Comment by Riaz Haq on April 23, 2014 at 2:18pm

Here's Reuters on first round of 3G 4G auction in Pakistan:

Pakistan raised $903 million in its first auction for 3G mobile phone networks on Wednesday, as well as $210 million for the more advanced 4G spectrum, with four foreign-owned companies emerging as winners from the long-anticipated bidding process.

The South Asian country of 180 million people hopes to use the auction as a way to boost the economy and promote advanced telecoms technology among its 132 million mobile phone users.

The four winners of the 3G auction were Russian-owned Mobilink, Chinese-controlled Zong, Norway's Telenor (TEL.OL), and Ufone - a company jointly owned by the Pakistan government and the United Arab Emirates' Etisalat (ETEL.AD).

As for the 4G spectrum, the sole winner was Zong, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

Warid Telecom Pakistan, another company operating in Pakistan, did not make any bids.

Ismail Shah, the PTA head, announced the results to reporters late on Wednesday after the auction, which lasted all day.

Pakistan is the only major country in the region that still does not offer 3G services. Its neighbor, war-ravaged Afghanistan, switched to 3G services in 2012.

The country's telecoms market was deregulated in 2004 and foreign firms such as Etisalat have invested heavily. But services that use 3G and 4G connections have been out of reach of most Pakistani customers.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/04/23/us-pakistan-telecommunicat...

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 21, 2014 at 10:24am

Here's an ET story about Pakistan teledensity near 76%:

The country’s total mobile phone subscriptions reached an all-time high of 137.68 million at the end of April 2014, corresponding to a cellular mobile teledensity of 75.6% for the first time, according to the latest data released by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
The PTA statistics revealed that each of the given cellular mobile operators (CMOs) were able to increase their subscriber base – collectively selling 1.2 million new connections in April 2014.
Telenor Pakistan and China Mobile (Zong) were once again the highest contributors to the growth of country’s mobile phone subscribers.
Telenor Pakistan sold 665,591 new connections during the month under review, taking its overall subscriber base to 35.87 million. The Pakistani arm of the Oslo-based cellular giant holds 26% share in the country’s cellular subscriber base, only two percentage points behind market leader Mobilink.
Mobilink maintained the top place, growing its subscriptions to 38.3 million after adding 145,941 new subscriptions to its network. Its share in the cellular segment is 28% as of April, 2014, the data revealed.
Zong, the Pakistani subsidiary of China Mobile, also continued its positive growth by selling 387,527 new connections in April and finished at number three with 25.98 million subscriptions. It now accounts for 19% of the country’s telecom subscriptions – just one percentage point above Ufone that slipped to number four with a market share of 18% or 24.6 million subscribers at the end of April, 2014. It sold only 2,435 new connections during the review period.
Warid Telecom, the smallest player in terms of subscriber base, sold 11,831 new connections and finished with a market share of 9% or 12.95 million subscriptions, according to the latest statistics.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/715949/breaking-records-cell-phone-subs...

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 27, 2014 at 8:53am

Thursday, October 23, 2014 - Karachi—Mobilink 3G customers have reached 1 million mark rendering it as the fasted growing 3G service in Pakistan. Mobilink hit the 1 million mark within 90 days of commercial launch, which is the fastest uptake of 3G services of any cellular operator in Pakistan. Mobilink’s 3G services were launched in July this year and continue to provide high-speed Internet to customers in 12 cities of Pakistan and counting. The evolution of Mobilink’s 3G network is a result of carefully designed roll-out plan that makes the best use of 10MHz spectrum while focusing on excellence in customers’ experience.

Bilal Munir Sheikh, Chief Commercial Officer Mobilink commenting on the success said; “Reaching the 1 million mark is only the beginning of a delightful journey for our customers and manifestation of our strategic approach towards building an ecosystem of high-speed internet in Pakistan.

Our roll-out plan is carefully designed to ensure that we provide the most robust 3G coverage in cities in which we are present. Our teams on-ground continue to work towards ensuring that that we providing the best customer experience in existing cities and locations before committing to new ones. I thank our customers for putting their trust in Mobilink for their data and connectivity needs.”

Earlier this year, following the auction of 3G license Mobilink was the only operator to empower customers with free 3G services as a means to celebrate its 20 years of operations in Pakistan as well as increase awareness about high-speed internet. This gesture was much welcomed by customers as it enabled them to try out Mobilink’s high-speed mobile internet services free of charge for a period of 2 months. Mobilink continues to grow its footprint across Pakistan through systematic rollout of 3G services across major cities of Pakistan.

http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=254961

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 27, 2014 at 9:26am

Samsung and Telenor Pakistan co-launched the Galaxy Note 4 in Pakistan on Friday, at an event held at a local hotel in Lahore. The phablet has been priced at a whopping Rs. 85,000 (approx. $825).

The Galaxy Note 4 will be featured on Telenor Pakistan’s Sales & Service Centers and franchises for its customers across the country starting from October 29, and will come with Telenor’s free 3G Internet for six months.

The offer includes the unlimited usage of WhatsApp, Twitter and Line along with all purchases of Galaxy Note 4.

The device comes with accidental coverage that includes screen breakage, liquid damage and numerous other types of damages that will be repaired by the company within one year of the purchases.

Telenor has also conducted a pre-order campaign from 20th October offering free S-View Flip covers to its Pakistan’s customers.

“We have always been at the forefront of offering cutting edge technology and next generation solutions to our valued customers,” said Omer bin Tariq, Director Internet and Devices, Telenor Pakistan.

“Our collaboration with Samsung is yet another testament of Telenor Pakistan’s customer centric approach to provide services as per the evolving customer preferences and building an ecosystem to facilitate 3G uptake.”

Telenor has recently rolled out its 3G services in 35 cities of Pakistan, becoming the largest 3G mobile operator in the market.

Mr. Omer said the company is determined to strengthen its current efforts, and cover other aspects that are aimed at bringing affordable smartphones and enhancing Internet adoption amongst the growing community.

The Galaxy Note 4 features a 5.7-inch Quad HD (2560×1440) Super AMOLED display, 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 processor, Adreno 420 GPU and 3GB of RAM.

The device also includes a 16-megapixel camera with optical image stabilization, a 3.7-megapixel front-facing camera, 32/64GB of expandable internal storage and a 3,220 mAh battery.

The phablet is the first Galaxy Note device to feature a metallic body. It runs on Android 4.4.4 (KitKat) operating system, and also comes with the traditional S Pen stylus.

http://segmentnext.com/2014/10/27/telenor-partners-with-samsung-to-...

Comment by Riaz Haq on November 8, 2014 at 9:54pm

From Middle East North Africa Financial Network:

The number of 3G subscribers has touched around 4 million mark, apparently surpassing all other broadband technologies in the country.

There are around 3.7 million broadband users in Pakistan as per official data for all technologies combined including WiMAX, DSL, EvDO, FTTH, Satellite, HFC and others till May this year.

Three mobile phone operators have already announced that each of them has crossed 1 million mark of 3G subscribers while Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is yet to formally release the stats about 3G and 4G subscribers.

According to Mobilink, it has 1 million 3G users on October 22, Telenor has 1.3 million 3G users on October 28 while Zong has also announced that it has 1 million 3G users. Ufone has not said a word so far about its subscribers.

Based on operators' announcements, there are at least around 4 million 3G users as of today.

With these figures, one can ascertain that 3G subscribers have crossed the numbers for all other broadband technologies, that too within just six months of auction of 3G and 4G licenses.

http://www.menafn.com/1094001560/Around-4m-3G-users-in-Pakistan

Comment by Riaz Haq on November 8, 2014 at 10:00pm

From Telenor Pakistan CEO in Newsweek Pakistan:

Pakistan is a vibrant, rich society full of potential and the means to realize it. It is much more than what the headlines in the Western media often convey. Despite its challenges, and all investments are challenging, it is a haven for foreign investment. The success of our company, Telenor Pakistan, testifies to this reality.

Telenor is Norwegian and operates across Europe and Asia as one of the world’s leading telecom and digital service providers. And Telenor Pakistan is very much a Pakistani success story. In March, we will mark a decade since our launch in the market here. When we started, we were the sixth entrant in the telecom sector. Today, with 36 million GSM customers alone, we now vie for leadership in a highly competitive sector.

We are bullish about Pakistan and our commitment to it is profound. We are in the process of building our new head office here with an investment of $70 million. We have, so far, invested $2.2 billion in Pakistan, and we expect our investment in the coming years to be of the same order of magnitude. We have just invested in a new 3G license and are deploying 3G sites around the country in both urban and rural areas every month. The spectrum auction conducted this year was executed with the highest level of professionalism and transparency, conditions that allowed participants to make bids with the greatest confidence in the process. Pakistan’s progressive approach to telecom is publicly recognized: on Oct. 27, Pakistan was elected to the ITU Council, the telecom industry’s global governing body.

The country has a deep pool of talent in all disciplines. The universities deliver great people to our doorstep year after year. Of the 2,800 or so direct employees of Telenor Pakistan, 2,798 are Pakistani nationals. We export more of our talent to the Telenor Group than any other business unit in our worldwide family of companies. This place is a goldmine of winners with an overwhelming desire for personal achievement and, in our company, a desire to build an empowered Pakistan.

Pakistan’s telecom sector is taking the lead in ensuring financial inclusion, an essential driver of economic growth and international competiveness, can be attained. We are contributing to the formalization of the economy through EasyPaisa, an award-winning suite of services in partnership with Tameer Microfinance Bank Limited. We transit close to Rs. 500 billion every year through EasyPaisa, which has a customer base of over 6 million. EasyPaisa is growing every day, thanks in no small part to the State Bank of Pakistan, a visionary financial services regulator and growth catalyst.

The data business is still essentially nascent. Our growth has been enabled by the dynamic regulatory environment that Pakistan offers foreign investors. We have been able to actively pursue our vision of empowering societies through our GSM and financial services with the assistance of the progressive, business-friendly policies of successive governments.

Our journey in Pakistan has been rewarding but not without its difficulties. The telecom sector’s success has been made possible because our voice, and the voice of the industry, is heard by the government, the regulators and state agencies when we discuss ways to evolve economic, industrial, fiscal, and taxation policies. We have always found open doors to address grievances and to find ways and means to increase our impact on society and the economy.

We have found in Pakistan not just a thriving market but a home that rewards our industry and recognizes and embraces foreign investment as critical to fulfilling the country’s economic aspirations. As an investor, you couldn’t ask for more.

Foley is president and CEO of Telenor Pakistan. From our Nov. 1-15, 2014, issue.

http://newsweekpakistan.com/made-in-pakistan/

Comment by Riaz Haq on November 19, 2014 at 10:29am

MasterChef Pakistan, which took the country by storm and had everyone glued to their television screens, has been nominated for the prestigious 19th Asian Television Awards (ATA) and has become the first Pakistani reality show to be nominated for an international accolade.

The show has been nominated in the 'Best Adaptation of an Existing Format' category. Other nominees in the category include:

Asia's Next Top Model Cycle 2 (Hong Kong)
The Brain (China)
Junior MasterChef Swaad Ke Ustaad (India)
The Apprentice Asia (Asia)
The Voice of the Philippines (Philippines)
Trinny & Susannah's Makeover Mission India - Murphy and Kanika (Singapore)
The ATA aims to reward hard working individuals in the media industry all over the continent. According to the official ATA website, this year has seen 239 nominees, across 38 categories, sprawling over 13 countries – and MasterChef Pakistan is one of them.

The 2013 ATA was televised regionally on STAR World and Channel [V], FOX International Channels leading general entertainment channel and music channel, respectively, reaching to some 28 million households in over 10 countries, including Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, Macau, Middle East and some other smaller Asian markets.

Chef and Executive Asst. Manager Khurram Awan of Movenpick Hotels Karachi and celebrity Chef Zakir Qureshi and Chef Mehboob Khan are the judges on MasterChef Pakistan. The show is an intense, competitive cooking reality television game show based on the original British MasterChef.

http://www.dawn.com/news/1145514/masterchef-pakistan-nominated-for-...

Comment by Riaz Haq on June 23, 2015 at 9:51am

Pakistan Telecommunication Company limited (PTCL) has introduced a 4G LTE tablet dubbed ‘CharJi Evo Tab’. The dual-SIM tablet provides LTE speeds of up to 36 Mbps and enables customers to access voice connectivity through GSM SIMs just like a mobile phone. The device features a 6.98 inch screen, 2 GB RAM and Quad Core processor. The tablet also includes 16 GB in-built and 64 GB external memory support, 8-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front camera.

The CharJi Evo Tab is available for PKR 25,000. Customers who acquire the device will also receive a bonus of 5 GB CharJi LTE data and 15,000 Ufone on-net minutes, valid for 3 months and a free 1-year subscription to its Smart TV app. Customers will also have access to a pre-installed Sygic application for turn-by-turn voice guided navigation across Pakistan.

http://www.telecompaper.com/news/ptcl-unveils-charji-evo-4g-lte-tab...

Comment by Riaz Haq on October 6, 2016 at 8:52am

The number of journalists in Pakistan has jumped from 2,000 in 2002 to 18,000 in 2015, according to Houston Public media report.

Marina Marri is an editor at the Express-Tribune. She’s part of the growing workforce of reporters in Pakistan. The number of working journalists here has jumped from 2,000 in 2002 to 18,000 in 2013.
There’s a lot of growth in Pakistan’s journalism, particularly on the TV side, along with a lot of energy from journalists.
An example is Marina Marri, editor of the Express-Tribune. The journalists there have been resilient and tenacious in the face of violence.
And Marri not only manages a newsroom, but also plays soccer.
In order to keep fostering new generations of journalists in the country, there’s an effort to start up a Master’s Degree and the U.S. has a strong role in it.
We invite you to listen to Laura’s latest dispatch above.
She is participating in a fellowship for reporters sponsored by ICFJ— the International Center For Journalists. Think of it as a student exchange for journalists.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2016/10/02/171768/...

Comment by Riaz Haq on November 17, 2016 at 10:03pm

#Pakistan eyes $150m after direct-to-home (#dthb ) #DISH broadcast system (#dbs ) #television license bidding

http://www.dawn.com/news/1297065/pakistan-eyes-150m-after-direct-to...


Pakistan is expected to attract direct investment of at least $150 million after the Nov 23 bidding for three direct-to-home (DTH) broadcast licences.

A top official of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) told journalists that 12 companies, including three foreign operators as part of local consortiums, had been shortlisted to bid for three DTH licences. The licences would be valid for 15 years.

Terming DTH a game-changer for the electronic media industry in Pakistan, the official said it would offer quality services and a wider range of choice to consumers and a lucrative revenue source to the economy’s managers. It would also end the monopoly of a few analogue cable operators.

It would not end the cable operators’ business, he said, but would compel them to invest in technology and their distribution systems.

Pakistan has close to 25 million electronic media subscribers and between three and five million consumers use Indian DTH illegally. Once the licensing process goes through, subscribers of Indian DTH would have to shift to the local network.

Foreign channels will get landing rights to come under the local regime through a regulatory process and launching of new local satellite channels will be allowed.

The official said that the current analogue distribution system offered a maximum of 80 channels while the DTH would increase the capacity to 250. Each local DTH licence holder is expected to have at least 500,000 subscribers.

A Chinese company is currently in the process of completing formalities to set up a factory for set-top boxes (STBs) for transmitting broadcasts to homes. The initial cost of an STB to consumer would be around Rs3,500 which could be recovered by DTH operators in instalments. Monthly subscription would be around Rs550.

“This will be the biggest investment in Pakistan’s electronic media history,” the official said. The conservative investment estimate of $150m was based on feasibility studies of shortlisted firms. It could go up to $250m after the three licence holders expand operations in the next two years. These estimates do not include bidding proceeds that would start with a base price of Rs200m for each licence.

The licence holders would employ 1,500 people directly and the move would open up indirect job opportunities for 15,000 people in the next two to three years as DTH penetration increases, he said.

Of the firms shortlisted, Startimes Communications Ltd would have 49 per cent shareholding from a Chinese operator, Parus Media and Broadcast Ltd will have 49 per cent stake from a Russian operator and Smart Sky Ltd (partially owned by PTCL’s foreign shareholders) would have a foreign shareholding. The official said that the law did not allow majority shareholdings to foreign firms, so 51 per cent stakes would have to be controlled by local partners.

Other shortlisted firms include Orient Electronics of Lahore, Mag Entertainment of Lahore, IQ Communication of Karachi and six firms, Skyflix, Sardar Builders, Nayatel, Mastro Media Distribution, Shahzad Sky Ltd and HB DTH, from Islamabad.

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