State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

I am sharing a paper I came across at Cisco mobility community site. This site, sponsored by Cisco, aims to provide a venue for education and to encourage conversations about mobile technologies such as 4G, WiMAX etc and related business, policy and social aspects. Anyone can join the site and participate.

The paper is titled “Expanding the Reach of Health Care in Developing Nations with WiMAX.” Here’s the direct link to the pdf. It talks about various case studies of using WiMAX connectivity to expand and improve health care in developing nations. However there are no details about the costs and the infrastructure hurdles which are so critical to WiMAX.

The paper mentions a project in Pakistan.

In Pakistan, Cisco is working on a trial that combines satellite and WiMAX connectivity to mobile units that provide earlier oncological screening to rural patients. Female patients feel more comfortable seeking care in a familiar environment, close to their homes. Earlier screening allows doctors to detect breast cancer in women when it is still treatable.

As illustrated below, WiMAX may initially be used mainly as a backhaul technology to provide basic data and voice connectivity to clinics. At a later stage, mobile applications will take on a larger role as network coverage, low cost devices, and mobile telemedicine applications become available.

The paper lists the key benefits WiMAX brings to telemedicine as:

• True broadband connectivity (2–4 Mbps in the downlink, 0.5–1.5 Mbps in the uplink) to enable transfer of large data files and video applications. In cellular networks, uplink speeds are typically substantially lower, slowing down transmission from the mobile workers back to the hospital. WiMAX performance is achieved by using a new wireless interface with high spectral efficiency, and by using wider channels that can increase the overall network capacity.
• IP based technology, which brings lower complexity and costs in managing the network, facilitates the development of new applications or the adaptation of existing applications, and can be easily integrated within existing networks.
• Carrier grade reliability and security, due to the use of licensed spectrum and IP core network technology. WiMAX supports multiple Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) methods, Remote Authentication Dial In User Service (RADIUS), Diameter, Advanced Encryption System (AES), and Privacy Key Management Protocol Version 2 (PKM v2). Security is crucial to ensure protection of patient and epidemiological data.
• Quality of Service (QoS) and traffic prioritization mechanisms, to give priority to latency sensitive applications such as voice and video. This increases the robustness of numerous telemedicine applications that rely on voice and video traffic.
• Lower cost?per?bit than cellular networks. This makes the technology affordable for network operators to deploy and for health care providers to use for telemedicine applications.
• A wide range of devices with WiMAX chipsets embedded along with WiFi, at a very low additional cost. This gives health providers greater flexibility in choosing the best?suited devices that are within their budget.

A cross post from Basit Ali’s blog

MCB Mobile Banking and Payments – Review

MCB has recently launched their mobile banking and payment solution. It is an Internet based service that runs on your mobile phone’s browser. You can link your MCB account with your phone number and that’s all you need to use the service. The basic set of services provided by the solution are:

How to Sign-Up
If you are an existing MCB account holder, you can simply go to MCB ATM machine and insert your card as usual. You’ll see an option to link your mobile with your account in the menu now. Opt for that, give your mobile number and that’s it. MCB representative will get back to you with the confirmation and will provide you with the Mobile PIN. Mobile PIN is used to log-in to the mobile banking site while ATM pin is also required to make the transactions.

If you are not an existing MCB account holder, you have to grab one account. My recommendation, just go get one, its worth it!

Note: You cannot use this services if you are an MCB credit card holder.

A walk-through video

For a detailed walk-through, watch the video below. I’ve made a mobile top-up, mobile bill payment, fund-transfer and balance enquiry etc in this walk-through for you.

First Login

You can simply go to http://www.mcbmobile.com from your mobile phone and can login by giving your cell-phone number and mobile PIN. The login is straight forward and works on SSL to keep the data you are sending encrypted on the way.

Basic Banking on Mobile
The service allows you to perform your basic banking transactions (except cash transactions obviously). You can check your account balance and view mini-statement. Funds transfer option allows you to transfer funds to any other MCB Mobile user by giving his mobile number (registered with the service) or you can simply transfer funds to any MCB account by giving the full account number. For every financial transaction you will have to enter your ATM PIN.

Payments
You can make a number of possible payments using this service. You can purchase mobile top-ups and can send them directly to the phone. You can pay post-paid mobile phone bills. These payments can be made to all mobile networks. You can also pay utility bill payments to a number of electric companies and to nationwide gas and telephone connections.

In addition to mobile and utility payments you can pay your credit card bills and can also donate funds to the Prime Minister’s special relief fund.

Security

Overall mobile site is working over SSL and is as secure as any other Internet transaction. Moreover, it is more secure than paying straight via credit card, as in most transactions we are not using a credit-card or account number.

I have a reason to believe that the service is based on a solution by Fundamo.

Note the word Fundamo in the title!

Summary:

What you need to get the service:

• An MCB account and a debit card
• A basic mobile phone that has a browser and has GPRS activated

The good

• Simple and easy on basic mobile browser
• Topup to all mobile networks
• Bill payment for all mobile numbers
• Utility bill payment to a number of power companies.
• All gas and telephone bills payable
• Secure over SSL and SMS alerts to inform the user of an un-authorized login/transaction.
• No need to go to a branch to sign-up like other services.
• No need to download a software
• I really like the quick-pay option so that you can save your frequently paid bills and add people who you regularly transfer funds to.

The bad

• Well, the service is very slow at times, very slow as compared to normal mobile sites. On a second thought it is acceptable assuming it is because of the secure transactions and encryption.
• Cant transfer funds to other banks. (App says coming soon).
• Cannot use MCB credit card as a payment instrument.
• A few transactions failed or may be timed out. They can be teething problems but still are very irritating at times.

Conclusion
MCB Mobile is a winner by all means. You cannot call it a killer app as this stuff is not new in the market anymore but it reaches the top with the fact that its easy, convenient, ubiquitous, reliable and last but not least, very secure. Simply go to mcb.com.pk, search for your nearest branch, go get an account and sign up for the service. Happy mobile banking!

Following the overwhelming response of its customers Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has decided to extend further its Pakistan plus Package, which was launched in Dec 2007, as a limited time promotion.

As per details, this package will now offer PTCL customers 1,000 free nationwide minutes at the fixed monthly charge of RS. 199 with effect from 1^st August 2009. The decision has been taken to further affirm the PTCL commitment to providing innovative, cost effective and quality services to its subscribers.

PTCL Senior Executive Vice President, Commercial, Mr. Naveed Saeed said that it is our endeavor to ensure that PTCL as market leader continues to take initiative to launch new and exciting offers for its subscribers.

Other cost effective fixed line solutions offered by PTCL to its subscribers to stay in touch with their loved ones include, one on-net rate of Rs 2 per 3 minutes and International Plus package with 1200 minutes to five popular international destinations, which gives customers an affordable option for international dialing.

Mr. Naveed Saeed said that in addition to our product offerings, PTCL strives to bring Quality and Convenience to its landline subscribers by providing best quality voice, instant connectivity, 24×7 helpline, directory assistance and one Toll free number (0800-80800) for acquiring a new landline, WLL and broadband/ Smart TV connection.

[via PTCL]