Flare June 2014

50
6
08 | EDITOR'S NOTE
Editorial
09 | READER'S RESPONSE
Letters to the Editor
TELEPEDIA
Broadening education through Broadband
Mobilink arranges awareness on World No Tobacco Day
Mobilink triumphs PAS Award 2014 for 'Har Dil Har Din'
Haier wins contact for provision of 100,000 laptops
1st Samsung Smart Zone Customer Service Centre
Huawei Ascend P7 arrives
Ailing BlackBerry launches a new budget handset
Indian executives take Microsoft and Nokia
MC,KDDI partner to launch new "auWallet"
3G & 4G supported smartphones in market
18 |
21 |
32 |
33 |
36 |
37 |
42 |
53 |
56 |
62 |
21
26
49
32
Glow encourages women in the field of sports
38
JUNE 2014
INTERVIEWS
40 | Pakistan is the hub for Kaymu's Asia operations
WCCI launches 50 thousand
women in business by 2020 campaign
Mobilink triumphs PAS Award
2014 for Har Dil Har Din
Microsoft Devices launches much
awaited Nokia XL in Pakistan
COVER STORY
26 | Govt Mulls to deactivate Controversial ICH
INSIGHT
12 |
14 |
17 |
45 |
52 |
54 |
58 |
After Senate, NA too passes resolution for unblock YouTube
TeleCON 2014 concludes
Huawei to support high speed Wateen/Qubee 4G broadband
Sonam Kapoor launches new range of Samsung curved TVs
FCC unveils controversial net neutrality proposal
Skype has a new competitor in Viber
Flappy Bird 'addicts' rejoice as it coming back
EVENTS
16 |
24 |
30 |
34 |
41 |
44 |
Warid & SKMCH saysNo to Tobacco
Teradata announces winners of NIT Excellence awards
3G/4G awarding ceremony
LG curved OLED TV arrives in Pakistan
Miss India reveals Sony Experia Z2
NTT Docomo unveils new mobile device
EXCLUSIVE
13 |
57 |
UAE Government most efficient
Top ten world's largest gold producing nations
NEWS
66 |
78 |
National News
International News
TECH TOOLS
Mobile Rates
Mobile Review
Current Mobiles
Upcoming Mobiles
High Range Mobiles
Low Range Mobiles
Computers
Laptops
Accessories
Gaming Zone
82 |
84 |
86 |
90 |
92 |
93 |
94 |
95 |
96 |
98 |
MOSAIC
60 |
64 |
76 |
Fashion
National Mosaic
International Mosaic
BUSINESS
48 | Dar assures bias SROs to be abolished
COMMERCE
10 |
20 |
46 |
Pak-Iran gas pipeline project still alive
Changhong Ruba key sponsors Metro 50 global
China helps Pakistan to overcome energy crisis
Zubair Ahmed Kasuri Editor
Ismail Qureshi Senior Sub- Editor
Usman Yaqoob
Director Marketing
Syed Farhat Ali
Manager Marketing
Zafar Khan Afridi
Senior Graphic Designer
M. Naeem Mughal
Graphic Designer
Azhar Javed
General Manager
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Editor s
JUNE 2014
In 2008, an idea to establish International Clearing House
(ICH) introduced by former chairman Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Yaseen Malik to establish a
centralised place through which international calls would be
brought into Pakistan.
The object of the ICH was to centralise traffic route through a
single channel so that illegal traffic could be detected and
curtailed. Along with improving the margin of incoming calls, the
operators would provide equipment to relevant authorities to
detect the location of the illegal exchanges set up by the grey
traffickers.
There is a misconception that the Pakistan termination rates
have increased after the establishment of the ICH. The settlement
rate in pre ICH scenario was 6.25 cents, which has increased to
8.8.
It is remembered that the United States Trade Representative
(USTR) suggested PPP government to withdraw International
Clearing House to ensure the functioning of a competitive market
for the termination of international voice calls and taking
necessary steps to prevent collusive behaviour among
international operators.
USTR is an agency that negotiates directly with governments to
create trade agreements to resolve disputes and to participate in
global trade policy organizations.
LDI operators, on direction of MoITT, established
International Clearing House (ICH) under which 13 carriers
assigned Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL)
the exclusive right to terminate inbound international calls in
Pakistan at the approved settlement rate set by the PTA.
As part of the ICH agreement, every carrier, other than PTCL,
suspended their interconnection arrangements for incoming
international traffic and in turn received a fixed share of the
revenues PTCL generates from the termination of incoming
international traffic in Pakistan.
The new international termination rate set by the PTA was
$0.088 per minute, an increase of approximately four hundred
percent over the competitive market rate of approximately $0.02
per minute that existed prior to the ICH agreement.
Grey trafficking is a major issue because approximately 500
million minutes of illegal calls are made every month from
Pakistan to abroad.
Since the PTA is mandated to stop grey trafficking, a vigilance
cell of the Authority has already started working formally to
monitor grey trafficking while law enforcement agencies are
tasked with legal interception of calls.
ICH role in
Pakistan
8
Not e
Zubair Ahmed Kasuri, (Editor-in-Chief) publisher
of FLARE leading telecom magazine, printed
it from Qasim Naeem Art Press, Near Bank
Road, Main Bund Road, Lahore and
published from 46J, Gulberg III, Lahore.
9
P
rime Minister Nawaz Sharif met Presi-
dent of Iran Hassan Rouhani and Iranian
supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei in
Tehran. Nawaz Sharif and Iranian lead-
ers Hassan Rouhani, Ayatollah Khamenei reiter-
ated their commitment to enhance the bilateral
trade between the two countries. Nawaz Sharif
said that there is lot of scope of increasing the
trade volume and enhance the trade to new levels
of $5 billion.
Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline was also discussed
in the meeting. Tehran and Islamabad agreed to
continue with the project as it is beneficial for the
people of the both countries. Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif told that I am here with my team
of Finance, Petroleum and Interior to resolve all
the matters which are creating hindrance in the
project.
Prime Minister said that Pakistan Iran rela-
tions are bound by historical and religious link-
ages." I am here to open a new page in Pak-Iran
relationships", PM added. As a Prime Minister I
visited Iran firstly in 1999 and have always found
the Iranian more affectionate on every visit to
Iran, PM told.
President Rouhani added that our relations
have historical connection. Apart from being
nieghbouring countries, we both are Muslim
states having the common traditions and relations
based on Holy Quran and the traditions of our
Holy Prophet (PBUH). Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif's visit would further boost the brotherly re-
lations between the two countries, added Presi-
dent Rouhani.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that some
miscreant elements are trying to sabotage the
brotherly relations between Pakistan and Iran. We
will deal with all such elements firmly and not let
them sabotage our relations, added the Prime
Minister. The Prime Minister said that "We want
security of development and development for se-
curity". President Rouhani also affirmed his gov-
ernments support adding that peace in the region
is our common goal. He added that we will sup-
port Pakistan to develop and become secure.
Both the leaders also discussed the border se-
curity matters between the two countries and
agreed that better border management and im-
proved security measures would result in in-
creased bilateral trade and strengthening
relationship and cooperation between the two
countries. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif extended
invitation to the President Rouhani to visit Pak-
istan, which the President accepted.
Pakistan has stressed in Iran to soften its
stance on penalties for Pakistan regarding Pak-
istan and Iran gas pipeline project, besides seeking
Iranian financial assistance for the project.
Under an agreement between Tehran and Is-
lamabad, Pakistan was to get 750 million cubic
feet of gas per day (mcfd) from January 1, 2015.
Later, the gas supply from Iran was to be in-
creased to 1 billion cubic feet gas per day (bcfd).
The issue was deliberated by Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif, during his Iran visit recently,
whose endeavors to soften rigidities through
amendments by mutual considerations.
The high-powered delegation including Fi-
nance Minister Ishaq Dar, Federal Petroleum
Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Governor
Balochistan Mahmood Khan Achakzai, Adviser
to PM. Sartaj Aziz and Special Assistant to PM
Tariq Fatimi, and higher officials of these min-
istries accompanied Prime Minister, while it was
also disclosed that visit by an Iranian delegation
would follow to review other conducive situations
and implementation factors.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had been endeav-
oring to convince Iranian officials on the gas
pipeline project, because Iran had offered such fi-
nancing to former PPP-led government; while
when the newer PML-N government tried to
carry the initiative ahead, Iran excused itself cit-
ing its economic crisis. The delegation accompa-
nied Prime Minister tried to coax Iranian officials
to waive of its time limit for completion of Pak-
istan's part of pipeline by January 2015, failing
which Pakistan would be fined in accordance with
gas volumes due to Pakistan. Pakistan could be li-
able to fines upto an astronomical $3 million daily if
it fails to honor its part of pipeline construction.
Pakistan and Iran on Sunday signed eight MoUs
to enhance their cooperation further in various
fields.
Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and
Iranian First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri wit-
nessed the signing ceremony.
The following MoUs/agreements were inked
during the ceremony, according to a press release
from the PM office.
1. Agreement on Transfer of Offenders (Transfer
of Sentenced Persons), signed by Iranian Justice
Minister and Advisor to Prime Minister on National
Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz.
2. MoU on Anti-Money Laundering signed by
Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar and his Iranian
counterpart.
3. MoU on Statistical Cooperation signed by
Minister for Finance and Iranian Finance Minister.
4. Renewal of the Cultural Exchange Pro-
gramme signed by Adviser to the Prime Minister on
National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz
and Iranian Minister for Culture.
5. MoU on Sports Cooperation signed by Min-
ister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid
Khaqan Abbasi and Iranian Minister for Sports.
6. MoU on Cooperation in Preventing and Com-
bating Pollution from Ships signed by the Minister
for Petroleum and Natural Resources and Iranian
Minister for Roads and Transport.
7. MoU on establishment of Joint Border Com-
mission signed by Adviser to the Prime Minister on
National Security and Foreign Affairs and Foreign
Minister of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif.
8. MoU between TDAP and IIEC signed by
Ambassador of Pakistan to Iran and Managing
Director of Iran International Exhibition Com-
pany (IIEC). n
Under an agreement between Tehran and Islamabad, Pakistan
was to get 750 million cubic feet of gas per day (mcfd) from Jan-
uary 1, 2015. Tehran and Islamabad agreed to continue with the
project as it is beneficial for the people of the both countriess
Fr ee downl oad | FLARE. PK
10
COMMERCE | Flare Report
Pak-Iran gas pipeline
project still alive
Pakistan has stressed in Iran to
soften its stance on penalties for
Pakistan regarding Pakistan and
Iran gas pipeline project, besides
seeking Iranian financial assistance
for the project
N
ational Assembly unanimously passed
a resolution seeking unblock on video-
sharing website, YouTube. Pakistan
Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Shazia
Marri moved the resolution, saying her country is
the only Islamic country, where YouTube services
remain blocked since the release of an anti-Islam
film.
"Other Islamic countries like Afghanistan,
Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia, which had also im-
posed a ban on the video-sharing website for the
same reason, unblocked it after taking necessary
measures," Marri said.
She said there is no reason to deny access to
YouTube after the launch of the 3G and 4G serv-
ices.
Minister of state for health services Saira Tarar
assured the house the government would seriously
consider lifting the ban soon.
The video-sharing website has been blocked in
Pakistan since September 2012 when YouTube re-
fused to remove 'Innocence of Muslims' movie that
sparked protests. The movie has since been re-
moved.
It is pertaining to mention here some weeks
ago, Senate Standing Committee passed a resolu-
tion in favour of unblocking the video sharing web-
site, YouTube. The unanimously-approved
resolution stated that the ban on YouTube in the
country was not yielding required results as con-
troversial material was still accessible. Senator
Mushahid Hussain Syed and other members ob-
served that the Pakistan Telecommunication Au-
thority chairman had admitted at the last meeting
that the ban on YouTube was useless as there were
still ways to access it. The committee urged the
government to unblock the website.
YouTube has been controversial in the country
for many years. It was banned several times due to
the objectionable and controversial contents on its
server.
The video-sharing website was banned in 2010
again due to the blasphemous content, but was re-
opened when the objectionable contents were re-
moved from the website.
There are some technical reasons which gov-
ernment could not open the YouTube in Pakistan.
As per Ministry of Information Technology
and Telecommunications, Pakistan needs to sign
the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) with
the US before asking Google to remove the objec-
tionable content from the website.
Explaining the reason, the convener of the In-
ternet Service Providers Association of Pakistan
(ISPAK), Wahajus Siraj, said: Unlike Pakistan,
countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, In-
donesia and Malaysia have entered into agree-
ments with the US. Under the MLAT, these
countries are in a position to request Google to fol-
low local laws and remove the objectionable con-
tent from YouTube, said Mr Siraj.
The IT expert said the agreement safeguarded
interests of the service provider (Google in this
case) by not holding it responsible for any blas-
phemous or anti-state content posted online by in-
dividuals/users.
According to Mr Siraj, absence of the treaty
was why, despite repeated requests from Pakistan,
Google has not taken out the anti-Islam movie. Ac-
cess to YouTube was blocked on Sept 18 last year
following protests in the country.
Even India has signed the MLAT with the US
and because of this New Delhi is able to get all ob-
jectionable contents blocked without denying ac-
cess to YouTube, Mr Siraj said. According to a
senior official of the ministry of information tech-
nology there was a status quo on the matter. The
Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty if signed is the
only way to restrict/block blasphemous material
on internet, but there is no progress yet on the
matter, the official said, adding that without
signing the agreement links and websites would
have to be manually blocked which was not pos-
sible.
Mr Siraj said that signing the agreement was
not a difficult matter and could be done within
two months given that government officials in the
ministry of information technology worked
proactively on the matter.
Simply pleading the Google, who owned the
popular website, to pay heed to concerns of the
people and requests from the government and
oblige by removing the objectionable content will
not resolve the matter, he said.
Ms Anusha Rehman, a member of the Na-
tional Assembly Standing Committee on IT, said
that Pakistan needed to specifically address such
issues without (taking coercive actions) to the ex-
tent of a regulatory filtration, employed by some
neighbouring countries. IT experts say that after
signing an agreement with Google and getting
YouTube registered, the Pakistan government will
be in a position to ask the US company to provide
Pakistan-specific content on the website.
The experts also say that YouTube was regis-
tered in most Muslim countries, including Saudi
Arabia and UAE. YouTube has been controversial
in the country for many years. It was banned sev-
eral times due to the objectionable and controver-
sial contents on its server.
The video-sharing website was banned in 2010
again due to the blasphemous content, but was re-
opened when the objectionable contents were re-
In 2012, an American-made movie triggered
violent demonstrations across Pakistan, which, re-
portedly, left more than 20 people dead. The
movie had reportedly a blasphemous content.
The PPP-led governments Prime Minister
Raja Pervez Ashraf directed the IT Ministry to
block the website, which instantly calmed the sit-
uation.
Since its blockage there has been a debate in
the country against and in favour of this ban.
Some believe YouTube is an informative website
and in a country where education standard is very
low as compared to the rest of the world, this site
gives them visual access to latest technologies, ad-
vanced knowledge and experiments. n
Other Islamic countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia, which had also im-
posed a ban on the video-sharing website for the same reason, unblocked it after taking nec-
essary measures," Marri said
12
I NSI GHT | Flare Report
After Senate, NA too passes
resolution to unblock YouTube
The video-sharing website was
banned in 2010 again due to
the blasphemous content, but
was reopened when the objec-
tionable contents were re-
T
he UAE has the most efficient govern-
ment, the strongest decision-making
and the lightest bureaucracy in the
world, according to a major annual re-
port by the Swiss-based International Institute for
Management Development (IMD).
The World Competitiveness Yearbook 2014,
released recently, also ranks the UAE as number
one globally for low government debt, effective
corporate boards, and quality of air transport.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid
Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister
of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, welcomed the find-
ings in a personal message to government em-
ployees.
"The title of most efficient government in the
world was earned by the commitment and dedi-
cation of every member of UAE government
team. We are truly transforming public service in
UAE, and here is the proof. We have shown what
can be achieved on the world stage by a small na-
tion with big ideas," said Sheikh Mohammed.
The IMD report is a worldwide reference point
for the competitiveness of nations. It covers 60
countries and analyses how well each economy
manages its resources in order to generate pros-
perity for people.
On the headline measure of global competi-
tiveness, UAE ranked eighth in the world for
2014, above Denmark (9th) and Norway (10th).
UAE also ranked 8th the previous year. Sheikh
Mohammed urged government employees to sus-
tain their ongoing drive to improve the quality of
government service, cautioning against compla-
cency.
"Let us never forget: competitiveness is a race
with no finish line. We must never stop improv-
ing: even as Number One, we have a duty to do
better tomorrow, and every day. Because this is
also a race with the richest of prizes: a govern-
ment that delivers happiness and prosperity to all
of the people of UAE," Sheikh Mohammed said.
The IMD report is based on more than 330
sub-indices based on statistical indicators and
questionnaire data. U.A.E. ranked number two in
the world on four sub-indices: strong trade bal-
ance, budget surplus, ease of doing business, and
labour force growth. It ranked number three in the
world on measures of the current account bal-
ance, transparency, and stock markets.
In the questionnaire data, business executives
attributed the UA.'s attractiveness to economic
dynamism, a business-friendly environment, com-
petent government, reliable infrastructure and a
competitive tax regime.
UAE moves up in WEFs 2014 Network
Readiness rankings The UAE has moved up in the
latest global rankings of information and com-
munication technology competitiveness (ICT) by
the World Economic Forum (WEF), strengthen-
ing its position as one of the most techno-savvy
countries in the world, with the momentum fueled
by a strong government ICT vision enabling
U.A.E. to become worlds 24th most "networked
ready" nation, moving up from the 25th place a
year ago.
"U.A.E. government has been relentless in its
pursuit of technological excellence, as is clearly
exemplified by bold commitments to smart city
development and infrastructural innovations re-
lated to events like Expo 2020," said Rabih Dab-
boussi, Managing Director, Cisco U.A.E.
Applauding U.A.E. for its continued drive and
focus towards becoming one of the world's most
ICT-enabled nations, Cisco, sponsor of the report,
said the Global Information Technology Report
(GITR), co-published by the World Economic
Forum and INSEAD, showed that among the 148
economies, U.A.E. is the worlds 24th most "net-
worked ready" nation, moving up from the 25th
place a year ago.
The report measures the effectiveness of vari-
ous markets in harnessing the power of informa-
tion and communication technology to boost
economic growth and well-being. The report also
shows how far some countries have gone in bridg-
ing the digital divide. U.A.E. is ranked second in
the Middle East, next to Qatar, in the global "net-
worked readiness index", but it is ahead of other
European countries, including Italy and France.
"The country's visionary ICT leadership and a
determination to adopt a cutting-edge strategy is
enabling it to adapt to pressing and ever-changing
ICT trends, whether it is the surging growth of big
data, or the increasing pervasiveness of technolo-
gies in areas such as cloud computing and mobil-
ity," added Dabboussi.
The report found that the U.A.E.'s improved
ranking is due to improvements in its ICT infra-
structure (where it ranked 30th) and ICT uptake
by individuals (29th), both of which have resulted
in positive associated economic impacts (27th).
Cisco says the momentum is fuelled by a
strong government ICT vision (which is once
again ranked as the best in the world), which is
reflected in the already high and rapidly increas-
ing levels of ICT uptake across all stakeholders.
85 percent of its population use the Internet
(14th) and have access to a personal computer at
home (18th); government services are largely
available online (9th) and e-commerce is relatively
well established (20th).
Published under the theme "Rewards and
Risks of Big Data", the GITR's NRI is the result
of a long-standing partnership between the World
Economic Forum and INSEAD, and, since last
year, with the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate
School of Management at Cornell University. n
The World Competitiveness Yearbook 2014, released recently, also ranks
the UAE as number one globally for low government debt, effective corporate
boards, and quality of air transport
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed
bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice
President and Prime Minister of
UAE and Ruler of Dubai, wel-
comed the findings in a personal
message to government employees

Flare Report | EXCLUSI VE
T
he 7th Pakistan TeleCON 2014 concluded
with regulators and experts determining
that a data revolution, connected com-
munities and a digitised ecosystem will
define the telecom sector in Pakistan. The theme of
the conference was The Changing Dynamics of
Telecom and ICT Sectors in Pakistan.
Organised annually by Shamrock Conferences
International, to highlight and debate on critical is-
sues and opportunities concerning the telecommu-
nication sector, including ICT trends and its impact
on economy, the conference was a well-attended af-
fair with participation from a cross-section of com-
panies and organisations.
In her message to the organisers, Minister
Anusha Rehman said: The priority of our govern-
ment is to use next generation ICT services particu-
larly mobile broadband for an accelerated
digitisation ecosystem to enable socio economic de-
velopment expanding knowledge based economy
and spur economic growth.
Chairman PTA Syed Ismail Shah in his keynote
address reiterated the governments resolve to sup-
port and develop the telecom sector with investor
and consumer friendly policies. He said: We expect
a strong demand for 3G as operators will start
rolling out services and consumers getting excited
about the new enabling technologies; it will connect
communities and people, the whole experience will
be like a data revolution.
Mudassar Hussain, Member Telecom, Ministry
of MoIT highlighted that on the policy front, the
government had invited industry and public con-
sultants to be partners in its decision making; and in
this context a review of the telecom policy was also
in the offing.
In his opening remarks, Menin Rodrigues, Con-
vener of TeleCON 2014 said: The telecom sector
has performed exceedingly well and while the Min-
istry of IT & Telecom and PTA are doing all that is
right for the country and its citizens, some issues of
level playing fields for stakeholders and proliferation
of grey telephony persist.
In the opening session on Regulatory, promi-
nent industry personality Zouhair A Khaliq, now a
telecom consultant in the UK appreciated the
growth in telecom in the country and how it has
evolved from a struggling industry to its phenome-
nal growth today. He reiterated that the policy
framework must have constructive dialogue with in-
dustry players to remain relevant in the future, in-
cluding the rationalisation of taxes.
The Convener of the Internet Service Providers
Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) Wahaj us Siraj
said that the government and regulatory bodies must
create a balanced approach to its dealings with
stakeholders. He complimented the PTA for a trans-
parent spectrum auction process. Giving his assess-
ment of telecom as an economic sector, Ali Salman,
CEO, Policy Research Institute of Market Economy
(PRIME) informed the participants that flawed po-
lices and lack of controls are a result of non com-
pliance of economic principles and parameters, and
therefore, grey trafficking has increased.
In the session on Technology Omer Bin Tariq,
Director Internet & Devices, Telenor Pakistan said,
empowering societies, Internet for all, will shape the
future of a progressive Pakistan; and the socio eco-
nomic impact of 3G will improve education, health,
commerce and entrepreneurship. A correct rollout
plan can spur economic and GDP growth he
added. Veqar ul Islam, President of Touchpoint
Group pointed out that indeed the mobile phone is
the ultimate universal access tool; it has given power
to do things like never before, bridging the digital di-
vide. The Chief Operating Officer of Supernet
Hamid Nawaz dilating on the subject of enabling
satellite backhaul networks said that his company
was ready to support 3G.
Naeem Zamindar, CEO, Wateen Telecom in an
eloquent style spoke about high speed connection
for economic growth; he pointed out technology
and social transformation is at hand as access to
data will revolutionise our world in leaps and
bounds. Providing optic-fiber connection to HEC in-
stitutions across Pakistan, his company has given
every citizen an opportunity to access broadband.
An interesting presentation on E-Waste was made
by Adnan Shahid, Chief Ideas Officer of Ideogeny
who glaringly highlighted the sorry state of affairs
in proliferation of electronic waste and how this
practice continues to be an environmental and
health hazard for the people of Pakistan.
The closing session on Social Challenges was
chaired by Prof. Dr. Sajjad Mohsin, Dean, Faculty
of Information Science & Technology, Comsats,
with Faisal Javed Khan, Head of Electronic Media
Operations PTI speaking on how a political party
successfully mobilised the youth to vote for change
through social media communications. n
Menin Rodrigues, Convener of TeleCON 2014 said: The telecom sector has performed ex-
ceedingly well and while the Ministry of IT & Telecom and PTA are doing all that is right for the
country and its citizens, some issues of level playing fields for stakeholders and proliferation of
grey telephony persist.
14
TeleCON 2014 concludes
Data revolution and digitised
ecosystem to define telecom sector
Naeem Zamindar, CEO, Wateen
Telecom in an eloquent style
spoke about high speed connec-
tion for economic growth; he
pointed out technology and social
transformation is at hand as ac-
cess to data will revolutionise our
world in leaps and bounds
A
s part of its Corporate Social Respon-
sibility (CSR) programme, Warid Tele-
com has once again conducted a
massive Anti-Tobacco awareness cam-
paign in collaboration with Shaukat Khanum Me-
morial Cancer Hospital (SKMCH&RC) on the
occasion of World No Tobacco Day, which high-
lighted the adverse effects of using tobacco.
Every year, on 31 May, WHO everywhere
marks World No Tobacco Day, highlighting the
health risks associated with tobacco use and ad-
vocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco
consumption.
Tobacco use is the single most preventable
cause of death globally and is currently responsi-
ble for 10% of adult deaths worldwide.
Warid Telecom collected funds for poor can-
cer patients and organized a session for its em-
ployees on the hazards of smoking. In addition to
sending awareness text messages to Warid sub-
scribers, the company also ran an awareness cam-
paign on via social media.
SKMCH organized numerous awareness ses-
sions in different corporate organizations and ed-
ucational institutes across Pakistan and also
organized an Anti-Tobacco Walk in Islamabad,
both of which were sponsored by Warid.
In the 20th century, the tobacco epidemic
killed 100 million people worldwide. According
to the World Health Organizations (WHO) 2008
report titled The Global Tobacco Epidemic by
2030, there will be more than 8 million deaths
every year unless urgent action is taken.
An estimated 80% of these deaths will occur
in developing countries. According to a research,
nearly 40% of cancers in adult males of Pakistan
can be associated with tobacco. Being socially
aware and a responsible corporate citizen, Warid
remains active in the promotion of health in the
country.
Tobacco is the single largest preventable cause
of death in the world while tobacco causes 90%
of all lung cancers deaths worldwide and causes
20% of all other cancer deaths.
According to Pakistan Health Survey, tobacco
kills 274 Pakistanis every day whereas 5,000 Pak-
istanis are admitted to hospitals every day because
of tobacco use. Similarly 1200 Pakistani children
start smoking every day.
Moreover the smoke from Sheesha contains
numerous toxicants that cause lung cancer, heart
diseases.
Likewise in typical one hour session of Shee-
sha a smoker inhales 100-200 times the volume of
smoke than by smoking a cigarette while by shar-
ing a Sheesha mouth piece there is serious risk of
transmission of T.B and Hepatitis
In Pakistan Prohibition of Smoking and Pro-
tection of Non-Smokers Health Ordinance 2002
has been passed. In the light of the Section-5 of
the ordinance designated smoking areas in Public
places are illegal. n
Warid Telecom collected funds for poor cancer patients and organized a session for its em-
ployees on the hazards of smoking. In addition to sending awareness text messages to Warid sub-
scribers, the company also ran an awareness campaign on via social media
16
EVENT | Flare Report
Warid & SKMCH says No to Tobacco
SKMT organized numerous
awareness sessions in different
corporate organizations and edu-
cational institutes across Pakistan
and also organized an Anti-To-
bacco Walk in Islamabad, both of
which were sponsored by Warid
H
uawei Technologies Pakistan (Pvt)
Limited entered into an equipment
supply agreement with Wateen and
Qubee for upgrading their existing in-
frastructure to support high speed 4G broadband
in Pakistan. Earlier in December 2013, the latter
two companies announced their intentions to con-
solidate wireless broadband operations in Pakistan.
The signing ceremony was held at the CEO
Leaders Summit in the presence of Ahsan Iqbal,
Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Re-
forms; Mohammad Zubair, Minister of State &
Chairman, Privatization Commission and the sig-
natories, Ahmed Bilal Masud, Deputy CEO,
Huawei Pakistan Limited, Naeem Zamindar, CEO,
Wateen Telecom and Jamal Nasir Khan, CEO,
Augere Pakistan Limited.
The state-of-the-art equipment provided by
Huawei will significantly improve the coverage and
capacities of the existing networks of Wateen and
Qubee to 20 fold, enabling customers to get speeds
effectively up to 20 Mbps. The network has been
designed and dimensioned to provide not only re-
tail but wholesale high speed capacities and sup-
port plug and play solutions to consumers, as well
as Corporate and SME customers. The fixed broad
band network will improve the broadband service
offering in the country to the next level and enable
the proposed joint operations to provide high speed
broadband services at affordable prices. The Net-
work upgrade is targeted to get completed by May
2014.
Ahmed Bilal Masud, Deputy CEO, Huawei
Technologies Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd. highlighting the
global success and supremacy of Huawei tech-
nologies, said, Emerging services require higher
network quality where operators need to pay more
attention to the quality of services; I am confident
Huawei will provide the required support to the in-
creasing complexity of network architecture
through its multi-technology solutions and world-
wide expertise.
Naeem Zamindar, CEO, Wateen Telecom
stated, At Wateen, our vision is to enable the lives
of each and every Pakistani through the best pos-
sible digital services. I am confident that this agree-
ment will catalyse the next revolution in
communication services in Pakistan".
Jamal Nasir Khan, CEO, Qubee Pakistan Ltd
said, This is a special occasion not only for us but
also for the whole telecom industry in Pakistan.
We are looking forward to become the pioneers in
providing unparalleled broadband services to our
customers. n
The signing ceremony was held at the CEO Leaders Summit in the presence of Ahsan
Iqbal, Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Reforms; Mohammad Zubair, Minis-
ter of State & Chairman, Privatization Commission and the signatories, Ahmed Bilal Masud,
Deputy CEO, Huawei Pakistan Limited, Naeem Zamindar, CEO, Wateen Telecom and
Jamal Nasir Khan, CEO, Augere Pakistan Limited.
Huawei to support high speed
Wateen/Qubee 4G broadband
The state-of-the-art equipment
provided by Huawei will signifi-
cantly improve the coverage and
capacities of the existing networks
of Wateen and Qubee to 20 fold,
enabling customers to get speeds
effectively up to 20 Mbps

Flare Report | I NSI GHT
A
solid and well-rounded education opens up
minds and is the basis on which future
livelihoods and families are founded. Edu-
cation also holds the key to helping coun-
tries grow and meet their development agendas.
Instead of looking at education from a narrow spec-
trum and confining it in four walls, a broader vision is
required. Parallel to education policy, a road map to
spread broadband is also needed, which has taken
centre stage as an enabler to education and learning.
As an enabling force for sustainable development,
today, broadband internet has taken the centre stage in
empowering people with the necessary knowledge,
skills and values to lead a fulfilling and productive life.
Broadband internets potential to transform education
by extending the learning space beyond the four walls
of a classroom needs to be capitalized upon. For the
traditional brick-and-mortar schools broadband con-
nectivity is also essential now, providing a variety of
learning opportunities beyond the physical limits of
school.
With the current accelerated growth in mobile de-
vices, we are already witnessing emergence of flexi-
ble, open learning environments which enable
real-time, interactive and personalized learning. New
technology and communication tools, enabled by a
collaborative broadband backbone are gradually blur-
ring the boundaries between formal and non-formal
education.
Broadband connectivity is, unfortunately, still a big
deal in Pakistan. In a country of 180 million plus in-
dividuals and over 100 million adults, there are only
29.8. million internet users. The signs are clear that a
speedy improvement is required.
Out of this number the major subscriber base re-
sides in the cities. Only Pakistan Telecommunication
Company Limited (PTCL) serves the rural and semi-
rural communities through its fixed and wireless
broadband.
One significant factor of having broadband at
home depends upon income levels of the people. It
must be understood at the rates of broadband rises,
more and more middle to low income groups chance
of having broadband internet drops. With the current
household income levels hovering at per capita in-
come of only Rs 11,094 low cost broadband penetra-
tion is what actually required.
Poor communities are constantly being challenged
by their lack of digital competency and there is no
even learning landscape available to these communi-
ties when broadband penetration is low or is expen-
sive. Rates need to be revised if the dream of spread of
broadband is to be realized. At this juncture, the low-
est rates are being offered by Pakistan Telecommuni-
cation Company Limited (PTCL) which needs to be
emulated by other market players as well.
The inequalities in internet access are less signifi-
cant in the urban areas, but outside the main urban
centres the situation is not good. Anyone, who has
ever tried to do important work online can understand
how not having fast, reliable internet, 24-seven, would
hinder your best efforts to advance in work or educa-
tion.
With a slow connection, it is much harder to par-
ticipate fully in digital culture, and a society that is in-
creasingly reliant upon digital tools for access to
events, services, and greater choice-options in general.
The greatest service that broadband provides is the
awareness for disadvantaged communities where
teachers and students are able to access online educa-
tional material free of cost.
Similarly, its the schools where broadband plays
an increasingly important role in building a sound
foundation for future work skills. Pakistans private
sector schools may recognize this need more than
government schools, but even then they need afford-
able and seamless broadband connectivity for their
computer labs.
Distance learning, cooperative work in virtual en-
vironments, online learning communities, and access
to vast resources and databases are just some of the
possibilities which broadband has offered resulting in
improving the state of education and learning, both
of which are desperately needed in Pakistan. Its im-
perative to facilitate organizations like Pakistan
Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) to
expand the scale of broadband reach, to ensure that
no one is left without access to broadband internet
and digital tools as well as literacy-training opportu-
nities.
To maximally leverage the broadband potential a
broad-based approach needs to be followed. Deploy-
ment of next-generation networks is essential to pro-
vide educational institutes with high-speed
connectivity. This is of more significance in remote
areas, where traditional methods of education lack
behind. With faster speeds, people in remote areas
can access real time lectures and education material,
which will increase the literacy rate and provide more
opportunities to far-flung communities. n
Broadband internets potential to transform education by extending
the learning space beyond the four walls of a classroom needs to be
capitalized upon. For the traditional brick-and-mortar schools broad-
band connectivity is also essential now, providing a variety of learning
opportunities beyond the physical limits of school
18
TELEPEDI A | Raja Asad
Broadening education
through Broadband
Broadband connectivity is, unfor-
tunately, still a big deal in Pak-
istan. In a country of 180 million
plus individuals and over 100 mil-
lion adults, there are only 29.8
million internet users. The signs
are clear that a speedy improve-
ment is required
C
hanghong Ruba was the key sponsor of
Metro 50-year globally and eight years an-
niversaryy celebrations in Pakistan. Chang-
hong, in collaboration with Ruba Group has
launched its products in Pakistan to give the consumers
high quality energy saving products of international
standards, under the ChanghongRuba brand as TVs,
ACs, fridge and water dispenser.
50 years celebration of supporting business and
strong economic growth is being celebrated globally by
Metro in 33 countries of its operations simultaneously.
A launch ceremony in this regard was held at Canal
Bank Store of Metro Pakistan last where President La-
hore Chamber of Commerce & Industries Sohail
Lashari was the chief guest of the ceremony who at-
tended this festive event along with the executive com-
mittee members, Metros Board of Directors, Metro
customers & suppliers.
Since its founding in 1964 Metro Cash & Carry
has decisively shaped the Cash & Carry industry.
Today Metro is celebrating its 50 years of supporting
the trends set to make independent businesses more
successful. Time and again Metro re-invented itself to
meet the changing needs and wishes of our customers
and will continue to do so also in the future. Cus-
tomers are the seeds for our future success stories. Our
purpose is to be the Champion for Independent Busi-
ness. This means: we support independent businesses
and assist them in being sustainably successful. This is
because we are successful if our customers are suc-
cessful, said Umer Lodhi, Director Sales & TGM,
Metro Pakistan.
Sohail Lashari, President Lahore Chamber of
Commerce & Industries speaking on this occasion
said: It is a pleasure to be a part of 50 years anniver-
sary celebrations of Metro. We look forward to strong
business ties with this market leader in cash & carry
who is promoting the entrepreneurial spirit, a passion
for business and a high level of service orientation
which are the characteristics that we want to share with
our customers.
The Changhong was founded in 1958 and with
over 72,000 employees worldwide, specialises in high
quality electronics. Changhong is a diverse corporation
with many divisions specialising in the R&D, produc-
tion, sales and services of televisions, air-conditioners,
refrigerators, IT, communications, networks, digital
products, chips, energy, commercial electronics, spare
parts, consumer electronics and hi-tech flat panel dis-
plays. Changhong manufactures 11 million televisions,
6 million air conditioners, 20 million refrigerators and
3 million plasma screens a year. One of Chinas for-
tune 500 companies, Changhongs worth is 10.7 bil-
lion USD and in 2012, it was inducted in the fortune
500 companies of the world. n
Changhong, in collaboration with Ruba Group has launched its products in Pakistan to give
the consumers high quality energy saving products of international standards, under the Chang-
hongRuba brand as TVs, ACs, fridge and water dispenser
20
Changhong Ruba key sponsors Metro
50 global and eight years anniversary
celebrations in Pakistan
50 years celebration of supporting
business and strong economic
growth is being celebrated glob-
ally by Metro in 33 countries of its
operations simultaneously

Flare Report | EVENT
M
obilink Foundation in collaboration
with Skaukat Khanum Memorial Hos-
pital (SKMH) organized orientation
sessions in Karachi, Lahore and Is-
lamabad to create awareness about the adverse ef-
fects of tobacco consumption. These sessions were
conducted as part World No Tobacco Day which is
being observed on May 31, 2014. The day is ob-
served around the world every year as means of en-
couraging a 24-hour abstinence from all forms of
tobacco consumption. As a responsible corporate
citizen, Mobilink has took the lead in commemo-
rating the observance and held sessions for its em-
ployees and Torchbearers to be part of the activities
planned to make the World No Tobacco Day a suc-
cess. The orientation sessions were conducted by
specialists from SKMH who highlighted the ill-ef-
fects of smoking and tobacco consumption. Tobacco
consumption is the prime cause of cancer, heart at-
tack, strokes and oral diseases. Smoking not only
harms the smoker but also people in the vicinity. In
the 20th century alone the tobacco epidemic killed
100 million people worldwide. According to the
World Health Organizations (WHO) 2008 report ti-
tled The Global Tobacco Epidemic by 2030, there
will be more than 8 million deaths every year unless
urgent action is taken. The orientation sessions were
both informative and interactive with the specialists
responding to the queries and concerns of the em-
ployees. Mobilink Foundations orientation session
was attended by 150 employees in the three cities.
Mobilink Foundation is the only registered NGO
from the corporate sector which actively conducts
CSR activities across the country. Mobilink Founda-
tion works consistently on health, environment, ed-
ucation and disaster relief fronts with the help of
Torchbearers who are volunteers from within the
organization. The foundation organized relief
drives for the Tharparkar disaster, the 2005 earth-
quake, the 2010 and 2012 floods which show Mo-
bilinks commitment in helping people whenever
the need arises. n
T
eradata, the analytic data platforms,
marketing applications and services
company, announced winners of the
12th Teradata National IT Excellence
Awards. Honourablechief guestsShahid Khaqan
Abbasi, Federal Minister for Petroleum and Nat-
ural Resources and Dr. Syed Ismail Shah, PTA
presented the winners trophies at a grand event
held recently. Amir Malik, member Ministry of
Information Technology also graced the occasion
as guest of honour.
Abbasi recognised Teradatas efforts in pro-
motion of IT and related professionals in Pakistan
through annual recognition and awards pro-
gramme ever since its launch in 1997.
Dr. Shah acknowledged the efforts of Tera-
datas year after year for the growth of informa-
tion technology professionals and information
technology development in Pakistan through the
awards. He also congratulated the winners for
achieving excellence in their respective fields.
It is my honour to welcome these winners of
the Teradata National IT Excellence Awards to
the ranks of high achievers as adjudged by the
panel. We are pleased to recognise their talent
and achievements and to be part of their journey
to further excellence, said Khuram Rahat, Tera-
data MD for Pakistan, Afghanistan and
Bangladesh.
The winners of the 12th Teradata National IT
Excellence Awards in the 10 categories are:
Excellence in IT Business Intelligence.
Mohammad Rizwan Arif was the winner in this
category for successfully implementing more than
250 accounting and management software pro-
grammes in more than 800 organizations, includ-
ing more than 300 schools. He has also released
software for thedigital study of Al-Qur'an.
Excellence in Software Development.
The winner in this category was Sham Zia, for his
project, Track Forever, an enterprise-grade ve-
hicle-tracking and fleet management software so-
lution.
Excellence in Software Export. This or-
ganizational award is given to M/S NetSol Tech-
nologies Limited, for its unique efforts resulting
in achieving the highest software exports since
2004. The company realised a 22 percent growth
in software exports in 2013 compared to 2012.
Excellence in IT Research and Develop-
ment. Won by Osman Hassan for his role in de-
veloping new ideas, technology, techniques
and/or products through research and develop-
ment, he developed the first training robot and
simulator for Minimal Invasive surgery in Pak-
istan.
Excellence in IT Education. Winner of
this category was Dr Sajjad A. Madaniwho has
co-prepared and presented the concept paper to
establish a virtual campus for distance learning at
Comsats institute of Information Technology.
The concept was successfully implemented in 1.5
years.
Excellence in Project Management.
Given to an individual with proven qualitative
and quantitative results in successful execution of
projects during the period of consideration, this
award was given to Naeem Siraj. He demon-
strated qualitative and quantitative results with
the successful implementation of Retail Manage-
ment System at 400 point-of-sale systems.
Excellence as an IT Student. This award
was earned by Suleman Belal Kazi. A student at
National University for Science and Technology,
he has been on the Deans honour roll for all six
semesters. Kazi placed first in the IETs Present
around the World Competition and was the team
leader of the team that won the Best Engineering
Design award.
Excellence in IT Enabled Service Offering.
This year it was given to three individuals involved
in two projects. Ahmad Saeed and Dr. Bilal Zaka
were awarded for their IT-enabled service through
Pak Wheels, the community-based automobile
website. Bilal Zaka won for earning his Ph.D. in
Computer Science and graduating with distinction
from Graz University of Technology in Austria,
and for consulting to Higher Education Commis-
sion for running learning-management-systems in
15 universities.
CIO of the Year. This category recognizes
individual leadership and thought innovation in
technology applications within an organization. Dr.
Sarfraz Alam was given this award in appreciation
of his high contributions as Chief Information Of-
ficer for TEXPO Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd. Under his dy-
namic leadership, more than 100 engineers have
been developed, and the first satellite tracking
ground stations for United Arab Emirates have
been developed.
Lifetime Achievement Award. In recogni-
tion for having spent his entire career in promoting
IT in Pakistan, this award was given to Shahid
Mahmud. He is a Member of Corporate Advisory
Council (CAC), the National University of Science
and Technology for IT and Telecom, and a mem-
ber of the NUST Alumni Advisory Council. Mr.
Mahmud is the founder of PAKTEL, the first cel-
lular company of Pakistan, where he remained a
Director on the companys board till 1998. In 2001,
he was selected to take part in the prestigious Eisen-
hower Fellowship programme on leadership, in the
United States of America.
Nominations in the 10categories were received
by independent auditors KPMG Taseer Hadi and
Co. Seven judges evaluated the nominations based
on the supporting documents. The compiled results
were later announced by the auditors. Judges for the
12th Teradata National IT Excellence Awards were:
Dr. Abdul Wahab, President Mohammad Ali
Jinnah University, Prof. Dr. Ziauddin Zia, Head of
Computer Science Department, COMSATS Vihari,
Dr. Arshad Ali DG NUST SEECS Islamabad, Brig.
(Retd) Saleem Ahmed Moeen, CEO, Secure Tech
Consultancy Pvt Ltd, Nooruddin Baqai, Advisor
PTCL, JehanAra, President P@SHA Pakistan Soft-
ware Houses Association for IT and ITeS, and
Salman Ansari,CEO, Salman Ansari
Technologies. n
24
26
COVER STORY | Zubair Kasuri
27
W
ithin two years, the recorded vol-
ume of incoming international
calls has dropped from an aston-
ishing two billion minutes to less
than 500 million minutes per month, giving a mas-
sive boost to grey trafficking in the country in
which illegal telephone exchanges, mobile SIMs
and Internet connections are used.
Internal data of Pakistan Telecommunication
Authority (PTA) reveals that over the past one
and a half years the country witnessed 75 per cent
increase in grey traffic which the mainly attributed
to setting up of the controversial International
Clearing House (ICH) by the PPP-led government
in October 2012. Former IT Secretary, Farooq
Awan, took lead
in pleasing his
bosses, the then
Prime Minister,
Raja Parvez
Ashraf who was
also Minister In-
charge for IT and
all time powerful
Interior Minister,
Rahman Malik
and issued Policy
Directive on ICH.
In reward, he was posted as the Chairman PTA to
implement the directive, but his plans shattered as
Lahore High Court ordered his dismissal by de-
claring his appointment as illegal on a petition
filed by the telecom industry activists.
The reduction in the per-minute price of the in-
coming international calls by 3cent per minute
was under consideration to curb grey trafficking
which continues to afflict countrys telecommuni-
cation sector. However, a final decision would be
taken after getting the nod of Ministry of Finance.
The ICH has also caused significant decrease by
one billion minute per month in the volume of in-
coming international calls.
The national kitty has so far suffered heavy
$1.3billion loss with setting up of infamous ICH,
as rate of per minute of the incoming interna-
tional calls was jacked up from 3 cent/minute and
fixed it at 8.8cent/minute.
Though Influential people with vested inter-
ests were using
their connections
in the corridors of
power to keep the
present ICH
arrangement in
place, but the IT
ministry was set to
take a final deci-
sion to curb grey
trafficking in the
country, ministry
sources said.
Under the ICH, the entire incoming telephonic
traffic was put at the disposal of the Pakistan
Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL),
a state owned enterprise, 26% shares of which
along with management control were sold to Eti-
salat.
All the 14 long distance and international
(LDI) licence-holding operators formed a consor-
tium which through an agreement allowed PTCL
to manage the incoming telephone traffic and, in
return, receive their proportionate share in the in-
come.
Sources said that Etisalat enjoyed good con-
nections with PPP led government and kept pro-
viding its private jets to the next of kins of then
topman for their Dubai-Islamabad voyages.
Grey traffic is defined as use of illegal tele-
phone exchanges for making international calls,
bypassing legal routes and exchanges.
These illegal exchanges include VOIP (voice-
over internet protocol) using a computer, GSM
(global system for mobile) gateways, WLL (wire-
less local loop) phones or mobile SIMs.
This traffic may then be distributed onwards
using WLL and mobile numbers. Grey routes are
arrangements that fall outside the regular course
of business among licensed telecom companies in
each country.
It is to note that the PML-N government has
done little to undo the faulty decision that al-
legedly caused massive boost to grey trafficking in
the country with use of illegal telephone ex-
changes.
The government has so far kept mum as deci-
sion to end the controversial ICH was a tough job
and required of political will to take strong action
against the people with vested interests while the
Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) had
ruled against the ICH, describing the arrangement
as cartelisation.
According to estimates, there are almost seven
million Pakistanis living abroad and monthly in-
coming international traffic to Pakistan is 1.5 bil-
lion minutes per month, which means overseas
Pakistanis will have to pay between $120 million
to $150 million extra to the PTA for calling their
family back home. Now the government probably
believes that the overseas Pakistanis are not doing
enough for their country and decided to impose
extra charges on them through this increase in tar-
iff- but a small Google search reveals that Pakistan
ranks amongst the top 10 countries for remittances
sent home with remittance potential topping $20
billion a year.
That number, though magnanimous in its own
right, is also almost 9% of the countrys estimated
nominal GDP. Considering that a majority of the
Pakistanis working abroad and mostly the ones
working in the Middle East do blue-collar jobs
making just enough money to make ends meet,
this massive increase in rates seems very harsh. As-
suming that most people would still prefer to keep
calling their folks back home, this increase in tar-
iff rates would either result in the amount of re-
mittances suffering a sharp decline or people re-
sorting to other services such as Skype or Viber to
call people back home.
Moreover, due to decline in legitimate traffic,
APC receivable by the PTA dropped to just $16
million per month from $25 million per month be-
fore formation of ICH.
Market analysts are opining that international
voice traffic should be deregulated and VoIP
should be made legal just like western markets
where operators earn from data services instead of
voice telephony. They say that future is in VoIP
and Pakistan should move ahead in the direction
as early as possible.
Within two years the recorded volume of in-
coming international calls has dropped from an as-
tonishing two billion minutes to less than 500 mil-
lion minutes per month, giving a massive boost to
grey trafficking in the country in which illegal
telephone exchanges are used.
According to a Pakistan Telecommunication
Authority (PTA) official, over the past one and a
half years the country witnessed 75 per cent in-
crease in grey trafficking which he mainly attrib-
uted to setting up of the controversial Interna-
tional Clearing House (ICH) by the PPP-led
government in October 2012.
Although the PTA official was non-committal
about the precise amount of loss the national ex-
chequer had suffered because of the ICH, Dr
Ramesh Kumar Vankwani of the PML-N put the
figure at over $1 billion per year.
Dr Vankwani had moved in the National As-
sembly a notice drawing attention of Minister of
State for Informa-
tion Technology
Anusha Rehman
Khan to the mat-
ter.
One can put
the blame for put-
ting in place the
ICH on the PPP-
led government,
but we have been
running the gov-
ernment for 10
months and unfortunately are not able to curb
grey trafficking which continues to afflict the
telecommunication sector, Dr Vankwani said.
According to Dr Vankwani, after the setting up
of ICH in October 2012, the volume of recorded
international incoming calls declined to less than
one billion minutes per month within a few
months.
Throughout last year, incoming telephone
calls only once crossed 400 minutes per month,
which clearly suggested the degree of losses the
government has suffered, Dr Vankwani re-
marked, adding that with the increasing use of in-
ternet applications such as Skype and Viber, one
could understand some decline in the use of tele-
phone. But this sudden and sharp fall needed to be
investigated at proper forum.
Dr Vankwani said the loss of one billion min-
utes to grey trafficking meant over $1bn loss to the
national exchequer.
Grey traffic is defined as use of illegal tele-
phone exchanges for making international calls,
bypassing legal routes and exchanges. These ille-
gal exchanges include VOIP (voice-over internet
protocol) using a computer, GSM (global system
for mobile) gateways, WLL (wireless local loop)
phones or mobile SIMs.
This traffic may then be distributed onwards
using WLL and mobile numbers. Grey routes are
arrangements that fall outside the regular course
| COVER STORY
Within two years the
recorded volume of incoming
international calls has
dropped from an astonishing
two billion minutes to less
than 500 million minutes per
month, giving a massive boost
to grey trafficking in the coun-
try in which illegal telephone
exchanges are being used
28
COVER STORY |
of business among licensed telecom companies
in each country.
Minister of State for IT Anusha Rehman ad-
mitted that it was a faulty decision which led to
the formation of ICH in agreement with LDI op-
erators, but said some in the PTA argued that the
amount of government receivables had increased
over the years and, therefore, the arrangement
should continue.
I have asked for a comprehensive exercise by
involving the finance ministry and the Federal
Board of Revenue to determine the exact financial
impact of the ICH. The future of ICH will be de-
cided after receiving the findings from them, she
said.
Sources maintain that IT Ministry and PTA
wants the ICH to go but the Secretary Finance
who is also on the Board of Directors of PTCL
and receives US$5,000 for attending one board
meeting and the powerful Finance Minister dont
want the ICH to die.
Another PTA official said that the organisation
had suggested to the IT ministry to impose a levy
of 1.35 cents per minute and let the LDI licence
holders compete among themselves. A summary
to this effect is with the ministers office.
The official alleged that people with vested in-
terests were using their connections in the corri-
dors of power to keep the present ICH arrange-
ment in place, but a final decision would be taken
by the government.
The official recalled that the Competition
Commission of Pakistan (CCP) had ruled against
the ICH, describing the arrangement as cartelisa-
tion. It will be a tough call for the government if
it decides to carry on with the ICH.
Speaking on the issue of grey trafficking in the
National Assembly, former IT minister Awais
Leghari had alleged that powerful lobbies were
carrying out illegal business through gateways set
up in Karachi. He said the only and best possible
way to deal with grey traffickers was to signifi-
cantly cut down on access to promotion charges
which the government received.
Grey trafficking will die its own death if
cheaper calls are made available to customers,
said Mr Leghari, who was minister in the Mushar-
raf government but joined the PML-N after win-
ning the election as an independent candidate.
The PTA official agreed with Mr Legharis
suggestion and said that to avoid government tax
LDI licence holders themselves were involved in
grey trafficking.
While, a petition filed before Sindh High
Court, challenging the exit of Telenor from ICH
has been transferred to Islamabad High Court due
to territorial jurisdiction objection raised by Te-
lenor Pakistan.
Telenor LDI Communications Pvt Ltd, a sub-
sidiary of Telenor Pakistan, exited from the In-
ternational Clearing House (ICH) due to heavy
losses to Telenor as an enterprise. Telenor had
raised concern a number of times with the relevant
authorities.
Telenor joined ICH in compliance with MoIT
policy directive issued on 13 August 2012 en-
dorsed by PTA. As part of this policy directive,
Mobile Termination Rate for international in-
coming (MTRI) was proposed for mobile opera-
tors.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA)
and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) jointly
conducted successful raid in Lahore and confis-
cated illegal gateway exchange. Illegal voice ter-
mination activity was detected in Lahore and raid
was conducted after investigations. Illegal Voice
over Internet Protocol (VoIP) exchange compris-
ing 16 ports, thousands of SIMs, seven wireless in-
ternet devices and other equipment was confis-
cated. The action is expected to save millions of
loss incurred due to illegal termination of voice
calls by the exchange.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority
(PTA) with the help of the Federal Investigative
Agency (FIA) confiscated 89 exchanges and ar-
rested 21 persons in 22 raids conducted across
Pakistan in 2013.
According to a report released by the PTA,
this year till May, the authority conducted four
raids in Islamabad during which it confiscated
eight exchanges and arrested three persons.
From the period from June to August 2013, the
PTA conducted 18 raids, confiscated 81 exchanges
and arrested 18 persons across Pakistan. In
Karachi, five raids were carried out, 43 exchanges
were confiscated and 18 persons were arrested.
Two raids were made in Multan, one in Islamabad
and four raids were conducted in Rawalpindi.
Some 24 exchanges were seized and four persons
were arrested.
One raid was conducted in Peshawar, three
raids were conducted in Sargodha and nine ex-
changes were confiscated. In Sahiwal, one raid
was conducted which resulted in confiscation of
one exchange and arrest of a person while in La-
hore one raid was conducted, four exchanges were
seized and one person was arrested.
The ministry of information technology and
telecommunications issued a policy directive on
August, 13, 2012, for establishment of Interna-
tional Clearing House (ICH) Exchange for inter-
national incoming calls for Long Distance Inter-
national, Fixed-Line Local Loop, Wireless Local
Loop and Mobile Operators. The FIA director
general constituted a committee and requested
for coordination from the PTA to curb menace of
grey traffic.
Accordingly, a separate committee has been
constituted in May 2013, comprising of officers
from the PTA and the FIA with a scope of inves-
tigation and detections of illegal setups, planning
of raid actions and follow-up of the cases. It was
decided that the meeting of the committee will be
held twice in a month. In general, the grey traffic
can be defined as the use of illegal gateway ex-
changes to bypass the legal gateways and termi-
nate/originate international traffic, through VoIP
gateways to avoid applicable taxes and/or regu-
latory fee.
According to Deregulation Policy 2003, net in-
coming international traffic generates a financial
premium over the cost of conveying and termi-
nating the traffic into Pakistan, called Approved
Settlement Rate (ASR). The ASR has two por-
tions - Access Promotion Contribution (APC)
used for infrastructure development which is de-
posited in Universal Service Fund (USF) and
Long Distance International (LDI) Operators
share. To curb the menace of grey traffic, the
PTA has taken effective measures as per its man-
date including both technical and regulatory
measures. Regulatory measure include rationali-
sation of the ASR and the PTA as per provision
of de-regulation policy reviews the ASR rate at
which operators obtain traffic from foreign carri-
ers.
Technical measure includes monitoring of in-
ternational traffic and the PTA deployed a tech-
nical system for monitoring and reconciliation of
international telephone traffic with the funding of
LDI operators. The system became functional in
May 2008.
The aim was to monitor all international traf-
fic being terminated into Pakistan. Currently the
system is only monitoring 6 percent of the total
bandwidth and its capacity is decreasing on daily
basis.
With the issuance of International Clearing
House (ICH) Policy Directive by the ministry of
IT & Telecom, a new system has been purchased
and the same has yet to be installed in the min-
istry of IT & Telecom. The reports of setups with
irregular traffic patterns achieved through system
and analysis of heavy callers data were shared
with the FIA for raid action.
A total of 88 joint raids with the FIA have
been carried so far across the country since 2009.
Some 78 persons including six foreigners were
apprehended during the raids beside confiscation
of a total of 591 illegal gateways equipment. Mo-
bile numbers involved in illegal call termination
(Grey Traffic) are being identified by law en-
forcement agencies and Vigilance Directorate
PTA.
The draft of Prevention of Electronic Crimes
Act 2014 bill for curbing cyber crimes had been fi-
nalised and would soon be presented before the
cabinet for approval. Under this Act, offenders to
get up to 14-year jail or Rs 50 million fine or
both. The government will introduce grey traffic
law bill in which the culprits get life prison sen-
tence and fine Rs 100 million or both.
Last year, PTA acquired new filters to monitor
grey traffic in an effort to boost the anti-terror
fight and control the illegal telephonic traffic. The
system, which was called Grey Traffic Mitiga-
tion System (GTMS) became operational in Oc-
tober 2013. n
Former IT Secretary, Farooq
Awan, took lead in pleasing his
bosses, the then Prime Minister,
Raja Parvez Ashraf who was also
Minister Incharge for IT and all
time powerful Interior Minister,
Rahman Malik and issued Pol-
icy Directive on ICH
P
rime Minister Nawaz Sharif formally
handed over the 3G and 4G licenses to the
four cellular companies following a trans-
parent bidding process that fetched the coun-
try over $1.22 billion. Addressing a gathering the
Prime Minister congratulated the nation and said the
modern telecom services would provide quality serv-
ice to the people and lead the country on path of
progress and prosperity.
Four cellular companies including Mobilink, Te-
lenor, Ufone and Zong had won the licenses for 3G
and 4G in April after going through a transparent bid-
ding process. The Prime Minister said it was part of
government's initiative to provide quality telecommu-
nication services and also bridge the rural and urban
digital divide. He invited all sectors of the society to
benefit from this latest technology and play their part
in development of the country. He specifically urged
the youth to use the service for research, education
and progress. He also expressed the hope that all the
cellular companies will stay abreast of the latest
changes in the technology and pass it on to the end
users. He said the new technology would not only
bring an additional Rs 260 billion to the kitty, but also
create hundreds and thousands of new jobs.
Prime Minister Sharif said it was important that
the reach of the broadband was extended and made
affordable, however stressed the need of having a set
of guidelines for provision of quality services while
providing level playing field for all stake holders.
The Prime Minister addressing the large gathering
here at a local hotel said the day also coincided with
the World Telecom and Information Society Day
whose theme "Broadband for Sustainable Develop-
ment" closely matched the vision of his government.
He recalled that it was during his government in
1990 that launched the Optic Fibre Cable network and
was pleased to note that the PML-N government was
launching the next generation mobile service in the
country.
"Pakistan today has come way ahead from where
it was on June 5, 2013," the Prime Minister said and
mentioned the measures taken by the government to
manage shattered economy, laid foundation for new
development projects, restored confidence of the local
and foreign investors and improved efficiency of var-
ious departments. He said the government was also
taking steps to eradicate corruption and fight the curse
of terrorism.
The Prime Minister said he was pleased to inform
that the credible financial institutions of the country
were also acknowledging the positive results of im-
provement in national economy as the foreign ex-
change reserves were increasing and the pace of
progress in the industrial sector was increased by 5.2
percent. He said the inflation has been restrained to a
single digit, foreign remittances have increased,
Karachi Stock Exchange index touched the 28,344
points and the Pak rupee - US dollar parity remained
stable.
PM Nawaz said the government in the short span
of time has embarked upon a number of development
projects in various fields including energy, infrastruc-
ture development and attracting more foreign invest-
ment. He said the government has taken strict
measures to overcome corruption, eliminate terrorism
and improve Pakistan s image at international level.
He was confident that the government at the end of its
tenure will give a strong and dignified Pakistan, which
will be moving forward on the road of prosperity and
Prime Minister Sharif said it was important that the reach of the broadband was ex-
tended and made affordable, however stressed the need of having a set of guidelines for
provision of quality services
PM hands over 3G, 4G licenses
to successful bidders
CEO Mobilink Rashid Khan has
said that taxation on telecom sec-
tor must be rationalized as it is al-
ready heavily taxed
29
progress fueled by a robust economy.
Nawaz Sharif said a number of short and
medium-term power projects have been launched to
reduce energy crisis, while a number of long-term
projects are in pipeline to launch including Diamer
Bhasha and Dassu dams.
He hoped that Pakistan-China economic corridor
will open new vistas of economic activities through-
out the country including development of Gwadar
port. He said due to viable economic policies, country
s foreign exchange reserves have increased signifi-
cantly and Pakistani rupee has become more stable
against US dollar. The Prime Minister congratulated
all the four cellular companies that won in the bidding
process, the Ministry of Information Technology and
other departments that made the process fair and
transparent.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in his remarks termed
it a "unique and historic day" for Pakistan and said the
credit of the award of licenses goes to Prime Minister
Nawaz Sharif who specifically directed that most
modern services be provided to the people of Pak-
istan. He said it was on PM's advise that the 1800 Mhz
spectrum was added to the auction so that the people
may benefit from the latest technology.
He said the country earned US 1.22 billion
through the auction and said the payment terms for
the auction were also unprecedented.
He said the government will decide the time when
to auction the remaining two licenses and added that
the Prime Minister will take a decision in the larger
national interest. He said the country's economic in-
dicators were also positive showing over 4% increase
in country's GDP as compared to 3% last year. He
said the Prime Minister has tasked him to increase it
to 7% in the next four years, while the investment to
GDP ratio had gone up to 20%.
He said Pakistan has become a very attractive
place for Foreign Direct Investment and said the auc-
tion of 3G/4G licenses would accelerate the GDP
growth. He also hoped that it would help bridge the
digital divide and bring prosperity to the country.
The Finance Minister assured the telecom indus-
try to keep in view its recommendations while for-
mulating the next year's federal budget. Minister of
State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman
Khan said the award of licenses was fulfillment of the
promises made by the PML-N in its manifesto. She
hoped the award of quality broadband services will
help the country achieve its dream of e-governance.
She said talks were also going on with various com-
panies for local assembly and manufacture of IT and
telecommunication related equipment in the country.
She was also appreciative of the support extended
by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Finance Minis-
ter Ishaq Dar in the entire process and hoped the new
services would go a long way in improvement of ed-
ucation, women empowerment, innovation and apps
development. Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-
Baltistan Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees Tahir said
the 3G and 4G technology would revolutionalise the
telecommunication sector and help providing cheap
internet facilities to the people. Talking to media per-
sons after handing over ceremony of 3G, 4G licence
to four companies, he said the government wants to
make the country as hub of modern technology.
He said prosperity in the country is impossible
without promoting services sector and acquiring latest
technology in it. The credit of transparent auction of
3G and 4G went to the government of Pakistan Mus-
lim League-Nawaz.
CEO Mobilink Rashid Khan has said that taxa-
tion on telecom sector must be rationalized as it is al-
ready heavily taxed.
He was representing the 5 telecom operators dur-
ing the 3G and 4G license awarding ceremony that
was given by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Professing
for the telecom sectors long standing grievances, Mr.
Rashid said that taxation rates on the sector are very
high and they need to be revised as telecom operators
are already providing services at one of the lowest tar-
iff rates in the world. He pleaded Prime Minister that
there needs to be done a revision in the policies that
govern the import of telecom equipment and also on
the rates of taxation imposed on the sector as it will not
only facilitate the end user but it will also help the tele-
com companies to provide better services.
Highlighting the performance of mobile network
sector, Head of the Pakistans largest mobile company
said that despite the challenges and problems, telecom
operators have continued to provide a very cost effective
and broad set of services in the country. He further
added that In last 20 years, telecom operators have
spun out one of the most terrific industries in Pakistan.
Talking about the impact and scope of the sector,
CEO Mobilink said that today more than 25,000 pro-
fessionals are directly employed in the sector whereas
almost 1 million in-direct employment opportunities
have also been generated. He said that 36,000+ mobile
sites have turned Pakistan into a closely connected
country. He further mentioned that every hour 5 crore
voice calls are connected around the country. He also
told the gathering that mobile networking has changed
the way we socialize and even the way we conduct our
businesses.
About the next generation of mobile services, Mr.
Rashid said that they have a huge potential for e-com-
merce, e-health, entrepreneurship and local content
based value added services. He reiterated the stance that
telecom players will make their best efforts to take Pak-
istan to new era of success and excellence with these
enhanced services. n
30
T
he PAS Awards, organised by the Pakistan
Advertisers Society, awarded jubilant win-
ners at a star-studded gala awards function
held at the Expo Center in Karachi. Awards
were given out in a total of 34 categories this year, with
two special awards given out for the Campaign of the
Year and Best original local campaign.
The master of the ceremony for the award cere-
mony was actor and radio presenter Khalid Malik,
while the show featured entertaining performances by
Arif Lohar, Humaima Mallick, Sajjad Ali, Mathira,
Adil Omer & Ali Gul Pir, Asim Azhar and Sara Loren.
Pakistan Advertisers Society said that almost every
category spanning across various segments had
an overwhelming response this year from the agencies
and brands across Pakistan totaling around 200 entries
in the various categories.
Mobilink won the Pakistan Advertisers Society
(PAS) Awards 2014 for the Best Campaign of the Year
under the Telecommunication Service Provider cat-
egory. The award was presented for Mobilinks Har
Dil Har Din campaign launched in June 2013.
Speaking on the occasion, Ali Murtaza, Director
Brands and Communication Mobilink said, Winning
the PAS Award 2014 is a result of our continued com-
mitment to our customers and is reflective of the con-
nect that we have established with them. I thank our
customers for placing their trust and confidence in Mo-
bilink, which has been our inspiration for creating a
Better Every Day for them
The master of the ceremony for the award cere-
mony was actor and radio presenter Khalid Malik,
while the show featured entertaining performances by
Arif Lohar, Humaima Mallick, Sajjad Ali, Mathira,
Adil Omer & Ali Gul Pir, Asim Azhar and Sara Loren.
PAS Awards were Presented by Zong, in associa-
tion with Servis and co-sponsored by English Biscuit
Manufacturers, Indus Motors, Asian Consumer Care
(Dabur), & Olpers Lassi. The categories Passion for
Pakistan and Media Innovation were sponsored by
Bank Alfalah and APNS & PBA respectively. Dinner
was hosted by National Foods Limited, while Pepsi
was the sponsor for the Cocktail Lounge. Connectivity
at the awards function was courtesy PTCL. n
Mobilink triumphs PAS Award 2014
for Har Dil Har Din campaign
Mobilink won the Pakistan Advertisers Society (PAS) Awards 2014 for the Best Cam-
paign of the Year under the Telecommunication Service Provider category. The award
was presented for Mobilinks Har Dil Har Din campaign launched in June 2013
32
H
aier China signed Rs 4.5 billion con-
tract with Higher Education Commis-
sion (HEC) for provision of 100,000
laptops to university students under the
Prime Minister's Laptop Programme. The Prime
Ministers Youth Programme chairperson directed
Haier Pakistan to establish a laptop assembly plant
in Pakistan. The laptops produced in this plant will
also carry the label of Assembled in Pakistan.
Leila Khan, Member National Assembly and
Adviser to the Chairperson PMYP were the chief
guest during the ceremony held at HEC Secre-
tariat, Islamabad.
The programme aims at distribution of laptops
among young and bright students studying in pub-
lic sector higher education institutions across the
country. HEC is the executing agency responsible
for developing criteria, mechanism, modalities and
a roadmap for procurement and distribution of lap-
tops under this programme. During 2013-14,
100,000 laptops will be distributed among students
as per defined criteria.
Anwar Amjad, Director General, Information
Technology, Higher Education Commission
(HEC) and Zhang Le, International Projects Man-
ager, Haier Electrical Appliances Corp. Ltd. signed
the contract.
Haier has won the contract through a competi-
tive process conducted by HEC in which major
manufacturers of laptops participated.
Speaking at the occasion, the chief guest Leila
Khan shared the vision of PML-N government for
development of youth. She appreciated HEC for
effectively managing the selection process for the
laptop programme. She emphasized that it has
been ensured that entire procedure of the laptop
programme is transparent and that laptops will be
distributed purely on merit.
Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed, Chairperson HEC
thanked the government for showing confidence in
HEC for execution of the laptop programme. He
appreciated the idea of the Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif for not only providing laptops to students
but also bound procuring agency to assemble lap-
tops in Pakistan. He said that right from the start
Transparency International has been involved so
that nobody has any doubt on fairness of the whole
process.
It may be mentioned here that Transparency In-
ternational Pakistan has congratulated Prime Min-
ister for procurement of 100,000 laptops fully in
accordance with PPRA Rules. The whole process
has been completed by HEC in a record time of 20
days.
Wang, General Manager, Haier Electrical Ap-
pliances Corp Ltd appreciated the initiatives of
present government for the youth of Pakistan, in-
cluding laptop programme.
He said that Haier has thousands of customers
globally. "We always focus on customers' demands.
We will provide best quality laptops to beneficiar-
ies of the scheme."
In his welcome address, Dr. Mansoor Akbar
Kundi, Executive Director HEC said that the youth
programme launched by the government is talent-
centric, which is a source of inspiration for the
young population of this country.
While, under the Punjab Governments Youth
Scheme, students who are enrolled in government
universities in Punjab and meet the merit criteria
set (usually 60%) will be awarded with a laptop.
Laptops have been distributed in the last two years.
The first year featured laptops by Dell and in the
second year, HP Pavilion notebooks were given to
the students. This year, Haier has won the Punjab
Youth Laptops tender. If you are a student of a
government university, expect to have a Core i3
Haier Laptop in your hands in June this year.
According to the official government report re-
leased, 3 main bidders came forward out of which
Hair bid the lowest and thus won the Tender. The
document released details Haier Electrical Appli-
ances Corp.LTD as the successful bidder. The com-
pany will be commissioning 100,000 Haier 7G-5H
Core i3 laptops for the Youth Scheme. The Haier
7G-5H model supports 4th Generation core i3 and
is clocked at 1.7GHz. n
HEC is the executing agency responsible for developing criteria, mechanism, modalities
and a roadmap for procurement and distribution of laptops under this programme. During
2013-14, 100,000 laptops will be distributed among students as per defined criteriah
The Prime Ministers Youth Pro-
gramme chairperson directed
Haier Pakistan to establish a lap-
top assembly plant in Pakistan.
The laptops produced in this plant
will also carry the label of As-
sembled in Pakistan
Haier wins contract for provision
of 100,000 laptops

Mazhar-ul-Haq | TELEPEDI A
34
EVENT | Usman Yaqoob
Samsung Smart Zone Customer Service Center is a One-Stop solution for all the companys
consumer electronics items. Here all Samsung products with genuine Samsung warranties can
be claimed for perfection
36
1st Samsung Smart Zone Customer
Service Centre opens in Lahore
H
uawei took the number-three spot in
smartphones last year pushing aside
Sony, HTC and Nokia but its still
practically unheard of as a smartphone
brand in the UK. But that may change quite rap-
idly with the launch of its latest flagship model, the
Ascend P7, unveiled in Paris. Huawei CEO
Richard Yu has launched 2nd flagship smartphone
Ascend P7 during a presentation aiming to give
tough time to Apple and Samsung and capture
more of the European market with a low-cost de-
vice that is laser-focused on a modern phenome-
non - the "selfie".
The P7 manages to squeeze a dual-antenna
LTE Cat4 radio into a very well-designed, 6.5mm-
thick, five-inch full-HD phone weighing just 123g.
This 4G capability allows it to download from the
mobe network at speeds up to 150Mbps.
The handset runs Android 4.4 KitKat on a
quad-core 1.8GHz ARM Cortex-A9-compatible
processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal
storage. And with a before-taxes-and-subsidies
price of 449, it undercuts rivals substantially.
The boffinry of a new generation of Chinese
R&D graduates is being well directed. The 4G
handset uses Huaweis own HiSilicon CPU with a
Mali-450MP4 graphics processor but leans on
Sony for the primary camera module, and Altek for
a customised discrete ISP that reduces noise and
generally improves results in very low light condi-
tions.
Its slimmer than other LTE models on the mar-
ket today, which Huawei says is down to a 4mm
antenna. The f/2.0 primary camera is comple-
mented by an 8MP five-piece lens front camera
all the better to take your selfie. It can also stitch
together several photos for a "panoramic selfie".
This is how pressing First World Problems are
solved.
One nice touch is that theres a dual SIM ver-
sion and when youre not using the second SIM
slot, itll take a MicroSD card to boost capacity by
up to 64GB.
The company has been plagued by security con-
cerns which have effectively frozen it out of the US
market, mostly down to founder Ren Zhengfei's
previous career in the Chinese army. But the infra-
structure of all of the UK's mobile networks de-
pend on its telecoms equipment.
Richard Yu, CEO, said that the P7 was a big
chance for Huawei to build a new global brand:
"We want to become better and better and better.
We're investing so much resources." n
Huawei CEO Richard Yu has launched 2nd flagship smartphone Ascend P7 during a pres-
entation aiming to give tough time to Apple and Samsung and capture more of the European
market with a low-cost device that is laser-focused on a modern phenomenon - the "selfie"
Huawei Ascend P7 arrives LTE, selfie,
Android 4.4 Kitkat and much more

Flare Report | TELEPEDI A
38
W
omen Chamber of Commerce &
Industry (Lahore Division) has
launched 50 Thousand Women
in Business by 2020 campaign
during the seminar held recently.
According to WCCI, women constitute half
of Pakistans population yet many are disen-
gaged from mainstream society. WCCI in its
new campaign aims at bringing prosperity to
Pakistani women by helping 50,000 females
start and run their own businesses by the year
2020.
WCCI President Qaisera Sheikh said WCCI
aims to empower 50,000 aspiring female entre-
preneurs over a period of six years to launch
their own businesses. She said WCCI will aid
these women in terms of training and skill de-
velopment to participate in Pakistans economy.
Senior Vice President WCCI, Shazia
Salman Aslam said women should register with
the Chamber to get access to professional ad-
vice and a network of established business-
women.
Chief guest of seminar, CEO Wateen Tele-
com Naeem Zamindar, said he was impressed
by the women present. The corporate world is
being revolutionized with increasing presence
of women, he added.
He said his encounter with a small busi-
nesswoman inspired him, who runs a business
worth eight million rupees year, making cus-
tomized bangles and employing 150 females.
He praised WCCI for its spirit and initiative to
empower women.
Later, guests were presented shields by CEO
Wateen Telecom Naeem Zamindar. n
Q: Kindly tell us what Rocket Internet is all
about?
Ahmed Khan: Rocket Internet Gmbh is owned
by Germanys Samwer brothers. It is one of the
largest e-commerce incubators in the world, present
in around 50 countries. It was launched in Pakistan
two years ago and is now working on eight e-com-
merce ventures. Its first venture in Pakistan was the
fashion portal, daraz.pk, followed by
foodpanda.com and kaymu.pk, and so on.
Q: Can you tell us about the history or the idea
behind Kaymu?
AK: We initially started with the model of ama-
zon.com, but came to know its model is very com-
plicated in small markets as there is a need for
eco-system to support it in terms of logistics, ware-
housing, etc.
The marketplace model, that we are working
with right now, suits Pakistan. The idea is buyer
meets seller, where anyone can come get in touch
with us to list any product they want and buyers can
browse and choose any product they want to ac-
quire. We at Kaymu, develop the marketplace and
assist in logistics.
Q: What other countries does Kaymu operate
in?
AK: Kaymus model is such that we launch our
ventures in emerging markets; such as Nigeria,
Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and many others.
Currently, we are in around 17 countries in Asia and
are now launching in some 12 more countries, in-
cluding Eastern European countries.
The success of Kaymu.pk in Pakistan is reflected
in the fact that Kaymus operations in Asian and
Eastern European countries is spearheaded out of
Pakistan; that is the head office of these countries is
Kaymus office in Lahore, Pakistan.
Q: eBay has entered in India, but why is eBay
not in Pakistan?
AK: According to eBay and PayPal, Pakistan is
a cash-based economy, a market of roughly 1.5mil-
lion credit cards (according to the State Bank of Pak-
istan). eBay requires an established ecosystem and
huge investment when entering into a new market.
They dont invest in logistics either. So in a very
small market like Pakistan, we have taken advantage
of this niche and gone for cash on delivery model.
The launch of 3G/4G services in Pakistan is
also bound to give a boost to Kaymu.pk, and the
ecommerce industry in general.
Q: How many product categories do you have
on the Kaymu marketplace?
AK: Working with a no-inventory model,
kaymu.pk aims at providing smooth and easy trans-
actions for both the buyer and seller, and ensuring
that all transactions taking place are safe and easy.
We have around 25,000 to 30,000 products ranging
from cosmetics, clothes, electronics, sports goods,
accessories, and much more.
Q: You are not marketing aggressively like
your counterpart OLX, why is that so?
AK: OLX has a very different strategy for Pak-
istan. They came with millions of rupees to take the
classified space. Their bread and butter depend on
circulation and when you want your circulation fast,
you need a lot of money for marketing. We didnt
have marketing budget initially. The marketing
budget has just been approved, and we will have ads
to go on TV soon.
Q: Are you present in only major cities in Pak-
istan? What is your logistics system?
AK: Our head office is in Lahore but we are op-
erational all over the country. We sign up suppliers
and do deliveries all over Pakistan, even in Waziris-
tan. We engage third party delivery services to reach
every corner of the country, and we have had orders
from Quetta and even Waziristan, and we have de-
livered in these regions. So wherever TCS, Leopard
and Pakistan post deliver, we deliver.
Q: How do you view the competitive landscape
in Pakistan?
AK: With a great deal of foreign funding com-
ing in, no big local investors ever bothered funding
e-commerce. Ours is transaction-based revenue
model and if you look at the revenue generated for
three months of Kaymu, it is more than even some
of the more famous classified companies operating
in the country.
Our online marketing is so well-developed that
we are among Googles and Facebooks largest
global accounts. We generate so much online mar-
keting revenue for them because we use them im-
mensely for all our ventures.
Q: How will the introduction of 3G/4G serv-
ices impact your business?
AK: These are exciting times for Pakistans e-
commerce industry as the launch of 3G/4G serv-
ices will revolutionize the whole Information
Technology (IT) sector. Everyone nowadays is be-
coming tech-savvy. The implication of 3G/4G tech-
nology will benefit our business tremendously. It
will take our online shop to all mobile users and will
increase our outreach. Moreover, there will be no
problem of load-shedding while shopping online so
it will increase our customer base.
All our other ventures will also benefit from the
launch of 3G services, especially Easy Taxi as cus-
tomers will be able to track their ordered taxi more
efficiently on their smartphone devices.
Q: Branchless banking has grown to become a
sizable alternate payment delivery channel. There
are over 3 million mobile wallets now, with an ac-
celerating growth rate. Kaymu can potentially tap
them for quick payments. Are you working on
that?
AK: All mobile operators in Pakistan have en-
tered the branchless banking platform and this has
helped in increasing trust in this service. Branchless
banking is one of the features that will help us in
growing the customer base of Kaymu.pk, and our
team is actively working on this in order to provide
more options of payments to the customers and en-
able quick payments for products. (BR) n
Ahmed H. Khan is the MD Asia Region of Kaymu.com.
Kaymu.com is an online marketplace started by famous venture
capital and e-commerce incubator firm, Rocket Internet GmbH,
which has previously invested in world-famous eBay and Groupon.
After working in Procter and Gamble and McKinsey & Co,
Ahmed is now Managing Director Asia Region of Kaymu.com.
40
I NTERVI EW | Flare Report
Pakistan is the hub
for Kaymus Asia
operations

B
lackBerry launched a new budget handset
in Indonesia, one of its last bastions, in
the hope it will take off in emerging mar-
kets and stem a decline in the smartphone
maker's fortunes. The touchscreen Z3, which is
slated for release in six other fast-growing markets
after Indonesia, is the first new BlackBerry phone
since chief executive John Chen took the helm of
the crisis-hit company in November.
The handset is also the first to be produced from
the Canadian firm's partnership Taiwanese tech
giant Foxconn, which also makes gadgets for Apple,
and is a key test of whether the new strategy will
work. BlackBerry hopes the Indonesian model --
whose full name is the Z3 "Jakarta Edition" -- will be
a hit in Southeast Asia's biggest economy, where the
company maintains a loyal following, thanks in part
to the popularity of its BBM messaging service.
The phone will be available in shops from Thurs-
day and will cost 2,199,000 rupiah ($190). It will be
released later in countries including Malaysia, the
Philippines, Vietnam and India, Chen told reporters
at a launch event in Jakarta.
But even in Indonesia, the company's biggest
market in Asia according to IDC telecoms consul-
tancy, sales have dropped dramatically in the past
year and analysts are sceptical the new phone will
do much to help.
"The launch of this device is really BlackBerry's
final stand in the Indonesian market," IDC's Sudev
Bangah said.
IDC said BlackBerry's market share had col-
lapsed from about 40 percent in 2011 to around five
percent in the fourth quarter of 2013, due in partic-
ular to fierce competition from Samsung.
It is the same story in other markets worldwide
as BlackBerry fights a losing battle to keep up with
fierce competition from Apple's iPhone and devices
using the Google Android operating system.
The once-dominant smartphone maker has suf-
fered heavy losses and slashed thousands of jobs in
recent years.
The company even put itself up for sale last
year but abandoned hopes of finding a buyer sev-
eral months later, and ousted chief executive
Thorsten Heins.
Since Chen took over, there have been small
signs of improvement. The company reported a
loss of $423 million in the three months to March
1, which was not as bad as had been feared.
As part of its turnaround strategy, the smart-
phone maker announced the tie-up with Foxconn
in December.
It involves transferring manufacturing and in-
ventory management to the Taiwanese company,
while allowing BlackBerry to focus on software
and services.
At the Jakarta launch, Chen said the company
aimed to "re-pivot to make very sure that our cus-
tomers are taken care of".
He also revealed that the phone had been co-
denamed "Jakarta" during production, adding:
"Jakarta is a very, very strong market for the
BlackBerry".
The Z3 has a five inch (13 centimetre) touch-
screen, without the physical keyboard of the older
devices.
The Jakarta Edition's BBM messaging service
comes loaded with pictures of local cartoon char-
acters for users to send to one another.
There is also a limited edition with the in-
scription "Jakarta" on the back.
BlackBerry's most recent phones have not
fared well in Indonesia but the company believes
the Z3 will be popular, in particular due to its
lower price. n
The handset is also the first to be produced from the Canadian firm's partnership with
Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, which also makes gadgets for Apple, and is a key test of
whether the new strategy will work
42
TELEPEDI A | Flare Report
Ailing BlackBerry launches a new
budget handset in Indonesia
As part of its turnaround strategy,
the smartphone maker announced
the tie-up with Foxconn in De-
cember
D
any Technologies has failed to capture
the Pakistani market of Dany Genius
Tablets series. These views were given
during the survey conducted by Flare in
different cities like Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi, Pe-
shawar and many others.
Most of them have complaints that Dany prod-
ucts totally flopped to attract the customers. Genius
Tablets series have many bugs and Dany Genius
Tablets are not much reliable than many tablets
available in the same price range in the market. The
screen resolutions, cameras, touch systems as well
as the battery were not remarkable performance.
The main reason of failure of Genius Tablets lacks
of management and insufficient marketing in terms
of sales and services. There is not a single customer
care centre in Pakistan. The company claimed one-
year warranty but when the any fault occurred in
tablets, the customers have wait to three to four
months to get back their claimed items. It is inter-
esting to note that the fault did not remove and
Dany Genius Tablets still faulty. The customers have
frustrated and fed up of Dany Genius tablets series
and thinking to other options. It is great matter of
the management and as well marketing team.
Dany has launched Android Genius Tablets
series few months ago but it focused on massively
marketing. You might have seen TVCs lately featur-
ing renowned cricketer Wasim Akram promoting
Dany Genius Tablets.
We got our hands on Dany G5 Dual SIM tablet
at just Rs. 12,900 and decided to do a short review.
Design & Build Quality:
The first thing you will notice about this tablet is
its design as it takes most of the features from HTC
One and One Max.
The second noteworthy thing is Dany G5s un-
conventional size. The slim body is all plastic, but
the aluminum, leather feel and the build third class
quality.
The front side on Dany G5 is dominated by a 6.5
inch low quality touch screen which feels a little
hard.
Dany claims 2-megapixel camera along with
proximity sensor that divides the big speaker design
but all is fake. Actually after very short period speak-
ers in the upper part (an ear-speaker and a loud-
speaker are not working.
There is nothing on the right of Dany G5 tablet,
on the left side we have power/unlock key and vol-
ume rocker. The place is very odd Micro-USB port
and 3.5mm are very bad quality headphones jack
are located on the top. If you not push once properly
the jack place leave working,
Dany claims 5-megapixel fixed focused camera
along with LED on the top along with a lid-covered
micro-SD card slot but after reviews of hundred of
users it is only claim, camera is only 2-megapixel,
Operating System:
Dany G5 comes with Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2
out of the box. There is no bloat-ware and no fancy
UI customizations. This device not runs pure
(vanilla) Android,
Performance:
Dany claims that Genius Tab G5 is packed with
mediocre hardware featuring MediaTek MT6572
dual-core processor, Mali 400 GPU and 1 GB of
RAM, but after hundred users reviews they are not
happy with the speed and other performance.
After open one game it is tested it comes very
slow look like Dany playing game with the cus-
tomers by playing resource hungry 3D games on it
and Dany G5 does not very good job. Such low
quality play stations are available in market at very
low price,
Other demanding applications like Maps, Face-
book & YouTube also not run properly. You cannot
play 1080p videos on this device and cannot make
VoIP calls over Skype & Viber. The front camera
also not used for video conferencing.
Genius Tab G5 can also take SIM cards so you
can use it as phone too. The regular calling is not
nice and clear and the signal reception is also bad. It
doesnt support 3G.
Battery:
Dany G5 is equipped with a 2800mAh battery,
but in real it is only 1400mAh, not gives decent
backup. Heavy users cannot get 1 day out of it and
for normal users the battery can stretch up-to 4
hours. Dany claims LED flashlight can also be used
as a torch, but after sometime LED got fused.
Price & Availability:
Dany Genius Tab G5 is available for a price of
Rs. 12,900. But there are many other brands avail-
able in market with high Quality features in low
range price.
Verdict:
The built quality of the tablet is not good, its not
easy to handle and heavy. As compared to Chinese
Tablets or other local brands it has not better per-
formance and not ability to be used as a phone.
Theres a need of improvement in the screen and
camera departments. The software is not highly op-
timized as there are crashes and bugs. So if you are
looking to buy a low cost tablet as your daily driver,
you should not consider this device. n
Dany Technologies has failed to capture the Pakistani market of Dany Genius Tablets se-
ries. These views were given during the survey conducted by Flare in different cities like La-
hore, Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar and many others.
44
SURVEY | Flare Report
Dany Genius Tablets series
dying in the market
S
onam Kapoor recently launched a new
range of Samsung curved televisions in
India. Speaking on her association with the
brand, the 27-year-old actress said, Sam-
sung is the best and its showcasing something
which has quality, I would like to be associated
with it. It helps me as well as the brand because
the brand also knows that we only do things which
are of certain quality.
Right now, Samsung is the best in its field in
technology, she added.
Samsung Electronics has announced the
launch of curved televisions in the Indian market.
Showcased earlier at the Consumer Electronics
Show in Las Vegas in January this year, the curved
TV claims to bring images with deeper depth,
wider viewing angle and clearer picture quality
with higher contrast levels creating a more immer-
sive viewing experience.
S.K. Kim, Managing Director, Sales at Sam-
sung India says, "In 2014, Samsung is opening a
new era of Curved TV with the ultimate immer-
sive viewing experience. With the launch of
world's first Curved UHD TV, Samsung is blend-
ing its innovative Curved form factor with its UHD
TV technology. With this launch, we are further
augmenting our robust product portfolio in the
home entertainment segment."
Samsung HU9000 Curved UHD TV features
4k picture quality on a curved screen. It has Sam-
sung's proprietary Auto Depth Enhancer, an algo-
rithm that analyzes regions of images and
automatically adjusts contrast for a greater sense
of depth. This TV is available in 55 inch and 65
inch and is priced at Rs 3,29,900 and Rs 4,49,900
respectively.
According to Samsung, the market size of pan-
els is expected to be 6.5 million by the end of this
year. Curved TV should be able to capture 2 to 5
per cent of this market. Also, in terms of size, 40
inches and above are doing well. In fact, 40 inch is
replacing 32 inch TVs. n
Flare Report | INSIGHT
45
Sonam Kapoor launches new
range of Samsung curved TVs
S.K. Kim, Managing Director, Sales at Samsung India says, "In 2014, Samsung is opening a new
era of Curved TV with the ultimate immersive viewing experience
Speaking on her association with
the brand, the 27-year-old
actress said, Samsung is the
best and its showcasing
something which has quality,
I would like to be associated
with it
Actress Sonam Kapoor speaks during the unveiling
of the Samsung Curved TV range in New Delhi
Bollywood film actress Sonam Kapoor poses during
the unveiling of the Samsung Curved TV range in
New Delhi
Sonam Kapoor (R) and MD Samsung India, S.K. Kim
unveil the Samsung Curved TV range in New Delhi
C
hinese Ambassador Sun Weidong has said
China is ready to deepen energy coopera-
tion with Pakistan. We can exactly feel the
energy shortage that Pakistani people con-
front at present. We will like to work together with
the Pakistani side to further deepen energy coopera-
tion, including the identification of priority projects,
construction of supporting facilities, and control of
risks, the ambassador told the inauguration cere-
mony of Port Qasim Thermal Power Project.
Here is the text of the ambassadors speech: Its
my honour to attend the inauguration of Port Qasim
Thermal Power Project. This is the first project of the
early-harvest projects in energy sector in the China-
Pakistan Economic Corridor. This is also the first
thermal power plant built by Chinese companies with
advanced technology. Our Chinese people say, Well
begun is half done. Hope this project can serve as a
good step forward of the economic corridor. On be-
half of the Chinese government, I would like to ex-
press my warm congratulations on the successful
inauguration of this project.
China and Pakistan enjoy an all-weather friend-
ship and all round cooperation. The growth momen-
tum of the China-Pakistan Strategic Cooperative
Partnership has become more and more powerful.
Our two governments have reached important con-
sensus on planning and development of the China-
Pakistan Economic Corridor. On the second meeting
of joint cooperation of CPEC, our two sides have de-
cided to expedite the building of major projects in en-
ergy, infrastructure and economic development
zones. The Chinese government encourages credible
and competent companies to invest in Pakistan, and
requests them to complete their projects on schedule,
with high quality, quantity and safety.
China is ready to deepen the all-round energy co-
operation with Pakistan. We can exactly feel the en-
ergy shortage that Pakistani people confront at
present. Recently, China-Pakistan Joint Energy
Working Group has convened a meeting. Both sides
are actively planning to develop long-term energy co-
operation between the two countries. Chinese com-
panies show great interest in supporting Pakistans
energy development. The relevant financing institu-
tions also consider providing financing support to
these energy projects. We would like to work closely
with Pakistan to overcome problems of energy short-
age together.
China is introducing advanced technique and
management experience to Pakistan. Port Qasim
Thermal Power Project is based on a world leading
technology called supercritical coal-fired power gen-
eration technology. The Chinese equipment has ad-
vantages of high efficiency, high quality and low
power heat consumption. This project is a real envi-
ronmental-friendly power plant.
This power plant is also a testimony of joint col-
laboration among China, Pakistan and Qatar. I
would like to thank our Qatari friends for their sup-
port and partnership. As the Chinese saying goes,
The flames rise high, when everyone adds fuel. We
hope that this new cooperation model of IPP can
achieve success. We would like to see greater support
from the international community to Pakistan for its
peaceful, stable and sustainable development. We
would also like to work together with the Pakistani
side to further deepen energy cooperation, including
the identification of priority projects, construction of
supporting facilities, and control of risks.
I believe that with the deepening of China-Pak-
istan energy cooperation, from the power plants built
by Chinese companies, there will be an endless
stream of electric current added to the grid of Pak-
istan, there will be an endless stream of energy and
impetus injected to the economic development of
Pakistan, and there will be an endless stream of
friendly emotions conveyed to more and more Pak-
istani families!
Ladies and Gentlemen, the building of China-
Pakistan economic corridor will not only benefit our
two countries and our people, but also benefit the de-
velopment of the whole region. I do believe that, with
our joint efforts, the time-tested China-Pakistan all-
weather friendship will have a even bright future. To-
gether we will build a community of common con-
nection, a community of common development, and
a community of common prosperity, and then a
China-Pakistan community of shared destiny will
be forged. Meanwhile, a high-level Chinese delega-
tion called on Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad
Shahbaz Sharif Friday. Matters of mutual interest
and promotion of bilateral relations were discussed
in the meeting.
Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong and senior of-
ficials of Chinese Anti-Terrorist Leading Group were
also present on the occasion.
Talking to the Chinese delegation, the Chief Min-
ister said that China is a trustworthy friend of Pak-
istan and Pak-China friendship is higher than
Himalayas. He said that relations with China have
turned into useful economic ties.
Shahbaz Sharif said that Pakistan is facing seri-
ous energy crisis and the menace of terrorism. He
said that Chinese cooperation to overcome short-
age of electricity is laudable. He said that full ben-
efit will also be taken of professional expertise and
experience of China in coping with terrorism.
He said that police and law enforcement agen-
cies are being provided with modern facilities for
protection of life and property of the people and
new programmes will be initiated for capacity-
building of concerned departments with the col-
laboration of China. He said that solid measures
are being taken with the cooperation of China for
the economic development of the country. Simi-
larly, all out resources are being utilized for elimi-
nation of terrorism, he added. He said that an
effective strategy is being adopted for the capacity-
building of police and law enforcement institu-
tions. He said that due to efforts being made by the
government, law and order is gradually improving
which is also leaving a positive impact on national
economy.
Chinese Ambassador in Pakistan Sun Weidong
and Deputy Director General Chinese Anti-Ter-
rorist Leading Group An Weixing expressed the
resolve to continue cooperation with Pakistan in
the implementation of public welfare programmes
in the country. n
China is introducing advanced technique and management
experience to Pakistan. Port Qasim Thermal Power Project
is based on a world leading technology called supercritical
coal-fired power generation technology
46
COMMERCE | Umair Munawar
Time tested friend China
helping Pakistan to
overcome energy crisis
The Chinese equipment has ad-
vantages of high efficiency, high
quality and low power heat con-
sumption. This project is a real en-
vironmental-friendly power plant.
F
inance Minister
Senator Moham-
mad Ishaq Dar
said that all dis-
criminatory Statutory
Regulatory Orders (SROs)
at Federal Board of Rev-
enue (FBR) would be
abolished in a period of
three years and all the
stakeholders are working
together in this regard.
Chairing a meeting
with presidents of Cham-
bers of Commerce
(FPCCI, KCCI, LCCI,
QCCI, FCCI,
Rawalpindi/ Islamabad
CCI, Gujranwala CCI,
Sialkot CCI and Hyder-
abad CCI) here the Fi-
nance Minister said that
the government believed
in consulting all stake-
holders including Cham-
bers of Commerce, trade
bodies, representatives of
the industries, exporters
and importers in the
process of budget making.
He assured them that
there would be continuity
of economic policies in
the country and the re-
form process would be
completed within a period
of three years.
He said that the poli-
cies of the PML-N will fill
the trust deficit between
FBR and traders and there
will be win situation for
the business community and the government.
The chamber representatives discussed in detail
their issues and recommendations. They appreciated
the work being done by the Finance Ministry and
FBR for SROs rationalization.
The traders appreciated strengthening of Pak
rupee and observed that it will have positive impact
on the economy.
They assured the Finance Minister for their co-
operation in bringing into the tax net all those
traders who are not taxpayers.
The traders also appreciated Finance Minister's
personal interest in sales tax refunds. There was a
general sense of satisfaction on the economic poli-
cies of the government and expectations that re-
forms will bring positive impact on the country.
The Finance Minister said that it is high time
"we all should join hands for our future generations
and promoting tax culture will allow the govern-
ment to spend in socio-economic uplift of the coun-
try".
He informed the traders that the Finance Min-
istry has been very strict in bringing down the ex-
penditure of the Federal Government.
He said that every rupee of the taxpayer's money
will be spent wisely and we will not allow corrup-
tion at any government level.
The meeting was also attended by Rana Assad
Amin, Advisor to Finance Ministry and senior offi-
cials of the Ministry of Finance and FBR.
On the other hand, Finance Minister Senator
Muhammad Ishaq Dar here informed a bi-annual
meeting with the Provincial Finance Ministers and
Secretaries (Members of NFC) on Tuesday that dur-
ing the current financial year provinces will be get-
ting Rs.200 billion more than their share last year.
He stated this while presiding over the bi-annual
meeting with the Provincial Finance Ministers and
Secretaries (Members of NFC) to monitor imple-
mentation of National Finance Commission (NFC)
Award at the Finance Ministry.
The meeting reviewed implementation for the
period July-December 2013 of the current financial
year and it was informed that the gross divisible pool
taxes amounted to Rs.1010.72 billion after deduct-
ing one percent collection charges and one percent
war on terror charges being given to KPK.
The meeting was further informed that balance
net divisible pool
amounted to Rs.990.58
billion. Of which 569.58
billion is the provincial
share.
The Finance Minister
announced the payment
on account of incentive to
provinces for maintaining
surpluses for second and
third quarters of the cur-
rent financial year.
It may be mentioned
that Council of Common
Interest (CCI) had decided
that the provinces will be
allowed the rate of return
on their surpluses at latest
T-bills rate, maintained for
a minimum of three
months.
The total of
Rs.3392.668 million will
be released to the
provinces on this account.
Of which Punjab will get
Rs.556.485 million, Sindh
Rs.2.313 million, KPK
Rs.1207.410 million and
Balochistan Rs.1626.480
million.
said that during the cur-
rent financial year
provinces will be getting
Rs.200 billion more than
their share last year.
He said that the Fed-
eral Government does not
delay payments to the
provinces after completion
of reconciliation process.
He added that steps can be taken to decrease the
time consumed in the reconciliation process, in con-
sultation with the provinces.
The Finance Minister also urged the provinces
for early implementation of Council of Common
Interest (CCI) meeting decision regarding Federal
Adjuster issue. He also informed the provincial rep-
resentatives that in the next NFC meeting, all issues
of provinces will be discussed and procedural im-
provements will be made in consultation with all
stakeholders.
Sirajul Haq, Finance Minister KPK, appreciated
the visible improvements in the economic indicators
and said that if more revenues are generated, than
there will be more benefits for both Federal Gov-
ernment and the provinces.
All the participants of the meeting expressed
their satisfaction over the implementation of NFC
Award and appreciated the Finance Minister for his
kind support and guidance.
The meeting was also attended by Syed Murad
Ali Shah, Advisor to Chief Minister Sindh on Fi-
nance, Mr. Siraj-ul-Haq, Finance Minister KPK,
Mujtaba Shuja- ur-Rehman, Finance Minister Pun-
jab, senior officials of the Ministry of Finance and
provincial governments.
Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said the gov-
ernment has decided for not increasing sales tax in
the budget. n
The traders also appreciated Finance Minister's personal interest in sales tax refunds. There was
a general sense of satisfaction on the economic policies of the government and expectations that
reforms will bring positive impact on the country
48
BUSI NESS | Flare Report
Dar assures bias Statutory
Regulatory Orders to be abolished
There would be continuity of
economic policies in the country
and the reform process would
be completed within a period of
three years

50
U
S regulators voted for a controversial pro-
posal that would allow Internet "fast lanes"
while leaving open the possibility of
tougher regulations to protect online ac-
cess. Amid demonstrations outside its meeting and fol-
lowing weeks of lobbying from various groups, the
Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 in
favor of the new rules, which still must go through a
public comment period before being finalized. The
plan, which aims to replace rules struck down by a US
federal court, seeks to keep some principles of "net
neutrality" -- the notion that all online traffic should be
treated equally -- while allowing commercial deals au-
thorizing companies to pay for faster Internet access.
The FCC said the proposed rules may allow special
deals for priority access but that each would be exam-
ined for "commercial reasonableness."
At the same time, the commission said it was keep-
ing open the possibility of regulating Internet access as
a public utility, which could give the FCC much greater
authority over Internet access providers.
Fails to allay critics
The plan was touted as a means to preserve an
"open Internet" but did not placate critics on either side
of the issue -- those who want a guarantee of equal ac-
cess, and those seeking less regulation that allows deals
for faster speeds. Michael Weinberg of the activist
group Public Knowledge said the proposal "remains
insufficient to guarantee a truly open and neutral In-
ternet." He said the proposal "would create a two-tier
Internet where 'commercially reasonable' discrimina-
tion is allowed on any connections that exceed an un-
known 'minimum level of access' defined by the FCC."
Scott Cleland, a consultant and chairman of the
business group NetCompetition representing telecom
and Internet firms, said the plan leaves open the possi-
bility of heavy-handed regulation that "would require
every business decision of consequence to be approved
by the FCC."
Michael Powell, president of the National Cable
and Telecommunications Association which includes
big Internet firms such as Comcast, said "we will con-
tinue to reiterate our unwavering opposition to any
proposals that attempt to reclassify broadband services
under the heavy-handed regulatory yoke" of FCC
rules. Backers of so-called net neutrality say tougher
FCC rules would prevent major Internet firms from
slowing or degrading services like video-streaming out-
fit Netflix, and new emerging services.
Debate on the issue became muddled earlier this
year when Netflix signed a deal with Comcast to pay
for improved network access, even though the com-
pany has long opposed the notion of "tolls" on the In-
ternet.
More protests, more lobbying
The plan appeared likely to generate more protests
such as the one outside FCC headquarters, where sev-
eral hundred people banged drums and carried signs
reading "Save the Internet."
"If we start creating express lanes on the Internet,
they're only going to be reserved for a small handful of
big companies and those that can afford to pay them
huge, huge rates," said Craig Aaron, president of the
activist group Free Press. The political action group
MoveOn called for protests of the decision at 19 FCC
regional offices.
"An open Internet levels the playing field in our
democracy and that's why it's so alarming that the
FCC is moving forward chairman Tom Wheeler's pro-
posed rules that would break President Obama's prom-
ise to uphold net neutrality -- rules that could destroy
the Internet as we know it," said MoveOn campaign
director Victoria Kaplan. Michael Beckerman at the
Internet Association said the group representing major
Web firms like Google and Yahoo "will advocate for
the FCC to use its full legal authority to enforce rules
that lead to an open Internet -- nothing should be taken
off the table as this discussion evolves."
Gabe Rottman at the American Civil Liberties
Union said the plan "leaves the individual at the mercy
of an increasingly concentrated broadband market, in
which the big players will be able to act as gatekeepers
for online speech, deciding what gets seen and when."
"Fortunately, the FCC left the door open to fix this
problem by reclassifying broadband Internet service as
what it really is: a public utility," Rottman said. A
White House statement said President Barack Obama
"supports net neutrality and an open Internet" while
adding: "The FCC is an independent agency, and we
will carefully review their proposal." n
Amid demonstrations outside its meeting and following weeks of lobbying from various groups,
the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 in favor of the new rules, which still must
go through a public comment period before being finalized
52
FCC unveils controversial net
neutrality proposal
A
part from hav-
ing taken over
at the helm of
two iconic
bluechip tech firms, both
of which are now past
their prime, newly-named
Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri
and Microsoft chief Satya
Nadella have more in
common both were
just a year apart at the
Manipal Institute of
Technology near Manga-
lore in Karnataka.
And quite like the Mi-
crosoft-Nokia cross-link-
ages in the wake of their
$7.17 billion September
2013 handset deal, both
Suri and Nadella went
through the same grind,
walked through the same
corridors, and were in all
probability taught by the
same faculty considering
both were students of
electronics and communi-
cations Nadella gradu-
ated in 1988 while Suri
was in the 1989 batch.
MIT was rather mod-
est in its celebration, with
a statement claiming that
Suris elevation as Nokia
chief, coming in the wake
Nadellas appointment as
Microsoft CEO, indicated that Manipal Institute
of Technology is as good an engineering institute
as any in the world.
MIT director Dr Vinod V Thomas was more
emphatic.
It is no coincidence or accident that these two
MITians have made it bigTwo of the top For-
tune 500 companies being led by MIT alumni is in-
deed a noteworthy achievement. These are not
merely fortuitous events, he said. For students
preparing for their exams next month, Suris ap-
pointment was the most glorious piece of news
after Nadellas elevation in February, he said.
Suri, 46, will start in his new role on May 1,
Nokia said on Tuesday. Having been picked as the
head of its networks division to spearhead the com-
panys future and revive growth after selling its mo-
bile phone business to Microsoft Corp.,
149-year-old Nokia is intensifying its focus on wire-
less-network equipment as it faces a fresh start.
Suri, who has run the network unit for four
years, needs to challenge bigger competitors such
as Swedens Ericsson AB and Chinas Huawei
Technologies Co., to turnaround dwindling equip-
ment revenue, which accounts for about 90 per cent
of Nokias sales now.
He has a proven ability to create strategic clar-
ity, drive innovation and growth, ensure disciplined
execution, and deliver results, chairman Risto Si-
ilasmaa said in a statement. His passion for tech-
nology will help ensure Nokia continues to deliver
innovations that have a positive impact on peoples
lives, he sad. Suri has spent almost 20 years in
Nokias networks business, dealing with strategy,
mergers and acquisitions, sales and marketing be-
fore becoming its head in 2009.
Like his MIT junior, Nadella also faces an up-
hill task in restoring Microsoft to its glory days. He
seems to have started off well, having made a im-
pact on investors and analysts by merely attending
an earnings conference call on April 25, the first
time in five years a Microsoft chief executive joined
an earnings call.
The Microsoft stock has crept up 19 per cent
since longtime CEO Steve Ballmer announced his
plan to retire last August and is up 8 per cent since
Nadella took his place. There are, however, unex-
pected pitfalls, as was on evidence on Monday,
when the Redmond-based firm had to rush in with
a public statement on how to fix a security flaw in
its Internet Explorer browser that enables hackers
to take over a users personal computer through the
browsers vulnerability.
After appoint CEO
Nokia, Rajeev Suri has
determined to launch
Nokia connected cars
projects at $100 million as
smartphone companies
are showing getting inter-
ested in the new technol-
ogy and whole new
dimension that technol-
ogy can add to cars and
driving experience.
Google has come up with
driverless cars that is get-
ting tested on roads,
Apple has just come up
with CarPlay, a safer way
to use iPhone in the car,
Land Rover is testing new
'see-through' augmented
reality view of the terrain
ahead in cars and LG gave
a glimse of flexible oled
lights for BMW cars. Now
it appears Nokia is ready
to set the road cracking
with its new effort.
The company soon
after sale of its handset
and devices business to
Microsoft has announced
its new project of Con-
nected Cars.
The company has an-
nounced a USD 100 mil-
lion Connected Car fund
to be managed by Nokia
Growth Partners (NGP). The fund will identify
and invest in companies whose innovations will be
important for a world of connected and intelligent
vehicles. The NGP fund, working closely with
HERE, will seek to make investments that also sup-
port the growth of the ecosystem around HERE's
mapping and location products and services, the
company says.
This new project has been announced by the
new President and CEO Nokia, Rajeev Suri, who
said "Our new USD 100 million venture fund
launched further underlines our belief that the con-
nected car is a significant growth opportunity
where NGP is poised to make great investments."
The NGP is realizing that apart from phones
and tablets, vehicles are also becoming smarter and
are the coming up as a new platform for technol-
ogy adoption very similar to phones or tablets. Paul
Asel, Partner at Nokia Growth Partners said we
are excited to deepen our collaboration with HERE
through the Connected Car fund to invest in com-
panies that are driving the future of the auto
ecosystem, local services and personal mobility."
The Connected Car fund extends NGP's global
investment activities in the US, India, China and
Europe where Nokia Growth Partners continue to
invest in high potential businesses. The new fund
brings Nokia's commitments managed by NGP to
USD 700 million. As an independent VC spon-
sored by Nokia, NGP has a strong track record of
investing in technology companies that have made
an impact in their respective industries globally, in-
cluding Rocket Fuel, Heptagon and UCweb. n
Both Suri and Nadella went through the same grind, walked through the same corridors, and
were in all probability taught by the same faculty considering both were students of electron-
ics and communications Nadella graduated in 1988 while Suri was in the 1989 batch
Suri, who has run the network unit
for four years, needs to challenge
bigger competitors such as Swe-
dens Ericsson AB and Chinas
Huawei Technologies Co., to turn-
around dwindling equipment rev-
enue, which accounts for about 90
per cent of Nokias sales now
Indian executives take Microsoft
and Nokia

Flare Report | TELEPEDI A
V
iber has recently merged with Rakuten,
a Japanese internet giant, bringing to the
fore, an arrangement that will become a
threat to Skype. Now you can add Viber
to the list of small companies that were acquired
by giants. Viber, a company that began as a humble
start up based in Tel Aviv, is now going interna-
tional with millions of users worldwide. Its fame
comes from its compatibility with all the platforms
and an almost 300 million users that have joined it
since 2010.
With this amount of growth, Viber has become
a constant threat to services like Skype. WhatsApp
still leads the race with a constantly increasing
growth chart that claims to have 500 million users.
With this merger, Viber hopes to use the resources
of its Japanese counterpart and achieve its goals.
Rakuten is not new to the industry and is a big
shot when it comes to acquisitions. They were in
the news the last time when the company acquired
Kobos e- reading business in the year 2012. This
time, Rakuten has spent over $900 million on Viber
just to be in the game. Rakutens CEO believes that
the future lies in companies like Viber and they had
to invest in it to stay around and grow with the
trends.
Vibers CEO Talman Marco believes that a lot
has changed in the communication industry in the
last 10 years. Today, companies like Whatsapp and
Viber have changed how people reach out to each
other. He thinks the merger is apt because the fu-
ture lies with the ventures like their own and the
support of Rakuten will help them grow manifold.
Marco disclosed that Rakuten was not the only
company interested to collaborate with Viber. Ac-
cording to him, there are many companies who are
looking to grow with Viber. The names of these
companies were not disclosed for obvious reasons,
but one things for sure; Viber is growing up to be
a hot commodity in the market.
He made it very clear that with the help of
Rakuten, they would like to further grow in the US
which is currently their biggest market. They are
going to use all the resources to make sure that they
overshadow the US market. Viber is also very pop-
ular outside the US and is constantly adding up to
its users list.
The CEO emphasized on the point that Viber
will keep improving and will be completely dedi-
cated towards improvising the users experience.
This comes after Viber has faced some hard times
in 2013 when a bug popped up in it, which allowed
the hackers to bypass the androids screen lock.
The company quickly fixed the problem but not be-
fore it made a dent in the reputation. Marco
claimed that the user privacy is highly important to
them and Viber will be constantly working to en-
sure that no such loop holes come up ever again.
The goal of the merger is to bring to its users
some of best experiences when it comes to chatting
and talking. But will that be enough to replace a
communication giant like Skype? It needs to be
seen if Viber can ever defeat the simplicity and
class of Skype.
While waiting to hear whether European regu-
lators will clear its $19 billion acquisition by Face-
book, the mobile messaging app maker WhatsApp
hit a big milestone yesterday: It has 500 million ac-
tive monthly users. They are sharing 700 million
photos and 100 million videos per day.
Whats the company going to do to celebrate?
Were going to get our engineers together and fix
a lot of bugs, said WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum.
His point: While the public story of WhatsApp
may have been rather exciting of late, the internal
focus has been rather boring. And apparently, thats
just how Koum likes it.
We dont have anything huge weve changed
in our last six months, but weve had probably
1,000 little bug fixes and improvements, he said.
The next big feature for WhatsApp has already
been announced; Koum said at Mobile World Con-
gress earlier this year that the company would roll
out support for free voice calls. When? In the next
few months. The Mountain View, Calif.-based
companys previous big release was voice messag-
ing last summer. Smaller changes since then have
included new privacy settings that allow users to
decide who can see their status and profile photo.
Koum and his co-founder Brian Acton who
say they will continue to operate WhatsApp inde-
pendently when and if the Facebook acquisition
goes through spent all last week answering cus-
tomer support emails so they could better brain-
storm things to fix.
All this feature-tweaking (some might say
thumb-twiddling) is justified, in Koums opinion, be-
cause he thinks the single biggest barrier to What-
sApps continued growth would be making the app
complicated and bloated.
I worry about how to offer a competitive set of
features without making the UI difficult, the user ex-
perience worse, the application bloated, he said.
These screens are small. Theres a limited amount
of memory and bandwidth. Its just all about focus.
Simplicity is especially important because many
of WhatsApps users are joining the service as they
buy their first phones and come online for the first
time.
Geographically, the companys four biggest
sources of growth right now are Mexico, Brazil,
India and Russia, Koum said. n
With this amount of growth, Viber has become a constant
threat to services like Skype. WhatsApp still leads the race
with a constantly increasing growth chart that claims to have
500 million users
54
Skype has a new
competitor in Viber
They are going to use all the re-
sources to make sure that they
overshadow the US market. Viber
is also very popular outside the
US and is constantly adding up to
its users list
M
asterCard has entered a partnership
with Japanese mobile operator KDDI
to launch the au Wallet prepaid card
programme for 34 million au-brand
mobile network subscribers in the Asia/Pacific,
Middle East and Africa (APMEA) region.
The au Wallet card is set to enable KDDIs au
mobile network subscribers to have access to pay-
ment options at any merchant that accepts Mas-
terCard payment cards, either offline or online, in
approximately 210 countries.
The au Wallet card can be reloaded at au shops
or online. Users can check their balance with their
au mobile phone.
Under the au Wallet Points Programme, card-
holders are set to receive au Wallet Points for pur-
chases made with the card. Points can be redeemed
when paying au phone bills or making other shop-
ping payments.
The au Wallet card will be easily obtainable
without any credit evaluation and can be reloaded
at au shops or online. Users can check their balance
anytime, anywhere with their au mobile phone.
Under the au Wallet Points Programme, card-
holders will receive au Wallet Points for every pur-
chase made with the card. Points can be redeemed
when paying au phone bills or making other shop-
ping payments.
Ron Hynes, Group Executive of MasterCards
Global Prepaid Solutions, said, The MasterCard
prepaid programme is expanding globally, partic-
ularly in the APMEA region where the gross dol-
lar value of MasterCards prepaid card business
grew 40% in 2013. The new au Wallet prepaid
card is the latest example of our commitment to a
World Beyond Cash, where MasterCard is help-
ing to make payments safer, easier and more re-
warding than cash.
Takashi Tanaka, President of KDDI, said,
We are excited to expand our value chain with
the launch of the au Wallet card which will pro-
vide Japanese consumers with seamless, conven-
ient and secure payment experiences both in-store
and at online stores. Through our partnership
with MasterCard, our customers will be con-
nected to a global acceptance network that en-
ables them to shop at millions of merchants
around the world.
Robert Luton, Division President of Master-
Card Japan, said, We are excited to launch this
product with KDDI because our two services have
great synergy. Japanese consumers are savvy users
of electronic payments, so we are thrilled to sup-
port them with innovative technology. We are de-
lighted that through this partnership, we will
provide Japanese cardholders additional value-
added payment options, while further expanding
MasterCards presence in Japan. n
The au Wallet card is set to enable KDDIs au mobile network subscribers to have access
to payment options at any merchant that accepts MasterCard payment cards, either offline or
online, in approximately 210 countries
56
TELEPEDI A | Flare Report
MC, KDDI partner to launch new
electronic money "au Wallet"
Under the au Wallet Points Pro-
gramme, cardholders will receive
au Wallet Points for every pur-
chase made with the card. Points
can be redeemed when paying au
phone bills or making other shop-
ping payments
In the course of recent decades, gold mining has turned into a verifiable worldwide industry. Right
now, there are 90 nations that mine the valuable metal and the top 20 transforming countries fur-
nish more than 75 percent of the planets gold every year
Top ten worlds largest gold producing nations
China is ranked on the first number in the
list of largest gold producing countries. The
planets top buyer of gold is additionally its top
maker. It has held that title since 2007. A large
portion of its preparation hails from the territory
of Shandong. The China National Gold Gath-
ering mines around a fifth of its yield. Chinas
gold property remained at 1,054.1 tons, which
is proportionate to 1.7 percent of its aggregate
outside stores. The nation still has around 1,900
tons available for later. China is on pace to break
the figure of 355 tons processed, as it has re-
cently mined what added up to 249.7 tons as of
the second quarter of not long from now.
CHINA
355,000 kilograms
The nation is the biggest
maker of gold in Latin Amer-
ica. It has gold holds of around
2,000 tons. Its official gold
property remained at 34.7 tons,
or equal to 3.2 percent of its
sum remote saves. Peru is on
the 6th number in the list of
Worlds largest gold producing
countries 2014.
PERU
150,000 kilograms
The North Americans official gold property re-
mained at 3.4 tons, or a minor 0.3 percent of its aggregate
outside cash saves. The gold holds holding up to be
mined are just 920 tons, the most diminutive amount of
every last one of nations in the top ten. The vast major-
ity of Canadas gold originates from Ontario, where
Goldcorp works the Red Lake gold mine.
CANADA
110,000 kilograms
Ghana is the second biggest maker of
gold in the landmass of Africa. It was once
regarded as the Gold Drift due to the plen-
itude of the valuable metal in the zone and
is ranked on the eight number in the list of
Worlds largest gold producing countries
2014. It prepared 100 tons of gold in 2011,
and it still has around 1,400 tons for possi-
ble later use. Formally, the Ghanaian gov-
ernment reports that it has 8.7 tons of gold
property, which are proportional to 10.2
percent of its aggregate remote cash holds.
GHANA
100,000 kilograms
The nation comprises of more than 17,000 islands,
however a large portion of its gold processing comes
just from a couple of territories where the mineral is in-
tensely mined. Point of fact, Indonesia is the home of
Grasberg, which is the biggest gold mine on the planet
and is on the 9th number in the list of Worlds largest
gold producing countries 2014. Indonesia is on the 9th
number in the list of Top Ten Worlds
largest gold producing country 2014.
The 100 tons that it transformed is
really decay from the past years
yield of 120 tons.
INDONESIA
100,000 kilograms
Uzbekistan is on the first number
in the list of Worlds largest gold pro-
ducing countries 2014. It used to be a
piece of the Soviet Union, after the last
given way in the early 90s. The nation
might have been denied of water assets
as a result of it being landlocked, yet it
surely got favored with huge amounts
of this valuable metal. Complete gold
holds that the nation is sitting on are as-
sessed to be around 1,700 tons.
UZBEKISTAN
90,000 kilograms
Authoritatively, the United
States has the biggest gold posses-
sions on the world with 8,133.5
tons, identical to 75.4 percent of
its aggregate outside stores. The
nation has around 3,000 tons
available for later. The greater
part of the gold mined in the na-
tion hails from Nevada; however
the reviving of mines in Montana
helped in the increment in gener-
ation numbers.
AUSTRALIA
270,000 kilograms
Authoritatively, the United States
has the Worlds largest gold producing
countries 2014 with 8,133.5 tons, pro-
portional to 75.4 percent of its sum re-
mote holds. The nation has around
3,000 tons available for later. The vast
majority of the gold mined in the na-
tion originates from Nevada, however
the reviving of mines in Montana
helped in the expansion in preparation
numbers.
UNITED STATES
237, 000Kilograms
Being one of the top makers of
gold on the planet has not ceased Rus-
sia from buying increasingly from dif-
ferent countries. As of the second from
last quarter of 2012, the nation has as
of recently purchased 57.6 tons to ex-
pand its saves to 936.7 tons, equal to
9.6 percent of its outside stores. It still
sits on around 5,000 tons of demon-
strated holds, with the majority of it
hailing from Siberia and the Far East.
RUSSIA
200,000 kilograms
South Africa is ranked on the fifth po-
sition in the list of Top ten largest gold
producing countries. The nation sits on
one of the worlds biggest gold stores at
6,000 tons; however preparation has been
hampered by strife in the work division.
As later as 2006, South Africa was ac-
knowledged the most amazing gold maker
on the planet. It has since dropped down
in the rankings, with generation expands
horrifying. Still, the nations possessions
of 125 tons of gold are identical to 13.4
percent of its sum remote saves.
SOUTH AFRICA
190,000 kilograms
Courtesy: elist10.com
EXCLUSIVE | Flare Report
57
T
he popular mobile app, which was pulled
from app stores in February, will return in
August, Flappy Bird creator Dong
Nguyen said. The game will include
multi-player capabilities and be less addictive,
Nguyen said.
At its peak, Nguyen said he was pulling in
$50,000 a day from the mobile-gaming sensation
that had more than 50 million downloads, but that
ended when he decided to remove the app after
noticing people were too addicted to playing it.
While he still is making a profit from in-app ads, he
said it's "not much," adding that he feels a lot of
pressure from all the fame, fortune and success he
has had.
Nguyen said that he would rather people spend
their time doing more productive things rather than
attempt to guide a cartoon bird through pipes to rack
up a high score. Still, Nguyen said he doesn't regret
creating the game.
The app developer said he has more apps in the
works, including a game that has "a guy jumping
from building to building." Nguyen took to Twitter
and shared a screen grab of his new game, "so peo-
ple can forget about Flappy Bird for a while."
The history of Flappy Bird has been followed cu-
riously by fans around the world. But the creator
Dong Nguyen has kept a low profile not giving the
media a chance to photograph him or write about
him. He did succumb to a Rolling Stone interview,
saying that he did not want any publicity from the
game.
As the story goes, in April 2013 a Dong, who is
Vietnamese developed one of the most addictive
video games ever created- 'The Flappy Bird.' The
point of the game was to go through barriers while
flying and flapping wings of a small bird. An obsta-
cle to get a better score were green pipes in the way
of the 'flying flappy' to keep the user from scoring
higher points.
The object of the game was to not only fly the
bird between the pipes but to also make the bird fly
as high as it could by tapping the screen quickly and
in turn making the bird flap its wings and so calling
it Flappy Bird.
Dong Nguyen, 28, had a day job was program-
ming location deicide for taxis in Hanoi, Vietnam
when he accidentally invented his Flappy Bird game.
In just a month, IOS App Store brought the
game live to its base. And soon it was on Google
Play for Android phones. Though Flappy Birds ini-
tially became lost among the zillions of apps avail-
able online and then on February 2014 Flappy Bird
went viral.
Flappy Bird topped the charts in more than 100
countries and dowloaded 50 million times, which
means Dong was earning about $50,000 a day or
thereabouts.
With the peak of Flappy mania, the mystery of
Nguyen remained. Apart from a tweet every now
and then, Nguyen did not really say much about his
amazing story. He constantly avoided the press and
no one was able to get a photograph of him either.
That was when it all started. Nguyen became a con
man, a fraud, and people called him a thief. Blog-
gers joined in and accused him of stealing his art-
work from Nintendo. One gaming site went as far
as to write a headline that said 'Flappy Bird makes
$50,000a day from Ripped Art.
Tracing the history of February 9th, Dong told
the world that he's done with Flappy Bird and that
he's sodrry: He tweeted 'I am sorry 'Flappy Bird'
users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird'
down as I cannot take this anymore'.
Not many people would say that aboit a video
game bot Dong felt that it contributed to obsessive
behavior and brought out anxiety in Flappy Bird
players.
The message about cancelling Flappy Bird ran
more than 145,000 times and shortly after the game
was not to be seen online.
Although the original name of the game cannot
be used at the App store, the second version of
Flappy Bird is on its way and is said to be even more
addictive.
Then everyone was curious about who Dong
Nguyen was and his motive for the taking the game
down. Some gamers and developers thought it was
an attempt more attention to the already prominent
game that ranked much higher than Angry Bird, an-
other popular game around the 'bird' motif.
Dong Nguyen told Rolling Stone he had created
the game for fun and how it became so popular in a
very short time. n
Nguyen said that he would rather people spend their time
doing more productive things rather than attempt to guide a car-
toon bird through pipes to rack up a high score. Still, Nguyen
said he doesn't regret creating the game
58
Flappy Bird 'addicts'
rejoice as it coming back
Dong Nguyen, 28, had a day job
was programming location deicide
for taxis in Hanoi, Vietnam when
he accidentally invented his
Flappy Bird game
60
A model presents a creation by designer Tabassum
Mughal during the Bridal couture Week in Karachi
A model presents a creation by designer HSY
during the Bridal couture Week in Karachi
A model presents a creation during the Bridal
couture Week in Karachi
A model presents a creation by designer Zaheer
Abbas during the Bridal couture Week in Karachi
A model presents a creation by designer Rani
Emaan during the Bridal couture Week in Karachi
A model presents a creation by designer Rani
Emaan during the Bridal couture Week in Karachi
61
Indian television actress Parizad Kolah
displays a creation by designer Shaina NC
during a cancer fundraiser in Mumbai
Bollywood actress Gauhar Khan displays a
creation by designer Vikram Phadnis during a
fashion show fundraiser for cancer in Mumbai
Bollywood actress Bhagyashree displays a
Bollywood actress Vidya Malvade displays a
Bollywood actress Rashmi Nigam displays a
creation by designer Shaina NC during a
cancer fundraiser in Mumbai
Bollywood actress Poonam Dhillon models
clothing during a cancer fundraiser in Mumbai
T
he most awaited 3G/4G has arrived finally
in our country. The people think that 3G
have fast speed and good video quality as
wireless voice telephone, mobile Internet
access, video calls, TV and broadband wireless data.
Due to its high speed, you can download an MP3
song in just 3 minutes at 144kb/sec. You can also
watch latest news, bulletins, breaking news and
headlines. The 3G wireless technology represents a
shift from voice-centric services to multimedia-ori-
ented like video, voice, data, and fax services. 3G
will facilitate long-distance training, meetings, mon-
itoring etc, it might have a sizeable impact on the
transport sector especially airline revenues that come
from corporate travel.
3G/4G may also have an impact on the health
sector in Pakistan. Doctors will be able to diagnose
their patients from afar without any expensive net-
work infrastructure. It will also be beneficial to small
hospitals in improving service delivery.
People want to buy technology because everyone
wants to enjoy the breath taking benefits of that tech-
nology. It has opened a new way of life for all hand-
set users. The availability of 3G will also urge many
users to switch to 3G-compatible handsets. This will
then increase the profits of these manufacturing
companies.
Flare has compiled 3G and 4G enable smart-
phones for the convenient and help to buy perfect de-
vices. n
62
TELEPEDIA | Ahmad Ali
3G & 4G supported
smartphones in market
BlackBerry Z10 Galaxy Ace 3 Galaxy Ace S6802 Galaxy core I8260 Galaxy Grand 2 Galaxy grand I9082 Galaxy Grand Neo G Five President G7 G Five President G9 G Five President G10
Galaxy mega 5 Galaxy Pocket s5300 Galaxy S Duos 7562 Galaxy S duos2 Galaxy S2 Plus Galaxy S3 I9300 Galaxy S4 19500 Galaxy mega 6.3 Galaxy Note 3 Neo Galaxy Pocket s5302
Galaxy S4 mini Galaxy SIII I8190 Galaxy Y S6312 Galaxy YS5360 Gfive A79 G'Five Beam A68 G'Five Blade F500 Galaxy S4 zoom Galaxy S5 Galaxy S6102
G'Five Bravo G95 G'Five G10 Fashion G'Five Glory A86b G'Five Presi A97 Haier T757 Haier Y716 Haier P867 G'Five Eshare A68 G'Five Fanse A57 G'Five Ferrari A78
Haier W 919 HTC Chacha HTC Desire 300 HTC Desire 600 HTC Desire C HTC Desire V HTC Desire X Haier W860 HTC Amaze 4G HTC Butterfly
HTC Explorer HTC Radar HTC Sensation XE HTC Sensation XL Huawei Y 201D Huawei Asce G300 Huawei Asce G510 HTC one V HTC one X HTC One
Huawei AsceG700 Huawei Ascend P6 Huawei Y201 Pro Huawei Asce Y220 Huawei Asce Y300 Huawei Asce Y320 Huawei Asce Y511 Huawei Asce G730 Huawei Asce Mate Huawei Ascend P1
Q Noir quatro Z4 Sony Xperia M Galaxy Note 3 Galaxy Note3 Neo Galaxy S4 active Galaxy S5 Galaxy Grand 2 Sony Xperia Miro Sony xperia Neo L Sony Xperia C
TELEPEDIA
63
Huawei Honor 2 LG P705 LG Optimus l52 LG Nexus 4 LG G Flex LG G2 LG Optimus G iPhone 5 iPhone 5S iPhone5C 16GB
Nokia Lumia 510 Nokia Lumia 625 Nokia Lumia 800 Nokia Lumia 900 Nokia Lumia 920 Nokia XL Nokia 301 Nokia Lumia 520 Nokia Lumia 525 Nokia Lumia 620
Nokia X Nokia 515 Nokia Asha 302 Optimus 3D Max LG Prada 3 Motorola Rizr Z8 Qmobile A9 Nokia Asha 311 Nokia Lumia 1320 Nokia 208
Q A10 Quad Core QMobile A20 Q Mobile A51 Q Mobile A60 Q Mobile A70 Q Mobile A500 Q Mobile A650 Q Mobile A10 Q Mobile A11 Q Mobile A12
Q Mobile A950 Q Noir A75 Q Noir A120 Q Noir A550 Q Noir I5 Q Noir Quatro Z4 QMobile Noir V5 Q Mobile A600 Q Mobile A700 Q Mobile Z3
QTab Q100 Voice Xtreme V65 Voice XtremeX5 Sony Z1 Compact Sony Xperia ZR Sony Xperia ZL Sony Xperia Z1 Voice Xtreme V75 Voice Xtreme V35 Voice Xtreme V40
HTC butterfly Nokia Lumia 920 Nokia Lumia 1020 LG Nexus 5 iPhone5C 16GB LG optimus G Nokia Lumia 1520 HTC one mini iPhone5 iphone5 16 GB
Nokia Lumia 625 Nokia Lumia925 Sony Xperia Z2 Sony xperia ZR Samsung Zoom B Sony Xperia Z ultra Nokia Lumia 1320 Sony Xperia Ultra Sony Xperia V Sony Xperia ZL
A group photo of National Management Course (NMC) of Pakistan under training officers, who called on Minister for Culture, Youth and Community Development of UAE, Sheikh Nahyan bin
Mubarak Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif congratulates Indian PM Narendra Modi, after swearing-in
ceremony at New Dehli
Federal Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control, Ch Nisar Ali Khan witnessing the signing cer-
emony of agreement on Biometric Based SIM between Nadra and Ufone. Chairman Nadra Imtiaz
Tajwar and CEO Ufone Abdul Aziz signed the agreement.
Finance Minster Ishaq Dar presides over a meeting with CEOs of telecom companies in
Islamabad
Ufone sending a shipment of relief goods for the drought affected people of Tharparkar, Sindh.
Picture shows representatives of Ufone Volunteer Group along with the relief goods trucks.
COAS General Raheel Sharif congratulates the high achiever Rai Haris Manzoor, for record result
in O-level exam at the youngest age of only nine years.
Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit (C), Indian Member of the Legislative Assem-
bly (MLA) Inderbir Singh Bolaria (2L) and Pakistani Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(LCCI) President Sohail Lashari (R) are greeted at the start of 'The Pakistani Show' trade fair in
Amritsar
64
NATIONAL MOSAIC | Flare Report
65
NATIONAL MOSAIC | Flare Report
Chairman & CEO Zong Dr Fan Yunjun speaks at the 1st Business Partner Conference in Lahore. The
event started off a series of events to share Zong's strategy for the super 3G/4G roll out in Pakistan.
Governor Punjab Ch Muhammad Sarwar gives away awards to the winner of brand holders
during distribution ceremony of Brands Award for the Year 2013
HEC DG Noor Amna Malik awarding certificate to a participant during the conceding ceremony of
one-week course under English Language Teaching Reforms.
Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Inomata presents certificate to a participant of the five-day Japan-
ese Woodblock Printing Workshop which was held at the Nomad Art Gallery, Islamabad
Chief guest Ambassador of Argentine Rodolfo Martin Saravia posing for a group photo with the artists during
the inauguration ceremony of a gallery by the name of Tribal Heritage organized by Mausikaar Welfare Trust.
Chairperson KP-WCCI Fitrath Ilyas Bilour awarding certificate to a participant of three-day workshop on
Small Management Skill organized by KP-WCCI in collaboration with British Council in Peshawar
Chairman Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) Dr Syed Ismail Shah awarding degrees to the students
during the Convocation Ceremony 2014 of Iqra University Islamabad at Convention Center.
Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting Pervaiz Rashid in a group photo with Swedish Parliamen-
tary delegation headed by Per Westerberg Speaker of the Swedish Parliament in Islamabad.
Chief Minister Punjab Shabaz Sharif gives laptop to 6.5-year-old Mehroz Yawar who achieved the
youngest Microsoft Certified Professional.
General Manger of Abacus Distribution Systems Pakistan Sam Wong cuts ribbon to inaugurate
four-day Tourism Festival at Park Towers.
Karachi: The Nokia
Lumia 630 Dual SIM with
Windows Phone 8.1 in now
available in Pakistan. The first
Dual SIM Lumia smartphone
delivers an unrivalled afford-
able smartphone experience,
with quad-core processing and
a ClearBlack 4.5 LCD
screen.
Commenting on the occa-
sion, ArifShafique, Country
General Manager, Microsoft
Devices Pakistan &
Afghanistan said: With high-
end technologies and apps, a
seamless Windows Phone 8.1
experience and the first ever
Dual SIM Lumia empowering
people to connect on their
terms, we think the Lumia 630
Dual SIM is undoubtedly the
best smartphone in its afford-
able price range.
The Lumia 630 Dual SIM
adds award-winning design
and experiences found on high
end Lumia smartphones to the
leading personalization
brought by Windows Phone
8.1. Users can now seamlessly
switch between two SIM cards
to manage their social life,
clearly separate calls and mes-
sages to make it cheaper and
easier to connect on their own
terms.A quad-core Snap-
dragon processor delivers fast,
uncompromised social experi-
ences with Word Flow, Inter-
net Explorer and social apps
like WhatsApp, WeChat and
Instagram.
The 4.5 ClearBlack
screen, offers better viewing
angles and visibility in bright
conditions.Integrated features
including one swipe notifica-
tions from Action Centre, the
new Microsoft Enterprise fea-
ture pack, Microsoft Office,
OneDrive, and Camera make
the Lumia 630 a great tool for
work and play. The new Sen-
sorCore also brings low power
motion sensing to help people
track their activity all day
without using up the large
1830mAh battery perfect for
exercise and exploration using
apps like Bing Health and Fit-
ness. A wealth of storage is
available, with memory ex-
pandable by up to 128GB
using a microSD card, allow-
ing people to save and switch
locations of pictures, videos,
music, maps and apps with
ease. n
Karachi: Dawlance and
Brite Machine Wash signed a
Memorandum of Understand-
ing (MoU) to jointly promote
their products in order to lever-
age market share and credibil-
ity.
The purpose of this MoU is
to establish a collaborative rela-
tionship between Dawlance
Washing Machine Category
and Colgate Palmolive Brite
Machine Wash. As part of the
affiliation Dawlance and Brite
are set to be part of several pro-
motional activities, including
joint advertisement, dealer
floor activation, product sam-
pling and collaborative point-
of-purchase.
Present at the milestone,
Ms. Youmna Rizvi Category
Manager Dawlance, said,
Dawlance Washing Machine
category makes a positive dif-
ference in the life of people by
constantly providing fabric care
solutions; that are technologi-
cally advanced and economi-
cally priced. Our collaboration
with Brite Machine Wash takes
this commitment to the next
level by assuring consumers
that their clothes will maintain
their color and quality if they
wash them in Dawlance wash-
ing machine whilst using Brite
washing powder. Commemo-
rating the occasion, Mr.Umair-
Naeem, Senior Brand Manager
Brite, said, 1 home appliance
brand of Pakistan, signifies our
stance in providing the best fab-
ric care solution to consumers.
The Brite Machine Wash is a
unique formula that provides
supreme fabric care, color pro-
tection and removal of stains.
Islamabad: Pakistan
Telecommunication Company
Limited (PTCL) announced it is
adopting cloud computing tech-
nology for its HR operational
processes.
In the first deal of its kind in
the country, PTCL will employ
a series of solutions from SAP
Company Success Factors to
streamline vital HR processes
aimed at boosting employee
productivity.
The move is set to add addi-
tional momentum to the com-
panys ambitious and expansive
business strategy, which recently
helped deliver a 31 per cent in-
crease in the first quarter as
compared to the same period of
last year.
The telecommunications
market in Pakistan is fiercely
competitive, and only those with
the vision and ability to adapt
with latest technology especially
with peoples capability man-
agement will stand out. PTCL
HR & IT has decided to imple-
ment state of the art systems to
boost up the capability develop-
ment of employees and feels im-
mense pleasure and pride to be
the first company in Pakistan to
introduce one of the best inter-
nationally recognized talent
management solution Success
factor in the company (who-
ever will be present in the con-
ference).
Cloud computing is all
about simplicity, efficiency and
return on investment, and we
are proud set an industry-wide
example with our adoption of
this technology. The drive to in-
novate has been part of our
DNA since day one, and SAP is
the right company with the right
solutions, at the right time to
help us improve our perform-
ance.
PTCL will adopt a series of
success factors solutions encom-
passing the complete Talent
Management Cycle including
Employee Profile and Organi-
zation Chart, Visualization,
Goals & Performance, Succes-
sion & Career Development,
Compensation Planning,
Learning Management and Re-
cruiting. All solutions come
with built-in reporting and dash-
boards for real-time, strategic
performance insight.
Cloud computing is here to
stay, and it is having a huge im-
pact on the way businesses like
PTCL can run and plan for the
future, said Gergi Abboud,
Managing Director of SAP in
Gulf and Pakistan, speaking at
the SAP Forum in Karachi.
To stay ahead of the com-
petition, companies must not
only sense the present, but see
the future and proactively shape
it to their advantage. PTCL un-
derstands this as we have now
entered an era where CIO takes
major technology decisions in
collaboration with other CXOs.
Cloud is now all about driving
business innovation and agility,
enabling new processes and in-
sights that were previously im-
possible, added Abboud.
Globally, SAP is the fastest
growing company at scale in the
cloud, gaining market share and
growing six times faster than its
largest competitor. The com-
panys annual cloud run rate
stood at 1.06 billion by close of
Q4 2013, representing a 160%
year-over-year subscription rev-
enue growth.
SAP currently has more
than 35 million cloud users.
This includes the leading social
business platform with over 12
million users, the worlds largest
business network with more
than 1.4 million connected com-
panies transacting over $500 bil-
lion in commerce on an annual
basis, and the largest business
cloud implementations in the
world, with more than 2 million
users.
SAPs cloud portfolio en-
compasses the markets leading
public cloud application portfo-
lio (number one in Human Cap-
ital Management, procurement,
business networks, and social
business collaboration), as well
as the most-trusted private cloud
environment. n
PTCL adopts SAP for cloud-based HR innovation
66
NATIONAL NEWS
Islamabad: Pakistan
Telecommunications Company
Limited (PTCL) has introduced
a new Summer Offer for EVO
3.1 device, which enables cus-
tomers to experience wireless
broadband free of charge for
one month. Additionally, cus-
tomers can also avail a discount
on their monthly billing for the
whole year. The offer is available
at affordable price of Rs. 750 per
month for one year. To further
facilitate customers, upfront
price of EVO device has also
been reduced to Rs 2550(includ-
ing the first month free usage).
PTCL EVO wireless broadband
service is connecting more than
250 cities and town nationwide
and its foot-print is being rapidly
increased to bring more people
on the information communica-
tion highway. n
PTCL introduces summer offer for EVO customers
ZThe move is set to add additional momentum to the companys ambitious and expansive
business strategy, which recently helped deliver a 31 per cent increase in the first quarter as
compared to the same period of last yearr
(from L to R) Mr. Hannes Liebe, COO, Mena Region SAP; Mr. Rami Amkieh, Country Manager for Pakistan, Oman, Yemen SAP; Syed Mazhar Hussain, Chief HR Officer, PTCL and Mr. Ahsan Aziz Khan, CIO, PTCL
Lumia 630 Dual SIM now available in Pakistan Dawlance, Brite join hands to
provide fabric care solution
Upaisa, a branchless bank-
ing solution of Ufone, has col-
laborated with Shaukat
Khanum Memorial Cancer
Hospital and Research Centre
(SKMCH&RC) and made its
services available for people
who desire to make donations
to the Hospital at a time at a
time of construction of Pak-
istans second chapter of
SKMCH&RC in Peshawar.
With the launch of this
new and innovative donation
collection service, people will
now be able to make dona-
tions directly through any
Upaisa retail outlet available
in their vicinity along with
their mobile wallets. This will
provide an opportunity for
everyone to donate to this
noble cause with the utmost
convenience.
The service launch cere-
mony was attended by Syed
Umar Viqar, Head of Opera-
tions, Ubank, Amir Pasha,
Head of PR, Ufone and
Noman Azhar, Head of Fi-
nancial Services, Ufone.
Speaking about this new ini-
tiative, Noman Azhar said:
Providing innovative and ef-
ficient technology-based solu-
tions to the industry, besides
making contribution to the so-
ciety is the core of our busi-
ness values, which is well
reflected in our collaboration
with Shaukat Khanum Hospi-
tal. Now, anyone wishing to
donate to the Hospital will be
able to do so without any has-
sle and in a most user-conve-
nient way. Dr. Faisal Sultan,
CEO Shaukat Khanum Me-
morial Cancer Hospital ex-
pressed his views saying,
Upaisa has made a valuable
contribution to the Hospital,
as well as the society by intro-
ducing this new and efficient
service, making it easier for
people to donate. This is really
the essence of CSR to use
your core strength to benefit
the larger society.
This new facility follows
up on Upaisas previous CSR
initiatives which have also fo-
cused on the company lever-
aging its technology
leadership to bring about pos-
itive socio-economic change.
With this new facility, people
will be able to make donations
by just visiting any one of the
25,000 Upaisa outlets located
throughout the country. n
Upaisa initiates donation service
to Shaukat Khanum Hospital
CEO, SKMCH&RC Dr Faial Sultan and Head of Financial Services, Ufone, Noman Azhar and others officials at the
signing ceremony
This new facility follows up on Upaisas previous CSR
initiatives which have also focused on the company
leveraging its technology leadership to bring about posi-
tive socio-economic change
Lahore: Zong, Pakistans
first and only 3G & 4G tele-
com operator introduces its
3G user experience, starting
from Lahore. This is the first
step of Zong's leading net-
work roll out plan which will
provide the best of the kind of
3G and 4G mobile network
city by city. Zong 3G user ex-
perience can now be availed in
Lahore by simply opting in for
the program via the Zong
website. Final participants will
get a chance to be the first
ones to experience lightening
fast mobile internet service in
Lahore, once they are selected
on the basis of pre-defined cri-
teria.
After experiencing Zong
3G, participants will be re-
quired to fill a questionnaire to
give their feedback on the 3G
services. Selected 3G trial par-
ticipants can get Free Mobile
Internet (4GB Monthly Inter-
net Package) and will also get
a chance to win Samsung
Note 3, S5 & iPhone 5s via
Lucky Draw.
Speaking about the 3G ex-
perience program, Dr. Zhao
Peng Chief Commercial Offi-
cer, ZonG said, ZonG is a
customer centric company
and hence we want our 3G ex-
perience to revolve around the
needs of our customers. ZonG
3G experience program will
be a two-way communication
between ZonG and customers
where our customers will ben-
efit from free 3G trials and we
will benefit from their feed-
back by rolling out the opti-
mum 3G experience in
Pakistan.
ZonG aims to remain at
the forefront of mobile tech-
nology and bring forth the su-
perior mobility experience. As
the first and only 4G telecom
operator in Pakistan, ZonG
has strengthened its commit-
ment to the Pakistani con-
sumer. n
Lahore: Microsoft Pak-
istan, under its Corporate Cit-
izenship program for
empowering youth and serv-
ing society, gave a $295,000
software donation and latest
technology access to Aman
Foundation; a local non-
profit NGO, working to
champion dignity and choice
through strategic interven-
tions which are designed to
be scalable, sustainable and
capable of catalyzing sys-
temic change for the under-
served of Pakistan in the
areas of health and educa-
tion.
The Microsoft Corporate
Citizenship program is de-
signed to support nonprofit
organizations by giving af-
fordable access to technology
required in helping local com-
munities and to help them to
be efficient, effective and in-
novative in serving society.
Microsoft grant will sup-
port Aman Foundation in its
programs to work proactively
for the cause of human devel-
opment. This will assist the
Foundation to technologi-
cally update its nutrition, ed-
ucation and healthcare pro-
grams including vocational
training centers, Emergency
Medical response (Aman
Ambulances) and community
health development.
Speaking on the occasion,
Amir Rao, Country Manager,
Microsoft Pakistan said, Mi-
crosoft is proud to work with
more than 50,000 nonprofits
around the world every year
to provide them easy and af-
fordable access to technology.
Empowering youth and build-
ing a healthy and active soci-
ety is one of our major goals.
We spent USD 1 million last
year in Pakistan for support-
ing not for profit, and this
grant to Aman is another step
in building a strong, empow-
ered and self-dependent soci-
ety.
Through the Microsoft
Software Donation Program,
eligible organizations can re-
ceive software donations to
enhance social services and
build a solid platform for con-
structing a self-dependent so-
ciety.
Ahsan Jamil, CEO Aman
Foundation said, We believe
Microsofts corporate social
responsibility program is
thoughtful and strategic as
they are leveraging their tech-
nology to add disproportion-
ate value to an organization
like ours. This grant will help
us upgrade our technological
infrastructure to serve com-
munities more efficiently and
innovatively.
Aman and Microsofts
partnership goes beyond just
this giving, as we both can
galvanize each others sup-
port which will help acceler-
ate a bigger impact. n
Lahore: Mobilink has
launched Speednet as Pak-
istans first 3G enabled USB
Dongle which provides cus-
tomers high speed internet
with plug and play technol-
ogy. The device comes with
free trial for 3G services and
offers high speed internet
reaching up to 7.2 Mbps.
Aamer Manzoor, Head of
Data Mobilink commenting
on the launch said, In line
with Mobilinks strategy of
providing quality experience
to its customers Mobilink will
launch products and services
that maximise the utility of
our 10MHz 3G spectrum.
The SpeednetUSB dongle pro-
vides our customers the flexi-
bility to connect with our 3G
network on the go and enjoy
high-speed internet. I am sure
that our customers will make
the most out of this offer and
our free 3G trial.
Speednet USBs priced at
Rs 2500 were launched on 5th
May and are available at Mo-
bilink Customer Care Centers
in Karachi, Lahore, Islam-
abad, Rawalpindi, Quetta, Pe-
shawar, Faisalabad and
Multan. The USB dongles are
compatible with USB sup-
ported laptops and desktops
of all brands. The device is
plug and play and comes with
packaged software for installa-
tion. n
Zong initiates 3G user experience
program in Lahore
Microsoft donates worth $295,000 software to Aman Foundation
Mobilink launches Pakistans
first 3G USB Dongle
67
NATIONAL NEWS
Lahore: In an unprece-
dented move, Diamond Paints
became the first company in
Pakistan to introduce elas-
tomeric paints in the form of its
Ace Series, entitled Duraflex.
Elastomeric paints, which have
been in use in other countries for
many years, are used for exterior
surfaces and renowned for their
resistance to adverse weather
conditions. The elastic and flex-
ible nature of elastomeric paints
makes them suitable for differ-
ent weather conditions. They
are resistant to damage from
water, changing weather, UV
rays; additionally, they provide
protection from hair-line cracks
while keeping the dirt from
clinging to the walls.
Mir Shoaib Ahmed, CEO,
Diamond Paints, explained why
his companys new product was
addressing the needs of local
consumers, People often com-
plain that the exterior paints on
their residential or commercial
buildings wears off quickly,
which is a valid complain. This
happens mainly due to extreme
weather whether that is in the
form of high heat, rain or freez-
ing temperatures. Our solution
has been able to produce paints
using weather intelligent tech-
nology, which can withstand the
force of the elements and main-
tain the beauty and quality of
ones property.
The Ace Duraflex series can
be used on new or bare surfaces
as well as those that have al-
ready been painted, and can be
applied through brushes, rollers
or sprays. The products are
packaged in 4 & 16 liter con-
tainers. n
NATIONAL NEWS
68
Karachi: Meezan Bank
(MBL) and mobile financial
services (MFS) technology
company Inov8 Limited (i8)
entered into an agreement for
implementation of a next gen-
eration suite of MFS services.
Meezan Bank will provide
a unique set of multi-channel
mobile banking services and
smart phone applications with
social media integration
which is a first in Pakistan, to
its fast growing branch and
customer base.
Commenting on the occa-
sion, Meezan Banks Deputy
CEO Ariful Islam said, The
MFS ecosystem, especially
with the advent of 3G/4G
and proliferation of smart
phones, will play an ever in-
creasing role as a dominant
delivery channel for banking
services.Meezan Bank will,
Inshallah, be an industry
leader in this domain by offer-
ing an array of exciting, value-
added services.
Inov8s Chairman and
CEO, Hasnain A. Sheikh said,
We are delighted to be part-
nering with Meezan, Pak-
istans largest and leading
Islamic bank.They will be
using our socially integrated
next generation mobile finan-
cial services platform to offer
a new array of products and
services. n
Islamabad: Telenor Group
announced that it has ap-
pointed Mr. Michael Patrick
Foley as the new Chief Exec-
utive Officer of Telenor Pak-
istan.
Mr. Foley assumes the role
at a significant moment in Te-
lenor Pakistans history as
the country moves into a fu-
ture where everyone will be
able to access the internet, af-
fordably and easily. He re-
places Mr. Lars Christian Iuel
who has built a strong market
position for Telenor Pakistan,
an agile management team
and a competent organization
ready to capture further mar-
ket growth. The replacement
takes effect from July 1, 2014.
Mr. Foley, a Canadian cit-
izen, has more than 30 years
of sales, marketing and opera-
tional experience in the tele-
com and retail sectors from
both advanced and growth
markets. He has lived and
worked in more than 11 coun-
tries. Mr. Foley currently
serves as the Chief Commer-
cial Officer of the Canadian
State Lottery, Atlantic Lottery
Corporation.
I am very pleased to wel-
come Michael to Telenor. His
knowledge and experience
within telecom, internet and
mobile financial services
make me confident that he
will drive new innovation,
quality mass market services
and strengthen Telenor Pak-
istans capabilities in deliver-
ing internet for all, says Sigve
Brekke, EVP and Head of Re-
gion Asia, Telenor Group.
With Michaels leadership
qualities and vast interna-
tional experience I am certain
that we will continue to see
strong results from the Telenor
Pakistan team going for-
ward.
Mr. Foley takes over the
helm at Telenor Pakistan at a
time when the company con-
tinues to grow its market share
and is set to further develop its
leading consumer internet po-
sition with the recently
awarded 3G license.
I look forward to taking
on the exciting challenge of
joining Telenor Pakistan at
this important moment.
When the country now firmly
transitions into a digital fu-
ture, Telenor Pakistan is well
positioned to provide both
new and innovative data-
based services as well as best-
in-class voice and SMS. The
people of Pakistan should ex-
pect to see growth in internet
penetration during the years to
come, to the benefit of indi-
viduals, the business commu-
nity and the society at large. I
am impressed with what Ive
learned about the Telenor
Pakistan organization and its
performance, says Michael
Foley. n
Karachi: TRG Pakistan
Limited has expressed in-
tention to get one of its
subsidiaries, ETQ Plc.,
listed at AIM Market of
the London Stock Ex-
change.
The company has de-
cided to evaluate admis-
sion to London Stock
Exchanges AIM Market
by way of placing, for one
of its subsidiaries ETQ
Plc., said a notice to the
Karachi Stock Exchange
(KSE).
If the company decides
to proceed with the listing,
an application will be
made to the London Stock
Exchange for ordinary
shares of the subsidiary, to
be admitted for trading on
AIM. It is expected that
admission will become ef-
fective and dealings in or-
dinary shares will
commence by the second
quarter of 2014.
TRG is managing a
number of subsidiaries
world across. As per the
company website, TRG
Pakistan operates in five
continents.
AIM Market is a market
that enlists those compa-
nies from world across
which have small market
capitalisation.
Rules and regulations
of AIM Market are not as
tight as for markets listing
blue-chips. n
Nokia announced the ap-
pointment of Danny Atme as
general manager of its Net-
works business in Pakistan.
He takes charge of the
company's operations in the
country, leading the end-to-
end customer team responsi-
bilities, including sales,
delivery, customer relation-
ship and financial operations.
Qais Esrawee, head of
Sub-region, Lower Gulf,
Afghanistan and Pakistan, for
Networks business, Nokia,
said: "We welcome Danny to
lead the company's growth in
Pakistan. With his extensive
international business and
sales management experience
gained in various roles in
Nokia and other major multi-
national companies Danny is
an excellent choice to lead
Networks' business growth in
the country."
Commenting on his ap-
pointment, Danny said: "I am
delighted to take on this chal-
lenging role in a country that
has great market potential for
the latest, market leading 3G
and 4G technologies. I look
forward to reinforcing the con-
fidence of our customers here.
Nokia is a formidable player
globally and we want to bring
that value to our customers in
Pakistan. We aim to boost the
development of the ICT sector
in the country, leveraging the
skilled Pakistani resources."n
Meezan Bank inks
accord for MFS
Telenor names Michael Foley as
new CEO of Telenor Pakistan
TRG Pakistan ponders AIM listing
Nokia names new Manager for
Pakistan Networks Division
Diamond Paints introduces Ace Series in Pakistan
The brands new elastomeric series is equipped with weather intelligent technology that offers
protection from adverse weather conditions
Irfan Hassan, CFO, Diamond Paints, Mir Shoaib Ahmad, CEO Diamond Paints and Asad Munir, GM Sales Dia-
mond Paints on the launching of Ace Series.
69
NATIONAL NEWS
Lahore: Nothing feels better than a pair of
warm footwear in the wintry outdoors. Urbansole
introduces the brand new line of the Autumn-
Winter collection at Hospitality Inn, Lahore. Our
distinguished guests were enlightened about our
brand, Kashif Zorain, Brand Manager shared
about Soft Step which is a series of light and
comfortable shoes. Alongside the comfort state-
ment, Urbansole has never compromised on style
by bringing in premium quality cow, buff and
goat leather. The meeting thereon, was a great
success. n
Lahore: Buksh Founda-
tion, an impact-led micro fi-
nance institution in Pakistan
has made inroads in creating
a self-reliant society by pro-
viding micro finance loans to
women, individuals and soci-
eties in eradicating poverty
and creating micro entrepre-
neurs.
In order to create a society
where the under privileged
are empowered and the econ-
omy is sustainable, Buksh
Foundation is committed to
its impact investment ap-
proach.
The initiative brings to-
gether principles of business
and development of inde-
pendent societies to meet
goals of poverty eradication
and creating micro entrepre-
neurs across the country.
FizaFarhan, CEO Buksh
Foundation said Buksh
Foundation moved away from
conventional charity based
approach of giving micro
credit to disburse micro fi-
nanceloans to create male and
female micro entrepreneurs
who can generate additional
incomes for their families and
raise their educational and
health standards. Hence this
financing is creating impacts
at the grass root level in order
to create a self-reliant society
by providing microfinance to
individuals who lack access to
formal banking sector
Asim Buksh, Chairman
Buksh Group said: Founda-
tion does not only provide fi-
nance but also work towards
capacity building and devel-
opment of the low income
groups through trainings in
diverse areas such as leader-
ship and business develop-
ment services.
Masooma Niazis a micro
entrepreneur which Buksh
created on its journey to-
wards achieving development
goals. She started her stitch-
ing unit at home to generate
additional income for herself
and her family with the help
of Foundations micro fi-
nance. We live like a happy
family now as me and my
husband work together to
take care of the children. We
can now give our children bet-
ter quality of food and send
them to school, I plan to start
an embroidery unit too by
next yearMasooma shared
her thoughts after becoming
an entrepreneur. n
Lahore: HTC has an-
nounced its new HTC One
Mini 2 smartphone, a cheaper
and more compact model of
its flagship HTC One M8.
It will replace its predeces-
sor, the original One Mini.
This new version has a 4.5"
HD display, bigger than most
smaller phones.
Being a compact model, it
does lack some of its big
brother's flashier features,
such as the back camera's
depth-sensor, and it uses a less
powerful version of the Snap-
dragon processor.
Still, "high-quality selfies"
were apparently a focus for
the design team, who gave the
Mini 2 a 5MP front-facing
camera with a self-timer, as
well as Touch Up, allowing
users to edit their photos for
smooth skin, altered contours
of faces, and even manga-
style eyes.
The HTC One Mini 2 will
be available in Europe, Asia,
the Middle East, and Africa
from June, though a price has
yet to be announced. It's avail-
able in grey, silver,
and gold. n
A seminar on 3G and
LTE solutions was hosted by
ITEL in collaboration with
Anritsu in Islamabad.
ITEL is a telecom solution
provider which specialises in
providing solutions from
leading suppliers in the
world to local customers
which include all major tele-
com operators and service
providers. ITEL is the autho-
rised partner for Anritsu in
Pakistan, which is a market
leader in test and measure-
ment solutions for Broad-
cast, Wireless, Optical and
Wireline.
The seminar was at-
tended by 150 participants
from the entire telecom sec-
tor including representatives
from PTCL, NTC, MOITT,
Mobilink, Telenor, Ufone,
Warid, Zong, Wateen,
Worldcall, USF, LTE, Cell-
more, SCO, Comsats, Wi-
Tribe, Multinet, NSN,
Alcatel Lucent, Ericsson,
ZTE, Huawei, PTV, Dunya
TV, BHP Billiton and major
sub-contractors working in
the telecom sector including
Mobiserve, EPTSC, Prime
Telecom, LCC, KSS and
Komkonsult.
The seminar started with
welcome from ITELs COO
and Managing Partner, Hu-
mayun Kamran followed by
an introduction to their solu-
tions by Khurrum
Makhdoom, CEO and Man-
aging Partner, who presented
ITELs solutions including
Kathrein for Antennas,
Dingli for Drive Testing,
ACTIX for post processing
and Self Optimizing Net-
works, GeoImage for digital
map data, Alepo for WiFi
Off loading, Mara Systems
for Internet Caching and
Byte Mobile for Video Opti-
mization and Caching.
Khurrum highlighted that
these solutions will be of
critical importance to mobile
operators with the launch of
3G and LTE solutions. He
pointed out that mobile data
traffic is expected to increase
exponentially after launch of
new technology and band-
width utilization and cus-
tomer experience will be an
area of key concern for serv-
ice providers. In this regard,
internet caching and video
optimization provide a
means of effectively saving
network bandwidth while at
the same time improving
customer experience. Simi-
larly, WiFi off loading solu-
tions can be used to off load
traffic to available WiFi
hotspots of service providers
to free network bandwidth.
Lawrence Leng, Field
Marketing Manager from
Anritsu along with Darren
Lim, Channel Sales Man-
ager APAC provided the au-
dience with an absorbing
session on solutions for their
future requirements includ-
ing a brief training session
on their Site Master and
OTDR line of products. n
Buksh Micro Finance supports
micro entrepreneurs
HTC One Mini 2 announced
Seminar on 3G and LTE
solutions organises ITEL
Urbansole introduces Autumn-Winter collection
Ministry of Information
Technology (MoIT) arranged
first ever e-Office Forum-
2014 with the slogan e-Gov-
ernance for Good
Governance.
The purpose of the forum
was to share experience of
rollout of ministrys flagship e-
Governance initiative e-of-
fice/e-filing system to
sensitise all the stakeholders
about its importance. Minister
of State for Information tech-
nology Anusha Rehman said
it was fact ineffective gover-
nance not only slowed down
the pace of economic growth,
but also has a highly negative
impact on the living standards
of the citizens.
To make the governance
more effective and achieve the
goals of government effi-
ciency, effectiveness, trans-
parency, accountability in
decision-making and to deliver
efficient and cost-effective pub-
lic services to citizens, e-gov-
ernance is being adopted as a
tool.
The government is ag-
gressively perusing the rollout
of e-office suite at the federal
government to achieve the
aforesaid goals. She said re-
cent spectrum auctioning of
3G/4G technologies in Pak-
istan reflected governments
resolve to capitalise on the
benefits of 3G/4G technolo-
gies, we are in the process of
developing mobile based soft-
ware applications particularly
e-governance applications,
she said.
She emphasised political
leadership was the key initia-
tor and supporter of an e-gov-
ernment vision. We should re-
alise e-government was more
about modernisation and re-
form than about technology. e-
government leaders recognise
the importance of using tech-
nology as a strategic tool to
modernise the structures,
processes and overall culture
of public administrations.
Anusha Rahman said e-of-
fice suite was being imple-
mented in federal ministries
and divisions in phases and its
major milestone was expected
to be completed by December
this year.
The e-office suite, consist-
ing of six modules is initially
being implemented in Min-
istry of Information Technol-
ogy (MoIT), Prime Minister
Office, National Assembly
Secretariat, Ministry of Sci-
ence and Technology, Finance
Division and Planning Divi-
sion.
Anusha Rehman said im-
plementation of the e-office
would be a phenomenal
achievement of her Ministry
as this would ensure efficiency,
accuracy, effectiveness and
good governance.
It will create a less paper
environment and concept of
digital governance will be pro-
moted through it, she added.
She said the focal persons
from 27 ministries have com-
pleted their specialised train-
ings for orientation and
management of e-office suite,
the project was conceived in
seven years back but due to
non-interest of previous
regimes remained in limbo.
The current government
on assuming office, appreciat-
ing the need of an effective, ef-
ficient and transparent
government for good gover-
nance, pursued e-office imple-
mentation and have set
stringent targets for its deploy-
ment.
She said she has under-
taken the huge responsibility
of bringing efficiency, trans-
parency, effectiveness, and ac-
countability in government
processes through e-Gover-
nance, and has great confi-
dence in her fellow federal and
state ministers leadership ca-
pabilities and visionary ap-
proach, and dedication to
serve the public.
She urged that political
leadership should guide the
senior management working
under their control to submit a
weekly progress report on e-
Office System implementation
and share their strategic vision
on e-Governance.
Special Assistant to Prime
Minister on Foreign Affairs
Tariq Fatmi said e-governance
was key to the success of a
country. Many countries have
already adopted e-government
system, we just have to join
them and it is the dire need of
the time that we should equip
ourselves with modern e-ap-
plication.
Pakistan Computer Bu-
reau Director General Syed
Iftikhar Hussein Shah said the
necessary measures which
have been taken to roll out of
e-Office in federal government
divisions like the provision of
e-government Data Centre, es-
tablishment of optical fiber
based state of the art secure e-
government Intranet, deploy-
ment of e-Office Application
Suite and its access to federal
ministries/divisions, e-Readi-
ness evaluation by e-Office
users Identification, infra-
structure requirement, IT
Training assessment, IT
Human Resource, identifica-
tion of Focal Persons in fed-
eral government divisions,
creation of awareness through
briefings to focal persons,
training of federal employees
on e-Office System, establish-
ment of IT Services Manage-
ment Cell to resolve e-Office
System issues, preparation of
standard PC-I for any min-
istry/divisions ICT infrastruc-
ture requirements.
Information Technology Sec-
retary Akhlaq Ahmed Tarar
said e-governance brought a
significant change in the work-
ing culture, behaviour and en-
vironment. Management of
this change is key success fac-
tor for any e-governance ini-
tiative, particularly of e-Office
Systems acceptability and im-
plementation in federal organ-
isation, he said. n
Govt launches e-office forum for good governance
70
NATIONAL NEWS
Karachi: Standard Char-
tered Pakistan won the
Asset Triple A Awards for
Best Treasury and Work-
ing Capital for 2014.
In addition to this, the
Bank also won the award
for Best Service Provider in
Cash Management and
Trade Finance.
This award is recogni-
tion of Standard Char-
tereds superior structuring
and distribution capabili-
ties, and reinforces our
dominant leadership posi-
tion in Transaction Bank-
ing.
Commenting on the
recognition Syed Khurrum
Zaeem, Head of Transac-
tion Banking, Standard
Chartered Bank Pakistan
said, The Best in Treasury
and Working Capital award
is a testament to the excep-
tional performance that the
Bank has achieved across its
business in the country.
Pakistan is one of Standard
Chartereds most important
markets globally and we re-
main committed to provid-
ing our clients with world
class financial products and
services that cater to their
specific needs.
The Asset Triple A
Awards are Asias defining
recognition for excellence
in the industry. Into their
second decade, the percep-
tion and appreciation of
The Triple As has gone
from strength to strength.
The Bank was compet-
ing with some of the largest
local players in the Banking
Industry and has won this
award on the basis of its
competence and commit-
ment to the clients. n
Lahore: Bank AL Habib
Apni Car Auto Finance offers
financing for new and
used/imported vehicles
through convenient payment
plans. The facility features an
easy procedure, fast process-
ing, low down payment, low
markup & insurance rates,
partial payment options, and
fixed & floating rate options
for the convenience of cus-
tomers. n
Karachi: Engro Fertilizers
on Monday inaugurated the
first ever solar-powered com-
puter lab in Noor Lakhan
School, District Ghotki Sindh
Pakistan. In a statement issued
here on Monday stated that this
is the first unique project at
Katcha area (Riverine belt of
Indus) of Ghotki District,
where 15 computers are now
running on solar energy.
Engros Katcha School pro-
gram was initiated with the aim
to provide quality education to
the students from socio-eco-
nomically deprived families in
Katcha areas of Ghotki district.
The Katcha School program
currently enrolls more than
1000 students in 10 primary and
one middle school, providing
these students their only access
to education. Speaking at the
occasion, Inam Naveed Khan
VP Manufacturing Engro Fer-
tilizer said, With a low literacy
rate of 46%, the Information
and Communication Technol-
ogy (ICT) literacy rate in Pak-
istan especially in the rural areas
is negligible. Our aim is to use
this computer lab as a stepping-
stone towards improving learn-
ing methods, gaining
knowledge and enhancing com-
munication using the power of
the digital world.
Ahmed Ali Qureshi DC
Ghotki, Mahmood Siddiqui
President Sahara Welfare Soci-
ety, senior management of
Engro Fertilizers plant and var-
ious notable members of the
local community were also
present at the ceremony.
The local community ap-
preciated the efforts of Engro
and said that the initiative
would help their children
change the mindset of commu-
nity and ultimately improve the
quality of life for themselves
and their families. n
Standard Chartered wins
best performance award
Bank AL Habib
offers Apni
Car Auto
Finance
Engro Fertilizers inaugurate
solar computer lab in school
Minister of State for Information Technology & Telecommunication, Anusha Rahman addressing at e-office Forum
Anusha Rahman said e-office suite was being implemented in federal ministries and divisions in
phases and its major milestone was expected to be completed by December this year
Intel Pakistan celebrated
the 2nd Annual Intel Mobility
Roadshow. The event show-
cased the best of Intels mo-
bile solutions across the full
range of form factors and fea-
tures, powered by Intel Atom
processor and Intel Core
processor, with a focus on
whats in store now, and also
a glimpse into the future on
whats coming.
Intels Bay Trail platform
includes low-power chips for
tablets and notebooks as well
as more powerful chips de-
signed for desktop computers.
These have been designed to
increase battery life on high
usage devices and allow man-
ufacturers to provide thinner,
lighter and more powerful de-
vices at a range of different
price points.
Bay Trail is available in
three types: Bay Trail-T
(Intels Atom Processor
Z3000 series) is for tablets
while Bay Trail-M and Bay
Trail-D are for entry level de-
vices in the laptop and desk-
top space. The family of SoCs
allows one hardware configu-
ration for both the Windows8
and Android platform to
drive a wider choice of de-
vices for both consumers and
business users. Speaking at
the event, Naveed Siraj,
Country Manager Intel Pak-
istan shared his views:
Todays generation of Intel
Atom processors delivers en-
ergy-efficient performance to
power a range of computing
devices ranging from thin,
light smart phones and
tablets, intelligent cars, inno-
vative healthcare devices,
smart city infrastructure mon-
itoring and high-performance
micro servers for the cloud.
These devices deliver Intel-
level performance powerful
enough to run multiple appli-
cations simultaneously, allow-
ing users to move between
apps with ease, thus optimiz-
ing their investment and ex-
perience.
The Intel Atom processor
families range of perform-
ance characteristics and com-
pact size makes it ideal for
embedded useslike in-vehi-
cle infotainment, interactive
kiosks, and point-of-sale ter-
minals. With lead-free and
halogen-free manufacturing,
the Intel Atom processor is
also an environmentally re-
sponsible choice. n
Islamabad: Ufone pursuing
its tradition of being there for
Pakistanis in times of crisis has
carried out a relief activity for
the famine hit areas of
Tharparkar, to help ease the
pain of the affected people, by
the disastrous famine.
In line with Ufones vision
of helping people and giving
back to the society, be-
sides providing support
to the deprived, 20 em-
ployees of Ufone from
all over Pakistan volun-
teered and travelled to
Tharparkar, to support
the relief efforts. Apart
from this, all Ufone em-
ployees donated whole
heartedly for the
drought stricken people
of the area.
This CSR initiative
was carried out in col-
laboration with SWWS (Sup-
port withWorking Solutions),
which is a non-profit organiza-
tion working for the community
driven development in Pakistan
for the last 20 years.
Expressing his views regard-
ing this noble initiative, Head of
PR and CSR Ufone, Amir
Pasha said, Ufone continues
with its tradition of being there
for Pakistanis in time of crisis to
mitigate some of the miseries
caused by the disastrous famine,
which the Tharparkar residents
are facing. He further added,
We feel that it is our responsi-
bility to help our fellow coun-
trymen in the hour of need.
Through the relief opera-
tion, food parcels were provided
to 3500 people in different
Union councils of Tharparkar
(i.e. Tehsil Diplo, Chachro, Na-
garparker, Islamkot and Mithi).
These food parcels contain a
two weeks ration for the af-
fectees including wheat flour,
rice, Lentils (Daals), ghee,
sugar, tea, salt, water bottles and
milk.
Javed Akhtar, Chief Execu-
tive Officer, Support withWork-
ing Solutions (SWWS) said,
We thank Ufone for extending
its full support during the relief
operations in the drought
stricken areas of Tharparkar.n
Lahore: Jubilee Life re-
cently organised Arttastic an
art competition for art schools
in Pakistan. The theme of this
competition is Live Free. Ju-
bilee Life strongly believes in
Freedom as a state of mind
and that is what it aims to pro-
vide to its customers through
its products and services. The
competition includes four cat-
egories namely Drawing,
Painting, Sculpture and Digi-
tal art. n
Islamabad: The Supreme
Court on Monday issued no-
tices to Chairman Capital De-
velopment Authority (CDA),
Chairman Pakistan Telecom-
munication Authority (PTA)
and mobile companies over
installation of mobile phone
towers in residential areas and
adjourned hearing for one
week.
The three-memebr bench
of the apex court headed by
Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk re-
sumed hearing of the
Sahibzada Yaqoob Khan Peti-
tion against CDA over grant-
ing licence to mobile
comanies for installation on
mobile towers in residential
areas. During the course of
proceedings, Raja Muham-
mad Bashir counsel for peti-
tioneer appeared before the
bench and apprised that CDA
issued lincenses to moblie
companies which is danger-
ous for the health of citizen.
He said that the rays of mo-
bile towers were seriously
damaging the health of peo-
ple.
He said that it is a com-
mercial activity and these tow-
ers should be installed at
commercial places instead of
residential areas. Later, the
court adjourned hearing after
issuing notices to respondents.
Karachi: Microsoft de-
vices Pakistan bolstered its
line-up of high-quality mo-
bile phones today with the
launch of the Nokia 225, a
device which underlines the
companys commitment to
connect the next billion to the
Internet. Slim, sleek and styl-
ish, the Nokia 225 offers af-
fordable Internet access
through the cloud-powered
Nokia Xpress Browser, all on
a beautifully designed 2.8
display. Nokias slimmest
data phone to date, and fea-
turing Nokias inherent bold
colouring, the Nokia 225 of-
fers style and substance to
first time mobile owners, up-
graders and people who like
to have a secondary phone.
The Nokia 225 features
the cloud-powered Nokia
Xpress Browser, which uses
less data and delivers fast per-
formance, even over slower
networks. The
preloaded Face-
book and Twit-
ter apps offer
instant access to
social networks
direct on the
h o me s c r e e n ,
while people can
explore the
world from their
device via Mi-
crosofts Bing
search.
The Nokia 225 is an af-
fordable mobile phone de-
signed to impress, said Arif
Shafique, Country General
Manager, Microsoft Devices
Pakistan & Afghanistan. We
remain committed to con-
necting the next billion to the
Internet, and this handset
builds on this promise. Offer-
ing a rich media experience
and simple functionality
combined with Nokia trust
and quality, the Nokia 225
enables us to bring the Inter-
net to more people at a lower
price point.
With a new slim design
and 2.8 colour QVGA dis-
play, the Nokia 225 offers a
rich media experience to con-
sumers who prefer the classic
keymat phone design.
Crafted with Nokias
renowned quality and atten-
tion to detail, the Nokia 225
comes in a range of bold
colours, designed
to stand out. At
10.4mm thin, the
Nokia 225 is slim
and elegant,
making it an
ideal fit for pock-
ets and hand-
bags. The Nokia
225 also features
a splash- and
dust-proof key-
mat which is
durable and easy to clean,
plus the seamless design en-
sures a smooth and tactile
messaging experience.
The large display is ideal
for quality entertainment on
the go including gaming, tak-
ing photos, online browsing
and downloading and playing
video online. Helping to
make the mobile gaming ex-
perience more enjoyable, the
Gameloft store is preloaded
on the Nokia 225 with five
games ready to play, straight
out-of-the-box. It also has an
FM radio and is MP3 com-
patible, with a playback time
of up to 51 hours and offers
up to 32GB Micro SD card
support.
The 2MP camera is per-
fect for capturing favourite
moments and sharing them
with friends and family via
the preloaded Facebook and
Twitter apps, or via Nokias
SLAM technology, based on
Bluetooth. With smart dual
SIM technology, people can
switch between SIM cards al-
lowing a quick and conven-
ient way of managing data
costs. With battery standby
time of up to 27 days for the
dual SIM device, the Nokia
225 offers hours of enjoy-
ment and exceptional value
for first-time mobile phone
buyers or for those who like
to have a secondary phone. n
Get more out of mobile internet with the Nokia 225
71
NATIONAL NEWS
Slim phone with a big screen lets you see more of what you want, available in Dual SIM
Ufone extends support in
Tharparkar relief operations
Jubilee Life arranges Art
Competition
SC issues notices over
installation of mobile towers
in residential areas
Intel organises Annual Mobility Day
72
NATIONAL NEWS
Rawalpindi: All Chambers
of Commerce and Industry
expressed concern over the
Statutory Regulatory Order
(SRO) 351 recently issued by
Federal Board of Revenue
(FBR) and demanded its im-
mediate withdrawal to remove
reservations of the business
community.
Under the SRO, they said,
officials of FBR's Directorate
of Intelligence and Investiga-
tion has been given "judicial
powers" to deal with taxpay-
ers with the mandate to re-
open, reassess tax returns filed
with regional tax offices and
holding audit of firms/com-
panies with absolute author-
ity.
Addressing a news confer-
ence accompanied by all re-
gional chambers including
from Lahore, Sargodha, At-
tock, Faisalabad, Islamabad,
Federation of Pakistan Cham-
ber of Commerce and Indus-
try (FPCCI), Rawalpindi
Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (RCCI) President Dr
Shimail Daud gave a 10-day
deadline to withdraw the
order otherwise a future strat-
egy would be devised to get
their demand fulfilled.
Elaborating, he said, on
expiry of the deadline after
May 25 a convention of all
chambers and trade bodies
would be called to consider
different options including
shutter-down strike in favour
of their demand.
He said earlier the investi-
gation department had the
mandate to guide regional tax
officers (RTOs) in their en-
deavors to collect maximum
tax but after the SRO chief
commissioner and commis-
sioners powers have been
given to the Director General
and Directors of the depart-
ment respectively.
Business community, he
said, has always supported the
government to give a boost to
economic activities in the
country to strengthen the na-
tional economy.
He also demanded the
restoration of self-assessment
system to win confidence of
taxpayers, expand the existing
tax-base and attract more for-
eign investment in the coun-
try.
He also termed the is-
suance of SRO a "conspiracy"
against the government saying
that some elements did not
want good relations between
traders and the elected gov-
ernment.
Dr .Shimail hoped that
government would sincerely
consider the demand of
chambers and trade bodies
and withdraw the SRO. n
Business chambers demand withdrawal of SRO-351
FBR's Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation has been given "judicial powers" to deal
with taxpayers with the mandate to reopen, reassess tax returns filed with regional tax offices
and holding audit of firms/companies with absolute authority
Lahore: Pakistan has a ca-
pacity to become Kitchen of
the World for Halaal products
as it has a huge potential to
win a major share out of total
$3 trillion Global Halaal mar-
ket.
Mufti Ahsan Zafar, coun-
try representative of South
Africa National Halaal Au-
thority (SANHA) while giving
a presentation on "Halaal-the
source of Economic Growth"
here at the Lahore Chamber
of Commerce and Industry.
LCCI President Engineer
Sohail Lashari in his opening
remarks threw light on LCCI
endeavors for cause of Halaal
exports. LCCI Senior Vice
President Mian Tariq Misbah,
Executive Committee mem-
bers Mian Zahid Javaid
Ahmad, Talha Tayyab Butt
and Nasib Ahmad Saifi also
spoke.
Mufti Ahsan Zafar said it
was very unfortunate that all
the top ten exporting coun-
tries of the Halaal products
are non-Muslim states.
He said that it was heart-
ening to note that even the
non-Muslims have recognized
Halaal food the safest food for
consumption.
He said there was a strong
need to develop standards as
our halal products, it will
boost our exports especially in
the Middle East and Europe,
he said.
"We possess all imperative
elements for halal products
production and have to
streamline them to meet the
demand of the market," he
added.
"Demand for Halaal food
products is increasing rapidly
with the escalating population
growth rate and socio-eco-
nomic conditions."
He said that the promotion
of Halaal exports would also
open up new economic op-
portunities and employment
for the youth and traders.
LCCI President Engineer
Sohail Lashari said that pro-
ducers outside the Muslim
world, from Brazil to the US
and Australia, were perform-
ing well into the halaal market
and doing a roaring business
despite the fact that the con-
cept of halaal entirely belongs
to Muslims. n
Islamabad: Minister of
State for Parliamentary Af-
fairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed
informed the National As-
sembly that there are no
hidden charges on mobile
calls.
Responding to a Calling
Attention Notice in the
House, the minister said
that details of the taxes on
mobile cards are available
and after deduction of these
taxes, 62.77 percent amount
were credited to the cus-
tomer.
Sheikh Aftab said that
tax included was 15 percent
withholding tax, 19.5 per-
cent excise duty and five
percent service charges.
He said that Pakistan
Telecommunication Au-
thority (PTA) has asked the
companies to abolish the
call tax but the companies
went to the court and now
the matter is sub-judice. n
Karachi: The National
Electric Power Regulatory
Authority (NEPRA) has ad-
vised nine companies, intend-
ing to setup wind power
generation plants and opting
for the upfront tariff, to
achieve the financial close by
March 31, 2015.
The applicants will have
to achieve financial close by
March 31, 2015 or the up-
front tariff granted to them
will no longer remain applica-
ble. The generation license
may also be declined to
them, says NEPRA. n
Lahore: Buksh Founda-
tion has become a proud
member of the Italian Devel-
opment Committee-Lahore
Chapter. The IDC is commit-
ted to bi-lateral trade & in-
vestment between Italy and
Pakistan with an aim to de-
velop activities in aid of com-
mercial exchange between
Italy and Pakistan.
The IDC assists enter-
prises to support the develop-
ment of economic relations
and any possible collabora-
tion between entrepreneurs of
the two countries.
Fiza Farhan, CEO Buksh
Foundation was honored
with the title of Co-Chairper-
son of the Italian Develop-
ment Committee at the 1st
Executive Meeting. On this
event she said, Buksh Foun-
dation and IDC shall develop
relations for the economic
and financial circles of the
two countries. Italy has
shown great interest in Pak-
istani market; $1.2 billion bi-
lateral trade took place
between the two trading part-
ners last year.Such relations
will give boost to both
economies and will lead to
healthy international rela-
tions.
As the committee Co-
Chairperson Ms. Farhans
roles and responsibilities
would be to represent, express
and give relevant opinions to
the board regarding trade,
commerce, finance, industry,
agriculture and related ques-
tions; providing healthy chan-
nels of communication
within the business commu-
nity and Governments of
both the countries. n
'Pakistan to win share in $3
trillion global Halaal market'
No hidden
charges on mo-
bile calls: NA
informed
Deadline for
intending wind
power produc-
ers
Fiza Farhan, CEO Buksh Foundation be-
comes Co-Chairperson of IDC
Lahore: Mobilink has
launched 3G enabled Dany
Tablets in collaboration with
Dany Mobile for customers.
In line with Mobilinks strat-
egy of providing quality de-
vices at the most affordable
rates, these 3G ready tablets
will provide customers the
ability to experience the next
generation mobile services,
with a 3 month free data bun-
dle.
Aamer Manzoor, Head of
Data Mobilink commenting
on the launch said, As we
near the commercial launch
of 3G, Mobilink is consis-
tently introducing 3G ready
devices in order to better serve
its customers. The collabora-
tion with Dany Mobile is an-
other step in enhancing the
3G device portfolio in the
market. This launch will en-
able and empower our cus-
tomers to use the latest 3G
technology with the best data
offers on the go
The Dany Tablets will be
available Nationwide on all
Dany Mobile Outlets. Cus-
tomers will be able to pur-
chase brand new 3G Ready
tablets for only PKR 18,900
with a pre-loaded data bundle
offer with fair usage of 6GB.
Earlier this year Mobilink
launched the Phone Ex-
change Program and 3G En-
abled USB Dongle to enrich
its 3G devices portfolio. n
Mobilink launches 3G ready
Dany tablets
Fiza Farhan, CEO Buksh Foundation with Italian Development Committee team
Lahore: When you live it
large, live it free! Where the
world talks about 5, 10, 15
FNF numbers we talk about a
generation - the Glow Gener-
ation! Powered by Warid Tele-
com, Glow has revamped its
identity to lead Pakistans
youth towards a technologi-
cally advanced era. With an
evolved logo and tagline of
Join the Glow Generation,
Warid plans to take the youth
by storm with its latest offer-
ings.
Being the nations
favourite youth brand, Glow,
for the first time in Pakistan
now gives its customers a plat-
form to add Unlimited
number of Warid friends &
family numbers to their net-
work. Not only this, Glow
customers can also enjoy
Free Social Media on their
Glow Generation package.
All this can be availed by sim-
ply sending GG in an SMS
to 7777.
So make as many Glow
friends as you like, snap and
share as many pictures on
Facebook or Chat the night
away on Whatsapp, because
Social Media and Glow just
became best friends!
Glow is powered by
Warid, a leading innovator
and superior quality service
provider in the telecom indus-
try of Pakistan. n
Glow launches the Glow Generation
73
NATIONAL NEWS
Lahore: PakWheels.com,
the largest community based
automobile website in Pak-
istan, has managed to bag two
major awards this year, the
12th Teradata IT Excellence
Award and the Brands of the
Year Award 2013.
The Brands of the Year
Award, which is one of the
highest honours in the business
and corporate communities in
Pakistan, was awarded to Pak-
Wheels.com due to its popu-
larity and provision of best
online platforms for cars and
bikes in the country. Mr Suneel
Sarfraz Munj, Chairman Pak-
Wheels.com received the
award at a ceremony held in
Karachi.
Speaking on the occasion,
Suneel said, We are honoured
and pleased to win these pres-
tigious awards and believe it is
a reflection of our unwavering
commitment that has estab-
lished PakWheels.com as a
leading brand in Pakistan.
Over the years, we have estab-
lished trust within the commu-
nities and will continue to offer
the best online services with
unbiased information for
everyone. n
Islamabad: Cementing its
lead to facilitate the consumers
across Pakistan, Ufone has ex-
tended the circle of its free 3G
trial services to Faisalabad and
Peshawar. Now the customers
living in these cities will be able
to benefit from the blazing
speeds and seamless connectiv-
ity free of cost for 10 days. Users
will be able to experience accel-
erated speeds for the initial 200
mb usage, whereas, for any sub-
sequent usage, a reduction in
speed would be experienced up
to 128 kbps, about which the
customer will be intimated via
an SMS, moreover, the policy
will be auto renewable on daily
basis.
Mr Taimur Faiz Cheema,
GM Marketing at Ufone, said
regarding this extension offer,
As announced earlier, we are
further rolling out our 3G serv-
ices to Faisalabad and Peshawar
in subsequent stages to facilitate
and acquaint our customers
with this newly introduced serv-
ice by the operator for free, al-
though for a limited period.
The services could be
availed by simply switching to
WCDMA in 3G enabled smart
phones, or by switching from
2G to 3G mode in other words.
Prior to the activation, a notifi-
cation SMS will be sent to the
customer informing him about
the 3G activation. n
Karachi: Meezan Bank
has been awarded Best Is-
lamic Bank in Pakistan by
Asiamoney magazine, Hong
Kong. This is the fifth time
that Meezan Bank has been
recognised by Asiamoney for
its excellence in Islamic Bank-
ing.
Meezan Bank was
awarded the 'Best Islamic
Bank' in Pakistan for its com-
mitment to quality, customer
satisfaction, innovation and
reliability. The award brings to
light a highly successful year
for Meezan Bank. The Bank
demonstrated robust business
growth in 2013, closing the
year with a deposit figure of
Rs. 289 billion. n
Lahore: Huawei Electron-
ics is to launch the 3G enabled
handset HONOR 3C in
Pakistan. The latest phone will
be available with exciting Zong
deals from27th May at
Huaweis retail outlets and
CMPak customer service cen-
ters across the country.
The new sleek and stylish
phone, designed as the perfect
combination of fast speed,
great signal strength and ex-
treme battery life, is the latest
addition of valuable products
the company has launched in
Pakistan.
The 3G enabled hand-
setHONOR 3Chas a Dual-
SIM feature, with 5 inch
display along with 4.2 Android
jelly bean software and Quad-
Core 1.3 GHz processor. The
phone is packed with latest
technologies in a creative yet
attractive style, fulfilling to the
needs of consumers and com-
peting with the best in market.
Huawei HONOR 3Cis a
lightweight and compact Dual-
SIM smartphone, which has
8MP sensor camera with 2GB
RAM and 8GB ROM, and
with the worlds top level 28nm
advanced technology, it is
smooth enough for playing big
games very fast.
Huawei will launch this
phone in collaboration with
Zong 4G bringing two exciting
deals for customers. User can
buy HONOR 3C for 22,499/=
and get 12GB free internet
Data from Zong for 12
months. Or they can get
HONOR 3C onZong recharge
of Rs33,000/= only. This deal
will be available at CMPak
customer service centers only.n
Islamabad: Zong, Pak-
istans first and only super
3G and 4G LTE telecom
network and a part of China
Mobile Pakistan, has agreed
to set up a mini customer
service center (CSC) at
PTDC motel, Wagah border,
Lahore. The CSC is being
set up to provide Indian vis-
itors with Zongs network
connection upon their ar-
rival into Pakistan.
Speaking about the ini-
tiative, Dr. Zhao Peng, CCO,
Zong said: At Zong, we
have always strived to pro-
vide the best service to our
customers. To showcase this
technical prowess and to
provide a better experience
to Indian visitors from
across the border, we de-
cided to set up a CSC at the
main point of entry into the
country. Being a company
looking to evolve basic tele-
com services in Pakistan, we
have always looked to create
a synergy with the local
masses and this initiative
showcases our solidarity
with the consumer. The idea
is to welcome and facilitate
visitors from across the bor-
der with state of the art, tele-
com service provision
These special Zong Sims
will offer Indian visitors ex-
cellent network coverage
throughout their stay in Pak-
istan and add value to their
trip by providing them with
seamless connectivity and
high speed internet connec-
tion. n
PakWheels.co
m bags two
more awards
Ufone ex-
tends free 3G
trial offer to
Faisalabad,
Peshawar
Meezan Bank
wins Best
Islamic Bank
award
Huawei launches 3G enabled HONOR 3C
with exciting new deals from Zong
Zong to set up a CSC at Wagah to facilitate Indian visitors
Being the nations favourite youth brand, Glow, for the first time in Pak-
istan now gives its customers a platform to add Unlimited number of
Warid friends & family numbers to their network
Dr. Zhao Peng CCO Zong shakes hands with Kabeer Ahmad Khan MD PTDC after signing of
MoU ceremony at PTDC Wagah
74
NATIONAL NEWS
Islamabad: Janan
Mosazai, Ambassador of Is-
lamic Republic of
Afghanistan called on Fed-
eral Minister for Finance
Ishaq Dar.
The Ambassador briefed
the Finance Minister on lat-
est development on
CASA1000 electricity trans-
mission project. CASA 1000
is a joint project between
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajik-
istan and Kyrghizstan. The
Ambassador said the Afghan
side has a strong commit-
ment to the project and in-
tends to move forward on the
project.
said that Afghanistan is very
dear to Pakistan and we have
an earnest desire to forge
stronger bonds with our
neighborly country. He un-
derlined the need for working
on fast track to move ahead
on regional connectivity. He
emphasized that we are
brothers and Pakistan will al-
ways be helpful to
Afghanistan on all issues. Fi-
nance Minister hoped that a
reasonable transit fee will be
agreed upon by the Afghan
side in order to forge ahead.
He underlined that it is
now time that, in line with
our religious traditions; we
take this relationship to a
new level of economic and
regional cooperation which
could reflect in consistency
of our good neighborly rela-
tions. He said that a stable,
peaceful and strong
Afghanistan will lead to
greater economic coopera-
tion between the two coun-
tries and beyond. n
Pak seeks reasonable power transit fee for CASA-1000 project
CASA1000 electricity transmission project is a joint project between Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Tajikistan and Kyrghizstan
Lahore: As part of its ex-
pansion plan an agreement be-
tween Shell Pakistan and
McDonald's Pakistan was re-
cently signed to open and op-
erate Drive-Thru Restaurants
on multiple Shell outlets na-
tionwide. Drive Thru Restau-
rants at gas stations are a very
common sight in mature mar-
kets. This initiative is sure to
open up new venues of busi-
ness and will add a new di-
mension to the restaurant and
gas station co-alliance in Pak-
istan. Mazhar-ud-Din, Gen-
eral Manager Retail, Shell
Pakistan Limited and Jamil
Ahmed Mughal, Director
Marketing & Development,
McDonald's Pakistan, Jawad
Shah (Network Delivery Man-
ager, Shell Pakistan Limited,
Saif Ullah Khan, Network
Planner, Shell Pakistan Lim-
ited, Hisham Khan, Market-
ing and Operations Manager
Retail, Shell Pakistan Limited
and Syed Emraan Razi, Sen-
ior Manager Real Estate De-
velopment, McDonald's
Pakistan were grace the occa-
sion. n
The Held Jammu and
Kashmir government decided
to lift the ban on short mes-
saging services (SMS) on pre-
paid mobile connections.
On the instructions of Chief
Minister Omar Abdullah, the
restriction on SMS to the pre-
paid cell phones in the state
has been revoked. Sub-
scribers of prepaid cell
phones had made requests to
the chief minister in this re-
gard and he issued instruc-
tions to the concerned
agencies to lift the said re-
striction.
SMSs on mobile phones
were suspended in Jammu
and Kashmir in June 2010. In
2013, however, the ban on
these services was lifted on
post-paid mobile connec-
tions, but continued on pre-
paid accounts. Sources in
various service providers con-
firmed that they have re-
ceived instructions from the
state government to resume
short messaging services on
prepaid mobile phones as
well with effect from Wednes-
day.
In response to a Right to
Information (RTI) plea, the
central government had clari-
fied that the decision to im-
pose ban on SMS on prepaid
cell phones in Jammu and
Kashmir was taken by the
state government and not the
central government. Intelli-
gence agencies said in 2010
that prepaid mobile phone
SIM cards were issued by var-
ious service providers in the
state without foolproof verifi-
cation and this service was
being used by separatist guer-
rillas to send messages to
their cadre. Following orders
from the state home depart-
ment, the service providers in
the state have been now
adopting a strict verification
procedure before issuing pre-
paid or post-paid SIM cards
to subscribers. n
Shell-Mcdonalds signs MoU for
Drive-Thru Restaurants
Held J&K govt to lift ban
on SMS
Lahore: The micro-blogging
website, Twitter, has honoured
five requests put forth by an offi-
cial from the Pakistan Telecom-
munication Authority (PTA) to
block tweets that he regarded as
blasphemous, a report published
in the New York Times recently.
All five requests were made in
the month of May by the PTAs
Abdul Batin who had asked
Twitter to censor accounts,
tweets or searches on the social
network that he described as
blasphemous or unethical.
Twitter honoured all re-
quests which called for the
blocking of content from draw-
ings of the Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH), photographs of burn-
ing copies of the Holy Quran
and messages from a handful of
anti-Islam bloggers as well as an
American porn star who now at-
tends Duke University, the NYT
report said. The blocking of
these tweets in Pakistan is in line
with Twitters country-specific
censorship policy that it made
public in 2012. The NYT report
moreover said that it was the first
time that the social network had
agreed to block content.
Twitters compliance with
the PTAs requests comes at a
time when Pakistan is already
confronted with multiple cen-
sorship challenges. At the same
time, discussion on the countrys
blasphemy laws has also become
increasingly precarious with the
targeting of secularists. It is per-
tinent to mention that in May
2012, Twitter was briefly
blocked in Pakistan over blas-
phemous posts about a Face-
book competition involving
caricatures of Prophet Muham-
mad (PBUH).
The website had been
blocked by the PTA on the or-
ders of the Ministry for Infor-
mation Technology amid
accusations it refused to remove
messages about the Facebook
contest. The ban had sparked
anger, and many in Pakistan ap-
peared to have found a way to
circumvent the restrictions and
post on the micro-blog regard-
less. Several hours after it was cut
off, the PTA had restored access
to the website.
In Pakistan, Twitter is used
by prominent public figures such
as celebrities, cricketers, cabinet
ministers and members of par-
liament. n
Lahore: P&G, the maker
of global products such as
Pantene, Head & Shoulders,
Ariel and Pampers, joined in
announcing its collaboration
with Metro Cash & Carry and
Health Oriented Preventive
Education (HOPE) for the
provision of clean drinking
water to communities affected
by natural disasters in Pak-
istan.
On the occasion of the 50
anniversary of Metros Cash
& Carry operations, the or-
ganization is partnering with
the P&G Childrens Safe
Drinking Water (CSDW) Pro-
gram to provide clean drink-
ing water to Pakistani com-
munities affected by natural
disasters, including the recent
Tharparkar catastrophe.
Through this joint effort, 24
million liters of clean drinking
water will be made available
through the P&G Purifier of
Water packets. This is enough
to provide 400,000 people
enough water for a month.
HOPE, P&Gs long-term
NGO partner will distribute
the P&G Purifier of Water
packets to people affected by
the recent Tharpakar crisis
with a provision for potential
floods in the monsoon season
that is a few weeks away. n
Twitter blocks 'blasphemous'
tweets in on PTA requests
Metro Cash & Carry and P&G
join hands
Lahore: Hardee's has in-
troduced new Hand-Breaded
Chicken Tender Sandwiches.
The new sandwiches come in
three different flavors; honey
mustard, ranch & BBQ sauce
and are now being served
across all Hardee's outlets in
Pakistan. n
Lahore: Warid has intro-
duced one stop solution, for
its Glow and Prepaid cus-
tomers. IVR 100 is a voice
based facility that allows you
complete control over your
mobile services. It gives cus-
tomers the means to manage
their account along with in-
stant access to information
about their account and de-
tails of new products and
services. Just dial 100 and
enter into the world of mobile
services. n
Hardees
introduces
Hand-Breaded
Chicken
Tender sand-
wiches
Warid intro-
duces One
Stop solution
Nawa Press Ltd is releas-
ing an iBook version of book
Solution Pakistan: Volume I
on 2nd of June 2014.
This book contains work-
able solutions, which when
adopted, will reduce poverty
& inflation quickly in Pak-
istan; create employment for
everyone; reduce crimes, ter-
rorism, & corruption and
bring about peace and stabil-
ity.
The author, Meem Zaal
Jeem, is a patriotic Pakistani
who believes that to save Pak-
istan from economic failure,
poverty, crimes and terrorism
the economy must be revived
first, because everything else
depends on it. He believes that
the main problem in Pakistani
economy is the way the mon-
etary policy is run.
He suggested workable so-
lutions which will transform
Pakistani economy quickly,
and the government will be
able to pay off all of its for-
eign and domestic debts easily
and collect all the tax it
needs. n
Nawa Press
launching
iBook version
Lahore: PIA under its
CSR programme has joined
hands with Shaukat Khanum
Memorial Cancer Hospital
and Research Centre to help
thousands of indigent cancer
patients being treated by the
hospital every year by per-
mitting it to place its in-flight
donation envelopes at domes-
tic and international flights
of PIA.
In this regard an agree-
ment was signed between
SKMCH&RC and Pakistan
International Airlines in an
event held in Karachi.
SKMCH&RCs Director
Marketing Tariq Azam and
PIAs Director Food & Flight
Services Amanullah Qureshi
were the signing authorities
from their respective organi-
sations.
According to agreement,
PIA through an announce-
ment on board will also per-
suade its passengers to
donate on voluntary basis to
their preferred charity via the
relevant in-flight envelopes to
be made available in the front
seat pockets on PIA aircraft.
This facility will be very ben-
eficial for the impoverished
cancer patients being treated
at most modern hospital of
the country. It will also help
to raise funds for construc-
tion of Pakistans second
Shaukat Khanum Cancer
Hospital being built in Pe-
shawar for the patients from
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and its
vicinity. n
PIA to raise
funds for
Shaukat
Khanum
hospital
Lahore: Warid Tele-
com, leading innovator in
Pakistan's telecom industry,
celebrated its 9th anniversary
recently. In all these years,
company has shown solid re-
sults while it has constantly
focused on its customer ori-
ented services and innovative
approach. Expressing grati-
tude towards Warid cus-
tomers and employees,
Muneer Farooqui, CEO
Warid Telecom said: We are
standing on solid ground in
the 9th year, while establish-
ing a strong foundation for
future development. The
biggest achievement which
makes Warid what it is
today is its dedicated em-
ployees and loyal customers.
Our service philosophy
makes a solid difference in
our level of services; it is at
the heart of our success.
The stats of a recent 3rd
party survey revealed that
97% of Warid customers are
happy with the quality of
network service provided by
the company. Warid
outscored other cellular op-
erators by having more satis-
fied customers.
As part of the Abu Dhabi
Group, the single largest for-
eign investment group in the
country, we at Warid believe
that we have a responsibility
to constantly strive for excel-
lence. With the support of
our parent Group, we are
confident that company will
remain competitive within
this new telecoms paradigm.
The Group has already com-
mitted to invest close to
USD400 million in the coun-
try's infrastructure and econ-
omy.
I am grateful to each of
our customer who has made
our brand a great success. I
am also thankful to our
stakeholders for their trust,
to our honorable Chairman
His Highness Sheikh Nahyan
bin Mubarak Al Nahyan,
Board of Directors, all our
associates and everyone in-
volved in making Warid a
success.
The company has set the
highest standards of service
excellence and is enjoying in-
credible brand reputation
and exceptionally positive
customer loyalty trends.
Transforming brand prom-
ises into operational reality,
the company took a number
of incredible initiatives to
further enhance the Cus-
tomer Experience.
Warid is also recognized
as one of the top socially de-
voted brands, outperforming
92% of global brand names
as per Social Bakers report.
Based on its exceptional
brand repute and corporate
image, the company has se-
cured the second largest
postpaid subscriber base in
Pakistan.
As a responsible corpo-
rate citizen, there are a num-
ber of corporate social
efforts that the company is
making to contribute to-
wards the well-being of the
society. Being the trend-setter
and the leader in providing
quality services, Warid Tele-
com continues to earn cus-
tomer trust by setting
excellence benchmarks in the
services industry of Pak-
istan. n
Warid celebrates nine years of service excellence in Pakistan
Warid Telecom continues to earn customer trust by setting excellence benchmarks in the serv-
ices industry of Pakistan
Islamabad: The sub-com-
mittee of National Assembly
Public Accounts Committee
(PAC) directed Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority
(PTA) and National Electric
Power Regulatory Authority
(NEPRA) to frame service
rules within three months and
approve from the government.
`The sub-committee which
met here with Rana Afzal
Ahmed in chair reviewed audit
paras of Cabinet Division and
its attached department for
1996-97, 1999-2000, 2000-01,
2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07 and
2008-09.
The PAC panel also di-
rected the secretary Cabinet
Akhlaq Ahmad Tarar to get
the rules approved from the
government. The Acting
Chairman NEPRA Khawja
Naeem and Chairman PTA Is-
mail Shah apprised the com-
mittee that the authorities
were independent and could
make regulations.
However, the official of
Law Division told the com-
mittee that in absence of rules,
all regulations would be in-
valid. Principle Accounting
Officer Akhlaq Ahamd in-
formed the committee that the
NEPRA and PTA has no serv-
ices rules. However, he said
that all regulators must be in-
dependent but it should be run
under rules.
He said that unfortunately,
the government has no repre-
sentation in any regulators.
To a question, the secretary
said that currently practice of
deputation was being discour-
aged and all appointments
were being through advertise-
ment and in transparent man-
ner.
While reviewing the para,
the audit officials apprised the
Panel that under the law, the
PTA and NEPRA were bound
to deposit all their extra
amount beyond their expendi-
ture to federal consolidated ac-
count.
While reviewing para
about retention of gifts by the
PM secretariat, the Panel
stressed the need to revisit the
rules of Tosha Khana.
The Secretary told that
under the rule there was no
provision for re-gifting of gifts
kept in Tosha Khana. The
Audit officials informed the
committee that four costly
wrist watches of different
prices were handed over to
Deputy Military Secretary to
the Prime Minister on October
14, 1997 for perusal of Prime
Minister. Out of four, one
watch bering TSR-1615 18 KT
gold wrist watch with an as-
sessed value Rs.210,000 was
retained by the Prime Minis-
ter's Secretariat.
Member of the Commit-
tee, Shafqat Mehmood said
that in past such precious
things were auctioned on
throwaway
prices. He suggested that
these precious gifts should be
preserved.
The meeting was also at-
tended by MNAs Shafqat
Mehmood, Syed Kazim, offi-
cials of Cabinet Division,
Audit, Law and Justices,
NEPRA, PTA and Finance
Division. n
Islamabad: Pakistan
Telecommunications Company
Limited (PTCL) has been
awarded Customer Service Ap-
preciation award for best cus-
tomer services in the telecom
sector at "Service Punch -2014
conference.
The awards ceremony, pre-
sented by Active8, in collabora-
tion with Rozee.pk and
Pakistan Human Capital
Forum, brought together a large
number of CEO's, business
heads, delegates and guests be-
longing to customer services
and other industries.
Pakistans leading ICT serv-
ice provider, PTCL received
service appreciation award as a
recognition to the companys
track record of innovation and
the pioneering role played in
harnessing technology for pro-
viding better services to cus-
tomers.
The survey is the result of a
comprehensive independent as-
sessment conducted by Active8,
which included 5000 respon-
dents from a cross section of the
society. The awards highlight,
acknowledge and celebrate out-
standing achievements and aim
at developing a culture of excel-
lence in customer care.
PTCL has been making re-
lentless efforts to exceed cus-
tomer expectations and shall
continue to provide superior
customer services while deliver-
ing quality and innovation. n
PTA, NEPRA directed to approve
rules in 3 months
PTCL receives customer service appreciation award
75
NATIONAL NEWS
CEO-Warid-Telecom,
Muneer-Farooqui
Awais Javaid, PTCL GM, Commercial Central, receiving customer service
appreciation award at the first Service Conference "Service Punch 2014.
76
INTERNATIONAL Mosaic | Flare Report
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mass wedding of officers loyal to Syria's president Bashar Al-
Assad in hotel Dama Rose, Damascus
A woman wears Google glasses after a media presentation of a Google apartment in Prague. The
apartment is fully equipped with newest Google technologies and members of the media were
shown how to use them in common life situations at home.
A model displays KDDI's new heavy-duty smartphone "Torque", which complies with military standard
"MIL-STD-810G" of the US Department of Defense for waterproof, dust-proof and shock-proof at KDDI's
presentation in Tokyo
Flare Report | INTERNATIONAL Mosaic
77
A zoo employee takes a self portrait with a lemur on a tablet computer at the Royev Ruchey zoo in
Krasnoyarsk, Siberia
Marine Le Pen, France's National Front political party head, checks notes on her mobile phone
after leaving her polling station during the European Parliament election in Henin-Beaumont
Real Madrid football fans pose for a selfie prior to to the UEFA Champions League Final Real
Madrid vs Atletico de Madrid at Luz stadium in Lisbon
Volunteer Aymara speakers from the online community "Jaqi Aru" (language of the people) gather
to translate Facebook, in El Alto on the outskirts of La Paz.
Chairman and CEO Lenovo Yang Yuanqing poses with a
Lenovo tablet during a news conference
A woman checks her mobile phone in front of an election
poster showing Popular Movement Party leaders in Bucharest
May 23, 2014. European Union parliamentary elections this
week are likely to reflect growing disenchantment with the bloc
which is only slowly recovering from years of financial crisis.
A flight attendant for Cathay Pacific checks her mobile phone
after arriving at the international airport in Hong Kong
Actress Debra Messing looks on with her cell phone as Will Chase of the cast of "Nashville" per-
forms at Best Buy Theater
Russian TV host Victoria Bonya (L) and actress and model Hofit Golan (R) take a selfie with a mobile
phone during the 67th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes
ReShare is targeted at news junkies who are tired of relying
on Google Translate to read articles from foreign-language pub-
lications. Instead, the app offers articles translated into 11 lan-
guages by humans. The iOS and Android app was created by
Conyac, a crowdsourcing translation platform.
After raising seed funding last year from Skylight Consult-
ing, Samurai Incubate, United and ANRI, Conyac grew its base
of translators from 10,000 to 17,000. That amount increased so
rapidly that the Tokyo-based company didnt have enough job
requests for every person.
ReShare was created to give Conyacs translators something
to do so they wouldnt move to a competing service, like One
Hour Translation or Gengo. Translators will participate in a rev-
enue-sharing program from money earned through ReShares
in-app advertisements.
Reshare_GodzillaReShare has translated news articles avail-
able in 11 languages: Japanese, English, Chinese (traditional and
simplified), Indonesian, Spanish, Polish, Russian, French, Viet-
namese, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean and Italian. All stories are
picked, translated, and uploaded to the app by the translators,
says Conyac founder Naoki Yamada.
While translations for Conyacs clients are edited by second
readers, I found that some of ReShares English-language articles
had minor grammatical errors or were written in a more casual
style than most news stories. Some language sections are still
sparse. For example, Italian only has one article: a One Direction
profile in Spanish.
Yamada says that his company plans to increase quality by
doling out bonuses to translators based on how often their arti-
cles are shared to social networks. Another helpful feature would
be to allow users to rate articles by readability. n
Handset and electronics
manufacturer LG has
launched a range of smart
home appliances in its domes-
tic market of South Korea in a
bid to steal a march in the con-
nected home sector.
The firm has incorporated
its HomeChat messaging serv-
ice into the appliances, which
uses natural language process-
ing as well as integration with
popular OTT messaging serv-
ices provider Line. Line
claims over 300 million users
worldwide.
The technology allows
homeowners to communicate,
control, monitor and even
share content with the smart
appliances. At launch, the
firm has unveiled a camera-
equipped refrigerator, a wash-
ing machine that can be
controlled remotely and an
oven that supports NFC and
wifi connectivity to allow re-
mote monitoring and control.
The appliances integra-
tion with Line makes commu-
nicating with them similar to
chatting with a friend, accord-
ing to LG. They also incorpo-
rate a Quick Button feature
enabling customers to easily
access their most commonly
used functions.
Todays intelligent home
appliances offer a variety of
useful functions but many
consumers still find setting
them up an extremely compli-
cated process. said Seong-jin
Jo, president and CEO of the
LG Electronics Home Appli-
ance Company. Not only
does LG HomeChat help sim-
plify and enhance our prod-
ucts, they also deliver a unique
user experience, adding even
more value to our customers
lives. n
Twitter has rolled out a new
'mute' button, which lets users
turn off the posts/updates of
certain users without unfollow-
ing them. The feature has been
introduced for Android, iOS
and web users. The 'Mute' but-
ton will stop unwanted posts
from showing up on your time-
line, including native re-tweets
and their own posts, so users
will not get push notifications or
SMS alerts from them. n
BlackBerry has shown off its
long expected low cost smart-
phone the BlackBerry Z3
Jakarta Edition which will be
exclusively sold in Indonesia a
key market for the company.
The smartphone comes with a
5-inch screen and customisation
for the local language and cul-
ture. The device is expected to
retail through authorized part-
ners at a price of IDR 2,199,000
(US$191). In Jakarta, Indonesia
to launch BlackBerry Z3,
Jakarta Edition, John Chen, Ex-
ecutive Chairman and CEO,
BlackBerry, said: "From con-
ception to delivery, the Black-
Berry Z3, Jakarta Edition was
designed specifically with our
Indonesian customers in mind.
Iraq's cabinet announced it
has authorised mobile phone
firms to use third-generation fre-
quencies, after years of promises
amid the frustrated pleas of cel-
lular operators. It was not im-
mediately clear how 3G would
be licensed or sold, and a cabi-
net statement did not elaborate
on when any such decision
would be fully implemented.
"The General Secretariat of the
Council of Ministers announces
the approval of granting mobile
phone companies working in
Iraq the right to use third-gener-
ation frequencies," a cabinet
statement said. "The purpose of
this... is to provide services with
high quality." n
South Korea's LG has an-
nounced the launch of its latest
LTE smartphone the F70 which
it says will go on sale in Europe
within the next few weeks.
The F70 comes with a 4.5-
inch display, a 1.2 GHz Quad-
Core processor and is supplied
with Android 4.4 KitKat OS.
"The F70 possesses all the best
of LG's LTE technolo.
Singapore's telecom regu-
lator fined Singapore
Telecommunications (SingTel)
a record $4.8 million for nine
days of service disruption that
followed a fire at one of its fa-
cilities last year.
The Infocomm Develop-
ment Authority (IDA) said
SingTel and two other tele-
com-linked firms did not fulfil
their obligations to customers
after the fire at a suburban
telephone exchange on Octo-
ber 9. The fine is the highest
ever handed to a Singapore
telecom firm, according to
local media. Around 270,000
telecom and TV consumers,
including residential users,
government agencies and
businesses, were affected by
the disruption.
OpenNet, Singapore's fibre
network provider, was sepa-
rately fined Sg$200,000 while
another firm linked to SingTel,
CityNet, was fined
Sg$300,000. The IDA's deputy
chief executive Leong Keng
Thai said the outage was "of a
magnitude that is unprece-
dented, but more importantly,
that could have been avoided".
SingTel apologised for the
disruption and said it accepted
the fine, adding that the com-
pany had enhanced its fire pre-
vention measures and network
design. The company, major-
ity-controlled by Singapore
state investment arm Temasek
Holdings, wholly owns Aus-
tralia's Optus and holds sub-
stantial stakes in other
regional mobile operators in-
cluding Airtel in India and
Globe Telecom in the Philip-
pines. The SingTel Group has
a customer base of over 500
million mobile users across
Asia. n
Google's drive to put the fu-
ture of personal computing
firmly in the Internet "cloud" got
a boost from chip titan Intel and
hardware giants including
Lenovo.
The leading computer
maker joined Acer, Dell,
Toshiba, Hewlett-Packard,
Asus, and LG Electronics to in-
troduce an array of new
Chromebooks, many powered
by newer-generation Intel chips
that promise improved perform-
ance and battery life.
"Intel has been a strong part-
ner since the inception of
Chromebooks," Intel mobile
client platforms group vice pres-
ident Navin Shenoy said at a
press event showcasing new
models. The array of Chrome-
books coming to market in-
cluded the first one from
Lenovo aimed directly at the
consumer market. China-based
Lenovo is the world's leading
personal computer company.
Popularity of a Lenovo
Chromebook tailored for stu-
dents in schools prompted the
company to create a model for
use outside of class, according
to Lenovo "ambassador" Ashley
Rodrigue. "We have seen signif-
icant momentum and traction
on the Chrome side of the
house," Rodrigue said.
"Because of that, we have
taken a look elsewhere at the
growth of Chrome." Chrome
challenges the traditional model
of installing and maintaining
programs on machines, instead
letting devices serve as door-
ways to applications or services
hosted at data centers connected
to the Internet.
Chromebooks are also
known for bargain prices. For
example, Lenovo models will
start at $279. Shifting operating
software to banks of servers on-
line means that Google updates
programs and fends off hackers
and malicious software. n
ReShare App offers articles
translated into 11 languages
LG launches smart appli-
ances integrated with line
Twitter
launches 'mute'
button for An-
droid, iOS and
web
BlackBerry
Launches New
Indonesian
Smartphone
Iraq authorises
3G for mobile
firms
LG shows off a
new Android
smartphone
SingTel fined a record $4.8 million for
service disruption
Google Chromebooks get
boost from chip-com-
puter giants
ReShare was created to give Conyacs translators something to do so they
wouldnt move to a competing service, like One Hour Translation or Gengo.
Translators will participate in a revenue-sharing program from money earned
through ReShares in-app advertisements
78
News in Brief
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
79
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Self-destructing message
application Blink is vanishing
into Yahoo's growing moun-
tain of mobile technology com-
pany take-overs. A post
Wednesday at the Blink website
announced that the start-up is
becoming part of Yahoo but
did not disclose financial terms
of the deal. Blink said that in
coming weeks it will shut down
its applications for mobile de-
vices powered by Apple.
Japanese carrier NTT Do-
CoMo has farmed out trial
contracts to several big infra-
structure vendors in order to
pilot 5G mobile network tech-
nologies, promising data rates
of 10Gbps.
Ericsson, Nokia, NEC, Al-
catel-Lucent, Samsung and Fu-
jitsu have all been selected to
work on a 5G proof of concept
system, using the 15GHz fre-
quency band for the air inter-
face as well as exploring the
potential of millimetre wave
technology at the 70GHz spec-
trum band. n
The head of Samsung
Group, South Korea's largest
business empire, underwent an
emergency operation after de-
veloping symptoms of heart
failure, hospital officials said.
Lee Kun-Hee, 72, was ad-
mitted to a hospital near his
home in Seoul due to a respira-
tory problem. He showed
symptoms of heart failure and
received emergency treatment
before being moved to Samsung
Medical Centre where his prob-
lem was diagnosed as "acute
cardiac infarction", the hospital
said in a statement.
"He is now recuperating in
a stable condition after going
through an operation," it said. n
Sony is to shutter its ebook
Reader Store in Europe and
Australia following a similar
pullout in North America, the
company has said, as the once-
mighty electronics giant pulls
in its horns.
The move comes on the
heels of the sale of its strug-
gling PC business and as Sony
looks to plug gaping holes in its
balance sheet.
Users of the company's
tablets and smartphones will be
transferred by next month to
the Kobo e-book system oper-
ated by Tokyo-based online
mall Rakuten, the company
said in a statement.
Reader Store will shut
down on June 16 in Europe
and Australia, while it will con-
tinue operating in Japan, it
said. The Japanese electronics
giant has already closed its
Reader Store in North Amer-
ica in March.
The streamlining came
only a few month after the
struggling manufacturer, which
is a small player in the global
personal computer market,
sold its Vaio-brand PC division
to a Japanese investment fund.
Last week Sony warned it
would report a bigger-than-ex-
pected annual losses, blaming
costs tied to its exit from the
personal computer business, as
the once-high-flying firm un-
dergoes a painful restructuring.
The one-time byword for
consumer electronics innova-
tion warned it would book a
130 billion yen net loss ($1.28
billion) in the latest fiscal year
to March, while it slashed its
operating earnings outlook. n
Although sales of Nokia
smartphones have been on the
decline for quite a while,
many market observers agree
that the companys handsets
feature the industrys best
cameras. Select smartphones
from Nokia even provide bet-
ter imaging capabilities than
many mainstream cameras.
Apparently, not all people
who developed the know-
hows that are featured in
Lumia and PureView will join
Microsoft.
Ari Partinen, a senior
Lumia engineer who was be-
hind PureView and Lumia
cameras and most recently
served as the Lumia photog-
raphy lead at Nokia, decided
to join Apple and start a new
chapter there, according to his
post on Twitter.
Today will be my last day
working for the amazing
Lumia family, said Mr. Parti-
nen. In June I will start a
new chapter in Cupertino,
California. Much love!
What is particularly im-
portant is that Ari Partinen is
one of the inventors of Nokia
PureView oversampling tech-
nology, a key technique for fu-
ture smartphone cameras that
will have extreme sensors and
a lot of image processing ca-
pabilities.
The Nokia PureView im-
aging technology is the com-
bination of a large, super high
resolution 41MP sensor with
high performance Carl Zeiss
optics and a complex software
that manages oversampling,
combination of many pixels
into one perfect pixel. Thanks
to extreme-resolution sensor,
the technology allows to cap-
ture an image, then zoom, re-
frame, crop and resize
afterwards to expose previ-
ously unseen levels of details.
While it is clear that there
are numerous imaging spe-
cialists at Nokia and now Mi-
crosoft, the decision of a key
person like Mr. Partinen to
leave is an alarming sign for
the new business unit of the
software giant.
Sony to close e-reading
store in Europe, Australia
The latest figures from the
search engine giant Google in-
dicates that the newest version
of its Android OS codenamed
KitKat 4.4 is the new face of its
success story. According to the
latest figures from Google, An-
droid KitKat version 4.4 col-
lected a total of 8.5 percent of
the entire Android devices
whereas the previous An-
droids Jelly Bean continued to
be on the top of the game with
the major share in the An-
droid-powered devices.
As per the stats posted on
the official page of Android
Developers, KitKat 4.4 man-
aged to get 7.4 percent in April
alongside a meager 1.1 percent
from March to pack up at 8.5
percent. Meanwhile, it is inter-
esting to note that the KitKat
4.4 is only equipped to a lim-
ited number of devices such as
the Nexus series; Google Play
edition devices; Moto G and
Moto X; L Series III smart-
phones from LG; HTC One
(M8); Galaxy S5 and a hand-
ful of other Galaxy gadgets in
addition to various other latest
mainstream devices.android
4.2.2
The best of all, Android
Jelly Bean is the front-runner
with a dominating share of
60.8 percent of entire Android
ecosystem. Android 4.1.x still
possessed 33.5 percent of de-
vices while Android 4.2.x was
second with 18.8 percent and
Android 4.3 with a share of
8.5 percent respectively. An-
droid Jelly Beans entire market
share was calculated to be 61.4
percent last month. n
IP interconnect provider
XConnect and Malaysian and
Indonesian ICT specialist Extol
this week launched the Asian
Interconnect Exchange (AIX),
giving local service providers
access to an IP hub where they
can exchange IP traffic and
services.
The combined population
of Malaysia and Indonesia is
nearly 300 million, according to
the CIA Fact Book, and the
aim of the AIX is to make
adopting IP services like VoIP
easy for local and regional op-
erators in order to drive growth
in IP services in Southeast Asia.
AIX allows service
providers to interconnect to
multiple networks via a single
IP connection to the hub, sup-
porting the interworking of
voice and advanced IP services,
such as HD voice, video and
Unified Communications (UC)
between fixed, mobile and OTT
service providers.
The transition from legacy
TDM networks to IP intercon-
nection is crucial for the devel-
opment of new IP services and
we believe that with a partner
like XConnect we can make a
lasting impact on ICT in the re-
gion. Our collaborative efforts
will result in advanced and effi-
cient VoIP interconnect solu-
tions for our customers and
new opportunities in IP in the
future, said Mr. Mohd
Badaruddin Bin Masodi, presi-
dent of Extol Malaysia.
Malaysia is one of the fastest
growing communications mar-
kets in Asia with VoIP traffic
alone set to grow at CAGR of
18 per cent to 2018, according
to Ovum. In addition, mobile
broadband connections are due
to increase at a CAGR of 11
per cent over the next five years
as LTE rolls out. This will take
the total number close to 44
million by 2018 or 165 per cent
population penetration. n
Google Android OS KitKat
4.4 is becoming success
IP interconnect hub
launches in Asia
Apple hires senior Nokia
PureView camera specialist
Yahoo buys
vanishing mes-
sage app Blink
Docomo to
begin 5G trials
in Japan
Samsung chief
has emergency
heart operation
News in Brief
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Etisalat and Telecom Italia
Sparkle signed an agreement
to connect their global multi-
service IPXs allowing mobile
subscribers to roam seam-
lessly between inter-
national operator
networks and get
high quality voice
and mobile data serv-
ices.
Telecom Italia
Sparkle is among top
10 global service
providers worldwide
offering a complete range of
telecom solutions catering the
needs of fixed and mobile car-
riers, ISPs, content providers,
multimedia players and cor-
porate customers.
TI Sparkles IPX solution
today reaches across 80 net-
works covering 40 countries.
The partnership between
Etisalat SmartHub and Tele-
com Italia Sparkle enables the
two leading operators to ex-
pand their LTE footprint glob-
ally.
Ali Amiri, executive vice
president, Carrier & Whole-
sale, Etisalat said: We are
pleased to be entering an
agreement with Telecom
Italia Sparkle which will ben-
efit both companies with the
combined multiservice IPX
offerings and enhance our re-
spective customers mobile
roaming experience.
Etisalat SmartHub IPX is
a strategic addition to the Eti-
salat SmartHub portfolio en-
hancing our role as a global
communication hub. Opera-
tors joining the SmartHub
IPX will have access to TI
Sparkles community and vice
versa, providing a single point
of interconnect.
TI Sparkle is a pioneer in
the industry for the design
and introduction of an IPX
proposition, and the partner-
ship with Etisalat SmartHub
is another important mile-
stone in our effort to make
IPX the primary platform for
the exchange of existing and
upcoming IP based data and
voice services globally, said
Elisabetta Ripa, CEO of TI
Sparkle. With the rapid adop-
tion of LTE networks
throughout the world, the
market is witnessing a sharp
increase in the development
of mobile devices supporting
all-IP services. n
Google confirmed it has
bought a startup specializing in
using smartphones to translate
signs, billboards or other writ-
ten words in real time. Quest
Visual and the technology built
into its Word Lens application
will become part of a Google
team devoted to developing
translation features and serv-
ices.
Terms of the deal were not
disclosed and Google declined
to make any comment on the
record. "With Word Lens,
we've seen the beginnings of
what's possible when we har-
ness the power of mobile de-
vices to see the world in your
language," Quest said in a blog
post. "By joining Google, we
can incorporate Quest Visual's
technology into Google Trans-
late's broad language coverage
and translation capabilities in
the future."
Word Lens uses smart-
phone video cameras to "read"
words in one language and
translate them into another al-
most instantly without need for
network connections. n
Etisalat inks roaming
deal Telecom Italia
Google buys written lan-
guage translation startup
80
Vodafone and Huawei today
announced that Vodafone UKs
4G service using its 4G 2.6Ghz
spectrum on a small cell system
is now successfully deployed in
Huaweis UK headquarters, giv-
ing employees and visitors 4G
data speeds of up to 82Mbps
downlink and 42Mbps uplink.
The service launch, using
Huaweis LampSite LTE 2.6,
was witnessed by Vodafone
UKs CTO Fergal Kelly along
with members of his team. Cre-
ated in partnership between the
companies technology and in-
novation teams, Huawei will
continue to develop the technol-
ogy with plans for Vodafone UK
to offer the Lampsite technology
Airtel announced it has
launched its 4G LTE services in
Ludhiana. The announcement
comes a few days after the car-
rier launched 4G LTE services
for smartphone users in Mohali,
Chandigarh and Panchkula.
Airtel has rolled out mobile as
well as dongle based 4G services
in the city. Airtel already has 4G
LTE services via mobile as well
as dongle and Wi-Fi modems in
Bangalore and is expected to
soon launch the services in Gur-
gaon as well. n
"Selfie," "hashtag," and
"tweep" are among more than
150 new words added to Amer-
ica's best-selling Merriam-Web-
ster dictionary, spotlighting the
growing influence of technol-
ogy on everyday life.
"So many of these new
words show the impact of on-
line connectivity to our lives and
livelihoods," said Peter
Sokolowski, editor-at-large for
Merriam-Webster. "Tweep,
selfie, and hashtag refer to the
ways we communicate and
share as individuals," he added.
Cisco chief executive John
Chambers has complained to
US President Barack Obama
about the National Security
Agency's spying practices, say-
ing they were harming overseas
business for US tech firms. "This
issue affects an entire industry,"
the head of the telecom equip-
ment maker said in a letter.
Chambers referred in particular
to recent media reports that the
NSA had intercepted and mod-
ified IT and telecom equipment
on its way from manufacturers
to customers. One of the manu-
facturers was Cisco, which is a
top supplier of networking
equipment. n
Videogame lovers keen on
battling evil and embracing sto-
rytelling will get to do just that
when "Wolfenstein: The New
Order" is released. Evil comes in
the form of a fierce Nazi regime
in an alternate history where
Germany won World War II
thanks to mysterious advanced
technology in its arsenal.
Devotees of the decades-old
Wolfenstein franchise will get,
for the first time, to see into the
life of hero protagonist and US
soldier B.J. Blazkowicz. n
A 16-year-old boy from
Brazil has set the Guinness
World Record for fastest typ-
ing on a smartphone touch
screen, typing a 25-word para-
graph in just 18.19 seconds.
Marcel Fernandes Filho
set the record on 25 April in
New York City, however he
was officially crowned the tex-
ting king by Guinness on 15
May. Fernandes typed a 25-
word pre-selected paragraph
into his smartphone touch-
screen in 18.19 seconds, just
enough to break the record of
18.44 seconds set in January.n
Google's Internet-linked
eyewear -- hotly anticipated by
some, feared by others -- is now
available to anyone in the
United States with $1,500 to
spare and a yen to become an
"explorer." The decision to open
the "Glass" test, or beta, pro-
gram on Wednesday to anyone
with enough money and curios-
ity came about a month after a
one-day sale of the eyewear to
the public. "We learned a lot
when we opened our site a few
weeks ago, so we've decided to
move to a more open beta," said
a post on the Glass page at
Google+ online social
network. n
Yahoo Japan has dropped a
planned acquisition of telco
eAccess from Softbank that was
due to be worth $3.2 billion to
the Japanese wireless provider.
Back in March, when the ac-
quisition plan was announced,
Yahoo Japan said the purchase
of eAccess was aimed at ex-
panding the services it offers for
smartphones and tablets. n
Microsoft and SAP are two
old-school enterprise vendors
that have been partnering for al-
most 20 years, and this week
their partnership is taking a pro-
nounced leap into the future as
they come together around
cloud, mobile and big data prod-
ucts. SAP plans to run several of
its key cloud services on Mi-
crosofts Azure platform includ-
ing SAP Business Suite software,
SAP Business All-In-One solu-
tion, SAP Mobile Platform,
SAP Adaptive Server Enterprise
(SAP ASE) and the developer
edition of the SAP HANA plat-
form.
Vodafone UK
and Huawei an-
nounce suc-
cessful 4G trial
Airtel launches
4G LTE services
in Ludhiana
'Selfie', 'hashtag'
now in Merriam-
Webster
dictionary
Cisco chief
writes to Obama
to decry NSA ac-
tivities
'Wolfenstein'
videogame a
Nazi-fighting ad-
venture
16-year-old
breaksWin-
dows Phones
record for
fastest typing
Google selling
Glass Internet
eyewear
After Alibabas
IPO, Yahoo Japan
rethinks its $3.2
billion eAccess
acquisition
Microsoft, SAP
strengthen ties
News in Brief
Google and Apple, the two
technology titans behind the
world's top smartphone plat-
forms, called a truce in a long-
running patent war.
"Apple and Google have
agreed to dismiss all the cur-
rent lawsuits that exist directly
between the two companies,"
the companies said in a joint
statement. "Apple and Google
have also agreed to work to-
gether in some areas of patent
reform."
The companies made it
clear that the detente does not
include licensing their technol-
ogy to each other. Motorola
filed a patent lawsuit against
Apple in US federal court four
years ago, prompting the
iPhone maker to fire back with
a patent suit of its own. Litiga-
tion spread to more than a
dozen other courts.
"The parties have entered
into a second-class settlement
from a position of mutual
weakness," wrote intellectual
property analyst Florian
Mueller at fosspatents.com.
"They had to recognize that
under the procedural circum-
stances their patents were not
strong enough to give either
party decisive leverage over the
other, at least not anytime
soon," Mueller wrote.
- Widespread patent fight -
Google took on the legal
wrangling when it bought Mo-
torola Mobility in 2012 in
what was seen at the time as a
move to use its patents for de-
fending Android operating
software in the increasingly
litigious smartphone and tablet
markets. Early this year,
Google agreed to sell Mo-
torola Mobility to China-based
computer giant Lenovo. The
sale has yet to be completed.
California-based Apple has
been battling smartphone
competitors in courts around
the world, accusing rivals
using Google's Android soft-
ware of copying features from
its popular mobile devices.
The legal truce between
Apple and Google does not
take the pressure off South
Korea-based Samsung, which
has been a prime legal target
for the maker of iPhones and
iPads. Japan's Intellectual
Property High Court has ruled
that Samsung could claim 9.96
million yen ($98,000) from its
US arch-rival for use of Sam-
sung's data transmission tech-
nology, found to have been
used in Apple's iPhone 4 and
iPad 2.
And early this month in
Silicon Valley, jurors at a dif-
ferent patent trial held the line
on its $119.6 million damages
award to Apple in a patent bat-
tle with Samsung. While the
amount of the award is huge,
it is a fraction of the more than
$2 billion Apple had sought at
the outset of the trial against is
South Korean competitor in
the hot smartphone and tablet
computer market.
Jurors agreed that Sam-
sung violated three of five
Apple patents at issue in the
two-month trial. Jurors also
found that Apple violated a
Samsung patent, and said
Apple should pay its rival
$158,400 in damages.
- Holy war -
Samsung lawyers main-
tained that the legal onslaught
emerged from a "holy war"
Apple declared on Google-
made Android software used
to power smartphones.
The argument evidently
struck a chord with members
of the panel, who remarked
after the verdict that Apple and
Google should deal with their
mobile gadget patent issues
face to face instead of in
courts.
The truce did not touch on
Apple patent lawsuits aimed at
Google partners who make
Android-powered smart-
phones or tablets. The out-
come in the recent Silicon
Valley trial pitting Apple
against Samsung was sharply
different from a 2012 patent
trial in the same court. Unlike
the previous case in which
Apple was a clear winner, this
time Samsung prevailed in
many areas. n
AT&T plans to pay $48.5
billion to buy DirecTV, in the
latest sign that the wireless in-
dustry and the US television
market are set to converge as
customers consume more
video on their mobile devices.
The deal, announced on
Sunday, highlights AT&Ts
pressing need for fresh av-
enues of growth beyond the
maturing U.S. cellular busi-
ness, which has become in-
creasingly competitive.
The combination with Di-
recTV, the No.1 U.S. satellite
TV provider with 20 million
customers, would beef up
Dallas-based AT&Ts pack-
ages of cellular, broadband,
TV and fixed-line phone serv-
ices.
For DirecTV, the deal will
enable it to offer broadband
Internet for the first time to its
U.S. customers, filling in a gap
that had made the company
vulnerable to cable rivals,
which can provide Internet
service through their net-
works.
It gives us the parts to ful-
fill a vision we have had for a
couple of years, that is, the op-
portunity and the ability to
take premium content and de-
liver premium content over
multiple points for the cus-
tomer, whether it be through a
smartphone, through a tablet,
or television or laptop, said
AT&T CEO Randall Stephen-
son, speaking on a conference
call. n
Google Search, Facebook,
WhatsApp, Facebook Mes-
senger and YouTube are the
five worst mobile apps in
terms of network impact.
Based on Alcatel-Lucents
Mobile Application Rankings
Report, the same five apps are
also the most popular among
users.
As an example of the ben-
efits of optimization, the re-
port found that Facebook
successfully optimized signal-
ing for Android devices by re-
ducing the overall signaling
load in some networks by 5-
10%.
Also, apps that impact the
network due to their high data
volume such as most video
apps as well as iTunes, Insta-
gram, Pinterest, Apple Maps
and Pandora are targets for
bandwidth optimization.
Alcatel-Lucent said one
service provider reduced cell
utilization by an average of
20% after introducing selective
traffic optimization.
Low-impact apps in-
cluding weather apps, Google
Maps, Dropbox, Zynga games
and some social media apps
like Nimbuzz or Palringo
could be excellent candidates
for flat-rating, zero-rating or
other innovative packaging
plans.
"However, packaging plans
must also consider the per-
user cost of low-impact apps
on individual networks, the
report said. The best apps for
packaging are those with low
network impact and low per-
user cost.
The apps with the biggest
impact on the consumer data
plan are YouTube, Netflix,
Facebook Video, Pandora and
Instagram Video. The lowest-
volume cost apps for con-
sumers by category are Yahoo
Mail and Gmail; Blogger,
QQ.com, Live Messenger and
Viber; and Instagram Video. n
AT&T makes bet on video
with $48.5 billion DirecTV bid
Facebook, YouTube among
highest-impact apps
Apple, Google settle smartphone patent litigation
Apple and Google have agreed to dismiss all the current lawsuits that exist
directly between the two companies," the companies said in a joint state-
ment. "Apple and Google have also agreed to work together in some areas
of patent reform.
81
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
South Africa's largest mobile
provider Vodacom has finalised a
deal to takeover Indian-owned
telecommunications firm Neotel
in a deal worth seven billion rand
($676 million), the company said.
Vodacom, a unit of Britain's
Vodafone, said the deal will help
the company to "accelerate broad-
band connectivity" in South
Africa, which has been lagging be-
hind emerging market-peers. n
Google told US regulators
that it could spend as much as
$30 billion of its offshore cash
reserves on buying foreign com-
panies or technology rights, it
emerged.
In responses to questions
from the US Securities and Ex-
change Commission, the Inter-
net titan said that the bulk of the
money it is amassing outside the
country is likely to be spent on
acquisitions. n
US search engine Google
has overtaken rival technology
titan Apple as the world's top
brand in terms of value, global
market research agency Mill-
ward Brown said.
Google's brand value shot
up 40 percent in a year to
$158.84 billion (115 billion
euros), Millward Brown said in
its 2014 100 Top BrandZ report.
"Google has been extremely
innovative this year with Google
Glass, investments in artificial
intelligence and a range of part-
nerships," said Benoit Tranzer,
the head of Millward Brown
France. n
Google confirmed that it
has bought a startup specializ-
ing in helping employees using
their personal smartphones or
tablets securely for work.
Divide announced at its
website that it has been bought
by the Internet titan, but neither
company disclosed financial
terms of the deal.
Divide said that it will be
part of the team devoted to An-
droid software that Google
makes available free to mobile
gadget makers.
Divide combines technol-
ogy in mobile devices and in the
Internet "cloud" to help compa-
nies protect systems and data as
workers use mobile devices on
the job as part of what is re-
ferred to as bring-your-own-de-
vice (BYOD) lifestyles. n
Vodacom inks
takeover of
Tata's Neotel
Google sees
spending $30
bn buying
foreign firms
Google over-
takes Apple as
world's top
brand
Android out to
conquer busi-
nesses with
startup Divide
News in Brief
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A C C E S S O R I E S
Fr e e downl oad | FLARE. PK
This is the evaporative misting fan system that attaches to any golf cart and reduces
ambient temperature by as much as 30 F. The unit attaches to the golf cart's canopy
supports and has two fans with built-in nozzles that create microdroplets of dry mist
that cool both golfers between holes without dampening surfaces or clothes. The fan
adjusts to three different speeds and golfers can even select dry or wet mist with the
turn of a dial to suit their cooling preferences. The water is supplied by a one-gallon
water tank that provides up to seven hours of mistplenty for two rounds of golf.
The water tank stores in the included bin that attaches to the side of a golf cart with
the included bracket and hardware. Power is supplied by the golf cart's battery;
connection instructions included. 38" L x 7" H x 5" D. (19 lbs.)
The Golf Cart Cooling System
Voice or audio recorders can be said to be a niche device, but they can come in handy
at times, this is for sure. After all, students will be able to attest to the usefulness of a
voice recorder in a lecture hall, especially when they return back to their dorms and
need to reflect on what had been taught earlier in the day. While none of us possess a
mind like Professor Xavier, this doesn't mean we are at a distinct disadvantage, not
especially when you have something like the Zoom H5 Handy Recorder as your ally.
The Zoom H5 Handy Recorder is a smaller version of its flagship H6 model, where it
will make use of a system of interchangeable input capsules, hence enabling the best
microphone to be used regardless of the current recording situation. Apart from that,
it will also play nice with just about every single Zoom input capsules, although the
H5 Handy Recorder does arrive with a spanking new X/Y stereo capsule, which will
boast of extended signal capacityup to 140 dB SPLand shockmounted
Zoom announces all new H5 Handy Recorder
If you find yourself instinctively massaging your temples or eyes after a long day,
consider this Eye and Head Massager. It provides relief from tension in your head and
around your eyes much more effectively! Using air pressure, vibration, and hot
compress massage technology, this massager targets tension like you wouldn't believe.
Features a built-in MP3 player, which plays your soothing playlist as you relax. The
see-through visor makes it easy to operate the wireless remote control with LCD
display. Includes wireless remote, earphones, USB cable, 3 AAA batteries and
adaptor for the built-in Li-ion battery.
Eye and Head Massager
While an alarm may bring you into the world of the living, it doesn't really wake you
up. Normally it takes about two cups of coffee and a hot shower to make you feel
bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. If you have the time to take more than three or four
minutes in the shower, it's a good place to de-stress. The best way to do that is by
breathing deeply, and it helps that your shower is essentially a sauna. It does feel a bit
strange to just inhale more air than usual. Most prefer to smell something aromatic if
they're trying to relax. The Aromatherapy Shower Set will do just that, and it doesn't
take much hassle to install. This is an arm that has a mounted pod which contains
essential oils. You can either place the nozzle in your shower stream, or just outside of
it. Through the hot water, it will diffuse into your shower, and give you a spa-type
experience. This set comes with three pods, breathe, which is comprised of
Cedarwood Atlas, Peppermint, Lemon and Eucalyptus, passion, which has
Lavender, Orange Sweet, Palmarosa, Clove, Patchouli and Cinnamon, and
The Aromatherapy Shower Set
Sony continues their work on a range of acclaimed compact cameras under the
popular Cyber-shot RX series, and have introduced the pocket-sized RX100 III
camera along the way. The Sony RX100 III will be based on the same sleek, stylish
design as the current RX100 and RX100 II models, although the spanking new
RX100 III will boast of a specially developed ZEISS Vario-Sonnar T 24-70mm1 F1.8-
2.8 lens as well as throwing in an integrated OLED viewfinder with ZEISS T coating.
This particular camera also makes use of the very same high-resolution 20.1 MP 1.0-
type back-illuminated CMOS image sensor that is found on the existing RX100 II
model, while featuring the powerful BIONZ X processor that already sees action
across several high-end Sony cameras such as the full-frame 7, 7R and 7S models.
Sony unleashes Cyber-shot RX100 III camera
Pictures and videos flood our social media feeds daily. New selfies, pictures of food,
attempts at funny videos, and more than can possibly be accounted for. While we
we're losing an attention span longer than 6 seconds thanks to Vine, there might be
rise of a new trend thanks to one camera. OTTO has one main purpose, which is
making GIFs. It's connected to your smartphone, and has a retro feel thanks to its
crank mechanism. Using this device is easy, as you pop up the crank, rotate clockwise
to make your GIF, and rotate counterclockwise to end it. At this point it will sync with
your phone so you can upload them online immediately so all the world can see your
new creation. Of course, being a one trick pony does not a quality product make. It
can take regular still photos and 1080p video, so it does still fit the regular camera
aspect.
OTTO is a hackable GIF Camera
Let us face the facts tablets are more or less just about everywhere in our lives these
days, as they happen to be almost as essential as owning a smartphone, although it is
not quite there just yet. Since we do make use of tablets more and more in our
everyday lives, there is a growing need to figure out how one can work with a tablet in
the most productive manner possible. With the $49.95 Variable Position Tablet Stand,
the answer to that particular question has arrived. The Variable Position Tablet Stand
happens to be a stand which will be able to position a tablet at the optimum angle to
deliver a comfortable hands-free experience, regardless of whether one is sitting
upright or reclining. This versatile stand comprises of a 15 W x 10 D tray and a
couple of triple-jointed legs which can individually be adjusted up to 360 in 15
increments to position the tablet at the desired height and angle. It will also allow one
Variable Position Tablet Stand
If you are on the lookout for a brand new digital camera, perhaps it might be prudent
to check out just what Nikon has released earlier this month. I am referring to the new
compact Nikon 1 J4 as well as the Nikon 1 S2, where both of them deliver the ability
to capture life's spontaneous moments with incredible speed and performance. Being
compact in size and yet boasting of feature-packed options, the new Nikon 1 J4 and
Nikon 1 S2 will both offer the world's fastest continuous shooting frame rate at an
uncompromising 20 frames-per-second (fps) at full resolution, while the Nikon 1 J4
will come with an impressive 171 contrast detect focus areas as well as 105 phase-
detect AF points for incredible autofocus accuracy regardless of whether you are
shooting stills or whipping up your very own High Definition video. The Nikon 1 J4
will boast of a new 18.4-megapixel CX-format CMOS image sensor, while the Nikon
1 S2 features a 14.2-megapixel CMOS imaging sensor. With the new EXPEED 4A
image processing engine found underneath the hood, it will be able to capture family
Nikon unveils new Nikon 1 J4 and Nikon 1 S2
I know that hitting your favorite watering hole can be quite the soothing experience,
especially after you have had an extremely tough day at the office and would like to
unwind with a tipple or two. Perhaps there are times when none of your mates will be
able to make it, and the bartender whom you share all your troubles with? He's out of
town. Going home is an option, but how else are you going to enjoy your favorite
cocktails? Why, there's an app for that, of course. The Perfect Drink is the culmination
of app-controlled smart bartending. First, you start off by choosing your drink before
following real-time pouring instructions, and voila! You will end up as the home's
resident bartender in no time at all. All that you need to do is hook up the Perfect
Drink to your iOS device (that runs on iOS 5.1 or higher), download the free app, and
you're good to go. There are hundreds of drink recipes to choose from, and you no
Perfect Drink lets yoou enjoy
There was a time where people used to sleep according to when the sun was up or
down. While that was a long, long time ago, it is nice to wake up gradually with light
rather than all at once. The same goes for getting ready to sleep. You don't have any
time to adjust your eyes to the difference, and are blind for the first five minutes of
darkness. If you'd prefer that your light go down slowly rather than all at once, then
the Drift Light might be in your interest to have around. This is a light that is
controlled by the number of times you flip your light switch. During the day, one
switch will have it functioning normally. Two flips will have the light blub respond by
blinking once, and fading to dark over 37 minutes. Three flips will blink in response
two times, and will fade to low over 37 minutes.
Drift Light wants you to sleep naturally
The Power Spurz will let you blaze
Computer enthusiasts who love building their own machines from scratch and
throwing in the kind of specialized parts in order to maximize the performance of a
desktop while spending as little as possible would surely have come across the name
of Shuttle Computer Handels GmbH, or Shuttle for short. Shuttle happens to be one
of the leading developers and manufacturers of compact PC solutions including the
world-renowned XPC Mini-PC Barebones, and this time around, they are not rolling
out a 'skeleton' per se, but rather, launching the KS10, which is a storage solution for
NAS entry-level users. The Shuttle KS10 happens to be a network-based one-bay
storage solution that is suitable for storing files that would normally comprise of
documents, music and photos on the local network, paving the way for location-
independent data backup or for setting up your own private cloud. Just in case you
Shuttle unveils KS10 storage solution
97
A C C E S S O R I E S
It's difficult to find enough hours in the day for everything we want to get
accomplished. Working, house upkeep, keeping ourselves fed, and staying in shape
are all supposed to be daily occurrences. If you don't have time to go for a run until
nighttime, then you're going to need to make sure you aren't hiding in the shadows, or
a passing car isn't going to see you until after injuries have been inflicted.
When exercising or walking around at night, you need to make sure you have some
measure of visibility. Bright lights are normally the best method, especially those that
can flash or change color. The PowerSpurz are attachments for the back of your shoe
that will illuminate bright orange. You can choose to have them on pulse or
continuous light. They are weatherproof, which doesn't come as much of a shock, as
one puddle could ruin it otherwise.
98
98
G A M E S R E V I E W
When you first start playing Bound by Flame, you're asked to enter a name for your
character--a name that is then summarily ignored by the game's supporting cast, which
always refers to your hero by his or her known name: Vulcan. Given Bound by Flame's
shallow similarities to The Witcher, it's hard not to wonder what the latter game might have
been like if you were asked to name the protagonist, only for everyone to call you Geralt
anyway. This identity crisis may seem a minor detail, but it is a head-scratcher of an issue in
a role-playing game full of head-scratchers, each one more stymieing than the last. Bound
by Flame is the kind of game you might hear people describe as having "a lot of heart," and
the game it tries to be is certainly one worth celebrating. Yet by the time this frustrating
adventure comes to a close, it's clear that there's a wide gulf between the game you just
played and the vision that inspired it. I can't accuse developer Spiders of not trying. Bound
by Flame is an action-heavy role-playing game about choice, and it liberally borrows from
the BioWare book of conversation tropes.
Bound by Flame
Titanfall-Through the Eyes of a Lapsed Combatant
Final Fantasy XIV Online
World of Tanks
I grew up playing competitive shooters like Quake and Unreal Tournament, but these days,
it's rare that an arena-based first-person shooter holds my interest, as evidenced by the fact
that I've failed to connect with one since my tenure on the battlefields of Halo 3. I've looked
for new suitors, but my efforts to reenter the fold with military-gilded games like Call of
Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 never lasted more than a couple of hours at best.
I thought they were good on their own terms, but they didn't deliver significantly different
experiences from other games I'd played in the past. I came close to reconnecting with the
genre in 2012, when I thought I'd found a shiny new friend in Tribes: Ascend, but I was let
down by maps that didn't capitalize on Ascend's style of movement; they simply made
room for it. With Titanfall's promise of parkour-inspired mobility mixed with intense man-
on-mech combat, I was hopeful I had finally spotted my boat back to shore. It was another
military shooter, but one set in a futuristic conflict with massive mechs that I could interact
with by leaping into and out of the cockpit as I pleased.
Final Fantasy XIV found itself languishing back during its original release only weeks after
its inception. The juggernaut Final Fantasy XI grew into was a tough act to follow, but no
one predicted such a spectacular failure. Square Enix took note and responsibility and
made a resolution to learn from its past mistakes, releasing Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm
Reborn as a "rebirth" of sorts for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game that
could. It has used its own personal Phoenix Down to come back fully revitalized, and the
gorgeous new MMORPG is now a bustling world filled with curious players ready to get
lost in it. Where previously version 1.0 of Final Fantasy XIV suffered from a dearth of
content, A Realm Reborn flourishes with a brand-new graphics engine, revised gameplay,
and the ability to handle a much heavier server load than ever before. Though the
PlayStation 3 edition was a serviceable test run for the new and improved Final Fantasy
XIV, it was still plagued with usability issues and interface problems that made it an exercise
in frustration, especially when it came to presentation and aesthetic quality.
Odds are my latest tank--just like the one before it--is going to wind up a smoldering heap on
some artillery-pockmarked hillside alongside the decimated husks of friend and foe alike.
I've already accepted my fate well before the first echoes of cannon fire thunder across the
countryside. Still, that doesn't stop my mind from racing with excitement over the strategic
possibilities and crazy armored showdowns ahead as I prep for battle in this tank-centric
strategic multiplayer shooter. That's because the deeper you delve into it, the more World of
Tanks grows into a delightful playground of deadly rolling metal and military might.
The original PC version of World of Tanks has evolved and grown quite a bit in the three
years since it first launched, with a sweeping array of updated visual flourishes, fresh
battlegrounds, and lots of extra tanks added to the pile. While this steady drip of enticing
new content goes a long way toward keeping longer-time players in the fight, it's the strong
foundation that's most important. It's easy to imagine armored-warfare history buffs
salivating over the attention to detail found throughout the game design.

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