of VimpelCom shareholders scheduled for March 17, 2011 and postpone the January 31, 2011 record date for the SGM until after the arbitration panel has reached a decision on the claim.

Citing Telenor spokesman Dag Melgaard, Reuters has reported that company has appointed an arbitrator – a private legal method not decided in public courts — and the tribunal will be based in London.

Earlier, VimpelCom board gave approval for the said deal and rest was to be decided in shareholders meeting on March 17th, 2010.

Reuters recently reported that Telenor has apparently failed to get support from shareholders and is short of the votes it needs on March 17 to nullify the deal.

Telenor has 36 percent of Vimpelcom’s voting stock while Altimo owns 44.7 percent. To be certain of rejecting the bid for Wind, Telenor must be backed by 72 percent of the remaining shareholders, who jointly own 19.3 percent of votes.

Aside from the shareholder views, sources familiar with the situation and analysts expect the vote to go in favor of the Russian company and its top shareholder, a company controlled by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman.

A takeover of Wind is backed by Vimpelcom management, the Russian government, and Fridman’s Altimo group.

The deal with Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris would give Vimpelcom control of mobile group Orascom and Wind Italy and make it one of world’s largest mobile operators. Sawiris would get 30.6 percent Vimpelcom stake in return.

Telenor has vowed to fight the transaction – which it says is too risky and will reduce its influence over the company – putting it at loggerheads with Mikhael Fridman’s Alfa group.

Telenor and Alfa’s telecoms unit Altimo are no strangers to conflict, having fought a series of legal disputes over Vimpelcom’s strategy before a truce was called in 2009.

VimpelCom said that its management and Supervisory Board continue to believe strongly in the strategic rationale for the Transaction which will create a new global telecom player with significant scale and an attractive mix of developed and emerging market assets, well-positioned to realize profitable growth.

If deal goes through, Telenor will be in danger to fall below a 25-percent ownership threshold in VimpelCom. That would dissolve a shareholders agreement with Altimo which gives Telenor three seats on the board and other rights.

NRSP Microfinance Bank to get Connectivity and Surveillance Services from PTCL

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 11:26 PM PST

NRSP Microfinance Bank to get Connectivity and Surveillance Services from PTCL is a post from: ProPakistani

An agreement has been signed between Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and NRSP Microfinance Bank Limited for the provisioning of ICT services, said a statement issued by PTCL.

NRSP Microfinance Bank will utilize PTCL's IP-Connect for their primary network and satellite based DVBS-2 for primary backup. In addition, PTCL's i-Sentry product line will be used to provide surveillance at NRSP branches said the statement.

IP-Connect a layer III MPLS network will be deployed nationwide connecting the NRSP Branches with fiber based aggregation at the NRSP Head Office. PTCL is the largest national services provider with most number of physical and geographical PoPs across the nation. With PTCL's MPLS network, NRSP can maintain its online communication within all the branches and beyond round the clock at a very economical pricing.

Satellite based, DVBS-2 connectivity network for all NRSP bank branches scattered in different parts of the country will form the backup network. With the combination of MPLS and DVBS-2, PTCL will ensure 99.9% uptime for branch connectivity of the bank. DVBS-2 system is the latest technology in satellite based communications that is both reliable and cost effective.

With I-Sentry services, PTCL will provide round the clock surveillance services for the branch network of the bank based on its state-of-art backend IP network meeting the current security requirements.

The agreement signing ceremony was held at the NRSP Bank Head office Bahawalpur. President NRSP Bank Mr. Zahoor Hasan Khan and Mr Zaman Gulzar EVP Corporate Services PTCL signed the agreement on behalf of their organizations. Mr Zaman Gulzar highlighted the initiatives PTCL is taking for meeting the IT requirements of the Corporate and Enterprise customers in the country. He reiterated that PTCL management is committed in introducing state-of-the-art technologies to facilitate customers.

SEVP commercial PTCL Mr. Naveed Saeed, has stated about the agreement that PTCL being the leader in telecommunication sector and a prime provider of telecom voice and broadband multimedia services in Pakistan will provide the optimum and quality ICT services and will bring new information highways and futuristic product basket for NRSP. PTCL also certifies to extend the basic telecom and data services for NRSP in a dynamic way with the best technologies available.

The ceremony was attended by the Regional General Manager PTCL Multan Rao Aftab Ahmad, Regional Manager NRSP Colonel (Retd) Mir Yusuf, and other officials including Shaikh Ameen, Nadeem Abbasi and Kashif Naseer.

File Hosting Services – Simplify File Sharing Without Paid Accounts

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 09:00 PM PST

File Hosting Services – Simplify File Sharing Without Paid Accounts is a post from: ProPakistani

Penetration of Broadband internet is increasing with time and sharing of large-sized files isn't much of a task now-a-days.

E-mail services can be exploited for sending files up to 20 MBs but for sharing of large files, such as one of 500 MBs, web file hosting services can be better options.

Besides file sharing, these services can also be helpful if someone want to backup/upload important data to a remote server as data will be easily accessible on the go.

A famous example of file hosting service is RapidShare; however, it keeps the reins tight on free users – leaving them with no other choice than to buy a premium account. The purpose of this article is to provide a brief overview of some of the file hosting services which are arguably the best in business and paid subscription is not necessary for frequent use.

MediaFire:

It offers unlimited storage space, direct access to uploaded files (no countdown & CAPTCHA) and resuming of interrupted downloads. There's no traffic limit for parallel file downloading from this site. I've tested this service with 30+ concurrent connections without any issue.

However, if you don't access your account for 2 months then it'll be expired with possible deletion of all the uploaded files. Similarly, if any of your uploaded files isn't downloaded for a month it'll be deleted. For free users, per file size limit is 200MBs but file splitting is allowed i.e. multiple parts of a single file can be uploaded separately.

iFile:

iFile a.k.a mihd.net also provides unlimited storage with no traffic/bandwidth limitation. Interestingly, all accounts are free and no paid subscription is supported at this site, at least for the time being. Files of size up to 300MBs can be uploaded in one go while file splitting is allowed here as well. Guest file uploading is also supported and per file size limit is same as for free users i.e. 300MBs per file.

A download ticket is generated (valid for 24 hours) for each requested download; meaning that downloads can be resumed in that interval. Interrupted downloads can be resumed even after the expiration of download ticket. A general method will be elaborated later in the article which holds true for most of the file hosting services. Files are downloaded with direct access; however, only 4 parallel connections are supported.

FileServe:

Unlike, iFile & MediaFire, it provides 500GBs of storage to free users and doesn't offer something exciting like direct access to files or parallel downloading but it does offer per file size limit of 1GB. Multiple files can also be uploaded in batch operation.

This service uses CAPTCHA method for verification purposes and takes about 15 seconds (previously 35 sec) to generate download link of the requested file. Download restriction of 1 file per 10 minutes (previously 12 minutes) is also applied i.e. once you've started downloading a file, next request should be sent after 10 minutes at least. If your previous file takes more than 10 minutes for completion then next one can be requested without any delay.

MegaUpload:

It offers 200GBs of storage and free users get to wait 25 seconds (45 seconds for non-registered users) for download link of the requested file. Downloads are resumable for free accounts but no parallel downloading is supported. However, there's no time restriction between downloading two files separately. Batch uploading of multiple files is also supported and this service offers upload limit of 1GB per file.

HotFile:

HotFile provides unlimited storage space and upload limit of 400MBs per file but it's on par compared to rest of the services discussed above. It imposes traffic limit of 1 file per 30 minutes with no support for parallel downloading or resuming of interrupted downloads. Download link is generated after CAPTCHA verification and a delay of 15 seconds (previously 60 seconds). Similar to FileServe, 1 file per 30 minutes limit indicates that next file should be requested, at least, after 30 minutes of previous request.

Common Features:

All services offer adequate amount of storage space and don't even require free account for uploading files, however, file management won't be possible without free subscription. Some of the services like FileServe, HotFile & iFile have support for free remote uploading. Remote uploading is the method of transferring files from one hosting service to other. However, remote uploading requires actual link of the file to be transferred (not the webpage link of uploaded file) while some services also require premium accounts for remote fetching of files (e.g. MegaUpload).

Some services offer reward schemes e.g. MegaUpload awards points when someone downloads your uploaded files (depends upon region). Likewise, FileServe & HotFile have affiliate program through which users can earn money.

Some hosting services have their own application programs for uploading/downloading of files e.g. Mega Manager by MegaUpload. These file managers are primarily meant for paid users but free users can also be benefited through them with limited functionality, of course.

How to Resume Downloads:

Resuming of interrupted/broken downloads depends on the hosting service. MediaFire & iFile provide this support to free/non-registered users while MegaUpload also offers this functionality to free users only. FileServe doesn't support this functionality for free users, however, free users of HotFile can only start interrupted downloads from the beginning by using previously generated link (link is valid for limited amount of time). Below mentioned steps can be helpful for resuming interrupted downloads (requires download accelerator/manager).

Always try to resume downloads from your download manager/accelerator at first place and check the response.
In case of failure, open the webpage of shared file and wait for generation of direct link by the hosting service.
Copy generated link of the file.
Go to properties of file in your download manager/accelerator and replace old link with new one.
Close properties dialog and restart the download.

Above mentioned procedure will work only with MediaFire, iFile & MegaUpload or any other similar hosting service with support for direct downloads. An alternative to conventional download accelerators/managers and designed specifically to download files from hosting services is JDownloader. It's a free, open source and platform independent java application which can be useful for both premium and non-paid users.

How to Split Files:

File splitting has been mentioned several times above but one thing is to be noted; users are required to split files themselves. None of the hosting services offer splitting at server side. Unlike file compression, file splitting is a quick process and can easily be done by free utility named HJ-Split.

clip image0043 File Hosting Services Simplify File Sharing Without Paid Accounts

It performs file splitting and joining functions, can compare length of any two files and can also generate checksum of any given data file.

Final Words:

Aforementioned sharing services are certainly not the only ones available in the realm of file sharing. There're several alternatives available; MultiUpload, for instance, is kind of a service which doesn't host files on its own server rather it distributes files to 6 different file hosting services in one go.

These services include RapidShare, MegaUpload, DepositFiles, HotFile, zShare and Uploading. It only maintains information regarding uploaded files and users don't have to register at included hosting services. Similarly, FileSonic, Kiwi6 and TooFiles also offer unlimited storage space and TooFiles even offers direct access with no download limit. It's just the matter of personal requirements to determine what and what-not to select.

Knowledge for Development – Where does Pakistan Stand?

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 08:55 PM PST

Knowledge for Development – Where does Pakistan Stand? is a post from: ProPakistani

Policy makers are developing strategies to maintain and enhance their position in the new knowledge-based economy era.

World Bank Institute is supporting an initiative called Knowledge for Development (K4D) Program to help countries identify challenges and opportunities they face in making this transition towards a knowledge-based economy.

In this regard an interactive tool known as Knowledge Assessment Methodology (KAM) is developed to assess the present position of a specific country with regards to this transition.

The KAM consists of 109 structural and qualitative variables for 146 countries to measure their performance on the 4 Knowledge Economy (KE) pillars: Economic Incentive and Institutional Regime, Education, Innovation, and Information and Communications Technologies. Variables are normalized on a scale of 0 to 10 relative to other countries in the comparison group. The KAM also derives a country's overall Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) and Knowledge Index (KI).

The benchmarking exercise performed here compares Pakistan with the similar countries such as Sri Lanka, Egypt and Indonesia. A general comparison of where we were in 2000 and where we are now is also made for interest of the reader.

Though we may not yet be sure as of what extent the decision makers of our economy are attentive to such International assessment benchmarks and observe what directions are required to compete with global arena.

The Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) is an aggregate index that represents the overall level of development of a country or region in the Knowledge Economy. It summarizes performance over the four knowledge economy pillars, takes into account whether the environment is conducive for knowledge to be used effectively for economic development. The below table compares the KEI for Pakistan along with other selected developing countries between year 2000 and 2009 -2010. On a positive note, Pakistan has shown a good progress of all during last nine years.

Pakistan's KEI for the most recent year (2009-2010) is 2.34 whereas the world average for KEI is 5.95. If we compare the economy with the World Banks' income group of lower middle income economies (we fall in the same group), Pakistan is again on a lower side. The average KEI for lower middle economies presently is 3.78.

Pakistan's KEI has risen from 1.89 since 2000 to 2.34 in 2009, a positive 0.45 change rate. However, overall KEI still stands lowest among the regional countries like India, Sri Lanka.

Pakistan KI Knowledge for Development Where does Pakistan Stand?

By using the tool, we can compare the country's performance for the four individual pillars of the knowledge based economy.

A detail comparison between 2000 and 2009 above shows that there has we have progressed in all index pillars, especially the ICT. The boom of mobile services along with increase in Internet penetration has assisted in mounting our position in global ICT stage. The alarming situation is highlighted by the education pillar showing a mere increase of 0.01 in nine years.

Education is considered as one of the primary social factor for future growth of a nation, in our case we are lacking behind quite deficiently. Let's hope the recent education policy announcement may bring very much required changes.

In view of the above characteristics of the knowledge economy and their impact on our economic and social space, that new thinking is required by policy makers, private sector executives and knowledge workers alike at all levels local, regional and national.

Some of the major areas of improvements required such as; improve access to higher education, enhance skills and technology at all levels from the school to university, build S&T and R&D manpower by shifting the mix of social sciences and scientific / technical studies, monitoring the long term assimilation and internal sustainability of enhanced skills and provision of financial incentives for private sector to invest in R&D and innovation.

Spotlight:

Pakistan's economic and institutional regime has changed significantly over the last decade, tariff and non-tariff barriers have shown improved score as well as the regulatory quality has improved. There has been a downfall in overall rule of law.

The KEI for the innovation has decreased which shows a thought of worries as innovations lead the economies more towards knowledge paradigm.

In education, Pakistan has significantly lost the position. Adult literacy rate has decreased but the gross secondary enrollment has improved.

Concerning information infrastructure, Pakistan has improved less than other countries in the world in terms of total telephones per 1,000 people and computers per 1,000 people whereas Internet Users per 1,000 people has increased.

Khushhali bank Deploys Oracle Human Capital Management

Posted: 30 Jan 2011 08:30 PM PST

Khushhali bank Deploys Oracle Human Capital Management is a post from: ProPakistani

Khushhalibank , Pakistan's premiere microfinance bank, has successfully deployed Oracle Human Capital Management module, a component of the Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, enabling its HR Department to expedite the recruitment process and evaluation of its staff performance.

Khushhalibank has replaced a range of legacy standalone third party and in-house developed applications across various branches along with the processes that were being done manually.

Oracle E-Business Suite Human Capital Management enables Khushhalibank's management to organize its HR system while making some of its processes completely paper free.

Khushhalibank's management will now be able to put the right people in the right jobs, develop and reward top performers, retain key talent for the long term, and increase efficiency and operating performance throughout the organization.

The Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 provides organizations of all sizes, across all industries the ability to reduce costs and increase productivity through a portfolio of rapid value solutions, integrated business processes and industry-focused solutions.

"Prior to deploying Oracle Human Capital Management, our managers had to perform several HR tasks manually or using standalone systems which made it hard for them to maintain and process HR information," said Ghalib Nishtar, President Khushhalibank. "With the unified view of integrated HR information, we are able to assess even individual attributes such as compensation, performance, learning competencies and benefits enabling us to get the most out of our workforce while spending minimum time and effort."

"Organizations across the globe have been relying on Oracle Applications to have an integrated platform to address growing needs of businesses." said Ahsen Javed, Managing Director, Oracle Pakistan and SAGE W. "Award-winning solutions like Oracle Human Capital Management is enabling Khushhalibank to keep employees' information accurate and accessible and use the resources efficiently while reducing the cost to help the bank maintain a prominent place in the industry."