The discovery of the embezzlement was discovered in November 2010 after discrepancy in the accounts was found.According to sources the suspects were not arrested immediately as Mobilink was hoping to use the threat of police action as a bargaining chip to force the return of the embezzled funds.

According to police the accused have not been arrested yet as they were not present at the address given on their NIC. They also said that Mobilink was not trying to influence the investigation in any way.

“We are looking for them and hope to nab them in a day or two,“ said the police official.

Usman Qayyum, Yasir Ali, Nadeem Afzal, Pervaiz Akhtar, Ali Nawaz and Muhammad Jamshed are the top and middle management MOBILINK employees that have been accused of fraud in three different cases. Of the accused, Usman Qayyum and Yasir Ali were based in the head office of the company where as three lower management officials were based in Mobilink’s franchises in F-11, I-8 and Blue Area.

According to investigator money had been transferred to the accounts of accused employee’s friends and family. However most of the accounts having a bulk of money had not been traced yet.

On contacting Mr. Omer Manzur, Head of Mobilink’s PR and CSR for comment. He said that he could not comment on any developments in the case because it was a legal issue but he did not deny the news as well.

It has also been reported by ProPakistani that now major changes will be made in the company’s finance department. It has been hinted that someone from Ufone might take the job.

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Every organization has a separate media department that deals with various media issues like press releases, media campaigns and dealing with media channels. The two girls from mobilink named as Sadaf Majdy and Sadia Dada from Department of Public Relations and Social Corporate Responsibility has resigned. Sadaf Majdy was working in Mobilink as PR and Digital Media Strategist while Sadia Dada was Assistant Manager PR and CSR.

Let me tell you about the education of both the girls. Sadaf Majdy has done MBA from NUST Business School and previously she worked for WARID Tel and Askoli. Sadia Dada has done graduation in Social Sciences from LUMS and she is having experience of working with HUM TV and Daily Times.

Both the girls have different reasons for resigning from Mobilink. Sadia Dada is going to join Nestle and she has received a lofty package from the multinational. Sadaf Majdy is planning to settle in United States after her marriage.

It will be a great loss to Mobilink as both the girls are competent and well versed in handling media and PR issues. Telecom News Bulletin Team pray for better future of Sadaf and Sadia and may they both get best opportunities in their lives.

[Source Telecom Recorder]

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The chief executive officer of Orascom telecom has been changed and Mr. Ahmed Abou is appointed as the new CEO of the OTH. Mr. Ahmad Abou has a very good background and he has served many companies yet. Let me tell you brief introduction of Mr. Abou. He was working as CEO in Banglalink, before this he was also served as Marketing Director in Mobinil. In the start he worked for IBM and Datum IDS. International executive program has also been completed by him from Singapore and France.

Ahmed Abou Doma said:

“I am honored and excited to accept the position of CEO of Orascom Telecom Holding. I look forward to working with the OTH team to build upon OTH’s accomplishments and reach new heights as part of one of the biggest telecom operators in the world.”

He is an electronic and communication engineer and completed his four years degree from University Of Cairo in 1992. He has received many distinctions but a popular one is Telecom Business Planning Award.

Naguib Sawiris, Executive Chairman of OTH said:

“I am pleased to welcome Ahmed Abou Doma in this new position. Ahmed has been with the group for thirteen years and has spearheaded the transformation of our operation in Bangladesh to where it is today, and he will be a great value for OTH while embarking on a new era of growth and development under the VimpelCom umbrella.”

There are many hopes and expectation from Mr. Ahmad and in the supervision of him, the company will really boost.

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Sharing his views, Mobilink President & CEO Rashid Khan shared that while it was difficult to make up for the missed experience, the company cherishes customers who continue to prefer Mobilink and this is a humble gesture of goodwill by the company for their patience and loyalty.

A fire incident at one of the company’s technical hubs in Islamabad on March 6, 2011 caused suspension of cellular services in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and some pockets outside the twin cities. With the support of a dedicated team, the network was partially revived within a few hours and complete connectivity was restored within 24 hours. Customers were updated of the incident and restoration via press announcements by the company at the time. To facilitate customers who were directly affected by the incident, the company has announced free minutes and SMS for prepaid customers whereas postpaid customers will receive an adjustment against their monthly bill.

Affected subscribers will be intimated by the company through SMS in a phase wise activity scheduled from May 14, 2011 to June 13, 2011. Customers may dial 111 at any time from their Mobilink connections for any queries. – PR

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Offer Details

Mobilink to Mobilink calls are free for an hour after the first two minutes.

Offer: On-net call free after 2 minutes

Daily Charges: Rs 2+t/day

Duration: 11 pm-5pm( 5pm next day)

On-net call charges: Rs 2.8 +tax/hour

FnF call charges : Rs 1.8 + tax/hour

Following are the complete charges details:

1. For first two minutes, On-net calls will be charged at Rs 0.70+tax  per 30 seconds  and FnF Calls at Rs 0.45+t per 30 seconds.

2. With this offer customer can call 3 On-net FnF number at the lowest hourly call rate of Rs 1.80+tax/Hour(11pm-5pm).

3. Off-net calls will be charged as per regular Jazz Jazba tariff.

4. Package daily fee of Rs 1+t will be applicable in addition to the daily subscription fee of Rs.2+tax for the Jazba Gup Shup Offer.

Important Points

1. This offer cannot be subscribed while using current Jazba FnF offer. Only one offer can be availed at a time. Complete details of Jazz Jazba FnF Offer can be found at this link ( http://www.jazzjazba.com/such-rates/voice-plans/jazba-FnF-offer.php)

2. All voice and sms bundles subscribed before this offer will remain active after activation of this offer.

3. Government Taxes Apply.

4. This is limited time offer.

Subscription procedure for Jazba Customers

1. SMS sub to 2233 (Rs 2.5+tax/SMS)

2. Then dial  *105*1# (subscription charges Rs 2+tax/day)

Subscription procedure for non Jazba Customers

Non Jazba Customers have to first convert the package into Jazz Jazba through following process.

Call 123 from Jazz connection.

1. Press 3 for package settings.

2. Press 0 for package selection then press 2 for Jazz Jazba and 1 for confirmation ( 1st time package conversion is free and subsequent package change is being charged at Rs 5 + tax.

After conversion they have to follow the above mentioned procedure to subscribe to the offer.

Un-Subscription Procedure

1. Dial *105*4# first and after confirmation send “Unsub” in an sms to 2233 ( Charges 2.5 + tax/sms)

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“We support efforts of the government and Pakistan Telecom Authority in the introduction and regulation of new technologies in the cellular mobile sector, he said and added “we give our assurance and commitment in cooperation for early launch of 3G, we also would like to recommend an appropriate approach for allocation of the 3G spectrum.

CEO Mobilink said the allocation of this spectrum should be planned in a manner that presents a plausible business case for the cellular mobile operators keeping in view the challenging financial situation surrounding the cellular mobile industry in Pakistan.

He said the mobile operators should also be allowed to receive share of (Access Promotion Contribution) arising out of premium from international traffic.

“I would like to acknowledge the government towards industry issues and his support to resolve the problems of the cellular industry by forming an advisory board to address these technical issues,” he said.

He further added:

Cellular industry alone has paid over Rs 300 billion through various taxes in the past five years alone.

“Pakistan cellular sector is paying high taxes in comparison to the entire region as its overall rate reached 31 percent whereas the regional countries tax heads contained between 10 to 15 percent,” Rashid Ali said. “In contrast the cellular tariffs in Pakistan are amongst the lowest in the region.”

3G or 4G – That is the Question:

Though it can be stated a good step from Mobilink to launch much awaited 3G services in Pakistan as Pakistan will only be the 2^nd country in South Asia after India to launch these services. India is also ready to launch 4G services whereas Pakistan hasn’t yet started 3G services.

www.telecomnewspk.com

But here the question is why not 4G. When even Government is ready to give 4G license in price of 3G why Mobilink is reluctant to avail the new generation and latest services i.e. 4G. Where as on December 21^st 2009 Mobilink President had stated:

“There had been discussions on the launch of 3G technology in the country for some time. However, like some other countries, Mobilink could also go for 4G technology and it was in talks with the government in that regard”.

The complete link of above mentioned statement is as below:

http://telecomnewspk.com/2009/12/mobilink-planned-to-launch-4g-in-pakistan/

Even the PTA chairman Dr. Yaseen on his personal blog has started a discussion on whether Pakistan should go for a 3G network or go directly to 4G. Pakistan will be the first country in South Asia to launch the 4G service if the plan is implemented. According to the experts the 4G network has speeds of up to 100 megabits per second, which is 10 times higher than the fastest 3G network. However, this would only be if PTA allows for technologies such as Mobile-WiMAX and LTE (Long-Term Evolution) to come under the umbrella of 4G.

Difference between 3G & 4G

Why Mobilink is not going for4G?

We have raised this question with Mobilink. We have emailed their PR department to get their view point. As soon as We will get some response we will update it over here.

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Subscription Mechanics:

Customers will subscribe to the weekend bundle by sending an SMS to 4048 on either Monday or Tuesday.

Customers can only subscribe to this offer on Monday and Tuesday and if they will send an sms on 4048 on any other day else that Monday and Tuesday then will not be subscribed to the offer.

Comparison with Jazz Sunday Offer

Though Jazz has already launched an offer of free minutes by the name of Jazz Sunday Offer through which customers can get 150 free minutes in 20 Rs+tax but this Weekend Bundle Offer is better than that in following aspects.

1. Jazz Sunday Offer is only for one day i.e. Sunday whereas Weekend Bundle Offer is for two days (Saturday & Sunday).
2. For Jazz Sunday Offer customer has to change his package to Jazz One as it can only be availed on Jazz One where as Weekend Bundle Offer can be availed on any package.
3. Moreover in this offer customer will get 250 minutes for 25 Rs+tax where as in Jazz Sunday Offer customer gets only 150 minutes for 20 Rs+ tax so just by paying 5 Rs more customer will get 100 minutes.

Offer Details

1. Weekend Bundle will not be resubscribed automatically and customer has to resubscribe it by sending sms to 4048.
2. The free minutes can be utilized for on-net calls only and free minutes will be valid for 2 days (Saturday & Sunday i.e Saturday 12 Am to Sunday 11:59 pm). In case customer don’t utilize all free minutes on Saturday and Sunday then remaining free minutes will get expired.
3. Customer can also subscriber for this bundle more than once at same time.

Un-subscription Process

Once subscribed customer cannot unsubscribe to this offer and will automatically unsubscribed on Monday.Similar Posts:

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The winter clothes distribution initiative by Mobilink Foundation will benefit more than 7,000 flood affected individuals across Pakistan. Around 2,000 warm clothes for women and 3,000 garments for children 12 years or younger will be distributed in the regions most affected by floods across Pakistan. Another 2,000 sweaters will also be distributed for infants between 1 to 2 years of age.

Fehmeeda Begum, a flood affectee from Nowshera after receiving the warm clothes said,

“The flood took away everything I had. I have been living in a tent with two of my children for last 4 months and I had no warm clothing to keep us warm in this cold weather. This is really helpful.”

Mobilink Foundation Torchbearers distributed warm winter clothes in far flung areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region including Nowshera, Charsaddah and Swat as well as Muzaffargarh and Sukkur in Punjab and Sindh where severe cold spells are currently underway.

On a visit to Pir Sabaq, Nowshera, Mobilink volunteer employees also interacted with flood victims’ families and their children. Here is a small video of their effort to spread smiles among the flood victims of Pir Sabaq.

According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department, in coming days a cold wave will continue in most parts of the country including KPK and Punjab due to a prolonged dry spell. Winters this year have been harsher in these areas with a difference of 4 to 6 ̊C as compared to corresponding temperatures last year. In the absence of proper shelters and warm clothing, thousands of young and old flood victims stand vulnerable to the harsh winter conditions.

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Orascom Telecom Holding has already sold its internet services arm LINKdotNET and Link Egypt to Qtel in July. Also there are reports that MTN Group, was preparing to buy Orascom’s operations in African countries of Egypt, Algeria, Zimbabwe and Tunisia. These selling’s have helped the company to repay its debt for sure however, analysts are unsure that to what extent this helped the company and whether or not Orascom will still need to sell more of its assets in order to pay the debt.

As far as Mobilink’s operations are concerned it is still up and running. Mobilink is Orascom’s most profitable subsidiary and also it is acting as a cash cow for the parent company in the sense that its fixed costs had been covered by its operations at this point. Industry analysts think that current deal will help the parent company to concentrate more on Mobilink’s operations in Pakistan. The company is the country’s largest mobile service provider and showed the largest gain in users in fiscal year 2010, according to the PTA’s annual report.

Observers also pointed out that earlier in May, Orascom had bought $140 million of Mobilink’s debt. A telecom analyst at EFG-Hermes, Marise Ananian, had said,

“We believe that buying back those debts is generally positive news for Orascom Telecom as the Pakistani subsidiary was already highly leveraged.”

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Pakistan’s subscriber base grew by nearly 5%, compared to the same period last year, despite the country-wide damage affecting infrastructure caused by the floods in Q3 2010. Furthermore, the decrease in Mobilink‟s subscribers QoQ is attributable to a base clean up, as well as a sales slowdown due to the flood and seasonality effect.

ARPU in Q3 2010 was negatively impacted by the depreciation of the local currencies against the US$ in Tunisia and Pakistan. In Tunisia, the ARPU decrease is attributable to the dilutive impact of subscriber additions compared to the same period last year. Mobilink’s ARPU declined slightly compared to Q3 2009 due to the increased level of promotions in response to competition in the market, as well as a sales slowdown in the third quarter of 2010.

Mobilink held its market share stable, despite an increasingly tough competitive environment laden with promotions by the other operators in the market. It should be noted that a number of competitors in Pakistan do not apply a strict churn policy. Mobilink‟s market share of active subscribers as measured internally on traffic patterns remained at 40% as of September 30, 2010.

Revenues of Mobilink and Tunisiana for the period ended September 30th, 2010 were impacted by currency devaluation compared to the same period last year: revenues for Mobilink were up 9.6% in local currency vs. a 4.8% increase in US$ and revenues for Tunisiana increased by 10% in local currency vs. an increase of 4.7% in US$. Mobilink‟s revenue growth is attributable to an increase in traffic from a higher subscriber base and promotions, as well as higher VAS revenues. The increase in Tunisiana‟s revenues is due to the high additions to its subscriber base compared to the same period last year.

In Pakistan, revenues declined by 7% compared to the previous quarter due to the widespread impact of the flood causing lower usage and site outages, as well as the seasonality shift of Ramadan into the month of August during 2010. Furthermore, aggressive pricing cuts to counter competition adversely impacted Mobilink‟s QoQ revenues.

EBITDA for Mobilink increased by 22.3% in local currency vs. an increase of 16.9% in US$ and EBITDA for Tunisiana increased by 6.3 % in local currency, while it increased by only 1% in US$. Mobilink‟s EBITDA increased as a result of higher revenues as well as a lower absorption of activation taxes, which were reduced to Rs 250/SIM in July 2009 from Rs 500/SIM. Tunisiana‟s EBITDA grew due to higher revenues.

The third quarter of the year 2010 witnessed the most devastating flood in the history of Pakistan which not only affected lives in terms of displacing people but the economy has also suffered due to the loss of infrastructure and agricultural crops. It is estimated that more than 20 million people became victims of this flood (more than 10% of the total population). Mobilink infrastructure also suffered in flood hit areas; out of the network‟s 8,070 sites, more than 400 sites were affected. Emergency measures were taken to restore the affected sites as well as to keep the network up and running in such areas.

The Pakistani mobile market remained competitive where all operators kept launching aggressive offers to increase market share and to enhance customers‟ usage during the month of Ramadan, which is traditionally a slow month. Mobilink kept a strong and aggressive presence in the market in order to maintain its leadership and to engage its customer base.

Mobilink posted revenues of US$ 826 million for the period ending 30 September 2010. The revenue for the same period last year was US$ 788 million, translating into YoY increase of nearly 5%. 9M 2010 EBITDA reached US$ 327 million with an increase of 17% over the same period last year on a comparable basis reflecting an EBITDA margin of 39.6%.

Moreover, the closing subscriber base of Q3 2010 showed 4.7% growth as compared to the closing base of Q3 2009. In July, Mobilink ran Bonus on Recharge and Bonus on Usage promotions in order to enhance usage during the typically slow summer months. During Ramadan, Mobilink rolled out its
discounted tariff promotion for calls to all other Mobilink numbers. Another aggressive offer was launched towards the end of August with the objective of improving customer engagement and satisfaction as well as to counter the aggressive competition. The campaign resulted in heavy subscriptions and very good customer recall from the market.

Keeping the momentum, two aggressive promotions were launched after Eid namely “Non Stop Call Masti” and “Na Qabil-e-Yaqeen Offer” which gave the customers the opportunity to make unlimited calls to 3 Friends and Family
numbers. Innovative reactivation promotions were also launched during the quarter in order to reduce churn and improve customer engagement. During Q3 there was a cleanup for some subscribers that were mistakenly considered
active by the systems which contributed to the high disconnections of the quarter. A revalidation to the reporting systems has taken place to avoid such incidents in the future For Post-paid customers, a discount offer was launched during Ramadan for all Mobilink calls. In addition, an IDD promotion was launched in September for post-paid customers offering discounted calls to USA, Canada, UK and many European destinations.

On the VAS front, a portfolio of services was launched during Ramadan including Quran recitation, Tafseer & Duas as well as various Ramadan alerts. Moreover, a special SMS bundle offer and a special roaming offer to Saudi Arabia were launched during Ramadan. Mobilink also launched the third phase of SMS Khazana during August which generated healthy revenues.
On the brand building front, Jazz acknowledged nation‟s heroes and rising stars with the “Kal Kay Liyay Aaj Badlo” campaign on Independence Day. The campaign highlighted their achievements inspiring others to do the same with their patriotic spirit guiding their way. Mobilink also launched a Flood
Relief campaign with contributions put in by the Holding company and Mobilink employees. The campaign led Mobilink to commit more than 1,000 volunteer hours and reach out to more than 112,000 flood victims.

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