Posted by: Aamir Attaa on June 24, 2008 at 12:42 PM
After Wateen getting mixed response from market, Mobilink is set ready for the soft launch of its WiMAX operations in the country. WiredPakistan has reported in an un-official discussion that Mobilink is going to start offering WiMAX services in Karachi in coming few days.
Through a friend, the poster learnt that Mobilink is all ready to start offering the beta services for test purpose, mainly to corporate clients, however, few of home users may also enjoy cutting edge WiMAX technology jointly deployed by Alcatel-Lucent and Mototola. This off the record conversation revealed that we should not expect much from Mobilink’s WiMAX, as the investor (Orascom, the parent company of Mobilink) does not see returns on investments (ROI) in Pakistani markets, hence not very generously investing in the country. The poster claims that his resource has confirmed quality and blanket coverage of Mobilink WiMAX in cities like Karachi, compared to poor coverage by Wateen. (I personally back this, as there are many locations, including Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Lahore etc. where you don’t get WiMAX signals)
However, there was another poster who claimed that Mobilink had already launched its test services for their employees in Islamabad. We don’t know how long this test transmission will run, but Mobilink may get advantage of proven technology of Alcatel-Lucent. Based on the latest IEEE 802.16e-2005 standards (also called Rev-e), the Mobilink’s WiMAX network is deployed in the 3.5GHz spectrum.
Obviously, we know nothing about pricing details, but one can expect that Mobilink is going to give extremely tough time to Wateen, just like they did with LinkDotNet.
Any additional information/correction is welcomed in comments
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Posted by: Aamir Attaa on June 24, 2008 at 11:03 AM
We have briefly discussed budget 2008-09 and its impact on Telecom and IT sector before. There is a short news coming in from the National Assembly that 10 percent tax that was imposed on telecom bills exceding Rs. 1000 has been taken back. This news came through Nawa-e-Waqt, quoting sources in National Assembly that the members after arguments took back the proposed tax.
So chill up PTCL customers…you are spared
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Posted by: Aamir Attaa on June 24, 2008 at 10:20 AM
Couple of weeks ago I had chance to experience a GPS enabled (AT&T) blackberry 8310 in Islamabad. The good thing was that we were able to view our real time location on handset screen with Google maps. I was greatly impressed as the accuracy was more than anything, with spotting us exactly as where our car was. It was awesome.
I am quite familiar with Islamabad/Rawalpindi, however, while on the road we had to go to Barakahu (a town 10 KM north to Islamabad). GPS handset was doing well by displaying all satellite images, and our real time location, but the unfortunate thing was that the map didn’t show names of locations, streets and other information; leaving us almost helpless.
However, there is a good news, as through Muhammed Nasrullah on TGP we have heard that Google is now allowing everyone to add/append locations on Google Map. Mr. Nasrullah quoting a GIKI graduate, currently working in Google, has revealed that anyone who has Google Account can add roads, landmarks, coffee shops, hospitals, parks, gas stations etc. on the map and moderate entries made by other people.
To start your work, just log-in with your account and point your address bar to following URL
http://www.google.com/mapmaker
To Edit/Add Islamabad locations: Click here
To Edit/Add Lahore locations: Click here
For more details visit: http://www.google.com/mapmaker/mapfiles/s/support.html
So things are going to get easy in coming days, when some of service provider is going to locate nearest gas station from our current location, also it may suggest us the cheapest gas station and so on…
But we will have to be act wisely, and prevent any spam.
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Posted by: Aamir Attaa on June 22, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Text Messages (SMS) from cellular number to cellular number is nothing new in Pakistan, however, how if you are able to send SMS from a land line (PTCL) number to any cellular number across Pakistan, and that too a voice SMS? Cool na?
Right! PTCL says it has started this “Kehdo Voice SMS” service that will allow all landline users in Pakistan to send voice SMS messages to cellular numbers and that too in a simple way. Let’s explore what this Kehdo Voice SMS is…
Dial 1246 give yourself a pause, then dial the cell number and hold on until an automated voice will appear and guide you through the process. Wait for the beep, and record your message and press # button. That’s it
You can send your name with the voice message as well, the process is
[1246] pause [0333500XXXX] # (send your message with name)
[1246] pause [0300500XXXX] * (send your message without name)
Message will be sent to the mobile subscriber immediately; however, if the phone in switched off, or the responder does not pick the phone, system is going to try again in 2 hours. Don’t expect any third try, as system is configured for only 2 retries.
Message recipient will get a call from system that will speak out the message to the receiver.
Check points
- All Phones lines are already subscribed, so you don’t need to activate this service
- Kehdo SMS service is for only cellular networks in Pakistan (Does not support landline, WLL or international numbers)
- Maximum duration of Kehdou SMS is 30 second
Charges
Each Kehdou SMS will cost you Rs. 0.99 Per Message
Incoming Kehdou SMS are free
PTCL’s Voice SMS is something different that of this new “Kehdou Voice SMS”. To know more about Voice SMS dial 1236 from your landline.
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Posted by: Aamir Attaa on June 21, 2008 at 4:48 AM
We have recently seen a major reshuffle on points table for cellular companies, where Telenor has overtaken the Ufone and grabbing the second slot on the top charts.
Source: TelecomPk.net
With emergence of Zong (a brand of CMPak) in Pakistan, all cellular companies are fully charged up to retain their positions. Babar Bhatti has summed up the current scenario in his post, where stats show that Telenor managed well to subscribe over 500K customers almost same as of the Zong in May 2008.
But the chart shows a very disappointing situation for Mobilink, who could not get more than 25K customer. We all know that these stats are not audited, (CEO Warid has stated on the record that tele-density in Pakistan is said to be more than 50 percent but it is actually around 40 percent), this leads us to a point where one can doubt of 25K customers that were added in May 2008.
This doubt is not pointless, as in a recent TVC, (for Jazz One) Mobilink made an un-intentional mistake or they told the truth when the AD says that connect with 30 million Mobilink costumers with only Rs. 1 per minute, instead of reported 32 million subscribers. So what does that actually mean? if Mobilink has 30 million customers not the 32? or they are loosing customers with time? We remember that Mobilink hit 30 million mark in December 2007, and if they are still standing at 30 million, then they must revise their trategies in order to retain theit top position.
It’s not the case that they are doing anything wrong with the services or the tariff plans, then what exactly is going against them?
Let’s discuss them in comments..!
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Posted by: Aamir Attaa on June 20, 2008 at 4:06 PM
We have seen a real fight amongst cellular companies in Pakistan, specifically after the emergence of Zong (CMPak), with so many new packages and innovations that are actually benefiting the end users.
Zong, as expected has started doing the wonders, first they introduced unlimited GPRS in only PKR 400 per month, and now this hourly offer is going to redesign the industry the way we use internet on our mobile phones through GPRS.
So, now 15 Rs per MB internet thing is gone, as Zong has come up with another mind blowing offer with what you can use internet for one hour for only Rs. 15 without worrying of the download/upload limit.
And the good thing is that you will be charged on per minute basis, and the rate is Rs. 0.25 per minute (Excluding taxes); that is, if you use internet for 10 minutes, you will be charged Rs. 2.50 (excluding taxes) Incredible.
How to Subscribe
For activating the package, just dial 905 from your ZONG connection and get connected!
Charges
Rs. 15/hour+tax
Charging Unit
Rs. 0.25/min+tax
I am not sure about the quality, but I have heard its good enough. So now start enjoying your wireless internet means and that too at very inexpensive rates.
Challenge for other telcos…let’s see what they have in their minds?
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Posted by: Aamir Attaa on June 20, 2008 at 12:07 PM
Cellular-News, quoting IDC India, has reported that Indian Handset market has seen 29 percent year-on-year growth, as total of almost 85 million phones were shipped into India from April 2007 to April 2008 in comparison with 66 Million handsets in same period previous year. In only first quarter, Indians shipped 22 million mobile phone units from overseas markets.
Overall, Nokia retained the top spot with a market share of 52.8%, followed by LG at 10.2%, and Samsung at 8.3% in terms of units shipped during the quarter ended March 31, 2008.
Keeping in view the current situation, Korean Handset manufacture, LG is planning to further invest in its Indian plant to increase its handset production to not only meet the local market requirements but also to serve European and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) markets.
It maybe recalled that LG has manufacturing plant in India, China, Brazil and Mexico. The Indian factory sits near Pune, Maharashtra. Last year, LG sold about 80.5 million handsets and we are looking to sell more than 100 million units by the end of this year.
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Posted by: Aamir Attaa on June 20, 2008 at 11:44 AM
Possibly yes, don’t get amazed, as Japan’s NTT DoCoMo Inc., is looking for overseas investment once again. DoCoMo is not going to come directly into scene in Pakistan, but possibly through Etisalat controlled Ufone , as they announced some serious partnership talks with Middle East’s telecom carriers including Etisalat, Qatar Telecom and Saudi Telecom, reported Bloomberg.
As we know well that Japan’s telecom market has reached its bread limit, hence operators are looking for overseas markets, specifically the developing ones like Middle East and Africa. Similarly, DoCoMo is eying such markets through stakes in major telecom operators of the region that includes Etisalat, in order to reach in Africa, Middle East and Pakistan.
Along with recent minority stakes acquisition in Bangladesh, DoCoMo is present in Philippines and South Korea.
However, it merits mentioning that all overseas investments for DoCoMo didn’t turn fruitful, as they had to loose US$3.2 billion in only 3 years for 16 percent stakes in AT&T Wireless, that they had bought for US$ 9.8 billion in January 2001, and sold them to Cingular in 2004 for US$ 6.6 billion
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