Warid Telecom has recently launched two new Value Added Services in response to their customer’s popular demand – ‘Gup Lagao, Dost Banao’ and the ‘Warid Fun Store’.

Gup Lagao Dost Banao allows users to make new friends and meet new people without revealing your identity. Zem users now have the option to create their own profiles, search for friends according to criteria, reply and manage messages or chat in public or private forums. The most popular functions of this service include complete anonymity, absolute confidentiality, offline messages through voice messages and discussion forums. For your convenience, offensive language is strictly barred from all forums. To access the service, simply dial 777.

The Warid Fun Store allows download of the latest content for your mobiles or download gifts for friends. Download content includes ringtones, greetings, picture messages, wallpapers, screen savers, Ramadan pictures, Naat’s and Azaan. To access the service, simply dial 555.

On the occasion, Chief Executive Officer of Warid Telecom, Marwan Zawaydeh said, “Warid is a leader in introducing innovative services and our latest Value Added Services like Gup Lagao and Fun Store are the recent additions to our achievements. We hope to continue bringing more innovative services in the future.”

Chief Commercial Officer – Thomas Yeo added, “Warid Fun Store and Gup Lagao, Dost Banao are great products for the younger age group. The successful launch and warm welcome of these new Value Added Services ensures that we will continue to serve every age group in our customers with products that are suitable to their needs.”

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) with its commitment to give better value for money & convenience to its customers has introduced Line Restoration through E-collection service here in Karachi today.

This exclusive facility will allow valued customers to get their numbers restored within 30 minutes after paying their bills at PTCL One Stop Shops at Clifton, Gulshan-e-Iqbal & Naziabad), PTCL Revenue Offices (Defense & Karachi Airport) and Ufone franchises and Customer Care Centers.

From 15^th October 2008 onward, payments can also be made at all HBL online branches located in Karachi and numbers will be restored by PTCL in half an hour.

As a pilot project Line Restoration through E-collection is currently being offered to our customers only in Karachi. However, PTCL is committed to provide this service nationwide very soon.

Commenting on the launch of this service Senior Executive Vice President Corporate Development PTCL Sikandar Naqi said that this initiative has opened more venues for the valued customers to deposit their bills; they don’t have to wait for long hours or face inconvenience by visiting different offices for restoration. Now they just have to pay their bills and get their number restored within half an hour, he added.

Naqi also said, that the PTCL management has announced 2007-08 as the year of customer care and PTCL is committed to facilitate the customers through similar innovative and useful services in future as well. “Our well trained and agile staff is looking forward to deliver excellence to our customers at these collection points. In case of any inconvenience or delay customers can contact our help line at 1236 for further assistance.” Mr. Naqi added.

Amidst the damage of Evacuee Trust Complex (ETC) building where around 23 IT companies were housed, IT companies in Islamabad have restored their operations to normal from alternate facilities and are fulfilling contractual obligations to local and international clients. Mr. Talib Baloch, MD PSEB & Ms. Jehan Ara, President P@SHA said in a joint statement issued here after a meeting in Islamabad.

“Most of the Companies in the building were allied offices of international firms all of which have proper business continuity plans in place as a part of their strategic business plans”.

The bomb-blast outside the Marriott, Islamabad also affected Evacuee Trust Complex (ETC), as it is located just next to Marriott Hotel. The building was the hub of IT Industry in Islamabad with around twenty-three prominent ICT companies and various other Multinationals.

Although the soft structure of building was smashed with interrupted power and other infrastructure issues but the equipment, data /record and furniture other than glass structure of all companies is reported safe and intact. This temporarily paralyzed the operations of tenant companies in the building. In addition to a few minor and eight seriously injured, six causalities have also been reported. The deceased include three employees of tenant companies and three security guards at ETC building. PSEB and P@SHA offer their sincere condolences to the families of all those who lost their lives in the vicious attack.

The building was initially sealed but after the intervention of Federal Secretary of Information Technology & MD PSEB, physical access was allowed to the tenant companies on emergency basis to remove their mission critical assets. Companies collected their critical equipment, furniture and records to restore their operations from alternate locations / facilities on war-footing basis. No theft or mismanagement was reported as companies moved their assets from the building. Many companies such as iKonami, Ovex Technologies, Cogilent Solutions, Jin Technologies, LMKR, PiSigma etc. have reinstated their operations from alternate sites in Islamabad and Rawalpindi. International community outsourcing IT to Pakistan has also expressed their satisfaction on continuity of business with Pakistani IT companies. The industry stands tall to fulfill all international and local business commitments. Mr. Ken Morse, MD MIT Entrepreneurship Center, USA, assured his continued support to Pakistan IT industry and confirmed his scheduled visit to Pakistan in November 2008.

To facilitate those affected, vigorous efforts are being made by PSEB to identify and arrange alternate facilities in Islamabad and Rawalpindi for both IT Companies and Call Centers on urgent basis to ensure continuation of business. Office space of more than 268,000 sq ft. has been identified to ETC tenant Companies. Few of these locations are ideal to convert into Software Technology Park and negotiations are underway with the owners. More than 690 fully and partially operational seats for call centers in Islamabad and Rawalpindi have also been arranged by PSEB and offered to the tenant companies, MD PSEB added.

Both the public and private sector is actively working together to reinstate the temporary loss suffered by the industry. President P@SHA, Ms. Jehan Ara reached Islamabad today to visit the building and met the affected companies. MD PSEB and President P@SHA requested IT companies having excess capacity to help each other by sharing office space. MoIT, PSEB, P@SHA and other industry leaders strongly demand the Chairman ETPB (Evacuee Trust Property Board) to take steps on war footing for the restoration of the building within next 30 days.

Pakistan Telecomunication Company limited (PTCL) has announced its financial results here today for the year ended on June 30, 2007.  The board of Directors of PTCL met here to review and approve the audited financial statements of the Company for the year ended on June 30, 2007.

PTCL has earned total revenue of 61 billion for 2007-08 financial year. In assessing the financial performance the Board was informed that decrease in profit is mainly due to its Voluntary Separation Scheme which had cost the company around Rs. 24 billion.

The operating cost without VSS this year was Rs. 45 billion which has been decreased as compared to the Rs. 47 billion reported last year, loss of 2.8 billion reported due to heavy VSS expense.

PTCL has recently introduced IPTV service in Pakistan. The customer’s response is tremendous.  PTCL has a renewed commitment to provide efficient and state of the art telecom services to its customers. With the introduction of these new services PTCL is proactively developing ways to meet the needs of its customers and is demonstrating its commitment to provide quality services at affordable prices.

The privatization of PTCL and the transfer of control to the new owner, Etisalat carry important implications for the company. Etisalat has announced an aggressive 5-year expansion plan for the company and is viewing options to re-structure the organization, improve customer care, increase revenue, enhance cost control and change the mindset of employees to bring about a positive change in the operations and running of the company.

Telenor has been ranked first in The Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI) second time in a row. The ranking marked Telenor as the industry leader among 17 leading global mobile telecommunications companies.

Commenting on the achievement Telenor’s Executive Vice President, Communications and Corporate Responsibility, Hilde Tonne said” We are pleased that the DJSI recognize our long-term investment in improving the sustainability of all our operations,”
In the DJSI ranking, Telenor achieved top scores for Digital Inclusion and Climate Strategy. Telenor is focused on providing state-of-the-art products and services as well as ensuring a constantly improving commitment level towards the company’s corporate responsibility performance across the Group.

Commenting on the award, Director Corporate Communications, Telenor Pakistan, Syed Hasnat Masood said, “Telenor Pakistan’s local community support initiatives have contributed to the strong performance of the Telenor Group in the area of social contribution. Telenor Pakistan supports a range of initiatives, but our main focus is on activities related to telecommunications services, since that is where we have the most to contribute. We have focused on emergency communications, education, empowerment, enterprise, and environment. With our initiatives, we are trying to create shared value for the society and the business.”
DJSI annually analyzes sustainability trends and performance of companies worldwide based on 98 in-depth questions on economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainability. This is the world’s most comprehensive annual analysis of sustainability trends and corporate sustainability performance. The research is based on extensive internal and external documentation.

Powerful bomb blast at Marriot hotel has caused huge damage to the window pans and false ceilings of the nearby located Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) building.

The main entrance of the building, windows, doors and fixture of five floors have been damaged by the blast. Despite the widespread damage, luckily, no person was injured, as only security staff was present outside the building at the time of blast.

Chairman PTA Dr. Mohammed Yaseen visited the building on Sunday and supervised the rehabilitation work, which could take weeks to complete.

Warid Telecom has launched in collaboration with AMES (Arvato Middle East Sales, a Bertelsmann Company), the biggest entertainment and digital media portal in Pakistan, which will be accessible to Warid customers through the phone and on the Web. This collaboration with Warid is part of a global portal, GETMO which will be available for subscribers in South Africa, India,

WZone offers the latest Pakistani, Bollywood and International entertainment content on the portal. All the content on the site is copyrighted and digital right protected which in turn will help the artists. By visiting wzone.pk, subscribers can now download full track songs, ringtones, video tones, wallpapers, music videos, movie trailers, games, themes and access content archives including that of Sony BMG Music Entertainment.

Warid Telecom updated its content portfolio by offering 250 mobile games that are compatible with more than 500 different types of handsets. These exciting games are constantly updated and are related to the genres of Action, Arcade, Puzzle, Racing, Shooting, Sports, Strategy and much more. Zem Mobile Games have gone the extra mile since users are ensured compatibility by sending an SMS to “200” mentioning their model and make to receive a list of games that is relevant to their handset.

On the occasion, Chief Executive Officer – Marwan Zawaydeh said, “Warid has always been a pioneer in introducing innovative services since its inception in May 2005. By offering the best in-class services for entertainment we are becoming a leader for this niche market. The success of these services is a tribute to how our loyal users maximize the use of our best quality network in Pakistan.”

Chief Commercial Officer – Thomas Yeo added, “Zem Mobile Games and the W-Zone are a new way for Warid users to express themselves. It is our job to help give them every service they could possibly want from an international GSM company. Through delivery of the latest value added services we always strive to provide users a product that they actually need and will use.

The IT hub of Pakistan faced its toughest confront on September 20, 2008 when a bomb shacked the very basis of Marriot Hotel and its surroundings leading to a chaos and closing of many IT firms residing in that area. Nayatel being the only fiber optic network service in the capital city approached its valued customers residing in this area and adopted a hands-on strategy and helped all the companies with offer of emergency help by shifting their accounts to any other location in Islamabad/Rawalpindi on Nayatel fiber network.

The blast happened on Saturday 20 September 2008 night and we started working on very next day morning for customers shifting. Some of the customers were shifted on Monday and their US customers on Monday evening were pleasantly surprised to see their back offices up and running within just one day.

This kind of recovery is even not possible to be achieved by US standards. Most of the IT companies that were up and running in short order were because of Nayatel.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) will start checking illegal sale of new mobile connections across  the country from first week of September whereas unregistered SIMs not verified so far will be blocked by  August 31, 2008.

This was decided in a meeting held here today presided over by Chairman PTA Dr. Muhammad Yaseen. It was decided that verification of data of all SIMs sold up till April 30th is to be completed by August 31, 2008 and unverified SIMs to be blocked.

Chairman PTA, on this occasion, emphasized that after the deadline, PTA Zonal teams at Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi and Muzzaffarabad will start joint surveys to check the implementation of PTA procedures in the sale of new mobile connections. He said in the event of violation by any franchisee/retailer strict action will be taken against the company under the law.

He said PTA is taking the issue of unregistered SIMs very seriously and it shall be resolved with the help of all stake holders including the law enforcement agencies and the cellular industry.

It may be mentioned that PTA issued a comprehensive SOP wherein mobile operators were directed to streamline the new connections sale and verify the old records through NADRA.

CDF Software and Telenor Pakistan today announced the launch of Social Bridges (socialbridges.org), a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) blog on the internet. The first such initiative in Pakistan, the blog aims to educate internet-savvy public about the concept of CSR and engage the educated classes in a debate about the role of businesses in society’s development.

Blog is short for web-log. A blog is generally an online journal that is updated frequently and builds communities around a particular topic by allowing comments from the online readers. Blogging around the world and in Asia has become a significant phenomenon in terms of participatory journalism, with some sources estimating 45-50% of those online actively blogging as well.

Blogging on the corporate sector in Pakistan, especially in the field of Information & Communication Technologies (ICT), has grown tremendously as the sector has expanded over the last few years. However, a focused discussion on the role of businesses in helping build communities has been lacking until now.

The Social Bridges blog provides a platform to bring together various stakeholders including Corporate Sector, NGOs, Academia, International Experts and General Public to discuss the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on bringing about social change in Pakistan.

Elaborating on the unique initiative, Osama Hashmi, CEO of CDF Software and Managing Editor of Social Bridges said, “Corporate Social Responsibility is an emerging concept, and companies are coming to realize that Pakistan presents unique social, environmental, ethical challenges and opportunities. What this really means for CSR initiatives is that we wont always find the right answer for this country merely by looking outside to others’ for influence. Our industries will have to work together to find the best answers for ourselves. Social Bridges is a exciting step towards that goal because only through a democratic, decentralized platform where all industry leaders and stakeholders can being their intellect together into mature discussion can we hope to take on these challenges in stride.”
The blogsite www.socialbridges.org has been lead sponsored by Telenor Pakistan, while its co-sponsors include Mir Khalil-Ur-Rehman Foundation, Mishal and Acid Survivors Foundation. “As the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility continues to evolve in Pakistan with mixed results, we feel that this initiative can help spark a discussion around corporate transparency, responsibility, and strategy,” said Syed Hasnat Masood, Head of Corporate Responsibility for Telenor Pakistan. “A blog discussion is more democratic and allows easier access to community feedback than conventional means; however, you must be able to accept the candidness that comes with it.”

‘Social Bridges’ since its launch has managed to attract a sizeable number of local readers and international experts who are actively contributing to the blog in the form of cross- postings as well as giving practical advice and interviews. Till date, there have been more than 25,642 visits with 25 active participants and currently the blog has a Technorati ranking of 16. Technorati is an Internet search engine that searches blogs and indexes them by popularity.