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Category: IT & Telecom

Explore IT and Telecom stories with Pakistan Revenue, your go-to source for the latest updates on Pakistan’s technology and telecom sector. Stay ahead with real-time industry insights and economic developments.

  • Norwegian envoy calls on PTA Chairman

    Norwegian envoy calls on PTA Chairman

    ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Norway Per Albert Ilsaas on Monday called on Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Maj General Amir Azeem Bajwa (R) at PTA Headquarters, Islamabad.

    READ MORE: FBR, PTA introduce temporary registration of cell phones

    During the meeting, matters of mutual interests including investment opportunities for Norwegian technology companies in Pakistan’s ICT sector were discussed.

    READ MORE: PM Imran directs implementing incentives for IT industry

    Chairman PTA also apprised the Ambassador about expansion and digital innovation taking place in Pakistan’s ICT sector. 

    READ MORE: Ufone 4G ranked top voice and data network

  • Huawei suggests characteristics for 5.5G

    Huawei suggests characteristics for 5.5G

    SHENZHEN, China: Yang Chaobin, President of Huawei’s Wireless Solution on Friday delivered a speech titled “Continuous Innovation Towards 5.5G for a New Journey of 5G Industry”.

    President of Huawei talked about the characteristics of 5.5G network. He said that the network would provide 10 Gbps experience, 100 billion connections, and native intelligence.

    READ MORE: Peshawar Customs announces auction of motor vehicles on July 26, 2022

    “Driven by new toC and toB services, we will enhance eMBB, URLLC, and mMTC, and provide new capabilities of sensing, passive IoT, positioning, and native intelligence. With them, we will build intelligent 5.5G that support 10 Gbps downlink, 1 Gbps uplink, and 100 billion connections, embarking on a new journey of 5G,” he added.

    As XR Pro and other toC services continue to gain popularity, networks must increase user-perceived rates tenfold for mobile connections. ToB services require high uplink speeds and sensing capabilities, medium-speed connections, and passive IoT. “This means that 5.5G networks must provide a downlink speed of 10 Gbps and an uplink speed of 1 Gbps, support 100 billion IoT connections, and become natively intelligent,” commented Yang.

    READ MORE: Suzuki starts producing outboard motors with plastic collecting device

    Ultra-large bandwidth has proven essential to mobile networks, requiring all sub-100 GHz resources to be fully utilized. As high bands are increasingly used, extremely large antenna array (ELAA) will be necessary to address the resulting coverage contraction.

    ELAA enables high-band networks to provide the same coverage as C-band so that operators can provide 10 Gbps to all users at all times no matter where they are. ELAA MetaAAUs have been put into commercial use in more than 30 cities.

    Field tests are completed on 6 GHz band, showing that co-coverage with C-band is possible in cases where outdoor deployments cover outdoor (O2O) and indoor (O2I) users. mmWave can ensure an overall peak rate of 10 Gbps, with a Gbps experience possible even at a distance of 5 km.

    READ MORE: Hyundai announces second quarter financial results

    ToB connections often feature far stronger uplink capabilities than downlink. With the uplink decoupled from the downlink, toB services flexibly use uplink and downlink spectrum on different bands, including existing FDD spectrum and newly defined uplink-only spectrum. Through uplink/downlink decoupling, spectrum convergence will be possible to ensure Gbps uplink. To date, uplink/downlink decoupling has already been commercially adopted in mining and steel sectors to ensure 1 Gbps uplink transfer required for 100-channel HD backhaul and panoramic remote control.

    RedCap is already available for commercial use. Compared with eMBB, RedCap features a low power consumption and high cost effectiveness, making it to be easily adopted on a massive scale.

    READ MORE: Honda unveils all-new Civic Type R

    Passive IoT combines cellular communications and passive tagging and features low terminal prices and long coverage distances, providing an ideal option for connecting tens of billions of passive IoT devices.

    Based on Huawei’s verification, passive IoT supports a coverage distance exceeding 200m. Additionally, sensing will be integrated onto mobile networks, facilitating the use of mmWave high bandwidth to improve sensing precision.

    As such, speed and distance measurements and imaging will be enhanced to further improve exception identification for smart transportation, geo-fencing for smart factories, and other industry applications, ultimately enabling digital replica.

    READ MORE: Pakistan reintroduces capital value tax on motor vehicles

    5G developments will increase service varieties and differentiation, with networks running with multiple bands and radio access technologies concurrently. This justifies the urgent necessity for introducing intelligence into mobile networks to maximize resource utilization and ensure service experiences.

    In addition, intelligence will best balance network performance and energy consumption, which will be important to fulfill increasing 5G traffic demand. The native intelligence will further enable networks to facilitate real-time sensing, modeling and prediction, and multidimensional decision-making.

    As such, networks will be intelligently optimized, with various resources to be configured on demand to deliver optimal user experience and capacity. O&M will be intelligently simplified, with site planning, deployment, and troubleshooting automated to maximize performance and energy saving.

    “To meet the diverse requirements across various industries of the next 10 years, 5G must enhance existing capabilities and support new capabilities of high-precision sensing, passive IoT, and native intelligence. We will continue to work with global partners to further innovate 5G and strive for the 5.5G era by protecting the investments of operators,” concluded Yang.

  • PTCL declares 39% growth in half year net profit

    PTCL declares 39% growth in half year net profit

    KARACHI: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) on Monday declared 39 per cent growth in its net profit for the half year ended June 30, 2022.

    According to half yearly financial results submitted to Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), the after tax profit of the country grew to Rs5.2 billion during the period January 01, 2022 to June 30, 2022 as compared with Rs3.74 billion in the same period of the last year.

    READ MORE: PTCL registers eight-year high revenue growth

    The announcement of financial results was made at the board of directors meeting held on July 18, 2022 at PTCL headquarters in Islamabad.

    The board has not approved cash dividend, bonus shares, right shares or another entitlement.

    The revenue of the company during the half year under review increased to around Rs40 billion as compared with Rs38.19 billion in the same half of the last year.

    The cost of service also increased to Rs31.52 billion as compared with Rs29.50 billion.

    READ MORE: PTCL Group wins GDEIB award in five categories

    Therefore, the gross profit of the company eased to Rs8.46 billion for the half year ended June 30, 2022 as compared with Rs8.69 billion in the same half last year.

    Administrative expenses of the company increased to Rs3.89 billion for the period as compared with Rs3.53 billion.

    Operating profit of PTCL fell to Rs1.89 billion during the half year under review as compared with Rs2.80 billion in the same half of the last year.

    However, under the head of other income, PTCL recorded massive growth to Rs6.03 billion during the period January 01, 2022 to June 30, 2022 when compared with Rs2.6 billion in the same period of the last year.

    READ MORE: PTCL registers 7.3% revenue growth for nine months

    This translated the profit before tax to Rs7.74 billion for the half year January – June 2022 as compared with Rs5.26 billion in the same period of the last year.

    The company made provision of Rs2.55 billion income tax for the half year as compared with Rs1.52 billion in the same half of the last year.

    The consolidated results of PTCL revealed a net loss of Rs3.05 billion for the half year ended June 30, 2022 as compared with the profit of Rs2.93 billion in the same period of the last year.

    READ MORE: PTCL, Dell to launch Azure Services in Pakistan

  • Forbes China includes Xiaomi in best employers list

    Forbes China includes Xiaomi in best employers list

    BEIJING: Xiaomi, a global technology leader and the third largest smartphone manufacturer has been named one of the top ten employers by Forbes China.

    READ MORE: Xiaomi joins hands with SELECT for phone production

    Xiaomi had 33,000 full-time employees worldwide at the end of last year. Other companies on the list include Schneider Electric, Hitachi Energy, Bank of China, etc.

    Forbes China made its selection after surveying 70,000 people over three months. The survey, which involved multiple topics, was conducted by Forbes China and Russell Consulting Company.

    READ MORE: Xiaomi plans assembly plant in Pakistan

    Xiaomi was listed as one of the “World’s Best Employers 2021” by Forbes. It was also ranked No. 4 on the list of “China’s Most Attractive Employers” for engineering students by Universum.

    Xiaomi prides itself on maintaining best practices for recruitment, employment, and employee benefits. According to the Company’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Report last year, Xiaomi was free of unfair labor practices or gender discrimination.

    READ MORE: Clearance of mobile phones: Customs valuation of 234 brands, models issued

    “Xiaomi is pleased and honored to be recognized for our employment practices,” said Wang Xiang, Partner and President of Xiaomi Group. “We recruit talent from around the world and give our employees the best opportunity we can to unleash their creativity to make products that improve the world. Xiaomi is committed to operating at the highest standards and protecting the rights of our employees.”

  • Twitter moves court against Musk for breaching $44bn deal

    Twitter moves court against Musk for breaching $44bn deal

    Twitter Inc. on Tuesday reportedly filed a case against Elon Musk, the CEO Tesla Inc. for cancelling $44 billion purchase deal.

    The Twitter filed case against Elon Musk in the Delaware Court of Chancery to hold Musk to pay the amount of $44 billion for the deal of Twitter.

    READ MORE: Ufone increases rates amid rising inflation

    The CEO of Tesla, Inc., Elon Musk decides to terminate the $44 billion deal to buy Twitter claiming about the multiple violations in the agreement.

    Elon Musk claimed that the deal of purchasing Twitter was canceled because the Twitter breached the deal by failing to hand over data. He demanded that the number of bots and spam accounts on the platform should be evaluated.

    READ MORE: Jazz invests Rs14.9 billion during first quarter

    The legal experts said that the dispute could result in the involvement of judge forcing Musk to complete the deal or forcing him to pay a $1 billion breakup fee, or other scenarios including a settlement, renegotiation of the purchase price, or even Musk walking away without paying anything.

    In May, Musk said that the deal was “temporarily on hold” as he was waiting for the dates on the number of fake and spam accounts on Twitter.

    READ MORE: FBR proposed to exempt withholding tax on telecom services

    The billionaire businessman had asked for evidence to back the company’s assertion that spam and bot accounts make up less than 5% of its total users.

    In a letter filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Musk’s lawyer said that the Twitter had failed or refused to provide this information.

    According to the letter: “Sometimes Twitter has ignored Mr. Musk’s requests, sometimes it has rejected them for reasons that appear to be unjustified, and sometimes it has claimed to comply while giving Mr. Musk incomplete or unusable information.”

  • Hysab Kytab signed partnership with Winikon

    Hysab Kytab signed partnership with Winikon

    KARACHI: Hysab Kytab – a leading FinTech that offers a suite of financial management solutions has signed partnership with Winikon – IT services company specialized in the banking business to enhance the banking experience of customers.

    This collaboration will help in providing individual-level personalized financial management products and services to banking customers.

    READ MORE: CMOs worry over power outages, 100% cash margin on imports

    The partnership between Winikon and Hysab Kytab will facilitate banking customers to manage their finances more efficiently and securely.

    It will improve the banking experience, and better money management and help the customers proactively manage their finances.

    READ MORE: Ufone increases rates amid rising inflation

    CEO at Winikon, Viktor Weininger said ’’Winikon is serving Temenos Transact clients backed up with 15+ years of experience in Temenos ecosystem. PFM is a key element of digital transformation as mobile is the most essential touchpoint with banking clients nowadays. I’m delighted to onboard Hysab Kytab as our partner. Through our partnership with Hysab Kytab, we are offering a best-of-breed, innovative PFM solution integrated with Transact”

    READ MORE: All tax proposals of IT sector accepted: FBR

    Head of Hysab Kytab, Yasir Ilyas said “Hysab Kytab’s PFM is available at Temenos Exchange (Temenos Marketplace) as pre-integrated with Infinity and Transact for global customers. As a product company our expansion/scale strategy demands finding well reputed partners that have track record of successful projects. This partnership with Winikon is key for our scale strategy and I look forward to creating success together with Winikon”

    READ MORE: Jazz, Telenor seek reduction in taxation

  • CMOs worry over power outages, 100% cash margin on imports

    CMOs worry over power outages, 100% cash margin on imports

    KARACHI: Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) are worried over continuous power outages and imposition of 100 per cent cash margin on import of certain phone equipment.

    The CMOs in a letter to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) highlighted certain issues that were hampering the quality of service (QoS).

    READ MORE: Ufone increases rates amid rising inflation

    They said that CMOs as some of the leading corporate entities of the country and law abiding licensees of the authority have always strived to comply to all applicable License conditions, rules and regulations including provision of requisite level of quality, network and service availability.

    The CMOs highlighted some critical economy-wide factors which are directly impeding and are expected to further severely constrain the operators’ ability to meet the existing QoS obligations/performance KPIs as well as our Network Rollout Obligations under the new License conditions.

    READ MORE: All tax proposals of IT sector accepted: FBR

    They said the current electricity shortfall, which is increasing with every passing day, is causing unplanned and prolonged load shedding nationwide especially in rural areas. Despite having backup power available in the form of generators/batteries, cellular operators are still finding it almost impossible to cope with the quantum of these power outages that are beyond our dimensioned backup capacity.

    Moreover, the rapidly escalating fuel prices are not only placing extra constraints on provision of generators backup for our BTS sites, round the clock. This extra fuel consumption for back up purposes is also contributing to further demand for fuel rather than supporting the government objective of rationalizing fuel consumption across the board in these testing times. Considering the current situation, maintaining network availability and delivering QoS performance KPIs have become a massive challenge for the CMOs.

    READ MORE: Jazz, Telenor seek reduction in taxation

    In addition, recent increase in Letter of Credit (LC) cash margin on all telecom equipment imports from 10 per cent to 100 per cent by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) also applies to backup batteries.

    Hence the imposition of increased LC cash margin has not only severely dented our ability to rollout more sites in order to meet the licensed QoS requirements, it also drastically impedes addition of more backup capacity to counter these extended power outages.

    READ MORE: Ufone launches contact center for housing loans

    In view of the above highlighted critical issues, we have a very serious apprehension that our licensing QoS KPIs and Network Rollout targets will be further affected. We are taking this opportunity to timely inform PTA and trust that the Authority will take into account the circumstances beyond our control while evaluating the license compliance and enforcement matters.

    They further highlighted the most recent fiscal and political developments have further impacted the already deteriorating health of capital-intensive telecom sector in Pakistan; and in the absence of immediate reversal of adverse directive(s) and elimination of electricity load shedding, the telecom operators would unfortunately be constrained to notify Force Majeure situation under special circumstances, outside the control of the major Telecom service providers of Pakistan.

    READ MORE: PITB, Faysal Bank sign MoU to facilitate freelancers

    The CMOs requested to indulge the Authority with the relevant quarters for favorable decisions in order to enable the telecom industry to keep providing essential telecoms service to the masses.

  • Ufone increases rates amid rising inflation

    Ufone increases rates amid rising inflation

    KARACHI: Ufone, Pakistan’s largest phone service provider, has increased tariff for its various packages.

    In a message sent by the cellular service provider to its customers said: “… to maintain quality of services during ongoing rise in inflation, there will be changes in some of our offers.”

    READ MORE: Ufone 4G ranked top voice and data network

    The rates of following packages have been increased:

    UPower 100, which was of Rs.100 has been increased to Rs.120 with change in resources of addition 1000 SMS in All in One (Option 1) Variant which will be effective from June 28, 2022.

    Super Card Plus, which was of Rs.649 has been increased to Rs.699 which will be effective from June 29, 2022. The resources are same as previous.

    READ MORE: Ufone signs Rs21 billion agreement for 4G spectrum

    Super Card Gold, which was of Rs.999 has been increased to Rs.1099 with change of resources of addition 100 Off-Net minutes and 2GB Main volume and 2 GB Social Volume (1 GB FB and 1 GB WA) which will be effective from June 29, 2022.

    READ MORE: Ufone launches contact center for housing loans

  • All tax proposals of IT sector accepted: FBR

    All tax proposals of IT sector accepted: FBR

    ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has said all pressing demands of IT sector have been accepted in the budget 2022/2023.

    In a statement issued on Monday, the FBR has taken an exception to a statement issued by Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA) dated June 25, 2022.

    It has reported some facts regarding the exemptions/tax incentives / facilitation given to the IT and IT enabled export services through the Federal Budget 2022, tabled in the National Assembly on June 10, 2022.

    READ MORE: Pakistan’s salaried class unhappy over new tax changes

    Clarifying its position, FBR has stated that in the wake of the Budget, some important meetings were held with the representatives of IT sector through Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) and also with Federal Minister for IT, Syed Amin-Ul-Haque, and his team. During these meetings, almost all the key demands of the IT Sector were thoroughly deliberated and largely agreed. 

    FBR has further clarified that the amended Finance Bill will incorporate some tangible measures to facilitate the exporters of IT and IT enabled services. Almost all the pressing demands of the IT Sector have been accepted. The same have been announced in the speech by the Federal Finance Minister on 24th June, 2022 on the floor of the National Assembly. 

    These include the following six key concessions:

    READ MORE: Pakistan reduces salary tax slabs to 7 in budget 2022/23

    i) The sector has been provided a reduced tax rate of 0.25% on their export proceeds which is a quarter of the 1% export tax rate provided to all other exporters of goods. 

    ii) The sector has been removed from tax credit regime to simplify the tax filing system and to remove hassles of compliance that were earlier required to make them eligible for 100% tax credit to claim tax exemption.

    iii) The requirements of filing of Withholding Tax Statements and Sales Tax return have been liberalized for the sector and only those who are required under the law will file WHT Statements or the Sales Tax Returns. For individuals having turnover up to Rs. 100 m per year there is no requirement to file WHT Statement or to deduct tax. 

    READ MORE: Pakistan reduces salary tax slabs to 7 in budget 2022/23

    iv) The definition of IT and IT enabled services as provided under the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 has been liberalized by expanding its scope by making suitable amendments and all inclusive, and “not limited to” definition has been provided. 

    v) IT and IT enabled services exporters have been provided the facility of obtaining Sales Tax refund in respect of any Sales Tax that has been paid as their input on computers, laptops, stationary other items etc. This facility is not available under the Provincial Sales Tax Law.

    vi) The demand of the IT Sector of reviving tax exemption for Venture Capital Fund has been accepted and a new provision has been created for providing Income Tax Exemption to the Venture Capital Fund for three years. 

    READ MORE: Massive cut in subsidies to curtail current expenditures

    It is pertinent to mention that the above exemptions and tax facilitations to boost exports of IT and IT enabled services were agreed and discussed in the meetings with the Federal Minister for IT, Syed Amin-Ul-Haque, and the representatives of the PSEB. It appears that the above statement given by P@SHA is on account of lack of information about the outcome of the decisions taken by the Honorable Finance Minister in that meeting and announced accordingly.

  • Jazz, Telenor seek reduction in taxation

    Jazz, Telenor seek reduction in taxation

    ISLAMABAD: Phone carriers in Pakistan including Jazz and Telenor have sought reduction in taxation.

    Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Miftah Ismail held a meeting with delegation of telecom sector comprising of CEO Jazz Aamir Ibrahim and CEO Telenor Pakistan Irfan Wahab Khan, at Finance Division on Wednesday.

    Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Syed Amin-ul-Haq, Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and other senior officers attended the meeting.

    The delegation briefed the finance minister on the contribution of IT sector in the economic development of Pakistan.

    READ MORE: PITB, Faysal Bank sign MoU to facilitate freelancers

    It was shared that currently IT and Telecommunication sector is facing various issues including serious challenge of profitability.

    In same view, the delegation requested for reduction in taxation over the items that hardly fall under purview of luxury goods.

    It was also shared that growth of IT and telecommunication not only contributes in increasing the exports but also in overall growth of GDP.

    READ MORE: FBR establishes IT center against cyber security attacks

    The finance minister acknowledged the role of IT and Telecommunication in overall economic development of the country.

    Moreover, the Finance Minister assured the delegation of all possible support regarding taxation issues and emphasized to make greater contribution in enhancement of IT and Telecom related exports.

    The delegation thanked the finance minister for support and cooperation.