Posted by: Aamir Attaa on July 18, 2008 at 8:36 AM
Cellular companies are coming up with innovative value added services in order to acquire new and retain their existing customers. Maybe, it’s nothing new to get video news on your mobile phones for a developed country’s cellular subscriber, but this is happening for the first time in Pakistan.
Ufone offers Video News service to be delivered on your mobile phone. It is a matter of fact that the geopolitical situation and the current national scenarios have diverted people’s attractions from drama serials to News channels. The demand was sensed by Ufone and now they have come up with a service that is very inexpensive, and it can keep people updated with latest happenings while they are on the go.
The good thing is that you won’t be charged for any MMS or GPRS as Telenor or Mobilink’s TV, instead you will be charged Rs. 61 (including Taxes) for a month long Video News on your ufone number.
How to subscribe to Ufone Video News Service?
Subscribing to Video News service is very simple…
Just send write an SMS->NEWS->and sent it to 2478
After sending this message, you will receive a confirmation and that all…you will start receiving News Videos on your Ufone number.
Note: You must be subscribed to MMS, in order to get video clips. So in case MMS is not activated on your Ufone number, just call 333 and ask them to activate your GRPS and MMS or send your mobile model, e.g. Nokia 6300, to ‘222’. You will receive your GPRS and MMS Settings in the form of an SMS. Simply save it and your done.
To view step by step method for activating GPRS on Ufone click here
Service Charges
Service Charges are Rs. 61 per month (Including Taxes)
That’s all; you won’t be charged anything else. Receiving MMS is free for this service.
How Many News Videos you will get?
- Subscribed users are likely to receive news clips through MMS thrice a day between 9:00 am - 9:00 pm.
- Additionally, users will also receive clips of breaking news in the same time slot.
How to unsubscribe
So if you think that Ufone News Video service is of no use for you then unsubscribe it by sending an SMS
Type ‘UNSUB’ and send it to 2479
Please note that your subscription fee of Rs. 61 that you paid for service will not be refunded on subscription.
1 Comment
Posted by: Aamir Attaa on July 9, 2008 at 6:08 PM
ProPakistani.com is now almost 2 months old, and during this I have been getting tremendous response from my friends and readers. In previous couple of months, I had been keenly focusing various opportunities through which I could engage some revenues to meet my server expenses. But, we all know that earning money online is not that easy as it looks, especially when your blog or website is only couple of months old.
I consistently remained in discussion with my friends and fellow bloggers regarding the ways to earn money through advertisements and other ways. At last I was introduced to this payperpost by Nayni, and found that this programme can satisfy my needs by all means.
Advertisers know that only taking a message to the public may not earn them achievement, hence now they are looking for bloggers and other root level publishers to discuss their products; which is in fact good for both advertisers and their customers as users get detailed review of any product/service and in a way more authentic one.
Xxxxxx is a platform where you write reviews and your opinion about certain products, blogs, mobile phones, teleocm services and so on. And you are free to express positively or negatively, I mean you can write both positive and negative sides of the product.
So if you are a bloggers, and you are trying to monetize your blog, then payperpost is an ultimate stop for you. The good thing I found about payperpost is that there are tons of advertisers to choose from, meaning that you never run short of sponsored posts.
So hurry up, and signup now and collect your share from this emerging media of advertising.
15 Comments
Posted by: Aamir Attaa on July 3, 2008 at 4:52 PM
Mobilink, last month, kicked off the war with Jazz one, Telenor responded with A One; however both were defeated by Ufone’s Uwon. And now Zong feeling the heat and joining the club with 8 Anay per Call offer.
Two things are seen common amongst all cellular companies; they are attacking each other…and at the same time deceiving their customers through un-clear advertising campaigns and claiming their packages as best one.
Let’s look at the print ad and try to solve the equation, regarding what actually the pricing would be for this package….
- Regular Rate: 75 Paisa per 30 Second
- FnF Number: 50 Paisa per 30 Second
- How to Activate Package: Call 907, an automated voice will guide you through the process (here you will be asked to enter one FnF number)
Check points:
- AD says 40 Paisas for first minute will be charged; for God Sake your pulse rate is 30 second, how can you communicate additional charges per minute? Yes they are charged for first 30 seconds, if you hang the call in 20 seconds that will cost you 50+40=90 paisa + taxes
- You can select only one FnF number from any cellular network, while the advertisement clearly stats “Koi bhi Number, Koi bhi Network, Sirf 50 Paisay per 30 Seconds”. I am not sure how many but at least million customers will be negatively affected by this.
- FnF number modification: No Information on Print AD, but their website says, Addition/ Modification of FnF will charge you PKR 15 + Tax. How many of Zong customers visit their websites? A 8 x 2 advertisement could be filled with complete information.
- Only numbers of Mobilink, Telenor, Ufone, Warid, and Instaphone can be added for this offer, means you can’t add Zong Numbers….
I am feeling pity on our country and our nation who are misguided every other day, and none of us can take these looters to court.
I just called this “Network for Consumer Protection”, and asked them if there is any good way to bug these cellular companies for ambiguous un-ethical advertisements, but the lady there told that there is no advertising law in Pakistan. She confirmed that there are some code of conduct saved by PEMRA or PTV but that’s scattered. I was shocked to learn that we have no code of conduct for advertising for print media; that’s due to the interest of APNS, that they are more of concerned with the money they are getting from advertisers.
I was told that there is a Consumer Protection Court in Rawalpindi, but at the same time, that court is just for the sake of formalities. It does nothing…!
See below what is being followed in US
Unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, are hereby declared unlawful - Section 12 of the act makes it unlawful to disseminate any false advertisement for “foods, drugs, devices, services, or cosmetics.” - Federal Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. § 45(a).
I remember an American parents sued a Washing Machine Manufacturer for not exclusively mentioning that their washing machines are dangerous for children under 7. Their 3 years old kid was killed when he jumped into machine tub. And interestingly, the couple had won the law suite.
But tell me where should i go to ask for justice in Pakistan?
I am sorry if I am hurting any one, but Pakistan is a jungle not a country, where any one can come and loot you! Bullshit
6 Comments
Posted by: Aamir Attaa on June 26, 2008 at 7:26 AM
Zong signals have hit cities of Gilgit, Hunza, Skardu, Besharn and Sust. The network was rolled out by Alcatel-Lucent, one of their infrastructure partner along wirh Ericsson Pakistan.
Zong had been giving preference to Northern Areas of Pakistan to provide them cellular coverage at earliest. They also bear the added experience of network operations in similar high mountain areas in China. Moreover, the company was interested in covering the road that is connecting China with Pakistan. The region now being covered by Zong borders with China, with the Karakoram Highway (old Silk Route) is going to play a vital role in freight transportation.
We may see hundreds of more cities covered by Zong in coming months, as the company is aggressively rolling out its network in less served areas of Pakistan. Zong had invested US 1 billion dollor since they overtook paktel from Millicom, and these new rollouts are consequences of their initial investment they made in Pakistan.
Recently we have heard about US 800 million dollar additional investment in following years to expand its coverage area throughout Pakistan. We have seen previously how rapidly Zong is fetching customers’ share, while with this increased coverage the company is going to get even better position to gain the momentum.
Zong has said in a PR that It has added over 2000 sites since its launch and the network cell sites have grown from about 900 to over 3000. By the end of 2009, just two years from the start, the cell sites are targeted to grow to over 10,000.
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Posted by: Aamir Attaa on June 24, 2008 at 10:51 AM
A news item published in ‘The News’ on June 23, 2008, revealed that two sub-engineers of Warid Telecom named as Muhammad Kashif and Gul Bakht Khan were kidnapped by unknown persons in Lakki Marwat, (the yellow area spotted in the map) while they were installing a cell site in the area. However, they were not rescued yet despite appeals by the families of kidnapped to Chief Minister of N.W.F.P.
The situation in our country is getting worse, specifically in NWFP, where Talibaans are taking control of cities. I am not sure about what cellular companies have their strategies regarding the security of their work force and cellular towers.
We know that cellular companies in war effected areas like Iraq, have hired security companies. recently Zain (a cellular company in Iraq) has hired a security firm named as “Al Ihsan Security Company” to provide protection to its cell sites and engineers, who has deployed 7000 security men to protect its 1300 base station.
Cellular companies operating in Pakistan should look around for any such possibilities to safeguard the lives of their workers and their assets as well. Keeping in minds that there is no hope from government in bettering the situation!
3 Comments
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..!
2 Comments
Posted by: Aamir Attaa on June 16, 2008 at 8:41 PM
Lately many individuals including Sabah-ud-Din Qazi, a journalist and telecom analyst questioned about dispute handling capabilities of DNDRC
Qazi sb, mentioned one specific instance of Djuice.pk, which was resolved by a sole panelist, who wrote in his ruling: “The Domain Name leads to a so-called “click through” website with pop-ups (e.g. an advertisement for on-line cellular services) and different links to other websites and companies, none of them associated with the Complainant or its authorized dealers, but all of the seemingly similar expertise as the Complainant, being that of cellular based services.”
In real, the penalist ignores the fact that it was a popular entertainment news blog. Google Cache still describes Djuice.pk as Djuice.Pk Mobile Phone Blog, Free SMS, MMS , Ring Tones. A complete mobile phone blog with latest and updated information related to Free SMS, Free MMS, Ring tones, Java Games, GPRS and Wap Service. 3GP movies, MP3 Songs and news and reviews……
The owner must had given some time so that he/she could inform his visitors about the new URL of his blog
And when the owner applied for the djuice.pk domain, it was duty of PKNIC to refuse him since his applied domain had belongs to a mobile company’s name. It seems that time you were only interested to secure money, not for one year that is common in international market, but for 2 years.
In response to Sabah-ud-Din Qazi, Zahid Jamil, Barrister-at-law, Jamil & Jamil expressed himself in following manner…
Continue Reading This Story
34 Comments
Posted by: Aamir Attaa on June 15, 2008 at 8:36 AM
Almost all cellular companies operating in Pakistan offer SMS bundles to their subscribers. These SMS bundle packages offer low priced SMS for those who prefer text messaging instead of voice calls, to save time and money too. These SMS packages were started by Warid Telecom with an offer named as ZOOM; however, this package was taken back after only couple of months. With Zoom, users had the liberty of sending unlimited SMS to any network in Pakistan for nominal Rs. 5.75 per day. It was very catchy package, considering it was way back, in 2006. Warid’s this offer had two variants; one was Zoom, while the other was Zoom Unlimited.
So this was little history of SMS Bundle packages in Pakistan. Now, at this point, all cellular companies claim that they offer unlimited SMS for a set amount of money. We will review all packages offered by all cellular companies, so you may reach to a conclusion about the best package with maximum benefits.
Jazz SMS Fever
Mobilink offers its SMS bundle named as ‘Jazz SMS Fever’ which claims that they offer unlimited number of SMS in one month’s duration. Jazz SMS Fever is available in three variants; details and pricings are as following
How to Subscribe
For Activation, all Mobilink Jazz members can subscribe to this package by simply sending an SMS ‘FEVER’ to 222 (You will be charged Rs. 2.30 for this SMS).
Afterwards, you will receive a reply: Catch the Jazz SMS Fever by replying with “1” for 100 weekly SMS at Rs.15, “2” for 500 fortnightly SMS at Rs.50 and “3” for unlimited monthly SMS at Rs.100!
You will have to reply back this message, with your desired package; on which you be charged for the service.
Make sure that you have enough balance required for any package before subscribing to it. You will get another text message “To activate Jazz SMS Fever please call 123 and enter 123456789012334”
Thanks God, you’re done now, and you can start using your SMS from the bundle now.
Check Points
- All Rates are exclusive of Taxes…
- Unlimited Messages are not really unlimited; these are in fact 10,000 messages, and you will have to subscribe again once you finish your 10,000 messages quota You can subscribe for maximum of three times in a month for a single number.
- Messages are FREE for only on-net SMS, that is Mobilink to Mobilink
- Exceeding either, given number of Message Quota or Date deadline will expire your package…and you will be charged at normal pricings afterwards.
- Subscribing to package involves a good healthy work, that may confuse users
Ufone SMS Bundle Offer
Ufone offers its bundle packages in 4 different variable packages. Ufone is the one, who actually successfully started offering SMS bundles with Limited Number of SMS, and that too valid for any network.
How to Subscribe
Send an SMS “Sub” and Send send it to respective code of the required subscription plan
For Example, for Package 1, Write “Sub” and send it to 601
For Package 4, write “Sub” and send it to 604
Check points
- All rates are exclusive of any taxes
- You can send of-net SMS (SMS to any network in Pakistan)
- Unlimited messages are again not unlimited. Ufone offers 5,000 SMS quota for Package 4, which read as unlimited messages.
Warid SMS Craze
Well, Warid Offers only variant, but it offers good value. in only Rs. 150, you can send upto 2,000 SMS or MMS (yea MMS are included here too, an upper hand on all other cellular companies) in 30 days. Along with, you get 10MB of Mobile Internet for a monthly subscription of Rs.150 inclusive of all taxes.
How to Subscriber
Call 100 and select SMS Craze, simple
Check points
- You will be charged Rs. 11.5 for subscribing to this package. So make sure that you have this much balance in your account before subscribing
- Send up to 2,000 SMS or MMS to any number in Pakistan
- You will be charged Rs. 150, and that includes all taxes, yes!
- Like all other cellular SMS bundles, SMS Craze is available for only prepaid users…Post Paid ones, I am sorry but you better switch over to prepaid now.
ZONG Unlimited SMS
Zong has recently come up with a powerful and attractive SMS Bundle package…which is
Rs. 3 per Day | Free Unlimited SMS to Any Network in Pakistan…..Simple
How To Subscribe
To subscribe SMS “sub” to 700 and to unsubscribe SMS “unsubscribe” to 700. Terms and conditions and taxes apply
Djuice SMS Bundle
Djuice offers a very simple and straight forward offer…
Rs. 70 | Unlimited SMS | 15 days….that’s it
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