Telenor and Adcom, its creative advertisement agency, have once again declared winners at the Pakistan Advertisers’ Society (PAS) Awards on designing persuasive awareness through TVCs for its financial services and social issues.

The cellular company has outclassed its competitors not only in the telecom sector but in the financial sector as well. The company’s TVCs earlier shortlisted along with Ufone but its all peers including Mobilink and  Zong were not shortlisted.

This is the second time that Telenor Pakistan has secured the awards in the second advertising Oscar of the country. In the first PAS Awards held last year, Telenor and Adcom also won award against its competitor Mobilink in the category of best advertising campaign on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

Telenor’s ‘karo mumkin’   was awarded as best against Mobilink’s ‘Kal Kay Lia Aaj Badlo’ CSR campaign.

The last few years have seen a media revolution in Pakistan with different brands vying for consumer attention on channels. It goes to the credit of advertisers that they have created brands and helped the companies communicate with the consumer.

By Yasir Ameen

Ufone funny commercials and Telenor (djuice) social awareness commercials have not grabbed the attention of their customers successfully but they were also shortlisted again in second Pakistan Advertisers’ Society (PAS) Awards, leaving their competitors behind in the advertising Oscar.

The war seems apparent between the two old rival operators—Ufone and Telenor that once competing each other for attaining maximum subscriber base during 2007 and 2008.

Ufone laughed provoking TVC got edge in the eyes of jury panel as its two commercials of different creative agencies were shortlisted against seven entries. On the contrary, the single entry of Telenor (djuice) TVC was selected, which showed its high success rate against Ufone at semi-final stage. Telenor TVC was selected in financial services category as well for its service “Easypaisa” commercial.

Ufone number 11 and 13 entries were shortlisted whereas Telenor’s 1 number entry was selected for award.

Zong and Mobilink creative advertisement agencies submitted their entries but failed to get attention against of the judges among their competitors.

S.NO    OPERATOR                            AGENCY                       CAMPAIGN

1          Djuice                                     Adcom Pvt Ltd.                Khamoshi ka boycott

2          Mobilink Jazz                     hamidi Partnership          Jazz bananas

3          Mobilink Jazz                       D’ hamidi Partnership     Jazz Ramadan Offer

4          Zong                                         Adetude                            Cricket song for Zong

5          Mobilink                          IAL Saatchi & Saatchi        Jazz 7 days 7 offers

6          Ufone                              Game Over, Tadpole films       100 per 100

7          Ufone                              Game Over, Tadpole films      100 per 200

8          Ufone                              Game Over, Tadpole films         Ufone Handset

9          Ufone                              Game Over, Tadpole films        Ladies Package

10        Ufone                             Game Over, Tadpole films        Tarzan

11        Ufone                              Game Over, Tadpole films       Mobile  Internet

12        Mobilink                       IAL Saatchi & Saatchi                 Rise of Jazba

13        Ufone                                     Interflow                                  49 Paisa offer

14        Mobilink                         IAL Saatchi & Saatchi                Jazz IDD -UK

Handset Makers

The competition among handset market is nil because only one company, Nokia, submitted its entry in the contest with for its Dual SIM Plus advertisement created by JWT

Nokia TVC was easily shortlisted and likely to be declared winner as sole contestant in the category.

Broadband Operators

The competition among broadband operators seems tough as entries of three well-know broadband operators were shortlisted along with their agencies however there is only one award and let see who is going to win.

COMPANY                 AGENCY                          CAMPAIGN TITLE

Qubee                        Pirana Advertising         Live in your world connect in our

Wi-tribe                     Wi-tribe                              Brand Refresh

Wateen                       Adetude                              Jo chaho

The award ceremony will be held on Friday night and the list of the winners of will be updated as soon as it is available to Telecom Recorder.

PTCL is celebrating its success of achieving one million broadband customers’ base while highlighting its in the media with colorful advertisements, on the other hand, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has taken serious notice against its violation of law of introducing “Pakistan Package” with its prior approval.

PTA has ordered PTCL to end its “Pakistan Package” on landline service after intimating its customers within seven days that is required under the Telecom Consumer Protection Regulations, 2009.

In case of non-compliance, further proceeding under sub-rule 5 of rule 9 of the Rules will be initiated, PTA warned.

It would be pertinent to mention here that as per clause 2.3 of Part-1 of schedule 2 and clauses (2),(3) and (4) of rule 22 of the Rules the licensee is required to meet all obligation with respect to notification of price or any change therein including explanation and calculations demonstrating the proposed prices change.

In addition, sub-regulation (1) of regulation 6 of the Fixed Line Tariff Regulations, 2004 stated that the license is, within the restrictions imposed under these Regulations, shall inform the Authority about their proposed tariffs thirty (30) days before the applicability of new tariffs for change the prices of respective Basket Services at any date and any frequency.

But the same has not been complied by the PTCL that has been termed infringement of laws. Secondly, it was also violation of rules of Significant Market Players (SMP).

Under clause 15 of part 2 of schedule 2 of the license, PTCL is required to comply with all requirements regarding publication of prices, terms and conditions, notifications and display of information, as established by the PTA from time to time in accordance with the Rules.

PTA, earlier in July 5, served a show case notice to PTCL on the same reason under section 23 of the Act. On this, PTCL’s officials informed the authority that package was not new one as it was considered.

After almost one month of the legal actions including show cause notice and its subsequent hearing, PTA asked PTCL to end its “Pakistan Package” as the company should have introduce the package after approval of authorities at least 30 days earlier of the package launch.

The enforcement order of PTA was announced second time in last two weeks. Earlier the company was asked to pay Rs 60 million on the non-payment of its dues in 15 days to authority—an irony that PTCL often warns its customers to pay unpaid dues or face the disconnection of the service, now, PTA did the same with PTCL on the failure fees payment.

The complete enforcement order can be view on the below link

http://www.pta.gov.pk/media/det_ptcl_110512_1.pdf

As Director Marketing, Ishaq led from the front from the word go, combining sharp acumen with strong leadership, to develop and implement aggressive marketing and sales strategies. These led to ZONG becoming the fastest growing network by far in 2011 and the early months of 2012.

Previous to this, Ishaq had already built up an enviable track record of taking ZONG to new heights, with record-breaking successes in sales & distribution. Since taking over a new role and bigger responsibilities as Director Marketing, Ishaq’s accomplishments have been even beyond the management’s expectations, in terms of revenue generation and increased subscriber base, making CMPak one of the fastest growing Companies in Pakistan in any sector.

Usman Ishaq as Executive Director Commercial, a post recently created in ZONG. In this position, Ishaq will also be assisting the Chief Commercial Officer in various matters.

PTCL has lost its first position on 100-index of Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) after it has been witnessed a top trading company in the past eight sessions but it was still on the third place in the last sessions.

The telecom giant has made a rare record at KSE in its history for maintaining a top position at equity market for eight consecutive sessions despite of the fact it was warned for taken a legal notice for non-payment of Rs 60 million to authority on different accounts.

In the period, the trading situation remained volatile and index was seen ups and downs on different impacts on trading and investors’ decisions but PTCL was firmed to stable its position despite all odds.

In overall last eight sessions, the value of PTCL share increased from Rs 14.42 per share to Rs 16.12 per share, showing 11.7 percent increase per share value.

Analysts believe that investors are heavily buying PTCL’s shares owing to the expected formation of International Clearing House by LDI operators, in which the international incoming calls traffic will be increased on legal channels while blocking the grey traffic at maximum level on the other hand.

Accordingly, the rates for overseas callers may witness a massive jump as any foreign operator terminating calls into Pakistan would have to pay Rs. 7.64 per minute (USc8.4/min).

PTCL having lion share in the international traffic revenues will become the ultimate beneficiary of the filter system, that will enhance its profitability if plan is implemented as scheduled in near future, analysts said.

It can generate extra revenues while playing a role of technical leader in the consortium besides providing value added services to call centers.

According to analysts, PTCL may regain its top position in coming trading sessions or it will maintain itself in top leading trading scrips due to investors interest in the company’s share.

Pakistan is the one of the biggest markets in all over the world for Nokia for exploring untapped areas to equip people with affordable and advanced mobile handsets.

Saula Passos, Nokia Communication Head, said while talking exclusively with Telecom Recorder on Tuesday at the launching ceremony of new range of mobile handsets.

Nokia’s next strategy is to reach billion of population living without mobile handsets and Pakistan is also the country where there is a significant number of people still living without handsets.

Pakistan is the good volumetric market for handsets makers so it is always priority for Nokia to meet the demands of large customers’ base.

The company introduces affordable sets in the local market with changing technology and trends of users as if it is presently launch handsets which have been manufactured on the basis of customers’ increasingly need to use multiple SIMs and internet.

Nokia has introduced smartphones as well in the local market that enable to connect its customers with 3G technology and the sales of high-end phone is expected to grow with the launch of 3G technology in the country.

Pakistan is the stronghold of near Asia region and the level of advanced technology adaptation is quite good with the passage of time.

Nokia is aggressively working in Pakistan through investment on human resource and transfer of technology which is evident its expanding business in the country over the period of past few years.

Nokia has mentored over 200 developers of Mobile Apps in Pakistan, that is, in fact the significant contributions to empower the talented people in the country who no only design Apps for local market but export them also.

The  company has set up more than 18 customer cares units and provided technical trainings to number of people. Besides, there are 800 places across the country where the country has set up its sales points.

There is no plan to set up any factory in Pakistan as far as Nokia’s strategy is concerned in near future because the local market is being catered with imports fully with proper and established channels.

It is one of the reasons that Nokia is operating in all over the world with limited number of factories though it has developed the routes where the imports are accessible to hundreds of countries through different channels.

Pakistan’s woman is actively pursuing their career having 14 percent share of workforce in IT industry out of which 37 percent are presently working at the mid-executive positions whereas 13 percent are holding senior Management positions in renowned local and multinational companies.

These findings were disclosed in the launching ceremony of the research study “Pakistan Women in Technology” at the local hotel on Monday.

The research is based on responses from 50 companies and 125 individuals – it targeted IT companies as well as large IT departments
within non-IT companies.

The participation of women in the workforce has been shown to have positive effects on a nation’s economy. P@SHA, as the IT industry representative organization in Pakistan, undertook this research to understand the real on-ground realities of women working in technology here, Jehan Ara, President P@SHA said.

“We aimed to not only get real facts and figures on women’s participation in IT but also aimed to explore the extent to which
women are enabled and equipped to succeed in IT. We explored key reasons which may also prevent new entries into the IT field, as well as factors affecting women’s growth. We hope that this report can be a first step towards gaining visibility for the critical roles that
women play in this otherwise male-dominated industry,” she added. “This is odd,” she said “because IT is a field that has opened up so
many opportunities for women.”

The data also pointed towards the presence of the infamous glass ceiling. Despite years of experience a large proportion of the women
have been unable to move beyond mid-level positions.

Another observation was the significantly low number of women who hold more than seven years of work experience under their belt. This stunted retention can be attributed to the ‘leaky pipeline effect’, whereby life events force women’s careers to often take a back seat.

In the context of HR policies and practices, a majority of women were satisfied with their work environment. While paid maternity leave, flexible hours and emergency leave were the most commonly offered benefits – there were still some companies who failed to incorporate paid maternity leave (a basic HR benefit worldwide) in their package.

The participants complained about long hours and recommended flexible and shorter work timings, transportation and day care facilities.

One gap identified was the lack of training and mentoring programs. Most of the polled companies did not extend such opportunities to
female employees, despite their proven effectiveness in enhancing the abilities of employees.

Women reported that they did not feel undervalued in comparison to male counterparts but wished to see a reduction in gender stereotyping of IT roles.

Chairman PTA apprised the Secretary General ITU about the achievements and progress made byPakistanin telecom sector particularly cellular mobile segment during last few years.  He also talked about market potential ofPakistanfor wireless technologies particularly broadband services and shared his vision about the future development of telecom sector in the country.  PTA Chairman also presented PTA plaque to the visiting dignitary.

Mr.Toure thanked the Chairman for arranging reception in his honour and appreciated the tremendous telecom growth of Pakistan.  He commended the role of PTA in creating sound regulatory regime in Pakistanby protecting customers as well as investors interest and providing level playing field. Later Mr.Toure planted a tree in the premises of PTA Headquarters and posed for a group photograph.  Concluding his visit to Pakistan, Dr.Hamadoun Toure will leave for Genevaon 12^th May 2012.

PTA asked PTCL to pay its outstanding dues of more than Rs 60 million on the account of numbering and RBS charges within 15 days for avoiding imminent legal action against the company.

It directed PTCL to deposit its all unpaid charges as soon as possible, otherwise, the authority reserves the right to take action under its power and jurisdiction.

It is merit mentioning here that authority reminded PTCL to pay its dues to the authority  earlier several time through letters including reminders as soon as possible but the company failed to comply its order.

A Show Cause Notice (SCN) under section 23 was issued on 22nd July, 2011 whereby the licensee was required to remedy the contravention by making the payment within seven days and to explain in writing within thirty (30) days as to why the license/assigned spectrum should not be withdrawn, terminated or any other enforcement order may not be passed against the licensee under section 23 of the Act.

Another Show Cause Notice (SCN) was also issued on 9^th August, 2011 to the licensee calling it upon to remedy the contravention by making payment of Rs. 46,043,950/- as an arrear on account of numbering charges up to financial years 2010-1, however PTCL did not respond to the authority.

PTCL is liable to pay annual number charges as per numbering plan regulations “Number Allocation and Administration Regulations, 2011” issued by the PTA from time to time.

According to the authority determinants passed recently by the PTA members, it issued an order to PTCL that:

The licensee, i.e., Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited pursuant to sub-rule 4 of rule 9 of the Pakistan Telecom Rules, 2000, is hereby directed to remedy the contravention by making payment of Rs.46,043,950/- as arrears on account of numbering charges up to financial years 2010-11 within fifteen (15) days from the date of issuance of this “Enforcement Order” and submit compliance report to the authority.

The licensee, i.e., Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited pursuant to sub-rule 4 of rule 9 of the Pakistan Telecom Rules, 2000, is hereby directed to remedy the contravention by making remaining payment of Rs.14.8M/- on account of spectrums charges/fee as allocated to the licensee for 9000 VHF links; within fifteen (15) days from the date of issuance of this “Enforcement Order” and submit compliance report to the authority.

In case of the licensee’s failure to comply with Para 10.1 (a) above, further proceedings for a “Final Enforcement Order” under sub-rule (5) and (6) of Rule 9 of the Pakistan Telecom Rules, 2000 (without prejudice to any other action as per enabling provisions of law) shall be initiated against the licensee.

The detail orders of the PTA could be read on the below links

http://www.pta.gov.pk/media/det_ptcl_numbering_090512.pdf

http://www.pta.gov.pk/media/det_enf_rbs_090512.pdf

The new social results will appear in a grey column on the right-hand side of Bing's results page

Microsoft is revamping its Bing search engine to include advice from Facebook and other social media platforms.

The move involves the introduction of a new sidebar which seeks to connect users with friends and other enthusiasts who can provide help.

The firm says it is based on the fact “90% of people consult with a friend or expert before making a decision”.

Surveys suggest Bing has about a 15% share of the US search market, lagging behind Google’s 66% portion.

The new service appears on the right-hand side of all results and includes a feature dubbed Friends Who Might Know.

“Bing suggests friends on Facebook who might know about the topic – based on what they ‘like’, their Facebook profile information, or photos they have shared so you can easily ask them about relevant experiences and opinions,” said Microsoft on its blog.

“For example, if you’re searching for diving spots in Costa Rica… you may discover that one of your friends knows a great spot, based on photos from their last trip.”

‘Holy Grail’

Beyond Facebook the firm said it would also flag up other experts identified from their posts on Google’s social network Google+ as well as Twitter, Foursquare, Quora and Linkedin.

Microsoft said that the service would roll out “in the coming days” in the US, but did not mention other locations.

“Using social signals for search results is obviously the Holy Grail as people tend to trust each other more and can help with the whole discovery process,” Sameet Sinha, an internet analyst at the investment bank B Riley & Co told the BBC.

“This wlll help Microsoft compete against Google and may encourage people to try switching to Bing.”

The move builds on a partnership between Microsoft and Facebook created when the Windows-maker paid $240m for a 1.6% stake in the social network in 2007.

When Facebook goes public soon, that stake will be worth more than $1bn.

However, Microsoft runs the risk that if the latest tie-up proves successful it could encourage Facebook to launch its own search service.

“Facebook could capture around 22% of the global search market by simply launching its own search engine tomorrow,” suggested the London-based digital marketing agency Greenlight which has carried out a study into the matter.

“It wouldn’t need to be a spectacular engine either, just well integrated into the Facebook experience.”

courtesy: bbc