Alcatel-Lucent has signed a contract worth USD 52.87 million with China Mobile Pakistan Limited (CMPak), a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Mobile, to expand its existing GSM/EDGE network. The expansion will allow CMPak to provide enhanced commercial services in northern Pakistan by the end of the first quarter of 2009. Alcatel-Lucent will enable CMPak to increase its network capacity and coverage, bringing enhanced mobile services to a greater number of people in the region and improving the end-user experience.
Alcatel-Lucent will have the full responsibility for building the network, providing design, deployment and integration services. The company will also provide project management and maintenance services to help CMPak lower its network operational costs. This is consisent with what I wrote a few days ago about outsourccing from mobile companies to cut costs.
Alcatel-Lucent press release adds:
Alcatel-Lucent, through its flagship company in China Alcatel-Lucent Shanghai Bell will supply CMPak with its industry-leading multi-standard GSM/EDGE radio access solution including its latest Base Station Controller platform and TWIN transceivers, along with microwave transport solutions for enhancing interconnection among base stations and providing mobile traffic backhauling capabilities. Alcatel-Lucent will also provide a comprehensive suite of network integration services such as network optimization, system support and general project management, to enable CMPak to introduce new technologies and services in the future.
Telenor has introduced mobile phone buyback/recycling in Europe for the sake of the environment. To provide an incentive, Telenor will give 50 free SMS and the Red Cross will plant 25 trees in Asia for every phone recycled. I wonder how many of these phones from Norway will end up in Pakistan? As mentioned below, Telenor Pakistan will also start this recycling campaign later this year.
The press release from Telenor estimates at least four million used mobile phones are lying around collecting dust in Norwegian homes. Norwegians change phones every two years on average. Presently 82 per cent of Norwegian households have at least one mobile phone extra that they are not using. It is only a dismal 12 per cent of consumers that recycle mobile phones. Since mobile phones are not being returned for recycling, mobile phone manufacturers are forced to extract new materials, in stead of just using the resources already available in used mobile phones.
“Telenor wants to help consumers dispose of mobile phones in a safe, secure and environmentally friendly manner. Of the phones collected those damaged will be recycled. Those that can be repaired will be sold in Asia which is a well-functioning market for used goods. Proceeds from the sales will be given to the Red Cross. This gives the mobile phone a “safe death” or a longer life-span in other markets,” says Ragnar Kårhus, head of Telenor in Norway.
One mobile gives 25 trees
For every mobile phone received in the new recycling scheme, the Red Cross receives financial support to plant 25 trees in Asia. If Telenor reaches its goal of collecting 70,000 mobile phones, users of the scheme would in effect contribute to planting an unbelievable 1.8 million trees in 2009. The trees are being planted as a preventive environmental measure to reduce the danger of soil erosion and give a more sustainable environment.
“For every tree the Red Cross plants in vulnerable areas we contribute to preventing extreme weather conditions and climatic damage. We are strengthening the resistance of the local community to disasters such as cyclones, floods and heavy downpours. At the same time it is an excellent initiative for recycling mobile phones. In this way the collaboration with Telenor is good for the environment in Norway and the local communities we support,” says Sven Mollekleiv, president of the Red Cross in Norway.
Augere, a European telecom company, had plans to offer WiMAX in Pakistan. It needed frequencies in the 3.5Ghz and struck a deal with Telecard in 2008 to get these licenses. Later on, it was discovered that there were disputes about these licenses between Telecard and Wi-Tribe. In a recent court decision, Telecard is said to have lost, causing a sever blow to Augere’s plans of WiMAX service. Wi-Tribe will continue with its WiMAX plans. The situation will become more clear when the details of court decision come forth.
This contention has lifted the value of 3.5 GHz licneses up significantly from the previously mentioned figures of US $22.5 million. After all, this is the basis on which WiMAX service can be offered. As mentioned at Telecom Grid Pakistan:
According to the agreement between Telecard and Wi-Tribe, Telecard was to have the licenses split in such a manner that 14 of the 28 newly issued licences would be assigned to Telecard the 3.5 GHZ band frequencies. These 14 licenses were then to be transferred to Telecard subsidiary Broadband Services (Pvt) Limited, 90 percent of which would have then been bought by Wi-Tribe.
According to Tariq Qureshi, an expert on licencing matters, resolution should be achieved as rules are in place already. Tariq makes the following points.
There is provision in WLL licenses of use-it-or-loose it. Stipulated period to go into operations was 2 years – later extended to 12/07. All who didn’t start operations and can be send cancellation notices to make spectrum available for the serious players (like Augere and Witribe).
Many license holders would like to get a refund in USD for the amount paid. The smart ones sold off their companies at 10X-20X. This is what Telecard is trying to do and what DVCom, Dancom and others did.
Augere & Witribe need 21+21MHz FDD or 42MHz TDD to have a commercially feasible network. The following companies are not utilizing the allocated spectrum: PTCL and Worldcall are amongst the few, and should surrender the spectrum and get refunded.
PTA will be able to recover the 2.5G spectrum from SunTV that was allocated for MMDS as the 15-year license should be expiring in 2010. The 190MHz license was issued can be used by 6 separate operation.
Published by Babar Bhatti on March 28, 2009
under BlackBerry, Telenor
Telenor is really late to join the Blackberry bandwagon, but is there something from Telenor service which makes up for the delay? I don’t think so but tell me if I am wrong. First thing which I noticed is that Blackberry related content on Telenor website is not that easy to find. This is a bit surprising because Telenor site is usually is very well done.
See below – When did email and IM service become a privilege? And why is Telenor Edge service exclusive?
With Blackberry services from Telenor, you can enjoy a breakthrough push-based email solution, which helps you to access your personal or official information while roaming locally and globally at specified locations. Moreover, it offers you the privileged service of Instant Messenger, email access with attachment facility and amazing surfing experience through Telenor’s exclusive Edge services.
BIS: BlackBerry Internet Service
10 POP3 E-mail Accounts (Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, etc) ONLY
Zero Activation Fee
Rs. 1,000 + tax (monthly recurring fee)
Unlimited Free GPRS (no cap)
Additional Security Deposit for BlS Rs. 2,500
SAN FRANCISCO – The Internet engineering community says its biggest mistake in developing IPv6 – a long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet’s main communications protocol – is that it lacks backwards compatibility with the existing Internet Protocol, known as IPv4.
At a panel discussion held here Tuesday, leaders of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) admitted that they didn’t do a good enough job making sure native IPv6 devices and networks would be able to communicate with their IPv4-only counterparts when they designed the industry standard 13 years ago.
“The lack of real backwards compatibility for IPv4 was the single critical failure,” says Leslie Daigle, Chief Internet Technology Officer for the Internet Society. “There were reasons at the time for doing that…But the reality is that nobody wants to go to IPv6 unless they think they’re friends are doing it, too.”
Originally, IPv6 developers envisioned a scenario where end-user devices and network backbones would operate IPv4 and IPv6 side-by-side in what’s called dual-stack mode.
However, they didn’t take into account that some IPv4 devices would never be upgraded to IPv6, and that some all-IPv6 networks would need to communicate with IPv4-only devices or content.
This post is about insights about behavior patterns, innovation and value of interaction for solving problems. Professor Alex Pentland, named by Newsweek magazine one of the 100 Americans likely to shape this century, is a pioneer of computational social science and co-director of the Digital Life Program at the MIT Media Lab. He talks about the powerful effect of measuring personal interaction on corporate success, reality mining via cell phone and location data, and designing smart cars.
Etisalat is now in mood for some investments in Pakistani Cricket. This was reveiled in a recent meeting of Pakistani Captain Younis Khan and President PTCL Mr. Walid Irshad.
PTCL in collaboration with Etisalat UAE has decided to take the initiative to revitalize and stimulate the cricketing circumstances in Pakistan. PTCL is determined to mesmerize the local and international audiences at the forthcoming Pakistan-Australia series in Dubai.
Mr. Walid Irshaid reiterated its support for the national team. He congratulated and praised Younis khan on his recent triple century against Sri Lanka and passed on the good wishes for the forthcoming Pakistan-Australia series. Mr. Walid Irshaid also expressed grief and concern at the attack on Sri Lankan team in Lahore. Both notables also discussed matters of mutual interest.
Mr. Walid Irshaid affirmed that PTCL in association with Etisalat is enthusiastically planning to develop a lasting relationship with Pakistani cricket and would soon go on board the plan, accordingly. Mr. Walid Irshaid said the decision is of strategic importance as very recently, Etisalat UAE also announced its collaboration with the Barcelona’s foot ball club; commonly known as Barca. Etisalat’s support for the Pakistan’s National Cricket team would yield mutually favorable results.
Younis Khan expressed gratitude to the Management of Ptcl and Etisalat for their well wishes and anticipated support.
After years of pricey bandwidth in Pakistan, things have taken a turn for better. Link Dot Net (LDN) has decided to increase its DSL speed to match the PTCL offer discussed here. This was a swift response, which leads me to think that LDN was perhaps prepared for this and was waiting for PTCL to make a move first. After all, LDN uses the same infrastructure as PTCL. This is great news for the consumers in Pakistan. The only thing we have to watch out is that the quality does not degrade with this.
2008 was the year when a number of business and technology trends converged and gave way to more bandwidth, available at more places and for relatively cheaper costs. This includes EDGE based on USB modems, WiMAX in selected cities and the expansion of DSL, cable and fiber based broadband.
As PTCL continued its broadband expansion, it has also helped start a price war. Because of its scale, power and reach, every time PTCL comes up with a promotion or rate reduction, the entire industry feels the ripple effect and either matches it or is forced to offer something else. There is some talk of a closer consolidation of Mobilink Infinity and Link Dot Net so that they are better able to compete with PTCL.
I had signed up for Grand Central account (which provides a single number for all your communication) a few years ago but did not use it much. Now having that account has paid off because Google has enhanced and re-branded Grand Central as Google Voice – and existing Grand Central users get to try it first. As many have commented, Google is now directly competing with phone companies.
Few key features of Google Voice:
Cheap international calls – US to Pakistan rate is 9c/min
Voice mail transcription
Multiple rings
Free SMS to US numbers
Widgets that allow calls from your website without revealing your number
The voice mail transcription is nice – but its performance is variable and I got some funny results. However the recorded message is there for quick access as well. Multiple rings is a useful feature to forward your calls from a single number to wherever you want it to go. As someone said – the concept is simple: people are trying to reach you–not one of your phones–and Google Voice lets you decide how to route the calls and get your messages. From my initial testing, it looks good. Once I import my contacts there it will become even more sticky. And of course it is tied to my other Google services such as Google docs suite.
For now Google is absorbing the costs of the service and it hopes to make money through international calls. I wonder what is Skype thinking about all this?
Here are other reviews of Google Voice from CNet and NYT . As this is a new service, it has limitations and some bugs may be there as well. It is not available on a wide basis yet.
Here is an interesting – and hilarious – video which provides commentary on a lot of phone and messaging services. David Pogue is an author and well known personal technology columnist. Here he is talking from a US perspective but a lot of the points he makes apply equally well to Pakistan and other countries with high mobile usage. By the way, TED is an awesome site and I would recommend it to all who are interested in hearing about interesting ideas and views from impressive speakers.
With the economic recession hitting telecom, network operators are stepping up the outsourcing of network management to cut costs by 10% to 15%. The market for managed services, or outsourcing of network operations, was valued at about $15 billion to $20 billion in 2008, up from around $5 billion five years earlier. For equipment vendors like Ericsson or Nokia Siemens Network, the rising number of outsourcing deals gives them new revenue, as telecom operators put the brakes on spending on network hardware. It is estimated that network expenses, such as maintenance and transmission costs, typically make up 15% to 20% of operators’ total operating expenses in mature markets.
A WSJ article provides a roundup of this trend and identifies the companies involved in this.
In the past week, Europe’s three telecommunications-equipment giants have each announced new outsourcing deals with operators. Alcatel-Lucent SA said Monday it has been contracted to roll out and operate the network of KPN NV’s Belgian mobile operator, BASE. Last week, Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson agreed to provide maintenance and operations for Vodafone Group PLC’s U.K. mobile network for seven years; and Nokia Siemens Networks, a joint venture of Nokia Corp. and Siemens AG, said it will manage fixed and mobile networks in Spain and the U.K. for France Télécom SA. Financial terms weren’t disclosed for the deals.
Such deals, which involve the transfer of a broad range of tasks, can help operators such as France Télécom and Deutsche Telekom AG prop up profit margins while providing a boost to equipment makers, such as Alcatel and Ericsson, which face weaker demand in their traditional business of selling the equipment used to build networks.
Telecom operators say that as recession bites, consumers are becoming more careful in their use of telecommunications services, such as calling less when abroad to avoid hefty roaming charges. France Télécom says its revenue growth is generally 0.5% to 1.5% above gross domestic product growth in the markets in which it operates. If GDP starts to contract, it hurts revenue, giving operators an incentive to generate savings wherever they can.
“We believe it will bring an acceleration” in measures by operators to hand over management of networks to equipment vendors, said Andreas Herzog, the head of Alcatel-Lucent’s managed-services unit.
Under such agreements, equipment makers take over responsibility and staff for duties traditionally carried out by operators. That can include monitoring network performance; managing the flow of calls across the network; ensuring the honeycomb of mobile towers and base-stations is adequately maintained; and dealing with other suppliers. Read more »
The news was circulating for a while that PTCL will increase bandwidth for its customers. It was announced on March 23 that the bandwidth has been doubled. It was a good move by PTCL and goes to show that it is a formidable challenge to compete against an incumbent. The rates start at Rs. 1199 for 1 MB unlimited (still higher than the ideal of Rs. 500-600 affordability threshold) and go up to Rs. 4999 for 4 MB unlimited.
PTCL management is pleased to announce the following tariff for broadband internet facilities for its valued customers, with effect from March 23rd 2009. The existing package of 512Kbps will not be offered to new customers. Existing 512Kbps packages customers will be upgraded to 1MB package, 1MB to 2MB and customers of 2MB will be upgraded to 4MB.
TelecomPk.Net is a leading source of information and analysis about Pakistan Telecom industry. 
