PTCL conducted its annual Way Forward Workshop for the senior management held on April 18th to 19th 2010 at Serena hotel Islamabad. The Way Forward exercise is one of the initiatives taken by the Etisalat management to develop teamwork and foster creativity at PTCL.

The Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) have entered into a landmark agreement at Islamabad for the provisioning of 10 Gigabit Premium Internet Bandwidth Connectivity. This is the largest Internet Backbone Connectivity ever acquired by any organization in Pakistan.

PTCL is the main provider of premium internet bandwidth to the HEC who in turn provides the internet services to the universities alongwith other IP facilities including video conferencing, digital libraries and access to International Education & Research Networks.

The contract is an integral component of Pakistan Education & Research Network-2 (PERN-2) Project which was initiated by HEC to provide high speed connectivity to the universities and institutes of higher learning across the country, forming the national research and education network of Pakistan. PERN2 also provides internet access to the students and research scholars of the universities in Pakistan through state of the art access technologies.

On the occasion, Dr. Sohail Naqvi, Executive Director of HEC said “The PERN-2 project upon completion will bring HEC at par with any international organization and will give access to the internet cloud, world wide education & research networks, digital libraries within/outside Pakistan, distance learning/video conferencing, unified communication boosting the sharing of knowledge with international students, scholars and knowledge resources”.Walid Irhaid, President and CEO, PTCL, added that “PTCL has offered this premium IP transit facility keeping in view of its corporate social responsibilities to the education sector of the country. PTCL is the only service provider in Pakistan having the capability to provide the required volume of internet bandwidth because of its partnerships in multiple international submarine cables’, its robust countrywide transmission network and state of the art IP infrastructure.”

On this occasion HEC & PTCL expressed desire for expanded future co-operation in the best interest of the country and its positive impact on the education & social sectors of Pakistan.

To facilitate its customers Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) has launched duplicate bill service on web. Where customers can either go to PTCL portal www.ptcl.com.pk or click the URL http://dbill.ptcl.net.pk to view their bill. They can either download it in PDF format or can print directly to their printer.

Launch of this service save customer’s time, where now it’s not necessary for customer to visit PTCL OSS or other office to receive a duplicate bill in case they do not receive their phone bill. They can easily view or print the phone bill at their own convenience from home/office/net café, wherever and whenever they like.

SEVP Commercial Naveed Saeed remarked the launch of this service another feather in already thriving portfolio of PTCL services which are designed especially keeping in mind customer facilitation. He said PTCL is determined to develop systems which are customer-centric and user friendly.

Not only this, PTCL has also developed an effective online interface through which customers can order majority of products along with the facilitation of submitting their suggestions and feedback regarding services of PTCL.

EVP Customer Care Jamil Khawaja said that customer care has been at the core of all activities of PTCL and it is our endeavor to provide customer services through various touch points for their ease.

The steps to get duplicate bill have been kept very simple. Customer can visit the website www.ptcl.com.pk or URL http://dbill.ptcl.net.pk. After that they have to follow link bill view/print or browse it. After entering the landline number and customer id which is mentioned in landline bill, duplicate bill in PDF format would appear in popup window. Customer with a print out can walk into any PTCL one stop shops, revenue offices, customer care centre or PTCL designated bank to pay the bill.

The module is running smoothly in browsers like Internet explorer, Google crome, Mozilla Fire fox and Safari

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) Pakistan’s national  converged services telecom operator, and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Pakistan’s largest banking institute have joined hands to deploy the largest Financial network in Pakistan . This is via NBPs “Online Connectivity Services for Network Expansion” project.

PTCL will provide an end to end solution with enterprise-wide network connectivity architecture, all necessary hardware, software & management of the network, on the basis of managed services. The established of this State-of-the-art Wide Area Network will ensure enhanced reach, operational efficiency, customer retention & systematic growth and development for NBP. The WAN will be used for various banking applications, emails, internet and ATM’s across NBP’s 1300 branch network and other offices over Pakistan and AJK.

President PTCL Mr. Walid Irshaid during the ceremony said’ National Bank of Pakistan is  a valuable addition to PTCL’s  portfolio of its customers. This project is another milestone in PTCL’s perpetual pursuit for providing its customers with the best solutions based on the latest available technology in the market with unmatched services . It is also an opportunity for PTCL to deliver innovative, secure & reliable solutions for Pakistan’s largest banking institute.”

Commenting on the occasion NBP President, Mr. Ali Raza said that “this is an unparalleled achievement for Pakistan’s banking establishment . The introduction of this level of technology will not only provide immense facilitation to our customers but also make NBP a technology leader not only in Pakistan but in the whole region.”

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL) has upgraded and advanced its contact centers to facilitate its customers. Now PTCL customers can utilize its services through these contact centers with out leaving their homes or offices.

PTCL has four contact centers one each in Karachi and Rawalpindi and two in Lahore. These contact centers operates round the clock 24/7, 365 days a year. A well trained staff of 1200 personnel ensures quality service and support to our customers at all times.

These contact centers has been upgraded from a previously man-power reliant contact centers and now has taken the shape of advanced and developed process-oriented contact centers. They are equipped with state-of-the-art technology and parameters in place together with efficient and effective provision on the first call resolution.

SEVP Commercial Naveed Saeed remarked that these steps were an effort to ensure that all the customers both in-bound and out-bound, needs were dealt with speedily and effectively. He added that customer facilitation has always been the core objective of PTCL policies and programs.

Besides this, PTCL has also developed an effective online interface through which customers can order majority of products along with the facility of submitting their suggestions and feedback regarding services of PTCL. The web portal will enable customers to manage their accounts and billing as per convenience of their time and location. PTCL is also providing an online complaint form for their customers to register their complaints using web based services.

To improve customer care in the regions, PTCL has also established service support centers through out the country. They serve as a platform for communication with customers, analysis and follow-ups on faults and service provisioning regarding all PTCL services. They have also been engaged in coordination with local exchanges for expediting customer services issues.

EVP Customer Care Jamil Khawaja said ensuring effective customer care is the top priority of PTCL and all steps would be taken to simplify the procedures for our customers to eradicate any hurdles coming in way.

Cable&Wireless Worldwide has secured a contract with Pakistan Telecommunications Company (PTCL) and Transworld Associates (TWA) in Pakistan. The Company has also won contracts with Sri Lanka Telecom and one of the largest telecom operators in Bangladesh.

Cable&Wireless Worldwide is one of the world’s leading critical communication companies, providing a range of high-quality managed voice, data and IP-based services and applications to large corporates, multinational companies, governments, carrier customers and resellers across the UK, Asia Pacific, India, Middle East & Africa, Continental Europe and North America.  Stretching to more than 500,000 KM, the Cable&Wireless Worldwide global next-generation network (NGN) includes the UK’s largest fiber network for business communications, and provides connectivity to 153 countries. The Company’s Multi-Service Platform, an IP-based next-generation platform that operates across the NGN, offers a single environment on which voice and data applications can be converged to drive business efficiencies.
The company has already started providing its multi-service platform in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and North Asia and Europe. They also provide solution in Internet protocol based products, Ethernet-based solutions and value added communication applications to consumers.
Cable&Wireless Worldwide entry to Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is to strengthening its presence in the South Asian market.
“We have a strong emerging markets strategy and our vision of ‘Global Orchestration’ to drive greater levels of customer engagement. We are now increasing our presence in the region and by growing our colleague base, building support and services, and adding to our portfolio of products and solutions. We will continue to deliver mission critical communications for our customers,” said Nick Lambert, Managing Director, Global Markets, Cable & Wireless Worldwide.
Asia and Africa are considered the prime emerging growth markets and customers in these markets are increasingly looking for a seamless and robust global infrastructure and to also consolidate their telecoms suppliers. As a result, Cable&Wireless Worldwide’s is deepening its engagement with customers where it is considered a trusted partner.

The company sees an increased demand for next-generation solutions in Internet-Protocol based products such as Managed Video Conferencing, intelligent contact centre solutions and IP telephony from customers in the Asia market.

In the last two years, Cable&Wireless Worldwide has developed a world-class, next-generation Multi-Service Platform capability in the region and has grown its portfolio of value-added telecommunications solutions for customers. The Multi-Service Platform has already been rolled out in the Middle East, Southeast Asia & North Asia and Europe, and enables the company to deliver innovative IP and Ethernet-based solutions and value-added communications applications to customers.

Commenting on media reports attributed to the Government of Pakistan’s Federal Minister of Privatisation: Senator Waqar Ahmed Khan, The Chairman and Managing Director of Emirates Telecommunication Corporation – Etisalat: Mr Mohammad Omran recalled that Etisalat’s investment in PTCL came in the wake of a welcome invitation and encouragement by the Government of Pakistan to participate in the privatization process, which the Corporation was pleased to accept given the special and brotherly relations between the UAE and Pakistan. He said that in addition to financial valuation and other formal commercial considerations, the governance and strict procurement rules of Etisalat (the Corporation being a listed entity in the UAE, 60% of which is owned by the Federal Government of UAE) required that before approving an acquisition of an asset, its Board of Directors obtained a legal opinion from International and country National external counsel which confirmed in no ambiguous terms that the requisite steps for the sale of that asset had been followed and that the acquisition is legally valid under the laws of the relevant country.

He stressed that as a UAE public corporation and one of the largest listed entities in the country in addition to its status as a leading regional Telecom operator, Etisalat applies the highest standards of transparency in conducting its business operations and International expansion strategy and a mission to add value wherever its reach took it.

Alluding to the above press reports, Mr Omran pointed out that the commercial agreements with the Government of Pakistan call for the transfer of the properties in question to PTCL and not to Etisalat. Mr Omran added that when the properties are transferred to PTCL, the Government of Pakistan, being the 62% shareholder of PTCL, will be the single largest beneficiary.

Referring to the withholding of instalment payments, the Chairman and Managing Director of Etisalat added that under the agreed terms of the transaction, Etisalat is entitled to withhold payments until the property titles were transferred to PTCL. “Our aim is to ensure that PTCL receives clean title to and possession of all properties,” said Mr. Omran. He added, “We are confident that when the Privatisation Commission fulfils this obligation, Etisalat will immediately release the instalments.”

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) will encourage and facilitate Local Content Providers to participate in the ICT based economy growth in the country.

In view of the importance of local contents and applications for future promotion of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) industry and infrastructure, PTA in collaboration with Motorola organized an exclusive conference on “Promoting ICT Sector” here, today. Secretary IT & Telecom, Naguibullah Malik, Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen, Member (Finance) PTA, Syed Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi, Member (Technical) PTA, Dr. Khawar Siddique Khokhar, leading representatives from IT & telecommunication sector and renowned academic & research scholars attended the conference.

Through this conference, a unique platform was provided to potential content providers to present their applications and ideas linked with ICT usage and development. Nine (9) local content providers displayed their applications during the conference which were highly appreciated by the ICT industry.  This conference was planned to spot the latest access technologies in the country and understand the challenges faced by telecom industry in terms of high cost of ownership and OPEX.

Addressing the conference Secretary IT & Telecom said that for the promotion of ICT sector in Pakistan, there is an acute need of bringing consensus among the Government, IT Industry, Telcos and academia to map out effective strategies for the best utilization of available opportunities in this sector. In this regard, he appreciated this initiative of PTA for providing an important platform for some constructive dialogue and discussion.

Secretary IT drew attention of the participants to four main focus areas which could give a boost to the development of ICT sector. Those areas include IT & Telecom education, research, entrepreneurship and local industries. He said that to carry out productive work in these areas, support of an efficient policy is also mandatory, for which the Government is working extensively and soon this policy will be introduced to the industry.

Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen said that the telecom sector of Pakistan has shown a rapid growth in the last few years. Especially the voice segment has been leading the other segments of telecommunication. Today, we have around 97.6 million cellular subscribers with total teledensity reaching upto 63.5%. However, the sector is still under-served as far as broadband is concerned.  He said that the key issue in further development of data segment is non-availability of local contents and applications which can contribute towards formulation of ICT-based economy.

He also highlighted the role of academia as a potential contributor of this sector. He said that a few educational institutes in Pakistan are already engaged in conducting useful research work but the contributory role of academia at large is, unfortunately, a ‘missing link’. At present, Pakistan’s telecom sector is in dire need of establishing strong academia linkage with industry and government to accelerate future technical excellence and entrepreneurship. He said that we need to encourage the participation of all stakeholders in this effort so that the issues, problems and barriers faced by the industry in the promotion of ICT sector may be highlighted and addressed properly hence the appropriate way outs to those problems can also be identified.

In reference to its endeavors for the development of ICTs in Pakistan, Dr. Yaseen said that PTA has taken number of initiatives to launch and promote new innovative solutions for the betterment of telecom industry and society and would continue its efforts till the set objectives are achieved completely. He invited all the stake holders to join their hands with PTA in order to bring about spectacular growth in the ICT sector as well as to enhance their own business in the market.

It may be mentioned that development of ICTs has become an important growth factor for countries around the globe. With every passing day, the world is edging into an information-based age. The rapid evolution of ICTs is clearly re-shaping daily lives, enhancing productivity and transforming the economies.

For the facilitation of general public and telecom users, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has launched the Urdu version of its official website on Internet. In this connection, an inaugural ceremony was held at PTA Headquarters, Islamabad. Advisor to the Prime Minister on IT, Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa formally inaugurated PTA website.  Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen, Member (Finance) PTA, Syed Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi, Member (Technical) PTA, Dr. Khawar Siddique Khokhar were also present on the occasion.

This new Urdu version of PTA website would contain the same contents of the English version converted into simple Urdu language with similar layout and design. This step has been taken in view of providing online information to those internet users who are generally less-educated in web-surfing or less-familiar with English language. Now, they would also be able to enjoy the same facility and could access the online available information regarding PTA activities, decisions, policies, Consumer Protection regulation and Complaint Management System through a simple click.

The users would also be able to access various online services of PTA. PTA directly receives complaints of telecom consumers on different issues at its headquarters and Zonal offices as well as at its website. A special CMS (Content Management System) has also been developed for this website to integrate the new consumer complaint system with the telecommunication operators. The new complaint system would also provide a multilingual interface to the consumer both in English and Urdu. Under the link titled “shikayaat” the consumers could lodge their complaints by filling and submitting a simple online complaint form. Besides, SIM Information System 668, Blocking of Stolen handsets through IMEI number, Telecom Sector Indicators and other such services would also be available on Urdu version of PTA’s website..

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Advisor on IT & Telecom, Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa appreciated PTA efforts for achieving remarkable progress in the telecommunication sector of Pakistan. He said that the Government is committed to enhance the quality of ICT sector. As we innovate in technologies and services on the Internet, Mobile and other segments of Telecommunication in our attempt to strengthen their outreach and accommodate the needs of the new user segments, it is vital to ensure that our exclusive regulatory and policy structure is preserved, maintained, and built upon. He emphasized that there is a strong connection between local language editions of website and penetration of Internet inside our society. He valued the efforts put in by PTA to execute its notion of facilitating the telecommunication consumer by introducing new platforms. He said that this new edition of PTA website would embark a new horizon of telecommunication information dissemination to the people of Pakistan. The Government will ensure continued encouragement and support in this regard, he added.

Chairman PTA briefed the Advisor to the Prime Minister on structure, scope and achievements made by PTA. He said that PTA believes that lack of local language content is one of the main hurdles behind the proliferation of Broadband Internet services in Pakistan. He said that we are collaborating with industry and academia to bridge this vital gap and offer local content and applications to people of Pakistan. The launch of Urdu version of PTA website is a major landmark in the Internet history of Pakistan where PTA has marked itself as the first-ever governmental organization to introduce full-content version of website in Urdu. This also demonstrates PTA’s effort to encourage local content in order to bring Internet nearer to the people.

It may be mentioned that Urdu version of PTA’s website is developed by using Unicode font’s standard. Unicode standard (UTF-8) comes up with an added advantage that there is no need to install Urdu fonts at the client side.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has launched a special program for the promotion of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) Sector of Pakistan. In this connection, an inaugural ceremony was held at PTA Headquarters, Islamabad wherein Advisor to the Prime Minister on IT, Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa formally inaugurated the PTA program while Parliamentary Secretary Interior, Capt (R) Rai Ghulam Mujtaba Kharal, Secretary Cabinet Division, Mr.Abdul Rauf Chaudhry, Secretary IT & Telecom, Mr.Naguibullah Malik, Chairman PTA, Dr.Mohammed Yaseen, Member (Finance) PTA, Syed Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi, Member (Technical) PTA, Dr. Khawar Siddique Khokhar and representatives of IT & telecom industry were also present on the occasion.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, Advisor on IT & Telecom, Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa said that the Government is committed to enhancing the quality of manpower in the ICT sector. He said that we will continue to provide the necessary support to industry and the academia. Following the global scenario of technological development and application promotions, ICT will play even more important role in human society. And to realize that, he said, we need the effort and close cooperation from all of us including operators, equipment manufacturers, content providers and academia. He appreciated the efforts of PTA towards proliferation of ICT sector of the country. He said that the massive growth of telecommunication services is an eye-opener and it is firmly believed that still there is room for expansion and growth. New ICT applications have generated new forms of consumption and attracted large number of consumers.

On this occasion, the Secretary IT & Telecom said that our ICT industry has already been transformed over the last decade. In response to transparent policy and regulatory apparatus, our market has observed liberalization, greater private sector participation and competition. He said that the IT & telecom sector is now a sector dominated by private players competing strategically on new technologies, pricing and customer services. The ICT has emerged as the most promising segment in Pakistan’s economy brining in substantial revenues and creating remarkable job opportunities for the country’s youth.  He said  that  today the Government is committed to support the ICT sector by taking required policy measures. We are in final phase of shaping the future policies for the whole ICT sector. This policy development program is quite open, incorporating a multi stakeholder deliberation. He said that we are targeting to create an environment for the promotion of required content and applications in order to enhance the productivity of our human resource. It is for this reason that we must work harder to ensure that forecasted policy milestones are achieved in a desired manner.  The Government will ensure continued encouragement and support in this regard, he added.

Talking on the event the Chairman PTA said that Pakistan has emerged as one of the leading markets in telecommunications especially in the voice segment. In broadband sector, by December 2008, we had approx 250,000 broadband subscribers and within a span of one year, by December 2009 the figure has just crossed 600,000 showing a massive annual growth rate of more than 200%. However, at the same time, we still are lagging behind in overall broadband penetration. 600,000 subscribers reflects a penetration level of only 0.36%. This is where we require a mutual collaboration for development of local applications and content to promote usage of broadband in all spheres of life. He said, operators are looking for future revenue streams which are very much dependent on availability of value added data services. Key issue in further development of data segment is non-availability of local content and applications which can contribute towards ICT-based economical contribution. That is why, today, the PTA’s main focus is on the development of local content and applications, he added.

Chairman PTA said that in reference to its endeavors for the development of ICTs in Pakistan, PTA has taken number of initiatives to launch and promote new innovative solutions for the betterment of telecom industry and society. As a part of such efforts PTA will now hold an exclusive conference on ‘Promoting ICT Sector’ on February 25, 2010 (Thursday). This conference is being organized in view of the importance of local content and applications for future promotion of ICT industry and infrastructure.