State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

Good development. PTA has proposed a few actions for dealing with spam. This includes spams SMS, emails and unwanted calls. See the proposal here or get it from PTA website. I doubt that a fine of 300 Rs will discourage professional spammers. Legitimate companies should start working on their opt-in lists.

It is proposed that a do not call register (DNC) may be maintained by telecom operators. The DNC Register will be a database having the list of all telephone numbers of the subscribers who do not want to receive unsolicited calls. After the establishment of DNC register a subscriber who does not wish to receive Unsolicited calls, can register their telephone number with their telecom service provider to be included in the DNC.

Operator shall upload the number to the DNC within 45 days of receipt. The Telemarketer will have to verify their calling mobile numbers list with the DNC register before making a call. An amount of Rs 300/- per call/message should be prescribed to discourage telemarketers who make calls to numbers registered in Do Not Call list. The defaulter telemarketer will face legal action.The impact of imposing a higher charge for calls and messages which have a commercial purpose attached to them will to some extent ensure that only legitimate calls are made i.e calls to recipients who do not have any problem with attending commercial calls.

Awareness is the key to fighting the spam problem. There are a number of channels listed by PTA but surprisingly blogs and other new media is not mentioned.

The Authority puts forward a media campaign check list which shall be followed by the Authority in collaboration with operators to create spam awareness:
  a) Public awareness activities to target users first and foremost, but also large corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises, direct marketers and online operators.
  b) General awareness activities to be posted on the Web or other media such as television, newspapers and magazines. Brochures may be distributed in schools, made available on all operators’ websites, and also distributed as a leaflet in IT magazines. Educational cartoons about spam, unsolicited and obnoxious calls controlling and reporting and online security broadcast.

The Djuice.Pk blog is no more. Telenor asserted its rights to the .pk domain name associated with their brand and took it over from PKNIC, the registrar for .pk domains.

Some of you may have seen the mobile and entertainment oriented blog Djuice.Pk. When I first came across it the first thing which crossed my mind was - where is Telenor? At that time, Telenor’s official Djuice site was at Djuice.com.pk. Recently it was reported at TGP that Telenor filed a case against Imtiaz Shafiq of Pakpoint Network who had registered the Djuice.pk domain . The Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center issued its decision against Pakpoint (see full document). This is one of the high profile domain name dispute.

Domain name conflicts has always been full of controversy. In this case Telenor had a valid case. However the way this case was handled was debated at Telecom Grid Pakistan with many good points from each side. I hope there is a lesson learned here that companies need to be diligent about their brand.

Location based blogging site SpotJots won the prize for NavTeq global LBS challenge 2008. The key take aways here are that  location based applications are quickly gaining ground and this is the future direction of social networking.

First launched in 2003, the NAVTEQ Global LBS Challenge is focused on driving the development and visibility of innovative navigation solutions for wireless devices. The application had to work on a Nokia N95 device.

In my opinion this is an extreme form of blogging - social blogging with latitude as spotjots calls it. For some neighborhoods it can be very relevant and the imagery and map resolution can be captivating. I found it a bit too much to see the map rectange with every post. What would be better is to have a geocode associated with each post (and perhaps tags with relevant words which come automatically as you hover over).  Overall it will be best if this could be integrated with one of mainstream news and information site.

State of Telecom in Pakistan blog is now .mobi compliant. In other words it is optimized for your mobile phone browser. It should work whenever you point to Telecompk.net from your mobile device. This is a new feature and I am still testing it. I do not expect every post to render correctly but the home page will neatly list the posts. Here’s a view from BlackBerry Pearl. 

I am also experimenting with the nascent trend of mobile advertising, which will appear at the bottom of the screen. Your comments and feedback are welcome.

Adil Najam has written an insightful and thought provoking piece on Pakistaniat.com about the real impact of mobile phone growth in Pakistan: SIM-Nation: 76.6 Million Mobile Subscribers in Pakistan? Could this be right? Is this good?.

Here’s an excerpt but please follow the link for full story. The comments are interesting too and the tendency is that “developmental effects have far outweighed any negatives that one might be able to bring up”.

As readers of this blog may recall, I wrote a series of posts about the economic and social impact of telecommunication technology growth in Pakistan.

Should we be really be impressed - in a development perspective - if the number of mobile subscribers are high in a developing country? It certainly signifies good business for the industry, but what does it say about the country and national development?

There are those who argue in the literature that the rapid growth of such services in developing countries signifies the failure of governments in providing essential infrastructure. This argument is far more valid in the water sector.

The point of all of this is to wonder whether cellphone uptake actually translates to an increase of net developmental productivity - i.e., are people able to do more and make more in terms of their livelihoods - or is it that it has become a new “necessity” and “cost.” (For example, “everyone needs a cellphone now because everyone else has it and not having one is a barrier to entry”). If, indeed, it is that a new “need” and “cost” has been created then that only means that the net “cost of living” has gone up. And, especially for the poor more and more of their disposable income is diverted to this “need” that may not be adding to their productivity or livelihood, but not having which would hurt them. This at a time when the cost of living is already high and economic survival at the individual level under stress.

PTA must have been feeling guilty about all the consumer issues in Pakistan telecom. Perhaps thats why they have recently started throwing a consumer alert as soon as you get to their site. Last time I checked, the role of the regulator / watchdog is to take corrective action. I get a feeling that PTA thinks that by putting up a pop up page, they have completed their obligation. First, with the low number of internet users in Pakistan, how many have access to this? and then how many will visit their site and follow the terse instructions? It seems that more and more responsibility is being shifted to the consumers to fix the mess created by the industry. This is wrong and unacceptable. I hope other bloggers take note and write against this trend.

Anyway, here’s a snapshot of the alert from PTA site.

The general public / users of Telecom Services are advised to note the following:   International Roaming Tariffs for Saudi Arabia The cellular mobile operators are offering International Roaming (IR) facility to prepaid as well as postpaid subscribers. For IR tariff details, click here   PTCL Pakistan Package PTCL has activated “Pakistan Package” on all its subscriber-lines w.e.f. December 01, 2007. PTCL is charging Rs. 199 per month (excluding 15% GST) in addition to normal line-rent and is offering 5,000 free on-net (PTCL to PTCL/Vfone) NWD minutes. Validity of PTCL “Pakistan Package” is “Two (02) months”. For de-activation of “Pakistan Package”, dial 1236. Helpline & Friends & Family Charges The cellular mobile operators are charging for helpline and friends & family services (Excluding 15% GST & 10% Advance Tax). For further details, click here PTCL Voice Messaging Service (VMS) PTCL is charging local call charges of Rs. 2.01 per 5 minutes (excluding GST) when a call is diverted to VMS or a caller listens greeting message / prompt tone. For de-activation, dial 1236 or visit PTCL’s website for further details: http://www.ptcl.com.pk/contentb.php?NID=133   Mobilink Helpline   Mobilink is charging Rs.0.86 (including taxes) per call for calls made to Mobilink Helpline (111).   Hoax Calls and Falsified / Unsolicited SMS(s) Be aware of hoax calls and falsified / unsolicited SMS(s) that are being called / sent to subscribers to buy scratch cards and notify scratch number to calling party for prizes of immense value. You are requested to be mindful of receiving hoax / unsolicited calls and SMS(s) notifying that you have won a prize of immense value. However, in order to retrieve the prize, you have to inform the calling party the hidden numbers on the prepaid scratch cards. As a result, you will be deprived of the value of the Scratch Card. For Further details, click here

This is related to the series about linux and mobile devices / phones. I believe 2008 will be the year when linux for mobile devices will hit big, partly thanks to android. But Linux has some formidable challenges. This post takes a look at one of them - Symbian (48% owned by Nokia), which is one of the top OS makers for smart phones.

As many know, phones based on Nokia S60 uses Symbian’s proprietary operating system. Nokia N82 is the latest phone (more of a gadget actually because of its slick camera) which is based on S60 and Symbian. Symbian is also behind Motorola (MOT) Z8 slider. The user interface of Z8 was positively reviewed by bloggers. Some of the improvements are attributed to a recent upgrade of the OS by the company.

The graphic above shows the market share of smart phone operating system (source: GigaOm) by various region. Overall Symbian is in high gears and ready to take on its competitors.

Recently Symbian posted good results with 56% year-on-year rise in third-quarter product shipments to device manufacturers and said that its revenue had increased by 30% in the same period.

Symbian’s technology has now shipped in 165 million devices. However, average royalties per unit dropped in the period to $4.8 per unit from $5.2 per unit a year ago.

Symbian reported that shipments of its operating system were up to 20.4 million units, from 13 million units a year earlier, in the three months ended Sept. 30, while revenue increased to GBP52.4 million from GBP40.3 million.

Activists in Pakistan are leveraging technology to organize and support their campaign against the martial law in Pakistan. Using the tools of mobile phones, SMS, Wikis, social networking and blogging, the activists have stepped up to fill the gap left behind by the absence of news and TV channels. I reported about the rising trend of mobile activism in the world in July and I asked a question that if this is something we will see in Pakistan in the short term. The recent turn of events has made mobile activism a sucessful reality in Pakistan. See other posts about mobile activism in Pakistan here and here.

Due to the low number of Internet users and the very limited broadband in Pakistan, blogs and other Internet based tools are not within the reach of the masses. Text messaging on the other hand has been very popular and with the 70 million plus mobile subscribers, this is a medium which is widely spread in Pakistan. Bloggers report that Saturday 3rd November saw the highest ever number of SMS sent with an average of 10 text messages being sent across the networks per subscriber.

Business Week reports about this Bloom of E-Resistance in Pakistan:

Relying on Text Messages
Indeed, for ordinary Pakistanis, the cell-phone text message has proved a saving grace, one not yet withdrawn by Musharraf. Internet penetration in Pakistan is low, but Pakistan is one of the world’s fastest-growing cell-phone markets, with user numbers growing 73% this past year. The country of 160 million currently has 67 million cellular subscribers, and, according to Pakistan watchers, in the past week many Pakistanis have been sending and receiving at least 10 text messages a day from relatives overseas who watch the international news on Pakistan and feed the information back home. A conservative estimate of 500 million text messages a day is a bonanza for cell-phone operators.

Along with writing on blogs and posting on wikis, bloggers are also making use of sms to report updates and send alerts. The blog by Teeth Maestro is using SMS2Blog technology as explained here:

We have enabled LIVE SMS-2-BLOG services allowing citizen reporters in Pakistan to directly update this blog by sending this blog, readers shall now be given live updates from the field as it happens. Join this blog’s Twitter Channel at: twitter.com/teeth

See this report from News which talks about Aurat Foundation’s plans to setup a sms based system for activism:

However, keeping in mind the fact that a majority of the population does not have access to the internet, members at a meeting held at the Aurat Foundation’s office decided to circulate their message of protest through text messages and work towards the restoration of human rights, the judicial system and the removal of the media blackout amongst other issues.

On the other hand, hundreds of people have also been registering their protests at pakvoices.net, gopetition.com and facebook.com

All of this is promising - it shows the resolve of the people and their determination to share information and make the best use of available tools.

Of course there are much bigger things at stake for Pakistan at this time than telecom but the impact to economy cannot be taken lightly. We have been discussing and writing about the progress and the potential of telecom industry and about foreign investment in Pakistan. The political crisis changes everything. This graphic from WSJ presents a good snapshot of the situation. What are the implications of this crisis? 

First, the damage to the overall business and economy - of which telecom is a major part - is deep. The extent of recovery will depend on the resilience of the nation and the duration of the conflict.  Now this turmoil has the potential to erode the progress in telecom and other sectors which the government likes to mention so often. Second, it is important to not get distracted and keep focus on the real issues (respect for rule of law and human rights). Third, keep the actions of individuals separate from the sentiments displayed by the majority of the nation, as aptly pointed out by Adil Najam. For me this struggle is about following the right path to achieve the right goals and not sacrificing principals for short-term and dubious reasons.

Bloggers have taken a lead role at reporting the situation. International media has mentioned that it is very hard to get information from Pakistan and outlets such as CNN are relying on bloggers to share information with them. WSJ mentioned many bloggers in another article today (see below).  

For those who would like to know more about the current situation here are some links from Pakistani bloggers.

1. Pakistaniat - On What Can Be Done
2. Teeth Maestro - Students protesting at LUMS (also covered at this LUMS blog, Lahore Metroblog, and shown at CNN Intl today)
3. Green&White - We Were All Hacked
4. Pakistan Spectator
5. Political Statements -Imran Khan’s Video
6. MicroPakistan

We have often talked about the sad state of affairs of Broadband in Pakistan here. Well, KO wrote an open letterto Internet Service Providers (ISPs) of Pakistan in Dec 2004 which was published in Spider magazine. I wanted to share it here because as KO says, Sadly, it’s just as valid today.Yes, most of it is, though for some of us things have improved a tiny bit with increased competition and lower prices. Since broadband situation varies significantly by location, the digital divide within Pakistan is huge as well.

My summarized version of the Wish List follows. Read the full and original version at Wired Pakistan.

1)Reliable and fast Internet service

2) My concern is not the means through which you offer that service, but the quality of the service which I receive 

3) Future plans – I want broadband in the future at lower prices

4) Offer high speeds for LOCAL usage. For example, if I want to transfer data between two computers connected to your local network, I should be able to do so at a minimum of 1MBPS

5) Provide mirrors and local content servers.

6)The days of 15MB and lower mailboxes are long gone. Look into providing larger sized mailboxes and/or web space.

7)Provide a page on your website with the status of your Internet links

8) Provide some sort of customer forums, or online support system

9) Your policy regards VOIP should be clear

10) Start thinking about Video (conferencing) and how your network will cope under video traffic load

11) Provide more Pakistani content

12) Wireless is the only way to provide service to the poor, what are you doing about it?

Do you have anything to add to this list?

Green & White, a blog about technology, start-ups and hiring in Pakistan is  stepping up its efforts to support entrepreneurs in Pakistan. This is a blog on which I contribute as well. The timing for G&W 2.0 is great because we see a number of interesting changes in the technical landscape, both globally and in Pakistan. Essentially the Pakistani society is moving away from the traditional modes and professionals are willing to take more chances.

Blogs and online discussions have a unique place for the various stakeholders (entrepreneurs, investors, media, students, businesses). There are only a handful of folks who are active in this area and Green & White has taken a lead at providing interesting analysis and information for many technology and growth areas. My advice: It takes a lot of time to cause change so build and expand networks, provide information and insights which helps others and … keep going.

In case you are wondering about the coffee cup up there, it represents “coffee sessions” with Osama Hashmi, the managing editor of G&W!

Here’s a sampling of some recent interesting stories from G&W:

• TiE Launches Khudee
• Telenor Launches Comics on D Juice
• Flexible storage business and other implications of the e-crimes bill 2007
• Orgoo - All-in-one Communicaiton Kit

September issue of Wired magazine has an interesting and colorful illustration in which broadband access cost of various countries is expressed as a percentage of their monthly incomes. Pakistan was featured there as well, as you can see below (click to see a higher resolution image). The headline screams: Access Denied. Broadband service is available worldwide (to 3% of the population) but it’s beyond most people’s budgets, it adds.

I’d leave it to the readers to determine whether the number mentioned there for Pakistan: $106.9/100Kbps, is right or not. Oh, and don’t miss the comment about the bloggers in Pakistan.