Mobile Evolution

If you ever wondered about the forward text messages you receive daily, who actually develops/generate them?

If you think these forward messages are created by someone like you, but in a distant part of country, then there are very little chances. Reason I am saying this is the amount of text messages that keep on appearing on regular basis. I believe this job is not possible by individuals and that too just for fun.

If cellular companies generate such forward messages? Here are good chances, and reasons are,

1. Cellular companies benefited the most if forward messages are circulated around the region.
2. It can be only cellular companies, which can spend huge money on generation of SMS content

Mind you, cellular companies may hire VAS companies, which are there in market for such tasks. These VAS content provider companies charge cellular companies for this.

SMS websites can be another possible source of forward text messages. But in actual, these websites are either associated with VAS content provider companies, or they lift content from other websites and/or messages their receive on their phones.

United Bank Limited (UBL) has successfully completed the implementation of Oracle Applications, which includes Oracle E-Business Suite Human Resource Management System, Oracle Payroll and Oracle General Ledger, in a record time of 9 months.

Oracle Certified Advantage Partner IBM Global Business Services completed the implementation that provides automated HR management , payroll and financial processing capabilities. All of this will enable UBL to increase business efficiency and operating performance through an enhancement and streamlining of their business processes. For example, The deployment of Oracle Applications has helped the bank save over 10,000 man-hours by reducing paper work and the level of human intervention that is otherwise required to create and post accounting entries.

In addition, via the implementation of the Oracle Fixed Asset Management system, the bank can easily view consolidated information of its total assets and maintain centralized records from disparate systems operating across 66 regions. The solution is being utilized by 1040 branches and maintains approximately 250,000 asset records.

“Oracle Applications have helped us improve the efficiency of our existing processes, and enabled us to improve our service levels to the business in order for them to meet their organizational objectives,.” said Mr. Kumail Dehradunwala, Chief Information Office, United Bank Limited.

“We are happy to have had the opportunity to support United Bank Limited’s objective to save costs,” said Samina Rizwan, Oracle’s Regional Director for South Asia Growth Economies-West. “Oracle has been successfully serving financial institutions for over three decades and we are glad that our solutions are helping local banks build their businesses in Pakistan by enhancing business efficiencies while reducing costs.”

“GBS is the leading implementation consultant for Enterprise Applications in the financial sector. The success at UBL is attributed to IBM’s delivery excellence, dedication to our clients success and developing synergies between our consultants and the UBL team,“ Armughan Rafiq, IBM GBS Manager South.

ProfiMail is a powerful e-mail client for mobile devices, supporting multiple mail accounts, HTML and attachments.

Through your mobile Internet connection.Simple. What you get: Main
ProfiMail screen, displaying multiple accounts, and two system
mailboxes.Next to each mailbox are icons summarizing its contents. Mail
reader with HTML text support, comfortable attachment browser, and easy
navigation. Built-in image viewer, for comfortable viewing images,
scaled or in original size. File Explorer for browsing files, managing
attachments, viewing and sending files.

Features:

* Automatic synchronization of messages with mail server
* IMAP folders
* Attachments – view, save, send
* HTML messages with images and hyperlinks
* Built-in File Explorer
* Writing using T9
* Address book
* Signatures
* Support for POP3 / IMAP / SMTP mail servers
* Multiple email accounts
* Rules and filters allowing selective message download
* Opens and browses ZIP archives
* Support for various character encoding – Western, Cyrillic, Central European, and more
* Build-in image viewer – JPG, PNG and other popular formats
* Text viewer for standard text, HTML and Word documents
* Optimized for GPRS – get headers first, then download message bodies which you really want to see.

* Main ProfiMail screen, displaying multiple accounts, and two system mailboxes. Next to each mailbox are icons summarizing its contents.
* Mail reader with HTML text support, comfortable attachment browser, and easy navigation.
* Built-in image viewer, for comfortable viewing images, scaled or in original size.
* File Explorer for browsing files, managing attachments, viewing and sending files.
* May be used as stand-alone application and is available absolutely for FREE

Download Link: ProfiMail 3.14

Universal Service Fund signed contracts for providing basic telecom services in Nasirabad (Balochistan) with CM Pak and Broadband Services in Multan Telecom Region (Southern Punjab) with World Call. CEO CM Pak, Mr. Qian Li and CEO World Call, Babar Ali Syed signed these contracts with CEO Universal Service Fund, Parvez Iftikhar. Secretary IT, Mr. Naguibullah Malik witnessed the signing ceremony as the chief guest.

In the Rural Telecom project, CMPak will be paid Rs. 1.57 Billion to provide telephony services to 648 unserved Mauzas to serve a population of around half a million in districts of Bolan, Jaffarabad, Jhal Magsi and Nasirabad of Balochistan.

Whereas in the Broadband project, WorldCall will be paid Rs. 785 Million to provide broadband connections in 11 districts (38 small towns) of Southern Punjab, in addition to establishing 27 Educational Broadband Centres in high-schools, colleges and libraries plus 121 Community Broadband Centres. It is noteworthy that this is in addition to broadband services in MTR that PTCL will provide under a contract with Universal Service Fund signed last month.

Giving his remarks on the occasion, Federal Secretary for Information Technology, Mr. Naguibullah Malik said that the Ministry of IT is striving to reinvigorate and stimulate the ICT sector by increasing level of telecom penetration in unserved areas of the country. He informed that Ministry of IT, through Universal Service Fund, has been successfully executing rural-telecom, broadband and optic-fiber programmes that are playing a huge role in socio-economic development in rural and semi-urban Pakistan. He further stated that Broadband Programme will give impetus to provision of other e-services like e-education, e-health, e-government, e-commerce etc.

CEO of Universal Service Fund informed that after signing the two contracts, the total amount of subsidies through Universal Service Fund have crossed Rs. 10 Billion, which has generated total investments of Rs. 16 Billion in unserved areas of the country. Seven major Telecom Service Providers are rolling out these services under contracts with Universal Service Fund. The number of villages where services have already started with the help of Universal Service Fund has exceeded one thousand. Work is in progress for another five thousand villages, including 648 under today’s contract with CMPak. Another five thousand remaining unserved villages shall be covered by Universal Service Fund through future auctions.

Mr. Mushtaq Ahmed Bhatti, Member-Telecom, Ministry of IT, and Dr. Muhammad Yaseen, Chairman-PTA, were also present at the occasion.

aims at bringing Samsung Star Touch Phone, a full touch-screen mobile phone, to consumers and educating them along with providing a feel of the gadget.During the activity, consumers will also get a chance to the gadget Samsung Star phone through a lucky draw. The Samsung team is also visiting shopping centers and restaurants to give prizes through lucky draw. Samsung Mobiles Pakistan and Afghanistan Head Zeeshan Qureshi said that Samsung has always placed high priority at consumer interaction, bringing technological advancements to every Pakistani's doorsteps."-PR

Information for Persons with Disabilities in Pakistan is very limited. The CR department at Telenor Pakistan, along with its partners STEP, LABARD, NOWPDP, Ministry of Social Welfare & Special Education, has tried to include information in a must download guide about services from all across Pakistan that can be very useful to PWDs.

It is based on lengthy discussions with disability experts and focus group discussions with persons with disabilities at Telenor Pakistan’s own premises. And although this guide is not a complete resource, it is a sincere attempt and can be very useful for PWDs and their families, who want awareness about their rights and to provide a compilation of basic facilities and concessions offered by the Government of Pakistan and disabled persons organizations.

Universal Service Fund signed contracts for providing basic telecom services in Nasirabad (Balochistan) with CM Pak and Broadband Services in Multan Telecom Region (Southern Punjab) with World Call. CEO CM Pak, Mr. Qian Li and CEO World Call, Babar Ali Syed signed these contracts with CEO Universal Service Fund, Parvez Iftikhar. Secretary IT, Mr. Naguibullah Malik witnessed the signing ceremony as the chief guest.

In the Rural Telecom project, CMPak will be paid Rs. 1.57 Billion to provide telephony services to 648 unserved Mauzas to serve a population of around half a million in districts of Bolan, Jaffarabad, Jhal Magsi and Nasirabad of Balochistan.

Whereas in the Broadband project, WorldCall will be paid Rs. 785 Million to provide broadband connections in 11 districts (38 small towns) of Southern Punjab, in addition to establishing 27 Educational Broadband Centres in high-schools, colleges and libraries plus 121 Community Broadband Centres. It is noteworthy that this is in addition to broadband services in MTR that PTCL will provide under a contract with Universal Service Fund signed last month.

Giving his remarks on the occasion, Federal Secretary for Information Technology, Mr. Naguibullah Malik said that the Ministry of IT is striving to reinvigorate and stimulate the ICT sector by increasing level of telecom penetration in unserved areas of the country. He informed that Ministry of IT, through Universal Service Fund, has been successfully executing rural-telecom, broadband and optic-fiber programmes that are playing a huge role in socio-economic development in rural and semi-urban Pakistan. He further stated that Broadband Programme will give impetus to provision of other e-services like e-education, e-health, e-government, e-commerce etc.

CEO of Universal Service Fund informed that after signing the two contracts, the total amount of subsidies through Universal Service Fund have crossed Rs. 10 Billion, which has generated total investments of Rs. 16 Billion in unserved areas of the country. Seven major Telecom Service Providers are rolling out these services under contracts with Universal Service Fund. The number of villages where services have already started with the help of Universal Service Fund has exceeded one thousand. Work is in progress for another five thousand villages, including 648 under today’s contract with CMPak. Another five thousand remaining unserved villages shall be covered by Universal Service Fund through future auctions.

Mr. Mushtaq Ahmed Bhatti, Member-Telecom, Ministry of IT, and Dr. Muhammad Yaseen, Chairman-PTA, were also present at the occasion.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority is trying its best to equip the nation with the modern technologies and state of the art communication system. Here is the official press release issued by the PTA to to provide Free SMS Based alerts to 60 educational institutes

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) would provide Free web-based SMS Alert System to around 60 educational institutes across country.
This SMS alert system will be used by schools to communicate with their students/staff. The PTA selected total of 60 institutes, including 21 colleges, 10 cadet colleges, 4 universities, one medical college and 5 special colleges for deployment of this SMS alert system.
As per details, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has started a project named “SMS-based Information System” for educational institutions, to equip them with an interactive mobile application for broadcasting important information to students and their guardians on their mobile phones.
It is a system of sending SMS by using computer software developed by PTA. It has been noted that usually management of educational institutions relies on mail-correspondence with guardians, which is costly and time consuming. PTA would provide this software free of cost to educational institutions across the country.
A formal launching ceremony of the system was held today at PTA Headquarters. On the occasion, Naguibullah Malik, Secretary (IT), handed over the software application along with its operating manual to Abdur Rauf Chaudhry, Secretary (Education).
The application was presented to Ministry of Education for onward provision to the among public-sector educational institutions. Both the secretaries also exchanged PTA souvenir with each other.
This software would help recipient to be aware of events like lecture venue, coursework deadlines, result announcements, attendance details and upcoming school functions or meetings. Since majority of students and parents nowadays own mobile phones and most of them are familiar with sending and receiving SMS text messages, this solution for information dissemination introduced by PTA in educational institutions of Pakistan through SMS would prove to be an important information and communication source.
It may be mentioned that PTA was engaged in proliferation of mobile-based applications to facilitate information-based society culture in Pakistan. Today the mobile usage in Pakistan is growing exponentially, both in terms of number of users and the amount of activity.

Vfone Pakistan has revised its prepaid packages. Now there are only three packages to choose from compared to the five earlier. The new packages are named as Vfone Simple, Vfone Family and Vfone unlimited. The old packages ‘Bachat’, ‘Kafayat’ & ‘Sahulat’ packages are being merged into a single package; “Vfone Family” with a new daily line rent of Rs.5/day. The Vfone Simple package does not charge any daily line rent.

The package details are given above. If you wish to convert your package there are some simple steps you need to follow.
How to Convert Vfone Packages

• Vfone Customers can change their package by dialing 1015. This number 1015 needs to be dialed from the Vfone.
• The fee to change a package is Rs. 20
• As soon as you request a package it will be changed
• The above 20 Rs for package change include taxes.

Some facts
Your default package is simple but the existing bachat, kafayat packages will be mereged with new Vfone family packages
The packages mentioned above are not for PCOs as they have different packages.

Medical researchers have unveiled a new gadget that could be used by
doctors in the developing world to diagnose diseases such as
tuberculosis and malaria.

The device, which attaches to a mobile
phone, allows physicians to create a portable microscope that can be
used to examine blood samples in the field and help spot some of the
world’s deadliest diseases.

The CellScope project focuses on the development of a modular,
high-magnification microscope attachment for cell phones. Due to its
portability, affordability and functionality, the CellScope will enable
health workers in remote areas to take high-resolution images of a
patient’s blood cells using the mobile phone’s camera, and then
transmit the photos to experts at medical centers. This device can
reduce both the cost and time of performing critical disease diagnoses,
as well as provide early warning of outbreaks in poverty-stricken
regions in the world.

Researchers at the University of California Berkeley
say they hope the gadget would be deployed in areas where the cost of
equipment and training currently prevents access to basic diagnostic
tests.

Islamabad—Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Friday launched Redressal of Consumer Grievances Mechanism which would ensure proper resolution to the problems being faced by the telecom sector consumers. Addressing a press conference here at PTA headquarters, Chairman PTA Dr. Mohammed Yaseen unveiled the details of the package, saying that the consumers would have a complaint with the respective telecom operator and if the issue is not resolved, the consumer should file the complaint with the PTA Consumer Protection Directorate.

The consumers can make a free-of-cost call to PTA at 080055055 if their complaint is not resolved within given timeframe by the concerned telecom operator,” he said and added the PTA would take up the matter with the concerned authorities and would get it resolved amicably.

He said Pakistan’s telecom sector has seen phenomenal growth patterns during the past decade. This phenomenal progress has brought huge benefits to the people of Pakistan in terms of network expansion, scope of services, reduction in tariffs and availability of an array of telecom operators with regard to choice of their service provider.

Telecom sector maintains handsome inflow of money to the government exchequer. The vision of telecom growth coupled with consumer protection as envisaged in the `Pakistan Telecom Act, 1996′ has been realized through a teledensity of 61.8 percent and number of an expanding cellular mobile subscriber base that today stands at 94.34 million,” he added.

In the last one year, he said, PTA have come a long way towards achieving a number of measures that have strengthened the industry and benefitted the consumers at large. “Our mechanism of checks and balances will only add to healthy competition and will promote good business in the sector. At the same time, as a guarantor of telecom consumer protection, Authority believes that the issues pertaining to consumer interest and grievances shall be tackled in a broader but more focused manner,” he added. He said the same has been the vision behind the revamping of Consumer Complaint Handling and Redressal Mechanisms at the operators as well as Regulators’ end.—APP

China Mobile is reportedly in talks with Norway’s Telenor concerning an acquisition of their Pakistani mobile network. Both companies are denying such development, yet sources told the local Dawn newspaper that negotiations were being held secretly at the group level.

According to some statistics, the combined customer base of China Mobile (NYSE: CHL)’s and Telenor’s Pakistani operations is around 26 million, representing a 28% of the market.

For the record, China Mobile entered the Pakistani market in 2007, when it paid $460 million to buy Paktel from Millicom International. Previously, they had tried to acquire Warid Telecom, another smaller operator in the country, but failed to reach an agreement on the price.

China Mobile’s Pakistan subsidiary is called Zong and with just under 6 million customers, it is the smallest of the 5 main operators in the country.