Delay in 3G Auction Would Not be Permitted: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court of Pakistan yesterday issued notices secretaries of cabinet and finance to submit their reports detailing the reasons for the delay that was caused for the auction of 3G licenses in Pakistan.

Attorney General Office, on the matter, was asked to seek comprehensive report pertaining to process of all developments relating to 3G auction and that why it has been delayed this long.

Chief Justice observed that awarding the 3G license would generate substantial a revenue to the national exchequer and no delay would be permitted.

A three-judge bench led by chief justice iftikhar Muhammad chaudhry, comprising of Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Sh. Azmat Saeed was hearing a petition filed by Mr. Khurram Shahzad on delay of 3G auction which is causing loss to people and government of Pakistan alike.

During course of proceeding, Mr. Ali Raza, counsel for the petitioner informed the Supreme Court that Ministry of Finance had withdrawn Rs. 44 billion from Universal Services Fund through an executive order. On which Justice Jawwad S Khawaja remarked that how could government withdraw funds from Universal Services Fund as it had no such prerogative.

He also informed the court that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) was with out  chairman and members of the board for almost eight months. On which the bench directed the Federation to complete formation of the board and it chairman as soon as possible.

Ali Raza informed the bench that PTA employees are facing financial crisis as they had not been paid by the department for the last couple of months. Justice Jawwad S Khawaja showed disappointment over vacant posts of high officials in PTA and remarked that no one seemed interested in the department.

The CJ remarked that transparency must be observed in bidding of 3G license otherwise it would be deferred by the court. While issuing notices to secretary information technology, cabinet and finance, court adjourned further hearing till august 1.

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PTCL Launches Cloud Services in Pakistan

PTCL has become the third major player in the country to offer cloud services to SMEs and large sized enterprises.

While there is no major or official mention of the cloud solutions from PTCL’s side, company’s dedicated website for cloud services is already up and live.

In collaboration with Viper technologies, PTCL is currently offering dedicated servers, disaster recovery services, file hosting and messaging and collaboration services on its cloud.

PTCL says that it can offer cloud computing solutions from its data centre facilities located in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.

It maybe recalled that PTCL recently announced its agreement with Allama Iqbal Open University for provision of its cloud services. Moreover, it is said that government of Pakistan has locked a deal with PTCL to get its e-governance project running on PTCL’s cloud services.

Given the fact that PTCL has already got two (highly paying) clients, we are not sure about the quality of services that PTCL will offer to small and medium sized businesses. However, their plans for dedicated public/private servers are quite interesting.

Have a look at server plans below:

P.S. Prices mentioned here do no include network bandwidth, for which you will be charged extra based on your bandwidth needs.

Plans for file cloud hosting and disaster recovery services are competitive too – with respect to local market.

Businesses operating in the country can get a good proposition for hosting their websites with-in the country, which will not only bring them better ping rates but also an increased trust factor. However, online portals like us – with major Pakistani audience – will have to see the quality of service, support, security and uptime before actually singing-up with local cloud solutions.

Visit PTCL’s cloud website here: http://ptclcloud.com.pk, which seems inspired byRapidCompute, Cybernet’s cloud services, especially the cloud calculator. Go and check yourself.

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Youm-e-Ali: Cellular Services to Remain Suspended in Various Cities

Pakistan government, through Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, has directed the mobile operators in the country to keep their wireless and cellular services offline in various cities today on account of security threats on Youm-e-Ali (RA).

It is said that services are likely to remain offline in Karachi, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Gujranwala, Sargodha and other cities.

Cellular services will be suspended from 4pm to 8pm in Lahore. While Karachi will suffer service closure from 6am to 8pm.

PTA has confirmed the media about the planned service suspension and said that measures are taken on directions of Interior Ministry.

It maybe recalled that cellular and wireless service suspension on security threats was discovered by Mr. Rehman Malik, former Interior Minister, however, the idea is apparently being replicated by current government too.

Cellular operators have largely protested on these forced service suspensions, which hit hard their revenues during last three quarters.

Not to mention, no one compensates the subscribers for their monetary loss during these service suspensions.

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Government Plans to Open YouTube After Eid

Government of Pakistan is making efforts to lift YouTube ban after Eid-ul-Fitr, reported Express Tribune.

Paper, on its website, said that Anusha Rehman, Telecom and IT Minister, has formed a committee to review the matter of lifting ban on YouTube. Committee is directed to somehow make sure that all the objectionable material is blocked or made inaccessible in Pakistan.

However, it is still unclear that how future-duplication of objectionable content will be blocked.

It merits mentioning here that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has already expressed its inability to block objectionable content.

On other hands, Google has also not responded to Pakistan’s request of blocking objectionable content in the country, like it has done for various other regions.

Now government has hinted that it may open YouTube in Pakistan after making sure the blockade of all objectionable material, without mentioning the methods it intend to use for blocking the content.

Government said that all stakeholders will be taken into confidence before reopening the website.

Via Express Tribune

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Caretaker Minister for IT & Telecom Visits PTA

Group photo of PTA officials with Dr. Sania Nishtar, Caretaker Federal Minister for IT and Telecom. Senior officials of Ministry of IT and Telecom are also present.

Caretaker Federal Minister for Information Technology &Telecom (IT&T), Dr. Sania Nishtar visited Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Headquarters yesterday.

Additional Secretary, Member Law , Member IT of MoIT Director Generals (DGs) of Different Divisions of PTA and senior officers of the Authority were present on this occasion.

During the visit, senior officers briefed the Minister about the functions of PTA, regulatory initiatives taken by it and overall performance of the telecom sector. The Minister was informed that PTA has always facilitated thriving telecom industry of Pakistan which is providing state of the art telecom, broadband and ICT services. The Minister was also briefed about the challenges faced by the telecom sector and continued efforts of the regulator to address them.

Dr. Sania Nishtar assured full support of IT & T Ministry to PTA for its regulatory initiatives in ensuring continued growth of the telecom sector of Pakistan. She appreciated the role of PTA in the uplift of telecom sector of Pakistan.

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