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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ZONG has launched a simple, smart and elegant USB GPRS/EDGE modem that is capable of catering to all consumers needs including mobile professionals, laptop computer users and frequent travellers due to its efficiency and affordability elements.

Zong, Internet USB card will facilitate fast Internet browsing, instant access and the uninterrupted ability both to upload and download data. Combining cutting edge technologies with sleek design, ZONG’s customers can look forward to enjoying high-speed wireless access, both at home and on the go.

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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, after obtaining thriving growth and investment in telecom especially in cellular sector, still offers best opportunities for investors as million of rural people awaits to benefit communication services. Becoming a destination for investments in IT and telecom and attracting more than US $9 billion Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) during last few years, Pakistan is still a high potential area where major companies of the world like Mobilink are still investing.

It is the sector, which is attracting more investment than any other sector in the country where total number of fixed and mobile subscribers has reached from 8 million in 2003 to over 89 million in 2008 with major contribution coming from the mobile sector especially the Mobilink, which has around 31.5 million subscribers base.

Teledensity in the country has also increased to 58% of the population which is the highest in South Asia. A question usually arises these days, can Pakistan wherein last year mobile industry invested close to US $3 billion continues to be one of the fastest growing telecom markets in view of world-wide economic crunch?

The answer is that we all probably aware, we are currently in a global economic slowdown and with rising international oil prices coupled with consumer price inflation. In the developed world including US, western Europe and Japan where new mobile subscriber growth had saturated some time ago, the telecom industry is now bracing for a major slowdown.

In addition to a slowdown in new mobile subscriptions, it is expected to be a slowdown in the sales of handsets as well. Pakistan, of course, cannot remain shielded from this global turmoil. But in fact the telecom sector in Pakistan is not doing too bad. The sector was by far the largest recipient of foreign direct investment in 2007-08. As per PTA, the industry continues to add more and more new mobile subscribers every month even under the current conditions.

In fact all know we in Pakistan have a huge growth potential as far as telecom is concerned, even if we compare with just the neighbouring countries. Majority of the rural population still awaits cell services. There are 3G and 4G technologies yet to be deployed, and there’s so much more to value added services than downloading ring tones and Bolo SMS. So in short, the answer to the question posed in the title is “No”.

Considering the situation, there is no saturation point as yet. The industry is showing a healthy growth in spite of the global economic slowdown. And best of all, no layoffs announced in the local mobile industry as opposed to other parts of the world.

Mobile companies are still committed that the industry will continue to work with the government for the rapid provision of state-of-the-art information and communication services in Pakistan, with a heightened focus on empowering rural communities. All the mobile companies have continued their trend of investment and introducing new services. Sale of new connections also continues.

Mobilink, having a leading market share with more than 31 million customers and crossing the figure of covering over 10,000 locations across the country is now focusing on rural population. Growth trend would remain continue in the mobile industry uninterrupted provided more proactive steps need to be taken.

Commitment is there both from the government and operators sides to the further promotion of telecom sector, however incentives most importantly relaxation in taxes would help leverage its strength for growth of economy and social inclusion of all sections of population.

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Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has extended broadband services to 108 cities throughout the country. Senior Executive Vice-President (SEVP), Commercial, Dr Sadik Al-Jadir, said on Wednesday that PTCL had become the first company in Pakistan to provide broadband services to over 100 cities across the country, whereas before the PTCL’s entry into the broadband market in 2007, broadband was only available in the three major cities.

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The IBM and Intel Corporation have announced that they are extending their collaboration in the `blade server market’ to drive adoption of an open industry specifications for the blades switches.

A statement here on Saturday (25 Oct) said that this will enable switch vendors to maximise returns on their research and development by developing products to a single design, reaching more customers with just one product.

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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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Ovex Technologies, one of Pakistan’s leading companies in providing business process outsourcing and IT solutions, is participating in GITEX Dubai 2008, the world’s foremost technology event held annually in the UAE capital city.

GITEX Dubai is among the world’s top three technology events and will be held from 19-23 October, 2008. This flagship event has placed Dubai on the map internationally as an emerging global technology hub and it continues to be the most important gateway to the Middle East ICT market, a spokesman of the company said.

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The BlackBerry Storm, which will go on sale later this year, is competing with Apple’s iPhone 3G and T-Mobile’s G1. 

You just can’t keep a secret in the tech industry these days. Early pictures of T-Mobile’s Google phone leaked onto the Web the week before its Sept. 23 launch, and now images are surfacing online of another eagerly awaited device: a new handheld from Research in Motion (RIM), the BlackBerry Storm. RIM hasn’t officially launched the new device yet — and it declined to comment on the leak — but the Storm is clearly a direct assault on Apple’siPhone 3G and T-Mobile’s G1. It’s also an attempt to wow consumers with both a jazzy new design and an App Center filled with games and other add-on programs.

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There’s an arms race of sorts taking place among some of the world’s largest technology companies as they scamper to control the next wave of office software.

Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Google, I.B.M. and others are selling applications under the unified communications and collaboration banners. Their various packages replace yesteryear’s e-mail and contact software with suites that include Web conferencing, instant messaging, e-mail, online teamwork areas and spots to share all kinds of files.

The language used to describe much of this technology is flimsy. There’s a lot of talk about binary baubles like widgets and mash-ups, which make life easier or disrupt already overwhelmed workers, depending on whom you ask. But the basic idea backing the technology is a simple one. This is E-Mail Plus, where the software you use everyday goes quite a bit farther than it used to.

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The switching gear made by Cisco Systems tends to lurk in the deepest, darkest parts of data centers. It pushes information between servers and storage systems and funnels data out to the myriad networks that combine to form the Internet. When everything functions well, Cisco’s hardware lives in relative anonymity.

Over the last couple of years, however, Cisco has worked to get itself more directly onto workers’ desks. The company sells voice-over-Internet-protocol phones along with vi

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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