KARACHI: Acknowledging its role as the only National Carrier of Pakistan and recognizing the large investments that enterprises are making to build and equip their own data centers, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has launched the largest data center in Pakistan, the first of which will be located in Karachi.

For hosting packages from PTCL click here

This data center is engineered using the same rigid specifications, consistent with international standards and data center certification bodies and is enabled with technologies that proactively manages and enterprises mission-critical applications for predictable and continuous performance.

The PTCL Data Center is protected from intrusion and failure with multi-layered security, fail-safe redundancy, diversity measures, and rapid response recovery measures.

PTCL Senior Executive Vice President Commercial, Naveed Saeed, alongwith SEVP South Abdulla Yousuef Abdulla, Zaman Gulzar and Kamran Mehmood while addressing a press conference at Data Center held in Karachi, highlighting the importance of data center described that the aim is to provide to the business enterprises in Pakistan through a reliable, responsive and resilient infrastructure to suit the their needs.

The data center is designed and built to accommodate the comprehensive data in a secured managed and climatically controlled environment. The bottom-line is to benefit our customers in terms of cost-effectiveness, efficiently of processes and scalability of needs, he said.

Naveed Saeed said that PTCL’s investment in these type of services underscores its commitment to the rapidly expanding ICT sector in Pakistan and highlights the rapidly growing demand in this market who turn to PTCL for integrated hosting and network solutions, allowing them to focus on their core business.

PTCL is making these investments on behalf of the business community of Pakistan, so that our customers can focus their resources on their core businesses, entrusting PTCL to provide what we do best-ICT, he informed.

He said the new center is directly connected to PTCL’s global MPLS backbone to offer a rich portfolio of hosting solutions with unparalleled network performance and features. “PTCL offers capabilities designed to deliver greater efficiencies for hosting customers through the use of technologies such as storage on demand. Processing on demand, business continuity and disaster recovery, all of which are integrated with PTCL network services.”

He said PTCL is the only unified Telecom service provider in Pakistan and is able to serve all enterprise segments with a comprehensive portfolio of products including fiber optic and wireless connectivity, MPLS, VPN, Managed and hosted technology solutions.

Now with PTCL’s data center, a tailor made accommodation for a enterprise application processing environment together with appropriate connectivity to the fully redundant self healing optical fiber network backbone, a much higher level of security and technology support to an enterprises mission critical operations is being offered. ppi

Earlier this week, The National, a news paper from Abu Dhabi published a story about Abu Dhabi Groups plans to sell controlling stakes of Warid Telecom to any potential buyer. Below are the excerpts from the news item.

“Every operator in Pakistan is looking for consolidation,” said Bashir Tahir, the chief executive of the Abu Dhabi Group. “We are talking to every operator and we know they are also talking to each other.”

Mr Tahir said he had been negotiating with Pakistan Telecommunication Corporation (PTCL), the country’s largest telecoms company, and Telenor, the incumbent operator in Norway that owns a subsidiary in Pakistan. “[PTCL] has shown keen interest in Warid Telecom,” he said. “We are talking with them and I’d be happy to invest with them, but the bases have to be clear.”

“Whenever a deal happens, the operator will get a big lead on the others,” said Ali Tahir, the group chief commercial officer of Warid Telecom.

“We’d rather have a slice of the bigger pie.” Pakistan has more than 97.6 million mobile phone subscribers and a penetration rate of 59.03 per cent, figures from the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority showed. It is forecast to grow to 130.6 million subscribers by 2013, according to IE Market Research. The industry generated revenues of 212.42bn Pakistani rupees (Dh9.18bn) in 2008, while the monthly average revenue per user rate is about 185 rupees, the regulator said. Ali Tahir, the son of Bashir Tahir, said the economic and political situation in Pakistan over the past two years had made it difficult to grow Warid Telecom.

Last night, as before on the speculated merger with telenor, WaridTel denies sellout of stakes. In an official press statement found on their website, Bashir Tahir denies all statements published earlier.

Recently there have been misplaced news items in certain section of the press that Warid Telecom Pakistan may be up for sale because of the shrinking interest of the sponsors relating to the market conditions in Pakistan. Warid telecom Pakistan categorically and unequivocally denies such reports and impressions. Warid Telecom Pakistan is not being sold off rather is on course with its expansion plans with the continuing focused view to extend quality services to its loyal customers to whom it is deeply grateful. Warid Telecom Pakistan also extends sincere thanks to its business partners for their support and professional contribution.

Bashir A. Tahir
Chief Executive Officer
Warid Telecom International

The same CEO denying the sellout is being quoted by the The National to be in talks with PTCL and Telenor.

It also merits mentioning here that Warid has recently sold a 51 per cent stake in its two largest African networks to India’s Essar, and 70 per cent of its Bangladeshi network to Bharti Airtel.

Djuice is known for appealing to youth. In a search for local talent, Djuice has sponsored a freestyle soccer contest in Pakistan. After the first rounds of competition in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, the finals are on 31st January in Karachi from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. For more detail on “Red Bull Street Style!” see below and go to Djuice site. This will be fun!

Ufone celebrated its 9th anniversary here on Friday at an impressive cake cutting ceremony.

Mr. Abdul Aziz President & CEO Ufone, during the address to the Ufone team members said, “It is a common belief that it is difficult to smile in these trying circumstances, but we at Ufone, have plenty of reasons to smile and believe that all of Pakistan can find reasons to smile”. He declared that the next year’s theme for Ufone will be “Spreading smiles”.

“On the auspicious occasion of the 9th anniversary, we look back at all our achievements with a smile and feel content that it has contributed substantially to the development of the telecom sector. Only in the last year we have made the largest contribution (42%) in the revenue growth of the telecom industry & have produced excellent results by clocking 2.5 times growth versus industry average”, he added.

Mr. Aziz said that Ufone believed in spreading smiles through everything we do. Our advertisements, economical packages & quality of network & customer services have always brought smiles on faces of our valued customers and we promise to take that forward.

He said “This day brings us hope & it gives us the opportunity to reflect & explore avenues to do even better, because it’s the constant search for reaching new heights which makes Ufone successful”.

He thanked the team for their hard work, passion & innovation. He also thanked the customers of Ufone who have trusted the company and helped it grow. He promised the valued customers that Ufone will continue to make its customers smile because for Ufone it’s all about U

He urged the Ufone team to ensure early completion of expansion projects, plan the roll outs meticulously & keep introducing innovative products to grasp an even stronger position in the industry

It will be interesting to watch how other companies will respond to this move. If they will compromise revenues over the new subscriptions they are likely to get if their retain student packages?

29-Jan-09

Ufone is offering this new SMS package, that allows 500 Ufone to Ufone SMS a day for Rs. 2.39 including tax where validation period is 24 hours.

Details:

Packages: Daily On-net SMS Package
Subscription: Rs. 2.39 (including tax)
No. of SMS: 500
Validity: 24 Hours

How to Subscribe:

To subscribe the Daily On-Net daily SMS Package send “sub” to 611

Step 1: Write message “Sub”

Step 2: Send to “611”

How to Un-subscribe?

The customer can unsubscribe by sending “unsub” to 8611. Un-subscription will be charged at Rs.2 + Tax.

Terms and Conditions:

• This package is only valid for Ufone to Ufone SMS
• SMS to all other network will be charged according to customer’s tariffs.
• This service is available to all Prepaid Ufone customers on all packages.
• Users can subscribe to multiple SMS Packages.
• Daily On-Net SMS Package has highest Priority in case of multiple package subscription i.e. On-Net Package will be consumed first before other packages.
• The package is valid for a period of 24 hours from the time of subscription, but if the number of messages offered is consumed before 24 hours then the service will be expired before the validity period ends.
• The customer can check remaining free SMS by sending a blank SMS to 606.
• SMS to short code 606 and 600 will charged at Rs. 0.50 + tax or a SMS from customer’s SMS package.
• The customer can activate multiple SMS packages at the same time by sending a separate subscription SMS for each package. Both subscription charges will be deducted, remaining free SMS will be shown separately.
• The customer will be able to send SMS even after reaching zero balance, as long as the subscription is valid (available free SMS and within 24 hours).
• Upon auto-renewal of Daily SMS Package after 24 hours, remaining SMS from the previous day will not transfer over to the next day.
• The remaining valid free SMS will be available till expiry time even after un-subscription.
• If multiple Daily SMS packages are subscribed within 24hrs, auto re-subscription will be based on the last package subscribed.
• Customers can subscribed to Daily On-Net SMS package multiple times, however, as policy only one package per day is allowed. If any customer is found subscribing more than one package, her/his MSISDN may be blocked

In the process of making its image better PTCL’s “ek tar faiday beshumar” is by far the most vibrant commercial coming from them. Hear it on radio or watch it on TV, its the best at both. Take a look at it yourself.

PTCL – feel the difference

I beleive such advertisements backed by service quality will definilty make the difference felt, create value for the customers and capture the value in return.

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) is now giving WiFi routers to its broadband customers, for wireless connectivity.

If you don’t know, WiFi routers will act exactly as your DSL modems, however, with a difference that WiFi routers can broadcast wireless signals with limited coverage – that is sufficient for in-house use.

So if you use laptop or other wireless devices, such as IP cameras etc, you can ask PTCL for WiFi routers, instead of wired routers (DSL modems).

All this comes with additional rental of Rs. 200 per month. However, this service has no extra cost for broadband customers having Smart TV.

Tariff will be

• 1Mbps Broadband: Rs 1399
• 2Mbps Broadband: Rs 2199
• 4Mbos Broadband: Rs 5199

By the way, Link Dot Net is already providing WiFi routers to its customers with additional charge of Rs. 100 per month.

Ufone Background music lets you play music and sound effects in the background of your call. You can play your favorite song in the background, or the sound of the beach, a market place and many more.

So stop making those boring calls and personalize your conversations by playing music that matches the mood in the background. Just activate this service on your Ufone, select the song you want and hear the music play during the call. And that’s not all. You can also select different music for different people and play special sounds during the conversation at the press of a button.

Once the service is activated on your Ufone you can dial 770 and either select different songs for different mobile numbers or you can select one single song for all mobile numbers.

How To Use Ufone Background Music Service:

By dialing 770, you can manage your Background Music account by adding, deleting or changing the songs.

An easy way to add music to a conversation is by adding the prefix 77 before dialing the required number.

Here is a short guide to Ufone Background Music (BGM) Service:

Ufone BGM service can be subscribed as follows:

• SMS SUB to 770
• Dial 770

You are subscribed and a default BGM tune is set against your number.
You can download content through following medium:

• SMS to 770
• Dial 770
• Log on to BGM Subscriber WEB Portal- click here

http://bgm.ufone.com:8080/bgmSubWeb/homepage.htm

After selecting a content, you will be given the option to assign the selected content on your phone keys (1 – 9).
After first subscription, first three content (including default tune) will be downloaded for free.

Ufone Background Music Call Mechanics:

You have complete control over the music while it is playing. You can easily control the volume of the music and can end the music as and when you want! This is not all- you can also add sounds effects like a crying baby, car horn, marketplace, etc. Just read on below to know all about Ufone Background Music Service.

In order to initiate a BGM call, simply dial 77 followed by any number e.g 770333xxxxx , 77051xxxxx, 770300xxxxx
If you are not subscribed to BGM and want to initiate a BGM call by dialing 77 before the required number, call will not be initiated and you will be prompted to press 1 to subscribe the service.
A default BGM tune is set against the MSISDN.
After downloading content, other tunes and sound effects can then be assigned on keys 1 to 9.
Volume of BGM will be increased by pressing the ‘#’ key.
Volume of BGM will be decreased by pressing the ‘*’ key.
Pressing ‘0’ key will mute the Background Music during the call.
Pressing ‘0’ key will again activate the Background Music during the call.
If you are a BGM user and want to copy the BGM of other BGM user during the call, ‘*’ key will be pressed.
If B party is not a BGM subscriber and wants to copy A party’s (BGM subscriber) BGM tune, B party can press the ‘*’ key to copy the BGM tune. B party will also be subscribed and the copied tune will be set as his/ her BGM tune.

SMS Commands:
Following commands will be sent to 770:
To Subscribe SUB
To Unsubscribe UNSUB
For Help HELP
Content Download CONTENT ID

Pricing:
Subscription Charges (Prepaid) Re. 0.5+Tax per Day
Subscription Charges (Postpaid) Rs. 15+Tax per Month
Call Charges to 770 IVR: Rs. 2+Tax per Minute
Content Download: Rs. 5+Tax per Download
BGM Tune Copy: Rs. 5+Tax per Copy
SMS to 770: Rs. 2+Tax/SMS
Call Charges with prefix 77: Rs. 1.30+Tax/Minute (Prepaid & Postpaid)

(Prefix based charging applies on all U to U, U to OMO and U to PTCL)

Terms and Conditions:

Calls with prefix 77 will be charged on premium rate of Rs. 1.30 + Tax per minute regardless of user’s current call package.
Service available for both Prepaid and Postpaid users.
Service is not applicable for International calls.
Service is not applicable for roamers.
After using the service for a month, if you do not have the service subscription fee for next one month, you will be unsubscribed from the service and will have to subscribe again by dialing 770 or simply sending SUB to 770.