Gadgets & Gizmos

As the advertisement by the National ICT R&D got published in the leading newspapers recently, seeking solution providers for URL level blocking and filtering of “objectionable” material on the internet, the debate on internet censorship has been widespread amid civil society activists expressing doubts over authorities’ intentions to limit internet freedom for public on political grounds.
Majority of the people support the authorities to block obscene material on internet for protecting society – particularly growing up students from the menace; whereas there are people who have expressed their reservations over the mechanism of this plan that may be exploited for massive censorship to suppress the public freedom of expression in case of any political opposition.
Full Disclosure
Before starting discussion we want to let you know that ProPakistani supports this national level, centralized, URL filtering system – having said this, we will oppose any censorship, for any medium, based on political grounds. We also believe that people of Pakistan are free to express and have all the abilities to stop any censorship efforts, if ever made.

What this National Level URL Filtering will do?

This highly hyped URL filtering system is an effort to centralize the blockade process of adult websites, which is currently being done manually at individual level by ISPs. So theoretically there’s nothing new. No new rules, no new policy.
Its just the enhanced form of making those websites inaccessible which are of adult nature.
Currently, PTA regularly sends a list of URLs to ISPs to get them blocked. ISPs in return block these websites through their own means using their own staff and resources.
After National level URL filtering system in place, this current procedure will be replaced with a centralized team taking care of blocking websites at international gateway level, eliminating the resource loss of ISPs.
Again: By definition there’s nothing new being implemented.

Why Adult Websites are Blocked?

You might ask me, especially if you are not from Pakistan and aren’t familiar with the background of the case, that why adult websites are blocked in Pakistan?
To recall, there was this verdict issued by Sindh High Court (SHC) in October 2011 to PTA to get adult websites blocked. Based on which Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) directed all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to block 1,000 explicit sites in the first phase.
The high court issued its verdict after hearing of a petition filled by Syed Iqbal Kazmi, who submitted that obscene material, websites were easily available on the internet, which are spoiling our youth and social norms.
Besides a long struggle was seen by a 15-year-old 9th grader, Ghazi Muhammad Abdullah, who had repeatedly written letters to the Chief Justice, Minister of IT and PTA to take notice of the adult websites, which were easily and freely accessible in Pakistan.
These were merely two cases raised properly and highlighted in the media but the demand was backed by and large all parents and educated people regardless of ideology and liberal and conservative divide as a matter of fact the repercussions of explicit websites are destroying our society moral values and increasing heinous crimes.

What if You Don’t Like the Blockade?

Courts’ rulings are primarily based on constitution, evidences and arguments presented by the parties. To further add, Pakistani courts are independent. Unlike in many countries, Pakistani courts aren’t influenced by the Government or mafia groups. This is evident from facts that court has indicted Prime Minister of Pakistan, while in another ongoing case intelligence agencies are being questioned by judiciary.
So if you don’t like a decision, very fine, its your right to oppose it. In addition you have every right to try reversing the decision, but there’s a procedure to follow.
File a review petition, its simple, go there and request for a review. Doors are open. But once a verdict is issued, try respecting it.
This is exactly like France banning veil. It was state order, based on their constitution. Anyone living in France will have to follow it – regardless of his/her objections over ruling. If one can’t (or doesn’t want to) follow the ban – she’s free to travel to a country where veil isn’t banned. Simple as that.

Need for National Level URL Filtering System

As mentioned above, due to high court order, PTA was bound to get the orders implemented.
Initially order to block websites having obscene content was followed by all ISPs, Broadband operators, Cellular Operators, LDI Operators but the mechanism was manual and could be breached through software/proxy websites.
A meeting held at PTA headquarters on October 27th 2011, according to a document made available to ProPakistani, the authority and ISPs, Cellcos, Broadband and LDI operators attended the meeting.
They believed that the blockade should be expanded to 171,000 websites, estimated to have explicit content but it needed a foolproof system to be deployed as a comprehensive solution.
The authority and all service providers after consensus had been on the same page to block all such websites at international gateway level, that is, at the end of IP backbone (PTCL and TWA) through National Filtering and Blocking System/Solution.
There were two proposals tabled – one was to buy an imported solution from foreign companies, which could cost around $2 and $10 million initially and then maintenance cost with recurring charges every year.
PTA, however, decided to provide opportunity to universities and local firms for developing a proposed solution, which the National ICT R&D will supervise and finance because all of its budget is generated by telecom operators and IT companies.
Secondly, authority and all stake holders there in meeting thought that an opportunity should be given to local talent for unleashing their potential through development of state-of-art solution.

Opposition for National Level URL Filtering System

Activists, I wonder what they specialize in, are up against the URL filtering system with following objections:

• Access to uncensored internet is basic human right
• Blocking of 50 million website will slow down down internet in Pakistan
• National ICT R&D fund shouldn’t be used for financing this project. ICT R&D is supposed to support IT, not to fund such a project.
• Authorities will start blocking websites on political grounds
• Pakistan will get negative publicity due to this censorship

Here are my responses to above mentioned points:
Uncensored Internet is so rare:
You will have to agree with me that completely uncensored internet is a rare luxury to have. Every state/country has standards and rules (based on its ideology and social norms) for restricting its internet users from viewing specific content.
Even developed countries like USA, UK, France and others consider censorship of topics that are held to be antithetical as accepted societal norms. For instance censorship of child pornography, hate speech, hate crime, terrorism, violence against people, animals, or property, etc. is globally practiced.
These countries, however, allow pornography after certain age, unlike our religion which doesn’t allow it all.
Similarly, any material on internet for denial of holocaust is considered criminal – in at least two dozen countries.
Hence, if I may speak frankly, uncensored internet is quite impossible to find.
Adult websites are blocked in Pakistan (though its not fully implemented, and this is why National URL filtering system is needed), just like they are not allowed in other forms of media. For example you won’t find adult material on TV just because PEMRA wouldn’t allow it.
You will have to live with it, weather you like it or not. This country simply doesn’t allow porn, and that’s it. My sincere advise to those who can’t live without porn is to relocate to a place where such activities are allowed.
National Firewall will slow down Internet in Pakistan:
Technically speaking it will impact. No doubt about it. Latency will increase – but it’s the architecture of firewall that will exactly determine the size of delay the firewall will cause.
Technical experts, I have spoken with so far, are of the opinion that impact can’t be gauged at this point of time. They agreed that mission critical assignments (those that can’t afford delay of milliseconds) will be impacted for sure. For general internet user there won’t be any change in life.
Will Pakistan get negative publicity due to this censorship?
Of course yes, due to those attention seekers, who like to be called liberal and activists, running to western media to oppose this blocking system. They are already calling it Great Firewall of Pakistan, according to some, even without reading the RFP (request for proposal).
Western media is always looking for stories against Pakistan, due to reasons obvious to everyone, and how shameful that we ourselves twist the facts to give them the opportunity.
Let’s take the example of Facebook ban last year. Pakistan could easily tell the world that banning Facebook was due to Facebook’s discriminatory behavior and its clear support for the Drawing content.
Pakistan could tell the world that Facebook violated its own TOS, which clearly mentions that hatred speech isn’t allowed. It could tell the world that this country has a blasphemy law (just like so many other countries have their own format of blasphemy laws) that bounds the authorities to get this content banned to the people living in the state. Anyone outside is of course free to access it.
But it didn’t happen this way, in fact these same activists went to western media telling them how miserable their condition was because they couldn’t access Facebook. Even our Chairman PTA couldn’t defend the ban and said that authority simply executed the order passed by court – authority (is so noble and it) has nothing to do with the decision. I mean come’on sir, you could defend our dignity.
Can authorities block websites on political grounds?
Yes they can! But remember, we are only assuming this. Like I mentioned above, internet blocking is already in place – but did you see any website getting banned based on political grounds? One example of a ban last year, which is being referenced by everyone, was due to a technical glitch at Mobilink Infinity.
Yes, there are websites blocked – those advocating for freedom of Balochistan. Which I believe is a matter of national security and is being dealt with diligence.
You will agree that Pakistan is a free nation and Pakistanis are free to say anything against anyone, without involving national security and religion.
Pakistani media is free and private. You will see Kamran Khan shouting against ruling party every night. And he will stay this way – just because we are free.
I myself criticize government so heavily that once I opined of throwing Rehman Malik under the bus.
Don’t worry guys, if you can get Maya Khan out of a show, then you can also stop any censorship efforts by government – just like you stopped SMS fileting.
Why National ICT R&D Fund is used for National Filtering System?
Decision was made to get ICT R&D fund involved because government wanted to give opportunity to local universities and local firms for the this sophisticated deployment.
Instead of buying a solution from abroad, it was best option to avail indigenous resources.

Sweetening the National URL Filtering

Room for betterment in any implementation is always there. The process of blocking adult website could definitely be enhanced. Here are few proposals from ProPakistani

• PTA should publish the list of blocked websites, detailing if block is temporary or permanent
• PTA should also specify the reasons for blocking a website
• Mechanism should be devised for the public for reconsideration/review of PTA’s decision of blocking any website
• Similarly, PTA should also devise a way for public to report inappropriate websites – that they think should be blocked.

There is a dire need of consensus on this issue required, particularly over the assurance that the proposed system will not be misused politically reasons.
The National ICT R&D consists of representation of private sector as well, which can monitor the systems utility in future also and raise objections if National URL Blocking and Filtering System is exploited or misused.
A committee could be constituted with members inducted from government, private sector and rights groups that can monitor the working of the system in future.

Telenor Pakistan’s official website needs an urgent fix for its URL structuring. The problem is that links don’t work If not typed “www” with the main URL.
For instance, type telenor.com.pk (not www.telenor.com.pk) and then try to open any link, yes any link – it won’t work.
Following is what you are likely to get:

I suppose not many internet users type www along with URLs, especially if its .PK domain. I am saying this because a shortcut Ctrl+Enter is largely used with domain names to automatically type www + .com with the domain – but that’s for top level domain. For instance, type Yahoo in your address bar and hit Ctrl+Enter.
We first noticed this when Telenor Pakistan revamped their website last year. But didn’t point it out – just because we thought that they are working on it and might get things straight.
I remember our friend Saad Hamid once mentioning @TelenorPakistan of this flaw over Twitter, but appears they have given up looking at their website (and Twitter account). This is probably why “Blog” section on Telenor’s website is  displaying “Coming Soon” for months.
Update
Okay, it appears Telenor has fixed the issue now.

Through an agreement between Telenor Group and the Wikimedia Foundation signed today, Telenor customers throughout Asia and Southeastern Europe will be able to access Wikipedia.com on their phones for free, i.e. no charges for data traffic at all (as long as there are on Wikipedia.com).
How to Use Wikipedia for Free?

• When implemented (It might take couple of months to get this partnership implemented), customers with a Telenor SIM will be able to access wikipedia.com for free.
• You will be able to visit wikipedia.com as many times as you want
• You will be able to browse wikipedia.com from your phone using any phone browser, or app.
• External links on wikipedia.com will be charged as per usual tariff
• Access to all other web pages (except wikipedia.com) will be charged as per usual tariffs.

When Can you use Wikipedia for Free?
We have asked Telenor Pakistan to give us a definitive date regarding the implementation of this project, for which we are awaiting their reply.
As mentioned above, the agreement was signed today and implementation of this partnership is in process now. Telenor Pakistan told me that a it could take couple of months to work out the technical modalities for making wikipedia.com accessible for free. Ideally, it is expected that all this would be done by April 2012.
A statement issued by Telenor said that this three year partnership between Telenor Group and the Wikimedia Foundation will cover 135 million users. The agreement is signed by seven countries: Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Montenegro, and Serbia.
By the end of the year, more markets are expected to join. The agreement will be implemented step by step throughout 2012, with the first markets launching during the second quarter.
This initiative is part of the Wikimedia Foundation’s mobile strategy, which focuses on reaching the billions of people around the world whose primary opportunity to access the Internet is via a mobile device.
“The Wikimedia Foundation is working to remove barriers to free knowledge, and for most people around the world right now, cost and accessibility are the two biggest hurdles,” says Barry Newstead, Wikimedia Chief Global Development Officer. “We applaud Telenor for joining us to deliver free access to Wikipedia for their customers. Through this partnership, we move a step closer to providing the sum of all knowledge to everyone in the world.”
This partnership supports Telenor’s commitment to bring more value to its mobile customers. Especially, the company has pioneered the development of value-adding services to rural and underserved communities in Asia. Telenor involve millions in Asia through the I-Geniusproject, which has already reached out to 300,000 Bangladeshi students and school-children with a call to explore open knowledge on the internet.
“We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with the Wikimedia Foundation. Telenor have pioneered affordable, mobile communications across much of Asia, and we have built a track record of offering vital services with a significant outreach” says Kristin Skogen Lund,Executive Vice President and Head of Digital Services at Telenor Group. “With this agreement, we are first in Asia to bring a vast knowledge source to the millions in underserved communities across the region.”
Each local Telenor affiliate will establish technical solutions together with the Wikimedia Foundation.

Teradata Corporation, the data analytic solutions company, has entered into an agreement with Telenor Pakistan to expand its Teradata Enterprise Data Warehouse, said a press statement.
A Teradata customer since 2005, Telenor Pakistan has used the Teradata Enterprise Data Warehouse to its competitive advantage as it was fifth to enter the market and is now the second-largest mobile operator in Pakistan.
Telenor Pakistan made the strategic decision to operate with a better view of its business by analyzing data to gain a 360-degree view of customers and to share that information across the enterprise. Since then, the company has grown to over 28 million subscribers, with a 24 percent share of the market.
The expanded Teradata Enterprise Data Warehouse will help the company better understand the market and unleash new opportunities for competitive advantage and growth, statement added. In particular, it will help the company maximize its return on investment by providing unique views of subscribers and revenue

The Heads and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the PTCL, Zong, Warid, Telenor and Mobilink called on Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani at the PM’s House yesterday.
They apprised him that the telecom sector was contributing about Rs. 110 billion in the national exchequer as tax and was providing jobs opportunities to millions of young Pakistanis directly and indirectly, said a statement issued by PM House.
CEOs informed the Prime Minister that the total foreign investment in the telecom sector was $10 billion.
The Prime Minister said that government would ensure fair competition in the auction of 3G spectrum technology in a transparent manner.
The Prime Minister directed the Ministry of Finance and Federal Board of Revenue to hold meetings with Telecom Companies and rationalize the tax regime keeping in view the interests of the industry and the consumers at the same time.
The Prime Minister directed the relevant authorities to address the security concerns of the telecom companies, which were undertaking the expansion programmes in various regions of the country. It was agreed that telecom companies would raise a professionally equipped specialized security force to protect the telecom operators and the installations. The Ministry of Interior will facilitate the import of scanners and other related equipment for this purpose.
Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance, assured the Telecom Companies that a mutually acceptable formula would be worked out keeping in view the commercial considerations of the industry as well as the imperatives of the telecom market in a competitive environment.
In response to the demand for grant of status of industry to the telecom sector, it was agreed that IT Ministry would hold consultations with the CEOs of telecom companies and other stakeholders to address the issue.
Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Minister for Interior Senator A Rehman Malik, Secretaries of Interior and IT, Chairman PTA, CEOs of PTCL, Mobililink, Zong, Ufone, Telenor, and Warid and other senior officials were also present in the meeting.

Telenor Pakistan is, yet again, going to increase daily charges for for Poora Pakistan offer, in addition to adding call setup charges.
When introduced, Poora Pakistan was offered at a daily charges of Rs. 7.99 plus tax, later charges were doubled to Rs. 15 plus tax per day and then increased to Rs. 20 plus tax.
New Rates:
Now Telenor has posted a message on its website revealing that from March 1st, daily charges for Poora Pakistan offer will be increased to Rs. 25 plus tax per day or Rs. 29.87 including tax.
Not only this, a call setup fee of Rs. 1.00 (plus tax) per call will also be charged – excluding 9pm to 10pm.
Subscription, Charges and Validity:

• Dial *345*000# USSD to subscribe
• Subscription price (After March 1st): Rs.25+tax
• Call setup charges of Rs.1.00+tax will be applicable all day excluding 9pm-10pm
• Validity: Customers can make Free Calls on day of subscription – till 12am (offer not valid between 6pm-9pm)
• Offer is for Talkshawk 24 Hrs Subscribers Only

Terms and conditions

• Offer mechanics and price are subject to change at any time
• Talkshawk reserves the right to withdraw the offer at any time
• Effective 1st March 2012, Offer Subscription price will be Rs.25+tax
• Effective 1st March 2012, Call setup charges of Rs.1.00+tax will be applicable all day excluding 9pm-10pm
• Effective 1st March 2012, Customers can make free calls on day of subscription – till 12am (Offer not valid between 6pm-10pm)

Telenor has lately introduced 500MB GPRS bundle for those Djuice prepaid customers who want higher data transfers on their cell phones.
Price:
Telenor Djuice customers can avail this 500MB GPRS package for Rs 250 per month.
Just to mention, there’s no tax on any GPRS/EDGE package.
This GPRS bundle is not available for Telenor talkshawk prepaid customers.
Activation:

• Dial *345*904# from your Djuice to avail this offer
• To check your Telenor GPRS validity and usage detail dial *999# (10 paisas charges of *999#)
• GPRS charging pulse is 64KB
• To configure your mobile for Telenor internet settings click here

This 500MB is the largest GPRS bundle from Telenor for its prepaid customers. Compared to this, Zong is offering 2GB (2048MB) GPRS in Rs. 200.

Youth brand Djuice recognized the students’ efforts at ‘breaking the silence – Khamoshi ka Boycott’.
All the students are poor and belong to far-flung areas but had secured more than 90% marks in their Matriculation examination by instilling in themselves a drive for a better tomorrow.
Each student was awarded a handset along with a Djuice SIM with free airtime and Internet access. The aim is to empower them with a tool that can help them activate their communities.
Picture shows chairman Punjab Education Foundation Raja Anwar (center) with a group of high achieving students and djuice team at the PEF office in Rawalpindi.

Pakistan posted 20 percent growth in local currency for overall revenues which stood at Rs. 20.20billion (NOK 1,343) during fourth quarter of 2011, up from Rs. 17.27 billion (NOK 1,173) during the same period a year ahead.
Financial results said that increase in revenues were mainly due to increase in mobile subscriptions and higher ARPU, which grew 3 percent in local currency as a result of higher usage.
Revenues from financial services contributed 3 percent of total revenue growth during the reported duration.
Telenor Pakistan’s EBITDA margin increased by 13 percentage points primarily due to strong revenue growth and stable operating expenses. EBITDA in local currency increased by 77%. Excluding the positive effect of one-time items the EBITDA margin was 38%.
Telenor Pakistan, according to financial stats provided by Telenor Group, had 28,131,000 customers as of December 31st, 2011 – 27,835 of these were prepaid while another 296,000 were reported as postpaid subscribers.
Telenor said that average traffic minutes per subscription per month stood at 202 minutes, slightly ahead of 197 minutes a quarter ago.
Telenor managed to maintain an ARPU of Rs. 236 during the reported quarter, showing a slight growth of 3 percent over the last quarter. Telenor said that ARPU for postpaid subscriptions stood at Rs. 771.

With the aim to encourage youth to speak out against issues that are preventing them from having a better future, djuice has launched a youth anthem ‘Kya Darta Hai’, a song sung by Shehzad Roy, said a statement.
The song has been written by Shehzad Roy and Nazir Akbar Abadi while the music video has been directed by Saqib Malik.
Speaking about the anthem, Usman Javed, Director Marketing, Telenor Pakistan said:

“Music is something that connects young people everywhere; Shehzad Roy is Pakistan’s youth icon who is known for his social music, which talks about empowerment and social change. So the djuice team asked Shehzad to create a song which young people could identify with. “

“As a result, on the occasion of 14^th August this year djuice and Shehzad Roy have made a song about the possibilities that can be turned into reality by the young people of Pakistan but only if they stand up to those issues that hinder their progress, and work towards a better future,” said Usman.

‘Kya Darta Hai’ is based on djuice’s commitment to the young people of Pakistan through its new brand positioning, ‘Khamoshi Ka Boycott’ (fueling youths’ drive toward a better tomorrow). The song urges young people to raise their voice against injustice and to not bow to difficulties that they may face on the way. The lyrics speak about the possibilities of young people uniting to make a better tomorrow a reality.

Djuice has introduced Choti Call Offer with which you can call your friends and family (FnF numbers only) at 15 paisa per 30 seconds. This is a daily subscription offer which allows you call all your friends and family at affordable rates but keep in mind that offer has daily subscription charges and limitation to use during peak hours.
Offer Details:

• Call your friends and family (FnF) at 15 paisas + tax /30 second
• Offer has a validity of one day
• Subscription (or daily) charges of Rs. 3 + tax per day
• Calls made during 8PM to 10PM will be charged as per regular tariff plan

How to subscribe:

• Offer can be subscribed by dialling *345*130#

Validity:
Since the offer has a validity of one day, so it will expire at 12 midnight everyday and for those subscribers who have subscribed after 6 PM, it will expire at 12 midnight next day.
Also note that this offer will not be active between 8PM to 10PM.

Following Telenor, Mobilink and Ufone – Zong and Warid have imposed 1.5 percent charges on all reloads for prepaid customers.
Warid’s website is flashing following message:

Dear Customers, a maintenance charge of 1.5% will be applicable on every recharge from 25th Jul 2011 along with existing Government taxes.

While Zong said:

Dear Customers, in order to further improve our services, all loading/recharge will be subject to 1.5% Operational Charge from 1st July 2011 (Govt taxes apply)

Interestingly, all operators have imposed the charges but with different timings and names. Operators say they had to impose these charges to cope up with the increasing opex.

Operator	Charge Name	Charges Rate
Mobilink	Operational Fee	1.0 Percent
Ufone	Maintenance Charges	1.1 Percent
Telenor	Admin Fee	1.5 Percent
Zong	Maintenance Charges	1.5 Percent
Warid	Operational Charges	1.5 Percent

Telenor Talkshawk will be giving free minutes and SMS alongwith other big prizes.
Now you can win motorcycles and a car just by recharging your account under Talkshawk bonus offer.
All you have to do is to subscribe to bonus offer before recharging and you will  be awarded with free minutes and SMS and will also be able to win motorcycles and one car at the end of the campaign. Depending upon recharge amount, Telenor bonus minutes and SMS will be posted to your account.
Bonus Amount:

• Bonus upon recharge between Rs.50-Rs.99: 5 Telenor minutes and 5 SMS
• Bonus upon recharge of Rs.100 or more: 15 Telenor minutes and 15 SMS
• Multiple recharge transactions will enable multiple rewards

Charges:

• Talkshawk bonus recharge offer has a subscription charges of Rs. 1 + tax

Validity:

• Validity of the Bonus (mins and SMS) will be 1 calendar day (up till 12 mid night), of the day of subscription.

Subscription Mechanics:
Step 1:

• Customer will dial *345*260# to subscribe

Step 2:

• Upon successful subscription, subscriber will have till midnight to make a total recharge of between Rs.50-Rs.99 or Rs.100 or more (can be in one transaction or multiple transaction)

Step 3:

• Once total recharge reaches threshold of either Rs.50 or Rs.100, customer will receive Free Telenor minutes and Free SMS depending upon recharge amount (subscriber would also qualify for lucky draw upon receiving bonus)

Step 4:

• Customers can check their Free Mins balance by dialing *222# and free SMS balance by dialing *111# Expected number of users (users who will be engaged in anyway) – 30,000

Lucky Draw Schedule:
Winners of the lucky draw would be announced on every Tuesday during the campaign.

Terms and conditions:

• Free Minutes can only be used to call on all Telenor numbers
• Subscribers of all Telenor Talkshawk price plans are eligible for Recharge offer
• The campaign has started on Saturday 14th May 2011,
• Every subscriber who would do a minimum recharge of Rs. 50 after subscribing Recharge offer, would qualify for the lucky draw
• Every time a subscriber recharges Rs. 50 or more, he/she would get one entry for lucky draw
• If a customer has existing free minutes/SMS in his/her account than upon bonus reward after recharge, the new bonus mins and SMS will be transferred to the free mins/SMS account
• The more entries subscriber gets in a week, the more is the chance to win
• Winners of would be announced on every Tuesday during the campaign
• For weekly motorcycle draw, only qualified subscriptions of the same week would be considered
• Telenor reserves the right to advertize names and testimonials of winner
• The models of actual prizes may differ from those shown in all communications
• It will be the sole responsibility of winners to pay taxes charged on their respective prizes
• Only subscribers with SIMs registered in their own name would be eligible for this campaign
• Subscribers should be on a Talkshawk price plan at the time of lucky draw to be eligible for this offer
• 19.5% FED on usage and 11.5% withholding tax at recharge or bill applies

Hum Qadam is a new initiative by Telenor Pakistan to contribute towards the better Pakistan. This initiative will work nation-wide creating a sense of harmony and responsibility to pay your part for the country.
Telenor Pakistan employees will be sparing 50,000paid working hours for the training of fellow citizens in different walks of life.
This will help Telenor and in turn Pakistan, to create a community full of skilled persons that may result in the better life life standard and something for the country as well. One of the key component of this programme is to teach ICT skills for business competence.
Christian Albech, CEO Telenor Pakistan says about the initiative:

‘Hum Qadam is about how we, Telenor Pakistan employees, can take responsibility, contribute to our local communities and offer to make an improvement in the lives of the inhabitants’.

It will be mandatory for all permanent employees in Telenor Pakistan to spend at least 20 paid working hours per year working with community engagement projects with partner organizations/NGOs in any of the following areas of interest:

• Education
• Disability
• Emergency Response/disaster preparedness/relief

Telenor Pakistan employees will have the option to choose from a variety of different projects being run by partner organizations. Employees will be participating in diverse activities including mentoring high school students from underprivileged backgrounds, teaching ICT skills to government school teachers or students, providing attendant services to persons with disabilities, and conducting disaster preparedness sessions in flood-affected communities.

Telenor group today announced its results for first quarter 2011, according to which, Telenor Pakistan showed 9.7 percent in Norwegian currency, due to increased share from tower sharing and Easypaisa revenues.
Telenor in its financial report said that group’s Pakistani arm generated a total of 1179 million NOK or 18.769 billion rupees, up from 1074 million NOK or 17.098 billion rupees (according to current day exchange rate) during same period last year.
Company said that The EBITDA margin increased by 6 percentage points, as revenues increased and costs related to leased lines declined.
Telenor said that it continued to focused on network capacity investments to align with subscription growth and traffic volumes to decrease capital expenditure .
With 26% cash flow margin, Telenor says that company is on track to deliver good returns in Pakistan.
Telenor Pakistan said that it added 1 million subscriptions during the said quarter. ARPU in NOK remained unchanged, while it showed 2% increase in local currency.
Following are few financial figures from the company:

Telenor Pakistan, the most sought after employer, as claimed by the company, has fired its whole Network Security and Maintenance Department in a fickle, told us sources close to the situation.
Our sources further confirmed us that the decision was sudden and without any prior notification whatsoever. Perhaps Telenor did not want its other employees to feel insecure about their jobs – who, as a matter of fact, should feel insecure – that’s why no internal memo was circulated.
When we asked Telenor the details about the incident, Aamir Izhar, a company spokesperson confirmed that company recently outsourced its network maintenance and security contract to a multinational vendor.
“As part of the contract Telenor Pakistan’s network security team has been absorbed by the vendor to ensure the existing high standards of network security for Telenor Pakistan infrastructure”, added Mr. Izhar.
This apparently means that whole Network Security and Maintenance Department was given away to Huawei, and employees will have to work under new employer and of course with new contracts, terms and maybe the pay scales.
This has happened amid the mist of recent vendor change. Telenor Pakistan’s contract with Nokia Siemens Networks ended this month and now its Huawei that will be looking after Telenor’s Network Maintenance and Security across the country.
On other hands, we are told that some of the terminated employees, including Babar Ghayoor Khan, Network Security manager, is not joining Huawei as a protest against sudden termination.
Even after repeated attempts, we could not establish a direct communication with Babar Ghayoor to know his viewpoint.
This is not only unprofessional and unethical on Telenor’s part, but also bears a testimony to the unstable and uncertain culture perpetuating in the private sector too. One can concatenate this to the earlier incidents of the strike by PTCL’s employees, the outburst of KESC’s employees and later the bout of PIA’s workers. It is indeed a sad moment.