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The 'Nokia Dual Sim Mobile Phone' Phenomenon

Sc8uf — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 08:03:34 +0000

Dual Sim mobiles have really got a wide market in Pakistan now. People are going for more and more dual sim mobiles now and want to know more about them too. I will also share here that on this website, the keyword that gets the most traffic is ‘Nokia dual sim mobiles in Pakistan’. Seeing the interest I decided to write an article about this phenomenon and share some interesting info with my readers.

The dual sim phenomenon was introduced in Pakistan in around 2007 when Chinese mobiles found their way into the Pakistani Mobile Market. These mobiles had no warranties but offered cheap copies of really expensive phones. I have even seen copies of iPhone that costs around Rs.6000. China mobiles have diversified their market since then and many cellphones provide a 6 month to 1 year limited warranty now too.

These small scale Chinese manufacturers realized the fact that over 80% or even more telecom users in Pakistan had more than 1 sims. Seeing the market need, they introduced dual sim mobiles in Pakistan. These mobiles got popular pretty quickly as they were exactly what the users wanted.

International brands soon recognized this need and came out with dual sim phones. Samsung’s dual sim phones became popular pretty quickly as its primary competitor in Pakistan, Nokia hadn’t launched any phone having this feature yet.Nokia got the idea pretty late and came out with dual sim phones not long ago. Although Nokia should have found it difficult to find a place in dual sim market due to its late arrival but the exact opposite thing occurred. More and more people are flocking daily to get a Nokia dual sim phone. Call it Nokia’s fan base in Pakistan or their aggressive marketing strategy, they got popular very quickly.

We also did comparisons of different Dual Sim phones, you can see them Click Here.

Recently, China came out with 4 sim phones! These have hit the market too but this time there might not be a bang. I say this because PTA is taking their 1 sim/person policy pretty seriously and most readers would know that sims of many people have got blocked too. Lets see how the PTA campaign to block sim affects the sale of dual sim and arrival of 4-sim mobiles in market.

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Fox News Twitter Account Hacked : Says Barack Obama Killed!!

Sc8uf — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 12:48:42 +0000

Fox News twitter account was hacked late Sunday night by a hacking groups calling themselves ‘Script Kiddies’. The news spread today when suddenly fox news logo on twitter account was changed and disturbing tweets stated appearing. Some tweets even announced the death of the US president Barack Obama.

When Fox News was approached for comment, they confirmed that the account had been hacked and an investigation was being carried out to find the person responsible for the crime.

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Six Reasons For Getting Dual SIM Mobile Phone

Sc8uf — Thu, 26 May 2011 06:44:00 +0000

As the process of communication has increased with the time and it has become fast and quick. The cell phone operators have also increased drastically and offer various services. Now it is for sure that if you want to use one service of a network, you have to miss other network package or you can hold an extra cell phone with you. I think it may cost you a bit and you have to handle both cell phones and it might be a hectic job.

These days the cell phones are coming in the market that are having dual SIMs capabilities and the very first dual SIM mobile was launched by china and then other branded companies. Now Nokia has also launched its dual SIM handset named as Nokia X1-01 and the Nokia C2-00. You can run complete two SIMS on the same handset simultaneously.

Reasons For getting Dual SIMs Mobile:

Mix and match plans:

It means you can use mix plans of various networks and can enjoy them on one same handset.

Reduced roaming:

When you need to travel abroad, the dual SIM feature benefits you. In other country you can hold one SIM of your home country and other of your present country. This will reduced the roaming charges to some extent.

Mix business with pleasure:

If you are a business person and want to use two numbers, one is for business and other is for home then the dual SIM mobile will greatly help you out.

Sharing your phone:

If you want to share your phone with someone then the dual SIM feature will benefit you a lot. By using dual SIM mobile you can manage different contact book and can hold totally different network management.

Data and Voice:

Now it is very common practice that a network might have good call package and other is offering good data services. So you can use dual SIMs for availing both the services.

Guaranteed coverage:

For making sure the service presence you should hold dual SIMs with yourself. In some areas might be you will not get signals of your home SIM, so at that time the extra SIM will benefit you and you will be in contact with your friends and family all the time.

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[Breaking] Rehman Malik Called Meeting of Heads of Cellular Companies

Sc8uf — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 18:27:04 +0000

The use of unauthorized mobile Sims in spite of grave concern of government is not being addressed properly by cellular companies. Criminals/ terrorists used such Sims for their ulterior motives. A lot of unbranded cell phones with same IMEI numbers are available in the market. Such cell phone cannot be traced. Accordingly, there is a need to stop sale of such mobile phone sets with same IMEI numbers.

A high level meeting of heads of cellular companies was chaired by Federal Minister for Interior, Senator Rahman Malik at Ministry of interior. The meeting was attended by Federal secretary interior, Chairman PTA,Provencial home secretaries Chief commissioner Islamabad, IGP Islamabad and reps of Intelligence agencies and FIA. The meeting was held among all the stake holders to address two prong issues, stop illegal hand set coming to Pakistan and how to cop with the ones which are all ready in Pakistan. The following decisions were taken during the meeting.

All prepaid Sims should be verified with in 30 days.
Sims with IMEI numbers need to be synchronized with the help of service provider and NADRA.Service provider will send the detail of tempered numbers through SMS to the consumer.
The Minister asked the entire service provider to identify all those consumers holding the sets with duplicate/multiple IMEI against one SIM within 10 days and inform the consumer accordingly.
All the cellular companies are to advise their contract customers to re-verify their IDs/SIMs again
No body will be able to import mobile phone without authorization of PTA.PTA will issues license of importing phones after doing due diligence.
PTA will issue standards/specifications of cellular phone to be imported.
The importers have to submit specifications, IMEI number of cellular phones and sets to PTA before getting import license.FBR has been advised not clear any consignment without PTA authorization.

The Minister for interior, Senator A Rahamn Malik has constituted a high level committee headed by PTA chairman including reps from all five service providers from private sector, a member from FIA and intelligence agencies.

Minister for interior has given strict directions that with immediate effect no mobile SIMs should be given to the buyer on the spot, rather it will be posted on their residential address after necessary verification from NADRA.

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China Mobile Appoints New CEO for ZONG

Sc8uf — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:22:58 +0000

China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile operator in terms of number of subscribers and the parent company of ZONG, has nominated Fan Yun Jun as new CEO of CMPak Limited.

Mr. Fan will replace Qian Li as the CEO of CMPak. Fan Yun Jun has over 12 years of diverse experience in Engineering and Marketing. His last assignment with China Mobile was as Deputy General Manager at Beijing. He holds a PhD degree in engineering.

“I had the privilege of working with a highly qualified and dedicated team that has continuously focused on developing services that benefit our customers. In my tenure the company has achieved many milestones and has become the fastest growing network of the country”, Expressed Qian Li.

“The ZONG team has the talent and passion to build the Company as the market leader. I am very excited about the prospects for this Company over the next few years”, he further added.

Qian Li joined CMPak in February 2007 and became a CEO with CMPak in March 2008. His tenure with company as CEO was approximately 3 years. Qian Li will be continuing as chairman of the board.

ZONG is China Mobile’s first venture outside of China and has attracted attention not only in the global cellular arena, but also international finance experts and investment houses. China Mobile has made the largest investment among all the Chinese investments in Pakistan and is considered an emissary of friendship between Pakistan and China.

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PTA Organized Seminar at Lahore on 3G Mobile Services

Sc8uf — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 11:29:13 +0000

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and (Zhongxing Telecom) ZTE Corporation organized a seminar at Lahore on 3G mobile services. The subject matter was “To be or not to be is not the question: 3G is coming”. Federal Minister for Information Technology & Telecom, Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali was chief guest and Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen sis also present at the ceremony. Chief Executive Officer ZTE Pakistan Mr. Peng Aiguang, IT & telecom industry experts, CEOs of telecom companies, people from academic world and media representatives attend the seminar.

Federal Minister for Information Technology, Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali said that:

“The introduction of 3G networks, devices and services in countries around the world is enhancing quality of life and providing expanded economic opportunities, both in the public and private sectors. It has brought around development of new innovative services for consumers and greater productivity for enterprises. Going further down the pyramid, 3G is improving the lives of underserved citizens, bridging the “digital divide”, particularly in developing countries where teledensity and internet penetration are low.

On the occasion, Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen said that by the end of 2010, there will be an estimated 5.3 billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide, including 940 million subscriptions to 3G services. Access to mobile networks is now available to 90% of the world population and 80% of the population living in rural areas people are moving rapidly from 2G to 3G platforms, in both developed and developing countries. In 2010, 143 countries were offering 3G services commercially, compared to 95 in 2007 towards 4G: a number of countries have started to offer services at even higher broadband speeds, moving to next generation wireless platforms. PTA will also be organizing a conference on “Opportunity for all – Development of 3G” on January 11, 2011, he added. During the seminar Chairman PTA also delivered a comprehensive presentation to highlight the worldwide practices regarding 3G services and the case studies thereof.

Mr. Cao Long Wang Li Heng, Mr. Rahel Kamal, representative of Qualcom also made presentations highlighting impact of 3G services. During the seminar speakers of national and international fame focused on the benefits of 3G to: businesses, education, government, national economy, urban/rural populace, indigenous software houses and local contents development. On this occasion all five cellular mobile operators signed MoUs to boost localized applications, content and services.

It may be mentioned that most of telecom operators world-wide have already embraced the 3G technology, enabling them to provide their customers with diverse and rich voice and data service, thereby sparking social and economic growth and increasing their revenues. 3G Mobile Broadband is an important step in modernization of mobile telephone system. With the launch of 3G, in future, Pakistani cell phone subscribers will be able to transmit and receive high speed data through their mobile phones. High speed data means possibility of video calls, internet browsing and downloading at a much higher speed which also includes usage of data intensive applications.

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China Mobile to Embrace Powered-Cell Sites

Sc8uf — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 11:54:16 +0000

Recent visit of Chinese Premier saw China Mobile to invest in development of Solar powered cell sites in Pakistan thus creating job opportunities in energy and other related sectors for scores of Pakistanis.

China Mobile issued a statement on Tuesday in this regard saying the company is committed in saving energy through solar and other available means and in this regard planning to invest substantially in near future. It merits mentioning here that Zong already has highest number of solar-powered cell sites in different nooks and corner of Pakistan and the total number hovers around 150

Qian Li, CEO of China Mobile Pakistan ZONG is quoted to have said:

“The brotherly relations between China and Pakistan have become legendary and this is visible not just between the two governments but also between the people of the two countries”,. He said this at the historic visit of Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao.Mr Quain Li went on to add”To further the cause of this friendship China Mobile resolves to help the government of Pakistan by bringing more Chinese investors to Pakistan” he added.

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Pakistan Gearup For 3G Technology as Market Shows Positive Trend

Sc8uf — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:32:56 +0000

Country’s mobile market saw a steady surge and currently teledensity in Pakistan Pakistan is tenth largest worldwide. The market grows by 6 percent per year according to Wireless Intelligence Data. The modest estimates further show country will surpass 100 million connections by the year end as the first quarter of 2010 saw number hovering around 96.9 million.

Country’s mobile authorities feel now is the time to set off for 3G technology. Official discussions with operators over the issue of 3G spectrum will commence shortly At an event in Islamabad last week, PM Advisor on IT Sardar Mohammad Latif Khan Khosa mentioned the high price fetched in neighbouring India’s recent 3G auction. He termed it as a bullish mood of investors in the region’s telecom sector. As well as raising revenue from license sales, the government is looking at mobile broadband to deliver a range of services such as real-time access to medical records, on demand TV, e-education, cloud computing, video calling, real-time weather forecasts and farming information.

The country’s five main mobile operators which are largely controlled by international players look better placed to fund 3G rollout than a year ago. However, despite a mobile penetration of just 54 percent, the market is fiercely competitive and operator ARPUs are among the lowest in the world. At Orascom’s Mobilink, which controls a third of the market, first quarter ARPU was just US$2.8, falling from US$3 a year ago, though this is still among the highest in the market. It did, however, improve its EBITDA margin by 3.1 percentage points to 38.9 percent over the same period. Mobilink’s revenue and earnings (EBITDA) in local currency terms rose by 10 percent and 20 percent, respectively, year-on-year in the quarter as market conditions improved.

According to our data, second-placed Telenor was the best performing operator in the quarter in terms of connections, just surpassing Mobilink in terms of quarterly net additions and recording the highest year-on-year connections growth (16 percent). However, the unit continued to make an operating loss for its Norwegian parent, posting a NOK9 million (US$1.4 million) loss for the quarter compared to a NOK90 million loss a year ago. Telenor’s monthly ARPU in the quarter was US$2.3.

Third-placed Ufone is a wholly-owned subsidiary of local state-owned fixed-line incumbent PTCL, which in turn is 26 percent-owned by UAE-based operator, Etisalat. However, an ongoing dispute between the two owners has put the operator’s future at risk. Etisalat bought its stake in the firm and assumed management control for US$2.6 billion four years ago, but it is currently withholding a portion of the fee claiming the government has broken the terms of the contract regarding property assets. Ufone saw its connections base drop 4 percent year-on-year in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, a cost management drive at fourth-placed Warid Telecom saw the operator’s connections base shrink 6 percent year-on-year in 1Q10 as it reined in operating expenditure. Singapore’s SingTel a 30 percent shareholder said its share of pre-tax operating losses at Warid declined 19 percent in local currency terms in the quarter, while operating revenue was up 7 percent and operating expenses declined 14 percent due to the cost management measures. Warid also deactivated 2.7 million subscribers in the quarter, which saw its connections base decline by 2.6 million from the previous quarter.

Fifth-placed Zong is China Mobile’s first and, to date, only venture outside its domestic market. Launched in 2008 following China Mobile Communications Corporation‘s (CMCC) acquisition of Paktel the previous year, the Chinese firm has invested over US$1.6 billion over the last few years building-out and marketing the network. However, it has admitted that it faces a long wait for its return on investment. Zong grew its connections base by 13 percent year-on-year in 1Q10 but commands only a 7 percent market share. A sixth operator Pakcom (Instaphone) was shut down last year for non-payment of license fees.

Joss Gillet, Senior Analyst, Wireless Intelligence:

India’s multi-billion dollar 3G auction has heightened Pakistan’s appetite for foreign investment. The Pakistani government is looking for high-cash injections to address the country’s economic challenges, but the market is a very different proposition to India and Pakistan is currently not a profitable mobile market. India has attracted large investments because of the sheer size of its population and the potential it represents for mobile broadband services. Our demographic analysis show that India has got some 480 million potential customers for 3G services overall. Pakistan’s actual population is not even half that size at around 180 million inhabitants. However, Pakistan shares many of the same barriers to entry for 3G services with India such as low literacy levels, low GDP per capita, high currency fluctuations, intense price pressure in a dominant prepaid market, high import taxes on handsets and an often chaotic distribution network. Operators have been arguing for a couple of years that Pakistan is not yet ready to adopt 3G services. It is expected that by setting high 3G license floor-prices, local operators will struggle to cope with the high cost of network deployments, consequently leading to inappropriate services and pricing in a highly price-sensitive market. In addition, mobile operators might not be able to compete with WLL operators, which are already offering broadband services at very competitive and profitable rates. In 2004, during the GSM auctions, Telenor and Warid each spent US$291 million for their licenses, and six years later they are still struggling to make a sustainable profit from 2G/GSM voice services. This is a clear example that the market is not yet ready for 3G and that cost management is operators’ key priority in Pakistan. In India, there are already signs that the high 3G license costs will inflate data services prices and slow mobile broadband growth to rural areas. Regulators in Pakistan and Bangladesh – should anticipate these issues in order to ensure a sustainable and profitable mobile sector.

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ZONG to Make Biggest Investment US$300 Million in Pakistan’s Telecom Industry in 2010

Sc8uf — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:30:04 +0000

China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC), the world’s largest mobile telephony operator and the parent company of ZONG will invest US $300 million in Pakistan in 2010 which is the largest investment by any telecom operator in the current year.

This was revealed by Mr. Wang Jianzhou, Chairman of China Mobile Communications Corporation who is visiting Pakistan with CMCC’s delegation. The delegation has met several government dignitaries.

ZONG has so far invested US $1.66 billion in Pakistan and has generated more than 1700 direct and over 40,000 indirect jobs in the country. This investment has been made in less than two years since its launch and China Mobile is expected to invest more in Pakistan in the years to come as the company has chalked out more future investment plans.

China Mobile, which has made the largest investment among all Chinese investments in Pakistan, also has the distinction of being the only offshore company operating in Pakistan which has invested more than US $ 721 million in Foreign Direct Investment so far in the current year.

ZONG now stands third in terms of number of base stations and the Company has established more than 5000 cell sites in Pakistan showing rapid growth.

ZONG is China Mobile’s first venture outside of China and has attracted attention not only in the global cellular arena but also with the international finance experts and investment houses. China Mobile has made the largest investment among all the Chinese investments in Pakistan and is considered an emissary of friendship between Pakistan and China.

The Company continues to invest heavily in the construction of GSM networks, support systems and transmission facilities, and for the development of new technologies and new businesses. China Mobile pursues continuous innovation in the provision of services, business, technology and management and has sustained a leadership position in the telecom industry.

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Mobile Operators: Big Is Good, Smart Is Better

Sc8uf — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 09:34:05 +0000

The current mobile industry business model can’t survive, writes consultancy PRTM in a fascinating new report on the state of the market released in the lead-up to the Mobile World Congress trade show, running from Feb. 15 to 18 in Barcelona.

PRTM says that the most successful carriers and the ones most likely to thrive in years to come are those that have continually revamped their operations to drive profitable growth, setting off a virtuous circle in which their profitability earns them support from shareholders to make acquisitions and expand overseas, thus further fueling growth. The top two examples of such success cited by the report are Spain’s Telefónica and Norway’s Telenor, both of which have expanded aggressively over the past five years in both developed and developing markets.

One of the main findings in PRTM’s analysis concerns the shifting global position of operators. Since 2003, the leader board of the world’s top carriers ranked by number of subscribers has changed dramatically. China Mobile and Vodafone still weigh in at No. 1 and 2, respectively, as their combined customer bases have surged by 580 million in the past six years. But right behind them now are Mexico’s América Móvil (with 178 million subscribers, up 334% since 2003) and Telefónica (with 154 million, up 397%), which were ranked 7th and 10th, respectively, in 2003. New entrants to the top 10 include Egyptian operator Orascom, whose 2005 purchase of Italy’s WIND launched it into the big leagues, and South Africa’s MTN. Falling from the top 10 were Japan’s NTT DoCoMo (which grew subscribers only 22% during the six years), Verizon Wireless, and Telecom Italia Mobile.

Though there’s much talk in the industry about concentration and consolidation among carriers, PRTM’s figures deliver one surprising finding: The growth of mobile communications around the world has actually spread the wealth, so to speak, among a broader group of operators. In 2003, the top 10 players accounted for more than two-thirds of the subscribers served by the 30 largest carriers in the world. By 2009, that percentage had fallen to 60%, and as a group the top 10 lagged the growth of the industry as a whole, while smaller players grew faster. The real stars of the top 10 were those, like Telenor, Telefónica, and América Móvil, whose growth handily exceed that of their peers and of the industry as a whole.

What’s the secret of their success? Constant reinvention and expansion in developing markets. In 2003, Telefónica was a relatively small player, with 31 million customers and $13.1 billion in revenues. By 2008, its revenues had hit $51.6 billion, thanks to acquisitions in places as diverse as Britain, the Czech Republic, and South America. At every step along the way, PRTM says, Telefónica has refined its business model to suit changing markets and customer behavior.

Still, enormous challenges lie ahead for all operators due to continued price pressure and the explosion of wireless data traffic. Ameet Shah, the lead author of the PRTM report, says:

We are about to make the shift to a world of mass market usage of the mobile Internet, ushering in the ‘mobile lifestyle.’ But this world is not tenable with the operating models and business paradigms of today. The race is on to reinvent the mobile operator so that it can serve the new world and the blueprint is coming into focus. The development of networks that can carry 10–100 times today’s volumes, without a significant increase in operating costs, will require major capital investment, driving massive consolidation that will leave only two or three networks per country.

Shah suggests a number of critical steps. First, he argues that owning and operating a wireless network infrastructure may no longer be necessary or advisable for carriers. Indeed, the cost of building next-generation networks is such that the current redundancy in many countries where often three or more carriers each operate separate facilities will likely give way to widespread network sharing. In some places, this will require regulatory changes. And it necessitates a huge mentality shift for carriers, which have traditionally framed their self-image as operators of networks, to become true service providers shorn of a physical infrastructure.

That leads to Shah’s second major point about carrier culture. He argues that many still behave like they did in the “land grab” era of the 1990s and early 2000s, when the industry was young and subscriber acquisition was the main game. Today, he says, the focus has to switch to customer retention and the best way to do that is to eliminate the hideous (and often alienating) complexity of pricing and service plans and to establish deeper, more loyal relationships with profitable customers.

In an earlier PRTM report, called “Closing the Wireless Generation Gap,” the consultancy offers additional perspective on the challenges ahead. Author Dan Hays proposes five strategic and tactical maneuvers that operators need to consider in order to get the most from their costly and disruptive upgrades to next-generation, or 4G, networks. Among the recommendations: aggressively redeploying older equipment to secondary markets to recapture the spectrum gobbled up by antiquated networks, and dramatically rethinking how services are packaged to drive adoption of new technologies at higher prices.

One way or another, PRTM concludes in its new report, operators are facing another of the periodic transitions that have marked their dynamic but rocky history over the past two decades. This time, the opportunity could be even more significant than the last great shift, when mobile phones graduated from being a business luxury in developed countries to a consumer necessity all over the world.

To the extent that wireless is becoming the sine qua non for connectivity of all types always on, real-time, ubiquitous, and location specific operators have the chance to take an enormous leap in size and importance…assuming, that is, that they can figure out a way to handle the crush of new data traffic while making money from it. PRTM figures that to be among the top 10 in 2014, an operator will need to have at least 300 million customers and annual revenues in excess of $50 billion. Looks like there’s a lot of growth still to come.

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