State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

Last month we shared with you something about the solar phones concept. Now we have them in market.

Samsung Electronics has introduced its first ever, innovative, solar powered cellular phone; “Solar Crest” in Pakistan, emphasizing Samsung’s vision and its pioneering efforts for environmental sustainability. As a global leader in cutting-edge technology, Samsung is leading the way into a greener future by utilizing sources of renewable energy. This innovation is a quantum leap towards technologies that will minimize reliance on ecologically harmful sources of energy. This handset is designed with integrated solar panels, thus it operates and recharges without any ecological deterioration.

Solar Crest has been designed to create unmatched convenience for the customers; its solar technology has a special utility for cell-phone users residing in countries where electricity shortages are experienced quite frequently. Therefore, the Pakistani customers will get the maximum benefit from Solar Crest. Elsewhere, the vast Indian population can also seek relief from the electricity crisis through Samsung’s Solar handsets.

Sung Woo Han, Country Manager Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd, expressed his views and stated, “Samsung’s Solar Crest phone reflects our commitment to global eco-friendly products, being the first ever solar powered device, which will help consumers charge their phones without electricity. This revolutionary phone will benefit consumers everywhere, especially Pakistan, by enabling significant conservation of energy.”

[via Pakistan Observer]

Blogs are abuzz about the $70 million investment by Nokia in a mobile-phone-payment system called Obopay. A good article in Technology Review magazine sums the current trend of investment in mobile payment infrastructure. This will become the key to how first-time users of electronic commerce enter the global marketplace.

The investment by Nokia suggests that, even in a plunging global economy, mobile financial services are guaranteed to grow in many of the world’s poorest nations.

In these parts of the world, many people lack access to traditional bank accounts and other financial services, but own mobile phones. Leveraging those phones as a way for people to access bank accounts, pay bills, borrow money, and pay loans is “a market that is exploding,” says Carol Realini, Obopay’s CEO. Realini believes that mobile-phone technology will affect financial services in a number of ways. “It will allow transactions in checks and cash to be done electronically,” she says. “That is the source of the opportunity that is unfolding around the world.”

But Realini hinted at a huge scale-up in the global availability of mobile-payment services, especially given that about 1.3 billion Nokia phones are in circulation. “It really is about serving the globe,” she says. “[Nokia] makes around 1.2 million phones every day–we can add our capabilities to their distribution.” A Nokia spokesperson says that the company could not comment on the investment because it is in a quiet period ahead of an earnings announcement.

Obopay, based in Redwood City, CA, operates in the United States and India and is one of a handful of services that lets people transfer money to one another between bank accounts using a cell-phone software application or a text message. (Users can also do so via the Web, mobile or otherwise.) In the United States, Obopay charges a fee to users sending money (25 cents to send any amount up to $1,000). In India, fees for banking services are paid by banks, which have willingly done so because the service allows them to cultivate new account holders without having to build new retail branches. Obopay does not disclose its total number of customers in either country.

NTC is the official IT and Telecom provider for the government of Pakistan. It handles the infrastrucutre and the service provision. The National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC) achieved major accomplishments during the year 2008, which are reported below. I particularly like the fact that they have a good website and transparent culture. More information about their projects is available here.

The connectivity of ministries on Fiber Optics plan was undertaken to support the IT enablement and e-governance policy of the government. The Optical Fiber-based connectivity has been planed in Islamabad for 46 Ministries. Out of the 46, connectivity has been established in 16 ministries whereas work on reaming 30 ministries is near completion and will be commissioned in next two months.

This will improve the data service access between the ministries and the quality of service as a whole. Time saving and efficient working will be added advantages of the project. Under the establishment of new exchanges project, three new telephone exchanges have been operationalised for designated customers and government offices. The infrastructure and presence of NTC is expanded to small cities of Jhang and Charsadda.

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