Lahore (NUT-DESK)

Hammad Azhar congratulates Lucky Group, Samsung on entering into joint venture to manufacture smartphones in the country

In August last year, Hammad Azhar, who was industries and production minister at that time, had met with Samsung Pakistan MD and CEO. “Smartphone production in Pakistan is multiplying following DIRBS [Device Identification Registration and Blocking System] implementation and Mobile Policy launched recently,” he had tweeted after the meeting.

“They [Samsung Pakistan MD and CEO] appreciated both policies and are now actively considering setting up a smartphone assembly plant in Pakistan,” he added.

The DIRBS allows the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to stop the use of smuggled mobile devices. All mobile devices being connected to local networks using local SIMs are subject to registration within 60 days from their first use on a local mobile network.

Earlier last year, Pakistan was ranked as a 4th Generation Regulator (G4) by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), making it the only country in South Asia to have achieved the status. Of the 38 economies in Asia-Pacific, only 8% have managed to achieve the G4 status.

In the ITU report “Global ICT Regulatory Outlook 2020 (GIRO)”, Pakistan scored 88 out of 100. The country is also among the top five regulators in the Asia-Pacific region with a global rank of 48. The GIRO is built on data provided by 193 countries, which forms the basis of ‘ICT Regulatory Tracker’. The tracker is an evidence-based tool that helps decision-makers and regulators monitor the rapid evolution of ICT regulation.

Recently, Bangladesh has started exporting locally assembled mobile phones to the USA, thus joining Vietnam, India and Indonesia. Mobile phone exports out of Vietnam have surged to over $60 billion. India’s mobile phone exports – $3 billion in 2019 – are targeted at $110 billion by 2025, creating thousands of jobs.

Pakistan’s manpower cost is reportedly one-third of the Chinese and it is the seventh-largest market of mobile phones. In 2019, over 28.2 million mobile phones were imported legally into Pakistan – thanks to the full introduction of DIRBS by PTA in early 2019, which helped to control smuggling. In addition, around 12 million sets were reportedly assembled in the country.

The demand for high-quality affordable internet-enabled devices is surging as the internet is getting integrated into the lives of young tech-savvy individuals. Nearly 40% of the population has yet to cross the age of 15 and start looking for their own smartphones. Seventy-six million mobile broadband users in Pakistan today can easily double to 150 million by 2025.

As per the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, mobile-phone imports reached half a billion dollars in the Jul-Nov period of 2019. At this pace, full-year imports are expected to be over $1.2 billion. Promoting local manufacturing, together with exports, will start balancing that import bill.

In December last year, VIVO had also said that it will be setting up a manufacturing facility in Pakistan. The development was announced by Hammad on Twitter.

WhatsApp rolls out new feature making conference calls more easier

Lahore (NUT DESK)

WhatsApp is here with a new update feature that makes conference calls easier than ever before. The new feature ensures no one misses a group call again by allowing users to join video calls even after they have already begun.

Head of Facebook Will Cathcart took to Twitter to announce the exciting new update.The feature was much-requested by many users who expressed anxiety on spontaneous group calls that had to be accepted or rejected upon receiving the call.

WhatsApp is aiming to make communications easier and user friendly as the pandemic is increasing distances. Joinable calls will reduce the stress of answering a group call as it starts and gives people the choice of when to join. Joinable calls will allow you to become a part of the conversation at any time you wish. You can also drop off or re-join so long as the call is still ongoing.

A call info screen will allow you to see who is already in the call or is invited but hasn’t joined.You can even join group calls later from the CALLS tab in the App. Simple select join and you’ll be part of the group call.The feature is all set to roll out on July 19 and is available on Android phones running version 4.1 or newer.

PAK president Arif Alvi is now on TikTok

Lahore (Nut-Desk)

The President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi has joined the popular video-sharing platform TikTok, he confirmed via his official Instagram account.

The president uploaded a video of himself on Twitter to make the announcement and wrote that the purpose of him joining the app is to spread the message of positivity among the youth of Pakistan.

“To spread the message of positivity & motivation for the youth of Pakistan, we will keep pushing inspiring videos for the TikTok users,” he wrote. Link of his tweet is below.

The President of Pakistan is now on TikTok!

To spread the message of positivity & motivation for the youth of Pakistan, we will keep pushing inspiring videos for the TikTok users.

Follow https://t.co/G78TG3VtAx on TikTok
&
Watch our first video now 👇https://t.co/b3c2SXricr pic.twitter.com/LYe1QaQvHE

— The President of Pakistan (@PresOfPakistan) July 16, 2021

It should be recalled that earlier this month, the Sindh High Court had suspended the app. The decision was later reversed.

During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer seeking a ban on the app had said that the Peshawar High Court had earlier banned TikTok too as some videos uploaded on the platform are “immoral and against the teachings of Islam.”

The lawyer had said his client had approached the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) before moving the court, however, the PTA did not do anything in this regard.

Fawad slam ban

After the SHC ban on the app, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry had lashed out at the verdict banning TikTok across Pakistan till July 8, terming it “judicial activism”.

Taking to Twitter, Chaudhry had warned of consequences Pakistan will face in case it did not carry out judicial reforms.

“Pakistan will never come out of its economic crisis if judicial reforms are not undertaken,” he had said on Twitter.

“I’m baffled after reading yesterday’s verdicts on suspension of TikTok and the removal of the NBP president, and can’t help but wonder: what are our courts doing?” asked the information minister.

Chaudhry had noted that Pakistan, already, was suffering from losses worth billions of dollars due to “judicial activism”.

Lahore (NUT Reporting) In line with its ambition of enabling and empowering Pakistanis through innovative products and services, Telenor Pakistan brings free Snapchat for its users.

In an industry first, Telenor has formed a strategic partnership with the globally popular social media platform, Snapchat. The development makes Telenor Pakistan the first telco to venture into augmented reality and build interactive Snapchat lenses for Pakistani consumers.

Telenor users can now enjoy Snapchat for free by dialing *915#. The move will not only help new users experience the fun and dynamic platform, but also enable existing users to engage with personalized lenses developed by Telenor and Snapchat.

This partnership will enable Snapchat to reach an additional customer base, besides empowering Telenor users to enjoy the popular social media app for free.

Telenor Pakistan has continuously been working to provide its users with a larger portfolio of lifestyle apps and services with great value. The company also introduced offers like Free WhatsApp and Free First Call in the past, with the Snapchat partnership being the latest step in that direction.

It has remained a tradition of Telenor Pakistan to render its users with a larger portfolio of lifestyle applications and services which offer great value. In addition to that, the company also rolled out offers such as Free WhatsApp and Free First Call in the past, with the Snapchat partnership being the latest step in that direction. It is a good step and other telecom service providers should follow the suit of Telenor and collaborate with other such platforms to diversify their services.