Vote Verification via SMS

As announced earlier, eligible voters can now verify the status of their votes in the new computerized voter lists prepared by Election Commission of Pakistan by just sending an SMS via their mobile phones.

Service has been up an running for all operators, throughout the country.

Election Commission said that this SMS verification service, in collaboration with cellular operators, happens to be world’s largest verification service of any kind.

ECP said that 85 million registered voters can check their records through a single SMS.

How to Check your Vote Status?

• Simply send your CNIC (without dashes) to 8300
• Example: Send “3740541882200” to 8300

You will soon receive a reply with following information:

• Your CNIC Number
• Electoral Area, i.e. District, Tehsil and city/town/village
• Block Code
• Serial Number

Note: Reply message is likely to have words in Urdu (unicode). You may not be able to read the text message if your phone doesn’t support unicode.

Election Commission said that it has purposefully not included the voters’ name and home address to avoid any privacy violations.

Charges:

• SMS sent to 8300 will be charged @ Rs. 2 plus tax

What if you are not registered or registered with incorrect details?

Election Commission of Pakistan has said that that voters, in case of any issue, should immediately contact district election commissioner to get the details corrected. For the purpose, Election Commission is also arranging the establishment of display centers where voters can go an check their details and to get the information corrected.

FourQuants Aims to Lend Financial Trainings Through Internet and Mobile Apps

FourQuants and FinanceTrainingCourse, based out of Karachi, are ventures led by Jawwad Farid, which aim to teach finance to people through internet (videos) and mobile apps.

FinanceTrainingCourse is a partially free portal while FourQuants caters to enterprise customers through subscriptions.

One may call this FinanceTrainingCourse inspired byKhan Academy, however, both FinanceTrainingCourse and FourQuants takes next level route to teach and train professionals of a narrowed niche i.e. finance, with premium content for which they charge as well.

The portals themselves are designed for anyone interested in finance, students and professionals alike. The team behind the ventures has taken an easy approach to the material which has helped them gather and serve customers from 162 countries and over 5,000 cities over the world.

Free material is available and paid courses are also there. Some of the paid materials include things like downloadable pdf guides, sample excel model templates and subscriptions to their high end enterprise learning portal dedicated to risk, pricing and treasury management.

Recently they released iPhone, iPad and Android apps under the FourQuants name. The app allows customers to download and view free sample videos related to the field of computational finance, capital adequacy and risk management. The videos are aimed at practitioners, bankers and regulators. The application allows one to access 6 full length video lectures and another forty 2 – 5 minute samplers through the FourQuants YouTube channel.

The application also allows you to purchase video, pdf and excel content on various topics such as pricing, valuation, interest rate modeling and risk management. Topics in the free samples include:

• Financial Modeling – Complete Lesson
• Pitching for Start-ups – Complete Series
• Asset Liability Management – Short
• Selling Treasury Products – Short
• Stress Testing – Short
• Option Pricing – Short
• Quant Crash Course – Short
• Setting Limits – Short

In Jawwad’s own words, “Ultimately people need help in building models, validating models and explaining models to people who don’t come from a financial modeling background. We have been doing just that for the last 10 years as part of our risk practice. While we do very well with our site, the smart phone and tablet market was the next big thing. It was right there in front of us and we took it.”

The iPhone, iPad and Android apps were built by Pepper.pk, the award winning mobile application studio run by Five Rivers Technology in Lahore.

The links to the apps as well as both the websites are given below:

• iPhone app: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fourquants./id497901651?mt=8
• Android app: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.frt.fourquants
• FourQuants: http://fourquants.com/
• FinanceTrainingVideos: http://financetrainingcourse.com/

Telenor Customers to Browse Wikipedia for Free

Through an agreement between Telenor Group and the Wikimedia Foundation signed today,Telenor customers throughout Asia and Southeastern Europe will be able to access Wikipedia.com on their phones for free, i.e. no charges for data traffic at all (as long as there are on Wikipedia.com).

How to Use Wikipedia for Free?

• When implemented (It might take couple of months to get this partnership implemented), customers with a Telenor SIM will be able to access wikipedia.com for free.
• You will be able to visit wikipedia.com as many times as you want
• You will be able to browse wikipedia.com from your phone using any phone browser, or app.
• External links on wikipedia.com will be charged as per usual tariff
• Access to all other web pages (except wikipedia.com) will be charged as per usual tariffs.

When Can you use Wikipedia for Free?

We have asked Telenor Pakistan to give us a definitive date regarding the implementation of this project, for which we are awaiting their reply.

As mentioned above, the agreement was signed today and implementation of this partnership is in process now. Telenor Pakistan told me that a it could take couple of months to work out the technical modalities for making wikipedia.com accessible for free. Ideally, it is expected that all this would be done by April 2012.

A statement issued by Telenor said that this three year partnership between Telenor Group and the Wikimedia Foundation will cover 135 million users. The agreement is signed by seven countries: Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Montenegro, and Serbia.

By the end of the year, more markets are expected to join. The agreement will be implemented step by step throughout 2012, with the first markets launching during the second quarter.

This initiative is part of the Wikimedia Foundation’s mobile strategy, which focuses on reaching the billions of people around the world whose primary opportunity to access the Internet is via a mobile device.

“The Wikimedia Foundation is working to remove barriers to free knowledge, and for most people around the world right now, cost and accessibility are the two biggest hurdles,” says Barry Newstead, Wikimedia Chief Global Development Officer. “We applaud Telenor for joining us to deliver free access to Wikipedia for their customers. Through this partnership, we move a step closer to providing the sum of all knowledge to everyone in the world.”

This partnership supports Telenor’s commitment to bring more value to its mobile customers. Especially, the company has pioneered the development of value-adding services to rural and underserved communities in Asia. Telenor involve millions in Asia through the I-Geniusproject, which has already reached out to 300,000 Bangladeshi students and school-children with a call to explore open knowledge on the internet.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with the Wikimedia Foundation. Telenor have pioneered affordable, mobile communications across much of Asia, and we have built a track record of offering vital services with a significant outreach” says Kristin Skogen Lund,Executive Vice President and Head of Digital Services at Telenor Group. “With this agreement, we are first in Asia to bring a vast knowledge source to the millions in underserved communities across the region.”

Each local Telenor affiliate will establish technical solutions together with the Wikimedia Foundation.

SAP to Arm Pakistani SMEs with Real-Time Analytics

SAP AG has announced two new offerings that will deliver the benefits of the SAP HANA™ platform to small businesses and midsize enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan.

With analytics powered by SAP HANA for the SAP® Business One application and SAP HANA, Edge edition, SMEs will be able to leverage powerful in-memory technology from SAP.

By helping organizations act on information as it happens, SAP HANA revolutionizes decision-making, dramatically increasing the speed of existing processes and accessing large amounts of data in shorter periods of time.

“Analytics powered by SAP HANA for SAP Business One will offer customers the flexibility to create interactive reports and run ad-hoc analysis faster than before,” said Mr. Hassan Jamal, Country Liaison Manager, SAP Pakistan. “Another major advantage is the access to relevant information in seconds with freestyle search, with the ability to navigate through various business objects from SAP Business One without having to move from screen to screen due to it all being included in the current cockpit. We expect that customers will benefit from tremendously improved productivity.”

Further on, Hassan stated, “SMEs in Pakistan can make use of localized data which will be available to them at all times. Recent trends in comparison to past trends can greatly aid SMEs to plan their strategies accordingly and make the necessary budgetary decisions.” Emphasizing on the importance of SAP HANA’s implementation in the market, he said, “Pakistan is a developing market where SMEs are playing a pivotal role in its economic development. Hence, it is imperative for them to organize their business operations and digitalize them for better efficiency and productivity.”

For a quick and predictable implementation of SAP HANA, customers and partners can use SAP® Rapid Deployment solutions, including the SAP® ERP rapid-deployment solution for operational reporting with SAP HANA. SAP Rapid Deployment solutions delivered by SAP partners include preconfigured software, partner implementation services and end-user enablement resulting in fast time to value with easy-to-deploy and integrated solutions.

Another offering is SAP® CO-PA Accelerator software, which allows significantly faster processing of complex allocations and essentially instantaneous ad hoc profitability queries. It belongs to accelerator-type usage scenarios in which SAP HANA becomes a secondary database for SAP products such as the SAP® ERP application.

Remittance Services From Saudi Arabia to EasyPaisa and Banks Introduced

Xpress Money has launched two services for its Pakistani customers in Saudi Arabia:

• Direct to Mobile Account
• Direct to Bank Account

Xpress Money has tied up with Telenor Pakistan for the “Direct to Mobile Account” service, while its “Direct to Bank Account” service will be available through 17 leading banks in Pakistan.

All Telenor mobile account number holders can avail the “Direct to Mobile Account” service. New customers who wish to remit money using their mobiles can sign up with Telenor to obtain their personal mobile account numbers.

During remittance, senders in the Kingdom will be provided with a unique Xpress Personal Identification Number (XPIN) that they need to share with the beneficiary in Pakistan. Beneficiaries can withdraw funds from more than 12,500 agent network locations of Easypaisa/Telenor franchise or Tameer Bank branches on providing his/her original XPIN Number and Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC).

The “Direct to Bank Account” option takes the convenience level one step further and eliminates the need for a recipient in Pakistan to visit an agent location to collect the money. Using this service allows funds to be transferred into the beneficiary’s bank account and withdrawn from an ATM or used at a shopping outlet. This service extends over a network of 17 banks in Pakistan including MCB Bank, MY Bank, Tameer Bank, and Summit Bank.

Funds transferred using either service take about 12-24 hours to be credited into the recipients’ account. Once the amount is credited, the sender in Saudi Arabia receives an SMS confirmation.

How to Send Money

• Visit any Xpress Money send agent
• Fill out a send money form
• Make sure that the beneficiary’s name is spelt correctly
• Hand over amount to be transferred and transfer charges
• Give the beneficiary the unique 16 digit XPIN number

How to Receive Money

• Visit the Easypaisa agent
• Hand over official photo ID 
• Present 16 digit XPIN number
• Money will be paid out

Note: If funds are transferred to your bank account, then you can get them in your account, conveniently.

You can locate Xpress Money agents in your country by clicking this link:http://www.xpressmoney.com/gl/sa/sa_en/find-an-agent.html

Pakistan Set to Celebrate World IP Day

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has announced theme of 2012 World IP Day as “Visionary Innovators”. It has been narrated that behind every great innovations, either artistic or technical, is a human story a tale in which new pathways open as a result of the curiosity, insight or determination of individuals.

According to current year theme, elaborate arrangements had been made in Pakistan to design the World IP Day celebrations truly representative according to the thematic approach as decided by WIPO by giving opportunities to the innovators and relating creatures of different fields.

Hameed Ullah Jan Afridi, Chairman IPO-Pakistan said the event of World IP Day will be celebrated, on April 26th, in a befitting manner with participation of all the stakeholders in different fields including computer software.

He said that different technical session would also be arranged in which IP experts would highlight the importance of intellectual property right.

There would also be the need to aware the general masses and other people relating to different areas about critical role of IP rights and their impacts on social as well as economic sectors.

The Chairman said that significant importance would be given to the creative work of students and innovators. An exhibition would also be organized as side events of national conference. Geographical Indications (GI) of different areas of Pakistan would be displayed on the occasion. This Conference would provide exclusive platform to introduce Pakistan’s famous products in the country and also abroad.

Radio Tax of Rs. 2 on Rs. 100 Mobile Reload Proposed

Media reports are suggesting that a parliamentary committee on Information and Broadcasting is considering to impose Radio Tax of Rs. 2 per each Rs. 100 card to be deducted on all reloads.

Reportedly, Information Minister Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan was present in the committee meeting and that she was so concerned about national radio that she proposed Rs. 2 to be deducted from each card of Rs. 100 in account of Radio tax.

Media, citing Dr. Awan, said that this tax will be applicable after annual budget 2011-12.

Telecom industry has immediately responded and termed this kind of collection a nonsense. They said that Telecom industry isn’t responsible for an organization which is sinking for its own reasons.

“Telecom operators won’t become collection service for the government, we will severely oppose this”, said an official of a mobile company. He rather proposed government to use utility bills for any kind of charity collection.

If imposed, Telecom industry to going to get a hit on their businesses.

Mobile phone operators are already paying highest taxes in Pakistan, as compared to other sectors. In addition, mobile subscribers are also bearing several kind of service charges.

It merits mentioning here that telecom subscribers, last year, had to pay 1.5 percent additional withholding tax named as flood surcharge.

Launch Ceremony for Deployment of Pakistan-China Fiber Optic Cable Held

Special Communication Organization in collaboration with China Telecom will deploy cross-border Fiber Optic cable to connect both the countries.

This mega telecom project will cost Rs. 3.7 billion and will accrue economic benefits to Pakistan and will establish alternate international connectivity with China, Central Asian Republics (CARS) and Europe.

At present, Pakistan’s international connectivity with the world is through undersea cables, that are SEA-ME-WE 3&4, IMEWE and TWA-1, and Pakistan is connected through spurs only.

On completion, the project will also facilitate trade, tourism and IT awareness in the region and generate economic opportunities particularly in Gilgit-Baltistan.

This cross-border fiber link is expected to generate revenue, approximately Rs 1.5 billion in the first three years and, in the fourth year, the financial dividends are likely to grow.

Project is result of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed in April 2007, while construction and Maintenance Agreement between SCO and China Telecom (CT) was signed during the visit of Chinese Vice Premier to Pakistan in Jun 2010.

SCO persistently pursued the process for its approval and the project was finally approved by the Government of Pakistan in Dec 2010.

Launch ceremony for this project was held in HQ SCO. Director Development of HQ SCO gave a detailed briefing on technical aspects of the project and invited technical proposals from the firms for the execution of the project.

Chairman SCO Project Management Board IGC&IT, SO-in-C, DG SCO, Member Telecom MoIT, and CEOs/Representatives of all Chinese telecom firms were also present at the occasion.

India Blocks Songs.PK

Through court orders, access to Songs.PK – a notoriously popular website for pirated music – has been blocked throughout India on all ISPs, following a petition filed by a music company and two industry bodies.

Songs.PK is largely known for allowing its visitors to download free Indian and Pakistani music without having redistribution rights.

It merits mentioning here that Songs.PK is operated by a Pakistani webmaster. Website receives millions of hits per month and has global alexa ranking of 891 (as of today).

Website claims to have huge range of music audio files covering over 90 percent of all bollywood and Pakistani music, freely available for download.

Reportedly, Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL)– a UK based licensing company, Indian Music Industry (IMI) and Sagarika Pvt. Ltd had filed a petition in Calcutta High Court for banning the website for violating copyrights of hundreds of thousands music audios.

High Court has ordered all major internet service providers in India to block the access to Songs.PK through DNS name blocking, IP address blocking via routers and DPI based URL blocking.

Music companies in Pakistan have recently geared up to curb pirated music websites, which may lead to a ban of such websites in Pakistan too.

Via ZDNet

3G Prospects for Telenor Pakistan

In our ongoing commentary on 3G, today we will discuss Telenor Pakistan and its chances for upcoming 3G license auction on March 29th, 2012.

Many of you will agree that Telenor Pakistan is hot favorite to get a 3G license, rightly so, for the kind of attitude they have developed over the years, it looks apparent for them to have a 3G license in the auction.

In fact they were first one to think of up grading their network to support 3G. Currently Telenor Pakistan is number two cellular operator in the country, having around or over 28 million subscribers – that’s 5 million short of market leader, Mobilink.

Through off the record interviews, I can tell you that Telenor wouldn’t want 3G auction to happen, that’s like any other operator, but if government manages to throw 3G at operators then Telenor will grab it at any cost. At any cost means “Strictly at any cost”.

Telenor is hoping that highest bid for 3G wouldn’t top $300 million. Anything around $250 million to $270 million will be a fair deal for them. No foreign operator in 3G bidding would be another ideal situation for Telenor.

Security Concerns:

Along with investment plans, Telenor is also evaluating recent terrorist attacks plus the political instability in the country.

In fact Jon Fredrik Baksaas, CEO, Telenor Group, just recently noted: “Pakistan has a phenomenal underlying growth factor”. However, he said, it’s in a way a pity that a huge flow from the country is dominated by more challenging factors. Mr. Baksaas explicitly mentioned the criminal attacks on Telenor franchises while hoping that security situation will move positively in 2012.

Otherwise Telenor management is contented with its Pakistan’s operations, financial results and the way it is growing. Meaning that they can inject high value of money into Pakistan, however, with given scenario they will keep the pockets tight.

Indian Exit

Couple of media reports recently hinted that Indian exit will make it more viable for Telenor to invest in Pakistan. But that’s not the case. Telenor told me that they see Pakistan as a separate business case.

Telenor will invest in Pakistan regardless of what happens in India. But Telenor officials agreed that group is very careful after Indian 2G scandal, and wouldn’t want to be in same situation again, ever.

Issues due to Common Ownership at Parent Groups

Having said this all, a recent development at VimpelCom may entirely change the outcome of 3G auction in Pakistan. According to details, Telenor Group last week bought 234,000,000 VimpelCom preferred shares from Weather Investments to increase its voting rights at VimpelCom from 25.01 percent to 36.36 percent and to become majority stake holder in VimpelCom.

This transaction will translate into a situation where Telenor Group will have significant stakes in Mobilink. How much? let’s find out:

• VimpelCom holds 51.7 percent rights of Orascom Telecom
• Similarly, VimpelCom holds 51.7 percent rights of Mobilink
• Telenor Group holds 31.66 % economic rights and 36.36 percent voting rights in VimpelCom
• or Telenor Group holds 31.66 percent out of of 51.7 percent economic rights of Mobilink
• or Telenor Group holds 16.32 percent economic rights in Mobilink

Not only this, 5 out of 11 directors in VimpelCom comes from Telenor Group.

I am wondering if CCP will get into it at all or they are done after the earlier clearance they gave for the VimpelCom-Orascom merger.

Possible Disqualification for 3G Auction:

Unfortunately, we don’t have a protocol to follow here, as PTA’s Information Memorandum doesn’t clarify if two bidders are having common directors at holding level.

Clause 7.8.1 of PTA’s IM for cellular license auction says:

All bidders must disclose their ownership information in a separate 
sheet. No two bidders shall have any common directorship on their 
respective boards.

PTA is reportedly in process of looking into matter, i.e. about having common director at holdings. They will of course consult the industry stakeholders to make sure that there’s no conflict of interest or monopoly situation due to to common directors at parent group level.

Just to let you know, Information Memorandum can be updated anytime. Check below clause 11.1 and 11.2 from IM:

PTA reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to take any action, including amendment in this IM, which it considers necessary to ensure that the Auction process is carried out in a fair, open and transparent manner, in accordance with law and discourage collusion and predatory bidding that may block the entry of potential bidders into the bidding process.

PTA further reserves the right to modify or terminate the Auction process at any time in its sole discretion. In such an event Bid Earnest Money would be returned to the Bidder within thirty (30) working days without bearing any liability.

I am not saying that Telenor and Mobilink both will get disqualified, but this can be one of potential outcomes due to their common interests at group levels.

A Telenor official told me that Telenor Group and VimpelCom has this understanding that if two operations arise conflict of interest in same market (due to common ownership) then the newer operator will have to quit the market or otherwise newer operator will have to merge into older operator.

Hint of a merger in near future – all speculations, I would say, at this point of time.

Just to let you know, one bidder can buy two 3G licenses.

Time left for 3G auction is too little for all this to get concluded. PTA might need to revise the timeline for 3G auction, which evidently they will, or they can possibly go ahead with auction without disqualified operators.

Let’s wait and see how all this unrolls in coming two months.

Nokia Mobile Money Coming to Pakistan Through MCB

Muslim Commercial Bank in collaboration with Nokia is soon going to launch mobile banking services in Pakistan, reported Telecom Recorder.

The Mobile Money Service, Nokia’s flagship product for mobile banking in developing countries, will be available to all MCB customers with Nokia phones.

The MCB Bank Mobile Money Service powered by Nokia will allow mobile phone users to transfer money to another person by using the person’s mobile phone number and also top-up prepaid connections, pay bills and enjoy cashless shopping.

Nokia would enable MCB-mobile money customers to not only have compelling user experiences on Nokia handsets right out of the box through a pre-loaded money client, but also by making available downloadable ‘Money’ clients for MCB branchless banking customers.

This outcome is result of an agreement signed between Nokia and Muslim Commercial Bank in July 2011.

Nokia is already offering mobile money services in the Indian market through Union Bank of India and YES BANK.

MIT to Offer Free Online Course

World famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology or MIT has now announced the launch of an online course, which won’t only be free but will be accessible for anyone with internet availability.

Evaluation for this course will be arranged online while MIT will offer certificates for the candidates who will successfully complete the course.

Starting this March, an Electronics course offered online will be part of a pilot programme for online education, namely MITx with an aim to offer higher education to seekers throughout the world.

MITx will be interactive online course that will:

• organize and present course material to enable students to learn at their own pace
• feature interactivity, online laboratories and student-to-student communication
• allow for the individual assessment of any student’s work and allow students who demonstrate their mastery of subjects to earn a certificate of completion awarded byMITx
• operate on an open-source, scalable software infrastructure in order to make it continuously improving and readily available to other educational institutions.

Upon successful completion of this course, MIT plans to eventually host a virtual community of millions of learners around the world with more courses to be included in MITx project.

MIT says that it will make the MITx open learning software available free of cost.

Frequently asked questions about MITx are available here.

PTCL Introduces Jadoo Box

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has brought to its customers ‘Jadoo Box’ – a device that gives uninterrupted connectivity on wired DSL as well as backup wireless.

Introduced in three packages, the ‘Jadoo Box’ gives commercial and residential customers unlimited and uninterrupted Internet connectivity through a combination of DSL and EVO Nitro bundled together. This comes with unlimited voice connectivity that customers can enjoy through this Jadoo device.

Offer Details:

Jadoo Box comes with:

• DSL Internet
• An EVO Nitro USB device as backup.
• Free On-Net calls from PTCL to PTCL and to Vfone

Jadoo Box Features

• Internet connectivity with default DSL and an EVO as backup connection
• Multiple Users at home can access internet simultaneously through a single connection
• Integrate your IP telephony with value added features
• Works as Ethernet switch that enables you build residential LAN
• Built-in Wi-Fi access – to provide wireless connectivity for multiple home users
• Auto switchover between your primary and backup connectivity

      Tariff:

“PTCL’s Jadoo Box will capitalize on the uninterrupted connectivity needs of our valued customers,” said Senior Executive Vice President Commercial, Naveed Saeed. “This cutting-edge new product providing limitless connectivity will firmly establish PTCL as the only integrated telecom solutions company of Pakistan.”

Commending the PTCL ‘Jadoo Box’ brand team for their latest innovative accomplishment, Mr. Saeed said that it will be a new landmark in building PTCL’s unparalleled reliability for providing uninterrupted connectivity to all of its customers nation-wide.

Minister In-charge for IT & Telecom on His Way Out!

As the Supreme Judiciary charged Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani with contempt of court, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) is likely to become minister-less, yet once again in the regime of Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) government.

The PM, who is also Minister In-charge of MoITT, is likely to be removed from ministerial- ship if he fails to defy court’s charges in the final session of court proceedings to be held from February 22.

The MoITT will be minister-less at crucial times when an important event of 3G/4G licenses’ auction is being held. It appears that new minister/ caretaker might be deputed or the ministry may remain without minister for the next few months, which by the way isn’t a new thing for IT and Telecom Ministry.

Supreme Court has been indicted as “willfully defying, disregarding and disobeying” court’s order for writing letter to Swiss authorities to reopen graft case against President Zardari.

According to the legal and political experts, he will be disqualified as Member of National Assembly (MNA) and eventually as PM and Minister In-charge. But there were few opinions that the government may exploit delaying tactics and prevent prime minister from conviction and disqualification and he will remain as Minister In-charge of IT and Telecommunication.

PM as Minister In-charge for telecom and IT Ministry chaired only a couple of meetings at MoITT, otherwise secretary IT was usually asked to supervise all important meetings and projects due to PM’s busy schedule.

However PM carries the credit for approving 3G Policy in November 2011 and inaugurated few projects of USF, particularly in Bahawalpur, and gave go head of different development projects in Sindh and Baluchistan.

Yousuf Raza Gilani has been a long serving caretaker of MoITT in the four years’ term of the government. Previously Babar Awan, who was also indicted in contempt of court charge and Sarddar Assef Ahmed spent few months as minister of IT and Telecommunication and chaired only couple of meetings.

Besides, Sardar Latif Khosa remained in the MoITT as minister In-charge for five months and then PM’s advisor and Ministry in-charge for three months.

The IT and Telecom industry has been ignored by the government with no competent or right person to look after the industry affairs regularly – despite of the fact that telecom and IT industry is indispensible for the development of the country in the present tense situation.