Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has come up with yet another new flair to facilitate its customers and make them “feel the difference”. Fittingly, this new facility has come in the “Year of Customer Care” for PTCL. This state of the art solution comes in the form of PTCL Self Service Bill Payment Kiosks to be installed by Wavetec Pvt Ltd. Adel Rashid Soufah, Etisalat and Abdul Baseer Tahir, SEVP Business South while giving the details said these kiosks work in a manner very similar to that of ATMs but the basic difference is that while an ATM dispenses cash, these kiosks provide services and accept bill payments through cash and credit cards in a very user-friendly manner through an intuitive touch-screen interface. continue

Warid Telecom (Pvt) Ltd. and Trafco Group renewed their agreement and signed another contract through which Trafco Group will utilise voice and data communication services of the GSM and Edge network of Warid Telecom.

Warid Telecom (Pvt) Ltd. is providing voice and communications services through its state of the art GSM and Edge network to Trafco since May 2006. Both Trafco and Warid have enjoyed and benefited from the partnership and has decided to strengthen the business relationship by extending the service contract for another year.

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Cisco System

Cisco Systems warned that a sharp drop in sales could push revenue down by as much as 10 percent. The computer networking giant, the first major technology company to report financial results that include October, when the credit crisis spread beyond financial companies, said Wednesday that its sales fell by 9 percent in the month, compared to a year earlier.

Cisco expects sales for its current quarter to drop 5 to 10 percent from the $9.8 billion reported in the same period last year.

“The environment has changed dramatically in the last two months,” John T. Chambers, Cisco’s chief executive, said in a conference with Wall Street analysts.

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Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) Friday signed an agreement with Telenor Pakistan to provide Skylink brand Satellite communication services. PTCL will provide the Skylink advanced satellite communication solution to enable backhaul of GSM traffic from Telenor Pakistan sites located in rural and remote areas to PTCL hub station located in the vicinity of Islamabad.

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Mobilink coverage of 10,000 locations

Mobilink, Pakistan’s market leader in cellular communication with more than 31 million customers and a part of the Orascom Telecom Group, has crossed the figure of covering over 10,000 locations across the country. It has expanded its footprints to highest number of locations for voice and data than any other operator in Pakistan.

The President and CEO, Mobilink, Zouhair A Khaliq, while breaking the news said, ‘It is a momentous achievement both for the benefit and convenience of our revered customers, who have reposed absolute confidence in our services, as well as for the exceptional efforts of technical and network teams, who have toiled relentlessly to deliver this challenging task have more than 10,000 reasons to rejoice.

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Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has decided to implement a system for activation of new mobile SIMs after verification of customers’ antecedents from January 31, 2009. The decision was taken unanimously in a meeting of mobile companies CEOs and the regulatory affairs officials here on Tuesday.

The meeting was chaired by Chairman PTA and attended by senior PTA officials. The chairman said that from January 31, 2009 onwards non-active mobile SIMs will be sold which would be activated only after the verification of consumer data from Nadra, subsequently sale of pre-activated SIMs would be stopped. The meeting discussed proposed model for activation of new SIMs after verification of customer data.

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China will launch a telecommunication satellite, named PakSat-1R, for Pakistan in 2011. The satellite’s chief contractor-China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) - said on Friday that a Long March 3B rocket will be used to put the satellite into orbit. It will launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the south western Sichuan province.
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Residents of Muswell Hill, London and Whitchurch, South Glamorgan will be the first to try next generation broadband.

Exchanges in both areas are to become pilot sites where the fibre-based broadband will be tested.

Once the exchanges are upgraded home users should be able to go online at speeds in excess of 40 megabits per second (MBPS).

Up to 15,000 home and business customers in each area will get the chance to take part in the pilot.

Fast forward

The operational pilots will run fibre-optic cables to the street cabinets that connect homes and businesses to telephone exchanges.
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The Pakistan Telecommunication Ltd (PTCL) has increased its reliance on modern technology by introducing new IT software to facilitate customers with quick information/connectivity providing efficient services.

Walid Irshad, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PTCL stated this here on Wednesday while addressing the signing ceremony of Enterprise Agreement for Information Technology (IT) Infrastructure Optimisation between PTCL, Ufone and Microsoft. He termed the agreement a “milestone” and said that this strong technological partnership will allow PTCL and Ufone to benefit from the Microsoft’s innovative products.

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Brussels is considering making broadband access available for all.

The fast growth of broadband has led the European Commission to bring forward a review of the basic telecoms services Europeans can expect.

Current statistics suggest about 36% of households in EU member nations have high-speed net access.

When a majority of EU citizens are using a telecoms service, EC rules dictate that it becomes one every European should be able to enjoy.

Basic access

“High-speed internet is the passport to the Information Society and an essential condition for economic growth,” said Viviane Reding, EU Telecoms Commissioner in a statement announcing the review.

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With assurances that the future is on its way, Spencer Kelly traverses the obligatory time tunnel, when visiting Hitachi’s Inspire Life expo in London.

In keeping with current green concerns, travel was one of the big themes at the event put on by the Japanese hi-tech giant.

TALKING GREEN CARS

Hitachi is betting on an organic hydride fuel device that processes a car’s emissions and turns them back into more fuel.

Another green idea being developed is a fuel cell that takes methanol and water in and gives out energy, along with some vapour and carbon dioxide.

New car-to-car technology also envisages that vehicles will one day talk to each other, upcoming road signs, and even see round corners.

Cameras fitted at important junctions will use a type of wireless technology, which is said to be more reliable and faster than wi-fi, to communicate with the car.

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The good and bad aspects of the UK’s mobile phone networks are being sought by Ofcom.

The telecoms regulator wants help from consumers and industry on areas that need more regulation or where the rules can be loosened.

It is also looking for ideas on how best to extend mobile networks across the entire nation.

It said rule changes might be necessary given the rapid pace of technological change in the industry.

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