Telecom:

9- Warid Telecom Spread Love

10- Get Connected Anytime, Anywhere
12- PTCL to Launch Automated Fault
14- 1.12 Billion Mobiles Sold
16- Orascom to Provide Mobile Services in N. Korea
18- The Launch of Mobilink Foundation
19- Loadshedding Enhance Sale of Mobiles
20- USF, Mobilink Reach Access Pact
22- Warid Telecom Brings Cricket on Mobile
24- Observations on Telenor Edge Data Network Ad
25- 15 Million Telenor Customers
26- Mobile Phone Linked to Insomnia 46
28- PTCL, Huawei to Launch Network Operation
30- PTCL to Invest $50m in Telecom Cable 20 Million illegal SIMs
Cover Story:
32- The New President of Alcatel-Lucent Challenge for PTA-Threat for Nation
36- PTA Identifies Flaws in Telecom Operations
37- The Poor-Rich Divide
39- Allied Bank Chooses Teradata
41- Bluetooth Revolutionising the Communication
68- Chip in Mobile Phones Can Survive Fierce Fires
69- Ericsson Broadband Technology for Lenovo
Notebook PCs
70- Ericsson Launches Ground Breaking Platform
72- Nokia Siemens to Boost China Telecom 20
73- Nokia to Acquire Trolltech
74- Nokia Plans Closure of its Bochum Site
USF, Mobilink Reach Access Pact

Cover Story:
46- 20 Million illegal SIMs
Challenge for PTA-Threat for Nation

IT:
8- Technology, Innovation
45- Apple Quarterly Profits Rise $1.58b
75- Pakistan: A Choice for Outsourced 30
Software Development PTCL Launches Rapid Response Unit
76- Microsoft Builds Library to
Challenge Google
77- Microsoft Bids $44.6 Billion to
Buy Yahoo
78- Internet Disruption

Events:
42- GSMA Mobile World Congress
Telecom Giants: Ready to Boost Business
42
Informative: GSMA Mobile World Congress
Telecom Giants: Ready to Boost Business
50- Coming Mobiles
52- Current Mobiles
57- Mobile Reviews
64- Motorola’s latest Fashion Device
65- Are You Pink or Purple?

Briefs:
87- National
91- International
9
4 Warid Telecom Spread Love
 Unregistered SIMs Nuisance for National Security
The mushroom growth of the telecoms sector and increased use of cellphones in
Pakistan made possible by low tariffs of calls and messages and easy availability of connec-
tions (SIM cards) has had the unintended consequence of the valuable communications
tools being misused on a large scale.
Bothersome missed calls from strangers, indecent messages and crank calls are some of
the common complaints cellphone users often report. The Cell phone users complaint every
day about the harassment at the hands of strangers or blackmailers.
The only reason is lack of checks on the sale of Subscriber Identity Modules (or SIMs), is
the principal reason for the misuse of cellular phones. SIMs are relatively cheap, ranging
from Rs100 (with Rs50 balance) to Rs350 in price and easily available at paan stalls, public
call offices and cellphone dealers without even the need of showing one's national identity
card. Ironically, it is more complicated to lodge a complaint against cellphone harassment
than it is to buy one.
The sale of mobile phone SIMs have become a nuisance for national security as criminals
behind terrorist threats, bomb blast, kidnapping for ransom, fraudulent prizing schemes, irri-
tating and repetitive unknown calls and text messages, identity theft, all the illegal activity is
done by using unregistered SIMs.
Some people are of the view that earlier on when SIMs were expansive, the procedure of
filing a complaint was much more effective as lesser people had them. It is also a fact that
cellphone users receive numerous text messages and calls from a number and the person
kept insisting that you have won a prize. Whenever victim of such calls called the cellphone
companies to block the number, the network people would plainly say that it would do no
good as usually people have more than one SIM and can use the others if one gets blocked.
So ultimately, we have just stopped paying attention to such messages or calls.
It is the need of the hour to under stand these issues seriously and to take immediate
actions against those who are involved in this heinous act not only the users but the compa-
nies as well who sell their SIMs in footpaths with out id card.

Zubair Ahmed Kasuri Editor-in-Chief Zubair Ahmed Kasuri Publisher of "FLARE" Leading Telecom Magazine printed it from
M. H. Khalid Editor Akkaz Printers Shama Plaza Lahore and published from 105 B, Gulberg II, Lahore.
Lahore Office: Ph: 042-5750732

Usman Yaqoob Marketing Executive (Lhr.) Islamabad Office: Phone: + 92-51-2890054, + 92-51-2891339
M. Farooq Malik Marketing Executive (Lhr.)
Rashid Hussain Mughal Marketing Executive (Khi.) Karachi Office: Phone: +92-21-2275215, Fax: +92-21-2275216

M. Naeem Mughal Designer

E-mail: flare.mag@gmail.com

Khawar Shahzad Finance Executive Price: 250/-

Azhar Javed Production Manager Registration No: PCPB/105 (Vol. 4 Issue: 5)

6
 Letter to the e ditor
000101101010100100010101010101001010101010101001010101010101010101010
0001011010101001000101010101010010101010101010010101010101010101010101010101
101010101010101001010101010101001010101010101011101919019019019010910
101010101010101001010101010101001010101010101011101919019019019010910100101001
010101010100101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010100101010
010101010100101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101010100101010101010101
11010101010101010101001010101010101010101010010101010101010101010101010101 110101010101010101010010101010101010101010100101010101010101010101010

anticipation there will be many SIMs bought

Pakistan Package and sold hand to hand will never be pre-
Misuse of Cellphones sented for verification, thus making room for
A Revolutionary new business for the mobile companies.
Those SIMs which could be verified success-
Offer
This is to draw the attention of the minis-
try concerned toward the vices erupting from fully must be restored back.
the influx of mobile phone communications in The mobile companies should sell the new
Dear Editor, the last couple of years. SIMs only after obtaining personal details of
In the initial stages when mobile phones the applicant, supported by a copy of his
I want to draw the attention of the masses were introduced, there were checks applied national identity card.
towards ‘Pakistan Package’. Many have lob- to applicants to provide their personal details
bied against the Pakistan Telecommunication on the prescribed form of the mobile com- Mobile companies should be made to
Company’s revolutionary offer-‘Pakistan pany. At that time the price of the SIM was develop control software so that if a SIM does
Package’. kept high and, as a result, consumers did not not answer an incoming call five times con-
It is a revolution in a sense that it makes mushroom. Decency, quality and courtesy secutively, the SIM will be cancelled forthwith
contacting our kith and kens in other cities in was then maintained among the mobile and made invalid for any further use of it.
the country affordable. Calling them had been users. Thus a heavy penalty imposed on those who
costly before. For sure, it will make the fabric But as mobile companies increased and misuse of cellphones in this manner will help
of our family and friends stronger. competition among them grew, all earlier check the present attitude of free will to
The mobile euphoria, which encourages checks and balances were withdrawn in receive only selected calls.
our youngsters to gossip and romance the favour of sales.
whole night and sleep the day out, has done SIM cards became available for as low as The SIM holder should have the facility to
enough damage to our culture. However, in Rs100. Gradually, these facilities led to mis- report shutting off his SIM for a minimum num-
view of some complaints, the PTCL will only use by criminals. Hand -to -hand mobile pur- ber of days on the sole grounds of overseas
need to make signing out of this package; chase and sales destroyed the identification travel for a maximum of 30 days. The caller
hope very families will opt out. system of the users. Bad calls, threats and should then hear a tape: user is out of country
We need courage to appreciate and print other forms of misuse are employed by many till so and so date.
something good coming out these days. who cannot be identified. Then they also The sufferers at the hand of a SIM holder
choose to shut down their cellphones at will should be provided the contact address of the
M .Jahangir while their callers, some of them genuine SIM holder by mobile companies, at the refer-
Islamabad claimants of a certain commitment between ence of a police paper.
them, are denied access.
Also, they keep more than one cellphone M. M. Khan
Need of the Hour and play the same tricks with another round of
sufferers. They do that on purpose when they
Karachi

are in need of hiding or running away from a

Respected Editor,
party, or person. Phone Towers
The menace has become alarmingly ram-
This is really appreciating that Caretaker
pant among those who have little or no moral Sir: All the cellular companies are con-
Federal Minister for IT & Telecom Abdullah
values: they greatly misuse the facility structing their towers in
Riar has directed PTA to facilitate availability
because they need not provide any address a densely populated
of reliable data through mobile subscriber doc-
while buying cellphones. So, it is easier for locality of Bahawalpur,
umentation and antecedent verification.
such cellphone users to break commitments Shahdra. This is hap-
There was a need for the policy and directives
or agreements to the peril of the other party. I pening with out any
to stop the sale of number of undocumented
have personally sufferred on this count. check and balance by
mobile phones in the country and to allay the
It is time to regulate cellphone trade. the authorities. The con-
concerns of various agencies in this regard.
Mobile companies should be asked to pro- cerned authorities
There was no policy formulated by PTA
nounce verification and authentication of all should take steps
for mobile subscriber antecedent data collec-
SIMs within three months. against these cellular
tion and verification by all mobile phone oper-
For this purpose, drop box facility should companies to move their
ators. The new directives are really encour-
be provided by all mobile companies to their towers outside the resi-
aging to keep check and balance on the
users at various public places where a stan- dential areas due to the
mobile subscriber’s data. The most important
dard format of information published in the hazardous affects of
concern is that we have to wait what PTA and
newspaper should be copied and completed these towers on human
cellular companies do to stop the unregis-
by the users, along with a photocopy of their life. The higher authori-
tered connections and collect subscriber data
NIC. This procedure or a similar one will help ties of both the regulators and the concerned
which is a challenge for the concerned
mobile companies to carry out the verification companies are requested to behave respon-
authorities.
and authentication of SIMs. sibly and stop this construction.
All those SIMS that will not be presented
Anwar Malik
for verification within three months will stand Shabbir Hussain
Islamabad
cancelled at the end of the deadline. And in Bahawalpur

Send us your letters at flare.mag@gmail.com or at our postal address. Flare reserves the right to edit letters for clarity and space. 7
 IT Flare Report
Technology, Innovation
Change Video
Viewing Habits
Today's video servers are delivering real-time
services, streaming 25,000 simultaneous
videos, and ingesting 250 new titles per hour
T
echnology’s improved ability to meet
viewer demands and service provider
innovation in response to increasing
competition are changing video viewing habits.
In turn, network designers are being forced to
make fundamental investment decisions.
Video on demand, where consumers play
selected videos over their television sets, the
Internet and mobile devices, is not being used
the way industry experts or viewers them-
selves expected. VoD, for example, was envi-
sioned as an extension of Pay TV, where mov-
ies on demand would dominate the service
offering.
Although VoD is used for movies on
demand, other uses are more prominent. They
include:
• Time-shifted TV (subscribers view TV pro-
grams on their own schedules);
• Network digital video recorders (network
storage is used rather than the set-top box);
and
• Program restart (a viewer can watch a pro-
gram from the beginning after turning it on
after the show has begun).
Internet video also surprised the experts,
who thought it would compete with video rent-
als or bypass cable TV franchises. Instead it
has opened new video applications, such as
democratizing video through YouTube, and pro-
vided new distribution vehicles for major
media companies that leverage their broad-
cast offerings. Fox leveraged its investment in
the Major League Baseball playoffs, for exam-
ple, through extensive Internet video offerings
before and after each game.
Mobile video is complementary to VoD and
Internet video, emphasizing music and per-
sonal videos rather than TV or movie fare:
HDTV on a 1-inch screen doesn’t make it.
Much of this change in the way we view
video is made economically feasible by tech-
nologies that support highly targeted advertis-
ing. On-demand ad insertion has been essen-
tial to VoD’s success. Viewers are much more
tolerant of viewing advertising than the pay-
per-view model. Also, advertisers can tailor
their pitches to the demographics of each VoD
8
title, which increases their ROI. Pioneering
companies already are introducing systems
that personalize ads to each viewer’s interests
and demographic profile.
Once video is introduced onto the telecom
network, the infrastructure and its design must
be rethought from first principles. The access
network that in most places is still designed for
voice must become a vehicle for broadcast TV
and high-speed Internet service. The aggrega-
Internet video also surprised
the experts, who thought it
would compete with video
rentals or bypass cable TV
franchises. Instead it has
opened new video
applications, such as
democratizing video through
YouTube, and provided new
distribution vehicles for
major media companies that
leverage their broadcast
offerings
tion network must become a network to sup-
port VoD distribution. For example, cost mod-
els we have built for our clients show that at
40 percent penetration 90 percent of the
aggregation network’s capacity is used for
VoD.
Each network element is affected. Fiber-
optic cables must be extended either to or
very close to the customer premises. New set-
top boxes are required. One intriguing oppor-
tunity is to use the cheap storage of the set-
top box to offload some network and central-
ized video server capacity.
GPON, IP DSLAMs or Ethernet-based FTTH
is needed in the access network. A converged
IP/Ethernet aggregation network and a core
network incorporating IP/MPLS also are
needed.
Video servers become a critical enabling
technology since VoD, Internet and mobile
video services are driving the network rede-
sign. The requirements imposed upon video
servers have exploded along with this change
in video usage.
Motorola estimates a video server used to
deliver movies on demand in 2000 was
streaming 250 simultaneous videos and
ingesting 10 new titles per month. Today’s
video servers are delivering real-time services,
streaming 25,000 simultaneous videos, and
ingesting 250 new titles per hour.
Rebuilding access and aggregation networks
requires a massive investment. The single larg-
est expense is the buildout of fiber-optic
cables and associated outside plant appara-
tus. Electronic systems investment from most
to least expensive involves the DSLAM, set-
top box, switch/routers, and video server.
The most important strategic decisions are:
• Should VoD services be introduced and will
they be well accepted? The success of a tri-
ple-play business case depends on how inno-
vative the VoD-based service offerings are,
since they offer the primary vehicle for differ-
entiating the service portfolio from the compe-
tition. Revolutionary change in the network is
not needed if VoD doesn’t sell.
• Should a centralized video headend be con-
structed or are there attractive distributed
video alternatives? Out-of-the-box thinking on
video distribution can reduce network con-
struction and operations costs substantially.
• Should a Carrier Ethernet aggregation net-
work be constructed and what should be its
bandwidth capacity? Many network architects
believe such a converged network is the logi-
cal end state with or without triple play. This
need not be an immediate priority unless the
business plan calls for the aggressive rollout
of modern video services. n

alentines Day was celebrated with great fervor throughout
V Pakistan. In recognizing the growing importance of this day
throughout the country, Warid Telecom also wanted to 'share
the love' with its consumers. To celebrate Valentines Day with the
Warid-family, Warid Telecom launched numerous exciting services to
spread the magic of love with diamonds, music and much more. Warid
introduced value added services incorporating songs, dedications and
an assortment of approaches for its subscribers to make their signifi-
cant other to feel special on Valentines Day.
This year, the foremost offering by Warid Telecom to make
Valentines Day extraordinary for someone special was a diamond ring.
Subscribers were offered a chance to win a diamond ring for their
loved ones via a lucky draw. The procedure for participating in the
lucky draw was as simple as to send a short message to become eligi-
ble for the lucky draw.
The lucky draw for diamond ring was held on 11th February and
Miss Kalsoom Akhtar of Islamabad was the lucky winner of this dia-
mond ring. The diamond ring was presented to the lucky winner on
13th February in a ceremony held at Warid Telecom's Islamabad busi-
ness center.
Other content services we introduced for our subscribers to cele-
brate Valentines Day included classic Western, Bollywood and other
Warid Telecom awarded the wineer Valentines Day contest. The winner Kalsoom Akhtar receiving the diamond ring from Farah Hussain, Public Relations
Manager and Zubash Saleemi, Assistant Manager Product & Services.
Special Report Telecom
popular love songs along with greeting dedications. Also included was
a Love Zodiac Compatibility Test that allowed Warid subscribers to test
the compatibility of their partners. In addition, a variety of mobile
screen wallpapers and picture messages were also available to Warid
subscribers for personalizing their mobile phones or forwarding as an
MMS to loved ones.
Marwan Zawaydeh Chief Executive Officer Warid Telecom said,
"Festivities are extremely important facet of our daily lives. It is our job
as an operator to make these occasions special for our consumers by
providing the best in innovation. This year for Valentines Day we want-
ed to deliver unique products that make your significant other feel
more special. The response has been excellent and we hope to contin-
ue to deliver new products and services for our subscribers in future as
well."
On the occasion Thomas Yeo Chief Commercial Officer Warid
Telecom said, "Valentine's Day holds great significance in the west and
now also has gained immense popularity in the east due to media
exposure and increasing modernization and socio-cultural trends. It is
a day of love, chocolates and roses. Warid Telecom wanted to do its
bit with something more, a diamond ring because at Warid Telecom,
We Care." He added.

9
 Telecom Flare Report
Get Connected
Anytime Anywhere
In places where you cannot access PC, you can now surf social
networking websites via your cellphone
S
ome people live their lives online as
much as they live it offline, or even
more! It is not uncommon in today’s
fast-paced life to get in touch with friends more
easily on social networking and blogging sites
than from their home or office. Websites like
Facebook, Flicker and blogger are the meeting
places and provide a very friendly atmosphere
which has made content sharing quite popular
in last few years.
Traditionally, PC is the only source of
approaching these sites, but there is an
increasing trend in making these services
available over cellphones as well. So today we
will take a look at two such applications which
can be installed on cellphones and allows
instant interaction with online networking sites.
MOBILE FACEBOOK
Available from GetJar.com site, Mobile
Facebook is a small 50KB application. It asks
for username, password and an authentication
type to connect. You have to enter the e-mail
address and password for logging in, and
select one of the three authentication types:
‘Https’, ‘proxy’ (get) or ‘proxy’ (post). Once
logged in, the count of new messages, pokes,
shares, friend requests, group requests and
event invites are displayed. Menu option lets
user set status and refresh the information.
Also, the screen image is shown along with
the screen name.
SHOZU
This application allows direct upload of text,
images and videos present in the cellphone to
online sites such as Google Blogger, Picasa
Web Album, You Tube, Word Press, Windows
Live Spaces, Flicker and Facebook among
many others. In addition to these, news-worthy
images and videos can be sent to CNN, BBC
and Scoopt or can be e-mailed or sent to an
FTP account. This content sharing is called
Share-It in ShoZu vocabulary, and depending
upon the capability of the handset, users can
also subscribe to multimedia contents using
ZuCast or take contacts backup.
You can download ShoZu from its website
ShoZu.com, rather than from third-party
websites just to ensure that it is the latest ver-
sion.
Downloading is assisted through a three step
wizard interface. Step one is to select the
device. Select manufacturer from the
dropdown and select the exact model from the
right side scrollable panel showing handset
images. Although this panel loads a number of
images for all the popular mobile phone
10
brands, it is pretty fast and almost all the
phones that we use in Pakistan, including the
new ones, are listed here. Select the handset
model on which application is to be down-
loaded and press Continue at the bottom right.
Step two asks for country and phone num-
ber. In case of Pakistan, enter country code 92
followed by the phone number without the lead-
ing zero in the adjacent field.
Next field is the standard anti-bot text entry
field. Press Continue. Within a couple of min-
utes, an SMS with ShoZu download link is
sent to the specified number. Follow the link
and download ShoZu - a 770 KB application.
Before starting the application, set its per-
mission to allow unrestricted reading and writ-
ing of local data. Typically, with the application
selected, go to phone menu More> Permis-
sions >Read User Data (and Write User
Data)>Never Ask. Or follow equivalent proce-
dure to allow this application access to phone
data. Now start the application. It searches for
snaps and videos and displays their number
under All Files menu item.
Second menu item is Destinations. This is
the list of online networking and content shar-
ing sites to which the user is registered and is
ready to use with ShoZu. Initially, there is no
destination available as user has to explicitly
add them in ShoZu. Here is how to do it.
With ShoZu running on mobile phone, use
the right soft key and go to the menu
More>Settings> AccountDetails. Here, a tem-
porary username and password will be dis-
played. Use this information to log on to
ShoZu.com site’s My ShoZu tab. The site will
now ask for a permanent username and pass-
word that activates the ShoZu application on
mobile phone. Verify it by going to
More>Settings>TransferStatus. Here, ShoZu
status should display ‘Activated’. Wait for a
while for the application to update itself after
activation. Once activated, the menu
More>Settings>AccountDetails would show
the permanent username along with masked
password. ShoZu is now ready and activated
and destinations can be added.
Over ShoZu.com, log-in with permanent
username and password and go to My
ShoZu>Share-It >Add Destination. Press
Select against the image of destination, say
Facebook. Follow the link displayed by ShoZu
that opens up a special Facebook page that
asks the user to authorise ShoZu access.
Such authorisation is required for all the desti-
nations that are added to be used by ShoZu,
since instead of user itself, now the ShoZu
through mobile phone will access these sites.
These authorisation instructions differ slightly
from destination to destination, but generally
they ask the user to check remember pass-
word, and check authorise ShoZu access on
destination pages displayed. Note that you
must already be a user of destination in order
to add it.
Destinations added over the website appear
over the phone application under Destinations.
It takes approximately a minute for the update,
or with Destinations menu selected, user can
go to More>Settings>Check for Updates.
The fun begins when destinations are added,
for example to send data to Flicker and
Facebook, first go to All Files in ShoZu appli-
cation. Browse the file list with thumbnails of
an image or video to be uploaded to a destina-
tion. Press the right soft key of Menu and
select Send to Flicker. Or, use Sendto>
Destinations>Facebook. Note that the first des-
tination added became the one click destina-
tion. This can be changed from within the
application or through the web. Before
uploading pictures, their title (filename),
description and tags can be set. Wait for a few
seconds as the image uploads.
Sending status can be viewed using
More>Settings>Transfer Status from the main
interface. Uploaded files appear instantly over
the web. In case of Flicker, images appear in
Home>YourPhotos and in case of Facebook,
images appear in
Applications>Photos>MyPhotos and there is
no need to set up an album beforehand.
ShoZu is a great little application not only for
phone freaks but for serious on-the-run profes-
sionals who need to upload and share infor-
mation rapidly to the internet. With auto com-
pressed images and videos taken by mobile
phones, uploading does not take much time.
Imagine the ease this brings since without
ShoZu, users have to first get hold of a PC,
connect the handset using data cable,
Bluetooth or Infrared to transfer the image or
video files, then connect to the internet and
upload the file. This may be easy from the
comfort of home, but for instant publishing
requirements such as citizen journalism and
interactions between family members living
abroad ShoZu can save a lot of time. It also
makes it possible for less tech savvy users to
publish themselves over the internet with ease
and speed. n
 Telecom Azhar Javed
PTCL to Launch
Automated Fault
Detection and
Correction System
PTCL, Huawei Technologies Pakistan and Hewlett Packard (HP) signed an agree-
ment to jointly launch their ‘Network Operation Center’ project which has state-of-
the art fault detection and resolution technology, at an impressive ceremony at the
PTCL Headquarters
H
uawei Technologies Pakistan, Pakistan
Telecommunication Company Limited
(PTCL) and Hewlett Packard (HP)
inked an agreement to jointly launch their 'Net-
work Operation Center' project in Pakistan.
On the occasion, Walid Irshaid, President
and CEO PTCL said this project would
enhance the relationship between PTCL,
Huawei and enable HP to become an impor-
tant partner in the transformation that had
been initiated by PTCL.
With the assistance of both leading compa-
nies Huawei and HP, PTCL would establish a
Network Operation Centers (NOCs) to facili-
tate millions of its subscribers in the country.
Once in place, the network operating centers
would enable automated fault detection and
correction in any location in country for the con-
venience of subscribers. Mr Irshaid empha-
sized although the Network Operation Center
project was a back-end system, the ultimate
beneficiaries were the customers of PTCL,
which is country's largest telecommunications
provider.
CEO, Huawei Technologies Pakistan,
Yixiang appreciated PTCL's foresight in select-
ing Huawei as a solution provider for the pro-
ject.
He said the project was breaking new
ground, as it was the first of its kind in Paki-
stan, which would lead the way for similar
programmes in future.
Vice President South East Asia of HP,
Joseph Poon lauded both PTCL and Huawei
for choosing HP for implementing the project
and said his company was committed to
ensuring that the project becomes "a true suc-
cess story."
Elaborating on its functionality, he said the
project would provide the services including
establishment of one main network operation
center and three regional ones, one each in
Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore. The other ser-
vices are implementation of an alarm manage-
ment system across the entire PTCL network
in an integrated manner and implementation of
a traffic management tool performance moni-
12
toring and capacity management.
SEVP Finance PTCL, Nehmatullah Toor
signed the agreement on behalf of PTCL.
PTCL SEVP HR, Ismail Taha, SEVP Pro-
curement, Feisal Elkathiri and SEVP Commer-
cial, Sadik Al-Jadir were also present.
Yi Xiang, CEO Huawei Technologies Paki-
stan, expressed that the company was very
pleased to be chosen as a solution provider
for the project, and he said that the project
was breaking new ground, as it was the first of
its kind in Pakistan that would lead the way for
similar programmes in future.
Upon completion, the network operating cen-
ters will add more benefits for PTCL subscrib-
ers, as it would enable automated fault detec-
tion and correction in any location in Pakistan.
Huawei is a Chinese telecommunication
(wireless, networking) equipment maker with
presence in 41 countries. Huawei defines itself
as the leader in next generation telecommuni-
cation networks. In the recent times, Huawei
had signed two mega deals worth over a bil-
lion US dollar with Pakistani telecommunica-
tion companies Worldcall and Ufone. The
Ufone deal was worth US$ 550 million and
involves GSM expansion. The Worldcall deal
was estimated to be US$ 720 million and it’s
for setting up Wireless Local Loop service in
South Pakistan.
The tremendous growth of Huawei in the last
few years is impressive, given that it competes
with established international giants. As
experts have noticed Huawei's advantage
goes beyond lower prices. Huawei is position-
ing itself as an innovator and leader of cutting
edge technology products.
An important feature of the Chinese policy is
the emphasis on developing its own technical
standards. For instance Chinese are pushing
for IPV6 in an effort to catch up with the US.
Another example is the TDS-CDMA standard,
which was developed in China.
Hewlett Packard (HP) is a technology com-
pany that operates in more than 170 countries
around the world. HP provided infrastructure
and business offerings that span from
handheld devices to some of the world's most
powerful supercomputer installations. It
offered consumers a wide range of products
and services from digital photography to digital
entertainment and from computing to home
printing. This comprehensive portfolio helps us
match the right products. HP was founded in
1939 and its corporate headquarters are in
Palo Alto, Calif. Mark Hurd is president and
CEO. HP is among the world's largest IT com-
panies, with revenue totaling $104.3 billion for
the fiscal year ended October 31, 2007. HP's
2007 Fortune 500 ranking: No. 14. HP's three
business groups drive industry leadership in
core technology areas:
In 1995, when government had announced
to privatized the company there were country-
wide protest and strike by PTCL workers. They
even disrupted phone lines of some big gov-
ernment institutions and many lines of public
sector were also blocked. Military had to take
over the management of all the exchanges in
the country. They arrested many workers and
put them behind bars. The contention between
government and employees ended with a 30%
increase in the salaries of workers.
Many big change events are happening in
PTCL at the moment after its privatization.
These include the VSS (Voluntary Separation
Scheme for its employees), ERP (SAP based),
restructuring, B& CC (Billing and Customer
Care Software) etc. Another seemingly minor
change was change of brand identity (logo)
that will present PTCL's new face after privat-
ization, with greater focus on customer satis-
faction and bringing about of new advance-
ments in telecom for consumers. Now the
employees of the company are satisfied with
the policies and new packages introduced by
the PTCL management. It is hoped that PTCL
once again captured the telecom sector with
dedication and hardworking.
If PTCL will succeed to facilitates the sub-
scribers in the country and solve the problems
within a hour like faulty phone, over billing, late
bill receive, etc., no doubt, the company touch
its new high. n
 Telecom Flare Report
1.12 Billion
Mobiles Sold Around the
World in 2007
Sales increased about 12 percent from one billion in 2006 to
1.12 billion in 2007 and for 2008 predicted another 10 percent
surge to 1.24 billion phones
ore than 1.1 billion mobile phones
M
were sold around the world last year,
and developing countries in Africa and
elsewhere should maintain the momentum in
2008, according to a study.
Nokia of Finland strengthened its position as
the world's best selling phone maker while
South Korea's Samsung moved up to second
The study said better third
generation (3G) phones and
"cooler sub-branding" by
Samsung, LG Electronics and
Nokia ate into Sony
Ericsson's market share
place and American maker Motorola dropped
back to third, according to the study.
14
Apple's much vaunted iPhone was not as big
a hit as expected however, the study said.
Emerging regions, particu-
larly Africa, will continue to
drive shipments," it said. Sat-
urated Western markets --
many of them likely to see
weak GDP growth -- will
remain sluggish in 2008
Sales increased about 10 percent from one
billion in 2006 to 1.12 billion in 2007 and for
2008 Strategy Analytics predicted another 10
percent surge to 1.24 billion phones.
"Emerging regions, particularly Africa, will
continue to drive shipments," it said. "Satu-
rated Western markets -- many of them likely
to see weak GDP growth -- will remain slug-
gish in 2008."
The market information firm said Nokia made
sizeable gains in Africa and the Middle East
"despite fierce competition from dozens of
rivals in every price tier."
It sold 437 million handsets in 2007, up from
347 million in 2006 to grab a 38.8 percent mar-
ket share.
Samsung increased sales from 113 million to
161 million -- growing three times faster than
the industry average -- to move ahead of
Motorola which saw sales collapse from 217
million to 159 million.
"Motorola's device portfolio remains weak;
without a more attractive lineup of handsets
the pain is likely to continue into the second
half of 2008."
The study said better third generation (3G)
phones and "cooler sub-branding" by
Samsung, LG Electronics and Nokia ate into
Sony Ericsson's market share.
The study said Apple with its iPhone came in
"slightly below our expectations," sending 2.3
million phones for a 0.6 percent market share.
"The European launch in France, Germany
and the UK was handled successfully, but
demand from buyers was less frenzied than
the US entry in June, 2007," said Strategic
Analytics.
"High retail prices for the iPhone have been
one issue," it stressed.
The phone costs 399 euros (587 dollars) in
France and 269 pounds (360 euros/530 dol-
lars) in Britain.
Apple Inc. reported its best quarter ever as
profits soared to 1.58 billion dollars in the last
three months of 2007 on demand for its
iPhones, Macintosh computers and iPods.
Its chief executive Steve Jobs said that
Apple has sold more than four million iPhones,
touch-screen mobile devices that combine tele-
phone, video, music and Internet access. n
 Telecom Flare Report
n Egyptian firm Orascom says it has
A won the right to provide a mobile phone
service in communist North Korea, a
country which currently strictly restricts such
services to the general public.
Orascom Telecom, in a statement on its
website, said the licence was granted to its
subsidiary CHEO Technology, which is 25 per-
cent owned by a North Korean state body --
the Korea Post and Telecommunications
Corporation.
Orascom Telecom intends
to invest up to 400 million
dollars in network infra-
structure and licence fee
over the first three years in
order to rapidly deploy a
high quality network and
offer voice, data and value-
added services at accessi-
ble prices to the Korean The North Korea deal "is in
people
It said the terms allow it to offer services
throughout the country over a 25-year period
with an exclusivity period of four years.
"Orascom Telecom intends to invest up to
400 million dollars in network infrastructure
and licence fee over the first three years in
order to rapidly deploy a high quality network
and offer voice, data and value-added servic-
es at accessible prices to the Korean people,"
it said.
Orascom said it intends to cover
Pyongyang and most other major cities during
the first year of operations in the country of 23 man and CEO Orascom
16
million.
The North Korea deal "is in line
with our strategy to penetrate
countries with high population and
low penetration by providing the
first mobile telephony services,"
said Naguib Sawiris, chairman
and CEO. The firm "has consis-
Naguib Sawiris, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Orascom.
tently proved its ability to success-
fully roll out mobile services into
countries where no other operator has."
It was unclear how widely the Orascom
Telecom service would be available to the
public.
North Korea began a mobile phone service to use mobile phones inside the country.
in November 2002. But 18 months later, it
banned general public from using the service
line with our strategy to pen-
etrate countries with high
population and low penetra-
tion by providing the latest
mobile telephony services,"
said Naguib Sawiris, chair-
and began recalling unauthorised handsets.
There is still thought to be a mobile net-
work in Pyongyang which is open for govern-
ment officials. Most foreigners are not allowed
Authorities have staged periodic crack-
downs on residents in northern border areas
who illegally use mobile phones through relay
stations in China.
The 2004 recall was ordered for security
reasons, said Cho Han-Bum of South Korea's
state-financed Korean Institute for National
Unification.
North Korean authorities regard mobile
phones as sensitive items because they can
be used by outsiders to acquire information on
the country.
Cho said the deal with Orascom Telecom,
if confirmed, would be meaningful. "It could be
interpreted as a significant step towards the
opening of its society.
"If North Korea approves a full commercial
mobile phone service, it cannot maintain its
tight lid on the flow of information."
The deal with North Korea is the second
announced in six months by the Egyptian
group. Orascom Construction Industries last
summer sealed a 115 million dollar agreement
to invest in a North Korean cement plant.
Egypt has historically had good relations
with North Korea. De facto head of state Kim
Jong-Nam visited Cairo last July and
President Hosni Mubarak has been to North
Korea several times.
Orascom Telecom currently operates net-
works in Algeria, Pakistan, Egypt, Tunisia,
Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.

 Telecom Special Report

orporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is

C a term that has become synonymous

with the operations of leading compa-
nies world over. It has come to represent a
commitment whereby organizations act ethi-
cally, responsibly and actively give back to the
community and environment within which they
operate. Although a concept recognized and
practiced by companies in most developed
countries, this is a relatively new idea for com-
panies operating in developing nations like
Pakistan.
However, the importance of CSR initiatives
cannot be stated enough, as at the core of
any argument for the advancement of devel-
oping nations is a promise that its corporate

Mobilink has embraced

their responsibility and cho-
sen to lead the way towards
socially responsible busi-
ness practices which tran-
scend the usual practice of
periodic donations and
sponsorships
citizens will recognize their obligation to share
their success and improve the lives of the
community they operate in; giving rise to the
socially conscious corporate citizen.
Mobilink, Pakistan's leading cellular service
provider has consistently remained at the
forefront of the Telecommunications industry
and maintained its position as both an innova-
tor and integral part of the country's cellular
industry. Since their operations, they have
contributed significantly to the social develop-
ment of the nation and following through with
their vision of being an accountable corporate
citizen, Mobilink has now entered a new
phase of its commitment. Having achieved a
milestone of 30 million customers they have
used this opportunity to solidify their promise
of reshaping lives and supporting initiatives for
the development of Pakistan, through the for-
mal establishment of the Mobilink Foundation.
18
The Mobilink Foundation has been estab-
The Mobilink Foundation is a prime example of the company's sin-
cerity and its intrinsic commitment to improving the lives of
Pakistanis across the country
lished through an initial funding of Rs. 30 mil-
lion which has been donated by Naguib
Sawiris, Chairman Orascom Telecom. As the
largest private sector organization in the coun-
try, Mobilink has embraced its responsibility
and chosen to lead the way towards socially
responsible business practices which tran-
scend the usual practice of periodic donations
and sponsorships. Guided by a pledge to give
back to the country, it was deemed important
to expand the current CSR activities and have
a separate dedicated organization which
would focus on Mobilink's CSR efforts; giving
birth to the Mobilink Foundation.
The main efforts of the foundation are in
the areas of education and health, with a
vision of providing free access to education
and healthcare for all Pakistanis, and addition-
al projects geared at protecting the environ-
ment and poverty alleviation. Moreover, when-
ever possible, the telecommunications infra-
structure and expertise will be leveraged to
further the cause of the foundation.
The Mobilink Foundation is a prime exam-
ple of the company's sincerity and its intrinsic
commitment to improving the lives of
Pakistanis across the country. Mobilink has
also published their first CSR Report in 2007,
which is available on www.mobilinkfounda-
tion.org. It is an initiative which separate the
leaders from the followers and it is hoped that
other companies will follow suit in a similar
manner and improve the lives of the commu-
nity within which they live and thrive.


ENHANCE SALE OF Mobile
T
he sale of mobile phones with a torch
has gone up in the country, mainly due
to the ongoing electricity loadshedding.
“The rates of these mobile phones are not
more than Rs3,000 and certainly it has an
added advantage of a torch,” customers
believe.
Not only the brand new mobiles with torch
are selling like hot cakes, the sale of even
used ones that has torch installed in it is not
that much bad. Used mobiles come for around selling both brand new and second hand
Rs1,500 with a good condition.
The buyers of these mobile phones believe
that it’s better to have handset with torch
because as soon the light goes off, it’s easier
for them to locate candles or light up a gaslight ate thought that came to my mind was that it
(if the pressure is good) with a matchstick.
Such mobile phones with torch do not have
all the latest gadgets installed in it, like camera Rawalpindi.
or bluetooth. Perhaps that’s the main reason
that these mobile phones are not that much ‘in’
with the teenagers.
“No I don’t want this old model handset,”
said Ajmal Aziz, a college student when a
mobile vendor showed him a brand new hand-
set that has the torch in a mobile market of
Rawalpindi.
“It’s for old men and women,” Ajmal said,
adding: “Please show me some other model
that has a camera and bluetooth.”
While the sale of ‘torch-mobiles’ has certainly
picked up, there were some mobile vendors,
who believed that it’s the temporary phase.
“Once the loadshedding is over, the market
of these mobiles will certainly decline,” said
Iqbal Bukhsh, who has been in the business of
mobiles for the last eight years.
The torch mobiles are also popular among
the housewives. “When I bought this mobile
some one and a half years back, the immedi-
will be quite useful during the loadshedding,”
said Mrs Imtiaz, a housewife, who lives in
be quite useful during the loadshedding,”
Flare Report Telecom
Phones
said Mrs Imtiaz, a housewife, who lives in
Rawalpindi.
While it is convenience for most of those
who are using these torch mobile phones, it’s
been unlucky for some carrying these hand-
The sale of ‘torch-mobiles’
has certainly picked up, there
were some mobile vendors,
who believed that it’s the tem-
porary phase. Once the
loadshedding is over, the mar-
ket of these mobiles will cer-
tainly decline
sets. “A friend of mine was coming at night
near Khanna Bridge and he was watching his
steps with the help of the torch in his mobile
phone,” said Ghulam Mohiuddin, who lives
closeby.
However, to the bad luck of Ghulam’s friend,
few mischievous snatched the mobile and ran
away. “Had my friend not switched on the
torch, he could have saved his mobile,”
Ghulam added. n
19
 Telecom Flare Report

elecommunications infrastructure and

T services in the rural areas can play a

pivotal role for the long-term socio-eco-
nomic benefits of the people and in reducing
the 'digital divide' between rural and urban
areas within the country, Care Taker Federal
Minister for IT Abdullah Riar has said.
The minister was addressing the contract
signing ceremony between Universal Service
Fund Project and Mobilink. The contract aims
to provide telecom related services to the
underserved areas of Districts Ghotki, Sukkur,
Khairpur, Nosheroferoze and Nawabshah
spread over a population of over 600,000.
After the implementation of this project, cit-
izens of Sukkur Division would have 100%
access to telephone services. The IT minister

Abdullah Riar appreciated

Caretaker Federal Minister for IT & Telecom Dr. Abdullah Riar witnessing the contract signing ceremony of Universal
the efforts of USF in bring- Service Fund Project for the un-served areas of Sukkur Division.
said that the establishment of USF and the
ing the penetration of allocation of subsidy to operators was an
telecommunication servic- important factor in accelerating the availability
of telecommunication services in rural areas.
es to the rural areas into "Fixed-line and mobile operators can play
an important role in providing coverage to
focus and hoped that rural areas in particular where there is no
fixed line service", he said. This, he said,
Mobilink would live up to included areas where the cost of the opera-
tions was too high due to lack of infrastructure
the expetations of the peo- or scattered populations.
ple and that the project "These areas would include cities and
towns other than those where mobile compa-
augured well for the people nies are bound to reach as part of the mobile
cellular policy obligation", he added. Riar
appreciated the efforts of USF in bringing the
penetration of telecommunication services to
the rural areas into focus and hoped that
Mobilink would live up to the expetations of
the people and that the project augured well
for the people of Sukkur, particularly those liv-
ing in the remote areas of the Sukkur Division.
CEO Mobilink Zohair A Khaliq and CEO
USF Pervez Iftikhar signed the contract on
behalf of their respective organizations, Hifz-
ur-Rehman, Secretary IT and Chairman PTA
Maj Gen (Retd) Shahzada Alam Malik as well
as several key individuals related to the tele-
com industry were also present on the occa-
sion.

akistan Television signed an agreement people stay connected, he said and added since

P with Mobilink for providing regular

SMS/IVR updates for the forthcoming gen-
eral election. The SMS/IVR services will provide
customers with updates on national and provin-
cial assembly results, profiles of various political
parties and prominent political candidates.
In his comments, Vice President Marketing of Mobilink, Bilal Munir
Sheikh said in an era of advanced technology, everyone would like to
be the first to know the results of election. Therefore, keeping in view
customers interests, the company is providing them easy access on
election news and updates.
"We have partnered with PTV to bring timely results and informa-
tion to our customers in the palm of their hands, in a matter of
nanoseconds," he added. He said the SMS/IVR service will keep sub-
scribers posted on their mobile phones even in areas where there is
20
no availability of television set or electricity. The new service will help
the entire nation will be keen to find out the
results of their preferred political party.
Giving further details, he said the users inter-
ested in national assembly results, just need to
SMS "NA" to 2008 and they will receive all the
results on their mobile phone. Price for this serv-
ice is a nominal Rs 100 + Tax. In addition to SMS services, customers
can also listen to Live PTV Election transmission along with regular
results updates (On election days) by dialing 1947 from their Mobilink
number.
Mobilink has achieved an unprecedented customer base of over 30
million and provides the most extensive network coverage footprint
across Pakistan through an integrated technology infrastructure in
more than 6,000 cities, towns, villages, and countless remote destina-
tions, including International Roaming in 127 countries through 300
partner operators.

 Telecom Flare Report
Warid Telecom introduced cricket alerts, ball-to-ball services
and live commentary - for the first time ever in Pakistan. Through
these services, users can remain up-to-date with live coverage
throughout the matches
arid Telecom (Pvt.) Ltd. is the first
W telecom company to bring the
nation's first love - cricket - to mobile
phone. Warid Telecom is owned by the Abu
Dhabi Group, led by His Highness Sheikh
Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan. Cultivating
cricket into GSM technology is part of Warid's
strategy to customize services based on sub-
scribers' interests, providing value added serv-
ices of their choice and rewarding users for
their loyalty. In its bid to support cricket enthu-
siasts, Warid has introduced numerous servic-
es and prize campaigns to delight the Warid
family.
Warid Telecom introduced cricket alerts,
ball-to-ball services and live commentary - for
the first time ever in Pakistan. Through these
services, users can remain up-to-date with
live coverage throughout the matches. The
coverage instantly updates subscribers with
complete information, all the way from the
toss to the man-of-the-match ceremony. The
services are seen as a revolutionary way to
stay involved in the game while being away
from the television or stadium.
Additionally, MMS (Multimedia Message
arid Telecom has introduced a new
W international dialing tariff plan for its
ZEM Prepaid and ZAHI Postpaid
subscribers. Now all Warid subscribers will be
able to avail the lowest call rates for the USA,
UK (landline) and Canada. Since launch,
Warid Telecom has been providing customers
with the most competitive tariff plans and has
now made its international calls even more
attractive. With new international dialing rates,
subscribers can call three exciting internation-
al destinations for as low as Rs. 1.25/minute.
In addition to reducing international dialing
22
rates to USA, UK, & Canada; call charges to
Service) based cricket video alerts are offered
to GPRS subscribers. The subscriber can
view a video alert every time a wicket falls.
Warid Telecom's complete cricket solution
allows you to integrate the full experience so
no unforgettable moments are ever missed in
your favorite game.
As a reward to users of cricket services,
the product development team of Warid
Telecom had launched two prize campaigns -
'Play N Win' Voting Game and the Cricket
Quiz Mania. The 'Play N Win' voting game
allowed the subscribers to vote for their
favorite cricket team and make predictions
about the outcome (both before and during
the match). The maximum number of votes
and the correct votes by the users can results
in winning exciting prizes Warid has offered.
On the other hand, the Cricket Quiz Mania
campaign allows customers to answer ques-
tions on cricket details where users with maxi-
mum voted and correct answers are entered a
lucky draw featuring prizes.
Prizes include LCD Home Theatre System,
Sony Flat Screen TV, Bars of Gold (10 grams
each), Handsets (Nokia and Ericsson) and
Middle East (esp. KSA, UAE, & Kuwait),
Europe (esp. Germany, France, Netherlands,
Norway, & Sweden), and East Asia (esp.
China, Malaysia, & Hong Kong) have been
drastically cut down and the benefit has been
passed on to our subscribers. This is not a
limited-time or a package specific offer;
instead these rates can be availed by all exist-
ing pre and postpaid subscribers.
Marwan Zawaydeh - Chief Executive
Officer Warid Telecom said, "When Warid
entered the market in 2005, cost of calls in the
market was extremely high. Not only has
Warid been instrumental in bringing down the
cash prizes worth up to million rupees. Thus
far, many users have already collected their
prizes and both campaigns have received an
overwhelming response.
Marwan Zawaydeh Chief Executive Officer
Warid Telecom noted, "Cricket services and
alerts are new and extremely popular products
in the Pakistan telecom industry. Warid
Telecom was the first company to launch
these services. 2008 will be a gigantic year for
Warid Telecom where we will be known as the
premier service-provider to introduce the most
innovative ideas, products and services."
On the results of the successful cam-
paigns, Thomas Yeo - Chief Commercial
Officer Warid Telecom added, "Innovation is a
norm at Warid Telecom. With cricket services
we wanted to introduce something that cus-
tomers actually demand and then take it a
step further by rewarding them for using our
services. We hope to continue introducing
such schemes in the future as well, because
at Warid Telecom, We Care."

costs for local telephony, we have been at the
forefront of providing the maximum service at
the lowest price".
Thomas Yeo - Chief Commercial Officer
Warid Telecom said, "In this era of globaliza-
tion, business, families, friends and associates
can be found scattered throughout the world.
By introducing these new international call
rates, we want our subscribers to know that
nothing is out of their reach. Our loyal sub-
scribers deserve the best, because at Warid,
We Care".

 Open Forum Flare Report
n my opinion, before Telenor, the world of
I telecom seemed to be nothing more then
just calls and SMS. Look it now, where we
can access mobile TV, share our pictures,
MMS, emails, use internet and so many other
value promising features, and big thanks to
leader Telenor.
The ad looks crisp and is understood to all
I am sure. The most recent and most attrac-
tive offerings have been highlighted in the
most vivid execution. Comments and a
healthy discussion is welcomed on the said
ad.
Ayesha Khan,
ayesha1_mb@yahoo.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Ayesha,
With reference to your post, I would like to
inform that Mobilnk has been offering all these
services way before Telenor even came to
Pakistan. The only difference that Telenor has
made is MobileTV.
Mobilink, unfortunately, is in a fix as it has
a fixed monthly charge of Rs.500 for GPRS
the technology that would enable such servic-
es. However, they are not able to bring in this
service as it will be a free ride for the con-
sumers. Telenor on the other hand charges
per megabyte download that makes the con-
sumer be cautious while using more of the
service and Telenor makes money from the
content download onto your mobile device.
The commercial to me has good execution
but in terms of concept is a bit far-stretched. It
should have been a usage based tactical
campaign.
Adnan Shekhani
adnanshekhani@yahoo.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
But here, Ufone never captured the market
it should have had done years before Telenor
and others jumped in. They had the equip-
ment and services ready but somehow things
could not click for them.
Faisal Naik
fnaik1@gmail.com
24
times were also truly innovative and reflected
Telenor launched
their, then, target market. Truly youth were not
in that sphere because these services were
really expensive at that time.
value added services Considering the current scenario, yes
Telenor has now differentiated itself by
becoming the most innovative brand and its
ad that truly reflects ads are executed perfectly but i think other
telecom brands also do a great job with their
the innovation which it ads.
The new Telenor media campaign is per-
brought in Pakistan. fectly executed and represents no doubt about
it, let's wait and see what other brands come
Customers have the up with.
SH
different opinions on it sjmkt@yahoo.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
and we are including I consider that this campaign is not only
doing well for Telenor's image but the entire
their opinions which country/people from all sects learning the
meaning of Internet on the go in different verti-
we have received from cals. There are operators who exist with this
service before TP but the upbeat attached
through this campaign makes Telenor distinc-
them on our online tive as for now when compared to others.
campaigns like these not only represent and
forum. benefit the company but also Industry's
growth image and uptake-maturity in front of
The Management of other foreign media. I agree with your idea.
Mobilink advertising is also fantastic no
Flare is not responsi- doubt on that - however, slightly low in varia-
tion of advertising...they're trying to penetrate
rural, like one example is on Apna Channel
ble for any comment of promoting 555 service in Punjabi however, a
company of size should be doing more.
these people Mobilink is like a GCP of local Telecom World
(Ghee Corporation of Pakistan) - no matter
how many new operators step into Pakistan
there will always be share for Mobilink and
-------------------------------------------------------------- there would be specific sections in society
I agree Ayesha that telenor is one of the who will always prefer Jazz and Indigo over
most innovative brands of Pakistan and it other offerings. Campaigns like Malamaal and
introduced a lot of services. They are very first smart/timely moves like offering Indigo
one to launch MMS and GRRS was not Valentine BB Pearl package hit the hopes of
Telenor but Ufone. It differentiated itself with many at competition. Being quick is the key!
these services way back when there were
only two GSM players in the market, Bilal Mughal
Mobilink and Ufone. The ads aired in those liveunplugged@hotmail.com

 Flare Report Telecom

elenor Pakistan has announced excel- tomer growth comes hand in hand with solid with a total of 143 million subscriptions in its

T lent financial results for Q4 2007, with 2

million subscriptions added to its base
within the 3-month period. The company also
grew its revenue by 18% in local currency
from Q3 2007 and improved its EBITDA mar-
gin by 17% from Q3 2007. The company
crossed 15 million subscribers in mid-January
2008, in less than three years of operation.
CEO Telenor Pakistan attributed the success
of the company to Telenor Pakistan's belief in
"responsible growth."
Commenting on what has propelled
Telenor Pakistan to achieve such performance
in the face of intense competition, Telenor
Pakistan's CEO Tore Johnsen said, "I am
happy with the way we are growing. Our cus-
revenue growth. We believe we must grow but
we must grow responsibly - balancing the
interests of the shareholders, the employees,
and the public at large."
"We are succeeding because of the faith
the Telenor Pakistan team members have put
in one another and the strong sense of pur-
pose they continue to display. We genuinely
believe that mobile telephony is the best way
of breaking socio-economic barriers, and trick-
ling down wealth and information to the bot-
tom of the pyramid. It helps businesses, com-
munities, and the country."
The Telenor Group secured 30 million new
subscriptions in 2007. Telenor is now ranked
as the world's seventh largest mobile operator
mobile operations. The high underlying rev-
enue growth continued in the fourth quarter of
2007. Compared to the previous year,
Telenor's revenues increased by 15 per cent
in 2007, to NOK 105 billion. Profit after taxes
and minority interests increased by 13 per
cent in 2007 compared to 2006, reaching
NOK 18 billion.
In the fourth quarter of 2007, revenues
increased by 10 per cent compared to the
same period last year, reaching NOK 27 bil-
lion (including Kyivstar). The EBITDA margin
in the fourth quarter of 2007 was 32.8 per
cent, compared to 33.4 per cent in the fourth
quarter of 2006.

he pilot site, which is in Buner, is a mobile coverage might be

T solar-electricity hybrid system that runs

entirely on solar energy during the day
and switches to electricity or battery power at
night. Such Telenor Pakistan's use of alternate
energy sources in its operations is of particu-
lar significance considering that the company
has the fastest growing network in the coun-
try.
"Telenor Pakistan continues its efforts to
roll out modern networks in a socially respon-
sible manner, delivering on environmental,
health, and safety standards," says Chief
Technical Officer Telenor Pakistan Peter
Anthony Dindial. "We are first in the industry
to have started using solar energy to power a
commercial site. We aim to help reduce the
load on the national power grid through inno-
vative solutions and in longer term we mean
to upscale this pilot project to other parts of
the country after assessing its success. Such
solutions are more eco-friendly and less of a
burden logistically in difficult terrains, where
needed the most, and con-
stant generator refueling
might be an issue. The
industry must boldly experi-
ment with alternate energy
solutions in order to connect
the remote, unconnected
populations of Pakistan in a
sustainable manner."
Telenor Pakistan technical team briefs on the environmental and operational sta-
Although the solar pan- bility benefits of solar panels used to energize telecommunication towers.
els used in the unit are
imported, the batteries, cables and installation sites across Pakistan.
expertise are all local. The solution involves a The Telenor Group is an international
one-time cost but requires low maintenance, provider of high quality telecommunications,
thus also reducing capital and operational data and media communications services.
expenditure in the long-term. Telenor ranks as one of the biggest GSM
Telenor Pakistan plans to expand the use service providers in the world with over 133
of solar energy to power other BTs sites in the million subscribers. Telenor Pakistan is 100%
country. Another area of focus for the compa- owned by Telenor ASA and adds on to its
ny is to create and install other hybrid power operations in Asia together with Thailand,
combinations such as solar-genset, solar- Malaysia and Bangladesh.

25
electricity, and solar-wind to power its BTS
 Research Study
If you have trouble sleeping, you should think about not talking on a
mobile phone right before you go to bed. The study strongly suggests that
mobile phone use is associated with specific changes in the areas of the
brain responsible for activating and coordinating the stress system
T
he evidence on mobile phone safety has
been contradictory. Using a mobile
phone before going to bed could stop
you getting a decent night's sleep, research
suggests. The study, funded by mobile phone
companies, suggests radiation from the hand-
set can cause insomnia, headaches and con-
fusion.
It may also cut our amount of deep sleep -
interfering with the body's ability to refresh
itself. The study was carried out by Sweden's
Karolinska Institute and Wayne State Univer-
sity in the US.
This research suggests that if you need to
make a phone call in the evening it is much
better to use a land line. Dr. Joseph Dunbar,
Wayne's vice president for research is of the
view that, “If you have trouble sleeping, you
should think about not talking on a mobile
phone right before you go to bed. The study
strongly suggests that mobile phone use is
associated with specific changes in the areas
of the brain responsible for activating and coor-
dinating the stress system”. Funded by the
Mobile Manufacturers Forum, the scientists
studied 35 men and 36 women aged between
18 and 45.
Some were exposed to radiation equivalent
to that received when using a mobile phone,
others were placed in the same conditions, but
26
Mobile Phone
Linked to
Insomnia
given only "sham" exposure.
Those exposed to radiation took longer to
enter the first of the deeper stages of sleep,
and spent less time in the deepest one.
The scientists concluded: "The study indi-
cates that during laboratory exposure to 884
MHz wireless signals components of sleep
believed to be important for recovery from
daily wear and tear are adversely affected."
Another theory is that
radiation may disrupt
production of the hormone
melatonin, which controls the
body's internal rhythms
Researcher Professor Bengt Arnetz said:
"The study strongly suggests that mobile
phone use is associated with specific changes
in the areas of the brain responsible for acti-
vating and coordinating the stress system."
Another theory is that radiation may disrupt
production of the hormone melatonin, which
controls the body's internal rhythms.
About half the people in the study believed
themselves to be "electrosensitive", reporting
symptoms such as headaches and impaired
cognitive function from mobile phone use.
But they proved to be unable to tell if they
had been exposed to the radiation in the test.
Alasdair Philips is director of Powerwatch,
which researches the effects of electromag-
netic fields on health.
He said: "The evidence is getting stronger
that we should treat these things in a precau-
tionary way.
"This research suggests that if you need to
make a phone call in the evening it is much
better to use a land line, and don't have your
mobile by your bedside table."
Mike Dolan, executive director of the Mobile
Operators Association, said the study was
inconsistent with other research.
He said: "It is really one small piece in a very
large scientific jigsaw. It is a very small effect,
one researcher likened it to less than the
effect you would see from a cup of coffee."
Last September a major six-year study by
the UK Mobile Telecommunications and
Health Research Programme (MTHRP) con-
cluded that mobile phone use posed no short-
term risk to the brain. However, the research-
ers said they could not rule out the possibility
that long-term use may raise the risk of can-
cer. n
 Telecom
PTCL, Huawei to Jointly Launch Network Operation Centers
P
akistan Telecommunication Company
Ltd. (PTCL), Huawei Technologies Paki-
stan and Hewlett Packard (HP) signed
an agreement to jointly launch their ‘Network
Operation Center’ project which has state-of-
the art fault detection and resolution technol-
ogy, an impressive ceremony at the PTCL
Headquarters.
Mr. Walid Irshaid, President & CEO, PTCL,
termed the project “a landmark project for all
three stakeholders” and stressed the need for
serving PTCL’s customers all across Pakistan
to the best of the ability that PTCL had. He
expressed his sincere hope that this project
would strengthen the relationship PTCL
shared with Huawei and that HP would
become an important partner in the transfor-
mation that had been initiated at PTCL.
Mr. Irshaid emphasized that although the Net-
work Operation Center project was a back-end
system, the ultimate beneficiaries were the val-
ued customers of PTCL.
Mr. Yixiang, CEO, Huawei Technologies Paki-
stan, appreciated PTCL’s foresight in selecting
Huawei as a solution provider for the project.
He said the project was breaking new ground,
as it was the first of its kind in Pakistan, which
would lead the way for similar programs in
future.
Major Initiatives to Improve
PTCL Connectivity
P
akistan Telecommunication Limited
(PTCL) has embarked upon a crach pro-
gram to improve its nationwide and
international connectivity as part of its netowrk
expanson and netowrk improvement plans
that have already been kick started. The Com-
pany has invested millions of dollars in the two
(2) submarine consortium cable systems
namely SEA-ME-WE 3 and SEA-ME-WE 4
with landings in Karachi and in data infrastruc-
ture in 45 PoPs in 24 cities.
PTCL is improving its National and Interna-
tional connectivity for diversification and resil-
ience along with core equipment and delivery
enhancement by investing Rs. 775 Million. On
National side, redundant optical fiber cable sys-
tem is fully operational along with equipment
diversification.
On International side, terrestrial cable con-
nectives have been established with neighbor-
ing countries, and a submarine cable called I-
ME-WE has been finalized by PTCL which
would make PTCL’s network more robust &
reliable.
PTCL is the biggest IP Service provider in
the country. It is not only providing IP service
to its customers but to other national operators
as well. PTCL Voice/Data & IP services to its
valued customers were not affected as in the
other countries, when the cable was
28
Mr. Muhammad Nehmatullah Toor, SEVP Finance PTCL and Mr.
Joseph Poon, Vice President, HP, South East Asia, exchange
documents after signing the Network Operation Center (NOC)
Agreement, at the PTCL Corporate Headquarters.
Mr. Joseph Poon, Vice President, HP, South
East Asia, appreciated both PTCL and Huawei
for choosing HP for implementing the project
and said his company was committed to
ensuring that the project becomes “a true suc-
cess story.”
Elaborating on its functionality, he said the
project would provide the following services:
• Establish one main network operation cen-
ter and three regional ones; one each in
Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore.
PTCL is improving its
National and International
connectivity for diversifi-
cation and resilience along
with core equipment and
delivery enhancement by
investing Rs.775 Million.
On National side, redun-
dant optical fiber cable sys-
tem is fully operational
along with equipment
diversification
• Implementation of an alarm management
system across the entire PTCL network in an
integrated manner.
• Implementation of a traffic management
tool performance monitoring and capacity man-
agement.
Mr. Nehmatullah Toor, SEVP Finance, signed
the agreement on behalf of PTCL, Mr. Yixiang,
CEO, Huawei Technologies Pakistan signed
on behalf of his company and Mr. Poon repre-
sented HP. Also present at the ceremony were
PTCL’s SEVP HR&A, Mr. Ismail Taha, SEVP
Procurement, Mr. Feisal Elkathiri and SEVP
Commercial, Mr. Sadik Al-Jadir.
Once in place, the network operating centers
will enable automated fault detection and cor-
rection in any location in Pakistan for the con-
venience of PTCL subscribers.
PTCL, the country’s largest telecommunica-
tions provider, continues to be the largest
CDMA operator as well with the addition of 0.8
million Vfone customers. The entry of Etisalat,
UAE’s leading telecom service provider, into
the Pakistan market has augured well for
PTCL, which is now evolving into a profession-
ally managed customer-focused company,
offering value-added services to its valued cus-
tomers. n
damanged a few days ago near Alexandria.
PTCL connectivity and routing were pre-
planned in such a way that any outage on
either cable will not disrupt the PTCL
Data/Voice & IP service. IP Ports connected
on both the cable systems with different Tier-1
Service providers in West & East directions
give Diversity of route and of service providers
On 30th January 2008, SEA-ME-WE 4 and
FLAG submarine optical fiber cable system
were damaged due to ship anchor near Alex-
andria which caused a major disruption of
International connectivity and the Internet in
the Middle East , Pakistan and India.
The situation was further worsened by dam-
age to the FALCON in the Persian Gulf on 1st
February 2008. Further; two more regional sub-
marine cables near Kuwait & Qatar were dam-
aged which made the situation more vulnera-
ble for voice/data and specially IP traffic in this
region.
Disruptions up to 70 percent in Middle East
and 60 percent in India were reported. The
countries mostly affected were Bahrain, Qatar,
UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iran & India.
Since service was affected in Pakistan
through other cable systems in matter of days;
PTCL manage to add 10xSTM-1s for IP con-
nectivity from Tier-1 Service providers in Italy,
Hong Kong, & Singapore in West & East direc-
tions. n
 Telecom
he Pakistan Telecommunications
T Company Limited (PTCL), with an invest-
ment of US$ 50 million, is part of a con-
sortium that will put in place a high-capacity
fiber-optic submarine cable that stretches from
India to Italy and France via the Middle East.
The consortium of nine leading telecom
operators, have signed the Construction and
Maintenance Agreement (C&MA) and the
Supply Contract of the fiber-optic cable named
I-ME-WE (India, Middle East, Western Europe)
on 5th February 2008 which will be the fifth in
a series of similar systems.
The consortium of nine leading
telecom operators, have signed
the Construction and
Maintenance Agreement
(C&MA) and the Supply Contract
of the fiber-optic cable named I-
ME-WE (India, Middle East,
Western Europe) on 5th
February 2008 which will be the
fifth in a series of similar sys-
tems
The cable design covers a distance of
almost 14,000 kilometers and the system is
likely to be available for service by the end of
PTCL Launches Rapid Response Unit
akistan Telecommunication Company
P Limited (PTCL) has launched Rapid
Response Unit (RRU), an exclusive
mobile maintenance team, for its customers,
on Jan 6. PTCL Senior Executive Vice
President (Commercial) Sadiq Al Jadir inaugu-
rated the unit in the presence of prospective
customers of the company.
While speaking on the occasion Sadiq Al
Jadir said that PTCL was transforming towards
the betterment with a view to living up to the
expectations of customers, who ostensibly
happen to be the backbone of the company.
He said that PTCL's aim is to be the leading
customer service organisation. He further
added that launching of the Rapid Response
Unit is in fact a customer service initiative
being taken as part of PTCL's commitment of
providing efficient and state of the art services
to its valued customers. PTCL EVP Arif
30 Hussain and EVP Business (North) Jameel
2009. The system will have a capacity of 3.84
terabits per second.
PTCL and the other members of the con-
sortium intend for this system to meet the ever
growing capacity requirement of Asia, the
Middle East and Europe besides satisfying the
capacity needs of the USA to these regions as
well.
The nine companies that form the consor-
tium include Bharti (India), Etisalat (UAE),
France Telecom (France), Ogero (Lebanon),
PTCL (Pakistan), STC (Saudi Arabia), Telecom
Egypt (Egypt), Telecom Italia Sparkle (Italy)
and VSNL (India).
Khawaja also spoke on the occa-
sion.
It is worth mentioning here that
the project is an addition to ongoing
PTCL initiatives to improve the serv-
ice quality and ensure uninterrupted
voice and data services. PTCL
Rapid Response Unit, a mobile lab-
oratory, on the run, will respond in
minimum time span to customer
complaints.
The unit comprises top quality
PTCL staff especially trained to han-
dle the complex situation. The unit Senior Executive Vice President Sadiq Al Jadir with mobile maintenance
has been well equipped with all the team.
necessary tools required for swift
service restoration.
PTCL has conducted a major overhaul of
the existing corporate services complaints
helpline, where trained customer support rep-
resentatives will be available round the clock to available to respond to any queries.

The signing of the Agreement and the
Supply Contract was made at a high profile
event bringing together the nine consortium
partners involved in the IMEWE project in
Rome, Italy, and was attended by representa-
tives and guests of all the other consortium
partners.
The Chairman of the Interim Management
Committee of the IMEWE Consortium, Mr. K P
Tiwari, has expressed his deep appreciation to
all parties involved for their devotion, commit-
ment, and untiring effort over the past year and
a half in effectively addressing various chal-
lenges and making this project a reality and
successful. He added, "We as a consortium
are very happy to part of the development of
the world telecommunications that plays great
roles in today's economy and well being of
human kind."
Sher Bahadar Khan, Executive Vice
President of PTCL (Pakistan), stated that this
project was an important addition designed to
cater to the ever growing capacity require-
ments towards the Middle East and the west-
ern countries with Pakistan in general and
PTCL in particular.
He stated that this project will also play a
pivotal role to provide effective resilience to the
existing cable systems (SMW3 & SMW4) avail-
able with PTCL to provide flawless communi-
cation to its esteemed customers within and
outside of Pakistan. This entire venture was, of
course, a result of the untiring teamwork of the
consortium member countries to achieve the
target.

redress customer complaints. Three cen-
tralised control rooms have also been estab-
lished at Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad for
close monitoring of the whole process.
Besides, Key Account Managers will always be
 Telecom
incenzo Nesci has been appointed
V as President of the company's
business in Africa and the Middle
East. In his new position, Vincenzo Nesci
will be responsible for growing Alcatel-
Lucent's business in more than 62 coun-
tries in Africa, and the Middle East.
Alcatel-Lucent provides solutions that
enable service providers, enterprises and
governments worldwide, to deliver voice,
data and video communication services
to end-users.
Vincenzo Nesci brings a great deal of
first-hand experience to this position,
having served in the region for many
years. He currently serves as President
of Alcatel-Lucent's Middle East Regional Vincenzo Nesci a new President of Alcatel-Lucent in Africa and Middle East.
Unit. Previously he had served as Alcatel
Vice President for the Middle East, a position ty lecturer for some years in Europe and sev-
he was named to in 1999. He joined Alcatel in eral African countries.
1980 and held several positions in Italy, East
Africa and Belgium. Prior to joining Alcatel,
Vincenzo Nesci worked for General Electric in happy to come back to Africa, where I worked
Libya and Nigeria, after working as a universi- for many years", Vincenzo Nesci said. "The
elecom Egypt (TE), the incumbent tele-
T com operator in Egypt, and Alcatel-
Lucent announced they have signed a
US$125 million contract to deploy a new sub-
marine cable network linking Sidi Kerir in
Egypt to Marseille in France. Named TE
North, the project will enable Telecom Egypt
to expand international connectivity, providing
diversity from existing cable routes.
Additionally, the TE North submarine cable
system will help Telecom Egypt enhance its
network capacity to operate as a wholesale
carrier to other operators and expand its serv-
ice offering to businesses and consumers.
Spanning 3,100 km, TE North will deliver
an ultimate capacity of 128 x 10Gbit/s on eight
fiber pairs, which makes it one of the largest
cable systems in the region. As a result,
Telecom Egypt will be able to meet the grow-
ing demand for broadband services of its busi-
ness and residential users at more affordable
costs. Moreover, it will further establish
Egypt's role as international communication
hub between Europe and Asia/Africa, and it
will also reinforce the city of Marseille as a
communications hub with 'open access' facili-
32
ties.
Middle East and Africa are among
Alcatel-Lucent's most promising
markets, and we are committed to
help our customers in this region
grow their business by making it
possible for them to offer useful
new services to the people of this
region. We have talented and dedi-
cated teams in this region as well
as an International Service Centre
in Egypt that is committed to serv-
ing our customers here and world-
wide."
Vincenzo Nesci, who will be
located in the company's regional
office at The Smart Village in Cairo,
said that Alcatel-Lucent will contin-
ue to leverage its strong positions in
the fixed and mobile segment, applications
and professional services, while entering
"I am very proud to be appointed to this Industry and Public Sector markets outside
challenging position and I am personally very the company's traditional customer base, in
particular in energy, transport, public sector,
defense, and security.

Strengthens Egypt as
communication hub
connecting Asia/Africa
to Europe
"Egypt has a
young population
with a growing
demand for more
and more capac-
ity. In addition
Telecom Egypt
has decades
long tradition of
being the partner
of choice to all
Asia-Europe sub-
marine cable
systems, by pro-
viding the infra-
structure for The signing ceremony between Telecom Egypt and Alcatel-Lucent to deploy a submarine cable
crossing from network which will link Egypt to France.
Red to "Access to advanced technologies is key
Mediterranean Seas. Today, through TE to operators like Telecom Egypt to best serve
North, we extend the Telecom Egypt service their customers," said Georges Krebs, Chief
footprint by offering an option to extend this Operating Officer of Alcatel-Lucent's subma-
infrastructure from the Red Sea to Europe," rine network activity. "By meeting the require-
said Akil Beshir, Chairman and CEO of ments of communications infrastructures in
Telecom Egypt. "Alcatel-Lucent's turnkey terms of capacity, flexibility and scalability,
expertise and technological lead in submarine Alcatel-Lucent helps Telecom Egypt respond
networks shall help us achieve our project and to the ramping demand for innovative applica-
business objectives on time." tions."

 Telecom Flare Report
ellular services are said to be resisting
C fine-tuning of telecom regulations that
could ensure policing of telecom traffic,
lower tariffs and improve service quality.
PTA has identified some flaws in the opera-
tions of the telecom companies that include
identification of subscriber through his/her
Computerised National Identity Cards, mush-
room installation of telecom towers by each
mobile operator instead of sharing the facility
etc. The regulator is still lenient of quality of
service, consumers' complaints on excessive
billing and higher interconnects charges of the
telecom operators.
The regulation to issue SIM only against
CNIC has been openly flouted by the telecom
operators. This according to telecom experts
has given rise to many problems. The number
of obnoxious calls and SMS has increased
many folds in past three years, as the unethi-
cal callers are not bothered if their SIM without
CNIC is blocked. They get another connection
by paying Rs.50-150.
In case the new connection is issued
against CNIC and the SIM is blocked the sub-
scriber would be bared from getting new con-
nection from any mobile operator provided the
blocking information is available with all of
them. If the CNIC of subscriber were available
then any defaulter of one operator would not
be able to shift to another operator.
Each cellular service has installed commu-
nication towers throughout the country to
ensure accessibility of its services in larger
areas. These towers could be found in large
numbers within a radius of one kilometre in big
cities. According to telecom experts even 25
per cent of these structures could service the
36 needs of the consumers of all mobile opera-
The PTA has in fact been urg-
ing them to share infrastruc-
ture to reduce cost and
ensure better environment.
The companies having larger
network are resisting the
move as all operators would
have the same level of acces-
sibility
tors.
The PTA has in fact been urging them to
share this infrastructure to reduce cost and
ensure better environment. The companies
having larger network are resisting the move
as all operators would have the same level of
accessibility. They even neglect the fact that
those using their facility would also pay some
service charges as well that would substantial-
PTA has identified some flaws
in the operations of the tele-
com companies that include
identification of subscriber
through his/her Computerised
National Identity Cards, mush-
room installation of telecom
towers by each mobile opera-
tor instead of sharing the facil-
ity etc
ly reduce their operational cost.
Some operators with larger network also
support some of the moves of PTA. Managing
Director of Wateen Telecom Tariq Malik
favours sharing of infrastructure to save cost.
He stressed the need to rationalize intercon-
nect charges.
Some experts point out that most operators
have drastically reduced the charges of calls
made within their network to Re1 per minute.
But for calls made by other subscribers to their
network are charged at Rs1.25 per minute.
This means that the operator earns more if the
calls originate from outside their network.
Telecom experts say that there is a need to
rationalize this anomaly.
Similar discrepancy exists when a mobile
call is made to PTCL landline. The PTCL
charges its subscriber Rs2 per 5 minutes for a
local call. In case of five minutes call from
mobile phone the PTCL gets Rs2.50 per five
minutes because its connectivity rates for
mobile operators are Rs0.50 per minute.
The telecom operators also face some
problems while enlarging their infrastructure.
Different provincial and local governments levy
differemnt charges, as Wateen's Tariq Malik
pointed out that the right of way demanded by
authorities from Sibi to Gawadar is $1 million.
Similarly the Sukkur administration demand
Rs1,000 per meter as right of way to the oper-
ators while Sialkot authorities asked for
Rs5,000 per meter. He said the regulator
should ensure through federal government
lower and uniform rates for laying infrastruc-
ture.


The Poor-Rich Divide
The difference between the rich and the poor coun-
tries is not even that of the extent of natural resources
available; A country like Japan with its limited terri-
tory and scarcer resources, impacted with a major
nuclear disaster during World War II, coping with
earthquakes with alarming regularity, is today one of
the largest economies of the world
I
n reflection and action the difference
between the poor and the rich is not the
antiquity of the civilization or the age of the
country as is evidenced by countries like India
and Egypt which date back thousands of years
but remain poor while Canada, Australia, New
Zealand and Western European countries
have barely a few hundred years of history but
are economically developed.
The difference between the rich and the poor
countries is not even that of the extent of natu-
ral resources available; A country like Japan
with its limited territory and scarcer resources,
impacted with a major nuclear disaster during
World War II, coping with earthquakes with
alarming regularity, is today one of the largest
economies of the world. Japan is particularly
unusual in that it imports most basic raw mate-
rials from other countries but is one of the big-
gest technology exporters.
Another extraordinary country is Switzerland,
which, produces some of the best chocolates
in the world but does not grow cocoa. Within
its little territory the Swiss raise animals and
grow crops in the four months of the year
when the climate permits and manage at the
same time to produce some of the best dairy
products globally. It is a small country, which
projects an image of security and prosperity
such that it is perceived as the world’s mone-
tary reservoir.
Executives from wealthy countries who com-
municate with their counterparts in poor coun-
tries have asserted that there is no intellectual
difference between the people, nor are issues
of race or color important. Immigrants labeled
lazy in their countries are productive in rich
western countries.
Ali Qadir Gilani
What is the difference then? The real differ-
ence then is not of history or resources, color
or race but is one of attitude – the attitude of
people framed through years of education and
the cultural environment.
While analyzing the behavior of people in
As we do not follow the
basic principles of the rich
and developed societies we
are left poor, out in the cold
as far as development is
concerned. Only the will to
develop and the right atti-
tude can make a difference
allowing us to enhance our
socio-economic level
developed countries we find that the vast
majority live according to certain principles,
certain ethics, those of integrity, self-respect,
responsibility, respect of the law and rules in
general, respect of the rights of other citizens
and tolerance, well-being and security as the
Economy
Ali Qadir Gilani
E.V.P. Corporate Communication, PTCL.
goals of productive work and punctuality.
In poor countries only a rare minority follows
these basic principles in their daily lives.
These countries - are not poor due to lack of
resources or the machinations of a cruel
nature but because there is a deficiency in ‘at-
titude.’ We lack the ‘will’ to work and build
which leads us to develop jealousies, intoler-
ance and general insecurities.
As we do not follow the basic principles of
the rich and developed societies we are left
poor, out in the cold as far as development is
concerned. Only the will to develop and the
right attitude can make a difference allowing
us to enhance our socio-economic level.
The right attitude and the will to succeed can
do miracles leading to not only improvements
in our personal lives but also in improving the
quality of life in our country as a whole.
One needs to remember that our country
and our company within it both have tremen-
dous potential. In both, however, the problem
is identical and it is a flaw in the attitude. Our
potential in fact is far greater than that of much
of the developed world as our natural
resources are in abundance but having
resources available means nothing unless we
have the will to utilize them.
Our attitude is everything and following basic
principles practiced in successful countries will
allow us to join their ranks. In reality a little
effort made to change our attitude will lead to
immense benefits and for those willing to
reach for it the sky alone is the limit.
The writer is an E.V.P Corporate Communi-
cation, PTCL. n
37
 Pictorial

Chief of the Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, left, watches test launching of Pakistan-made Ghauri missile
with President Pervez Musharraf at undisclosed location in Pakistan. Pakistan successfully test-fired an upgraded
version of a medium-range ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

This image released by the Interservices Public Relations department

shows a test flight of a medium-range ballistic missile at an undisclosed
location in Pakistan.

Federal Caretaker Minister for Science and Technology, Shamas Qasim Lakha poses for a group photo with the office
bearers of Lahore Chamber during his visit.

Rector University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) Lt. Gen. Muhammad
Asghar playing a shot to open the tournament during the inauguration cer-
emony of HEC Intervarsity Badminton (Men) Championship 2007-08
38 organized by NUST held at a Liaquat Gymnasium.
Employees of Pakistan's Geo television celebrate the resumption of their broadcast, in Karachi, Pakistan. Geo,
Pakistan's most popular independent television station resumed broadcasting after the government lifted a ban
imposed during emergency rule in November.
 Telecom

Allied Bank Chooses Teradata

for its Contact Center Implementation
A
llied Bank Limited has signed an agree- online branches across Pakistan. This modern Khuram Rahat, Managing Director, Teradata
ment with Teradata to transform its call Customer Contact Center will add more value Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd. "We look forward to being
center into a single-window Customer
Contact Center for all its customer interactions
and phone banking services. Customers will
be able to pay bills, generate their PIN num-
bers, get real time access to transaction his-
tory and customize their banking services
through the contact center. Mr. Azhar A. Jaffri,
Head, Consumer Banking Group, Allied Bank
and Mr. Khuram Rahat, Managing Director,
Teradata Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd., signed the
agreement. Also present on the occasion were
Ms. Scellina Nawaz, Head, Service Quality
Group, Mr. Asim Tufail, Head, Product & Mar-
keting Group, Mr. Ghazanfer Iqbal, Account
Director, Teradata, Mr. Ahsan Mashkoor,
Account Manager, Teradata and Mr. Hassan
Razzaq Shaikh, Professional Services Consul-
tant, Teradata.
Mr. Azhar A. Jaffri, Head, Consumer Banking Group, Allied Bank and Mr. Khuram Rahat, Managing Director,
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Azhar A. Teradata Pakistan (Pvt.) Ltd., signing an agreement on Customer Contact Center for all its customer
Jaffri, Head Consumer Banking Group, Allied interactions and phone banking services.
Bank said: "Choosing Teradata as Allied
Bank's technology partner is part of our by providing exceptional Customer Experience a part of Allied Bank's growth plans and part-
endeavors to further expand our world class through 24/7 phone banking services." ner in setting up state-of-the-art customer care
technology platform. We already have the larg- "We are pleased that Allied Bank has chosen facilities in Pakistan." n
est number of 432 ATMs and 757 real-time Teradata as its strategic partner." said Mr.

39
 Pictorial

Intel Corporation Vice President and Chief Technology Officer Justin Rattner holds a Terascale
Research Processor during a press conference to update on the work undertaken at Intel's Corporate
Technology Group Labs on processor circuits and multi-core computing platform research, in
Bangalore, India.

Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer makes a point during a news conference at the
seventh annual CEO summit held at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington.

LG Continues Charitable
Mission
As part of it
philanthropic mis-
sion, LG Mobile is
A model poses next to a Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive car at the European Auto Show in Brussels. committed to play
its responsible
role towards the
local community
in an environmen-
tally sound and
structured manner. This time it has renovated the
Peshawar Railway Station which was inaugurated on
12th Feb, 2008 where people from different media
fragment were invited. The aim is to provide passen-
gers with the fundamental amenities that include;

Filtered Water Tanker

Benches

Fans

Digital Clock

Washrooms

Information Desk
40
Televisions
A man looks at an NTT DoCoMo shop in Marunouchi business district in Tokyo.

Sending instant messages and communicating over wide distances has been a matter of
grave concern over the past many years, but now the Bluetooth technology has made it
possible to get connected invisibly and share data securely
ith the development of new technolo-
W gies, things have become quite sim-
ple and easier. Sending instant mes-
sages and communicating over wide dis-
tances has been a matter of grave concern
over the past many years but now the technol-
ogy has made it possible by connecting invisi-
bly from device to device and person to per-
son. All data, in the form of emails, photos,
contacts, addresses and more can now be
sent securely. Latest softwares have not only
enhanced convenience but also introduced a
lot of problems like hacking and instant virus
transmission etc.
To ensure user's privacy and secure infor-
mation experts have been thinking for safer
means of data exchange and sending servic-
es. Bluetooth wireless technology is an effi-
cient and convenient solution to the problem.
It is a short-range communication technology
intended to replace the cables connecting
portable and fixed devices while maintaining
high levels of security. The key features of this
technology are robustness, low power, and
low cost. It defines a uniform structure for a
wide range of devices to connect and commu-
nicate with each other.
Each device can simultaneously communi-
cate with up to seven other devices through
ad hoc networks known as Pico nets.
Fundamental strength of this technology is the
ability to simultaneously handle both data and
voice transmissions. This enables users to
enjoy variety of innovative solutions such as a
hands-free headset for voice calls, printing
and fax capabilities, and synchronising PDA,
laptop, and mobile phone applications.
The use of Bluetooth is increasing due to
the numerous interactive features it offers.
The low power consumption, small size and
Bluetooth technology provides personal connectivity to
access important information and communication wire-
lessly. Robustness, low power, and low cost are the key
features of the technology
Khawar Shahzad Telecom
low cost of the chipset solution enables this
technology to be used in the tiniest of devices.
Despite the benefits of Bluetooth technolo-
gy, experts are of the view that the technology
does not come without drawbacks. They say
that these flaws may not be technological but
are of great concern on the medical grounds,
as the continuous or frequent use of Bluetooth
device may greatly affect the hearing ability.
As far as the data security is concerned in
Bluetooth devices algorithm encryption is
used, through which specifications are secure.
The Blue tooth Special Interest Group (SIG),
made up of more than 8,000 members, has a
Security Expert Group. It includes engineers
from its member companies who provide criti-
cal security information and requirements as
the Blue tooth wireless specification evolves.
ensure future devices don't suffer the same
Cases where data has been compromised
vulnerability. This is an on-going process. The
on mobile phones are the result of implemen-
recently reported issues of advanced "hack-
tation issues. The Blue tooth SIG diligently
ers" gaining access to information stored on
works with members to investigate any issues
selected mobile phones using Blue tooth func-
that are reported to understand the root
tionality are due to incorrect implementation.
cause. If it is a specification issue, members
Today, with Blue tooth wireless technology,
work to create patches and
the office can be a sleek, organised machine,
with fewer wires in sight. PDAs sync with
computers to share calendars and contact
lists, peripherals communicate directly with
computers, and Blue tooth headsets allow
phone use throughout an office space, all
without connecting a single wire.
Gaming devices with Bluetooth tech-
nology built in allow for the spirit of
competition to take hold in any
location. Because no wires
are required, gamers
can find each other
easily - even
anonymously
- and strike
up a friend-
ly game.
In short
the Bluetooth
technology has made
life far easier and can be deemed as a first
step towards modern communication.

41
 Event Ismail Qureshi
The conference covered both new and existing industry issues and
trends, providing informed and thought-provoking insights through
balanced, informative presentations and discussions
he 2008 GSMA Mobile World Congress
T was underway from 11-14th February in
Barcelona. The Mobile World Congress
offers unlimited networking opportunities with
the elite in the mobile industry.
Where conventional trade shows fall short,
the Mobile World Congress provided an ideal
personal experience and environment for net-
working with a select circle of mobile profes-
sionals who can positively impact their busi-
ness.

GSMA and IMGA Collaborated to Drive
Mobile Gaming Innovation

GSMA announced 13th Annual Global
Mobile Awards Nominations

Completion of LTE Underpins High-Speed
Mobile Future

Mobile Alliance Against Child Sexual
Abuse

Leading Operators to Work Together to
Measure Mobile Advertising

GSMA Selected LG Handsets to Lead
'Horizon Phone' Campaign

High-Quality Global IP Network Prepares
To Go Commercial

Winners of 2008 Mobile Innovation Global
Awards were announced

GSMA Chairman's Award 2008 was pre-
sented to India's Sunil Bharti Mittal

13th Annual Global Mobile Award Winners
were announced
Founded in 1987, the GSMA is the global
trade association representing more than 690
GSM mobile phone operators across 214 terri-
tories and countries of the world. In addition,
more than 180 manufacturers and suppliers
support GSMA's initiatives as Associate
Members.
The primary goals of the GSMA are to
ensure mobile phones and wireless services
work globally and are easily accessible,
enhancing their value to individual customers
42
and national economies, while creating new
business opportunities for operators and their
suppliers. The Association's members serve
more than 2 billion customers - about 82% of
the world's mobile phone users.
The GSMA plays a pivotal role in the devel-
opment of the GSM platform and the global
mobile industry. Much of the GSMA's work is
focused on two areas: Emerging services and
emerging markets. The GSMA helps its mem-
bers develop and launch new services, ranging
from mobile instant messaging to video shar-
ing to mobile Internet access, which will work
across networks and across national bound-
aries. At the same time, the GSMA is heavily
engaged in the industry's push to extend basic
voice and text services to more people in
emerging markets.
GSM is an evolving wireless communica-
tions standard that already offers an extensive
and feature-rich 'family' of voice and data serv-
ices. The GSM family of technologies consists
of today's GSM, General Packet Radio Service
(GPRS), Enhanced Data rates for GSM
Evolution (EDGE) and third generation GSM
services (3GSM) based on W-CDMA and
HSDPA access technologies. Together these
technologies underpin the GSM platform.
The Mobile World Congress and its sister
event, the Mobile Asia Congress, are now
being produced and managed by GSM
Conference Ltd. (GSMC), a wholly-owned sub-
sidiary of the GSM Association. GSMC has its
own management team and now includes over
30 staff covering sales, marketing, finance,
operational and delivery requirements, and is
focused on the management and development
of commercial initiatives that run in parallel
with the GSMA's focus on mutual activities for
its members.
GSMA Mobile World Congress is built
around an exceptional conference agenda that
features the most prominent CEO and board-
level speakers from mobile operators, content
owners and vendors from across the globe.
The Mobile World Congress is etched in the
diaries of mobile industry leaders across the
world as the event at which to debate the
future of wireless services and technology. In a
mixture of private meetings and public confer-
ence sessions, chief executives of the world's
biggest mobile operators and vendors gather
to lay out their agendas for the year ahead and
exchange ideas about how best to serve the
world's 2.5 billion mobile phone users. Each
year, hundreds of new products make their
global debut at the Congress exhibition, which
showcases more than 1,300 companies from
all segments of the industry.
GSMA, the global trade association for
the mobile industry, announced this years;
High-Quality Global IP Network Prepares
To Go Commercial
GSMA Selects LG Handsets to Lead
'Horizon Phone' Campaign
GSMA & Mofilm to Premiere Unique
Short Film Collection at The Mobile World
Congress
Leading Operators Work Together to
Measure Mobile Advertising
GSMA Announces Winners of Mobile
Broadband Notebook Competition to Serve
New Market Segment
GSMA Launches Mobile Alliance Against
Child Sexual Abuse
Completion of LTE Underpins High-
Speed Mobile Future
The conference covered both new and
existing industry issues and trends, providing
informed and thought-provoking insights
through balanced, informative presentations
and discussions.

 Event

President and CEO of Nokia Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo shows a new phone during a press conference at the Samsung president Geesung Choi shows a new mobile phone 'Samsung Soul U900' during
World Mobile Congress, in Barcelona, Spain. a press conference at the Mobile World Congress.

A prototype of the Google Android mobile by Qualcomm is on A mobile KF510 by LG is displayed during the Mobile World Nokia presents a new model 6210 Navigator on show at the
display at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Congress in Barcelona. Mobile World Congress.

Yahoo's Executive Vice President Connected Life Division Marco Boerries (L) and T-Mobile's Models present LG's new handsets at the Mobile World Congress.
Group Product & Innovation Officer Cristopher Schlaffer announce Web services provider in
Europe during the Mobile World Congress. 43
 Event

Google's new software platform for mobile phones entitled Executive Vice President of Connected Life at Yahoo, Marco Telefonica's Chairman Cesar Alierta attends the Mobile
'Android' in its prototype form on demonstration at the Boerries speaks during a press conference at the Mobile World World Congress.
Mobile World Congress. Congress.

Vodafone's Chief Executive Arun Sarin speaks during a conference during the Mobile Microsoft's Entertaiment and Devicer Division President Robbie Booh shows a Sony Ericsson Xperia
World Congress in Barcelona. X1 mobile during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Motorola presents a new model MOTORO Z6w on show at the Mobile World Congress. A woman shows mobile phone handsets with television screens at the Mobile World Congress,
in Barcelona, Spain.
44
 Aamir Attaa IT

pple Inc. reported its best quarter ever

A as profits soared to 1.58 billion dollars

in the last three months of 2007 on
demand for its Macintosh computers, iPhones
We are thrilled to report our
best quarter ever, with the
and iPods.
"We're thrilled to report our best quarter
highest revenue and earn-
ever, with the highest revenue and earnings in
Apple's history," said Apple chief executive
ings in Apple's history," said
Steve Jobs. Apple chief executive Steve
Apple's profits of 1.76 dollars per share
topped those from the same quarter in 2006 Jobs
by more than 50 percent.
Apple posted revenue of 9.6 billion dollars,
analyst Mike McGuire.
with sales outside the United States account-
"It would seem Apple is simply being rela-
ing for 45 percent of that figure.
tively conservative in what they are putting out
Apple reported shipping 2.32 million
there, which to me makes sense. Apparently,
Macintosh computers, a 44 percent increase Apple CEO Steve Jobs gestures during MacWorld confer-
that is not what Wall Street wants to hear." ence in San Francisco.
from the number of machines shipped in the
Historically, sales of consumer electronics
last three months of 2006. cover off the ball" with its hip products,
Sales of iPod MP3 players rose 17 McGuire said.
percent to top 22 million, while iPhone Macintosh computers that benefited from a
sales for the quarter were 2.32 million. "halo effect" cause by Apple's hot iPods and
Jobs said that Apple has sold more iPhones are "proving themselves in the mar-
than four million iPhones, touch-screen ketplace," McGuire said.
mobile devices Jobs pulled off a coup by uniting major film
that combine studios behind an iTunes online movie rental
telephone, service he announced last week at Apple's
video, music annual Macworld Expo in San Francisco,
and Internet according to analysts.
access. Investors may have locked onto the fact
that unit sales of iPods were flat in the United
States while Apple took in more money in the
category because people bought more costly
models, such as the new iPod Touch.
"People are wondering if the iPod market
is saturated," said Gartner analyst Van Baker.
"I don't think it is. I do think that the bigger you
gadgets slow in the months after the year-end get the harder is to achieve huge growth num-
Apple chief financial officer Peter bers."
holiday shopping season, and this year an
Oppenheimer says the California Company Challenges ahead for Apple include plans
economic slump in the United States could
expects per-share earnings of 94 cents on for a February release of an Android develop-
exacerbate that pattern, McGuire said.
revenues of 6.8 billion dollars in the current ers' kit expected to clear the way for a mobile
"The short term, given the economy, is
quarter. phone with service supported by Google
anything but extremely clear," McGuire said. "I
The price of Apple's stock dropped more advertising.
expect most companies, unless they sell heat-
than 10 percent to below 140 dollars per "Apple has strong growth and a lot of cash
ing oil or winter overcoats, to be relatively
share in the wake of the report as investors in the bank," Baker said. "It is hard to argue
conservative going forward."
seized on what they saw as a lackluster fore- with what they are doing. Still, Apple has to
Apple's stock is being punished, in part,
cast. keep working and innovating so as not to ride
due to expectations set by a long string of
"I guess you can't win for losing sometimes the curve down."

quarters in which it has been "knocking the
with Wall Street," said Gartner technology 45
 Cover Story Zubair Ahmed Kasuri

20 Million
Challenge for PTA-Threat for Nation
illegal SIMs

Illegal sale of SIMs have become a problem for national security as criminals
behind terrorist threats, bomb blasts, kidnapping for ransom, fraudulent priz-
ing schemes, irritating and repetitive unknown calls and text messages, iden-
tity theft, you name the illegal activity and you will find the use of these
unregistered SIMs. A SIM can be purchased quite easily and cheaply from
the hawkers without ID card. This phenomenon is facilitating criminals
while the PTA has failed to take any action against such sales

P
akistan telecom market started its
journey slowly from a state owned
monopoly before transitioning into a
deregulated, rapidly growing, robustly dynamic
environment. Today, telecom domain of
Pakistan has witnessed the heights of
phenomenal growth, which has impressed not
only regional but also the global observers.
Either its millions of customers or the billions
of investments, thousands of cell sites or the
increasing number of service providers, every
aspect is demonstrating rather roaring the
tremendous achievement of this industry.
Let’s review following stats that reflects the
progress of telecom sector
n Overall teledensity of Pakistan reached
52.8% in December 2007.
n During 2006-07 total telecom revenue was
46
Rs 236 billion.
n Total telecom investment during the year
was US $ 4.12 billion and the share of tele-
communication sector in GDP was 2.0%.
n Telecom companies have invested over
US$ 8 billion during the last four years,
mobile sector investment share accounts
for 66% of the total investment.
n During 2006-07 the revenue of mobile
industry was Rs.133 billion, an increase of
48% from pervious year.
n China Mobile investment is US$ 704 mil-
lion during 2006-07 for expansion of
CMPak networks.
n Mobile Sector paid approximately Rs. 63
billion taxes to the National Exchequer dur-
ing the year 2006-07.
n Upto December 2007 cellular subscribers
in Pakistan reached 76.6 million.
n On average 2.3 million subscribers were
added every month during 2006-07.
n Upto June 2007 6,000 cities/towns/villages
covered by mobile operators.
n Upto December 2007, total cell sites
17,779 all over Pakistan.
n Now, mobile network coverage is reaching
to almost 90% of the total population
n The telecom sector received above US$
1.8 billion FDI, 35% of the total FDI.
n Telecom sector contributed Rs. 100 billion
in the national exchequer in terms of taxes
and regulatory fee which was 32% higher
than the previous year.
n GST/CED collection during the period
reached Rs. 36.28 billion.

n Over one million jobs have been created
since deregulation of the telecom sector.
n Rural Telephony Project launched during
the year under which 400 Rabta Ghar
(Tele Centers) are being established in
rural areas.
n Total investment in the LDI sector grew
upto US$ 603 million in 2007.
n New LDI sector revenue stood at Rs. 15.3
billion.
n At the end of 2006-07 total fixed line con-
nections stood at 4.8 million where as the
teledensity was 3.04%.
n There are total of 387,490 PCOs including
WLL based PCOs which are working
across Pakistan at the end of year 2006-
07.
n By June 2007, Broadband subscribers
reached 71,000 and 65% of Pakistani
broadband users enjoy DSL broadband
technology.
n The total teledensity of AJK & NAs was
20.1 in 2006-07 as compared to 3.6 in
2005-06. Overall growth in teledensity in
the region due to deregulation is 450%.
n By June 2007, Cellular subscribers
reached 912,227 all across AJK & NAs.
However, these glittering stats given above
have a painful hidden fact that is causing
some serious damages to our nation. The
guilty of this damage is yet to accept its
A vendor is selling SIMs of different cellular companies on a road side.
responsibility. Yes, we are mentioning the num-
ber of falsely registered mobile connections or
SIMs.
The dilemma of illegal SIMs or wrongly regis-
tered SIMs is not new to us; this very issue
dates back to year 2000, specifically during
the time span when price war among cellular
service providers started, however it really
geared up with its full bloom after the emer-
gence of Warid and Telenor. Now, over 20 mil-
lion illegal SIMs are in use.
After the reports of use of ‘illegal mobile
SIMs’ in the criminal and terrorist activities, the
law enforcement agencies have also keenly
noticed this issue and given a special task to
the police to stop the sale of SIMs from shops
other than only the registered franchises or
Sales & Service Centers of cellular compa-
nies.
Instructions were recently issued in the wake
of reports that some hardened criminals and
terrorists had used dozens of mobile SIMs at a
time in the criminal and terrorists activities.
The police investigation officers also took into
custody some mobile SIMs from the posses-
sion of the criminals, which they had used in
high profile crimes.
They got these SIMs from the shopkeepers,
mobile phone shops and general stores that
were not authorized to sale the SIMs. During
investigations it was found that mostly these
SIMS were purchased from the shops on fake
documents.
A source in the CPO revealed that the IGP
Punjab was informed that misuse of Mobile
SIMs of the cellular companies operating in
the country, was a major source in orchestrat-
ing crimes. The Punjab police were finding it
too hard to trace out the criminals who mostly
used mobiles SIMs and later discard it after
completing their targets.
Caretaker Federal Minister for Information
Technology and Telecommunications Dr.
Cover Story
Abdullah Riar has directed PTA to facilitate
availability of reliable data through mobile sub-
scriber documentation and antecedent verifi-
cation. The Minister illustrated the need for
the policy directives in an interactive session
with the media in a press conference on Jan
25. Dr. Abdullah Riar said that due to the exis-
tence of a substantial number of undocu-
mented mobile phone users in the country and
to alleviate the concerns of various agencies
in this regard, Ministry of Information Technol-
ogy has issued policy to the PTA establishing
framework for mobile subscriber antecedent
data collection and verification by all mobile
phone operators. He said that the Ministry of
IT as the policy maker has held extensive col-
laboration with the PTA and the industry to
address the issue through comprehensive
measures for correcting the anomaly in current
subscriber data and at the same time setting
robust mechanism for collection of such data
Instructions were recently
issued in the wake of reports
that some terrorists and
criminals had used dozens
of mobile SIMs at a time in
the criminal activities. The
police investigation officers
also took into custody some
mobile SIMs from the pos-
session of the criminals,
which they had used in high
profile crimes
for new subscribers. This policy aims to ade-
quately balance the interests of all stake-
holders including the industry, regulator and
law enforcement agencies, the Minister added.
The Minister said that the Ministry of Infor-
mation Technology has rolled out renewed pol-
icy directives with the key objective to achieve
optimal balance between security and con-
sumer convenience. This policy, he said would
address issues arising out of un-documented
Subscriber Identity Modules and at the same
time ensures continued growth of Telecommu-
nications sector. These directives will build on
and improve the standard operating proce-
dures currently being followed for the purpose,
he added.
Dr. Riar emphasized the cooperation of PTA,
the cellular industry and all stakeholders in for-
mulation of the policy. The policy makes the
cellular operators ultimately responsible for col-
lection of the desired antecedents at the point
of sale. The identification documents which
can be used, will have CNIC in case of Paki-
47
 Cover Story
stani citizens, refugee ID card in case of
Afghan refugees, appropriate document
issued by government registration authorities
for all other aliens and passport with valid visa
for foreigners. Thumb impression of the cus-
tomer and the stamp of retailer will be manda-
tory for sale of new connections. To enable
timely transmission of ID related data from
retail point to databases the operators will also
use automated mechanisms like SMS based
applications. All operators will be required to
update the data of their existing customers
with in three months of issuance of the policy
with the help of their Franchise. Data to com-
plete the records will be solicited through
diverse mechanisms such as SMSs and Calls
to the subscribers for provision of the required
data and relevant documents within a period
of two months after which connection may be
made one way for a period of one month and
in case during that period the data is not
received then that connection shall be closed
till such time the proper documentation or
required information is received. In case CNIC
is not available with the consumer but has
been applied for the proof of application for
CNIC will suffice for regularization purpose.
The Minister while presenting salient features
of the policy highlighted that validation and ver-
ification of data received by operators from
retail agents is critical. In this regard, received
antecedent data will be duly validated and veri-
fied by the cellular mobile telecom operators
(CMTOs) and cross-referencing against
NADRA CNIC database. Cross-referencing
may be done through submission of batch
data to NADRA (as currently done) or through
IT applications developed by CMTOs in collab-
48
oration with NADRA. PTA will devise neces-
sary regulations and amended SoPs to be fol-
lowed for the implementation of the policy
including relevant penalty clauses in case of
violations. PTA will also continue to monitor
the collection of antecedent data by franchi-
sees and retail agents of the franchisees of
the CMTOs through spot and random checks.
But at the end, we have to rely on PTA and
there is criticism on PTA the sole entity who
monitors the in and out of all cellular operators
who took this element of illegal SIMs lightly, or
it was not anticipating rather expecting this
much growth in the telecom sector. One can
easily term PTA responsible for this worsening
issue, who did not address the matter; but the
carelessness PTA shown then, has squirted
the problem beyond the control.
The much awaited cyber crime law is likely
to carry numerous illegal activities, particularly
when the government of Pakistan has some
hard plans for the culprits such as putting
three to ten years behind the bars and/or fine
of one hundred thousands to five hundred
thousands rupees. There would be no one,
but Pakistan Telecommunication Authority who
is liable to get this law implemented.
PTA has been digging hard into the heads of
franchisers by sealing their businesses; is this
all what the regulator is supposed to do? Seiz-
ing couple of franchises and circulating a
press release in the evening to shout the
efforts they are making. This actually shows
our weak approach like other national matters
where only weak and lowest level actions are
seen and all big guns and big fish are enjoying
their status. They openly doing what they want
and challenging the authority of Government.
There seems a major settlement amongst the
telecom operators and the regulator, which
restricts PTA to approach senior management
and make them accountable for selling SIMs
without verified data along with necessary doc-
uments required. This is why we can still eye-
witness the stalls in main bazaars and lorry
adas, where hawkers are selling SIMs of vari-
ous companies in just few rupees.
One can easily term PTA
responsible for this worsen-
ing issue, who did not
address the matter; but the
carelessness PTA
showcased then, has
squirted the problem beyond
the control
How PTA can guarantee the documentation
on those selling spots. These small shopkeep-
ers bring SIMs from franchises as well as from
the wholesale market. These SIMs never get
registered in the buyer’s name. It is a norm
these days to find the data of crank caller
unavailable from the Mobile Operator. There is
no point this network can be stopped unless
Mobile Operators get involved. Canceling just
franchises will not make a big difference.
There has to be serious measure taken by
authority and the operators at the same time.
Talking with ‘Flare’, a mobile phone user
from Lahore said that it is not possible that
without underhand deal of company's sales
staff, any franchisee can sell the connections
with out CNIC to the hawkers/retailers. They
always know what is going on as this is not
something happens over night. Nothing can
change here....it’s all bogus!
Flare was told that PTA has proposed new
set of requirements for registering new SIMs.
However, on the other side, telecom operators
have replied in big NO to these proposals that
may take at least a year to start practicing
these requirements; which include photo-
graph, thumb impression etc. This NO from
telecom operators can also be the result of the
settlement they were having with PTA earlier
on. n
 Informative

Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism Nokia 2600 Classic

Size Size
Dimensions 112 x 45 x 11.3 mm, 55 cc, Weight 101g Dimensions 109.6 x 46.7 x 12 mm, 63.5 cc, Weight 73.2g
Display Display
Type OLED, 16M colors, Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2 inches Type TFT, 56K colors, Size 128 x 160 pixels, 5-way navigation key
Ringtones Ringtones
Type Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3, Customization Download, Vibration Type Polyphonic, MP3, Customization Download, Vibration Yes
Yes Memory
Memory Phonebook Yes, 1000 entries, Call records 20 dialed, 20 received,
Phonebook Yes, Call records 20 dialed, 20 received, 20 missed calls 20 missed calls, Card slot No
Card slot No, 1GB internal memory Data
Data GPRS Yes, Bluetooth Yes, v2.0, Infrared port No, USB No
GPRS Class 32, 107 kbps, HSCSD Yes, EDGE Class 32, 296 kbps Features
3G Yes, 384 kbps, Bluetooth Yes, v2.0, USB Yes, microUSB Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, Games
Features Yes
Messaging, SMS, MMS, Email Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, Games Yes + Colors Black, Orange, Blue, Beige, Camera VGA, 640x480 pixels,
downloadable, Colors Black, Camera 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, video
video(QCIF), flash, Java MIDP 2.0, UPnP technology, Java MIDP 2.0, Stereo FM radio, Calendar, Calculator, Voice memo
MP3/AAC/eAAC+/WMA player Expense manager, T9
T9, Calendar, Calculator, Built-in handsfree, Voice memo, Living wallpaper Battery
Configurable keypad backlighting color Stand-by Up to 580h, Talk time Up to 6h
Battery
Stand-by Up to 240h, Talk time Up to 3h Design: 6.2
Features: 5.8
Design: 6.2 Performance: 6.0
Features: 6.0
Performance: 6.1

Nokia 1209
Size
Dimensions 102 x 44.1 x 17.5 mm, 70.5 cc, Weight 79.9g
Display
Type CSTN, 65K colors, Size 96 x 98 pixels, 27.6 x 21.8 mm, 5-way navi-
gation key
Ringtones
Type Polyphonic (32 channels), Customization, Download Vibration Yes
Memory
Phonebook Yes, Call records 20 dialed, 20 received, 20 missed calls
Card slot No
Features
Messaging SMS (up to 60), Browser No, Games Yes, Colors Blue
Languages 80 languages, Camera No, Multiple phone books with up to
200 entries, Dust-resistant keypad, Built-in handsfree, Flashlight, Time
tracker, Cost tracker, Calendar, Calculator, Converter, Countdown timer
Stopwatch, T9
Battery
Stand-by Up to 365h, Talk time Up to 7h

Design: 5.4
Features: 5.4
Performance: 5.4

Models show off the Walt Disney Company Japan's new mobile handsets during the company's press
conference announcing the inauguration of Disney Mobile phone service in cooperation with Softbank
Moble in Tokyo.

Samsung L320 Samsung L310

Size Size
Dimensions 89 x 45.5 x 23.5 mm, Dimensions 93.4 x 44 x 17.9 mm
Display Display
Type TFT, 65K colors, Size 176 x 220 pixels, 1.9 inches, Second external Type TFT, 65K colors, Size 176 x 220 pixels, 1.8 inches
OLED 4Gry display (176 x 16 pixels) Ringtones
Ringtones Type Polyphonic, MP3 Customization Download Vibration Yes
Type Polyphonic, MP3 Customization Download Vibration Yes Memory
Memory Phonebook 1000 x 12 fields, Photo call, Call records 30 dialed, 30
Phonebook 1000 x 12 fields, Photo call, Call records 30 dialed, 30 received, 30 missed calls, Card slot microSD (TransFlash)
received, 30 missed calls, Card slot microSD (TransFlash) 20 MB internal memory
20 MB internal memory Data
Data GPRS Yes, HSCSD No, EDGE Yes, 3G No, WLAN No, Bluetooth Yes,
GPRS Yes, HSCSD No, EDGE Yes, 3G No, WLAN No, Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP, Infrared port No, USB Yes, v2.0
v2.0 with A2DP, Infrared port No, USB Yes, v1.1 Features
Features Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Email Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, Games
Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Email Browser, WAP 2.0/xHTML, Games Yes + Downloadable, Colors Black, Camera 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels,
Yes + Downloadable, Colors Black, Camera 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, video, MP3/AAC/ACC+ player, Java MIDP 2.0, T9, Organizer, Calculator
video, MP3/AAC/ACC+ player, Java MIDP 2.0, T9, Organizer Unit converter, Female applications (shopping list, calories consuption, fra-
Calculator, Unit converter, Female applications (shopping list, calories grance type), Built-in handsfree, Voice memo
consuption, fragrance type), Built-in handsfree, Voice memo Battery
Battery Standard battery, Li-Ion
Standard battery, Li-Ion
Design: 6.0
Design: 5.8 Features: 6.0
Features: 5.6 Performance: 6.0
Performance: 5.5

50
 Informative

Sony Ericsson T280 Sony Ericsson T270

Size
Size
Dimensions 100 x 45 x 13 mm, Weight 82g
Dimensions 100 x 45 x 13 mm, Weight 82g
Display
Display
Type TFT, 65K colors, Size 128 x 160 pixels, 1.7 inches, Wallpapers,
Type TFT, 65K colors, Size 128 x 160 pixels, 1.7 inches, Wallpapers,
screensavers
screensavers
Ringtones
Ringtones
Type Polyphonic, MP3, Customization Composer, download, Vibration
Type Polyphonic, MP3 Customization, Composer, download, Vibration Yes
Yes
Memory
Memory
Phonebook 1000 contacts, Photo call, Call records 30 received, dialed and
Phonebook 1000 contacts, Photo call, Call records 30 received, dialed
missed calls, Card slot No, 10 MB shared memory
and missed calls, Card slot No, 10 MB shared memory
Data
Data
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, Bluetooth Yes, Infrared
Features
port No, USB No
Messaging SMS, MMS, Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, Games Yes + down-
Features
loadable, Colors Silver on Black, Copper on Silver, Camera 1.3 MP, 1280 x
Messaging SMS, MMS, Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, Games Yes + down-
1024 pixels, MP3 player, Java MIDP 2.0, FM radio, Image viewer
loadable, Colors Silver on Black, Copper on Silver, Camera No
Voice memo, Built-in handsfree, Alarm clock, Calculator, Calendar, Notes
MP3 player, Java MIDP 2.0, FM radio, Image viewer, Voice memo
Stopwatch, T9
Built-in handsfree, Alarm clock, Calculator, Calendar, Notes, Stopwatch
Battery
T9
Stand-by Up to 300h, Talk time Up to 7h
Battery
Stand-by Up to 300h, Talk time Up to 7h
Design: 7.6
Features: 7.1
Design: 6.5
Performance: 7.3
Features: 6.1
Performance: 6.4

Sony Ericsson R300 Radio

Size
Dimensions 101 x 46 x 12 mm, Weight 75g
Display
Type TFT, 65K colors, Size 128 x 160 pixels, 1.8 inches, Wallpapers,
screensavers
Ringtones
Type Polyphonic, MP3, AAC, Customization Composer, download
Vibration Yes
Memory
Phonebook, 1000 contacts, Photo call, Call records 30 received, dialed
and missed calls, Card slot No, 8 MB shared memory
Data
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, Bluetooth Yes, Infrared
port No, USB Yes
Features
Messaging SMS, MMS, Email Browser, WAP 2.0/xHTML, Games
Yes + downloadable, Colors Antique Copper, Steel Black, Camera
VGA, 640x480 pixels, TrackID, MP3/AAC player, Java MIDP 2.0
T9, FM/AM radio receiver/recorder with RDS, Image viewer
Picture editor, Voice memo, Built-in handsfree, Alarm clock with radio
Calculator, Calendar, Notes, Stopwatch,
Battery
Stand-by Up to 400h, Talk time Up to 9h

Design: 7.5
A Chinese salesgirl holds up a hacked Apple iPhone that is illegally on sale for USD570 at Features: 7.0
a computer centre in Shanghai. China Mobile, the country's largest handset operator, has Performance: 7.5
temporarily terminated talks with the US-based Apple Inc.

Sony Ericsson R306 Radio Samsung L170

Size Size
Dimensions 90 x 47.9 x 15.8 mm, Weight 93g Dimensions 102.3 x 45.8 x 10.7 mm, Weight 86g
Display Display
Type TFT, 65K colors, Size 128 x 160 pixels, 1.9 inches, Secondary Type TFT, 256K colors, Size 176 x 220 pixels, 1.6 inches
external monochrome (96x32 pixels) display, Wallpapers, screensavers Ringtones
Ringtones Type Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3 Customization, Download
Type Polyphonic, MP3, AAC, Customization Composer, download Vibration Yes
Vibration Yes, Stereo speakers Memory
Memory Phonebook 1000 entries, Photocall, Call records, 30 dialed, 30
Phonebook 1000 contacts, Photo call, Call records, 30 received, dialed received, 30 missed calls, Card slot, microSD (TransFlash)
and missed calls, Card slot No, 5 MB shared memory 21 MB embedded memory
Data Data
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, Bluetooth Yes, Infrared GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD No, EDGE
port No, USB Yes Class 11, 236.8 kbps, 3G Yes, 384 kbps, WLAN No, Bluetooth Yes,
Features v2.0 with A2DP, Infrared port No, USB Yes, v2.0
Messaging SMS, MMS, Email Browser, WAP 2.0/xHTML, Games Yes + Features
downloadable, Colors Coffee Black, Champagne White, Camera 1.3 Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Email Browser, WAP 2.0/xHTML,
MP, 1280 x 1024 pixels, video, TrackID, MP3/AAC player, Java MIDP HTML(NetFront), RSS feeds, Games Yes + downloadable, Colors
2.0, T9, FM/AM radio receiver/recorder with RDS, Image viewer Metallic Silver, Camera 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, autofocus, video,
Built-in handsfree, Alarm clock with radio flash; secondary VGA video call camera, Java MIDP 2.0
Battery MP3/AAC/eACC/WMA player, Mobile blogging, Google search
Stand-by Up to 410h, Talk time Up to 9h FM radio with RDS, T9, Built-in handsfree
Battery
Design: 6.5 Stand-by Up to 250h, Talk time Up to 2h 50 min
Features: 6.0
Performance: 6.2 Design: 7.0
Features: 6.9
Performance: 6.9

51
 Informative

Nokia 1650 Samsung C450

Rs. 3,750
Size
Dimensions 104.2x43.8x17.8 mm, 69 cc, Weight 80g
Display
Type CSTN, 65K colors, Size 128 x 160 pixels, 35 x
28 mm, Themes and wallpapers
Ringtones
Type Polyphonic (32 channels), Customization
Download, Vibration Yes
Memory
Phonebook Yes, Call records 20 dialed, 20 received,
20 missed calls, Card slot No, 8 MB user memory
Features
Messaging SMS (up to 250), EMS, Instant,
Messaging, Browser No, Games Snake Xenzia,
Beach Rally, Soccer League, Colors Red, Black
Camera No, FM radio, T9, Calendar, Calculator
Currency converter, Voice memo, Built-in handsfree
Flashlight
Battery
Stand-by Up to 420h, Talk time Up to 8h
Designed to deliver a wide range of mobile fea-
tures, the contemporary Nokia 1650 phone offers an
inspirational design and practical features to help
consumers balance their personal and professional
lives. Supporting up to 75 local languages, the Nokia
1650 comes equipped with a flashlight, music-on-
the-go via FM radio and MP3-grade ring tones. With
an integrated application that allows for a pre-set
time limit to be set for each call, the Nokia 1650
answers the need for cost control that is especially
important in entry markets.
Design: 7.0
Features: 6.7
Performance: 7.0
Rs. 3,950
Size
Dimensions 103.5x44.5x14.9 mm, Weight 72g
Display
Type TFT, 65K colors, Size 128 x 128 pixels, 1.52
inches
Ringtones
Type Polyphonic (16 channels), Customization
Download, order now, Vibration Yes
Memory
Phonebook Yes, Call records 20 dialed, 20
received, 20 missed calls, Card slot No
2 MB shared memory
Data
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
Infrared port No, USB Yes
Features
Messaging SMS, MMS, Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML
Games Yes, Colors Black Camera, VGA, 640x480
pixels, FM radio, T9, Organizer, Built-in handsfree
Battery
Stand-by Up to 300h, Talk time Up to 3h 20 min
Samsung presents SGH-C450, a low-end cell
phone with basic mobile communication capabili-
ties. Comes in two-tone color and a flex-touch
wave-pattern keypad, the slim device (just 14.9mm
height) runs on dual-band (900/1800) GSM network
with support for GPRS Class 10 connectivity. To
match the features, the phone is designed for sim-
plicity, but still will style in mind. Check after the
jump for the detail specs.
Design: 7.0
Features: 6.7
Performance: 7.0

Sony Ericsson K200i

Rs. 3,700
Size
Dimensions 103x46x16.7mm, Weight 82g
Display
Type STN, 65K colors, Size 128 x 128 pixels, 1.6 LG KG270
inches, Wallpapers
Ringtones Rs. 2,400
Type Polyphonic (32 channels), Customization
Download, order now, Vibration Yes Size
Memory Dimensions 98 x 45 x 12.9 mm, Weight 60g
Phonebook 300 entries, Call records 20 Display
received, dialed and missed calls, Card slot Type TFT, 65K colors
No, 2 MB internal memory Ringtones
Data Type Polyphonic (16 channels)
GPRS Class 8 (4+1 slots), 32 - 40 kbps Memory
Infrared port Yes, USB No Phonebook 300 entries
Features Features
Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Browser WAP Java, FM radio, T9, Organiser, Calculator
1.2.1, Games 3 embedded, Colors Metallic Built-in handsfree
Black, Light Champagne, Camera VGA, 640x480 Battery
pixels, T9, Slide show, Full screen viewer Stand-by Up to 250h, Talk time Up to 3
Stopwatch, Timer, Built-in handsfree
Battey LG KG 270 is another blaster from LG
Stand-by Up to 300h, Talk time Up to 8h for the lower end market. It has got every-
thing to meet basic communication require-
The Sony Erickson K200i is available in ments. However, polyphonic tones and FM
either metallic black or pale champagne casing. are good plus for music lovers
The February 2007 announcement described a
highly attractive case and a keypad which has a Design: 7.7
good feel. There is no opening system. There is Features: 7.6
a generally solid bar design to the handset which Performance: 7.6
weighs 82 grams including the battery and meas-
ures 103 mm by 46 mm by 16.7 mm.
The Sony Ericsson K200i arrives with a substan-
tial 2 MB of internal memory. This allows for eas-
ily saving contact details, messages and photos.
The battery allows approximately 900 hours of
standby time and 8 hours of talk time from a full
charge.

Design: 7.0
Features: 7.0
Performance: 7.0

52

Above prices are subject to change as per market

 Informative

Nokia 5200 Samsung X630

Rs. 8,800 Rs. 6,800
Size Size
Dimensions 92.4x48.2x20.7 mm, 85cc, Weight 104g Dimensions 104 x 43 x 19 mm, Weight 84g
Display Display
Type CSTN, 256K colors, Size 128 x 160 pixels Type TFT, 65K colors, Size 128 x 160 pixels
Downloadable themes Ringtones
Ringtones Type Polyphonic (40 channels), MP3, Customization
Type Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3 Customization Download, order now, Vibration Yes
Download, Vibration Yes Memory
Memory Phonebook 1000 entries, Photocall, Call records, 20 dialed,
Phonebook Yes, Call records Yes, Card slot microSD 20 received, 20 missed calls, Card slot No, 28 MB internal
(TransFlash), hotswap, buy memory, 5 MB internal memory
memory Data
Data GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD No
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps, 3G No, WLAN No, Bluetooth
Yes, EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps, 3G No, WLAN No Yes
Bluetooth Yes, Infrared port Yes, USB Yes Infrared port No, USB Yes
Features Features
Messaging SMS, MMS, Instant Messaging, Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, Games Yes, order Games, Colors Black, Blue, Titan Silver, Camera VGA,
now, Colors Red, Blue, Camera VGA, 640x480 pixels, 640x480 pixels, video, Java MIDP 2.0, Stereo FM radio,
video, Java MIDP 2.0, Stereo FM radio, MP3 player
MP3/SpMidi/AAC/AAC+ player, T9, Reminders T9, Organiser, Built-in handsfree, Voice memo
Battery Battery
Stand-by Up to 263h, Talk time Up to 3h 10 min Stand-by Up to 350h, Talk time Up to 2h 15 min

Nokia 5200 describes this phone's styling as Enjoy your favourite songs together with the SGH-
'street smart', which is just another way of saying that X630's music player. Or if you prefer to stay updated on the
it's aimed at young 'uns rather than fuddy duddies. latest hits, the phone's FM radio puts your finger on the
The phone's chunky, bulbous feel and loud colours pulse of the latest chart-toppers. The auto and manual tun-
certainly give it a cheeky look that's rather endearing, ing function also lets you tune in easily to your favourite DJ
but undoubtedly won't be to everyone's taste. We had on the airwaves, while you can transfer and share songs via
the blue and white version, but it's also available in Bluetooth.
red and white or all black if you prefer.
Design: 8.0
Design: 7.4 Features: 7.8
Features: 7.2 Performance: 7.8
Performance: 7.2

Motorola Rizr Z3
Rs. 9,600
Size
Dimensions 106 x 46 x 16 mm, Weight 115g
LG KG320
Display Rs. 8,400
Type TFT, 256K colors, Size 176 x 220 pixels, 30 x
37 mm, Screensavers and wallpapers
Size
Downloadable logos
Dimensions 96 x 46 x 9.9 mm, Weight 70g
Ringtones
Display
Type Polyphonic, MP3, Customization Download,
Type TFT, 256K colors, Size 176 x 220 pixels
Vibration Yes
Downloadable wallpapers
Memory
Ringtones
Phonebook 1000 entries, Photocall, Call records
Type Polyphonic (64 channels), Customization Download
10 dialed, 10 received, 10 missed calls, Card slot
Vibration Yes
microSD (TransFlash), buy memory, 16 MB internal
Memory
memory
Phonebook 1000 entries, Call records, 10 dialed,
Data
10 received, 10 missed calls, Card slot No, 128 MB
GPRS Class 12 (4+1/3+2/2+3/1+4 slots), 32 - 48
shared memory
kbps, Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP, Infrared port
Data
No, USB Yes, v1.1
GPRS Yes, Bluetooth Yes, Infrared port No, USB Yes
Features
Features
Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Email, Instant
Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Email Browser, WAP
Messaging, Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, Games Yes,
2.0/xHTML, Games Yes, Colors Black, Camera 1.3 MP,
Colors Red, Blue, Black, Camera 2 MP, 1600x1200
1280x960 pixels, video, flash, Java MIDP 2.0, MP3 play-
pixels, video (CIF 15fps), flash, Java MIDP 2.0
er
MP3/AAC/AAC+ player, T9, Organizer, Calculator
T9, Organiser
Built-in handsfree, Voice dial, Voice memo
Battey
Battery
Standard battery, Li-Ion
Stand-by Up to 350h, Talk time Up to 6h 40 min
The KG320 is extremely flat saving for a slight
Ever since it introduced its popular Razr phone,
bump which is the camera cover. This makes the phone
Motorola has done everything it can to capitalize on
easy to store even in the smallest handbag and you will
two trends: thin phones, and a vowel-dropping nam-
still have space for anything else you might want to carry
ing convention. After the Razr and the bizarrely
around like your wallet or PDA. Normally, slim phones
named Krzr, Motorola now gives us the Rizr Z3 (it's a
are to use. The alphanumeric keys and function keys are
slider phone, so it rises up, get it?). While we thought
really flat unlike other phones where the keys are slightly
the pretty Krzr put the Razr's design to shame, we
raised.
now realize that we spoke too soon. In fact, it's the
Rizr that should compete in a cell phone beauty con-
Design: 8.2
test. Yes, we're focusing on design here, but even
Features: 7.8
Motorola admits that all of its thin handsets are
Performance: 7.9
design-first models. Fortunately the Rizr also offers
decent call quality, and while its feature set offers
nothing new, it's still pretty respectable.

Design: 8.2
Features: 7.6
Performance: 7.5

53

Above prices are subject to change as per market

 Informative
Nokia 7500 Prism
Rs. 13,100
Size
Dimensions 109x44x14mm, 70cc, Weight 83g
Display
Type TFT, 16M colors, Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2 inches
Ringtones
Type Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3, Customization
Download, Vibration Yes
Memory
Phonebook 1000 entries, Photocall, Call records, 20 dialed,
20 received, 20 missed calls, Card slot microSD
(TransFlash), buy memory, 30 MB internal user memory
Data
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD Yes
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps, 3G No, WLAN No, Bluetooth
Yes, v2.0 with A2DP, Infrared port No, USB Yes, v2.0
Features
Messaging SMS, MMS, Email Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML
Games Yes + downloadable, Colors Black, Camera
2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, video (QCIF), flash, Java MIDP
2.0, UPnP technology, MP3/AAC/eAAC+/WMA player
FM radio, T9, Calendar, Calculator, Built-in handsfree
Voice memo
Battery
Stand-by Up to 240h, Talk time Up to 2h 50 min
The Nokia 7500 Prism is a stylish compact device for
GSM 900/1800/1900 or GSM 850/1800/1900 with a 240 x
320 pixel 2.0" active TFT 16.7 million color display, inte-
grated 2 Mega pixel digital camera and video
player/recorder, MicroSD card support, USB, Bluetooth and
MIDP Java 2.1 with additional Java APIs. The Nokia 7500
Prism also features Macromedia Flash Lite 2.1 for interac-
tive user experiences with video, audio and graphics.
Design: 6.1
Features: 6.0
Performance: 6.0
Samsung D900i
Rs. 12,800
Size
Dimensions 103.5 x 51 x 12.9 mm, Weight 85g
Display
Type TFT, 256K colors, Size 240 x 320 pixels, 32x42 mm
Ringtone
Type Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3, Amount 30 preset
Customization, Download, Vibration Yes
3D sound speaker
Memory
Phonebook 1000 entries, Photo call, Call records
30 dialed, 30 received, 30 missed calls, Card slot
microSD (TransFlash), buy memory, 60 MB embedded
memory
Data
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD
No, EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps, 3G No, WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP, Infrared port No
USB Yes, v1.1
Features
Messaging, SMS, EMS, MMS, Email Browser,
WAP 2.0/xHTML, Games Yes + downloadable, order now
Colors Black, Wine-Red, Camera 3.15 MP, 2048x1536
pixels, autofocus, video(CIF), flash, Java MIDP 2.0
FM radio, MP3/AAC/ACC+ player, T9, Organizer
TV output, Voice memo, Built-in handsfree
Battery
Stand-by Up to 250h, Talk time Up to 3h 30 min
The Samsung D900i is a subtle aesthetic upgrade to
its predecessor, the D900. It adds an FM radio and a
sleek metallic finish to an already successful and popular
slider phone. It definitely won't compel current D900 own-
ers to upgrade, but for those after a feature packed, styl-
ish and compact handset the D900i is definitely worth
considering.
Design: 8.0
Features: 7.8
Performance: 7.9
54
Above prices are subject to change as per market
Sony Ericsson W610i
Rs. 13,200
Size
Dimensions 102 x 46 x 14 mm, Weight 95g
Display
Type TFD, 256K colors, Size 176 x 220 pixels, 1.96 inches
Wallpapers, screensavers
Ringtones
Type Polyphonic (72 channels), MP3, Customization
Composer, download, Vibration Yes
Memory
Phonebook 1000 x 20 fields, Photo call, Call records, 30 received,
dialed and missed calls, Card slot Memory Stick Micro (M2), 512
MB card included, Up to 64 MB user memory
Data
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD Yes, 28.8
kbps, EDGE Yes, 3G No, WLAN No, Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with
A2DP, Infrared port Yes, USB Yes, v2.0
Features
Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging, Browser WAP
2.0/HTML (NetFront), RSS reader, Games Yes + downloadable,
Colors Plush Orange, Satin Black, Camera 2 MP, 1600x1200 pix-
els, autofocus, video, flash, Java MIDP 2.0, Walkman player 2.0
FM radio with RDS, TrackID music recognition, T9, Image viewer
Picture editor, Picture blogging, Organiser, Built-in handsfree
Voice memo/dial
Battery
Stand-by Up to 350h, Talk time Up to 7h
The W610 Walkman phone is all about the detail, whether
this is detail in design that builds on the look of earlier Walkman
phones or the detailed combination of mobile music with a credible
digital camera. The W610 stores up to 470 full-length music tracks
on the 512MB Memory Stick Micro provided, and offers the inven-
tive Track ID music recognition application; a feature that lets the
user record a clip of an unknown music track onto their phone and
immediately receive a notification of the track name, artist and
album.
Design: 6.1
Features: 6.0
Performance: 6.0
Nokia 6300
Rs. 11,900
Size
Dimensions 106.4 x 43.6 x 11.7 mm, 56 cc, Weight 91g
Display
Type TFT, 16M colors, Size 240 x 320 pixels, 31 x 41 mm
Downloadable wallpapers, screensavers
Ringtones
Type Polyphonic (64 channels), MP3, Customization
Download, order now, Vibration Yes
Memory
Phonebook 1000 entries, Photocall, Call records 20 dialed,
20 received, 20 missed calls, Card slot microSD
(TransFlash), buy memory, 7.8 MB of user memory
Data
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD Yes
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps, 3G No, WLAN No, Bluetooth
Yes, v2.0, Infrared port No, USB Yes, miniUSB
Features
Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging, Browser
WAP 2.0/xHTML, Games Yes + Downloadable, Colors
Silver, Black, Red-Silver, White-Silver, Camera 2 MP,
1600x1200 pixels, video(QCIF), Java MIDP 2.0
FM stereo radio, Push to talk, MP3/MP4/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+
player, Voice memo, Voice command, T9, Calendar
Calculator, Built-in handsfree
Battery
Stand-by Up to 348h, Talk time Up to 3h 30 min
An entry level handset designed to do the basics, the
Nokia 6300 is a stylish, well designed mobile phone with a 2
mega pixel camera, MP3 player and stereo FM radio. The
matt stainless steel finish adds a touch of class to a unit that
will serve most users needs with excellence.
Design: 8.2
Features: 7.8
Performance: 7.8

Nokia E51
Rs. 20,000
Size
Dimensions 114.8x46x12 mm, 61cc, Weight 100g
Display
Type TFT, 16M colors, Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2 inch-
es, Five-way scroll key, Downloadable themes
Ringtone
Type Polyphonic, MP3, Customization, Download
Vibration Yes
Memory
Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields,
Photocall, Call records Detailed, max 30 days
Card slot, microSD (TransFlash), hotswap, buy mem-
ory, 130 MB user data memory
96 MB SDRAM memory, ARM 11 369 MHz processor
Data
GPRS Class 32, HSCSD Yes, EDGE Class 32
3G HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps, WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11g, VoIP
over WLAN, Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP
Infrared port Yes, USB Yes, v2.0 miniUSB
Features
OS Symbian OS 9.2, Series 60 v3.1 UI, Messaging
SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging, Browser
WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, Games Downloadable,
Colors Black, Silver, Camera 2 MP, 1600x1200 pix-
els, video(QVGA@15fps), Push to talk, Java MIDP
2.0, MP3/AAC/video player, FM radio, Document
viewer, T9, Voice command/memo, PIM including cal-
endar, to-do list, Integrated handsfree
Battery
Stand-by Up to 310h, Talk time Up to 4h 20 min
Nokia added another handset to its E series
portfolio with the introduction of the new Nokia E51
mobile phone. Targeted at business professionals,
the Nokia E51 comes in a slim form factor. The
phone offers one-touch keys for quick access to most
common applications including email, contacts, calen-
dar and the Home screen.
Design: 8.2
Features: 8.1
Performance: 8.1
LG KE970 Shine
Rs. 16,550
Size
Dimensions 99.8x50.6x13.8 mm, Weight 119g
Display
Type TFT, 256K colors, Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.2 inch-
es, Mirror effect screen, full metal body, Downloadable
wallpapers
Rintones
Type Polyphonic (40 channels), MP3, Customization
Download, Vibration Yes
Memory
Phonebook 1000 entries, Photocall, Call records
50 dialed, 50 received, 50 missed calls, Card slot
microSD (TransFlash), buy memory, 50 MB internal
memory, 300 text messages
Data
GPRS Yes, HSCSD No, EDGE Yes, 3G No, WLAN No
Bluetooth Yes, v1.2 with A2DP, Infrared port No, USB
Yes
Features
Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Email, Browser WAP
2.0/xHTML, Games Yes + download, Colors Silver,
Titanium Black, Gold, Pink, Camera 2 MP, 1600x1200
pixels, autofocus, video(QCIF), flash, Java MIDP 2.0
MP3/AAC++/3GP/MPEG4 player, T9, Organiser
Voice memo, Document viewer (.ppt, .doc, .pdf, .xls, .txt)
Battery
Stand-by Up to 280h, Talk time Up to 3h
Because of its metal frame, the LG KE970 Shine is
nicely weighted, but a lot heavier and a tad longer and
wider than the Chocolate. However, surprisingly it is
1.5mm thinner than its colleague and makes for a trim
and compact proposition. The spring-assisted slider
action is very slick, while the etched keypad is respon-
sive.
Design: 6.2
Features: 5.8
Performance: 6.0
Above prices are subject to change as per market
Informative
Samsung i450
Rs. 24,000
Size
Dimensions 101 x 52 x 17.8 mm, Weight 114g
Display
Type TFT, 256K colors, Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.4 inches
RINGTONESType, Polyphonic, MP3, Customization
Download, Vibration Yes
Memory
Phonebook Yes, Photocall, Call records, 20 dialed, 20
received, 20 missed calls, Card slot, microSD (TransFlash)
40 MB built-in memory
Data
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD No
EDGE Class 10, 236.8 kbps, 3G HSDPA, 3.6 Mbps, WLAN
No, Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with A2DP, Infrared port No
USB Yes, v2.0
Features
OS Symbian OS 9.2, Series 60 v3.1 UI, Messaging SMS,
EMS, MMS, Email Browser, WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
Games Yes, Colors White, Blue, Camera 2 MP, 1600x1200
pixels, video, flash; secondary VGA videocall camera
Java MIDP 2.0, Flash player, FM radio with RDS, 3.5 mm
audio jack, WMV/3GP/H.263/MPEG4 player,
WMA/MP3/AAC/AAC+/OGG/ASF player, Organiser
Document viewer (MS Word, Excel, PPT, PDF), Built-in
handsfree
Battery
Stand-by Up to 500h, Talk time Up to 5h
The Samsung i450 is a dual slider which slides up to
reveal a spacious alphanumeric keypad for making calls or
communication and down to reveal metallic speakers. Other
features included an ergonomically shaped touch navigation
half-wheel, a dedicated music interface, 2.4-inch large LCD
screen, a 2M primary camera with flash and a VGA camera
for video calling, 35MB internal memory and microSD slot.
Design: 8.2
Features: 8.1
Performance: 8.1
Motorola RAZR2 V8
Rs. 22,800
Size
Dimensions 103 x 53 x 11.9 mm, Weight 117g
Display
Type TFT, 256K colors, Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.2 inches
Second external 256K colors, 2 inches display (240 x 320 pix-
els) with contextual touch interaction, Screensavers and wall-
papers, Downloadable logos
Ringtones
Type Polyphonic, MP3, Customization, Download, order now
Vibration Yes
Memory
Phonebook 1000 entries, Photocall, Call records, 30 dialed,
30 received, 30 missed calls, Card slot No
420 MB or 2 GB internal user memory
Data
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps, HSCSD No
EDGE Class 12, 3G No, WLAN No, Bluetooth Yes, v2.0 with
A2DP, Infrared port No, USB Yes, v2.0 microUSB
Features
Messaging SMS, EMS, MMS, Instant Messaging, Browser
WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML (Opera 8.5), Games Yes, order now
Colors Dark Pearl Gray, Camera 2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels,
video(QCIF), Java MIDP 2.0, MP3/AAC/AAC+ player, T9
Organizer, Calculator, Built-in handsfree, Voice memo
Battery
Stand-by Up to 330h, Talk time Up to 7h 50 min
Motorola's special edition of the RAZR2 comes fully
loaded with a myriad of features including 2" external color
display, quad-band technology, a full HTML browser, Crystal
Talk TM technology, and a 2.0 mega pixel camera with 8X
digital zoom, video capture and playback, 2GB of on-board
storage for up to 1,000 songs and Windows Media Player®
11.
Design: 8.3
Features: 8.2
Performance: 8.0
55
 Informative

Rs. 14,800
Rs. 2,299

Rs. 7,999
Rs. 1,999

Rs. 10,500
Rs. 2,600

Rs. 5,600
Rs. 6,999

56

Above prices are subject to change as per market

 Informative

The Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism

Nokia's Prism Collection has a brand new addition, and this time it is the Nokia
7900 Crystal Prism that joins the fold. Targeting (obviously) design and fashion
conscious consumers, you get, in Nokia's very own words, "seamless diamond-cut
design with a crystal centre key, the Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism continues to high-
light the geometric shapes and personalized style of the Prism Collection". I per-
sonally think that the entire Prism Collection is an acquired taste, and to date it is
realized that most of users think this line of handsets are just butt ugly - it is defi-
nitely a miracle that there are folks who would gush after those cold, calculating
designs which in turn causes Nokia to continue manufacturing these ugly beasts.
Nokia's designers were working closely with creative designer Frederique
Daubal to come up with these special laser-etched graphic designs, distinctive
wallpapers as well as exclusive accessories to the Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism. The
wallpapers that come with every 7900 Crystal Prism purchase was inspired by
Daubal to communicate the reflection of light and capture the feel of angular
prisms and triangles. What are some of the features you can get with this hand-
set? For starters, a large OLED display, a 2 megapixel camera, 3G support for
anytime, anywhere Internet browsing, 1GB of internal memory, audio playback and
a matching headset.

LG KU380
LG KU380 is a slider cell phone supporting 3G platform. When there
are 5-mega pixel cameras buzzing in the market all over the world, this
model from LG comes with a 1.3MPixel camera. Therefore, the price of
this cell phone will be affordable. Talking about other features, the LG
KU380 equips a Screen TFT with up to 262 thousand colors and resolu-
tion of 176X220. It supports audio MP3 and Video playback. There is
nothing that makes one think that this cell phone from LG is the best
model to pick on. However, those who have limited budget can try this
one.
LG KU380 is a triband GSM (900/1800/1900)/UMTS slider phone. It
sports a 1.76 inch 262K color TFT display, 1.3 megapixel camera, 10MB
of memory, Bluetooth 1.2 (A2DP), microSD memory card slot and MP3
player.

57
 Informative

Nokia N96
Nokia's flagship N-Series device and replacement for the popular N95, the Nokia N96 adds more
features than ever before in an attractive package that looks good too.
Nokia N96 is a two-way slider phone immediately obvious is the large 2.8" 320 x 240 pixel display.
On the back of the N96 is a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash and a Carl Zeiss lens. In
addition, there is a clever stand mechanism built into the camera surround that allows the N96 to be
propped up when in use.
Underneath the large screen is an enhanced navigation pad and control keys. Overall, these
improvements combined with the sleek design make the Nokia N96 a very elegant looking device,
much more so than the previous model.
The Nokia N96 also has integrated GPS (advanced GPS). The N96 is capable of helping you navi-
gate in the car, or when travelling on foot. One drawback with the N96 is that it lacks a touchscreen,
which will make the N96 harder to control while driving.
A surprising addition to the Nokia N96 is the inclusion of a DVB-H digital TV receiver. This means
that the N96 can be used to watch live broadcast TV over the air, if you have DVB-H coverage in your
area.
Internal memory is a massive 16GB, expandable to 32GB using a microSD memory card. With that
much memory, you may not even need to bother expanding it. The memory has been boosted in order
to use the Nokia N96 as a video player, which is also the reason for the integrated stand that we
announced earlier.
Multimedia capabilities are impressive. The Nokia N96 can play back MPEG-4, WMV9 (Windows
Media), Flash Video and H.264 video, plus MP3, AAC and WMA audio types. As we mentioned before,
the Nokia N96 has a DVB-H receiver, and it also comes with a FM radio with RDS.
One vital thing with any mobile phone is connectivity.
This is a dual-band 3G phone with HSDPA support, quad-
band GSM with GPRS and EDGE plus WiFi. The Nokia N96
supports stereo Bluetooth and high-speed USB 2.0. Sadly,
the N96 lacks an FM transmitter, but the inclusion of a stan-
dard jack plug should help for in-car connectivity.
Nokia say that the N96 should be available during Q3
2008 at an estimated price of Rs. 45,000 at launch.

Nokia 3120 Classic

As you might guess from the 3120 model number, this is going to be a pretty inexpensive
device, but it is worlds apart from the earlier 3120 handset. Nokia have given this handset a fairly
low-key launch, which is surprising.
This is a very lightweight 3G phone - the Nokia 3120 Classic weighs only 85 grams, but it man-
ages to fit in a 2.0" 320 x 240 pixel display, 2 megapixel primary camera with flash, video calling,
microSD expandable memory, Bluetooth, a multimedia player and an FM radio. This is all pretty
good for a mid priced handset.
So it's pretty clear that the Nokia 3120 Classic offers good value for money, but presumably
there must have been some compromises to keep the price down? Well, in truth there are not
many compromises that we can see. True, this isn't a smartphone, the 3120 Classic runs the
Series 40 operating system that most people are familiar with. There's no autofocus on the cam-
era, the screen could be a little larger, the 3120 Classic lacks HSDPA and there is no memory card
in the standard sales package.
But on the plus side, the Nokia 3120 Classic comes with a 2.5mm audio socket plus head-
phones, a media player that can deal with MP3, MP4 and Windows Media file types, the Opera
web browser, an email client and it can also capture video at 15 to 20 fps at 320x240 pixels
(QVGA) resolution, which is pretty adequate for most people.
Talktime on 3G is 2.5 hours which is a little short for some, with 12 days standby time. The
standard sales package includes a BL-4U battery, AC-3 charger, HS-40 headset and user guide in
addition to the phone.
Overall, the Nokia 3120 Classic does appear to be a very good value for money 3G handset
that doesn't miss out any important features, it is impressively lightweight and looks quite attractive.
We think that this might be a strong seller for Nokia when it comes out during Q2 2008 in several
different color combinations.

58
 Informative

Nokia N78
Nokia's replacement for the aging N73, the Nokia N78 is an HSDPA capable 3.5G hand-
set, with a 3.2 megapixel camera, aGPS and built-in WiFi. It's a sleek looking smartphone
running the Symbian S60 operating system, in common with most other N-Series devices.
Nokia N78 has a much improved GPS system, with several improvements for those who
want to navigate on foot. Photographs taken with the camera can also be geotagged with
the location automatically, a feature that has been missing for some time.
While we're on the subject of the camera, the Nokia N78 has a 3.2 megapixel unit with a
Carl Zeiss lens, autofocus and an LED flash. This combination of features has proven to be
very capable in the past.
This is a dual-band HSDPA /WCDMA phone with quad-band GSM support, plus GPRS
and EDGE data. WiFi connectivity is built-in too, as is stereo Bluetooth and USB 2.0. In
other words, the Nokia N78 has plenty of fast connections to the outside world.
The N78 comes with a multimedia player capable of handing MPEG-4, MP3, WMA and
AAC clips. Video capture is VGA resolution at 15 frames per second, not quite as good as
some other recent Nokias, but still pretty good. There's also an FM radio and integrated
stereo speakers. The Nokia N78 comes with a useful FM transmitter, so it is possible to con-
nect it to a car stereo using just the radio, where it is legal to do so.
This looks like a decent phone, but there's a fly in the ointment. Nokia have gone all
trendy with the keypad - the key legends light up when in use, and the keys themselves
have been replaced with a sort of bar arrangement. It looks good, but we suspect that it
won't be as easy to use as a traditional arrangement.
The battery life is pretty reasonable - the Nokia N78 has just over 3 hours talktime on 3G
with up to 13 days standby time. This is helped by a large 1200 milli amp hour BL-6F power
cell. The N78 features up to 24 hours of audio playback time.
Nokia say that the N78 will be available during Q2 2008.

Sony Ericsson C902

There seems to have been an outbreak of sanity at Sony Ericsson. The new Sony Ericsson C902
not only ditches the horrible keypad of the K850, but it also does away with the K-Series branding for
Cyber-shot branded phones. So, Cyber-shot handsets no longer have to put up with the K for the
Swedish word Kamera, and have the C for Cyber-shot instead..
So, what we have here is a smart and sensible looking 3G phone with HSDPA support, a 5
megapixel camera with autofocus and flash and a QVGA resolution display.
The camera is the main selling feature of the Sony Ericsson C902, and it seems to be essentially
the same camera found in the K850. Featuring the same multishot capabilities of other recent Cyber-
shot phones, the C902 also comes with face detection, red-eye reduction and image stabilisation.
Sony Ericsson haven't stated the video capture resolution of the C902, but the old K850 was a little
disappointing in this regard.
When not in use, the camera and flash are hidden behind a protective panel, a nice feature that
other handsets would do well to emulate. Another notable feature are the touch-sensitive image con-
trol keys that activate around the main screen when the camera is in use, emphasising that this is a
phone worthy of the Cyber-shot name.
As you might expect, the Sony Ericsson C902 has a built-in MP3 player, and it also has an FM
radio. The usual Sony Ericsson applications are built in - a web browser, email client, RSS reader and
a bunch of personal information management functions.
This is a very elegant looking handset, measuring 108 x 49 x 11mm and weighing 107 grams. The
Sony Ericsson C902 has quad-band GSM support plus UMTS 2100, comes with stereo Bluetooth and
has 160MB of internal memory, expandable with Memory Stick Micro cards (256MB is included in the
standard sales package).
Sony Ericsson say that the C902 will be available during the second quarter of 2008 in "Luscious
Red" and "Swift Black" colour combinations, although no pricing details are available.

59
 Informative

Samsung T819
Samsung SGH-T819, which is another 3G-capable phone for T-Mobile USA, coming
with UMTS 1700 MHz on board. While it is nice to see a new 3G phone, most people will
be rather disappointed that it doesn't really stand out of the crowd when it comes to speci-
fications, coming with only 1.3-megapixel camera. Judging by the photos posted on the
FCC site, the T819 will most probably be advertised as a slim 3G slider at a low price.
It is another "copy-and-paste" cellular phone from Samsung. The design and outlook of
the T819 is very similar to T-Mobile Blast, which is also a slider phone from Samsung.
Featuring sleek coffee brown finish, the Samsung SGH-T819 is designed to impress buy-
ers instantly.
Features and specifications wise, the T819 phone comes equipped with a 1.3-megapix-
el digital camera that also record short video clips, a built-in MP3 music player, a pair of
blasting stereo speaker, and a built-in microSD memory expansion slot. The downside is
its 30 MB of internal memory isn't sufficient for carrying enough music or pictures, which
means you must buy a microSD card if you would like to carry more songs in the T819
phone.

Trend T-786i Dual Sim GSM

Trend mobiles were the first in introducing the dual SIM mechanism
that allowed a person to hold two different SIMs in one mobile phone.
Trend is their brand which markets imported cell phones in the local
market. It has now come up with the simplest and yet the most loaded
of the mobile phones. It is called the, Trend Perfect Dual Sim, T-786i is
available in Bar shape with keypad and touch screen facility.
The features of T-786i are startling. Its basic edge is that a user can
retain different network operators’ SIMs in one cell phone and can
receive calls in both. It is a complete multimedia cell phone with 2
mega pixel camera, which has an audio and video recorders and play-
ers as well. The USB data cable allows the user a
unique facility of ‘Plug N Play’. Attach the cable with
your computer and view what you have recorded.
There is no need of any software or driver installation
unlike other cell phones. Trend T-786i having Bluetooth connectivity,
GPRS and MMS. Trend mobiles offers an
unmatched Deluxe Package along with the set
which includes a free-of-cost Bluetooth Device,
256 MB memory card, hands free, USB port,
Desktop charger, 2 extra batteries and In-Car
charger and a Trendy pouch to carry your cell phone in style.
The Trend T-786i is a fashion conscious handset, which has a good
and attractive size of LCD and gives solid and quality feel when in use.
Mobile phone holds another edge to other cell phones in the market. It
has the style, it has the attractive look and it has all that you require in
cell phone to begin with.

60
 Informative

LG KE970
The LG KE970 is a beautiful and highly capable mobile phone which is better known
as the LG Shine. The beautiful KE970 Shine is the second Black Label Series mobile
handset deigned by LG. The highly attractive mobile phone has been given the name LG
Shine due to its stunning appearance & mirror effect casing. The LG Shine comes in a
super slim casing with a tactile slide opening mechanism.
The phone comes with a shiny stainless steel casing & with a large mirror effect
screen. The screen displays a real mirror when the LG Shine is in its closed position, for
all to admire. The handset has a roll bar navigation tool which allows the user to scroll
through menu with ease. The keypad is etched into the stainless steel surface & the keys
have a blue backlight which is highly effective. The keypad can be accessed when the
handset is in its slide open position.
The LG KE970 Shine is an appearance & feature focused mobile phone which will be
admired by all. The LG Shine is from the same family as the popular LG KG800
Chocolate which is also a slide opening mobile phone with a high quality finish and imag-
ing focused features. It has also been developed for the Korean mobile phone market
where it is known as the LG SV420 Shine. The LG SV420 is identical in design to the
European LG KE970 Shine.
The large screen provides a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels on a 2.2 Inch high colour
screen. The screen provides the user with a sharp and clear viewing tool which comes
with the stylish mirror effect feature. The user can take photos and record video footage
with ease using the built in imaging features. The user can save, edit, share & store their
photos and video footage. The LG KE970 Shine comes with a photo album & video
gallery which allows the user to store & locate their photos and video easily.

Samsung L170
Samsung has been unveiled unusual cell phone on the market which
named Samsung SGH-L170 which is ultra slim lightweight 3G phone.
The fashionable and glossy finish with metal highlight, come with wide
screen display and large navigation but unusual touch keypad.

Samsung L170 touch pad has raised and looks quite conventional and
not looks like most touch sensitive keypad. The display unusual too, with
wide screen display 1.6 inch 220×176 pixel panel. Maybe Samsung want
to retire in small screen. On the back there are 2 megapixel camera with
microSD expanded memory, bluetooth 2.0 and USB 2.0 connectivity.

The software includes blogging application, RSS reader, web browser

and multimedia player. Also Samsung SGH L170 has radio FM too with
video calling. The 3G handset usually come with less than 100 gram
weight but Samsung L170 only come with 86 grams. The maximum bat-
tery talk time only 2.7 hours. Samsung L170 will be available.

61
 Informative

Sony Ericsson T270 &

Sony Ericsson T280
"We have developed two phones that meet the needs of two
distinct audiences," said Howard Lewis, Vice President and Head
of Entry Level products at Sony Ericsson. "The T270 and T280
build on the appeal of iconic Sony Ericsson phones like the T610.
They are good looking and tick all of the right boxes; whether it's
for the business user wanting a compact work phone or the every-
day user looking for a classic, stylish camera phone."
At home on the catwalk or in the boardroom
The T270 and T280 offer classic pocket-sized style. At less
than 13mm slim and built using brushed light metal with a glass
finish, they offer premium design without the premium price tag.
Take the T280 to the fashion mall and snap a picture of a possible
new purchase or use the T270 at work to send a calendar
appointment to a colleague via Bluetooth™ technology.
Fast texting and a simple navigation key to switch-on the FM
radio or access your contact list. Easy access to the 1.3 megapix-
el camera and just one click to begin writing a new text message.
As well as its good look, the T280 lets you take and send a photo
in just a few clicks. Browse through your pictures on the phone's
screen or send them via Bluetooth™ to a friend's phone.
Both the T280 and its sister-product, the T270, are compatible
with Bluetooth™ Headsets such as the newly announced HBH-
PV770. The HBH-PV770 headset sits discretely in your ear and
offers remarkably clear audio, even in noisy environments, thanks
to its Digital Noise Cancellation and fast Automatic Volume
Adjustment features.
The T270 combines grown-up good looks with a set of fea-
tures designed to meet the needs of the busy professional.
Access key menu functions such as phonebook, calendar or mes-
sages with just one touch and use the built-in speakerphone to
take a conference call.
The T270 and T280 will be available in the same colors, Silver
on Black and Copper on Silver. They will be available in selected
markets from Q1 2008.

62
 Informative

Sony Ericsson R300 Radio

Sony Ericsson R300 Radio and

R306 Radio Mobile Phones
The R300 Radio and R306 Radio allow you to tune-in to your favourite
music shows or sports reports, across both AM and FM broadcasts," said
Howard Lewis, Vice President and Head of Entry Level Products at Sony
Ericsson. "They certainly look and sound the part, offering a radio-inspired
design and feature set on a choice of either a candy bar or clamshell
phone."
Both of these new phones are designed to have a clear radio look-and-
feel. Sit either phone on its side and let the radio blast out through the dedi-
cated loudspeaker…in stereo in the case of the R306 Radio.
Preset buttons on the front of both the R300 Radio and R306 Radio let
you switch easily between your favourite stations. It takes just one click to
boost the volume when you want to share music on the radio or the live
action from the sports ground.
These two phones really let you get the most from the radio. Set it as
your alarm clock or record the final moments of your team's winning match
and play back the commentary again and again. You can even record a clip
of a song and use it as your ring tone.
TrackID™ is now a familiar feature on many of Sony Ericsson's high tier
phones. It now comes as standard on both the R300 Radio and R306
Radio, turning listeners into instant music experts! Record a clip of a song
from an external source, such as a sound system in a coffee shop or bar,
and find out within seconds who sang it, the name of the track and which
album it is from.
With the R300 Radio you can listen-in via the stereo headphones pro-
vided or 'play it loud' thanks to the high performance speaker integrated
into the phone. Switch on 3D sound enhancement or volume boost with the
dedicated Audio Enhancer key on the phone.
Both phones feature Bluetooth™ technology, allowing you to handle
your phone calls handsfree with optional accessories such as the
Bluetooth™ Headset HBH-PV703. The R300 Radio offers a built-in VGA
camera and the R306 Radio boasts a step-up to a 1.3 megapixel camera
on-board. So, whether you are listening to the radio or not, these two new
phones are set to hit the right note.
The R300 Radio will launch in two colors: Antique Copper and Steel
Black. It is a GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 phone that will be available in
selected markets from Q2 2008.

Sony Ericsson R306 Radio

63
 Telecom Flare Karachi Report

Ultra-slim and eye-catching mobile device bathed in gold and

clothed in snake-like skin for the consumers of Pakistan
otorola Makes Latest Fashion Statement with Launch of MOTORAZR 2

M V8 Luxury Edition, in Pakistan. Motorola has given the RAZR2 a new out-
fit, so behold the Motorola RAZR 2 V8 Luxury Edition, this highly fashion-
able phone has a sense of style with blended class and fashion written all over it
with cutting edge technology and stunning details that is matchless in style and
luxury.
The mobile phone maker, Motorola, arranged demonstrating its new fashion
gadget to the people visiting famous shopping malls as a gift for the loved ones
on Valentines. RAZR2 V8 Luxury camp at the shopping mall to provided knowl-
edge & information about the new ultra slim & sleek Motorola's handset RAZR2
V8 Luxury Edition targeting both male & female audience who are style oriented.
The consumers were given a mobile phone demo where they checked all the
characteristics and features of the phone. The RAZR2 Luxury was on display for
sale along with fun activities like face paintings for children, brand ushers and
music.
Commenting on the RAZR2 V8 Luxury launch ceremony, Shahneela Ahmed,
Assistant Public Relation Manager, Motorola Mobile Devices said, "The families
can come from evening till midnight and they will get a chance to exclusively see
and purchase the glamorous designed, soft touch back, embossed with a snake-
skin effect RAZR2 V8 Luxury. I am sure people of Karachi will like this new hand-
set and can enjoy their valentine with their new Motorola RAZR2 V8 as it is ideal
for the one you love as well as fashionistas and trendsetters."
Motorola has future plans to display their other products and to initiate such
kind of activities which are fun and entertaining for the people of Pakistan. The
team of Motorola is determined and would continue to be one of the global lead-
ers by surpassing the customer's expectations when it comes to technology and
quality.

64 (L-R) Shahneela Ahmed with V8 Luxury Team1. (L-R) V8 Luxury Team with Shahneela Ahmed in the Middle.

otorola now know how to buck a design trend, it was last
M year when they released their famous MOTO PEBL collec-
tion that other manufacturers had to stand up and listen. The
PEBL range was promoted and advertised on electronic and print
media as a stone on the beach, a smooth, pebble shaped device
that when touched would smoothly open to reveal its keypad and
display screen, nothing had been seen quite like the Motorola PEBL
phone before.
That was until recently, when Motorola decided to continue on
with the success of the PEBL design and launch the new Motorola
U9, a direct upgrade to the popular PEBL phones which were origi-
nally named U6. U9 comes in Black, Wine Red, Pink and Purple
colours, but in Pakistan only Purple & pink are available. Smarter
and more sophisticated than the PEBL but with all the strong fea-
tures and functions included, the Motorola U9 identifies itself as a
new generation of ROKR's that will supercede all others.
Design & Display:
Motorola have obviously worked hard on the looks of this model
and to be fair they seem to have got it right. Instead of opting for the
pastel colours of before, the manufacturer has now gone down the
metallic route giving the casing of the phone a glossy glint of
expense and sophistication, these are not expensive phones but the
Flare Karachi Report Telecom
new U9 model do look far more expensive than the original. With
smooth rounded edges and a high gloss exterior, the Motorola U9
fits comfortably into the palm of your hand and has the power to
motivate and stimulate all your sensors.
The external screen is a borderless screen which is 1.4 Inches in
size. The touch sensitive external screen is similar in design to the
screen technology on the popular Motorola RAZR2 V8. The casing is
90mm tall by 49mm wide by 16.4mm deep & is available in a choice
of two colours including deep red & black. The handset is smooth &
tactile with curved edges which make this phone feel good to hold.
The handset weighs only 88 grams which is lightweight for the user
to carry.
One major difference between the new and the old is the ability to
be able to control certain functions whilst the handset is in the closed
position, this includes the playing of music tracks on the integrated
MP3 player, with the help of an external colour screen the user can
see which song is playing and who the artists is. Much like the
Motorola RAZR2 V8 there are touch-sensitive music buttons that pop
up only in the music mode - with their help you can skip
forward/backward within tracks and also jump between songs.
The screen lights up when the phone is closed to show the clock,
or when playing music to indicate track details. If you've never seen
this before, this is what an OLED screen does and as a novelty it is
very cool. The Motorola U9 comes with a large internal screen which
measures 2 Inches & provides a high resolution screen display with
up to 262k colours. From a design standpoint, the display and its
styling are next to perfect and can possibly astonish the user.
Features:
Another advancement is the upgrading of the internal camera, the
original PEBL offered a simple VGA camera lens for capturing short
video clips and still pictures, the new Motorola U9 has a 2.0
megapixel camera for high quality shots with zoom, flash and and
video capture. Users are now able to synchronise files and contacts
with their PC using a USB connection and create their own individual
playlists for the music player further enhancing the listening experi-
ence.
What most girls are fond of is lanyards for their phones and the
U9 can be carried with one - the holes can be found on the top edge.
The Motorokr U9 also features EDGE data services for fast down-
load times and much quicker connections, bluetooth wireless tech-
nology for transferring files to compatible devices as well as connect-
ing to handsfree headsets, expandable memory so that users can
save their music tracks, pictures, video clips and applications, a web
browser for surfing the net, email access and built-in handsfree as
standard. The fitted battery will provide approximately seven hours of
talk time from a fully charged battery, or approximately 350 hours of
standby time
Dressed to impress, the Motorokr U9 is snazzy, and seriously
fashionable especially for girls who want exclusivity; and with more
colour variants on the way this new U-Series range looks set to be
as successful as the original U6 models, if not more so.
65
 Telecom

Memory boost for

iPhone, iPod touch
pple is muscling up on memory for its popular

A iPhone and iPod touch devices - doubling the

amount of music, photos and videos people
can store on them. The new iPhones, though, might
not be enough to nudge some customers still waiting
for Chief Executive Steve Jobs to announce an antici-
pated next-generation iPhone with a much faster data
connection.
The iPhone part phone, multimedia player and
WiFi gadget is now available in two versions, the
company announced..
Ben Bajarin, analyst with Creative Strategies, says
he believes rolling out the memory-packed iPhone
signals Apple isn't ready to release a 3G, or third-gen-
eration, version of the iPhone. A 3G iPhone would
allow quicker data transfer, which is particularly
important for video.
Doctor Howard Stark sits in front of his computer displaying his website in his office in Washington. Stark has
"People are holding
moved most of his practice, based in Washington, onto the Internet and he couldn't be happier. off buying an iPhone
because they are
waiting for the next-
generation
iPhone," he said.
"This sends a
very important
message. I really
don't believe
they will come
out with a new
iPhone this
year."
But analyst
Roger Kay,
president of
Endpoint

Equity traders with Knight Capital Group follow stock prices computer screens following the open of trading in
Jersey City, N.J. The Federal Reserve is likely to follow its bold action last week to battle an economic downturn
with further interest rate reductions.

Technologies Associates,
says he believes Apple will sell a 3G iPhone later this
year.
Last fall, the CEO of Apple partner AT&T, Randall
Stephenson, said that a 3G version of the iPhone was
in the works and could be released this year.
Unlike last year, when Jobs pre-announced the
iPhone six months before it hit the stores, Apple will
spring the new version without a moment's notice,
Kay said.
"I think they will introduce a 3G iPhone when it's
ready to ship, and not a minute before," he said.
"They have to protect against the rumor of the 3G
iPhone because they don't want to kill existing sales.
They pre-announced the iPhone (last year) because it
would kill other people's sales."
The current iPhone and iPod touch updates don't
require much engineering, Kay added. "Swapping in
better components is easy to do. And it lets them
touch their customers again and say, 'We've got bet-
A demonstrator of the Nokia company listens to music with a mobile phone in the 42nd MIDEM (International
66 ter stuff.' "

record music publishing and video music market) in Cannes, southern France.
 Telecom Flare Report

Chip in Mobile Phones

Can Survive Fierce Fires the protective epoxy moulding surrounding

S
IM cards in mobile phones can survive
heat at up to 450 degrees Celsius
(356 degrees Fahrenheit) and possibly
beyond, a finding that should help probes into
terror attacks and other crimes, scientists said.
The subscriber identity module (SIM) card is
the heart of a mobile phone, providing a
record of numbers received, numbers dialled
and text messages.
So the fingernail-sized slice of plastic and sili-
con can be a goldmine for detectives, provided
they get their hands on intact data.
For instance, investigations into the March
11, 2004 Madrid train bombings, in which 191
people were killed, made a breakthrough
thanks to SIM cards recovered from phones
that were intended to trigger two unexploded
bombs.
In an unusual investigation, electronic engi-
neers Benjamin Jones and Tony Kenyon from
University College London subjected SIM
cards to trial by heat.
They collected 12 cards, currently or recently
in use, from members of the public in Britain,
Ireland and Sweden.
Using acid, the researchers gently stripped
each chip in order to expose its circuitry.
The cards were then placed in heated air for
10 minutes, were allowed to cool and the
researchers then sought to recover data by
attaching tiny probes to the circuit and reading
its contents via an interface pad.
Six cards were heated to around 180o C
(356 F) and could be read after rewiring with
no loss of data.
Five were cooked to 450o C (842 F). Four of
them could not be read by the researchers,
but the fifth one could, briefly. The 12th card,
heated to a searing 650o C (1,202 F), could
not be read. Jones and Kenyon say the exper-
iment proves that SIM cards can survive to
450 C (842 F) -- and quite possibly beyond
that.
They point out that the rewiring technique
they used is not even the last resort for foren-
sic experts who want to delve into a damaged
SIM card.
Other hi-tech data-reading methods include
probing the external connections to a proces-
sor and monitoring power consumption during
operation and using a so-called electrical scan-
ning probe microscope to read the electrical
charge at key "gates" in the SIM circuitry.
In addition, SIM cards may survive for much
longer in a blaze if they are close to the floor
or on a desk, for previous research has shown
temperatures in a building fire vary greatly
according to the location, they say.
"A chip that has been exposed to such tem-
peratures may also be mechanically damaged,
and the data may not be retrieved by simple
probing or rewiring. But the data itself remains
uncompromised and can possibly be read
using other techniques," say Jones and
Kenyon.
Their paper appears in the latest issue of the
journal Forensic Science International. n

PC Ad

68
 IT

SPA provides a DSL-like experience

H wirelessly and is currently capable of

peak download rates of up to 14.4
Mbps and peak upload rates of up to 2.0
Ericsson and Lenovo, the world's third largest PC maker,
have aligned to provide mobile broadband modules based
Mbps. There are currently more than 160
commercially deployed HSPA networks global- on HSPA - the world's most widely commercially deployed
ly, serving more than one billion subscribers.
"Lenovo is committed to PC innovation and
technology for mobile broadband. Select Lenovo ThinkPad
providing customers the latest functionality
and tools to enhance their computing experi-
notebooks will include mobile broadband modules begin-
ence," said, Frances K. O'Sullivan, Senior
Vice President, Product Group, Lenovo. "Our
ning in 2008. Lenovo is Ericsson's first announced mobile
engineering team is working with Ericsson's
engineers to deliver ThinkPads with the
broadband module customer
fastest and most reliable connectivity avail-
takes less power from the battery.
able. We firmly believe that this effort will
Leveraging Ericsson's in-house HSPA
dramatically change the user mobile experi-
chipset technology and strong patent
ence, allowing ThinkPad customers to more
cross-licensing position, the company's
easily search, download, share, and store
economies of scale and longstanding
information and content when they want."
operator relationships, Ericsson can
"With mobile networks being upgraded
offer a very competitive mobile broad-
globally to handle greater demand for Internet
band module solution that will help fur-
services and data connectivity, consumers
ther drive a mass market for mobile
are increasingly utilizing mobile phones and
broadband.
notebooks to access the high-capacity servic-
Market projections indicate that in
es that they have typically experienced only
2011, approximately 200 million note-
through a wired or WiFi connection," said Kurt
books will ship annually and Ericsson
Jofs, Executive Vice President and head of
anticipates that 50 percent of those
Business Unit Networks, Ericsson. "Ericsson
notebooks will feature a built-in HSPA
is doing for broadband what the company did
mobile broadband module. Users will
for telephony 20 years ago - making it mobile
increasingly have the option to take
and available to everyone, everywhere. We Ericsson's mobile broadband modules pro-
their broadband connections with them, deliv-
respect Lenovo's innovative approach to busi- vide the end user with a simple and cost
ering on the promise of full service broad-
ness and their vision in this maket and we effective solution for broadband access while
band, which is anytime, anywhere access
look forward to future opportunities to work on-the-go. Seamlessly integrated with and
from the screen or device of choice.

with them to create even more advanced optimized to work within the notebook, the
mobile computing solutions that translate into built-in broadband module provides superior
direct customer value." downloading and uploading performance and

This undated photo released by Disney shows children aboard the 'Disney Magic' inside of the
Ocean Quest area for kids. Ocean Quest features a scaled replica of a ship's bridge, complete
with LCD screen "windows" that let children look out over the bridge via live video feed. The An arriving passenger uses a new biometric scanner at George H. W. Bush
interactive space also has areas for children to play computer or video games, participate in arts Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas. The new system is set up to scan all ten fingers
instead of the two finger scanners previously used. 69
and crafts, or watch a movie on one of the multiple plasma screen televisions.
 Telecom Press Release
ricsson announced that it had demon-
E strated for the first time Long Term
Evolution (LTE) in both Frequency
Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division
Duplex (TDD) mode on the same base station
platform. LTE is the only technology that can
use the same platform for both paired and
unpaired spectrum, thereby enabling large
economies of scale for operators
Ericsson's LTE TDD mode demonstration
encompassed a variety of applications and
showcased speeds over 90Mbps in the down-
link with 2x2 MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple
Output). Ericsson has previously demonstrated
LTE in FDD mode several times with speeds of
up to 160Mbps.
Mobile broadband is rapidly growing, and
LTE offers a superior user experience. It will
enhance more demanding applications like
mobile video, blogging, advanced games, rich
multimedia telephony and professional servic-
es. It also interoperates with existing cellular
ricsson announced its U500 mobile plat-
E form, a next generation architecture with
a triple processor solution and a power-
ful multimedia subsystem, enabling new multi-
media functionality and advanced multitasking
capabilities. The U500 will not only pave the
way for new consumer services, but also
improve the usability and quality of existing
multimedia services.
Robert Puskaric, head of Ericsson's mobile
platforms business, says: "The U500 is a pow-
erful multimedia platform with performance,
graphics and usability, more resembling a
mobile computer than today's mobile phones.
With the U500 platform Ericsson will keep its
world leading position within the multimedia
mass market for years to come."
The U500 mobile platform is a response to
the rapidly growing demand for advanced mul-
timedia features and services requiring
enhanced user experience. Designed for mass
market mobile devices, the U500 is capable of
groundbreaking features such as high quality
camcorder, 12 Mpix camera, WVGA displays,
advanced 3D gaming and 3D user interface,
CD quality audio performance and high resolu-
70 tion video for a true mobile TV experience.
systems.
LTE is the next evolution in mobile network
standards defined by 3GPP (Third Generation
Partnership Project) and supports operations in
both the paired spectrum and unpaired spec-
trum. It enables efficient spectrum utilization
for both legacy and future wireless frequency
bands. Channel bandwidths of 1.4-20MHz are
supported. The wide industry support for LTE
ensures economies of scale, providing cost-
efficient solutions.
Ulf Ewaldsson, Vice President and Head of
Product Area Radio at Ericsson, says: "We
have now demonstrated that LTE can be used
in both paired (FDD) and unpaired spectrum
(TDD) on the same base station platform. This
means that operators with only unpaired spec-
trum also can plan for LTE and benefit from
the optimal global LTE solutions."
With its latest achievement in LTE
TDD/FDD, Ericsson is continuing to drive
important global research in this area. At the
The Ericsson U500 mobile platform com-
bines raw power through the implementation of
three ARM11 CPUs and hardware accelera-
tors, with state-of-the-art platform architecture
through the integration of the digital baseband
and an advanced multimedia companion chip
into a single-die processor. The result is a
powerful multimedia platform that is smaller
and more cost efficient than what is currently
same time TDD continues to play an interna-
tional role, featuring in markets such as China,
where Ericsson has initiated cooperation with
the Chinese company Datang Group.
Today more than 90 percent of all mobile
spectrum is paired and less than 10 percent is
unpaired. Operators are now able to get
access to a healthy ecosystem regardless of
the duplex mode.
On January 17, 2008, 3GPP confirmed that
the LTE Terrestrial Radio Access Network tech-
nology specifications have been approved and
are now under change control, leading to their
inclusion in the forthcoming 3GPP Release 8.
Ericsson is shaping the future of Mobile
and Broadband Internet communications
through its continuous technology leadership.
Providing innovative solutions in more than
140 countries, Ericsson is helping to create the
most powerful communication companies in
the world.

available.
The advanced graphics capabilities avail-
able in the U500 are enabled through the
implementation of ARM Mali200 GPU, a pro-
grammable, OpenGL ES 2.0 graphics proces-
sor producing fast, high quality graphics with
the low power consumption required for a
handheld device.
The U500 will be commercially available in
the first half of 2009.
Ericsson is the world's leading provider of
technology and services to telecom operators.
The market leader in 2G and 3G mobile tech-
nologies, Ericsson supplies communications
services and manages networks that serve
more than 185 million subscribers. The Sony
Ericsson joint venture provides consumers
with feature-rich personal mobile devices.
Ericsson is advancing its vision of 'commu-
nication for all' through innovation, technology,
and sustainable business solutions. Working in
175 countries, more than 70,000 employees
generated revenue of USD 27.9 billion in 2007.
Founded in 1876 and headquartered in
Stockholm, Sweden, Ericsson is listed on the
Stockholm, London and NASDAQ stock
exchanges.

 Telecom Flare Report
okia Siemens Networks to enable
N broadband and multimedia services for
operators through its industry leading
Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) capability.
China Telecom, the leading wireline provider
of telecommunications services in China has
selected Nokia Siemens Networks as the pri-
mary solutions provider for its video monitor-
ing service, MegaEyes.
This video monitoring solution is an opera-
tor host IP based offering capable of providing
high end images for remote monitoring. Nokia
Siemens Networks will support new broad-
band and multimedia services for China
Telecom's MegaEyes by leveraging its com-
plete solution portfolio ranging from video
monitoring platform to Consulting and
Systems Integration, IMS, Network Security
and Multi-media Service Delivery Platform.
China Telecom has identified MegaEyes as
a strategic multimedia service that will drive
new business opportunities and revenues for
the company. Nokia Siemens Networks has
been engaged to develop the next generation
version of the product, migrating the existing
solution into a mobile enabled offering.
Users will have access to the solution
(camera) on a computer or handheld device
that can log on to the Internet/Intranet.
Consequently, it will provide corporate and
individual users with an entirely new, objec-
tively visual and range-extended auditory and
okia Siemens Networks and WWF, the
N global conservation organization, will
work together on a series of activities,
including learning on environmental matters.
Additionally, WWF will provide an outside view
and guidance on the company's environmen-
tal activities.
As a result of this agreement the two
organizations will be working closely together
over the next three years to further strengthen
environmental awareness within Nokia
Siemens Networks. The spirit of the agree-
ment is to learn from one another, and to facil-
itate active dialogue and activities that will
benefit the environment.
Concrete examples of the agreement are
training workshops, global web campaigns
and other environment-related information
sharing for Nokia Siemens Networks employ-
72
China Telecom has identified
MegaEyes as a strategic multi-
media service that will drive
new business opportunities
and revenues for the company.
Nokia Siemens Networks has
been engaged to develop the
next generation version of the
product, migrating the existing
solution into a mobile enabled
offering
ees, as well as communication and seminars
targeted at other Nokia Siemens Networks
stakeholders.
"Our employees wish to make a personal
contribution and help the environment in their
daily lives and together with WWF we can
support them to achieve this goal. We can
also help increase internal awareness of the
innovations and investments Nokia Siemens
Networks has put into environmentally sus-
tainable solutions that decrease the environ-
mental footprint of humankind by better use of
technology." says Juha-Erkki Mäntyniemi,
head of environmental affairs at Nokia
Siemens Networks. "With its long history and
know-how on environmental matters WWF is
the perfect partner for us also in providing an
expert view on the status of our environmental
activities."
vision management tool that can help improve
work effectiveness and life experience.
Enhancing the usage ratio of broadband to IP
backbone, the solution which is operator host-
ed is slated to be low cost and easy to deploy.
Leng Rongquan, Vice President of China
Telecom says: "Nokia Siemens Networks' sup-
port for MegaEyes service development has
been widely recognized by all parties of China
Telecom. We see tremendous potential in
MegaEyes which brings value to our cus-
tomers and supports value added services
development for China Telecom. Looking for a
carrier grade solution partner, we chose Nokia
Siemens Networks to support MegaEyes serv-
ice and market development."
Austen Lin, Head of China Telecom
Customer Business Team at Nokia Siemens
Networks Greater China Region, adds:
"Leveraging our leading position in both
mobile and fixed market, Nokia Siemens
Networks has always been at the forefront of
Fixed Mobile Convergence in helping operator
customers explore new business opportuni-
ties. We are delighted about this MegaEyes
partnership with China Telecom which is one
of such examples. Here we successfully
demonstrate our multimedia application lead-
ership by introducing our consulting and sys-
tems integration capability, video monitoring
platform, IMS as well as our industry leading
network management systems."

"We see this cooperation with Nokia
Siemens Networks as a positive step towards
reducing the ecological footprint of the infor-
mation & communication technologies sector"
said Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud, Director of
Business & Industry relations at WWF
International. "The company's environmental
policy already demonstrates good progress in
this area. Through our partnership, we aim to
help strengthen environmental awareness
within Nokia Siemens Networks in order to
enable the company to drive towards greater
sustainability in its business activities".

 Flare Report Telecom

okia and Trolltech ASA announced that strategy for devices is based on cross-plat- Nokia aims to continue the development of

N they have entered into an agreement

that Nokia will make a public voluntary
tender offer to acquire Trolltech www.troll-
tech.com, a company headquartered in Oslo,
Norway and publicly listed on the Oslo Stock
Exchange. Trolltech is a recognized software
provider with world-class software develop-
ment platforms and frameworks. In addition to
the key software assets, its talented team will
play an important role in accelerating the
implementation of Nokia's software strategy.
Nokia will offer NOK 16 per share in cash.
The board of directors of Trolltech has unani-
mously recommended that its shareholders
accept Nokia's Offer. Holders of 35,024,830
shares, representing approximately 66,43 %
Trolltech's Qt based tech-
nology assets facilitate
application development for
multiple platforms and
devices
form development environments, layers of
software that run across operating systems,
enabling the development of applications
across the Nokia device range. Examples of
current cross-platform layers are Web runtime,
Flash, Java and Open C.
"The technology landscape evolves and,
for Nokia, software plays a major role in our
growth strategy for devices, PCs and the inte-
gration with the Internet. We continue to focus
on areas where we can differentiate and add
Nokia intends to continue to
enhance Trolltech products
through active and ongoing
development, for both desk-
top and mobile. To further
stimulate industry innovation
based on Trolltech's prod-
ucts, Nokia plans to continue
Trolltech's products and support of new and
existing customers. Nokia strives for an open
approach to technology that will encourage
and support innovation in the industry, enable
fast adoption of new technologies and
advance healthy competition. Nokia embraces
open source technology and will take further
the open source development culture found in
Trolltech.
"Trolltech and Nokia share the goal of
accelerating the adoption of Trolltech's Qt
based technology in the commercial market
and in the open source community," said
Haavard Nord, CEO and founder of Trolltech.
Eirik Chambe-Eng, Chief Troll and co-founder
of Trolltech continues "We are thrilled to join
forces with Nokia. The company's innovative
culture and resources will give our employees
new and exciting possibilities and fulfill our
vision of "Qt everywhere"."
Nokia intends to continue to enhance
Trolltech products through active and ongoing
development, for both desktop and mobile. To
further stimulate industry innovation based on
Trolltech's products, Nokia plans to continue
to license Trolltech technology under both
commercial and open source licenses.

of Trolltech's issued shares and votes have as

of January 27, 2008 irrevocably undertaken to
accept the Offer. Haavard Nord, Vuonislahti
Invest AS (controlled by Eirik Chambe-Eng),
Teknoinvest and certain funds managed by
Index Ventures are among the shareholders
who have agreed to tender their shares to
Nokia.
The acquisition of Trolltech will enable
Nokia to accelerate its cross-platform software
strategy for mobile devices and desktop appli-
cations, and develop its Internet services busi-
ness. With Trolltech, Nokia and third party
developers will be able to develop applica-
tions that work in the Internet, across Nokia's
device portfolio and on PCs. Nokia's software
to license Trolltech technolo-
gy under both commercial
and open source licenses
more value. Common cross-platform layers on
top of our software platforms attract innovation
and enable Web 2.0 technologies in the
mobile space," said Kai Öistämö, Executive
Vice President, Devices, Nokia. "Trolltech's
deep understanding of open source software
and its strong technology assets will enable
both Nokia and others to innovate on our
device platforms while reducing time-to-mar-
ket. This acquisition will also further increase
the competitiveness of S60 and Series 40."
The acquisition is subject to customary
closing conditions, including acceptance by
shareholders representing more than 90 % of
the fully diluted share capital, and the neces-
sary regulatory approvals. The complete
details of the offer, including all terms and
conditions, will be set forth in an offer docu-
ment expected to be sent to Trolltech share-
holders within two weeks. The offer is expect-
ed to be open for acceptance for a period of
four weeks and to be completed in the second
quarter of 2008. If the conditions to the offer
are satisfied or waived, Nokia will have a legal
duty to make a mandatory cash offer for or
compulsory acquisition of the remaining
shares.

Cellphones, coffee unlikely to cause cancer: study

Drinking coffee, using mobile phones or having
breast implants is unlikely to cause cancer, according
to a risk ranking system devised by an Australian can-
cer specialist to debunk popular myths.
The cancer risk assessment reaffirms smoking,
alcohol and exposure to sunlight as leading risk factors,
but allays concerns about coffee, mobile phones,
deodorants, breast implants and water with added
flouride.
The five-point system created by University of New
South Wales Professor Bernard Stewart lists the risk of cancer from
proven and likely, to inferred, unknown or unlikely.
Stewart found active smokers and ex-smokers to be
the most at risk, although the risk is reduced for people
who quit smoking.
Drinking chlorinated water and using a mobile phone
was far less likely to cause cancer, Stewart said,
although the risks associated with the long-term use of
mobile phones had not been fully established.
He said there was little risk from drinking coffee,
using deodorants, drinking flouridated water and having
breast implants or dental fillings.
73
 Telecom Flare Report

Manufacturing to be transferred
to other Nokia sites in Europe
okia announced plans to discontinue

N the production of mobile devices in

Germany and close its Bochum site by
mid-2008. The company plans to move manu-
facturing to its other, more cost-competitive
sites in Europe. Nokia is the world leader in
mobility, driving the transformation and growth
of the converging Internet and communica-

An employee of Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia holds a Nokia cellphone as she protests.

tions industries. duction site is necessary to secure Nokia's

Nokia employees demonstrate with banners reading
"Nokia - deleting people" in Bochum after the Finnish
mobile phone giant announced it would close its factory
here at a cost of 2,300 jobs.
As a consequence of the planned shift of
production from Bochum to other European
sites, Nokia also intends to discontinue other
non-production activities at the Bochum site.
In conjunction with the announced plans to
close its Bochum site, Nokia is also announc-
ing plans to sell its line fit automotive business
and it is in negotiations with Sasken
Technologies to sell the Bochum-based adap-
tation software R&D-entity.
The planned closure of the site in Bochum
is estimated to affect approximately 2,300
Nokia employees.
Nokia's decision to discontinue manufac-
turing in Bochum is based on the lack of com-
petitiveness of the location. Renewing the site
would require additional investments but even
this would not result in manufacturing in
Bochum being globally competitive.
"The planned closure of the Bochum pro-
long-term competitiveness," said Veli
Sundbäck, Executive Vice President of Nokia
and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of
Nokia GmbH. "Due to market changes and
increasing requirements for cost-effectiveness,
production of mobile devices in Germany is no
longer feasible for Nokia. It cannot be operat-
ed in a way that meets the requirements for
global cost efficiency and for flexible capacity
growth. Therefore, we have to make this
tough decision."
Nokia will start the consultations with the
employee representatives as soon as possible
in order to to reach a satisfactory solution for
all parties concerned.
The financial costs associated with this
restructuring will be determined along with the
consultation process and reported in Nokia's
quarterly reporting for 2008.

innish mobile phone giant Nokia said that it had Nokia Internet navigators, known as Nokia Internet

F reached an agreement with Google to incorpo-

rate the Google search engine in its handsets.
In a first stage, the US firm's search technology
will be available in a limited number of countries on
Nokia's high-end N96 and N78 models as well as on
the Navigator 6210 and the classic 6220.
The agreement, for which financial details were
not disclosed, will gradually become available in
more 100 countries in 40 languages, Nokia said in a
statement.
74 The Google search engine is already available on
Tablets, and Nokia last year signed an agreement
with
Google to share videos from Google's You Tube
service to make them accessible on Nokia's N95
8GB model.
The latest agreement is part of Nokia's strategy to
offer a product that combines written and oral tele-
phone services with document and photo sharing,
audio and video applications, Internet navigation and
on-line music.


Pakistan: a choice for outsourced
software development
Presently, there are 1082 active IT companies in Pakistan. Out of these, 150 companies
are ISO/CMMi certified, which ranks Pakistan amongst states having the highest per-
centage of ISO/CMMi certified companies
P
akistan is emerging as one of the major
players in the global IT industry as a
result of policy initiatives taken by the
government to position the country as an off-
shore location of choice for IT services.
In terms of suitability for offshore
outsourcing, Pakistan now ranks among 20
top countries of the world, recognised by the
global community as 'Market Leaders and
Challengers' and placed in the first category
countries. Last year, Pakistan ranked in the
third category amongst "Potential Players,"
occupying 30th position among the top 50 IT
potential countries of the world.
In a recent analytical report, the world's lead-
ing information technology research and advi-
sory company, Gartner, has judged Pakistan
to be a "competitive location in terms of cost,
with salaries and infrastructure costing less
than most offshore destinations." Based on a
total of 10 criteria, viz. language, government
support, labour pool, infrastructure, education
system, cost, political and economic environ-
ment, cultural compatibility, global and legal
maturity, data and intellectual property security
and privacy, Gartner rated Pakistan 'very
good' in cost, good in language and fair in all
other areas, except assigning a poor rating in
political and economic environment. But, the
authorities maintain that the political risk of the
country is often over-rated – bellying the expe-
rience on the ground. However, brand percep-
tions abroad negatively impact the cost of man-
power, the single largest cost in IT, which is
about 30 per cent cheaper than neighbouring
India.
The government has spent over $ 67 million
in promoting the country's software industry.
"The Ministry of Information Technology has
developed a comprehensive national IT policy,
designed to make the government a facilitator
in the encouragement of the private sector. To
drive development, the government-owned
PSEB (Pakistan Software Export Board) plans
to construct new IT parks in major cities and
approximately 750,000 square feet of space in
PSEB-designated parks has already been
leased to IT companies. The government is
doing a good job of initiating activities in posi-
tioning Pakistan as an offshore location, how-
ever, it needs to take concrete steps to imple-
ment its plans and improve its brand image as
an offshore destination."
With English as a widely spoken language in
urban areas, Pakistan can also be leveraged
for Arabic language support to Middle Eastern
countries. Observing that IT revenue grew 59
per cent in 2006; Gartner report says that the
country's annual growth is expected to reach
69 per cent between 2009 and 2010. As far as
the World Bank is concerned, it "ranked Paki-
stan 76th out of 178 countries for ease of
doing business."
Like some other countries in the region, Paki-
Flare Report
stan also constructs IT Parks, provides legisla-
tive support, industry financing and telecom
bandwidth, however, it takes on many other
activities, like marketing, company capability
programme through international certifications,
company specific and company requirements
specific training programmes, strategy and
research, which are done by the private sector
in many other countries. PSEB, a Government
agency mandated to promote IT industry (in-
cluding software, services, hardware and call
centres, locally and globally), regularly spon-
sors its member IT companies to participate in
international Trade Shows and Exhibitions to
help companies to showcase their capabilities
and develop lucrative business contacts.
With an IT industry worth over US$ 2.8 bil-
lion, including annual exports exceeding US$
1.4 billion, the government is now eyeing to
increase the size of the country's IT sector to
over US$ 11 billion by 2011. One of the main
The government has spent
over $ 67 million in promot-
ing the country's software
industry. The Ministry of
Information Technology has
developed a comprehensive
national IT policy, designed
to make the government a
facilitator in the encourage-
ment of the private sector
factors contributing to the IT sector's rapid
growth is the government's policy of allowing
foreign investors 100 per cent ownership of
equity and 100 per cent profits as well as tax
exemption for IT companies until 2016. The
government also allows tax exemptions on
export income from computer software and
related services. Moreover, the regulatory
regime for IT companies is one of the most effi-
cient outside the developed world.
With four nationwide fibre backbones, three
international cables, and fast expanding wire-
less broadband connectivity, serving over 30
million people, broadband connectivity is
another strong point contributing to Pakistan
IT industry's fast track development.
Presently, there are 1082 active IT compa-
nies in Pakistan. Out of these, 150 companies
are ISO/CMMi certified, which ranks Pakistan
amongst states having the highest percentage
of ISO/CMMi certified companies. The country
IT
has 110,000 IT professionals, while its public
R&D infrastructure employs over 15,000 IT pro-
fessionals in the economy. Currently, there are
some 20,000 IT graduates being produced
annually, however, by 2011; it targets to have
over 252,279 IT graduates in the economy.
These competitive advantages are contribut-
ing to Pakistan's emergence as a location of
choice for outsourced software development
and IT enabled services, such as call centres
and Medical Transcription. Several multina-
tional companies have located development
and support centres in Pakistan, while others
outsource work to local companies.
Owing to high quality coupled with lower
attrition rates, local IT companies have been
able to acquire business from leading corpora-
tions of the world, including GE, Citi Crop,
Bank of America and Google, while IBM,
Bearingpoint and NCR have established their
own development centres in the country. TRG,
an IT-enabled services company, has acquired
companies with revenue of over 175 million
dollars in USA. Touchstone-BPO has certified
USA mortgage loan officers that handle cus-
tomers directly from the USA. Post-Amazers
have animated major Hollywood movies. Two
Pakistani IT companies are public on
NASDAQ and have acquired financing from
the Silicon Valley.
The other major aspect of IT industry is intel-
lectual property creation. Over 100 universi-
ties, over 500 government R&D institutions
and thousands of expatriates, who have
returned home, are undertaking world-class
innovation. About 10 local product companies
are world leaders in their product niche.
Amongst these, Ultimus is a highly ranked
business process management product com-
pany with 1600 customers worldwide, includ-
ing Microsoft and the White House. NetSol's
car leasing product has one of the fastest
growing customer base that includes leading
European and Asian car manufacturers. Sys-
tem's Mortgage Lien processing product has
12 per cent of the USA market.
In IT technology, a number of IT companies
have built software that leads the world in
areas like car leasing, enterprise application
integration, mortgage lien processing, stock
market order management, mobile conver-
gence, or data and web content management
for some of the leading corporations of the
world. In short, IT companies earn bulk of
their revenues from exports, almost 60 per
cent to the USA. Several IT companies have
also succeeded in making inroads in the fast
growing IT market of the Middle East and earn
million of dollars in the export of software, hard-
ware and services. Besides having a positive
impact on the IT export related earnings, soft-
ware export activities by Pakistani companies
are also enhancing the country's image
abroad. n
75
 IT Kalsoom Sheikh
good place to see the true frontline in
A Microsoft's battle with Google is deep in
the bowels of the British Library in
London. In a room under the library's red brick
building near St Pancras railway station, a
Microsoft-funded team is working 14 hours a
day to scan shelf upon shelf of books.
Launched a year ago, the project will scan
25 million carefully preserved pages of the
British Library's 19th-century archive, around
100,000 books, over the next two years.
Together with collections from other libraries
including Yale and Cornell University, the
pages are destined for Live Search Books,
Microsoft's answer to Google Book Search.
It's a field where Microsoft is playing catch-
up with Google, whose mass digitisation proj-
ect already has around one million books
online, 10,000 publishers and almost 30
major world libraries on board.
If the inventor of the PC operating sys-
tem's recent bid for Yahoo is an effort to
glean more online advertising, this painstak-
ing copying points to a deeper flaw behind
the weakness in advertising: search.
"When we are able to do a better job of
answering people's questions we are going
to build loyalty and then ultimately increase
the size of our user community," said Cliff
Guren, Microsoft Director of Publisher
Evangelism, a title the company hopes will
attract libraries and publishers to its scheme.
"By doing this we increase our query share
which helps us increase our advertising rates
and that's how our business makes money,"
he said. Query share is the percentage of indi-
vidual consumer web search requests attract-
ed by services like Google and Microsoft.
Internet audience measurement firm
comScore estimates only 4 per cent of
Internet searches worldwide use Microsoft's
engine, against 77 per cent through Google's.
Yahoo, the second-largest web search
provider, has a 16 per cent share.
But Microsoft's problem is not just that
Google is bigger. As search technology
advances, the real headache for the company
whose software currently drives most of the
76 world's computers is that Google has its eye
Microsoft and Google are
both building libraries and
the way you get the books
off the shelves at these dig-
ital libraries is through their
search engine. Their search
engine is an electronic
librarian
on a more sophisticated prize.
Google's mission is "to organise the
world's information and make it universally
accessible and useful" and to do that it is
hoovering up not only books, but any data it
can grab. An example is how anyone using a
Google email account is invited never to
delete anything: that's data Google can use.
Its initiative in mass digitisation stems from
a vision of Internet search as a tool to hunt
not only the words we type in, but also the
things we might have meant to type in, said
Colin Gillis, an Internet analyst.
Like many concepts in the Internet indus-
try, this idea can go with an arcane title: the
Semantic Web. It's a concept already partly
realised on some websites, for instance when
search engines recognise a common typing
error.
Even though the list of libraries and pub-
lishers on both sides in the Google-Microsoft
digitisation race is growing fast, the challenge
goes far beyond the world's books.
Jason Hanley, who manages Google's
Book Search partnerships in the UK, said
there was no competition for exclusivity
between his company and Microsoft.
Neither company will say how much they
are investing, but Microsoft's Guren said it
was "a very substantial financial commitment".
The projects are strategic, said Danny
Sullivan, Editor-in-Chief of
SearchEngineLand.com.
Sullivan said Google sets the tone by
spending large sums of money to develop
new businesses without rushing to make
money back.
Books are one example. It undertakes
many "pie-in-the-sky" projects betting some
will become big money-spinners once they
The battle shouldn't be over
getting the books, the battle
should be over who is build-
ing the best librarian
are popular, allowing Google to sell advertis-
ing alongside them.
"Microsoft and Google are both building
libraries and the way you get the books off the
shelves at these digital libraries is through
their search engine. Their search engine is an
electronic librarian," Sullivan said.
"The battle shouldn't be over getting the
books, the battle should be over who is build-
ing the best librarian." Latecomer Microsoft
says it is taking a selective approach.
"Google's general mission has been to
organise the world's information. With that
they bring in the flotsam and the jetsam, the
good with the bad because they're casting
their net far and wide," Microsoft's Cliff Guren
added.


Microsoft
bids
4 4 .6
$billion to buy
M
icrosoft Corp offered to buy Yahoo Inc
for $44.6 billion, in a bold bid to trans-
form two ailing Internet businesses
into a worthy competitor for market leader
Google Inc. In what would be the biggest
Internet deal since the ill- fated Time Warner-
AOL merger, Microsoft sent a letter to Yahoo's
board offer $31 per share in cash and stock.
The price is a 62 percent premium over
Yahoo's on 31 January close, but only about a
quarter of what the Internet Company was
worth at the height of the dotcom bubble in
2000.
Yahoo would give Microsoft dominance in
Web banner ads used by corporate brand
advertisers. It also attracts more than 500 mil-
lion people monthly to sites devoted to news,
finance and sports, and Yahoo Mail is the No.
1 consumer e-mail service.
But critics say the two companies have too
many overlapping businesses -- from instant
messaging to email and advertising, as well as
news, travel and finance sites -- and both are
weak in the Web search market, where
Google dominates.
"They have to do it because they've tried
everything they can do to fix MSN. Yahoo is
the most visited site in the world, so it goes
without saying that, given the current valua-
tion, this is the perfect time for them to buy it,"
said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.
But he added: "Google is running away with
the search market and that's obviously the
best part of the market. The likelihood that
Google gets caught is slim to none."
Yahoo said on Feb 1st its board will evaluate
the unsolicited offer. Its shares shot up about
48 percent to $28.33.
Microsoft shares, which have a market capital-
ization of about $300 billion, fell 6.6 percent to
close at $30.45. The shares of Google, which
has a market value of about $160 billion, fell
8.58 percent to close at $515.90.
Transformative or Culture Clash
Speculation about a Microsoft-Yahoo deal
has swirled through the markets for more than
a year, as investors looked for a joint stand
against powerful Google, which has a 77 per-
cent share of the global Web search market.
Yahoo is second with 16 percent and Microsoft
is third with 3.7 percent, according to
comScore data.
Skeptics say Microsoft and Yahoo have very
different corporate cultures and worry about a
clash such as the one that marred AOL's $182
billion purchase of Time Warner in 2001, which
is seen as the worst merger in recent history.
Time Warner Inc is now valued at only $57 bil-
lion.
The perception is that Yahoo, an iconic Sili-
con Valley company with a free-flowing, fun-
loving attitude, may not fit in with the button-
up, competitive Microsoft, the world's biggest
software maker.
"Culture is the big thing where people have
Yahoo is the most visited
site in the world as well, so
it goes without saying that,
given the current valuation,
this is the perfect time for
them to buy it
some concerns," said Jupiter Research ana-
lyst Bobby Tulsiani. "If they have anything in
common, they are both tired of losing to
Google, so they can agree on that probably."
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said
the deal would transform its money-losing
Internet division, which it sees as critical to
growth, into a profitable pillar of its business.
"We have been losing money. Our plan here
would be to not lose money in the future," he
said on a conference call.
Ballmer said Microsoft has had on-and-off
talks with Yahoo for 18 months, but was told
by management a year ago that the timing
was not right -- in an apparent reference to
Yahoo's then Chairman and Chief Executive
Terry Semel.
Flare Report IT
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates .
Rich Valuation
Under the proposal, Yahoo shareholders can
choose to get $31 cash, or 0.9509 of a share
of Microsoft common stock. The deal in aggre-
gate must consist of one-half cash and one-
half Microsoft common stock, the software
maker said. Microsoft's current stock price val-
ues Yahoo at around $30, or a rich 57 times
forecast 2009 earnings. In comparison,
Google is trading at around 20 times forecast
2009 profit. Some analysts said Microsoft was
overpaying for a company that warned earlier
this week it faced "head winds" in 2008, fore-
casting revenue below Wall Street expecta-
tions. "To me, the premium seems exorbitant,
for what is a dwindling business. I personally
don't see how the synergies of Microsoft-
Yahoo is going to take on Google," said Tim
Smalls, head of U.S. stock trading at broker-
age firm Execution LLC. Global Equities
Research analyst Trip Chowdhry said Yahoo is
not worth more than $20 per share as its only
worthwhile properties are Yahoo Mail, Yahoo
Answers and Yahoo Finance. But others said
the price is low enough for rival bidders to
emerge, noting Yahoo traded at $34.08 in late
October. "There could be a little more money
on the table," said Laura Martin, an analyst at
Soleil-Media Metrics. "The company is in play.
Yahoo will not be able to stay independent.
Other bidders will emerge before this is over."
Analysts cited Comcast Corp, Viacom Inc and
General Electric Co among possible bidders,
although they also said few companies had
the balance sheet to compete with Microsoft or
were as natural a fit for Yahoo. As Yahoo
shares are trading close to Microsoft's valua-
tion, it indicates few investors expect a
sweeter offer.
Antitrust Concerns
Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith
acknowledged other bidders could emerge,
but said any attempt by arch-rival Google to
acquire Yahoo would face insurmountable anti-
trust hurdles. Antitrust experts said regulators
would likely take a close look at a Microsoft-
Yahoo deal, but as the two are dwarfed by
Google, the deal will ultimately likely be
approved. Microsoft said the online advertising
market is expected to reach nearly $80 billion
by 2010 from over $40 billion in 2007. It paid
$6 billion last year to buy online advertising
services firm aQuantive as a bulwark against
Google's growing position. The software com-
pany forecast at least $1 billion in annual cost
savings for the merged entity, from synergies
in areas such as combining
engineering talent. n
77
 IT Flare Report
he vital outsourcing industry was grap-
T pling with major communications disrup-
tion on Jan 31, after damage to under-
sea cables thousands of kilometres away in
the Mediterranean which affected many coun-
tries.
"Information-technology companies, soft-
ware companies and call centres that provide
online services to the UK or the US East
Coast are the worst affected," said Rajesh
Chharia, president of the Internet Service
Providers' Association of India.
"Some of them are re-routing through the
Pacific as a backup, but the voice quality and
speed of traffic will be highly degraded," he
said, adding this solution left operators with
half their normal bandwidth.
Egyptian officials said that an undersea
fiber optic communications cable had been
cut, while in Kuwait the government said
"weather conditions and maritime traffic" had
damaged two cables, affecting most of the
region.
It was unclear when the connections
between Europe and the Middle East, and
South Asia would be repaired, although the
worst estimates predicted disruption for up to
15 days.
India's 11-billion-dollar outsourcing industry
is made up of 1,250 companies that deliver
services ranging from answering customer
queries to processing credit card and mort-
gage applications and analysing equity mar-
kets for global clients.
The industry operates from 30 cities in
India and employs 700,000 people, serving
clients mainly in the US and Europe that
sought to cut costs by farming out work to the
country.
"Linkage to the world is our lifeline," said
Raman Roy, chairman and managing director
of call-centre company Quatrro, which has
resorted to using backup lines via satellite.
"Our centres are not impacted because we
have automatic alternative routing in place,
but smaller centres would be adversely affect-
ed," Roy said, estimating that 20 percent of
the industry had been cut off.
The disruption illustrates the importance of
outsourcing companies having back-up sys-
tems for emergencies, whether they be elec-
tricity outages or breakdowns in captive power
generation systems or Internet blackouts, Roy
said.
Satyam Computer Services, India's fourth-
largest software maker, experienced a deterio-
ration in voice quality during conference calls
78 with clients in the US because of the "unin-
Employees at a call centre provide service support to customers in the northeastern Indian city of Siliguri.
The International Cable Protection Committee, an associa-
tion of 86 submarine cable operators dedicated to safe-
guarding undersea cables, has declined to speculate on the
cause of the breaches, saying investigations were underway
formed outage," said Srinivasu C.P., the com-
pany's head of networking systems.
Satyam switched to backup systems, but
the speed of Internet traffic had slowed, he
said. Zenta, which does analytical work relat-
ed to investment, financing and servicing of
real-estate assets, had rerouted through the
Pacific by the time the US opened for busi-
ness, said Devesh Bahl, head of analytical
services.
The disruption had served as a test of the
company's backup systems and "disaster
recovery" plans, he said.
Genpact, India's biggest call-centre firm,
said it was working with "various service
providers on alternative routes, connections
and capacity until normalcy is restored."
Neighbouring Bangladesh was also hit by
fallout from the cable cut. "The voice and data
traffic bound for Europe and America is not
working. It slowed down the Internet services
in the country," said an official from the state-
owned Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone
Board.
"Most of the ISPs and call centers have
been partially affected," he said. Another
Bangladesh provider, BDCom, said it was run-
ning at a quarter of its usual capacity. Sri
Lanka also faced a drastic drop in service
quality, according to Sri Lanka Telecom, the
country's largest Internet service provider.
UAE telecom
firm du said that
its Internet and
telephone serv-
ices were largely
back to normal
after four sub-
marine cables it
relies on were cut over the past two weeks.
"Our Internet access is almost back to nor-
mal ... and data services are 100 percent
restored," Mahesh Jaishankar, executive
director for business development and mar-
keting, said. du, one of two telecommunica-
tions firms in the Gulf Arab state, had to use a
terrestrial cable across Saudi Arabia to con-
nect to a submerged cable in the Red Sea
after a looped cable in the Gulf waters was
cut in two points, off Dubai and off Iran's
Bandar Abbas, du officials said in a briefing.
The cable is run by Indian-owned FLAG
Telecom. The other two cables, off Alexandria
in Egypt, were cut on January 23, affecting
the speed of services as traffic for du and
many other service providers in the region.
The combination of the faults led to disrup-
tions in the firm's Internet services and inter-
national telephone calls. The International
Cable Protection Committee, an association of
86 submarine cable operators dedicated to
safeguarding undersea cables, has declined
to speculate on the cause of the breaches,
saying investigations were underway.
The two cables in the Gulf were expected
to be repaired within 10 days and those in the
Mediterranean would take about 14 days,
according to estimates by the firms that man-
age the grids.

 Pictorial

Davos, Switzerland, Bono (C), co-founder of (RED), Bill Gates (L), founder and Chairman of Microsoft and
Michael Dell (R) founder and Chairman of Dell introduce a series of Dell (PRODUCT) RED personal computers
powered by Windows Vista Ultimate (PRODUCT) RED.

Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Intel Corporation Justin Rattner gestures

during a press conference in Bangalore. US microchip maker Intel is devel-
oping a technology to enable the remote monitoring of a person's health
through signals sent from a hand-held device.

Dell's founder and Chairman of the Board, Michael Dell (L), Dell's President of Global Operations Michael R.
Cannon (R), Dell's General Director in Poland Jacek Murawski (2nd L) and Lodz's Mayor Jerzy Kropiwnicki (2nd
R) cut the ribbon during the opening ceremony of Dell Computer Corporation's plant in Lodz, central Poland.

Toshiba presents a new model G450 on show at the Mobile World Congress
in Barcelona.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs holds up the new MacBook Air portable computer after giving the keynote address at Apple
80 MacWorld Conference in San Francisco.

Japan's mobile communication giant KDDI introduces the new "Cyber-shot mobile phone" produced by
Sony Ericsson at a press preview in Tokyo. The new Cyber-shot handset named from Sony's digital camera,
is equipped with a 5.1 mega-pixel CMOS image sensor and a 4.5 -13.5mm zoom lens on its stylish body.
A model poses as she unveils a collection of platinum jewellery in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata.
Pictorial
Japanese publisher Starts Publishing employee Sato Hgiwara displays a book of the
latest award winning mobile phone novel and the portal site of the mobile phone.
A couple walks past a sign promoting a Samsung Electronics mobile phone in Seoul.
Samsung Electronics, the biggest maker of memory chips used in computers, cameras
and music players, posted a smaller-than-expected 7 percent dip in quarterly profit, as
81
strong sales of its TV and display screens eclipsed falling chip prices.
 Pictorial Pictorial

Google CEO & Chairman Speaks at NASA 50th Anniversary Event

The chairman and chief executive officer of Google, Eric Schmidt, gives a lecture on the benefits of tech-
nology, innovation and space exploration during a series honoring NASA's 50th anniversary at the Newseum
in Washington, DC.
Schmidt discussed the benefits of technology, innovation and space exploration as part of a luncheon
beginning at the Newseum.
An Iranian research rocket is launched in this image taken from Iranian
TV at an unknown launch site in Iran. Iran launched a research rocket
and unveiled its first major space center that will be used to launch
research satellites. The report said the rocket, which is capable of carry-
ing a satellite, was the first launched by Iran "into space," but analysts
have expressed doubts about similar technological achievements
announced by the country in the past. Iran launched its first domestically
built rocket last February, which soared to the edge of space but did not
reach orbit level.

Chairman of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG), Anil Ambani addresses the media at a press con-
ference to announce the success of the Reliance Power Initial Public Offering (IPO) which 18 January closed for
subscription in Mumbai. India's biggest share offer by Reliance Power was oversubscribed 73 times creating finan-
cial history as investors scrambled to apply for a slice of the nearly three-billion USD flotation.

China may relax Internet curbs during the Olympics

China is debating whether to relax control of the Internet during the Olympics, allowing access to banned web-
sites such as the BBC, a spokeswoman for the organising committee said. Plans to tear down the so-called Great
Firewall of China were being debated and a decision was expected soon, said Wang Hui, head of media relations for
the organising committee.
"We are studying this now based on suggestions of some journalists and a study of the experiences of other
countries, so during the Olympics there may be some changes," she said. "This is one of the ways the Olympics may
promote progress in China." China tightly polices cyberspace and Chinese web surfers see a stripped-down version
of the Internet minus some news sites such as the BBC and those belonging to human rights groups or any other
sites judged subversive by the country's communist rulers.
Wang said that changes were expected to be in place in time for the Olympics for the 20,000 foreign journalists
planning to cover the Games. "I believe you will be able to (access banned sites such as the BBC) but I can't give
you a promise yet. The relevant government departments are still working on it," she said.
It was unclear whether Chinese citizens would benefit from the plan to reduce Internet oversight but wider Chief Operating Officer of Titan Watches Harish Bhat holds an Octane
reporting freedoms introduced for foreign journalists here last year have not been extended to domestic reporters. watch at its launch in Bangalore, India. The collection of Octane watches
82 Travel and interview restrictions were lifted on foreign journalists working in China in line with the country's under- are available in 35 variants priced between INR 5,000 and 7,500 (USD
taking to provide free access to the country for the media before and during the Games. $127 and 190).
 Pictorial
General Motors Corp., a 2008 GMC Denali XT Concept is shown. GM, betting that pickup drivers have been
itching to jump on the hybrid bandwagon, will introduce a new hybrid full-size pickup and the concept
hybrid truck at the Chicago Auto Show.
The MacBook Air is displayed at the Apple Store in New York. Apple Inc. introduced the three-quarters of
84 an inch thick aluminum-clad laptop, seeking to bring a new computer to market with the same cachet as
its iPod and iPhone devices.
In this image provided by NASA shows the 70 meter antenna at the Canberra
Deep Space Communications Complex, located outside Canberra, Australia, is one
of three complexes which comprise NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). For the
first time ever, NASA will beam a song - The Beatles "Across the Universe" --
directly into deep space at 4 p.m. Pacific Time. The transmission is being aimed
at the North Star, Polaris, which is located 431 light years away from Earth. The
song will travel across the universe at a speed of 186,000 miles per second.
Pulickel Ajayan of Rice University holds up the darkest material in the world.
Ajayan, who led the research team at Rice University in Houston and working in
collaboration with a team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York,
said they have made the darkest material on Earth. The substance is so black it
absorbs more than 99.9 percent of light. Made from tiny tubes of carbon standing
on end, this material is almost 30 times darker than a carbon substance used by
the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology as the current benchmark
of blackness. And the material is close to the long-sought ideal black, which could
absorb all colours of light and reflect none.

The entrance of Swedish-Japanese mobile handset maker Sony Ericsson's factory in Ribeauville, east-
ern France. Trade unions are due to meet local Sony management after its announcement of 290 cut out
of 600 jobs in this site.
The BYD F6DM is introduced at the North American International Auto Show, in Detroit.
Computer screens are seen as an employee of Montsegur Finance, a portfolio management company
authorised by the Financial Markets Authority, works at her desk in Paris.
Pictorial
Japan's All Nippon Airways Co. planes are parked on the tarmac of Tokyo's Haneda
international airport. Japan's No. 2 airline, All Nippon Airways Co. said. Its profit
rose 33.9 percent in the three months ending December, largely on the robust
international services and the sale of hotel assets.
A few of the items on display by Savi Technology at the RFID convention at the
Coronado Springs Resort and Convention Center in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. A fixed
reader, top, collects location and status from the devices know as tags, lower left
and right, that contain radio-frequency identification and transmit signals to the
reader.
85
 National National

Wateen Orders 198,000 Motorola CPE

Motorola has announced a contract with Wateen Telecom-Pakistan for the supply of 198,000
end-user WiMAX CPE devices for both indoor and outdoor use
Complementing Wateen Telecom's nation-
wide WiMAX network which is built using
Motorola's 802.16e WiMAX and IMS solutions,
the CPE units will provide subscribers in
Pakistan with wireless access to data and VoIP
services in one of the world's most rapidly-
growing telecoms markets.
The CPEs will provide consumers, small businesses and Pakistan's
largest enterprises access to wireless services, from basic telephony
and fast internet access to high-end data services such as virtual pri-
vate networks (VPN) for banks and other organizations.
"The availability of our WiMAX network is a major milestone for
Wateen Telecom and for the telecommunications potential of developing
economies. Our network puts Wateen at the global forefront of the
WiMAX telecoms industry. Motorola's capabilities to effectively deliver
WiMAX 802.16e solutions and CPEs ahead of the industry and our
early adoption of this technology has given us
the opportunity to be the first to offer WiMAX
802.16e-based broadband voice and data serv-
ices in Pakistan," said Tariq Malik, CEO,
Wateen Telecom.
With Pakistan's impressive growing econo-
my and rising user demand for data access, Wateen Telecom-Pakistan
anticipates a rapid demand for residential connections for its Motorola-
based WiMAX broadband services during its first year of operation.
"This initial CPE order, which enables subscriber access to the net-
work for services from basic wireless telephony through to secure data
connectivity for the country's largest corporations, is part of the expan-
sive WiMAX eco-system further demonstrating to other markets the
reality and viability of WiMAX and Motorola's ability to deliver," said Ali
Amer, vice president sales, Middle East, Africa and Pakistan, Motorola
Home & Networks Mobility.

Marwan Appointed CEO Warid Telecom

Chairman Abu Dhabi Group and Warid Telecom Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al-
Nahayan and Board of Directors have appointed Marwan Zawaydeh as Chief
Executive Officer of Warid Telecom Pakistan.
Marwan Zawaydeh has been associated with Warid Telecom International
since June 2004 as Group Chief Technical Officer and Board Executive
Committee Member. Mr. Zawaydeh is an electronics engineer with more than 28
years experience in telecommunications including Fixed Network, GSM and 3G
Mobile Networks, Internet ecommerce and Community Antenna Television. He is
recognized for actively promoting world-class cutting edge technologies in the
global communication industry.
During his tenure with Etisalat, Zawaydeh played an important role in corpo-
rate studies and decision making related to strategic planning business policies
organisational development and international investment.

JAZZ Announces Malamaal

Winner
Mobilink has announced the name of the winner of 'JAZZ
Malamaal Lucky Draw' held in Peshawar where Amraiz Khan, Jazz
pre-paid customer from District Nowshera won Rs 10 million.
Mobilink recently launched "JAZZ Malamaal" throughout Pakistan
for its very large users base the popularity of JAZZ being unprece-
dented in the history of the telecommunication sector. All pre-paid
consumers were
eligible to win
thousands of
prizes simply by
recharging a bal-
ance of Rs 100
either through
scratch card or
easy load.
The third and CEO of Warid Telecom, Marwan Zawaydeh and representative of Universal Service Fund,
Pervez Iftikhar sign documents during a signing ceremony at a local hotel, Caretaker
final draw of
Minister for Information Technology, Dr Abdullah Riyaar is also present on the occasion.
JAZZ Malamaal
was won by To improve the infrastructure in the rural areas and to boost the
Amraiz Khan. socio-economic benefits of the people Warid and USF signed a contract
This lucky draw Mobilink announced the winner of the 'JAZZ Malamaal' making with the Universal Service Fund. The contract aimed to provide the tele-
also included 4 Tanveer Ahmed from Lahore the second 'Millionair' of the com related services to underserved areas of the country. It is really
additional prizes ongoing countrywide campaign picture shows Tariq Durrni, appreciating to start the telecom services in such areas and the people
of 1 lakh each, Regional Commercial Director, Mobilink giving a cheque to the
winner. of these areas will be in connection with the world.
won by Maqbool
Ahmed of Hyderabad, Mazhar Iqbal of Okara, Chaudhry Babar
Mushtaq of Islamabad and Hameed-ur-Rehman of Mardan.
87
 National

Cellphones Banned in Educational Institutes

On the directives of Punjab Education Department, the Rawalpindi education department has banned use of mobile phones in all educational
institutes. The notification in this respect has been issued. The ban would remain in force till indefinite period of time.
According to the notification, no student and official staff would be allowed to use cellphones in the premises of educational institutes. The prin-
cipals and headmasters have been directed to ensure the ban.

Deputy Director NUST Sports, Ms. Robina Ansar giving winning the trophy to Superior Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro awarding the certificates and medals
Science College Lahore team after beating the Karachi University in final of HEC among the successful participants during the closing ceremony of the Outreach
Intervarsity Badminton (Men) Championship 2007-08 organized by University of Sciences Scholarship Programme 2007 jointly organized by Ministry of Information Technology and
and Technology (NUST) played at Liaquat Gymnasium. National ICT R&D Fund held at Prime Minister Secretariat.

Urban Sole Unveils its Summer Collection

Urban sole unveiled its new fabu-
lous Summer collection 2008 at a local
five star hotel I Lahore and invited its
customers and general public to feel
the new summer look of sandals/slip-
pers and premium class fashion shoes
. Mr. Kashif Zorain, Marketing Manager
said that this was the result of commit-
ted effort on NPD and we wanted our
customers to enjoy the value of their
money with best quality leather and
international designs. We out source
the best quality leather for urban sole
footwear and marketed the brand at
very compatible price that can be com-
pare with any other International brand.
Urban sole is a brand owned by Shafi (Pvt) Ltd and was launched in 1996, since then it has become
renowned not only in Pakistan but it also has its customers in Middle-East and Russia with 10 COCO Mr. Kashif Zorain, marketing manager, Urban
outlets and more than 50 relationship accounts.
sole, and Muhammad Jamil, zonal sales manag-
er urban sole present at the summer collection
ceremony.

Ministry of IT Opposes Multi-Metering of Internet Calls

Ministry of IT has vehemently opposed PTCL's move to implement
multiple charging of Internet calls. In PTA's hearing to decide on PTCL's
application to introduce a 10 minute pulse on all Internet calls, the rep-
resentative of MOIT, Awais Jan, informed that Government's policy to
exempt Internet calls from multi-metering was approved by the Federal
Cabinet in 2003 and is binding on all telecom operators including PTCL.
Earlier, PTCL pleased to PTA for permission to introduce one local call
after every ten minutes on Internet calls as it has been providing a sub-
sidy on these calls in public interest for last many years. But after the
privatization and drastic reduction in Internet bandwidth and hourly
rates, PTCL wanted to withdraw the subsidy. Challenging PTCL's plea,
Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) argued that
PTCL was already offering local calls at 7 paisas per minute and long
distance calls at 4 paisas per minute under 'Local Call' and 'Pakistan
Packages' hence PTCL's claim of subsidy provision on Internet calls
88
was absurd.
ISPAK stated that middle and low income Internet users rely on
dialup calls to access Internet for educational and research purposes
and they should not be deprived of this facility.
Representing Internet users of the country, Mr. Salman Ansari, a
telecom professional, informed PTA that continuity of IT Policy was
embedded in the privatization agreements of Government of Pakistan
with Etiselat over PTCL's sale and depriving people of Pakistan form a
low cost knowledge base resource would be a repressive step.
Internet users of the country have been upset upon the PTCL's
move to introduce multi-metering of local calls fearing that cost of
Internet access would increase many folds due to the proposed charg-
ing mechanism. ISPAK hailed the stance of MOIT for Internet promotion
and pleaded to PTA for dismissal of PTCL's application in public inter-
est. PTA has reserved the judgment on the issue.

 National

Microsoft Launches Office Ready PC Campaign in Pakistan

Microsoft Corporation has launched Office Ready PC campaign in all
the major cities by holding events with the resellers in Pakistan.
Speaking at the event held in Karachi, Andrew Waititu, Middle East
Africa Multi Country Lead Information Worker at Microsoft reiterated the
commitment of Microsoft in developing this Office Ready PC.
Ghias Khan, CEO Inbox, said "By providing an Office Ready PC,
Microsoft will reduce the installation costs for Original Equipment
Manufacturers like Inbox and increase the sales potential of supporting
products including Office."
Shahzad Khan, OEM Lead, Microsoft Pakistan said that now end
customers can ask system builders to provide them with Office ready
PC, so that they have an opportunity to utilise free trial of latest version
of Microsoft Office 2007.

PTCL Rectifies Underground Cables

The PTCL underground cables, which was cut maliciously on Jan 2
in Islamabad, and resulted in disruption of around 2200 telephone num-
bers, has been rectified, says a press release of the PTCL Business
Zone (North). According to the details, two 1200 pair and one 600 pair
cables were maliciously cut by unknown persons from a PTCL manhole
in F-6/1, Nazimuddin Road, near Zoom Petroleum due to which some
2200 telephone numbers of the area were affected. The PTCL con-
cerned staff were immediately rushed to the site of malicious cut and
worked relentlessly and restored communication in minimum possible
time and all the affected telephones were rectified. The PTCL authori-
ties have regretted for the inconvenience caused to its valued cus-
tomers in this regard.

Chairman PCB Dr. Naseem Ashraf giving winning team bonus to captain Shoaib Malik dur- Workers lay an underground cable using modern technology without digging the road near
ing prize distribution ceremony held at Niaz Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad. National Stadium Karachi.

Cell Phone Use While Driving Banned

The Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP)
have put a ban on use of mobile
phones during driving, while fastening
of seat belt will be mandatory to con-
trol the road accidents, SSP (Traffic)
Zubair Hashmi said here on Jan 4.
It would soon be included in traffic
laws and a summery in this regard has
been sent to Ministry of Interior for for-
mal notification and after the notifica-
tion the ITP personnel would impose
fine against the violators, he added.
He urged the road users to avoid
using high beam during night also. He
said that a special campaign would be
launched by the ITP to educate the
drivers regarding fastening of seat
belts, stopping use of mobile phones
while driving and avoiding use of high
beam during night.
He directed the ITP staff to educate
the road users about road safety. "ITP
is striving to take moor steps to reduce
the ratio of accidents by utilising the
available resources," he added.

One motorist has display a curt message on his car for the people who use mobile phone while driving and pose
89
danger to others on the road.
 National

LinkdotNet: New Player in

Pakistani Broadband Market
The leading newspapers of Pakistan displayed full-page advertise-
ment of LinkdotNet, another broadband service provider in town.
LinkdotNet is a product of Egyptian Telco Orascom Telecom
Company. LinkdotNet is working in Egypt since 2000 and has presence
in UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Orascom, with Mobilink under its
belt, acquired two Pakistani ISPs
WOL and Dancom and merged them
to launch LinkdotNet in Pakistan.
The NWFP Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani being briefed about the Earthquake Engineering
Operating from Lahore, LinkdotNet
Centre during his visit to NWFP University of Engineering & Technology.
Pakistan offers broadband Internet
through DSL and WiMAX technologies
Minister Appreciates for the Home and Corporate users
along with the traditional Dialup
Internet.
SCO work LinkdotNet is CMMI Level 3 accredited and ISO 9001:2000 certified.
It has a technology solutions wing, Linkdev that is Microsoft Gold
Caretaker Minister for Certified Partner in Business Process and Integration, Custom
Information Technology and Development Solutions, Information Worker Solutions, Microsoft
Telecommunications Dr Business Solutions and Advanced Infrastructure Solutions.
Abdullah Riar appreciated the While Orascom has penetrated Pakistani market through Mobilink,
endeavours of Special providing broadband services is another ball game. We have already
Communications Organisation seen Wateen, Warid's sibling, fumbling with early-bird Wimax cus-
(SCO) in expanding modern tomers.
telecom facilities to all nook Also, LinkdotNet has selected an inappropriate launch date. Internet
and corners of Azad Jammu connectivity is at its low in Pakistan due to the under-sea cable snap.
and Kashmir and Northern LinkdotNet, a FLAG provider, is badly effected in Egypt, its home-base,
Areas. where people are already not too fond of it.
During his visit to the In any case, LinkdotNet is going to bring competition which will be
Headquarters in Rawalpindi, good for the consumers.

he also assured of the gov-
ernment's full support to the
Caretaker Federal Minister for Information
SCO. The Minister was briefed Technology Dr. Abdullah Riar addressing a press
about the steps taken by SCO conference.
Minister Vows to Improve
in the recent past for digitalisa-
tion and expansion of its telecom networks facilities, which included Broadband Users
landline, GSM and CDMA by inducting and commissioning world class Care taker Federal Minister for IT & Telecom said that the broad-
telecom equipment. band users are 0.7% of the total population of the country. According to
He was also apprised about interconnect facilities being planned and an estimate 112,000 are currently use broadband services in the coun-
provided by the SCO to various cellular companies. He was succinct try which is not an encouraging figure and it is a dire need of the hour
with reference to recently developed IT based billing system, DSL to improve the broadband facilities to the general public in Pakistan.
Broadband and dialup Internet services in AJ&K and NAs compatible IT ministry is trying to improve and provide the broadband services.
with any developed countries of the world. He said that to improve broadband service users it is needed to drop
He was also briefed regarding recently concluded revolutionary the prices of the equipment like C.P.E and computers and this is under
developmental projects like digitalisation of exchanges, optical fibre consideration to reduce 15% general sales tax of this equipment.

cable laid in AJ&K and Northern Areas, installation of microwave system
in NAs and ongoing developmental projects.

PTA to start 3-G Mobile
Phone Licensing Process
Pakistan Telecommunications Authority is set to start 3-G mobile
phone licensing process in order to activate the service in the country
by 2009. The process will be initiated through auction of the spectrum
this year and licenses would be awarded through competitive bidding.
Pakistan currently has 77 million mobile phone subscribers, 2.1 mil-
lion Wireless Local Loop (WLL) and 4.7 million fixed line consumers.
With 3-G generation mobile services, the customers will be able to use
internet with high speed, make video calls and other value-added data
services.
Five mobile companies have got the license for AJK (Azad Jammu
and Kashmir) and northern areas. For this the authority deposited Rs
1.2 billion with the AJK Council and NAs Secretariat on account of
Initial License Fee (ILF) collected from mobile operators.
The recent introduction of Wimax services has made Pakistan a
Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro addressing to the participants during the leader in the region to initiate wireless broadband services. Currently,
closing ceremony of the Outreach Scholarship Programme 2007 jointly organized by Ministry
of Information Technology and National ICT R&D Fund held at Prime Minister Secretariat
Wateen Telecom, Mytel and Linkdotnet are offering Wimax services in
90 the country.

Islamabad.

Ericsson to Make End-to-End LTE Call on
Handheld Devices
Ericsson announced it will make the world's first demonstration of an
end-to-end phone call enabled by Long-Term Evolution - System
Architecture Evolution (LTE/SAE), employing handheld mobile devices,
at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona
The demonstration call will be made using handheld mobile devices
developed by Ericsson Mobile Platforms. Ericsson's LTE network equip-
ment supports multi-user data rates of up to 160Mbps per cell.
LTE/SAE represents the next step in the evolution of the user experi-
ence, improving latency, capacity and throughput. Commercial launch is
expected in 2009.
LTE supports a superior, mass-market user experience. It enhances
such demanding applications as mobile video, blogging, advanced
games, rich multimedia telephony and professional services. It also
interoperates with existing cellular systems.
Robert Puskaric, head of Ericsson's mobile platforms business,
says: "This world-first demonstration marks a key milestone in the
development of LTE. It proves the stability and integration of our plat-
form with a form factor accurate handheld device, reaching uplink and
downlink data speeds of 25Mbit/s already. Samples of first LTE platform
HCL Infosystems Chairman and CEO Ajai Chowdhry, center, and Indian models unveil
ultra portable laptops called and X and Y series, in New Delhi, India. The laptops named
MiLeap X and Y, will cost US$ 358 and 770, respectively.
Motorola Eyes Breakup of Company to Gain
Telecom 'Leadership'
Motorola said it is studying a possible breakup of
the company in an effort "to recapture global market
leadership" in the mobile phone market, and to
enhance shareholder value.
The struggling company based in Schaumburg,
Illinois, said it is "exploring the structural and strate-
gic realignment of its businesses."
This may include the separation of its Mobile
Devices division from its other businesses "in order
to permit each business to grow and better serve its
customers," the company said in a statement.
Motorola, once the world's second-largest mobile
phone maker, after Nokia Corp. of Finland, has
since lost its place to South Korean rival Samsung
Electronics Corp. amid fierce global competition and
watched earnings slide.
The company lost 49 million dollars in 2007,
swinging to a deficit after a profit of 3.6 billion dol-
lars in 2006 as its problems worsened in the tough
International
will be available soon."
Ulf Ewaldsson, Vice President and Head of Product Area Radio at
Ericsson, says: "Today's demonstration of a complete end-to-end solu-
tion, including a small form factor accurate device operated over flat
network architecture, reaffirms Ericsson's technology leadership. It also
reflects our commitment to developing LTE as an evolutionary path that
will boost operators' service offering, while providing end users with a
superior experience."
LTE is the next evolution in mobile network standards as defined by
the 3GPP (Third-Generation Partnership Project) and supports opera-
tions in both the paired spectrum and unpaired spectrum. It enables effi-
cient spectrum utilization for both legacy and future wireless frequency
bands. Channel bandwidths of 1.4-20MHz are supported. The wide
international support for LTE ensures economies of scale, enabling
cost-effective solutions for network operators.
This world-first demonstration follows another recent Ericsson first,
the demonstration of LTE in both Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and
Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode on the same base station platform.

Chinese customers shop at a Lenovo shop in Beijing, China. Lenovo Group, the world's
No. 4 personal computer maker, reported quarterly profit up 198 percent and forecast
strong sales this year despite a possible U.S. economic slowdown.
market for mobile devices.
Motorola also makes digital set-tops for televi-
sions, cable modems, and markets technology
services to consumers and government.
"All of our businesses have exceptional people,
products and intellectual property and the ability to
achieve category leadership in their markets," said
Greg Brown, president and chief executive, who
took the job January 1 after Ed Zander stepped
down.
"We are exploring ways in which our Mobile
Devices Business can accelerate its recovery and
retain and attract talent while enabling our share-
holders to realize the value of this great fran-
chise."
The company said it would not discuss details
of any plan until its board has approved a deal.

91
 International
HP Expands Entry-level Server Portfolio
HP has announced new economical
servers, application solution "blueprints" and
enhanced remote management software
helping midsize companies reduce operating
costs while supporting their growth. The com-
pany's entry-level server portfolio now
includes four new HP ProLiant server plat-
forms that help midsize customers with limit-
ed space, budgets and IT staff.
The servers' easy-to-use tools guide users
through system configuration for fast installa-
tion so customers can focus on what matters
most - growing their businesses. HP also has
developed new Midmarket Business Solutions
that cut the time and effort needed for cus-
tomers and channel partners to either create or upgrade critical busi-
ness applications for entry-level ProLiant servers.
Sanyo to Sell Mobile Phone Unit to Kyocera
Struggling Japanese electronics maker Sanyo Electric
Co said that it has decided to sell its mobile phone pro-
duction unit to precision equipment maker Kyocera Corp.
The unit, estimated to be worth 50 billion yen (470 million
dollars), will be transferred on April 1, Sanyo said in a
statement.
Taking into account debts, cash and deposits, the total
value of the sale is estimated to be around 40 billion yen,
the company said, adding that the final amount will be
decided later.
Sanyo decided "that a transfer of the business to
Kyocera would be the ideal solution for both business
value and ease of succession," the statement said.
Andrew French shows a picture of an early-stage cloned embryo called a blastocysts in
his lab at Stemagen, a small biotech company in La Jolla, California. The company burst
into the controversial stem cell field.
Alcatel-Lucent Announces a Joint Venture with Japanese Group
French-US telecom equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent announced a
joint venture with Japanese group NEC to develop ultra-high-speed
mobile phone technology.
The joint company will work on building phone infrastructure to the
LTE (Long Term Evolution) norm that will allow high-speed transfer
speeds for mobile phones around the year 2010 that are equivalent to
92 broadband Internet.
"HP is aggressively focused on creating
technologies that reduce complexity for mid-
size customers at every step," said Tony
Parkinson, vice president and general manag-
er, Industry Standard Servers, HP Asia Pacific
and Japan. "With these new products and
solutions tailored to address their needs, mid-
size customers don't have to be IT experts to
keep their businesses up and running," he
added.
HP focuses on simplifying technology
experiences for all of its customers - from
individual consumers to the largest business-
es. With a portfolio that spans printing, per-
sonal computing, software, services and IT
infrastructure, HP is among the world's largest IT companies.

Sanyo entered the mobile phone manufacturing busi-
ness in 1994 and primarily used CDMA technology, a seg-
ment with strong competition.
Sanyo had granted Kyocera priority negotiating rights
under an earlier agreement approved by the boards of the
two companies.
Sanyo is struggling to return from the red amid fierce
price competition. After suffering an annual net loss for the
past three years, Sanyo is increasing its focus on
rechargeable batteries, which have been a bright spot in
its otherwise lackluster recent performance.

A man looks at an Asustek laptop inside an electronics store in Taipei. Two contract manu-
facturing units of Taiwan's Asustek Computer, the world's top motherboard maker, they
expect motherboard orders to drop 10 percent in the first half of this year from last year,
amid fears of a U.S. economic slowdown.
This fourth generation technology, capable of data transfer speeds of
1 megabyte a second, is expected to spur development of mobile televi-
sion, interactive games and email.
NEC is very strong in its home market. Alcatel-Lucent is present in
the United States and Europe but has not penetrated the dynamic
Japanese market.

 International

Disney Mobile Confident in Japan Despite US Flop

Disney has unveiled its first
mobile phones in Japan, saying the
US entertainment gaint is "extreme-
ly confident" in success here after
learning lessons from its flop in the
US market.
Walt Disney Japan, the local unit
of Walt Disney Co., said it would
begin a new mobile telephone serv-
ice, named "Disney Mobile," in
March together with Softbank Corp
in line with their initial announce-
ment in November.
Disney Mobile will first offer
three types of mobiles made by
Japan's Sharp, whose outer pack-
age is covered with silhouette pat-
terns of Mickey Mouse.
They also feature a special
online bottom that will allow sub-
scribers to jump to Disney websites, ence
while Disney's iconic characters can
be used on standby screens and to decorate e-mails free of charge.
Disney will become Japan's first
so-called mobile virtual network
operator (MVNO), or a company
that buys capacity from another firm
to provide cellphone services.
"We are extremely confident" in
success, said Duncan Orrell-Jones,
Vice President of Walt Disney
Internet Group Asia-Pacific.
It is entering the tough Japanese
market despite the failure of Disney
Mobile in the United States, another
MVNO which shut down at the end
of last year. The flop was mainly
due to its business model in the US.
Disney, giving up a solo opera-
tion, decided to tie up with
Softbank, which is a much more
powerful model that gives collabora-
Walt Disney Company Japan President Paul Candland announces the inauguration of tion across everything from hand-
Disney Mobile phone service in cooperation with Softbank Moble during the press confer-
sets to service to distribution.

Google Ramps up email Defense Offerings

Google has begun marketing new online
tools for protecting email from spam and
other problems as it continued to encroach
on the terrain of software king Microsoft.
Google unveiled email security services
built with technology from Postini, a start-up
the California Internet titan bought last year
for 625 million dollars.
The software protects, filters, encrypts
and archives email, and is compatible with
Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes, and
Novell Groupwise.
Google said subscription pricing for
email security starts at three dollars a year
per user to "accommodate the budget of
any business." Premium online services that include virus protection
and saving messages is priced at 25 dollars annually per user.
"As threats rise in volume and complexity, and compliance require-
ments pile up, IT is struggling to find the resources to keep up," said
Google director of product management Scott Petry. "Now, Google can
take care of this for you."
Google's new email security service comes as Microsoft is courting
Yahoo with a 44.6-billion-dollar buyout offer aimed at combining
resources to better challenge Google in the flourishing Internet realm.
Email security services are the latest additions to the Google Apps
platform, which offers Internet-based computer programs including text,
spreadsheets, and appointment calendars.
The offerings are part of a trend toward software as an on-demand
service hosted "in the cloud," or online by an Internet firm, instead of
being installed and maintained on users'
computers.
US firm Salesforce.com, which special-
izes in "software as a service," recently
topped a million subscribers and its chief
executive Marc Benioff predicts annual rev-
enues will pass a billion dollars this fiscal
year.
Salesforce.com has a "strategic
alliance" with Google.
Microsoft has built its fortune on pack-
aged software installed on computers, but
is shifting increasingly to online on-demand
services as well. Microsoft is hoping to bol-
ster its position in the Internet market by
buying struggling Yahoo, which has seen its fortunes sag while
Google's have soared.
Yahoo's board of directors is mulling the 31-dollar-per-share buy-out
offer from Microsoft, which is pressing Yahoo for a quick response.
Nearly 588 million people visited Google websites in December,
while the combined total for Microsoft and Yahoo websites was 665 mil-
lion visitors, according to industry tracking firm comScore.
Microsoft and Yahoo claim 15.7 percent of the worldwide Internet
search market, compared with Google's dominant 62.4 percent share.
However, Yahoo is the world's most popular web-based e-mail serv-
ice, used by 257 million people, and if combined with Microsoft's offer-
ings would claim 77 percent of the instant messaging market, comScore
reports.

Yahoo May Reject Microsoft Offer

Yahoo Inc.'s board plans to reject board plans to send a letter to Microsoft,
Microsoft Corp.'s unsolicited $44.6 billion spelling out its position.
offer to acquire the Web giant, a report The WSJ says the Yahoo board
on internet says. thinks Microsoft is just trying to take
After a series of meetings over the advantage of the company's current low
past week, Yahoo's board determined to "steal" it. Microsoft's bid was $31 per
that the $31 per share offer "massively share but the article goes on to say
undervalues" Yahoo, it said. It also does- Yahoo is "unlikely to consider any offer
n't account for the risks Yahoo would be below $40 per share." Maybe they want
taking by entering into an agreement that to try drive up the price?

might be overturned by regulators. The 93
 International
Microsoft Starts e-governments Programme
Microsoft has begun a free programme
aimed at turning local governments into "e-gov-
ernments" by using computer software and the
Internet to better serve citizens. The US soft-
ware giant unveiled "Citizen Service Platform"
offerings at a Government Leaders Forum in
Berlin.
"We see this increasing need for govern-
ments to become e-governments," Microsoft
vice president of worldwide public sector Ralph
Young said. "As the public gets more informed
about technology, they have greater expecta-
tions from their government. This is aimed at
using Microsoft technology in government to
more efficiently provide services to citizens."
Microsoft will provide governments with "template" programs that let
Internet Users in China Crossed 210m Mark
China had 210 million Internet users by the
end of 2007 and will soon have more web
surfers than any other country on the planet, an
official report said.
China's online population was only five mil-
lion less than the US, the government-linked
China Internet Network Information Center
(CNNIC) said in a report. " At the beginning of
2008, China will become the country with the
largest online population in the world," the
CNNIC said in its report.
China already has the globe's biggest
mobile phone user population, numbering 539.4
million at the end of November, according to government figures. China
added 73 million new online users last year, as the Internet seemed to
be catching on in the countryside, where development has so far been
Comcast Unveils Movie-TV Hub Website
Comcast, the largest U.S. cable operator,
has launched Fancast.com, a one-stop movie-
television hub where viewers can watch more
than 3,000 hours of TV shows, movie trailers
and short videos, check show listings, and dive
into a comprehensive actor database. The Web
site will also point fans to where they can watch
any show, be it on television, online, On
Demand, DVD or in theaters.
The site is the first to gather film and TV
offerings scattered all over the Internet on such
a large scale, thanks to agreements with con-
tent owners such as CBS, Viacom and
Hulu.com, which is owned by NBC Universal and News Corp's Fox
Network. Data partners include Amazon.com's IMDB, one of the Web's
most popular movie information sites.
"We want to help consumers find content wherever they go," said
Sam Schwartz, executive vice president of Comcast Interactive Media.
If it proves popular, Fancast could help drive up Internet traffic for
Comcast, which in May forecast generating at least $1 billion in online
advertising over the next five to six years as it cultivates new revenue
sources.
Infosys Fines Chief Executive
India's Infosys Technologies Ltd has fined its chief executive for not
reporting on time a change in his share ownership, the company said in
a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
The audit committee of Infosys imposed a fine of 500,000 rupees
($12,658) on S. Gopalakrishnan for "inadvertently failing" to notify the
94
company within one business day following the change in his share-
citizens perform tasks such as accessing public
records, getting marriage certificates, and pay-
ing taxes or fines online.
Microsoft has spent years working with gov-
ernments and distilled some of what it learned
into templates showing governments how to
spare people trips to offices and let them han-
dle interactions online.
With the templates, Microsoft engineers are
"taking the heavy lifting" off the shoulders of
local governments worldwide, according to
Young.
The first set of templates will be available in
the United States, according to Microsoft.
Templates will be rolled out next in Europe and then phased in through-
out the world based on interest from governments.

held back by low incomes and weak infrastruc-
ture. The number of rural Internet users
reached 52.6 million by the end of 2007, up a
whopping 127.7 percent from a year earlier, the
CNNIC said.
The fast growing online population has
made the Internet a new forum for average
Chinese to, among other things, express opin-
ions in a free-wheeling way rarely seen on the
strictly government-controlled traditional media.
It has stirred up Beijing's fears about potential
social unrest, and President Hu Jintao called
last year for efforts to "purify" the Internet. The
latest example of government crackdowns on Internet use is an
announcement that only state-controlled entities would be allowed to
operate websites that post audio-visual content.

Comcast said it has licensing deals for more
than 50,000 television shows, 80,000 movies
and information on 1.2 million actors, directors,
and other movers and shakers in the entertain-
ment industry for Fancast.
Content from Hollywood studios, broadcast
and cable networks including Metro-Goldwyn-
Mayer Studios, Sony Pictures Television, USA,
Bravo, SciFi and BBC are available on the site,
which is updated daily. A feature on the site
called "Six Degrees" allows users to explore
connections between TV shows, movies, cast
and crew.
Comcast plans to move some Fancast features to the set-top box so
a TV viewer could, for instance, check up-to-date information about an
actor in a show they are watching. A proposed feature would allow
users to program their digital video recorders later this year.
The new site is the most ambitious of Comcast's online content
efforts since the creation of its Interactive Media Unit in December
2005. So far, the company's launches have included online video site
Ziddio.com and GameInvasion.net, and it bought movie ticket site
Fandango last year.

holding as per its insider trading rules.
Gopalakrishnan had inherited 12,800 shares from his mother on
December 24, the No 2 Indian software services exporter said. Infosys
said it had directed the CEO to pay the penalty to a charity and he had
complied.