The QoS surveys is a regular activity of PTA and the objective is to ensure that the interests of the consumers of telecommunication services are duly safeguarded and that the licensees are providing the telecom services as per the service quality standards of the license.

PTA, from time to time, has been repeatedly informing PTCL about its poor QoS and PTCL was directed to improve the quality as per license conditions, however, no improvement made therein despite ample time provided to PTCL.  As a result, show cause notice has been served to initiate the proceedings against the licensee as per rules.

According to the details, survey was conducted across Pakistan including major and small cities and rural areas from August to October 2009 along with the PTCL representatives on a mutually agreed survey methodology. It may be mentioned that this is the first instance of PTCL being show caused on account of poor quality of service which clearly shows the PTA’s resolve for not compromising on sub-standard services to the telecom consumers.

Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen said that ensuring quality services to consumers has always been priority to PTA. This is evident from the continuous surveys conducted by PTA for both mobile and fixed line sectors. The recent establishment of Consumer Protection Directorate, providing fast and easy complaint registration mechanism is another major step in protecting and safeguarding consumer interests.

Historically, Telenor group has never given majority stake in its business to any other company. If this deal happens, it will be first of its kind.

On the other hand Pakistan’s telecom giant PTCL, which is now part of Etisalat (UAE), is also negotiating different options with Mobilink (an Orascom company) according to market sources. Mobilink, being the largest cellular operators in Pakistan, will change the face of PTCL incase it is acquired by PTCL. PTCL already has its own cellular company with the name of Ufone.

Analysts say that if this deal happens, it will create serious concerns for the young deregulated telecom market of Pakistan. It will boost PTCL’s monopoly in cellular sector as well as it is already enjoying largest market share in fixed telephony.

Universal Service Fund shall be paying Rs. 1.16 Billion for the project to provide broadband in un-served urban areas of Southern Punjab (MTR) and Rs. 550 Million for providing broadband in lower Sindh (STR-1). Similarly Rs. 1.2 Billion will be paid to PTCL for laying 1,166 Km Optic Fiber cables in Southern Balochistan.

Through the two broadband projects, 63,000 broadband connections in Southern Punjab and 23,500 in Lower Sindh are targeted to be achieved. The MTR project also includes establishment of Educational Broadband Centres (EBCs) in 206 high-schools, colleges and libraries plus 58 Community Broadband Centres (CBCs) for those who cannot afford PCs. Similarly 82 EBCs and 43 CBCs will be established in STR-1.

Giving his remarks about the projects, Federal Secretary for Information Technology, Mr. Naguibullah Malik said that the Ministry of IT is striving to increase the level of telecom penetration all over the country. He informed that Ministry of IT, through USF, has been executing broadband, optic fiber and rural telecom programmes which are playing a huge role in socio-economic development in Pakistan. He further stated that Broadband Programme aims towards accelerating the pace of broadband proliferation in the country and will give impetus to provision of other e-services like e-health, e-government, e-commerce etc.
Regarding Optic Fiber Program, Secretary IT informed that in order to strengthen the infrastructure, a series of projects to provide Optic Fiber connectivity to all Tehsils is being run and its initiation in Southern Balochistan after Western Balochistan and Sindh will add on to its importance.

CEO of Universal Service Fund informed that thirty-eight small and medium size cities and towns in 11 districts of Southern Punjab and 77 cities and towns in 09 districts of Lower Sindh will benefit. He further informed that 1,166 kms of Optic Fiber Cable will be laid in Southern Balochistan under the third project for providing Optic Fiber connectivity to nine unserved towns in Bela, Pasni, Turbat and Hub Tehsils. This will also provide an alternate optic fiber route to Gawadar and other coastal towns of Balochistan.

As per details, a ceremony was arranged in the honor of the Pakistan Cricket team here on Thursday in the presence of Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board Ijaz butt; President PTCL Mr. Walid Irshaid presented the cheque to the Captain Pakistan Cricket team Younis khan.

President PTCL Walid Irshaid, while congratulating team on their outstanding performance said that this victory is an inpiration for the whole nation and PTCL would continue its un-interrupted support for the development of cricket in the country.

Captain Younis khan and Shahid Afridi were presented Rs 0.5 million each, along with an amount of Rs 2 million for the whole team. Senior officials of PTCL Mr. Naveed Saeed, Mr. Mazhar Hussain, Mr. Muhammad Nehmatullah and Mr. Ali Qadir Gilani were also present on the occasion.

The ceremony was presided over by Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen while Member (Finance), Syed Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi, Member (Technical) Dr. Khawar Siddique Khokhar, senior officers of the Authority and representatives of PTCL and Wateen were also present on this occasion.

The issuance of WLL licenses would augment the efforts of government to provide enhanced and affordable telecom services to the people of the AJ & K and NAs. This step is likely to capture huge investment in 3 Telecom Regions (TR) including Mirpur, Muzaffarabad and Northern Areas.

While speaking on this occasion, Chairman PTA said that earlier there was only one telecom operator in AJ&K and NAs but when competition was introduced and new operators started their services, all segments of the sector witnessed rapid growth. With a teledensity figure of 3.59% in the Year 2005-06, the region was lagging far behind from the rest of the country in terms of telecommunication services. Two years after the deregulation in the area, the teledensity of AJ&K and NAs today stands at 37.46%.  Mobile subscribers figure of 0.167 Million of 2005-06 has now jumped to 1.84 Million subscribers.

The Chairman said that WLL is a wireless technology, which best suits to the environments in AJ&K and NAs as the service had proved very useful in other far-flung areas of the country.  He said that the people of low income groups in rural areas would greatly benefit from this service.  He said PTA would extend full cooperation to the telecom operators in the successful operation of their business.

These licenses were awarded on the basis of a bidding conducted by PTA in November last year. In the bidding of spectrum in 3.5 GHz for Mirpur (TR-1) one block was taken by PTCL at the highest bid of Rs.10 million while other was withdrawn because there was no second bidder for the TR-1. For Muzaffarabad (TR-2) PTCL gave the highest bid of Rs. 4 million followed by Wateen which matched the price. For Northern Areas (TR-3) Wateen offered highest bid of Rs. 4 million and second block went to PTCL for the same price. In total 26 million rupees were collected against the auction price of 5 WLL licenses in 3 regions.

The technology solution that Inbox will be providing covers deployment of hardware, software and support services for IBM Products which include IBM System P. 595 Power Machine based on Unix for production site and Disaster Recovery Site; IBM backup servers; IBM TS3500 Tape Library; IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Extended Edition; IBM Tivoli Storage Manager Storage Area Networks; and IBM Tivoli Storage Manager for Databases.

All the IBM Servers and Tape Libraries deployed at PTCL come with 3-years onsite parts and labor warranty and 24×7 support services along with backup software as a value added service by Inbox.

This implementation will help PTCL and ZTE in a number of ways.  The servers provided by Inbox will help ZTE deliver exceptional performance, reliability, scalability and flexibility to PTCL while upgrading their billing system. There would be an improvement in the business continuity of PTCL by automation of their data backup and recovery with the help of IBM Tivoli Storage Manager and enhancement of the data availability, security and regulatory compliance at PTCL by IBM Tape Libraries.

PTCL President and CEO Walid Irshaid, has stated that the PTCL will do its utmost to provide relief to the IDPs especially PTCL employees affected by this crisis. PTCL stands by the government of Pakistan to ensure that we fulfill our responsibility to help these war affected people, he said.

Around 300 PTCL staff families have been displaced on account of the confrontation going on in Swat. The management has decided to provide financial assistance to each of these families. The company has also arranged accommodation facilities for fourteen of these families and this number is growing on a daily basis as more and more staff families contact for accommodation.

PTCL has always played a proactive role during all difficult times to provide help to the people in the camps. It had generously donated during the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir, during the Baluchistan earthquake and for Benazir Income Support Fund created for assisting poor families.

PTCL with its growing concern and empathy is certainly pulling all the strings to make things easier for the IDP’s, and its efforts are being highly acknowledged and applauded by people from all walks of life.