Developers, here’s your chance to EARN a million rupees. Nokia’s 2010 Calling All Innovators contest has a special prize for developers who submit locally relevant applications (in Urdu or English) and content for use on Nokia devices by consumers living in Pakistan. Pakistan is one of the 11 countries where Nokia is offering the award for local content/apps.

1. The best entry by a developer based in Pakistan will receive a special prize of 1,000,000/- PKR in cash.
2. Additionally, two runners-up will get 500,000/- PKR in cash and 300,000/- PKR in cash respectively.
3. This is an additional incentive – you could still be a global winner in one of the four categories!

Click below to read more about what you need to do for a chance to win the special prize in Pakistan.

Research and Market, the world’s largest market research resource have recently published forecast reports of next five years for mobile operators of Pakistan and other countries. The key points of the report as mentioned in its summary give a very interesting picture of the state of telecom industry in Pakistan.

• Subscriber growth is slowing down in Pakistan’s wireless market ; +7.0% industry average subscriber growth in 3Q.2009
  • The wireless penetration rate is still low at approximately 60% in 2009, and it is expected that the country’s wireless market will continue to show strong growth. The forecasts says that total mobile subscribers in Pakistan will increase from 96 million in 2009 to 134.8 million in 2014. So, we might touch 100 million by 2010 end.
    
  • Mobilink will continue to be the largest player in Pakistan’s mobile operator space over the next five years. The expected mobile subscribers of Mobilink will be 36 million  in 2014.
  • Also, given the latest quarter numbers, the forecast predicts that Ufone will have 25.8 million, Telenor will have 29 million, and Warid will have 25.3 million mobile subscribers by the end of 2014. In this case Mobilink will still be playing on its first mover advantage and the lead the market with Telenor at second.
  • Market share loss at Mobilink and market share gain at China Mobile Pakistan from 2010 – 2014 is expected. In terms of shares of total subscribers, we expect that Mobilink’s market share will decline over the next five years, from 30% in 2009 to 26.7% in 2014. On the other hand, we expect China Mobile Pakistan’s (Zong) market share to increase from 8% in 2009 to 13.7% in 2014. The Zong’s growth predicted is quite low.
    
  • The market shares expected at Ufone, Telenor, and Warid will be approximately 19.2%, 21.6% and 18.8% respectively in 2014.
• ARPUs are decreasing in Pakistan’s mobile operator space; -8.0% operator-wide average ARPU growth in 3Q.2009
  • ARPU levels will remain low in Pakistan’s mobile operator space. We expect that the industry average ARPU will remain in the range of US$ 2 – US$ 3 over the next five years. This could be the worst consequence of indulging into price war.
  • In 2014, Mobilink’s monthly ARPU will be at highest among operators at US$ 2.64. The operator with the lowest monthly ARPU will be Warid Telecom with US$ 1.67 in 2014. There is a high chance of Mobilink’s ARPU being dependent on its post-paid subscriber base, which will continue to be the largest.
    
• Minutes of Use per Subscriber are increasing at Mobilink and Telenor; +12.5% industry average MOU/Sub growth in 3Q.2009
• Strong EBITDA growth at Telenor in the latest quarter; Industry average EBITDA growth was +0.4% in 3Q.2009
  • Given the excellent performance by Norway’s Telenor in Pakistan’s wireless market in the recent past, the forecasts is that its EBITDA margin (calculated as EBITDA / reported revenue) will be increasing from about 23% in 2009 to 35% in 2014.
  • On the other hand, Mobilink shall maintain its EBITDA margin of approximately 35% over the forecast period, 2010 – 2014.

Guest post by Ali Abbas

It has been a long time since I have blogged which happened due to a number of factors and the most contributing one was lack of time! Well guess what? I am finally back and it is no surprise that the Telecom – Student scenario is still at the exact same spot where I left it. Upcoming telecommunication graduates are all worried and tensed biting nails and spending all their time in cursing the world for being so mean and not generating enough job opportunities! Yesterday I met a university junior after a long time and all he could talk about was the troubling thought of job shortage in Pakistan and complaining about all the options being “saturated” and dried up.

For all those who think like my junior friend, you all seriously need to wake up! If you are the one complaining about lack of opportunities in the telecommunication industry you are seriously very out of date. Change your retro thinking about the job dilemma and sort out your options. To dust of the rust (rhymed didn’t it ) I will present some of the options other than the “conventional” ones and none of them are magical creatures or alien populated ideas, all are practical and industry based offers.

Lets rule out all the ideas of a great job that you normally have in mind (yeah I am talking about Mobilink, Ufone, Warid and Telenor jobs). So what are we left with? For starters you need to realize that these are not the only options the telecom world has to offer, upgrade your vision you need to look at broader perspectives of the job possibilities. It has become a rule of thumb amongst our telecom grads that a field job has got to do something with the above mentioned brands which I must say is a very wrong interpretation of a field related job.

There are several other jobs which are related to telecom and are pretty much field oriented. Car Tracking and satellite secure vehicle industry is one good example. This particular industry has just started to evolve in Pakistan and has a lot of scope as well as penetration power. This industry is not limited to the automobile sector, it in fact is growing as a multi-facet phenomena and is being implemented in all sorts of security. Talking about security systems there are two more very fresh and rapidly developing fields which are indeed in need of young active and innovative minds. The bio-metric security era has its roots firmly planted in the Pakistani corporate soil, all it now needs is to grow and evolve into a sturdy tree for which it requires man power (that means you). Not very far from this are the land security systems which involve a very wide range from RF id security to tapping mechanisms (yes its legitimate).

Then there are other areas as well which are a very good option for telecom graduates, the e-banking sector has just started to roll out in Pakistan. The domain has loads of area for R&D and has scope for young minds as well. With virtual bank accounts and mobile to mobile money transactions on the chart, this particular sector has plenty to offer and is a great deal.

Well these are few of the many available options, as always I maintain the opinion that the mind set has to be changed. Positive thinking combined with hard work always pay offs.

Ali Abbas is a graduate of FAST-NU working in Brains Pvt Ltd. as a Project Coordinator . He  likes to share his views and idea’s on a wide range of topics and believes in providing solutions not problems. He blogs for zumbeel and can be reached at ali.syed.88@gmail.com.

Guess what is the background of the event shown below? Other than prayes, are we doing the right things to make Pakistan an “Information Based Society”? Talking about local content is fine but I have been hearing about that for many years. What about local peering and IX?

The news release which accompanied this picture tells us that PTA will hold an exclusive conference on ‘Promoting ICT Sector’ on February 25, 2010. This conference is being organized in view of the importance of local content and applications for future promotion of ICT industry and infrastructure.

I hope there is some action from this other than plain talk.

We are conducting a poll to collect consumer feedback on telecom billing errors, resolution process and improvements that can be made. As one example, PTA recently issued a show-cause notice to PTCL for, among other things, a high number of billing error (79 errors per 10,000 bills). Below are some statistics for reference.

These are from a survey conducted by PTA and PTCL in 2009 and represent the average of the nationwide results. We often hear that consumers of other telecom companies have similar issues with billing and we would like to get your opinion about this. We also want to know if the process of resolution of these issues is working well or not.

This WSJ article on Telcordia shows how telecom is also getting caught up in the intense politics of South Asia. Telcordia had helped with mobile number portability and now that has come under scrutiny by Indian government. Quite funny. We had heard the same kind of concerns about Telenor. Is this an isolated instance or does this mean more trouble for telecom vendors who are doing business in South Asia?

Telcordia Technologies Inc. sold its software to several cellphone companies in Pakistan a few years ago, just as it has done in 14 other countries. Now that fact is making life difficult for the U.S. company in Pakistan’s archrival, India. Telcordia makes back-end software for wireless and fixed-line networks.

Millions of Indian cellphone users are awaiting the chance to switch wireless providers while keeping the same phone number. Telcordia, which is based in Piscataway, N.J., was one of two companies the Indian government selected to provide crucial services to carriers in the transition to so-called number portability.

But in recent months, India’s Home Ministry has raised objections that partnering with Telcordia could compromise national security, effectively putting the company’s plans on hold.

The Indian ministry noted its concerns that Telcordia “has presence in Pakistan,” according to notes from a January meeting of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, the government body that reviews foreign investments.

Read more about this after the break.

The Home Ministry “has serious concerns over telecom security” and the potential for unauthorized eavesdropping if the foreign vendor is allowed to manage number portability, the notes say.

Anuj Kapur, Telcordia’s India country head, said in an emailed statement the company’s only business in Pakistan has been the sale of its standard “clearinghouse” software that helps cellphone companies coordinate user requests for transferring numbers to a new service.

India has allowed in other telecom companies that have operations in Pakistan. Norway’s Telenor ASA, for example, operates one of Pakistan’s largest wireless carriers and is the majority stakeholder in an Indian wireless start-up, Unitech Wireless. Given that, “It’s hard to make an argument that Telcordia shouldn’t be allowed in,” said Harit Shah, a telecom analyst at Angel Broking in Mumbai.

The Telcordia issue threatens to further delay number portability in India, which the government has already pushed back three months to a March 31 deadline because some carriers say they aren’t yet equipped to make the switch. Some analysts say the industry is simply dragging its feet. “There are operators with a vested interest to push this back,” said Kunal Bajaj, managing director of telecom consulting firm BDA in New Delhi. “They’ll find any excuse to delay it.”

Number portability would be a boon to India’s 525 million cellphone users, making it smoother for them to switch providers and demand better customer service from their existing carriers. But it could mean new costs for carriers.

PTA has proposed to update the approach towards setting the annual spectrum fee for radio based services. This is the first major changes since 2000 when spectrum was abundant. PTA quoted “a drastic change in spectrum demand in Pakistan which needs associated price change”. PTA has issued a consultative paper on this topic which provides the initial thinking behind the pricing changes and seeks input from industry stakeholders. The paper indicates that from now on, a periodic review of spectrum prices would be carried out to introduce utilization efficiency, bring technological innovation and tackle any distortions observed after implementation of proposed charges.

The summary of spectrum fee proposals for commercial users are as follows:

a. For Land Mobile Wireless license (commonly known as VHF Wireless), the proposed rates are based on weighted linear formula keeping in view the present spectrum demand.
b. Proposals related to fixed links in any frequency band have been discussed in fixed point to point (P2P) charging regime. A common formula for fixed P2P links in all the frequency bands has been proposed.
c. Proposed fee for broadcasting services consist of two components to avoid existing disparities.
d. In case of ground to air communication in Aeronautical Navigation Service, the fee proposals are based on new VHF wireless station fee.
e. New charging regime for Maritime Communication Service has been formulated in light of the fact that PTA has planned to introduce the licensing for this service in near future.
f. A uniform initial license application processing fee has been proposed to keep it simple for PTA and operators.

Here are some of the recent favorites from TelecomPk.

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• Return on 4G Investment?

Have you noticed the common elements between the telecom industry of Pakistan and Bangladesh? Three of the top 4 telecom companies in Bangladesh are also doing business in Pakistan. Telenor is present in all of sub-continent. Regulatory authorities in Bangladesh (BRTC) and Pakistan (PTA) have also worked together and shared best practices. Here’s a short review of the mobile telecom companies in Bangladesh.

1. Telenor Bangladesh – Grameen Phone
2. Bangla Link
3. AKTel
4. Warid

According to BTRC (Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission), the total number of Mobile Phone Active Subscribers has reached 52.43 million at the end of December 2009. Note how Mobilink (13.87 million) is trailing behind Telenor / Grameen which has 23.26 million – the opposite of their situation in Pakistan. Warid (2.99 million) is at number 3 both in Bangladesh and in Pakistan – however in Bangladesh, Warid has sold its majority stake. In Pakistan, Warid is still in “talks”.

Information – about the companies:

• Telenor Bangladesh – Grameen Phone

Launched in 1997, Grameenphone was the first Telenor venture in the Asian telecom market.

Today, Grameenphone is the largest mobile provider in Bangladesh, serving more than 21 million subscribers; an increase of 53 per cent in the subscriber base in 2007. Telenor and its partners have boosted network capacity and extended coverage to new and often remote areas, connecting millions of previously unconnected people. Telenor holds 62 per cent of Grameenphone. Grameenphone started trading its shares on the stock exchanges in Dhaka and Chittagong on November 16, 2009. The headquarter is in Dhaka.

Telenor’s venture in Bangladesh wasn’t without disputes. A statement on Telenor website says.

In the conflict regarding the ownership of Grameenphone, Telenor disagrees with Muhammad Yunus that we have an agreement to sell our stake in the company to him. We would like to emphasize that the shareholder agreement clearly states that any disagreements should be resolved through the Swedish courts.

Grameenphone has built the largest cellular network in the country with over 10,000 base stations in more than 5,700 locations. Presently, nearly 98 per cent of Bangladesh’s population is within the coverage area of the Grameenphone network.

Grameenphone currently holds both a GSM 900 and a GSM 1800 licence. The entire Grameenphone network is also EDGE/GPRS enabled.

• Bangla Link - (Orascom – Mobilink in Pakistan)

When banglalink entered the Bangladesh telecom industry in February 2005, the scenario changed overnight with mobile telephony becoming an extremely useful and affordable communication tool for people across all segments.

Within one year of operation, banglalink became the fastest growing mobile operator of the country with a growth rate of 257%. This milestone was achieved with innovative and attractive products and services targeting the different market segments; aggressive improvement of network quality and dedicated customer care; and effective communication that emotionally connected customers with banglalink.

Banglalink is today the 2nd largest mobile operator in the country and we have recently celebrated with 1 crore customers. This has been achieved in just three and a half years.

• Warid

Warid has recently sold a 51 per cent stake in its two largest African networks to India’s Essar, and 70 per cent of its Bangladeshi network to Bharti Airtel.

In Bangladesh, Warid Telecom commenced its operations under a landmark MOU agreed upon by the Dhabi Group and the Government of Bangladesh worth USD 1 billion, out of which USD 750 million was exclusively committed for investment in the telecommunication sector of the country. Succeeding the MOU signing, the BTRC license for telecom service provision was issued to Warid Telecom, followed by the signing of interconnectivity agreement with all the existing telecom companies of Bangladesh.

In May 10th, 2007, Warid Telecom launched its commercial operations in Bangladesh with a network encompassing 26 districts. By November 2007, the network had been expanded to cover 61 districts and being used by 2 million customers.

The subscriber base of over 2 million users in our first year of operation alone serves as a testament to Warid telecom’s customer-driven business mandate. These achievements have only been possible due to Warid’s uncompromising commitment to provide maximum network coverage and clear connectivity at the most affordable price.

PTCL is in the news as it reported earnings: a net profit of Rs. 5.354 billion for the half year ended on 31st December, 2009. This is a 13% growth compared to same period last year. At the same time, PTCL has withdrawn its high-speed Internet discount for students. In a recent press release, it announced that “PTCL is offering special 30% discount package for the students on 1 Mbps connection on high speed broadband services.” The previous connections of 2MBps and 4Mbps offered to students will be downgraded. To me, this business strategy seems odd. Why would you downgrade a popular package at a time when earnings are good?

Here are the PTCL highlights from 2009.

• During last year, PTCL acquired about 336,000 customers spread over 200 cities in Pakistan.
• Evo – the wireless Broadband based on 3G technology with nationwide roaming  expanded to all the major cities.
• Under the USF scheme, PTCL is extending voice and data services to the underserved and far-flung areas of Pakistan using satellite backhaul as well.
• For its Corporate clients, the Company has launched Enterprise DSL, I-Sentry (IP video monitoring and surveillance solution), managed services and also soft launched Tele-presence for the first time in Pakistan.
• Data Centers equipped with latest technologies are being established at Karachi and Lahore with the objective to provide data-hosting as well as disaster-recovery services to our valued corporate customers.
• Another initiative is the on-going project to equip over four thousand (4,000) schools with IT labs under the auspices of Government of Punjab.
• Residential customers promotions include: Free on-nets minutes for new connections, Double-up Unlimited Package with single pricing for voice and broadband services, Bundle deals in Lahore and Karachi and Regional Packages.