Pakistan IT » Telenor

Telenor Pakistan announces financial results for Q1 2011

Pakistan IT — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:40:43 +0000

Telenor Group has announced results for the first quarter of 2011. According to details, at the end of the first quarter of 2011 Telenor Pakistan subscribers reached 25.75 million which is nearly 5% higher than the previous quarter. EBIDTA margin remained firm with Telenor Pakistan’s market share at 24%.

Christian Albech, CEO Telenor Pakistan commenting on the results said: “I am pleased that we continue to perform well. Our performance is in line with our expectations and above par as compared with the industry average. In 2011 we hope to continue to consolidate our growth across all areas of the business.”

Also in the first quarter of this year Telenor Pakistan was presented with the High Tax Payer Award of Excellence 2010 from Pakistan Customs, Islamabad Collectorate.

Overall, Telenor Group reported revenues of NOK24.1 billion, representing an organic revenue growth of 7%. EBITDA before other items was NOK7.4 billion, EBITDA margin was 31 per cent, and operating cash flow was NOK5 billion.

“Our mobile operations are continuing the strong subscriber growth seen in the last part of 2010, adding 9 million subscribers during the first quarter this year,” said Jon Fredrik Baksaas, President and CEO of Telenor Group.

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Telenor India: After Corruption Scandal

Pakistan IT — Mon, 09 May 2011 14:34:10 +0000

The corruption scandal in India is causing a number of issues for the telecom companies doing business in India. As a result of the scandal, companies have to go through a legal and regulatory process.

Telenor ASA, the Nordic region’s largest phone company, said it’s maintaining targets for its Indian unit Uninor, which is challenged by a corruption probe and an “unclear” regulatory environment.

The Indian government ordered Uninor and Emirates Telecommunications Corp. to prove the validity of their mobile- phone licenses, saying they were obtained in 2008 under false pretences. Uninor also paid a fine to India’s Department of Telecommunications for not meeting rollout obligations.

Telenor is “comfortable” with the position held in 2008 by Uninor’s predecessor, Unitech Wireless, Chief Executive Officer Jon Fredrik Baksaas said in an interview in Oslo today.

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MPSP has potential to boost mobile-banking in Pakistan: Dr Yaseen

Pakistan IT — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 09:16:52 +0000

The introduction of third party payment networks also known as MPSP (Mobile Payment Service Providers) would be of immense advantage since these third party payment handing agents can work with many providers, rather than the closed networks, Dr Muhammad Yaseen, Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said in its authored article on his blog “Mobile Banking – Market Dynamics for Pakistan.”

The primary approach is to encourage multiple mobile banking services to MPSP as opposed to One-to-One payment system or one bank one operator. Therefore, there will be opportunities to design multiple money transfer saving and financing services to customers.

We could foresee opportunities for service providers from banks and mobile sectors alike who move quickly to create new products, especially if they can establish shared networks of third party agents, he wrote.

Dr Yaseen explained that the customers belonging to any bank and mobile operator would have the freedom of managing their finances when and where they want. This means that all banks and mobile operators would be able to connect with each other resulting in a situation where any bank customer can access their accounts, transfer funds, and interact with all other bank customer using mobile connection.

“This also provides an extra freedom to all service providers to start mobile banking offers to their consumers. Under this model, all banks and all operators could join hands to offer services to virtually all bankable customers, he said and added “this model offers the maximum connectivity and hence maximum outreach but requires a central transaction processing system that could be handled by a MPSP. Relying on third party service providers would also “liberate” banks from location constraints, allowing them to compete for customers anywhere based on product design, marketing, and branding.”

Block Diagram of the TPS Model

PTA has join hands with State Bank of Pakistan for drafting banking while offering state-of-the-art security to mobile users and financial. This aim to introduce a unified regulatory regime catering the requirements of operators, financial institutes and the consumer by providing a many-to-many relationship.

The present regulatory framework available under Electronic Transfer Act (2005) and Branchless Banking Regulations (2008) promulgated by State Bank of Pakistan is based on 1-to-1 relationship. This offers a close system between a single bank and a single mobile operator required to develop their own payment

Pakistan has region’s best performing sector, the financial sector assets have risen to over $185 billion, its profitability is exceptional and at an all- time high, non-performing loans (NPLs) are at an all-time low, credit is fairly diversified and bank-wide system risks are well-contained. Almost 81% of banking assets are in private hands. Similarly mobile sector in Pakistan has observed an enormous growth with a subscriber’s base reaching

Source: http://www.dryaseen.pk

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Telenor Collaborates with Nokia to Increase the Bandwidth of local Apps & Content on Ovi Store

Pakistan IT — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:10:22 +0000

Adding more variety to its content, Ovi Store plays host to new local apps published by Telenor Pakistan

Telenor Pakistan has joined hands with Nokia whereby applications published by Telenor Pakistan will be hosted on Nokia’s Ovi Store. This was announced at a signing ceremony held here today.

The first of the applications include games and comedy content. WeRPlay & Anahata Solutions are the apps development partners.

Commenting on the addition of new apps from Telenor Pakistan on Ovi Store, Nauman Durrani, Operator Relation Manager, Nokia Near East said, “We are really excited to be promoting Telenor Pakistan’s apps via our Ovi Store. These apps will be available to both local and international Nokia users. While this partnership will allow Ovi Store to host a greater variety of local apps, Telenor Pakistan will benefit from the vast scale and reach offered by the Ovi Store.”

Speaking about the partnership, Usman Javaid, Director Marketing, Telenor Pakistan said, “We appreciate Nokia’s Ovi Store for supporting apps published by Telenor Pakistan. This is the first time ever any mobile operator in Pakistan has ventured into handset-targeted apps. We specially invite freelancers & IT students to write apps for global mobile users. Telenor Pakistan will provide them with development, publishing and promotional support. To promote use of Ovi services in Pakistan, we will also be introducing an innovative data plan for Telenor mobile internet users which will enable them to access Ovi at attractive tariffs.”

Nokia’s Ovi Store continues to expand its offerings particularly locally developed apps so that consumers in Pakistan can enjoy mobile applications that match their preferences and lifestyle. As it gains momentum in Pakistan, Nokia’s Ovi Store aims to offer the most enriched, useful and streamlined user experience.

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Shared Value: Integrating Social Responsibility into Business

Pakistan IT — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 10:11:31 +0000

This Guest Post is written by Affan Haider, who works in the Corporate Communications department at Telenor Pakistan.

By Affan Haider

Recently, I was having an interesting discussion with Aamir Attas on Khamoshi Ka Boycott; the topic veered off towards the international phenomenon of redefining social responsibility as part of longer term business strategy. Due to our mutual interest in the topic, Aamir invited me to do a post on the phenomenon, as below.

Traditionally, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility has been, to use a light term, counter-productive. For some reason, it has pitted society against business, social development against profits and portrayed organizations as evil.

Social responsibility within organizations need to be seen less as a stand-alone function, cost constraint or charitable deed, and need to be seen more as a strategic direction.

For this to happen, it is very important to not only look at the overall business strategy, but also points of intersection between society and all functions within the business. But before we go into the discussion of these mutually beneficial intersects, we need to understand why this integration is the need of the hour, and trend of the future.

An organization is also known as a corporate entity, corporate, just like individuals have certain rights, obligations and implied ethics, based on the law of the land and norms of the society. Around the world organizations are realizing that good of the society ultimately is good of the business as well. Improved socio-economic conditions within a set of people lead to increased purchasing power, which can lead to increased spending on products / services of various organizations and improved infrastructure availability in the country.

On the other hand, increased consumer awareness is slowly but surely influencing purchasing decisions on the basis of ethical conduct and social responsibility of the organization that the product / service originate from. We do hear the common argument of ‘That’s not the case in Pakistan’, but that is about to change.

For an organization to integrate social responsibility into business practices, the overall philosophy, vision and values of the organization need to be aligned with the concept of social responsibility. Values like being respectful, being inspiring, keeping promises and making it easy help lead the corporate thought-process in the right direction. Integration of social responsibility concept in vision and values will also ensure long term strategic focus on the responsibility elements.

Don’t get me wrong. The prime purpose of an organization remains to earn profit and increase value for its stakeholders, especially shareholders. An analogy could be that of an individual: Of course the person needs to earn to feed himself and his family, but he still should earn without doing any wrong and continue to fulfill his social, cultural, ethical and legal responsibilities.

Same is the case with organizations. However, organizations generally tend to go beyond the minimum legal obligations to ensure incorporation of social responsibility in their strategy.

To elaborate the concept of social responsibility into various business functional areas, here are some examples:

Social responsibility in HR practices: Around the world, a number of surveys have conclusively proved that good HR practices is one of the premier parameters used by the general public to consider an organization socially responsible. From equal opportunity employment, to diversity at workplace, to adhering to labor laws and health / safety related practices, all combine together to make an organization socially responsible.

Social responsibility in Supply Chain: A socially responsible organization would look both inwards and outwards. Incorporating fair procurement decisions, emphasizing safe work conditions, helping partners adhere to all national and international treaties on labor, health, safety and environment related practices, etc., are all part of a socially responsible organization’s day to day routine.

Social responsibility and Corporate Governance: A socially responsible organization will be fair in financial reporting, governance practices, transparency and any use of lobbying.

And last, but not the least, social responsibility in brands: A product or service is the final representation of the organization to the society. All social responsibility elements mentioned before are extremely important, without which an organization will not be able to call itself socially responsible; however, this social responsibility must translate / reflect into an organization’s message to society.

This is exactly where brand communications such as Karo Mumkin and Khamoshi Ka Boycott come in.

It is that final stage in the evolution of integration of business and corporate responsibility which is still elusive in Pakistani advertising scene. Yet, it is the future. With growing consumer awareness and emphasis upon socially responsible businesses, I am sure you will see a lot more of it from various organizations, sooner than later.

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PC-IIU & easypaisa, organizes Annual Sports Gala 2011

Pakistan IT — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:07:28 +0000

The International Islamic University, in collaboration with Pakistan’s premier branchless banking service easypaisa, organized the university’s Annual Sports Gala 2011 in Islamabad recently.

In the picture, Acting Regional Director Sales & Distribution (North) Telenor Pakistan Tariq Hassan presents a trophy to one of the winning teams

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Kiya Yeh Khula Tazaad Nahi Hai?

Pakistan IT — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 11:47:00 +0000

Few months back, in September 2010 to be exact, Telenor made following TVC, and aired it country wide on various TV channels.

If by any chance you missed this TVC, which was later pulled back by Telenor, it encouraged flirting by showing few guys going after a college girl. Have a look at the TVC yourself

Now look at following TVC, which shows a similar college girl being followed by few guys, even an uncle as well. Look at the resemblance of acts in both the ads.

As Sohail Waraich says : Kiya yeh Khula Tazaad Nahi Hai?
or its “Dair Aye Darust Aye”

Have a look please!

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VimpelCom-Orascom Merger Gets Approval

Pakistan IT — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 11:41:47 +0000

Russia’s VimpelCom has announced that its shareholders today approved the previously announced merger of VimpelCom and Orascom Telecom of Wind Telecom, although Telenor is still opposing the merger.

In today’s scheduled Special General Meeting, 93.1% of the Company’s voting shareholders participated, out of which 53.3% of the voting shareholders approved the proposed merger.

“Following this favorable outcome, the management teams of VimpelCom and WIND TELECOM will proceed in satisfying the conditions precedent for the completion of the Transaction, which is expected to take place in the first half of 2011”, said a statement issued by the group.

If transaction, subject to regulatory approvals and recipient of funds, goes through – both Wind Telecom and VimpelCom will merge with VimpelCom owning 51.7 % of Orascom Telecom and 100 % of Wind Italy.

Naguib Sawiris, Executive Chairman of Wind Telecom, in return will get $1.495 billion in cash and 325.6 million new common shares and 305 million new convertible preferred shares.

Larger VimpelCom will have more than 173 million subscriber base with with pro forma net operating revenues of US$21.3 billion and pro forma EBITDA of US$9.4 billion for the year ended 31 December, 2009.

Alexander Izosimov, CEO and President of VimpelCom, commented:

“The approval of this transformative combination with Wind Telecom by our shareholders will lead to the creation a new global telecom player with over 173 million mobile subscribers covering a population of 838 million people.

The combined group will have a significantly diversified revenue base, substantially larger scale of operations, and potential synergies estimated to be US$2.5 billion on a net present value basis. This transaction and the shareholder vote underscore the Company’s dedication to delivering substantial value creation for shareholders and our commitment to corporate governance excellence.”

Telenor, which earlier opposed the deal said that its will remain commitment to the future prosperity of VimpelCom.

“Even though we believe VimpelCom would have been better off without this deal, we will now continue to work in the best interest of VimpelCom and its shareholders” said Dag Melgaard, spokesperson Telenor Group.

Naguib Sawiris, Executive Chairman of Wind Telecom, said:

“Following the industry trend of consolidation, we believe there will be only space for larger global operators in the market that will be able to benefit from economies of scale and scope. We look forward to continuing to play a significant role in the global telecom industry as part of one of the biggest telco players in the world.”

Pakistan Scenario:

Mobilink will become part merged VimpelCom. In a statement issued today, company welcomed the deal.

Commenting on the decision Rashid Khan, President and CEO, Mobilink said:

“The decision which is in favor of the merger is slated to change the global telecommunication scenario. As a key subsidiary of Orascom Telecom Holding, Mobilink welcomes this win and looks forward to becoming a part of one of the biggest telecom players in the world.”

CCP Approval in Pakistan:

Mobilink in Pakistan being part of Larger VimpelCom will be owned by Telenor Group (with minority stakes) that has its operations in Pakistan with fully owned Telenor Pakistan.

This translates into a proposition according to which Mobilink and Telenor Pakistan will be owned by same group (Telenor International) at a parent group level.

The outcome can possibly form a cartel in Pakistan which may not be favorable for competitors such as Ufone, Warid Telecom and CMPak.

For time being, Competition Commission of Pakistan has granted conditional approval for the Orascom-VimpelCom merger.

A press release issued by CCP said that it conditionally approved the deal after undertaking Phase-II review of the transaction to address the competition concerns.

VimpelCom may face a similar regulatory hurdle in Bangladesh.

Citing Chief Executive of VimpelCom, Alexander Izosimov, Reuters has reported that group will not need sell assets in Pakistan or Bangladesh, based on CCP concerns, he said: “There is no sell-off needed.”

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Alert: Telenor to Charge Rs. 2 for Helpline Calls, Even More in fact!

Pakistan IT — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 15:05:27 +0000

Telenor, in an advertisement published recently, said that they will charge helpline calls at Rs. 2.39 including taxes, from April 09, 2011.

These Rs. 2.39 charges would be in addition to IVR charges of 28 paisas.

If you are little confused, read on to better understand the charging mechanism,

If you call helpline and don’t speak with CRO:

25 Paisas + 3 paisas (taxes) = 28 paisas

If you dial 345, you will be charged 28 paisas straight away. Meaning that you will be charged 28 paisas for listening to IVR. If you don’t speak with Customer Representative officer, your total charges will be 28 paisas and that’s it.

Speaking with CRO:

Rs. 2 + 39 paisas (taxes) + 28 Paisas (IVR charges) = Rs. 2.79

if you connect to Customer Representative officer, you will be charged Rs. 2.39 (including taxes) plus the IVR charges, which are 28 paisas. So your total charges will be Rs. 2.79 to seek help from your own operator.

Why Charges on Helpline Calls:

Though, a common man can’t understand the idea of charging helpline calls, but Telenor in its announcement said:

“To keep our valued subscribers enjoying the best customer care services, we are announcing a revision in our existing call rates”

So apparently it looks that Telenor may employ more CROs to make your helpline calling experience little better, but wait, that’s what they said last time – when they increased helpline call charges from 50 paisa to Rs. 1.00.

I think we better not comment on how much the quality of service has improved since then, instead we would recommend you to read this guide if you want to decrease wait time during helpline calls.

By the way, Mobilink is also charging Rs. 2 for helpline calls.

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Telenor Pakistan Turns 6Telenor Pakistan Turns 6

Pakistan IT — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 14:48:51 +0000

Telenor Pakistan today celebrated its 6^th anniversary by reiterating its commitment to bringing the benefits of telecommunications to people’s everyday lives, said a statement.

Since its launch, the company has shown consistent high growth by performing above industry average every year. According to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority’s latest annual report, Telenor Pakistan showed the highest growth rate of 14% in 2009-10.

Speaking on the occasion, CEO Telenor Pakistan Christian Albech said:

On its sixth anniversary, Telenor Pakistan has already crossed the 25 million subscriber mark. It gives me great satisfaction to tell you that of the total number of subscribers in the country today, every fourth is a Telenor customer.

With the belief in building around people, we have established an open culture that continues to be one of our biggest strengths. By introducing easypaisa, we have brought the bank to the unbanked population of the country and are continuing to spearhead growth through our Karo Mumkin philosophy.

Easypaisa has been the recipient of ‘Best Mobile Money Transfer Entrant of the Year Award’ at the world’s first Mobile Money Awards and has also received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Mobile Money for the Unbanked Fund.

Among the numerous awards it has won, Telenor Pakistan has also received the Best Place to Work, Most Preferred Employer for HR Practices, Highest FDI Investor Award, and Superbrand of the Telecom Industry Award.

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