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Govt issues policy directives for auction of spectrum in GB, AJK.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

Following the government’s decision to provide fast internet services in mountainous regions of the country, the Ministry of Information Technology has issued policy directives to the telecom regulator for the auction of spectrum in AJK and the Gilgit Baltistan (GB) to enhance the quality and outreach of mobile telephony as well as broadband in these areas.

The auction process to be conducted by PTA is expected to be completed by November this year. It may be mentioned here that students and thousands of tourists visiting the hilly areas have been criticizing the government for not providing the fast internet services in GB and AJK.

Similarly, additional spectrum has also been approved for the state owned telecom operator in GB and AJK.The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is expected to issue the Information Memorandum (IM) after receiving the policy directive to all the five cellular operators in the region.

Currently, there are five operators providing cellular mobile services in AJ&K and GB, including the state owned Special Communication Organisation (SCO), Jazz, Telenor, Zong and Ufone. The SCO is a subsidiary of the ministry of IT and telecom, established in 1976 to develop, operate and maintain all telecom services in Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan.

The government has set the base price of $0.87 million for each megahertz in 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz band, and 16 megahertz spectrum in 1800 MHz band and 30 megahertz spectrum in the 2100 MHz have been placed for auction, to the four mobile operators for 15 years.

However, additional spectrum of 10 megahertz in both the 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz bands has been approved for SCO. The auction will be beneficial for the governments of both AJK and the GB as a significant amount out of the auction proceeds will be transferred to the AJ&K and GB Councils by the PTA. The policy directive by the IT ministry has said that a significant surge in the demand of mobile broadband services has been witnessed particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This ever-increasing reliance on mobile broadband services necessitated the demand for availability of more spectrum to meet the connectivity needs of the citizens of AJ&K and GB,” the ministry has said.

If all spectrum available for auction is sold at base price then estimated revenue of $40.02 million will be received by the PTA, however the expected revenue can vary if any spectrum remains unsold or the estimated revenue can be higher if the spectrum is sold at higher than the base price through auction.

PTA will issue an Information Memorandum (IM) specifying the detailed procedure of the auction, to the four mobile operators including the eligibility criteria and steps for participating in the auction process.

The specifications set by the government for the mobile operators includes establishing a neutral technology that will be usable for all existing and upcoming advanced generations technologies, within the applicable policy framework of the Government of Pakistan. Along with the existing mobile companies the government has also allowed new entrants to participate in the auction process.

 

IHC CJ inquires about justification of Ban on TIKTOK.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) asked the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to formulate a mechanism regarding the operations of video-sharing app Tiktok in Pakistan and consult the federal government, rather than take a unilateral decision to ban the app.

“The PTA should never have banned Tiktok without consulting the federal government,” it observed, also asking the PTA: “What authority do you have to completely ban the app?”

The case, against the suspension of the app, was heard by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minhallah. Justice Minallah asked the PTA counsel to provide a reason for banning TikTok, adding that “if banning TikTok is the only solution, then Google should be banned too”.

The PTA lawyer responded by saying that the Peshawar and Sindh High Courts had issued orders to ban the app and formulate a mechanism to stop inappropriate content from circulating on the app.

At this, the chief justice asked the counsel to read out the orders of the high courts. He then pointed out that neither court had ordered that the app be completely banned in the country.

“Such videos are circulated on YouTube as well. Will you shut down YouTube too?” Justice Minallah asked. He said PTA should instead “guide people not to watch inappropriate content”.

“Apps are a means of livelihood and entertainment for people,” the chief justice added.

Justice MinaAllah said that the PTA had “misused the orders” from both courts and demanded to know if the actual orders, which pertained to developing a mechanism, had even be followed. “You were asked to develop a mechanism. Did you make one?”

The chief justice further asked why other social media apps had not then been banned based on the grounds Tiktok was banned. The hearing was adjourned till August 23.

WhatsApp rolls out ‘View Once’ feature that deletes photos, videos after opening.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

WhatsApp has rolled out a new feature called ‘View Once’, that deletes photos and videos from the chat after they have been opened, giving users even more control over their privacy. For added privacy, you can now send photos and videos that disappear from your WhatsApp chat after the recipient has opened them once.

“Media will not be saved to the recipient’s Photos or Gallery. Once you send a view once photo or video, you won’t be able to view it again,” WhatApp said in a statement on Tuesday.

To provide users with a chance to share the moment with others and not leave a digital footprint, WhatsApp has rolled out “View Once” photos and videos that disappear from the chat after they’ve been opened, giving users greater control over their privacy.

For example, you might send a “View Once” photo of some new clothes you’re trying on at a store, a quick reaction to a moment in time, or something sensitive like a Wi-Fi password.

“As with all the personal messages you send on WhatsApp, ‘View Once’ media is protected by end-to-end encryption so WhatsApp cannot see them,” the messaging app’s blog said.

They will also be clearly marked with a new “one-time” icon. After the media has been viewed, the message will appear as “opened” to avoid any confusion about what was happening in the chat at the time.

We’re rolling out the feature to everyone starting this week and are looking forward to feedback on this new way to send private and disappearing media, the messaging app said.

More features:

  • Media will not be saved to the recipient’s photos or gallery.
  • Once you send a ‘view once’ photo or video, you won’t be able to view it again.
  • You can’t forward, save, star, or share photos or videos that were sent or received with ‘view once’ media enabled.
  • You can only see if a recipient has opened a view once photo or video if they have read receipts turned on.
  • If you don’t open the photo or video within 14 days of it being sent, the media will expire from the chat.
  • You must select view once media each time you want to send a view once photo or video.
  • View once media can be restored from backup if the message is unopened at the time of backup. If the photo or video has already been opened, the media will not be included in the backup and can’t be restored.

Mobile Network Companies fell short to meet NGMS Performance Standards in the survey.

Posted on by Ali Qasim

Lahore (NUT-Desk)

In order to measure the performance and service quality of Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs), an independent Quality of Service (QoS) Survey has been carried out in twelve different cities of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Balochistan by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

The Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) remained non-complaint of most of the performance threshold as per Next Generation Mobile Service (NGMS) licenses, revealed independent quality of service (QoS) survey.

The QoS survey was carried out using Automated QoS Monitoring & Benchmarking Tool i.e. “SMARTBENCHMARKER”. Drive test teams selected survey routes in such a manner to cover main roads, service roads and majority of sectors/colonies of cities.

During Voice Calls and SMS Sessions, both A Party and B-Party mobile handsets were kept in auto detect mode, whereas, in case of Data Sessions the mobile handset were locked in 4G/LTE and 3G modes. The Voice Calls and SMS Samples were distributed as 70 percent ON-NET and 30 percent OFF-NET.

As per Next Generation Mobile Service (NGMS) licenses awarded, licensees are required to meet the threshold of -100dBm or above of Reference Signal Receive Power (RSRP) with 90 percent confidence level.

The analysis of recorded signal strength revealed that Jazz remained complaint in nine cities including Gujranwala, Kasur, Faisalabad, Rahim Yar Khan, Kohat, Haripur, Abbottabad, Pishin & Sibbi, Telenor in eleven cities including Gujranwala, Kasur, Faisalabad, Rahim Yar Khan, Kohat, Swabi, Abbottabad, Pishin, Sibbi, Noshki & Khuzdar, Ufone in eight cities including Gujranwala, Rahim Yar Khan, Kohat, Haripur, Abbottabad, Pishin, Noshki & Khuzdar and ZonG in twelve cities including Gujranwala, Kasur, Faisalabad, Rahim Yar Khan, Kohat, Swabi, Haripur, Abbottabad, Pishin, Sibbi, Noshki & Khuzdar. However Jazz remained non-compliant in two cities including Swabi & Khuzdar, Telenor in one city of Haripur and Ufone in two cities including Faisalabad and Swabi.

As per NGMS licenses awarded, licensees are required to meet the threshold of -100dBm or above of Received Signal Code Power (RSCP) with 90 percent confidence level.

As per NGMS licenses awarded, licensees are required to meet the threshold of minimum of 2Mbps of 4G User Data Throughput. The analysis of Survey Results of User Data Throughput revealed Jazz remained complaint in eleven cities, Telenor in ten, Ufone in six and Zong in eleven cities. Telenor remained non-complaint in two cities,  Ufone in four and Zong in one city.

The cities where CMOs remained non-compliant of service accessibility > 98% including Jazz in nine, Telenor in eleven, Ufone in eight and ZonG in seven cities. The cities where CMOs remained non-compliant of Call Connection Time < 6.5 Seconds include Jazz in six, Telenor in two, Ufone in one and Zong in four cities.

The cities where CMOs remained non-compliant of Call Completion Ratio >98% including Telenor in one, Ufone in two and Zong in one city. The analysis of QoS KPI End-to-End Speech Quality/ Mean Opinion Score of > 3 in all the surveyed cities revealed that  CMOs remained non-complaint of Mean Opinion Score > 3 include; Jazz in twelve cities, Telenor in seven, Ufone in five and Zong in two cities.The cities where CMOs remained non-compliant of SMS Success Rate >99% include; Jazz in eleven, Telenor in eleven, Ufone in nine and Zong in eleven.