Ufone continued its remarkable track record in the telecom industry with handsome growth in revenues by 16 percent and in profit by 78 percent in the third quarter of current fiscal year ended in March 2010.

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) financial report said that it wholly-subsidiary outperformed again to consolidate a quite strengthening position of the company in terms of its financial stability.

Ufone, the wholly owned subsidiary of PTCL, revenue could be increased to 14 billion in the third quarter of 2010-11 whereas and profit could be to reach at Rs1.5  billion as per estimate of last calendar and quarter earnings and profitability.

The report did not disclose the absolute number of profit and revenue of Ufone, which is also called as Pak Telecom Mobile Limited (PTML).

Ufone revenues and profits were considered as significant for the overall earning of the parent company, PTCL.  The remarkable results once again support the whole group to announce better result in the third quarter despite high overall operating cost and multiple losses on different accounts.

The PTCL net profit of Rs. 7.91 billion showed a 14 percent decline compared to same period last year. The Profit-after-Tax stood at Rs. 4.97 billion was 37 percent lower than the same period last year mainly because of increased employment cost.

Ufone earning witnessed record growth with handsome in crease in profit by 82 percent and revenue by 16 percent in first half of current fiscal year 2010-11.

Its revenues and profit were estimated to cross Rs 25 billion and Rs 2 billion benchmark on growing earnings and profitability.

Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecom, Dr. Babar Awan visited Universal Service Fund Company (USF Co.) office yesterday, said a statement issued by USF.

Mr. Awan’s this visit, as seen by the outsiders, is a ministerial ritual. This is how every new minister visits its ministry offices/organizations.

Company statement said that the minister took interest in the working and projects of USF and asked several questions.

Statement said:

“He laid a lot of emphasis on running ‘People Oriented” programmes while remaining within the rules and structure of USF. He also stressed the need for coming up with out-of-box ideas for implementation of such projects. The Federal Minister offered USF and the Telecom Operators his full support, through parliamentarians or otherwise, in areas where difficulties are being faced in rolling out telecom networks.”

Earlier, the Minister was given a detailed briefing on USF and its programmes for proliferation of telecom services in the unserved and under-served, remote and rural parts of the country.

Giving a presentation on the topic, the Chief Executive Officer, Parvez Iftikhar, apprised the Minister IT regarding programs of USF and the progress that USF projects have been making. He informed that the number of previously un-served Mauzas where service has been provided has reached 3,500 and almost 3,000 kms of Fiber Cables have been laid to connect remote Tehsils so far not served with Optical Fiber, mainly in Sindh and Balochistan. At the same time number of small towns and cities with broadband internet has touched 238 and all higher secondary schools, colleges and libraries falling in those areas are being provided free Broadband connections with five PCs and training for two teachers each.

Noting that all the progress made was during the tenure of the present government, the Minister IT assured USF Management of complete support. He commended the efforts being made by USF for striving to provide telecom services to all people of the country.

Secretary IT, Mr. Saeed Ahmed Khan and Secretary Law, Mr. Muhammad Masood Chishti, were also present in the briefing.

As we mentioned in our post, earlier today, Dr. Babar Awan is visiting various Telecom and IT organizations (as part of ministerial round), and for this he today visited PTA head office.

We are expecting him to visit NTC, R&D and other places in coming days.

A statement issued by PTA said that during his visit Dr. Awan emphasized on the need of pro-consumer telecom policies, which should be revised every year.

Just for the records, it merits mentioning here that most of our telecom policies (IT Policy, Broadband Policy, Telecom policy) have got expired and are bound to be revised, since 2009. This means government needs to renew policies now (with 5 years expirations date), let alone their yearly renewal.

PTA’s Statement said that Chairman PTA Dr. Muhammed Yaseen, Secretary Law, Mr. Muhammad Masood Chishti, Member Finance, Syed Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi, and Member Technical, Dr. Khawar Siddique Khokhar and senior officers of the Authority were also present during the visit.

Mr. Awan was quoted as saying:

Complaint handling system should be made effective and all service providers should make arrangements to remove grievances of the consumers.

The minister stressed that awareness campaigns should be launched in Urdu and regional languages. “Grey trafficking is a serious issue and it needs to be dealt effectively, in this context laws may also be thoroughly checked and applied”, the Minister emphasized.

He said that telecom sector in Pakistan has made decisive contribution towards the national economy therefore challenges faced by the telecom sector are being addressed in an appropriate manner.

The Minister said that for the prompt disposal of telecom related cases, Telecom Tribunals would be set up soon. He also stressed the need for coming up with out of box ideas for implementation of ongoing activities regarding the development of telecom sector.

The Federal Minister offered PTA, his full support, for smooth access of telecom services to the people of Pakistan residing in the far-flung areas. He appreciated the role of PTA in the uplift of telecom sector.

During the visit, Chairman PTA briefed the Minister about the latest developments taking place in the telecom industry.

Chairman said that Pakistan telecom industry was growing at an astounding pace after the deregulation of the sector. The broadband sector growth has been extraordinary and this sector has become a model for other countries across the world. He said that number of factors have played role in it, including investor friendly government policies and healthy competition introduced by PTA which has encouraged operators to an extra mile for making a strong subscriber base. On this occasion Chairman PTA Dr. Muhammad Yaseen presented souvenir to honorable Minister.

Zong has come up with a new concept of offering before and after sale support through the launch of retail shops across the country that offer customers an enhanced level of convenience.

The exclusive ZONG branded retail shops, each named ‘TOP SHOP’, has been developed to address the growing business trends of channel specialization at Zong, which would further develop & strengthen its channel penetration.

In addition to routine services for customers the ‘TOP SHOP’ will be providing specialized services to customers thus further enhancing their experience.

Expressing his views at the opening ceremony, Usman Ishaq, Director Sales, ZONG stated that ZONG is constantly assessing the evolving needs of its customers and understanding these needs, it proactively develops solutions. Now, consistent with ZONG’s core objective of continuously adding value to its customers through innovative means, we have launched this convenience retailing initiative as ‘TOP SHOP’ as a one-stop solution.

“With our branded retail shops, we believe that we would be in a position to maximize convenience in this category, We would be working aggressively to come out with more innovative consumer offers to create maximum value for our customers,” said Mr. Ishaq, further added.

The company has planned to open ‘TOP SHOP’ retail outlets spread across the length and breadth of the country.

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Pakistan has strong telecommunication networks in its urban and rural cities for rapid and affordable communication among people, helping to bridge gap among communities of distant areas and creating a sense of strong nationhood among the masses.

This was stated by Ameena Sayiad, President Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry in an exclusive interview to ProPakistani.

Cellular phone companies have deployed their network extensively from metropolis to small villages, which showed the huge subscribes’ base that recently crossed 100-million mark, she said.

“This number of 100 million is huge, in fact it outnumbers the figure of 70 million TV viewers in the country. Hence, telephony services are very vital in diminishing the isolation of the people in rural areas and created a binding among people-to-people connection,” Ameena said.

“Thanks to organizations like USF, farmers in the far flung villages are enjoying facility of mobile phone services, which was previously impossible. In fact it took life times for individuals to to get wired-line telephone connections even in the major cities” she said while referring to the service affordability and accessibility of the people that made closer to each other while living at distant places.

She mentioned that the telecommunication network of Pakistan is tremendous and invaluable as compared to different other utilities such as electricity, gas and water – which are hardly available to people of Pakistan.

The multinational companies operating in the country now have opportunities to explore different urban and rural markets in the – thanks to the telephone services, which are easily available in nook and corner of the country, Ameena further said.

There is a lot of potential in oil and gas exploration and mineral minoning sector in Pakistan, while agriculture based businesses have tremendous potential in rural areas. All these business activities are carried out in deserted place therefore it is important to get connected with people by wireless telephones, which will further play a vital role in the business with the advancement to video-conferencing services.

President OICCI explained the contribution made by telecommunication operators to Foreign Direct Investment, Corporate Governors, Business Practices and activities of Social Corporate Responsibility (CSR) in the country.

Cellular operators have landed substantial FDI in the country, which spurred economic activities and generated hundred of thousands of direct and indirect employment. They have also contributed heavily to relief activities for flood affected citizen in past year, she pointed out.

Telenor is a member of OICCI so far but different operators will soon be part of overseas chamber, she mentioned. “Currently, Nokia is taking interest to be member of one of the oldest and prestigious platform of overseas companies.”

The telecom sector has witnessed tremendous growth, made life of people easier and helped business achieving success, she concluded.

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TV channels and newspapers are reporting that Dr. Babar Awan, who happened to be the law minister and additionally the minister in-charge of IT and Telecom, has resigned to appear in the supreme court for Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto case.

Official sources have not confirmed us the notification of Mr. Awan’s resignation, however, his resignation rendered in the supreme court is considered as valid by the masses.

If, it happens, this will mark an end to Dr. Awan’s less than two week minister-ship for IT and Telecom ministry.

During past three years, as we have discussed several times in the past, IT and Telecom ministry has remained either ministry-less or otherwise secretary-less. This situation has left so many organizations to work sluggishly or otherwise with no work/development at all.

It is just not understandable for a common man that why the government isn’t able to appoint one man out of 18 million people to head IT and Telecom Ministry.

We recently reported that telecom consumers paid over 36 billion rupees as taxes in just 6 months of 2010-11, however, if government’s lack of interest for the sector remains the same, the consequences could be hard to bear for already stricken economy of the country.

Telecommunication industry remained a major contributor to national exchequer in terms of multiple taxes paid by costumers. These revenues have shown growth with accelerated pace on the increase usage of different telephony service by millions of customers in the country.

The customers using different telephony services have paid Rs 23.429 billion on the account of General Sales Tax (GST) in the first half of current fiscal year 2010-11, Federal Bureau of Statistics (FBR) quoted in its recently released report.

This GST amount has shown 8 percent growth in terms of its value compared with the corresponding period of fiscal year 2009-2010 in which 21.701 billion rupees were collected by the tax authorities.

GST on telephony services is originally Federal Excise Duty (FED) but it is collected in the mode of GST on every service including voice, text, value-added, subscription of call packages and SMS bundles.

The GST/FED imposed on telephony services is charged at 19.5 percent, which is highest among all sectors compared with their GST rate of 17 percent.

Telecom sector is the second major spinner among all sectors after petroleum that contributed heavily to the overall generation of GST. Its share in the overall GST is stood at 16.7 percent as compared with last year which was slightly lower and stood at 16.2 percent.

The collection from telecom sector, the second major source of sales tax, has improved by 8 percent due to increased usage of the telecom services by 9.2 percent, FBR mentioned in its report.

The growth in services utilities were seen despite millions of flood affected subscribers were unable to use telecom services for couple of months (July to August 2010).

Telecom sector has generated Rs 12.921 billion taxes on the account of Withholding Tax (WT) in the fiscal half of current fiscal year 2010-2011, FBR reported. These figures showed growth of 18.6 percent as compared with Rs. 10.89 billion WT paid by customers in the same period of last fiscal year.

The share of telecom sector in the overall WT collected by FBR is stood at 8.5 percent in July-Dec 2010. The sector is the fourth major contributor among all sectors after contracts, imports and salary heads.

The WT was paid by customers as direct tax at the rate 10 percent in the first half of current fiscal year, which has recently been increased to 11.5 percent by the government. This tax is deducted on the recharge of load/balance through scratch card or easy-load from prepaid customers whereas postpaid or fixed-lined customers pay it at the time of bill payments.

Overall the users of telephony services have paid Rs 36.35 billion in the July-December 2010 as against the figure of Rs 32.591 billion paid in same months of 2009, showing 11.53 percent growth.

These all direct (WT) and indirect taxes (GST) are paid by customers but deducted by telecom operators including landline, cellular, and wireless as withholding agent of their subscribers. Later, taxes are transferred to revenue collecting authority, FBR, by operators therefore there is negligible incidence of tax evasion in telecom sector.

It is pertinent to note here that that a total tax of Rs. 36.35 billion (GST + with holding tax) translates into a combined revenues of Rs. 92.86 billion rupees for all telecom companies in first 6 months of fiscal year 2010-11.

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PTCL is working on a project, after which, it will be able offer broadband internet of 50 Mpbs, said a statement issued by the company.

An industry first, Pakistan’s PTCL will be using VDSL2 Bonding technology to provide existing digital subscriber line (DSL) customers with speeds up to 50 Mbps.

The project leverages Alcatel-Lucent’s VDSL2 Bonding expertise and should be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2011.

VDSL2 Bonding takes two copper-based VDSL2 lines per subscriber and aggregates them – almost doubling the bandwidths available to existing customers, or expanding high-speed broadband access to areas that are underserved today. Using VDSL2 Bonding, service providers can extend the life of their existing copper infrastructure – supporting the delivery of bandwidth-intensive services such as triple-play voice, data and IPTV.

According to a recent study from market research firm IHS iSuppli, simultaneous access to applications such as peer-to-peer file sharing, online gaming, streaming audio, VoIP and IPTV will soon require bandwidths between 50 and 100Mbps. This fits exactly with VDSL2’s capabilities, especially when combined with innovations such as Bonding and Vectoring.

Commenting on this achievement President and CEO PTCL Walid Irshaid has stated

“PTCL is the first service provider worldwide to deploy a commercial VDSL2 Bonding solution that aims at doubling the bandwidths provided to its existing customers. We are thus setting the trend in international telecoms, and are taking the broadband experience in Pakistan to the next level.

Alcatel-Lucent’s VDSL2 Bonding technology and comprehensive services and network integration expertise is helping us to keep pace with the increasing bandwidth requirements of our customers, while capitalizing on the existing copper infrastructure. This will enable us to quickly deliver high-quality, high-speed and high-availability business and residential services – even in areas where it was not possible before.”

Alcatel-Lucent is providing PTCL with its Intelligent Services Access Manager (ISAM) IP access platform – which is the first platform to commercially support VDSL2 Bonding. Alcatel-Lucent will also supply Bonding-ready customer premises equipment (CPE). Alcatel-Lucent serves as the project’s master network integrator, and is providing a range of professional services – including project management, installation and commissioning, integration and technical support.

“We understand that service providers need the right tools to bridge the gap until fiber deployments have become ubiquitous. VDSL2 Bonding is an ideal approach: service providers like PTCL can almost double the speeds supported by their DSL infrastructure or expand their network’s reach. This makes it a fast and cost-effective approach to bridging the digital divide,” said Aadil Rauf CEO Alcatel-Lucent Pakistan Ltd.

“This commercial VDSL2 Bonding project with PTCL marks the beginning of VDSL2 Bonding deployments outside of the US – where the technology is typically used to expand the reach of the copper network.”

Alcatel-Lucent is the driving force behind the world’s most advanced VDSL2 roll-outs, with customers such as Belgacom, STC, Swisscom and Telekom Austria. Our VDSL2 solution has also been deployed by competitive operators, including M-net (Germany) and South Yorkshire Digital Region (UK).

“Sab Keh Do” day to promote the importance of communication will be celebrated for the third consecutive year on April 17, 2011.

This year’s theme is to motivate those who have worked hard against all odds and difficulties, by expressing encouraging thoughts for them.

“Sub Keh Do” day is dedicated to create awareness about the significance of self-expression. In the spirit of recent world cup, this year’s “Sub Keh Do” day will focus on sending positive messages to Pakistan’s cricket team. “Sab Keh Do” day endorses the idea of building a stronger society by strengthening relationships.

Therefore, people will be encouraged to give inspirational messages for the members of Pakistan’s cricket team, who brought the whole nation together and evoked patriotic feelings in them.

Like previous years, an exclusive song for “Sub Keh Do” day will be aired on various channels.

Music maestro Rahat Fateh Ali Khan has recorded the song in his voice this year. Previously Shafqat Amanat Ali and Ali Hamza had lent their voices for “Sub Keh Do” day’s songs. These unique and catchy numbers became instant hits. In a survey conducted last year, many people described these songs as soothing and inspiring.

Ather Ul Islam, student of MBA at a local university, stated that he was quite impressed with the lyrics of all “Sub Keh Do” songs and is convinced that the latest one will also come up to everybody’s expectations. He added that “Sub Keh Do” day is a unique concept and is contributing to the overall wellbeing of our society by fortifying relationships.

The core objective of celebrating “Sub Keh Do” day is to uphold the importance of expressing oneself. Communication – verbal, written or gestured is an integral instinct of all living things. A lot of personal, professional and social disasters can be averted by maintaining clear, appropriate and unambiguous communication. “Sub Keh Do” day persuades everyone to speak their heart out in a respectful manner, which eventually contributes towards promoting peace, love and understanding in society.

A research conducted by Informa Telecoms & Media pinpoints the fact that mobile data revenues are rising exponentially. Although voice would continue to contribute a lion’s share in the overall revenue but data-rich applications can certainly be the game changer.

Global mobile data revenues in 2010 were $253 billion, and are expected to reach a podium of $453 billion this year!

In Pakistan, operators are battling on voice by decreasing per minute charges; introducing location based charging; launching time dependent voice charges. SMS is another revenue generator but that too has lost all pricing floors.

The concept of Significant Market Player (SMP) seems to diminish somewhere in the unimplemented abyss.

According to the stats published by PTA in November 2010, total telecom revenues are shown below:

According this these stats, Pakistani telecom companies generated Rs. 357,712 million, or US 4.208 billion dollars in year 2009-10.

Given the prodigious population Pakistan is characterized with, this total does not amount to even a handsome fraction of global revenues. We are sixth most populated country; our share should have been far greater than what it is now.

Thanks to the cut-throat competition and ever low tariffs which have become the marquee of our market.

The research predicted global revenues to cross the trillion mark soon and to reach a staggering figure of $1.14 trillion in 2013.

It’s in the hands of our policy makers to contribute a major share to it and thus attract foreign investment. The users should be taught to pay for data services.

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