Posted by: Reality Bites on November 3, 2008 at 4:17 AM
It is estimated that almost 19000 cell sites have been installed by five mobile operators in different urban and rural areas of the Pakistan, in which Mobilink is on the top and Ufone fallowing on the same track with almost more than 4536 cell sites and others seems to be growing.
It is always observed that network coverage played important role for cellular operators to be a market leader with the help of value added services, as the network coverage remains the key element for increments in subscribers within months.
In this customer acquisition formula 1 race, where everyone is trying to compete each other with all tweaks and tricks they can play in grabbing customers from other operators and even attract new acquisitions to increase more revenues.
According to Ministry of Information Technology Mobile cellular policy, Telco operators are bound to roll out at least 70% network coverage of tehsil headquarters in four years with minimum 10% tehsils in all provinces. Most probably all cellular companies have attained this level in coverage roll out plan, but question is still remained unanswered, how quality of the network has been maintained so far?
Because voice distortion, call hangings, anonymous connectivity, call connection time, air interface blocking, call completion rate, call quality etc are still the same issues for customers faced in rural and urban areas. Continue Reading This Story
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Posted by: Reality Bites on November 1, 2008 at 12:28 AM
Telenor, the Norwegian trans-national telecom giant, entered Pakistani market in March 2005. Within just three years, Telenor have acquired 18.4 million subscribers (as of September 2008), becoming the third largest mobile operator in Pakistan, an outstanding feat given the country’ s fierce competitive environment.
Despite this growth, Telenor Pakistan network congestion issues are known to Telenor customers. They include different issues like, voice distortion, anonymous voices with connected call etc.
These issues were because of :
- More than ten traditional HLRs were in the current network, with some having a capacity of as low as 1 million. This arrangement caused a range of problems in network management and maintenance:
- Networking was highly complex due to the large number of low-capacity HLRs. The customer service system needed to connect to, and adapt to, all the HLRs on the network, and the resulting complexity significantly raised maintenance costs. Continue Reading This Story
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Posted by: Aamir Attaa on October 30, 2008 at 3:55 AM
Telenor International has officially confirmed that it is to take a 60% controlling stake in Unitech Wireless, an Indian mobile operator. Financial value of this deal is said to be at US$1,070 million, as Telenor will be buying a new share issued by the Unitech Wireless.
“Gaining access to the world’s second largest mobile market is a major achievement for Telenor. Entering the Indian mobile market gives Telenor a unique possibility to further enhance the Telenor Group’s position as one of the leading emerging markets operators, and enables us to take part in the development and growth opportunities in one of the fastest growing telecom market in the world,” said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO of Telenor.
It merits mentioning here that Unitech Wireless has telecommunications licenses in all 22 telecom circles of India and plans to launch its services in mid 2009.
Via Cellular News
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Posted by: Aamir Attaa on October 27, 2008 at 2:42 AM
We had covered this Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) market review few months ago, however, changes take place in days now. As the energy crisis continue in Pakistan, in fact it has gone worse, people are again rushing towards UPS markets to get themselves electricity backups.
Thanks to winter, general people may not require UPS units as they did in hot summer, but businesses, students, and those who want to remain in tact with their electrical devices are in crucial situation due to unannounced and long run power failures.
Okay, I am covering only UPS market review, hopefully I will bring forward Generators’ market review as well in coming days, but lets focus on options and prices for UPS units in this article.
We saw two very significant things, one that UPS market is undergoing tremendous rush, and same is the case with prices. By the way, these prices went down in month of Ramadan (as there were no power outages then), but once again UPS businesses have gone high.
We noted that average cost of a Rs. 10,000 UPS has increased by almost 30 percent when compared to prices in May-June 2008. Retailers say this increment is due to the fact that manufacturers have increased prices of raw material on pretext of higher production cost due to higher imports of accessories.
A survey of retailers unveiled that UPS with a capacity of running two fans and two lights is hot item, and its sale has gone as high as 30 percent. It merits mentioning that this is least powered UPS available in the market, and is mostly used by small to mid sized shopkeepers and home users.
It merits mentioning here that there are two types of UPS available, imported ones and locally assembled. Retailers said that buyers prefer locally made UPS units for two reasons. 1 – They are inexpensive, 2 – Imported UPS units come with no warranty, hence more risk for buyers.
As the demand is increasing, there are more people getting involved in making of these local made UPS units. This retailer named, Hafiz Imran confirmed that there are tens of UPS manufacturing plants working in Rawalpindi. By the way, Daily Time lately reported that there are around 45 manufacturing units of UPS are working in the different parts of the Karachi only as cottage industry. The wholesalers have doubled their orders in order to meet the growing demand.
It was also reported that there comes lots bugs and after sale complains due to ordinary quality and unqualified technicians who make these UPS units in lesser time.
With UPS units, there come batteries, which are used with UPS units to keep your electrical devices alive – and scenario is not different of batteries as well, as prices have gone high here too.
So this is what the market has been undergoing, now check out these tips that you must consider before buying a UPS
Things to consider for Buying a UPS
- Try to put minimum load on UPS, that is don’t try to put all electrical devices on your UPS, instead make sure that only power critical devices are on UPS
- Once you have decided what items you will be running on UPS, calculate their power load. For this, don’t rely on UPS shops, instead ask for electrician in your colony and let him calculate the power load that you will be running on UPS. For instance, a computer with 17 inch monitor is likely to require 400 to 450 watts. Similarly, calculate your entire load and make sure what power do you require from this UPS.
- Go into main electrical markets of your city, instead of your corner electrical shop. Check around in couple of shops for the rates for the power your need. Let’s assume you need a UPS of 1000 Watts, then ask around what quotes you get.
- Please note that there are NO OFFICIAL RATES, so you will have to do little research to save you couple of thousand Rupees
- Please make sure that battery is nothing to do with your UPS. Your batteries will be responsible for backup time. So if you purchase a low ampere battery, it will give you lesser time and vice versa.
- Once your UPS is ready, make sure that it is giving output of exactly what you had asked for. For this purpose you can keep along your cousin or friend who knows a little about electrical meters, ask retailer (shopkeeper) to verify that this UPS is giving out proper voltages.
- If you are planning to use computer with this UPS, make sure that UPS unit supports it. For this direct the shopkeeper to make it computer complaint. (They make little configuration changes in your UPS, which prevents your Computer rebooting when electricity goes down.
Prices for UPS Units with Built in Dry Batteries
These UPS units come with built in Dry Batteries, and stabilizers. Means you get a once pack solution and simply take it home. But make sure that back-up duration for Buil in Dry Batteries’ UPS units is between 10 to 15 minutes only - Meaning that these are mainly for computers and for just saving your files and allowing you enough time to shut down your computer. (In case you need more backup time, then check for below given UPS prices that come without Batteries – and you can add up batteries to get more back up time)
Continue Reading This Story
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Posted by: Aamir Attaa on October 24, 2008 at 8:04 AM
Mobilink has crossed the figure of covering over 10,000 locations across the country.
Read More on this from Business Recorder
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.
The company continues to sustain its leadership position in the market due to its focus on supplying quality services and the reliability of its network. Mobilink has invested more than US $2.5 billion in its continuing network expansion programme, which includes state-of-the-art technology deploying own nation-wide optic-fiber spread and a robust infrastructure of sales and customer services.
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Posted by: Aamir Attaa on October 19, 2008 at 6:56 PM
Warid Telecom has deployed Pakistan’s first Solar Powered Macro Base Station (BTS). This is a step towards going Green along with it is considered an essential in long term planning while eying Pakistan’s energy crisis that has damaged businesses countrywide.
Huawei’s environmentally-friendly Solar Powered Macro BTS, which wholly runs on solar power, allows operators to spread their coverage limits to far flung areas of the country, where there is no electricity. Furthermore, this solar powered BTS allows Telco’s to provide uninterrupted telecom service despite of any power failures.
The non-hybrid site is 100% powered on solar energy, thereby reducing carbon dioxide emissions and noise pollution, both of which is harmful to the local environment.
Along with such Green technologies, now operators should also work seriously on tower sharing to reduce growing energy costs and other operating expenses, instead of imposing additional charges on customers.
Here’s more from Huawei’s Press Release
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. delivers next generation telecommunication solutions for operators globally and has taken a firm step towards being green. The company’s green sites incorporate optimized hardware design, an innovative power amplifier and efficient power consumption management.
The non-hybrid site is completely powered on solar energy, thus contributing to a reduced carbon dioxide emissions and noise pollution and the solution reduces pressure on the overall energy supply - which further benefits the environment.
Huawei’s innovative solar powered BTS is environmentally-friendly solution which the company says will significantly reduce the total cost of ownership in the product life circle, optimizing energy efficiency, and bringing clear benefits to operators.
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Posted by: Aamir Attaa on October 19, 2008 at 11:48 AM
Pakistan’s fastest friend, China has announced to launch a telecommunication satellite, named PakSat-1R, for Pakistan in year 2011. The satellite’s chief contractor China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) has lately reported 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.
According to Business Recorder the satellite company will manage ground control facilities for the satellite to be delivered to the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission after it enters orbit. CGWIC and its sub-contractors are responsible for the design, manufacturing, final assembly, testing and launch of the satellite.
Paksat-1R will have a life span of 15 years. Pakistan will use it for domestic telecommunication and broadcast services. Contracts for the satellite deal were inked during President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent visit to China.
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Posted by: Aamir Attaa on October 16, 2008 at 11:19 AM
There is this rumor that Telenor Pakistan is going to launch its WiMAX operations in Pakistan, or they are at least, very keenly studying the WiMAX market.
Thetechturtle has come up with this news citing an insider that Telenor’s WiMAX launch is expected first quarter next year.
I know one thing for sure that Telenor has spent a huge amount of time working on the R&D for this project. The first I came to know about Telenor coming up with WiMAX was in December 2006, when Wateen was preparing to give out user trials in Lahore. The word at the time was that there were 5 people working on the project and it was so hush that the employees who were working on the project research had to sign an oath declaring that if they spoke a word of it to anyone, they will be promptly fired.
However, Telenor Pakistan’s spokesman firmly denied any such launch, and said “Telenor Pakistan currently has no plans to launch WiMAX Operations in Pakistan.”
I am not sure if WiMAX business is Pakistan’s next catch, instead of faster mobile internet. But keeping in view, many unsatisfied customers from Wateen and Mobilink yet to make an impression… investment Giant like Telenor can play some good game.
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