By Editor on January 23, 2012 · Leave a Comment
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is reportedly planning to auction the 3G licences on 29 March 2012. According to reports, the authority will auction three licences, each with a base price of US$ 210 million. Further, as per sources, bidders will be required to deposit US$ 31.5 million as an initial deposit.
Reports reveal that Mohammed Yaseen, Chairman, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has said that licence would be offered for 8-15 years to both existing as well as new operators. However, operators currently not offering services in the country will be able to commercially launch their services only after March 2013.
As per PTA, the existing operators include Mobilink, Telenor , Warid Telecom, Zong and Ufone.
By Editor on March 9, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Pakistan’s Mobilink has claimed that it has restored service after a fire at one of its server centers took out much of the network across the northern region of the country, including the suspension of services in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.
The fire at the facility in Islamabad was brought under control fairly quickly, but it took the network nearly a day to restore services. It has been reported that up to 10 million people were left without phone service during the network outage which started on Sunday evening.
Prime Minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani directed the Information Technology Ministry to investigate why the problem occurred and why the network took such a long time to switch over to back-up systems.
According to Mobilink Public Relations Director Omar Manzur, all services have been restored and their customers should not be experiencing any difficulty.
According to a spokesperson, the fire in the battery room is being investigated by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
Filed under Mobile ·
Tagged with Information Technology Ministry, Islamabad, Mobile, Mobilink, Omar Manzur, Pakistan, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, Prime Minister, PTA, Public Relations Director, Rawalpindi, Yousuf Raza Gilani
By Editor on January 24, 2011 · Leave a Comment
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has announced that Pakistan has signed up its 100 millionth mobile phone subscriber at the end of last year.
Mobile services in Pakistan started in 1995 and three operators Instaphone, Paktel and Mobilink were providing services to only 68,038 subscribers on exorbitant rates. In order to give choice to the people of Pakistan, Ufone a subsidiary of PTCL was given license to operate mobile services in year 2000.
With the consent of the Government the Regulator implemented the Calling Party Pays Regime in 2001which gave boost to the subscriber base and it crossed 1 million in 2002. In 2003 deregulation was introduced in the mobile sector of Pakistan through Mobile Cellular Policy.
Telenor & Warid were awarded two new mobile licenses in 2004 against the price of 291 million dollar each and they started their operations in 2005. There was competition with 6 operators which gave boost to mobile subscribers’ base and it crossed 12 million in 2005. Telecom Industry showed signs of maturity with competition in 2007 and operators were providing services to 68 million subscribers. In 2009 subscribers crossed figure of 95 million. In June 2010 mobile subscribers reached 99.4 million.
At the end of the year, they officially passed the 100 million mark.
By Editor on August 10, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and mobile operators of Pakistan have inked memorandum of understanding( MoUs) on infrastructure sharing.
The agreement between the regulator and cellcos will be applicable for three years and may be extended with mutual approval of the parties, upon expiration of the initial term. The deal signed by five mobile operators cellcos Mobilink, Telenor Pakistan, Warid Telecom, Pakistan Telecommunications Mobile Ltd and CM Pak (Zong) ,that aims at bowing up the current speed of infrastructure sharing amongst mobile and WLL operators in the country and to increase the overall industry contract ratio to a reasonable mark.
Each operator, mutually with other industry players, will make commercial arrangements as part of efforts to take the overall industry’s tenancy ratio to a level of 1.5 within the next three years, with yearly benchmarks aimed at 1.1 and 1.3 for the first and second years respectively.
By Editor on March 17, 2010 · Leave a Comment
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: It has been announced by telecom operator Telenor that the operators are not generating enough profit per phone user to have five mobile groups in Pakistan. The operators would have to consider mergers or acquisitions to see significant growth.
Telenor made its entry into Pakistan exactly five years ago and currently it is the second largest cellular phone operator after Mobilink, a subsidiary of Egypt’s Orascom Telecom.Pakistan’s. The other mobile operators include Ufone, Warid Telecom and Zong.
Telenor is considering a broader expansion in Pakistan along with India, Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh. 26 per cent of revenues in 2008 by the company were generated in Asia. The rest of the income came from eastern and central Europe and the Nordic region.
Telenor’s has been concentrating its attention on its 67.3 per cent investment in Unitech Wireless of India but big potential is also seen in Pakistan, which has seen a phenomenal increase in the number of mobile phone users over the past decade.
Filed under Mobile ·
Tagged with Ufone, Acquisition, ASIA, Bangladesh, Egypt, Europe, India, Malaysia, Mergers, Mobilink, Orascom, Pakistan, Telenor, Thailand, Warid Telecom
By Editor on December 22, 2009 · Leave a Comment
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Though discussions for the launch of 3G spectrum are still going on in Pakistan, it has already laid its claim on having 4G technology. According to operator Mobilink’s president Rashid Khan, some Pakistani cellcos could leapfrog 3G technology and look to offer 4G services instead and the talk with the government in this regard is already on the roll.
Allegations regarding the blocking of the launch of 3G services in Pakistan by some Pakistani operators have been refuted by Rashid Khan who noted that all operators had been in talks with the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) over the introduction of new technologies.
USD2.5 billion has been invested by Mobilink in the development and expansion of its network to date and in 2009 itself, USD150 million was spent. About 8,000 cell sites of the operator are in operation across the country, claimed to be the largest by any telco.
