Category: Business

Peshawar (Muhammad Yasir) Smart city property expo, held at Pearl Continental Peshawar started from 29th October 2021, ended on 31st October 2021, with the organizers and real estate exhibitors feeling happy to get an incredible response. The event was organized by Capital Smart City and Lahore Smart City, gathered many potential investors, real estate exhibitors, and representatives from all over Pakistan. Hence, the management insisted that the expo is equally beneficial for the developers, exhibitors, and buyers as offering the best investment opportunities and insights. 

Wall Real Estate team participated in the event, interacted with potential investors, and made them aware of the futuristic benefits to invest in Lahore Smart City and Capital Smart City. Habib Rafique Limited and FDH group members visited Wall Real Estate stall and presented an appreciation award in recognition of the team’s effort and performance. 

Future Development Holding (FDH) management inaugurated the ceremony however Speaker KPK Provincial Assembly Mr. Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani, GM Sales & Marketing Capital Smart City Mr. Mujeeb Ahmed Khan, and Habib Rafique Pvt. Ltd. Group were presented at the event, visited exhibitors’ stalls, and interacted with the visitors.

Talking about the Capital Smart City and Lahore Smart city, the management said that both projects are going to change the living standards in Pakistan by initiating a modern lifestyle full of efficient and smart resources. Also, these societies would be the new investment, financial and commercial hubs.

Capital Smart City new master plan was also launched at the event that consists of 100,000 Kanal land. FDH chief operating officers elaborate on the value of such property events to increase the real estate sector growth in all areas of Pakistan. The visitors appreciated the expo and said that it gave them a chance to come under one roof with the leading developers, builders, and realtors who provide them with the best investment options. 

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

US based global satellite broadband provider Starlink’s Director Middle East & Asia, Mr. Ryan Goodnight and Head of Global Site Acquisition Mr. Ben Macwilliam visited Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Headquarters, Islamabad today. They met with Chairman PTA, Maj General Amir Azeem Bajwa (R) and Executive Director, Frequency Allocation Board.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed matters pertaining to provision of satellite broadband connectivity in Pakistan and Starlink’s future plans for connecting Pakistan to their global network. Chairman PTA apprised Starlink representatives about PM’s vision of Digital Pakistan and prospects in Pakistan’s evolving market for quality broadband internet. He assured Starlink’s representatives about PTA’s support in line with regulatory framework for Starlink’s operations in Pakistan.

***********

Lahore (NUT-DESK)

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has renewed Telenor Pakistan licence at a price of $449.2 million for 15 years, with enhanced terms and conditions for coverage and quality of service. The Authority stated that Telenor Pakistan (Pvt) Ltd has signed renewed license with Pakistan Telecom Authority.

The license signing was held at the PTA Headquarter. The signing was due since 2019. Renewed license has enhanced terms and conditions for coverage and quality of service, as established during the recent Pakistan Spectrum Auction.

The license is renewed at a price of $449.2 million for 15 years, out of which Telenor Pakistan has already paid $333.64 million on account of license renewal fee and applicable mark-up.

Telenor Pakistan stated that it has signed its GSM license renewal template issued by the PTA under protest and without prejudice, said the cellular mobile company.

Despite the signing of the license after paying the fee in full, the company stated it reserves the right to continue seeking a legal resolution to its dispute with the PTA on the case. The PTA had issued a 15-year license for network operations to Telenor Pakistan in 2004, which was due for renewal on May 25th, 2019, a failure of which could impact its nationwide operations.

************

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) One of the leading global tech brands, OPPO officially announced its first self-designed cutting-edge imaging Neural Processing Unit (NPU), MariSilicon X. The revolutionary NPU was unveiled on the 2021 OPPO Inno Day.
Built on 6nm process technology, MariSilicon X combines an advanced NPU, ISP, and multi-tier memory architecture to deliver incredible performance with incomparable power efficiency, which makes real-time RAW processing possible to capture stunning 4K AI Night Video with live preview. MariSilicon X will make its debut in Q1 2022 on the Find X Series.

During the event, OPPO’s Senior Director Jiang Bo said, “With more than a decade of experience in pushing the boundaries of image technology, OPPO has been behind some of the biggest innovations in the industry when it comes to camera modules, lenses, and algorithms. Our new cutting-edge imaging NPU is the biggest leap we’ve taken so far.”

MariSilicon X delivers an incredible 18 trillion operations per second (TOPS), more than enough computing power to support our AI algorithms. With a stunning power efficiency of 11.6 TOPS per watt, the NPU delivers top-level performance without draining battery.

OPPO’s latest NPU can achieve up to 20x faster performance compared with OPPO Find X3 Pro, on OPPO’s AI Noise Reduction Algorithm. OPPO’s latest NPU can capture 4K AI Night Video by applying complex enhancements to each frame in real-time.

The MariSilicon X has a powerful ISP that enables images to be captured with an incredible 20bit 120db dynamic range – 4x greater than that of Find X3 Pro. It gives images a contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 between the brightest and darkest areas of the image, better keeping images true to life.

The new NPU also revolutionizes the imaging pipeline to directly perform real-time 4K AI processing and 20bit HDR fusion in the RAW domain at the pixel level.

OPPO’s MariSilicon X marks a new era in computational photography, it unleashes the power of AI Noise Reduction algorithms to create clearer and sharper videos. It also features greater dynamic range and better color reproduction, allowing each individual frame looking just as rich and defined as a still photo. It is the first time that 4K AI HDR Night Video capturing is made possible on Android phones. MariSilicon X will make its commercial debut on the Find X Series in Q1 2022, bringing with it the most powerful imaging experience for the smartphone.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) With the mission of simplifying and improving the lives of people in the region, Careem, the Super App for the greater Middle East and Pakistan, brings back the Captain bonuses in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. The initiative was taken to increase Captains earnings and improve their economics by supporting them with additional incentives to work with the platform.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Captains earnings took a massive hit as the country saw multiple lockdowns to prevent the virus. With the conditions improving in the country, the demand for the service has also increased, giving the 800,000 registered Captains a chance to earn additional income, improving their lives while strengthening the network, making Careem the largest ride-hailing company in the region.

The new bonuses will allow Captains to earn up to 25% in addition to their basic income. Numerically, Captains can now earn up to PKR 150,000/- with the introduction of the new bonuses. These bonuses have been introduced in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, starting with the ‘GO Category’ with plans to expand them across the country and other car types

Careem has always been at the forefront to work towards improving the lives of its Captains. From partnering with organizations to providing education on subsidized rates, discounted pricing on fuel and oil changes, and providing ration packages during the lockdown and distributing smog kits to help them combat the harsh weather. Careem also recently announced to reduce its commissions from 25% to 15% on the Bike category to help them improve their earnings.

Amongst these initiatives, Careem also recognized the efforts Captains have made to ensure the service quality remains at the top and introduced Sitara-E-Careem awards last year to praise their hard work and dedication towards the Customers and Community at large. These awards are given to the best performing Captains who went above and beyond and made lives simpler for Customers.

Careem has more than 800,000 Captains registered on its platform so far and has invested up to $100 million since its inception in Pakistan in 2016. Transforming into a Super App; Careem offers multiple opportunities as it expands its services from the mobility of people to adding mobility of things and mobility of money including food, daily essential deliveries, peer to peer credit transfer and mobile top-ups.

Islamabad (Muhammad Yasir)  Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and Ufone have welcomed 150 top young talent from across Pakistan as Management Trainees (MTs) in its 5^th Batch of Summit Programme 2021. The young graduates were selected from the leading universities from all across Pakistan and were hosted at a special ceremony organized at PTCL HQ, Islamabad.

The candidates went through a rigorous selection process that included digital assessment, psychometric & challenging online gaming tests and competency-based interviews.

Successful candidates were taken for orientation to Telecom Staff College at Haripur, where they underwent a month-long knowledge-based and comprehensive classroom training & development intervention. The orientation will be followed by on–job training spanning over a period of 5 months which will provide the MTs with an opportunity to learn from seasoned telecom industry experts and will be an integral part of their grooming, coaching and mentoring process. They will experience a diversified culture and will have access to a vast business canvas that will ensure their future grooming for the respective roles within both PTCL & Ufone.

While addressing at the orientation program, Group CHRO, PTCL & Ufone, Syed Mazhar Hussain, said, “Pakistan has the largest pool of most talented youth and we strongly believe in providing ample opportunities to nurture and promote our talent. We are committed to invest in enhancing their skillset and provide a platform for growth that will enable these graduates to unlock their true potential and gain business acumen, learn effective communication skills and become future leaders.”

PTCL Group, being one of the largest ICT services provider in Pakistan and a socially responsible organization, continues to play its part in building future leadership as part of its progressive culture.

Islamabad (Muhammad Yasir) Zonergy , Largest Solar and ESS solutions provider in Pakistan, has successfully achieved 5 billion sales target for the year 2021. Zonergy has strong footprint in all major cities of Pakistan making clean energy available to its consumer at affordable price with excellent after sales services. Zonergy has established 50 plus franchises network across the country with an aim to expand its network to each city of Pakistan to embark upon the PM vision of CleanGreen Pakistan and to help the country to overcome energy crisis and reduce their costs on fossil fuel energy sources and CO2 emission.

In short span, Zonergy has successfully acquired 30% market share of distributed PV energy storage in Pakistan which makesZonergymajor player in the Renewable energy sector of Pakistan.Zonergy has been providing Smart solar solutions to its commercial, Industrial and Consumer clients with best quality customize products and installation services. It is offering wide range of Solar productsinclude Portable devices, Panels, On-grid and Hybrid Inverters and heating plates catering to the contemporaryneed of the consumer to large scale Industrial utility.

Being a Socially responsible Business Entity. Zonergy had donated millions of rupees to PM COVID-19 Fund along with supplies of Media equipment in fight against the pandemic. Zonergy had also signed CSR initiatives agreement with Punjab Ministry of Energy to uplift the deprived community with infrastructure development of educational and basic amenities in the region.

On this occasion Zonergy’s President Mr. Richard Guo praised the performance of the Pakistani team on making this landmark achievement through their sheer hard work and dedication. He further added “It’s a proud moment for Zonergy global for maintaining profitable business model in offshore units. No doubt, we have proved once again that visionary leadership combined with wise management and dedicated workerscan turn impossible to possible. I’m confident that we continue this trend for years to come and make real difference in the life of our consumers by offering best solar solutions at affordable cost. Our vision is to transform energy sector in the world where each home and industry become indigenous clean energy producers and contribute towards national Energy building goal of self-reliance. In 2022, we are going to invest more in Pakistan by expanding our offices to industrial zone and enlarge our sales and service team to provide better service to our clients in every corner of the country”.

Zonergy has ambitious expansion plan for the year 2022 in which Company intends to inject more investment in terms of providing Hi-Tech Solar products to its customers, generation more employment by increasing its workforce, expanding franchise network to provide quality services to every part of the country and helping the country to meet its growing demand of clean energy.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) Chinese internet based B2B platform, Global Building Material (GBM) has announced its plans to invest whopping US$50 million in Pakistan. Under the investment plan, GBM will open its first branch in Lahore (Pakistan) during the current month to introduce its new one-stop shopping experience for Pakistani building material retailers, and for the purpose it will launch an app for businessmen dealing in building material. Additionally, GBM is going to make comprehensive digital port zone in Karachi which includes a warehouse, digital centre, data center plus logistics center.

David Wei, the General Manager of GBM Pakistan, and his team made this announcement during a press briefing at Lahore Press Club on Tuesday. “Lahore is the most suitable city for the development of GBM and it completely fits GBM’s positioning. We hope to take Lahore as a good start for Pakistan, and empower building materials retail stores in Pakistan, so as to make their business bigger and more profitable with the wings of the Internet,” David told the reporters.

David Wei informed the media that he arrived in Pakistan in early October and visited the Ministry of Housing and Works, Ministry of Commerce, Board of Investment and other government agencies to discuss GBM’s investment plans. After a one-month market investigation, GBM finally choose to set up the branch in Lahore, he added. “Retailers can check the supply of goods and place orders at home through the GBM app. If there is any problem, retailers can also directly consult online and have special before and after sales service being offered by GBM.

Sourcing low prices and high quality Chinese hardware and building materials with ease is the unique feature of GBM,” the general manager of GBM Pakistan informed GBM (www.gbm001.com) is a leading cross border one stop door to door building materials platform, which is aiming to link global building material manufacturers, trading companies and terminal customers together. Improving the degree of trade demand satisfaction of both sides by database, internet and global door to door logistic service, and then apply digital trading, block chain, big data, AI service to help increase the efficiency and reduce the cost in procurement.

GBM has gathered nearly 10,000 excellent suppliers of building materials in China, and has achieved a good reputation by serving nearly a thousand of construction and engineering companies in China with ultra-low prices and perfect after-sales services. Its parent company Hangxiao Steel Structure Co., Ltd, which is the first Chinese steel structure company, has 35 years experience in the construction industry and the company’s total assets is over Rs20 billion.