Author: admin

ISLAMABAD –  The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet on Monday approved the issuance of second revised government of Pakistan sovereign guarantees up to Rs30.
612 billion for the 425 MW Nandipur power project.

The ECC gave this approval after detailed briefing by the Ministry of Water and Power.
These guarantees will remain valid till May 31, 2017.
Federal Minister Ishaq Dar chaired the meeting of the ECC here at the Prime Minister’s office.

The ECC considered and approved the summary moved by the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions for the provision of 50,000 metric tons of wheat costing Rs2.
007 billion to the United Nations World Food Program for the temporarily displaced people of FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The approved quantity will be distributed to the target population from December 2016 to June 2017.
It is worth mentioning that the quantity is the second such approval after the provision of 124,000 metric tons of wheat costing Rs4.
977 billion to the displaced population; the stocks from the earlier grant will be exhausted in November as reported by the World Food Program.

In view of the growing needs of the country for energy, ECC considered and approved the proposal, sent by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, for the setting up of the LPG air mix plants at Murree (Kurbagla, Dewal, Company Bagh and Tret), Awaran and Bella at an estimated cost of Rs1353.
29 million to be funded by the respective gas utility companies (SSGC and SNGPL) through their own resources.
For the housing colonies, the private sector is free to establish their own LPG air mix plants subject to the fulfillment of all codal formalities such as OGRA licensing, explosive licenses etc.
It was also decided that in addition to the above mentioned plants 30 new air mix plants each on SSGC and SNGPL systems will be constructed in the areas of AJK, Chitral, Gilgit Baltistan and backward areas of Balochistan as the development of these areas is the first priority of the government.
The setting up of the LPG air mix plants will save these areas from the rapid deforestation in these areas.

ECC also approved and ordered the notification of the PNC for the LNG supplies from Malaysia, Russia, France, Italy, Oman and Azerbaijan in the wake of the growing demand of energy in the country.
ECC also decided that the PNC will engage with all the energy supplying companies in the process to finalise the best deal for the country.

ECC also approved the proposal by Ministry of Water and Power for utilisation of power generated through captive power plants, as a short term measure, in order to optimize use of available generation in the coming summers of 2017 and 2018.
The measure taken by the Ministry will add around 300-600MW power to the national grid on the following conditions: plants having capacity of 03MW or above on gas, furnace oil, coal, bagasse and other fuels/sources will be offered energy purchase under this policy.
Tariff shall be based on take and pay basis and electricity actually delivered to the national grid.
These plants shall not be entitled for any capacity charges/payments.

ISLAMABAD: Mobile broadband users’ growth in Pakistan is expected to touch eight per cent mark in coming years as the country would have more than 40 million smartphones by end of this year.

The third-generation (3G) and 4G mobile phone users stand at around 30 million and continue to grow, creating a huge demand for smartphones, which is the top selling category across all major e-commerce platforms.

Publicly available data shows mobile phone imports in terms of value and not in units, making it difficult to figure out category-wise imports. However, market sources say less than 20pc of Pakistan’s monthly mobile phone imports comprises smartphones.

This equation though is likely to change in a couple of years, they added.

Pakistan’s e-commerce market is still in its infancy and represents only five per cent of conventional retail trade. However, the overall size of this fast growing segment has come close to $100 million, up by two-thirds from $60 million as of 2014.

A bulk of the country’s e-commerce transactions originate from Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad and Rawalpindi, which comprise about 50pc of customers. The remaining customer base is very thinly split between cities and towns nationwide.

With telecom operators rolling out 3G and 4G services in semi-urban and rural areas of the country – which usually don’t have outlets for branded products – the e-commerce market is likely to benefit a great deal.

According to a report by marketing firm GfK, the smartphone industry worldwide will grow by 6.6 per cent this year, backed largely by a thriving Chinese market.

For the future, the markets which will drive the most success are again likely going to be developing ones, namely Emerging Asia at eight per cent, and Central & Eastern Europe with a growth rate of 10pc.

The world’s largest market, China, grew by 15pc this year, the highest growth rate in any region, accounting for a third of all phones sold. However, this streak may be about to end, with operator subsidies set to end next year, which may result in a 3-percent decline in sales.

Other markets such as Middle East and Africa, Central and Eastern Europe (Russia and Ukraine) and Emerging Asia managed decent growth levels too.

In the Western world, the phone sales remained largely the same, though, as they did in Developed Asia (Hong Kong and Japan) while Latin America shrunk by four per cent.

Overall, the total sales value generated by the market will amount to a mammoth $ 421.8 billion, up from $398.1 billion last year (six per cent).

Again, it is China which backed most of that growth with $131.2 billion, followed by North America ($72.7 billion) and Western Europe ($53.6 billion), which is not really a surprise.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in its latest report said Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) auction 2014 was very successful as broadband subscriptions have shown a growth of over 1900pc during June 2014 to July 2016.

Increase in the number of broadband subscribers has also pushed the total data used on the mobile networks: jumping from a mere 1,964 TBs in month of June 2014 to a massive level of 39,821 TBs in July 2016.

Mobile data usage is expected to increase further in future due to surge in usage of data hungry next generation services and applications over mobile networks.

In order to meet the growing data needs in the market, mobile operators are to have strategies for more spectrum acquisition and optimisation of their network.

SAN FRANCISCO: Uber on Thursday laid out a vision for on-demand aircraft that can whisk commuters to home or work in a fraction of the time it would take on the road.

The ride-sharing giant assessed the feasibility of what it called “vertical take-off and landing” vehicles in a 98-page white paper, inviting innovators and entrepreneurs to take flight with the idea. The company said it will be reaching out to cities, manufacturers and others about the concept.

“Just as skyscrapers allowed cities to use limited land more efficiently, urban air transportation will use three-dimensional airspace to alleviate transportation congestion on the ground,” said the white paper.

“A network of small, electric aircraft that take off and land vertically will enable rapid, reliable transportation between suburbs and cities and, ultimately, within cities.”

NEW YORK: General Electric is in talks to buy oilfield-services company Baker Hughes in a deal that could be the US industrial giant’s biggest, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.

GE had approached Baker Hughes about a takeover, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter. Details about the talks could not be learned and the negotiations may not produce an agreement, they said.

Baker Hughes, based in Houston, Texas, has a market value of $23 billion, and could fetch more than $30 billion in a takeover, given the typical premium, the newspaper said.

GE has a market value of $259 billion.

Baker Hughes had struck a deal to be acquired by Halliburton for $34.6 billion in 2014. But the transaction died in May after the Justice Department filed a lawsuit to block the proposed merger on antitrust grounds.

GE is a sprawling industrial conglomerate with 333,000 full-time employees worldwide. Based in Fairfield, Connecticut, the company has businesses in the oil and gas sector, including surface and subsea drilling and production systems, and equipment for floating production platforms.

A takeover of Baker Hughes could dwarf GE’s acquisition of French company Alstom’s power and grid businesses last year for 9.7 billion euros ($10.6 billion).