News Update Times

Islamabad (Muhammad Yasir) Many people with disabilities in Pakistan and around the world still face the daily denial of their human rights. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased this inequality, particularly for women and girls with disabilities, and unleashed a human development crisis that has yet to completely unfold.

The Global Disability Summit being held in Norway in February 2022 is the world’s biggest gathering of people with disabilities, governments, and global leaders. It is a vital opportunity for government to address inequality and promote disability rights.

Sightsavers’ Equal World campaign in Partnership with Community Based Inclusive Development Network Pakistan (CBIDN) had been calling for global decision-makers, including the government of Pakistan to attend the Global Disability Summit, engage with people with disabilities and their representative organisations and make ambitious, properly financed commitments that will result in real change. Also, calling on the government of Pakistan to ensure the 2022 Census effectively counts people with disabilities. This will mean that proper legislation can be made to secure their rights.

The campaign executed for 100 days and it was endorsed by celebrities, influencers and general public. Thousand of people specifically youth signed the petition.

Consultation meetings ahead of upcoming summit were arranged by Community Based Inclusive Development Network Pakistan and National Forum of Women with Disabilities in which representatives of persons with disabilities from all provinces appreciated the initiatives undertaken by the govt regarding disability inclusion and said that participation of government in global disability summit is very important as this is an international platform where govt can express its commitment towards disability inclusion. The meeting was called before the upcoming summit to urge the government to make serious commitments for the rights of persons with disabilities. They suggested to Adopt gender and disability inclusive budgeting processes to ensure that women with disabilities can inform budget decisions. 

Sightsavers Country Director Syeda Munazza Gillani said that many people with disabilities have been denied their basic human rights especially during the pandemic. The global disability summit 2022 is a chance to change millions of lives long-term.

The women participants with disabilities said that it is important to ensure that women and girls’ voices are heard in the development of recommendations to governments around the Summit. Develop thematic working groups for the coordination with ministries and donors on issues concerning women with disabilities. The participants emphazised on the development of thematic working groups for the coordination with ministries and donors on issues concerning women with disabilities and development of program and monitoring indicators for government and donor projects related to women with disabilities.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) The country’s largest energy company, Pakistan State Oil (PSO) continues to gain momentum and outperform the industry reporting the highest ever half year gross revenue of PKR 1.12 trillion and profit after tax of PKR 32.2 billion (1HY21: PKR 9.5 billion). The net profit translated into a healthy earning per share of PKR 68.56 vs. PKR 20.28 in 1HFY21.

PSO’s Board of Management reviewed the performance of the company together with its subsidiary Pakistan Refinery Limited (PRL) for the first half of the financial year 2021-22 (1HFY22) during the meeting held in Islamabad on February 11, 2022. On a consolidated basis, the group collectively posted a net profit after tax of PKR 32 billion (1HFY21: PKR 9.3 billion).

Chairman, Board of Management, PSO, Mr. Zafar I. Usmani said “This is a momentous occasion, we have once again made history, delivering strong financial performance in the first half of fiscal year 2021-22. Our operational excellence, financial strength and discipline underpin the transformation of the company. While mounting receivables continue to pose a serious threat to PSO’s financial health, we are actively pursuing the matter with the concerned authorities. Going forward, we have a robust strategy in place keeping our customers at its core and are well-positioned to expand our portfolio in-line with our future growth and diversification strategy”.

PSO has been on a steady growth trajectory as the company’s profits increased by 238% over the same period last year. The company’s strong operational performance and strategic thrust is reflected in its market share which rose by 340 basis points over the same period last year.

PSO continued to outperform the market, leading the downstream sector with volumetric growth of 20.8% in liquid fuels against the industry’s growth of 12.3%, capturing around 48% share of white oil and 60% of black oil markets of the country. Major contributions came from motor gasoline, high speed diesel and furnace oil, in which the company achieved volumetric growth of 15.5%, 18.3% and 30.4% against industry’s growth of 7.9%, 15.2% and 14.1%, translating into market shares of 44.0%, 48.9% and 60.1% against 41.1%, 47.6% and 52.6% as of the same period last year respectively.

Managing Director & CEO, PSO, Syed Taha said “Our half-year results further reinforce the company’s growth story and our strong standing as the nation’s energy lifeline. I am extremely proud of our teams, who have adapted quickly to the evolving operating environment, while delivering on our long-term strategy. We have ambitious plans to provide innovative and environmentally friendly products and services to our customers, keeping sustainability at the heart of our operations and a steadfast focus on maintaining high levels of safety, quality and customer experience.”

PSO continued to boost innovation and increase its digital capabilities by embracing technology to drive growth and enhance efficiency. The company made significant strides on its journey of digital transformation and established a centralized command and control system as part of its robust digitalization strategy. This initiative will streamline the supply chain by connecting operational locations, retail outlets and logistics to the system for data gathering, monitoring, analyzing and controlling the company’s value chain nation-wide.

PSO increased the reliability, availability, efficiency and capacity of its infrastructure to meet the country’s growing energy needs by adding a capacity of 55 thousand tons to its storages. During the first half of FY2022, PSO continued to deliver on its promise of bringing modern, digitally-enabled fuel retail convenience to customers and communities with the opening of 20 new stations nationwide.

The company further strengthened its business with the signing of MoUs of strategic importance to fortify sustainability and secure the energy value chain including those with Frontier Works Organization and Pakistan Railways. As a responsible corporate citizen, PSO, through its PSO CSR Trust extended support of approx. PKR 90 million in the fields of healthcare, education and community-building. The company also continued its nationwide campaign of inoculating citizens against COVID-19, administering more than 200,000 doses nationwide.

The Board expressed concern over mounting trade receivables, noting an increase of PKR 77.7 billion in receivables from Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited compared to June 30, 2021. The matter is being actively pursued with the concerned authorities for settlement. 

The management extended its gratitude towards its stakeholders including the Board of Management, Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division), shareholders and employees for their continued support.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) The country’s leading telecom and ICT services provider, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), posted 7% growth in its revenues, owing to a robust commercial strategy that cements its market standing.

The company has announced its annual financial results for the year 2021 at its Board of Directors’ meeting on February 10, 2022.

PTCL Group

• PTCL Group posted a revenue of Rs 138 billion in the year 2021 which is 6.3% higher as compared to 2020.
• PTCL continued its growth trajectory by posting 7% YoY revenue growth which is the highest since 2013.
• PTML (Ufone) also posted a revenue growth of 4.3% despite stiff competition in the market.
• U Bank continued its growth momentum and has achieved 8.4% growth in revenue.
• PTCL Group has posted a net profit of Rs 2.6 billion.

 PTCL

• PTCL continued its strong performance throughout 2021. PTCL’s revenue of Rs 77 billion for the year 2021 is 7% higher than 2020, mainly driven by Broadband and Corporate & Wholesale business segments.
• PTCL registered highest Fixed broadband Sales and Net Adds in 2021 since 2015, which allowed PTCL to grow in the broadband business segment.

• PTCL is the fastest growing Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) operator with highest Net adds within FTTH market in 2021.
• The company has posted operating profit of Rs 4.2 billion, which is higher by 21% compared to 2020.
• Net profit of Rs 6.9 billion is higher by 14% as compared to last year.

The company is continuously upgrading its existing infrastructure and network, besides expanding FTTH across the country to offer seamless connectivity for greater customer experience. Prompt deployment of FTTH and strong performance in Corporate and Wholesale segments are the cornerstone in PTCL’s topline growth, which along with focus on cost optimization program, has significantly increased the company’s profitability.

PTCL Consumer Business:

During 2021, the company’s Fixed Broadband business grew by 11.7% YoY, whereas PTCL IPTV segment also grew by 13% YoY. Within broadband business, PTCL Flash Fiber, the company’s groundbreaking FTTH service, showed a tremendous growth of 61.5%, whereas PTCL CharJi /Wireless Broadband Segment grew by 16.5%. Voice revenue stream has declined on account of lower voice traffic and continued conversion of customers to Over-The-Top (OTT) services.

Business Services:

Business services segment continued its momentum sustaining market leadership in IP Bandwidth, Cloud, Data Center, and other ICT services segments. PTCL’s Enterprise business grew by 10% as compared to last year, while Carrier and Wholesale business continued its growth momentum and achieved 9% overall revenue growth. Similarly, international business growth was recorded at 4%.

Being the national telecom carrier and connectivity backbone in Pakistan, PTCL Group strives to provide innovative solutions to accelerate growth for a ‘Digital Pakistan’ through robust telecommunication infrastructure and a diverse portfolio of services with enhanced customer experience. 

PTML – Ufone:

• Ufone’s financial year 2021 ended on a high note despite challenging operating environment
• Ufone revenues grew by 4.3% as compared to 2020 mainly driven by growth in data services
• Ufone acquired additional 9 MHz 4G spectrum in the 1800 MHz Band in NGMS spectrum auction in September 2021, fulfilling its commitment to provide enhanced customer experience through quality services across Pakistan.
• Post spectrum auction, significant network modernization activity was carried out in Q4 2021 that has allowed Ufone to significantly improve its share of the 4G net adds within the industry.

PTCL Group is playing a key role in supporting Universal Service Fund’s (USF) efforts for the development of telecommunication services in un-served and under-served areas of the country. This year, PTCL was awarded seven USF optical fiber projects for far flung areas of Punjab, KPK and Sindh provinces. Under these projects, PTCL will deploy a total of 4,690 KM optical fiber. Ufone was awarded five USF projects under the Broadband for Sustainable Development (BSD) umbrella during 2021 for the unserved and under-served areas of Baluchistan which involve deployment and network upgrade of 205 BTS sites.

UBank

UBank, the microfinance and branchless banking subsidiary of PTCL, continued its growth trajectory and has achieved 8.4% growth in its revenue over last year by increasing its advances portfolio. The balance sheet footing of the bank crossed the Rs 100 billion mark as the bank diversified its funding streams and asset classes while ensuring positive bottom-line impact.

Major strategic initiatives undertaken by the bank include venturing into the low-cost housing loans, international remittance, and the launch of Islamic Banking. The bank intends to invest in state-of-the-art technology to become a leading digital banking player. With the core mission of microfinance at its heart, the business model of the bank is evolving to capture new segments and customer classes to include more of Pakistan into the banking net and further its ambition of financial and social inclusion.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

During 2021, PTCL ran the second cohort of its flagship internship program ‘Justuju’ for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) in collaboration with ‘Network of Organizations Working with Persons with Disabilities, Pakistan’ (NOWPDP).

PTCL provided internet connectivity to 11 campuses of the Pehli Kiran Schools Islamabad in an effort to support the Education Sector in Pakistan. PTCL Razakaar and the company’s employee volunteer force undertook a comprehensive clothes donation drive in partnership with Akhuwat Clothes Bank for deserving communities across Pakistan.

Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) recognized the PTCL Razakaar Trust for its generous donation towards augmenting COVID-19 testing facilities of the center during the peak of the pandemic in 2020.

Lahore (Nut Desk)

During the first year of the pandemic, travel came to a complete stop for a long time. However, most travel agencies and other companies in the tourism sector began to get back on their feet, as people chose to travel again. In 2021, some companies expanded their businesses to adapt to the situation and provided safe options for all customers. Sastaticket.pk, being one of those companies, recorded huge growth in terms of new clients and product sales or bookings.

Sastaticket.pk offered bookings for flights, hotels, bus tickets and holiday packages over the past year. The sale of these products led to revenue growth of 626% year-over-year (Y-o-Y). The company’s gross merchandise value (GMV) also increased in 2021. Sastaticket.pk recorder GMV growth of 289% Y-o-Y.

If you book flights from Sastaticket.pk, you will find that there are 30 airlines available, for domestic and international routes.

In 2021, Sastaticket.pk offered flight routes to 87 countries! The customer base of the website is mostly focused on flight bookings, and due to such services, it grew by 119% in just a year.

Sastaticket.pk is also known for hotel and bus ticket booking services. The company recorded huge sales on both these products.

Through hotel bookings, Sastaticket.pk recorded 300% growth within 6 months. This was possible because the portal offers more than 100,000 accommodations across Pakistan.

The bus ticket booking feature is relatively new, but it has managed to make a significant contribution to the business revenue. In just 5 months, Sastaticket.pk experienced 40x growth in buses.

You can book buses, flights or hotels through the Sastaticket.pk app as well. The app contributes to 32% of the entire business. In January 2021, the app’s contribution became 32x of its previous value, and a retention rate of 45% was observed.

Due to its immense growth in 2021, Sastaticket.pk started the new year with a recurring market of 1.8M. The company is looking to expand to 8 new cities, and introduce new services in 2022.

Lahore (Muhammad Yasir) The Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) in collaboration with the Embassy of France in Pakistan recently organized a philosophical conversation titled ‘Pursuing Humanity: The Affinity in the Ideas of Bergson and Iqbal and their Relevance in the 21st Century’.

The virtual talk was part of France’s annual ‘Night of Ideas’, an international event to celebrate the free flow of ideas and to discuss the major issues of our time. More than 100 countries will participate in the 7^th Night of Ideas which will take place throughout the first half of 2022. This year’s theme ‘(Re)building together’ explores the resilience and reconstruction of societies with singular challenges, the solidarities and cooperation between individuals, groups and states, the mobilization of civil society and the challenges of building and making our objects.

Prof. Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Director of the Institute of African Studies, and Professor of French and Philosophy at Columbia University, participated as the main speaker. The conversation was moderated by Dr. Basit Koshul, Associate Professor at the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Humanities and Social Sciences of LUMS.

Both scholars highlighted the importance of the ideas of the French philosopher Henri Bergson (1859-1941) and Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) to respond to contemporary challenges in the world like the global rise of political populism, the polarization between and within countries, or the global environmental crisis. Prof. Diagne emphasized the influence both thinkers had on each other in creating their philosophical theories, particularly around the concepts of the individual, time, and creative evolution. Driven by the revolutionary developments in scientific thought and the socio-political changes at the beginning of the 20^th century, Muhammad Iqbal and Henri Bergson were both rethinking what it means to be human in a non-human environment. Prof. Diagne and Dr. Basit concluded that the interaction between Bergson and Iqbal, and beyond with Senegalese poet, philosopher and statesman, Léopold Sédar Senghor, is one of the greatest examples of philosophical encounters between thinkers from different socio-political parts of the world benefiting from each other.

The hybrid event was joined by a variety of international experts in Iqbal studies and a wider public audience both online and in the Centre for Internationalization of LUMS.