Mobile Excellence Awards

Government of Pakistan Recognized at GSMA Mobile Excellence Awards

GSMA has recognized the government the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in the mobile industry’s prestigious Government Mobile Excellence Awards, which honor governments’ significant achievements in driving growth in the use of mobile services and maximizing the socio-economic impact of the mobile industry in their respective countries.

This year, the Government Mobile Excellence Awards comprised two categories: Government Leadership and Spectrum for Mobile Broadband. The government leadership award was presented to the government of Brazil whereas Pakistan won the award for Spectrum for Mobile Broadband. The awards acknowledge government policies and regulation that encourage investment and support transparency, competition and regulatory independence.

The governments of Brazil and Pakistan have demonstrated a clear commitment to putting mobile at the top of their digital agendas. We encourage administrations from around the globe to be inspired by their achievements and adopt similar best practice measures in order to encourage greater mobile industry investment, support innovation and increase the provision of mobile services for their citizens.”

Tom Phillips, Chief Regulatory Officer, GSMA

Government Leadership Award – Government of Brazil

The 2015 Government Leadership Award was presented to the Government of Brazil and the Honorable Minister of Communications, His Excellency Mr. Ricardo Berzoini. The award recognizes a number of policy approaches adopted in 2014 that have underpinned phenomenal growth in the broadband subscriber base and have led to Brazil having the highest proportion of 3G connections in Latin America.

Spectrum for Mobile Broadband Award – Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan

The 2015 Spectrum for Mobile Broadband Award was presented to the Government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecommunication, Her Excellency Ms. Anusha Rahman Khan. In April 2014, the Ministry of Information Technology successfully auctioned spectrum for 3G/4G services in Pakistan in the 1800MHz and 2100MHz bands. Since then, there has been a rapid uptake of 3G services, bringing significant benefits to consumers and the national economy, and providing huge growth potential for industry players including operators, device manufacturers, application developers and distributors.

The rapid roll-out of 3G and 4G services is boosting growth and efficiency in all sectors including education, banking, media, health and retailing, as well as being a key enabler for innovative e-services such as e-medicine and e-education in rural and remote areas of Pakistan.

GSMA

Huawei and DoCoMo Test LTE Services in the 5Ghz Spectrum Band

Japans’s NTT DoCoMo  has demonstrated that LTE can be deployed over the 5GHz unlicensed spectrum, which is widely used for wireless LAN networks in many countries today.

In research carried out at a Huawei facility in Beijing since February 2014, DoCoMo and Huawei have been conducting experiments of Licensed-Assisted Access (LAA), a technology that expands LTE-compatible spectrum to unlicensed spectrum bands, thereby providing complementary access for the LTE operator network.

Currently, LTE’s compatible spectrum bands are licensed between the 700MHz and 2.5GHz bands in Japan.

The indoor test found that LAA can work in 5GHz bandwidth, leading to cell capacity of approximately 1.6 times greater than that of IEEE 802.11n, a standard specification for WLAN. This significant result was a positive indication that LAA can be utilized as an enhancement of LTE, and also LTE-A, which DoCoMo plans to launch by March 2015. For example, higher-speed data communications and a higher cell capacity in dense traffic areas should be achievable by utilizing the 5GHz spectrum for LTE and LTE-Advanced on a complementary basis in coexistence with wireless LAN.

The standardization of LAA is likely to be discussed later this year by 3GPP.

Orange Armenia Special Offer;Bring Your Old Mobile And Get News

Till the 30th of September bring your old mobile phone to any Orange shop, subscribe for 24 months to any of Orange Dolphin, Butterfly or Panther monthly subscriptions with 4000, 6000 or 10 000 monthly fees and get Alcatel Pixi 2 Max smartphone at half price only; 29 900 AMD instead of 60 000 AMD also get a tablet as a gift for your family member.

Orange Armenia introduces annual mobile internet offer

Orange Armenia has introduced an annual mobile internet subscription for new and current subscribers. They receive 5 GB monthly mobile internet traffic bundle for AMD 5,000 per month under the new offer with an annual contract.

 

14 Illustrious Years of Rashid Khan in Various Leadership Roles

Jeffrey Hedberg has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Mobilink Pakistan. Jeffrey Hedberg succeeds Rashid Khan, who has decided to retire after tenure of over 14 years in leading positions with Mobilink and Banglalink. Rashid Khan will continue to perform the duties as the CEO of Mobilink until Jeffrey assumes office in Pakistan, which is expected in early August.

Rashid Khan is a veteran of the telecommunication industry and has held several management positions within the cellular business arena in the emerging markets for the past 20 years. Rashid Khan was appointed the CEO of Mobilink in 2008, upon his return from Bangalink where he led the business as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to that, for almost 15 years, he worked in Silicon Valley for various international companies where he acquired extensive working experience in the technology sector and was awarded patents for his inventions. 

Rashid Khan, Mobilink’s outgoing CEO and President said,

It has been an honour being a part of Mobilink and the VimpelCom Group. It is a privilege to lead an incredibly talented group of employees with whom I have shared the commitment and dedication of business excellence. Jeffrey’s in-depth knowledge of the cellular industry, proven leadership, and business acumen makes him the ideal choice to lead Mobilink from the front. I am confident that under his leadership Mobilink will continue to prosper and lead the industry in Pakistan”. 

Mobilink, under the supervision of Rashid Khan as CEO and President, maintained its position as the leading telecommunication service provider. Mobilink’s subscriber base grew from 30 million to 38 million as it launched 3G services in all major cities across Pakistan. Other major achievements include re-branding to reflect a youthful and fresh business ideology and winning the GSMA Global Mobile Award for its SMS Based Literacy program. 

Jeffrey Hedberg Appointed as CEO of Mobilink

VimpelCom Ltd. has announced that Jeffrey Hedberg has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Mobilink in Pakistan. He succeeds Rashid Khan, who has decided to retire after over 14 years in leading positions with Mobilink and banglalink. Rashid Khan will continue to perform the duties of the CEO of Mobilink until such time that Jeffrey assumes office in Pakistan, which is expected in early August.  

Jo Lunder, VimpelCom CEO, said:

Jeffrey has very strong operational telecoms experience with specific experience of emerging markets.  He has held a number of leading roles including CEO of Telkom South Africa and of Cell C, prior to which he was Chairman and CEO of Deutsche Telekom USA. I am very pleased he will be leading Mobilink through the next phase of the Company’s development.  I would like to thank Rashid Khan, who has made a significant contribution to Mobilink and banglalink over the past decade, in particular establishing Mobilink as the leading operator in Pakistan. We wish Rashid a long and happy retirement.”

Jeffrey Hedberg’s previous responsibilities include Acting CEO of Telkom South Africa and CEO of Telkom’s Nigerian subsidiary, Multi-Links Nigeria. Prior to joining Telkom he was CEO of Cell C, in South Africa. From 1999 to 2002, Jeffrey was Executive Vice President and Member of the Board of Management of Deutsche Telekom AG where he developed the strategy for the International Division and in 2002 he was appointed CEO and Chairman of Deutsche Telekom USA. Jeffrey joined Deutsche Telekom from Swisscom, where he became Executive Vice President of Swisscom International in 1997.

The opportunity presented by Mobilink—as a market leader in a dynamic, growing and highly competitive market—is intriguing and exciting.  I look forward to the challenge of improving our performance while increasing our positive impact on the market and on Pakistani society as a whole.”

-Jeffrey Hedberg

Armentel Launches Prepaid on-net Monthly Option

Armentel, working under the Beeline Armenia brand, has introduced its new ‘Let’s Talk’ service to prepaid subscribers. Unlimited on-net calls cost AMD 990 monthly, with the option renewed automatically. Armentel has over 780,000 mobile customers. 

Kar-Tel Cuts Rate of Calls to Uzbekistan

Kar-Tel, working under the Beeline Kazakhstan brand, has reduced the rate of calls to Uzbekistan under its ‘Whole Uzbekistan’ service. The price will total KZT 9 per minute to mobile operators Beeline Uzbekistan, Ucell, UzMobile and Perfectum Mobile, as well as to local telephony networks from 17 July. The service is available to prepaid subscribers of the operator. 

Mobilink Commercially Launches 3G Service in Pakistan

Mobilink has commercially launched 3G services on the local market. The operator had been offering free 3G services in 10 cities as part of a service trial since April. Starting 18 July, Mobilink terminated its free 3G service offering. The Mobilink commercial 3G offer is currently available in 11 cities of Pakistan, namely Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Multan, Faisalabad, Quetta, Peshawar, Gujranwala, Sialkot and Hyderabad. The service will be later expanded to other cities across the country. Pricing details relate to the 3G bundle and packages will be released soon.

 

Telenor Pakistan Launches Direct Carrier Billing Service

Telenor Pakistan has teamed up with mobile payments company Fortumo and digital & social games publisher Gameloft to introduce direct carrier billing for Telenor Apps and exclusive Gameloft titles. The service enables Telenor Pakistan customers to make online payments over a data connection by charging purchases through their recharge balance and confirming payments with one click on their phone, while in-app purchasing for Telenor Apps is also available. Developers who want to earn additional revenue from Telenor Apps can sign up at the Fortumo website.

The gaming initiative will bring franchises such as Asphalt, Real Football, The Amazing Spider-man, and other games to Telenor Pakistan’s subscribers from the Gameloft portal. Additionally, Telenor Pakistan’s subscribers will get access to new content from Gameloft’s portfolio of games with an inaugural offer. Customers will receive 1 Bonus game for each new paid download of super hero games, during the first month following service launch

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