Telenor Reports Single Digit Growth in Revenues, Lower ARPU During Q3 2013

Telenor Pakistan has posted PKR 69.725 billion in revenues for first nine months of on-going fiscal year, up from PKR 66.645 billion during same duration last year.

Currency depreciation, however, resulted into 4 percent Y-o-Y fall in revenues in Norwegian Kroner that stood at NOK 4065 million — for three quarters combined — as compared to NOK 4,232 million during same period last year.

The Telenor Group reported its third quarter financial results during the weekend where it said that Telenor Pakistan, during the reported quarter, showed an operating profit of NOK 282 million, versus an operating loss of NOK 95 million in Q3 2012.

Financial services contributed 2.5 percentage to the total revenue growth.

The EBITDA margin improved by 2 percentage points following higher revenues, savings from energy initiatives and negative one-time effects last year. The impact of introduction of ICH contributed negatively with 3 percentage points.

EBITDA in local currency increased by 12%.

Capital expenditure decreased as the network modernisation was finalised during the quarter, also resulting in reduced accelerated depreciation and improved operating profit

Company said that its ARPU in local currency decreased by 10%, mainly because of fierce on-net competition putting pressure on national interconnect revenues.

ARPU for postpaid users was reported at PKR 686, compared to PKR 190 ARPU for prepaid users.

ARPUs were also impacted by the fact that revenues from incoming international traffic through International Clearing House (ICH) are now accounted under non-mobile revenues and are not added into ARPU levels.

Telenor said that its subscribers increased by 160,000 during the quarter including a downward adjustment of 542,000 subscriptions following data cleaning exercise.

Telenor’s Average traffic minutes per user per month stood at 225.

Warid Achieves Its Highest Ever Sales in October 2013

Seen in the picture Warid commercial team during cake cutting ceremony held at Warid Head Office (Standing from left Ms. Asma Khan, Director International Business, Mr. Adnan Anjum Director Pricing and Segments, Ms. Sadaf Zarrar Director Marcom, Mr. Nauman Fakhar VP CS, Mr. Suhail Jan VP Sales and Distribution, Warid Telecom

Despite a possible acquisition, Warid Telecom is claiming to have performed exceptionally well since January 2013. In fact, as per Warid, company achieved the highest ever sales for postpaid segment in the month of October 2013.

It is interesting to note that Warid is performing in a situation when company’s future is uncertain and critical, especially for the employees.

As per officials, Warid sold over 30,000 postpaid connections during September and October 2013.

Not to forget, Warid owns the second highest Postpaid base in the country, following Mobilink.

It appears that telcos are putting postpaid segment on a special focus. For instance, Ufone has reportedly sold 66,000 postpaid connections during last three months only. Ufone said that it sold 22K connections each month during July, August and September 2013.

Warid, however, enjoys the advantage of being acknowledged as the finest network. Despite limited coverage, company is widely considered to be the best in terms of quality of network.

Warid said that It offers product portfolio of over 80 value added services on IVR, SMS, MMS and GPRS platforms; some of which were first time introduced in Pakistan.

The company also worked to improve its distribution channels and enhance customer services network in the country, allowing it to offer wide accessibility and exceptional customer services across Pakistan.

BlackBerry Gets a new CEO and $1 Billion Instead of Getting Privatized

Not long ago, we told you about BlackBerry’s plans to go private in a $4.7 billion deal with Fairfax Financial. As it turns out, that process has fallen apart as the buyer couldn’t convince the banks that the deal was logical enough. Still, a lot has changed inside the company.

The CEO who turned BB10 into a reality and scraped BB7 OS, Thorsten Heins is gone. His void is filled by John S. Chen who will act as the company’s interim chief, while also serving as its chairman board of directors.

The company has also finalized a $1 billion deal with Fairfax Financial and a group of investors, as it seeks a way out of is recent troubles. Of course, in return of this generosity, the investors will decide what is best for the company and what needs to be scraped in order to move forward.

The first step as a part of that process is already taken, in the form of a newly-appointed CEO. Mr. John S. Chen, the new CEO, has a history and reputation of rescuing failing corporations so that’s not too bad at all.

More will follow in the future. However, quite contrary to what many people might be thinking right now, the handset division of the company won’t get axed at all.

“I know we have enough ingredients to build a long-term sustainable business,” the newly-appointed CEO said in an interview to Reuters, his first interview since the announcement. “I have done this before and seen the same movie before.”

Jelly Bean Crosses 50% Android Market-share for the First Time

Remember the time when Gingerbread got out and Android phones suddenly started to sell like hot cakes? That was the time when Gigantic Apple and Nokia had finally got a serious competitor but the side-effect was that the large number of dumb phones during that time, which couldn’t get updated to newer Android versions and hence, the Gingerbread marketshare soared.

That has finally changed now. In October, for the first time ever, Jelly Bean crossed 50% marketshare of all Android devices out there. The 52.1% marketshare it holds is almost twice the share which Gingerbread is currently holding.

The good news is that it has finally started to drop at a substantial pace, quite unlike its stubborn nature.

Ice Cream Sandwich also dropped to just 19.8% now.

Start of another problem?

With KitKat, Google has finally decided that fragmentation needs to go away and that is why the latest version can run on phones with as low as 512 MB RAM but it won’t be going anywhere suddenly.

Mind you, that Jelly Bean is itself outdated now and if Google’s partners still carry on with their habits of not updating the operating system of their devices, it might turn out to be an even bigger issue than Gingerbread, given the massive spread of the phones running it.

Intel Gives up its own Smartphone Processors, will make ARM Chips Now

In the industry of smartphone processors, ARM sits atop them all in terms of market-share while others aren’t even close. ARM’s innovative and diverse processor designs have enabled the company to attain a huge market-share, around 95% of the smartphone industry, crushing everyone else.

Intel has been trying to resist this for quite a time but so far hasn’t been successful. While Intel’s Atom processor has been used in several phones over the years, it has done nothing to stop the growth of its biggest rival. But now, Intel has finally decided to give up and in the future will be making its own 64-bit smartphone chips based on ARM’s designs.

And so as the old proverb goes, “If you can’t best them, join them”, the company’s years of resistance in joining hands with ARM Architecture finally evaporates, leaving nothing but bad memories and multiple failed attempts.

Still, it will be interesting to see what benefits their architecture will offer. Given Intel’s own incredible history and experience, you can’t reject their products as dumb. And of course, the new processors with Intel’s manufacturing intelligence.

But there is little doubt that the customers will remain indifferent. One name which immediately comes to mind is Apple’s. While they’ve already had an extensive and popular partnership with Intel for their computers, their smartphone processors are still made by their nemesis, Samsung.

But whatever the case, the fight between Intel and its rivals in a territory owned by the latter will certainly be worth watching. Also it will bring greater good for all the companies buying these chips and in turn, for the customers.

For those who don’t know, ARM architectures — developed by British company ARM — require significantly fewer transistors, reduced costs, heat and power usage compared to more complex chip designs.

Ufone's M. Shabbir Iqbal Wins PM Golf Open 2013

Salman Wassay, Chief Commercial Officer, Ufone, handing over a congratulatory cheque to Pakistan No. 1, M. Shabbir Iqbal for winnering the Prime Minister Golf Open 2013

Golfers from all over Pakistan flocked to Rawalpindi for the much anticipated Prime Minister Golf Open, each looking to win laurels and respect of their fellow golfers. Professionals were seen two days prior to the tournament practicing and taking in the feel of the course in their practice rounds. The tournament kicked off on the 22^nd of Oct and the fervor of each golfer participating was clearly evident. Day 1 ended with Pakistan No.1 M. Shabbir Iqbal leading the elite golfers closely followed by Pakistan No.2 & a member of the Ufone team Matloob Ahmed.

The two fought it out over the three day tournament with Shabbir continuing to increase the gap between the 1^st and 2^nd position alas he ended the tournament 15 under par (-15) and Matloob who secured 2^nd position was 5 under par (-5).

Speaking about his win Shabbir said “ I am fortunate to have held the No.1 position for a number of years and till date I feel the pressure from other professionals in each tournament we participate in. Winning the Prime Minister Open is indeed a moment of pride for me but at the same time I am extremely excited that Ufone too decided to give me Rs.100,000/- for this memorable win. Ufone has played an active part in golf over the last year and has encouraged each member of Team Ufone to bring out our best on the course”.

“Before the tournament, Ufone announced to us that they would be giving away a cash prize to each of those who secure the top 3 positions in the tournament which encouraged me to focus harder on my win, hence Matloob too will be given a cash prize for his great performance.”

“Ufone  is the only organization in Pakistan to take such a big leap in the sport of Golf, in July this year Ufone organized a children’s golf clinic at the Karachi Golf Club which I participated in as a coach and was overwhelmed by the enthusiasm of the children. We as golfers look forward to the development of the sport and an honored to be a part of such a positive initiative.”

Warid Brings Intro Me Service

Yes, you are no more an “Unknown Caller”, as Warid brings this service for its customers that will allow you to introduce yourself to those receiving your call for the first time.

Normally people hesitate to answers calls from unknown numbers as they find attending these calls as waste of time. With this new service by Warid, caller will be able to send a quick introduction the receiver by making an introduction message and make a call to all people who do not have their number and the Intro message will appear on the screen so that the receiver can know who’s calling.

This service is available for Warid’s both Prepaid & Postpaid customers.

To initiate the call, the subscriber will dial the desired number with prefix 77 e.g. 7703212345678. Warid customer will send SUB in SMS to 7272 or can dial *272# to subscribe the service and can send UNSUB in SMS to 7272 to unsubscribe.

Commenting on this new offer, Warid Telecom’s Chief Commercial Office, Mr. Younas Iqbal Sheikh stated, “Warid’s always aim to facilitate its customers by introducing innovative and unique services. It has introduced many products, which are first in the industry. This service will be a great tool, especially for those people who are working as sales in Insurance, property or banking sector.”

Telenor Pakistan Announces Two Representatives for Youth Summit 2013

Telenor Pakistan has announced Saad Hamid (right) and Awais Imran (left) as representatives from Pakistan at the Telenor Youth Summit 2013 in Oslo, Norway, which is being organized in collaboration with the Nobel Peace Center.

Telenor Pakistan has announced Saad Hamid and Awais Imran as representatives from Pakistan at the Telenor Youth Summit 2013 in Oslo, Norway, which is being organized in collaboration with the Nobel Peace Center.

The two winners of the qualifying competition will also get a chance to attend the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony and Concert.

The competition attracted over 260 entries towards bringing positive social change through the use of mobile communication and internet. As per the judging format, more than 100 shortlisted ideas were displayed on the djuice website for public voting, the entries received a total of 6,670 votes. 11 top voted ideas were presented by the candidates to a jury comprising Badar Khushnood, Pakistan Country Consultant for Google Inc., Jehan Ara, President Pakistan Software Houses Association and Usman Javaid, Director Marketing, Telenor Pakistan.

The two winners – Saad Hamid and Awais Imran were triumphant for their ideas titled ’60 second education project’ and ‘Learning a new language using Mobile ICT’ respectively.

Atifa Asghar, Director Corporate Communications and Responsibility, Telenor Pakistan lauded the enthusiasm of all the contestants and said; “We at Telenor believe that mobile internet will continue to serve as a catalyst for growth and create opportunities for all. The competition, in line with our ‘Internet for All’ campaign, helped us find young future leaders and presented their dynamic ideas to deal with pressing societal issues. The global summit will provide these two winners with an opportunity to be heard at a global level.”

The Telenor Youth Summit, which will be held from December 9 to 11, is a new global initiative of Telenor Group.

It is conceived as a place for exchanging opinions on ways in which mobile communication technologies stimulate growth and change the society. The host of the Summit will be Jon Fredrik Baksaas, CEO of Telenor Group.

During the Summit, young people from 13 countries of Telenor operations together with Telenor Functional Experts and already established Change Makers will further develop the ideas to be presented at the Nobel Peace Centre, as well as at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in 2014.

u-blox, an LTE Equipment Manufacturer, Opens Office in Lahore

u‑blox, a large scale manufacturer of cellular, positioning modules and integrated circuits announced the opening of its new LTE software design centre in Pakistan.

The center will be the company’s R&D facility focusing primarily on protocol stack development for embedded 4G cellular communications, said a statement issued by the company.

The inauguration of the new R&D facility, which is located at the Arfa Karim Software Technology Park in Lahore, was attended by professionals from the technology sector and senior management team from u-blox.

Commenting on the occasion Mr. Andreas Thiel, Head of Wireless Products Development at u‑blox, said: “Our LTE software team in Lahore is a key part of our overall embedded 4G strategy; Expanding the center bolsters our goal of end-to-end ownership of key intellectual property for LTE, a technology that has now become the fastest growing standard in the history of telecommunications.”

Company statement said that new office is already staffed and operational. The facility has enabled u-blox to expand its headcount to over 100 people.

With the opening of the new facility, u-blox plans to double its LTE R&D capacity in the location.

The centre complements u-blox’ 4G LTE baseband chip design international facilities located in Switzerland, United Kingdom and Belgium. The expansion of u-blox in Lahore, Pakistan will accelerate the company’s growth in the global wireless industry, the statement said.

Via PR

iPad Air Spec Comparison With Other Tabs in the Market

Tim Cook with the new iPad Air during the launch event of iPad Air during last week.

Apple’s much-anticipated iPad Air comes with several new performance and design boosts, plus a new name but is it the best tablet on the market? We check that out via a spec sheet.

To make things interesting, we even threw a Surface Pro 2 which, many will argue, is a full-fledged PC and that’s true too.

	iPad Air	Nokia Lumia 2520	Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014)	Sony Xperia Tablet Z	Surface Pro 2
OS	iOS 7.0.2	Windows RT 8.1	Android 4.3 Jelly Bean	Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean	Windows 8.1
Dimensions	240 x 169.5 x 7.5 mm	267 x 168 x 8.9 mm	243.1 x 171.4 x 7.9 mm	266 x 172 x 6.9 mm	275 x 173 x 13.5 mm
Weight	469g	615g	540g	495g	907g
Design	Aluminum Unibody	Polycarbonate Plastic	Plastic and leather-like finish	Matte Plastic	VaporMg
Display	9.7 inches	10.1 inches	10.1 inches	10.1 inches	10.6 inches
Resolution	1536 x 2048 pixels	1080 x 1920 pixels	2560 x 1600 pixels	1200 x 1920 pixels	1080 x 1920 pixels
Processor	64-bit 1.3Ghz Apple A7	2.2Ghz Qualcomm SnapDragon 800	2.3Ghz Qualcomm SnapDragon 800	1.5Ghz Qualcomm SnapDragon S4 Pro	1.6Ghz Intel Core i5-4200U Haswell
RAM/Storage	1 GB; 16/32/64/128 GB	2 GB; 32 GB expandable	3 GB; 16/32/64 GB expandable	2 GB; 16/32 GB expandable	4/8 GB RAM; 64/128/256/512 GB expandable
Rear-Camera	5 mp; 1080p video at 30 fps	6.7 mp; 1080p video at 30 fps	8 mp; 1080p video at 60fps	8.1 mp; 1080p video at 30 fps	1.2 mp HD
Front-Camera	1.2 mp HD	2 mp HD	2 mp Full HD	2 mp Full HD	1.2 mp HD
Connectivity	MIMO Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, USB 2.0, Lightning Port	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, USB 3.0, NFC	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0,microUSB 2.0, IR Blaster, USB-OTG	Wi-FI, NFC, microUSB 2.0, Bluetooth 4.0, IR Blaster	MIMO Wi-Fi, USB 3.0, microSDXC, MiniDisplay Port,Bluetooth 4.0, USB 2.0
Water-proof	No	No	No	IP57-certified	No
Battery	32.4 Whr	8000 mAh	8220 mAh	6000 mAh	48 Wh
Price	Starts at $499	Starts at $499	Starts at $549	Starts at $499	Starts at $899

The iPad Air, at least on paper, is lagging behind the competition in several aspects but again, Apple has never tried to compete in a numbers race and that is the best part. As usual, the iPad Air is perfect in doing the basic things, plus, it is unmatched when it comes to ecosystem.

It may not be the most productive but the free suite of iWork apps has drastically improved that too. With a competitive price and a strong backing from the App Store, it remains the tablet to beat (at least when it comes to sales).

Again, its better to look for only the things which are important to you before making a decision regarding buying anyone of these.

Content of Policy Directive for Next Generation (3G) Telecom Licenses

Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom, earlier this month, issued the policy directive for the auction of 3G / next generation telecom licenses. MoIT had said that the policy for auction of next-gen licenses was approved by Mr. Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

This policy directive was handed over to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority for the implementation of license auction, for which PTA is already perusing with all its resources.

Here is the full content of the policy directive on the auction of next generation telecom licenses:

• PTA will be responsible for transparent and competitive auction of the next-gen spectrum.
• The directive said that allotment of spectrum will be technology neutral and will be usable for technologies standardized for 3G and advanced generation(s) of mobile services.
• As identified by Frequency Allocation Board (FAB), a 30 MHz paired spectrum in 1.9GHz/2.1GHz band will be auctioned to telecom operators.
• PTA is entrusted to carry out the auction process, fulfilling the policy objective of optimal outcome mitigating chances of collusion among bidders.
• Auction shall by accordingly conducted by PTA in the minimum possible time after the issuance of this directive.
• PTA shall carry out the appointment of internationally reputed consultant(s) with following terms of references (TORs):
  • Identify the number and size of blocks to be auctioned considering the market situation
  • Recommend the most appropriate auction methodology and plan
  • Recommend the reserve price for auction
  • Design and management of auction process
  • Analyse potential impact on auction price with respect to upfront payment of the bid price versus staggered payment over five years and recommend the optimal bidding procedures
  • Develop a license template for new license
  • Any other allied matter relating to the auction and any assignments deemed necessary by PTA
• Reserve price of 1 MHz will be finalized by the Federal Government after recipient of report from consultants.
• All existing cellular mobile operators as well as new entrants will be eligible to participate in the auction
• A new license for the provision of next generation mobile services will be issued to the successful bidders/auction winners.
• The tenure of the new license will be 15 years.
• For efficient and optimal rollout of next generation mobile services, cost-based sharing of infrastructure shall be considered as a matter of first priority by cellular operators at the time of rollout.
• PTA shall prepare detailed guidelines for infrastructure sharing with the view to provide level-playing field to both existing as well as new entrant(s).
• Existing licensee would provide National Roaming on request by any New Entrant(s) or as directed by PTA, as deemed appropriate.
• Auction winners will encourage and facilitate local manufacturing, assembling and development of telecom equipment, terminal devices, applications, transfer of technology and Research & Innovation in Pakistan
• Auction winners may deploy renewable energy sources as power back up.
• The advisory committee shall be kept informed/updated by PTA regarding the progress of auction process and on tasks assigned to the consultant(s).
• Recommendations brought forward by consultant(s) will be shared by advisory committee, which may review any provision contained in the policy directive.
• With the issuance of this policy directive, the earlier policy directive for 3G license auction (issued on December 19th, 2011) stands suspended.

It maybe recalled that PTA has already published advertisement in international and national media to hire consultants. Last date for applying for the job is November 12th, 2013. It is likely that PTA will be able to select consultants around the last week of November.

After appointment of consultants, one to two month period will be required to prepare IM, a document that will detail the procedure, methodology, price and other information on the auction.

IM will also contain an auction date – likely to be one month after the issuance of IM.

In simpler words, 3G auction date is still at least four months from now.

Apple Announces the New MacBook Pro with Retina Display models

Other than pulling the wraps off the new iPads, Apple also announced a few updates to its MacBook Pro with Retina Displays.

The new 13 and 15 inch models come with the new 4th-generation Intel Haswell processors and the new OS X 10.9 Mavericks. Uncharacteristically for Apple, prices have been dropped too.

The new MacBook Pros with Retina Display (I’ve always said that name is longer than it should been) are also sleeker than before. The 13″ model is just 1.56 Kg heavy and 1.8 cm thick now.

Amount of RAM in this model is 4 GB, half than what it was before. Other than that, it comes with a dual-core 2.4Ghz Intel Core i5 Haswell processor, Iris Pro Graphics and 128 GB PCI Express SSDs. It will also come with the new Wi-Fi 802.11ac standard and up to 9 hours battery life.

The new 15″ model comes with a quad-core 2Ghz Core i7 processor, 8 GB RAM and 256 GB SSD. A higher-end configuration with 2.3Ghz Core i7 processor, 512 GB SSD, 16 GB RAM and Nvidia’s GeForce GT 750M graphics will be there too.

The base model of this version will also come with Intel CrystalWell graphics, the faster Wi-Fi standard and 8-hour battery life.

For the price, the 13″ model will start at $1299, $200 cheaper than before. The 15″ version will also be less-expensive than before, at $1999.

USF Telecenters to Offer Biometric SIM Verification and CNIC, Death/Birth Registration Services

Telecenters  — to be rolled out in rural areas of Pakistan under the supervision of Universal Service Fund – will host variety of services for the community, including biometric verification of SIM cards, Computerized National Identity Cards (CNIC), birth/death registration and computer training for the youth of the nation.

This was decided during a meeting held in Islamabad. The meeting was chaired by Ms. Anusha Rehman, while other officials who attended the meeting include Mr. Akhlaq Tarrar, Secretary IT, Senior Officials from USF, and a team of senior officials from NADRA led by Mr. Tariq Malik Chairman, NADRA to further discuss the implementation of the Telecenter Project.

During the meeting it was decided that Telecenters, so established, would offer several e-services such as e-health, e-learning, e-commerce, e-agriculture etc. to facilitate people of unserved, underserved and far flung areas.

It is likely that telecenters will create local employment and entrepreneurship opportunities and extend broadband to provide distance education and ICT literacy.