Deadline for Deployment of Biometric Verification System Ends Today

As per directions from Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and advise of Prime Minister of Pakistan, Biometric Verification System for issuance of new SIMs was to be installed before February 28th, 2013, however it appears that deadline will not be met.

Deployment of biometric verification system was meant to curb illegal and unregistered SIMs from the market.

Directive from PTA, issued on December 7th, 2012, had explicitly said:

A consultation process shall be undertaken with CMOs for deployment of equipment at all sale channels for checking/verifying the biometric (like the thumb impression of SIM purchaser) online through NADRA database by 28t, February 2012

Moreover, cellular companies were asked to eliminate all unregistered and unverified SIMs by regularizing the unverified SIMs by February 28th, 2013.

When the deadline for the deployment of system is ending today, cellular companies and PTA are still arguing over the procedures that are to be adopted for installation of biometric verification system. Cellular companies are more inclined towards the bar-code verification system while PTA is pushing for thumb-impression verification of customers at the time of issuance of new SIMs.

Since regulator is technically dysfunctional, it is less likely that such system will be deployed in near future.

Meanwhile, a source familiar with industry developments, has told ProPakistani that cellular companies are asking for more time – up to three months – for the deployment of biometric verification solution.

Mr. Rehman Malik, the lead character behind all this, is also quite – maybe because he is nearing the end of his service term. Care-taker government is said to be taking charge by mid-March and then the new government. In such situations it is unclear that what will be the fate of biometric verification system.

In the end, I would say that cellular operators are just rolling the stones without worrying about unregistered and un-verified SIMs. Same is the case with the government and regulator. This proves that no one was actually interested in curbing the issue of illegal and unregistered SIMs, instead everyone was working on his/her agenda with goals best known to them only.

Dell Holds Road Show in Karachi

Dell Pakistan once again brought to Karachi an exciting Road Show at Park Towers, where the company displayed its latest Ultrabook™ series – Dell XPS and Inspiron Ultrabooks, along with the new Dell Inspiron Oak series.

People at Park Towers were treated to an Ultraworld experience across two consecutive days, where they were able to try out, on-the-spot, the notebooks and other interesting Dell products on display.

“We had a number of promotions on various Dell products which were displayed at Park Towers on 23^rd and 24^th February, 2013. Apart from on-spot purchasing, we also gave customers the option to book a Dell notebook here for purchase later on”, explains Salman Kazmi, Marketing Specialist at Dell Pakistan. There were also various activities and games executed, such as Minute to Win It, Citizen of the Hour and so on, with lots of amazing gifts distributed and prizes won, by those who attended.

The Road Show is an interactive activity where people not only get Dell products at great prices, but can also put forward any queries they may have, to the available Dell experts, and use all products on display, to test their usability.

On Sunday 24^th February, Dell’s Country Manager – Pakistan, Mr. Shahzad Khan was also present at the Road Show activity at Park Towers, to exclusively speak to media. He spoke about the new Ultraworld Experience available to people through use of the Dell Ultrabooks, and how consumer products are optimizing the IT industry in Pakistan.

Mr. Shahzad was very excited to divulge the fact that the new carbon fiber constructed Ultrabook™ is available in 8 colors, and has a numeric keyboard on the base, which gives consumers a more convenient usage pattern.

ACER H6510BD 3D HOME ENTERTAINMENT PROJECTOR

To bring 3D gaming and movies to a big screen at home, Acer launches in the US market its H6510BD 3D home entertainment projector. It supports popular 3D technologies, including DLP 3D, Blu-ray 3D and NVIDIA 3DTV Play and features instant 2D-to-3D conversion technology to convert any 2D picture or video signal to 3D.

The H6510BD is based on DLP technology and is equipped with 0.65-inch DarkChip 3 DMD display panel. The projector features 1920×1080 Full HD resolution, 10,000:1 contrast ratio, 3000 ANSI lumens standard brightness and 2400 ANSI brightness in ECO mode. It includes ColorBoost II technology to deliver natural colors via optimized 6-segment color-wheel design; ColorSafe II technology for color integrity and SpectraBoost for wide color gamut and more saturated color.

The SmartFormat allows instant projection of multiple screen formats. It provides HDMI, D-sub, composite, component, S-video inputs. You can get the Acer H6510BD 3D projector for $799.

 

CCP Proposes Guidelines for Telcos To Stop Deceptive Marketing / Advertising

Competition Commission of Pakistan has prepared Deceptive Marketing Guidelines draft for telecommunication companies as part of its efforts to protect consumers from anti-competitive behavior through ensuring compliance in telecom sector sales, marketing, advertising, and communication in all forms across all mediums, online and Point of Sale (PoS).

The draft guidelines have been shared with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and other telecom companies and have been placed on the commission’s website for soliciting feedback and suggestions from stakeholders.

The companies have been advised to bear in mind the legal implications that may arise out of certain practices dealing with, like distribution of false information, deception, fine print, disclaimer and qualifications, importance of substantiation of claims, essential terms and conditions, omissions, puffery, price disclosure, comparative advertising, promotional contents and, telemarketing.

The Draft Guidelines present the approach taken by the commission in its decisions regarding deceptive marketing practices and the approach that it may take towards certain marketing practices by telecommunication service providers.

However, the guidelines are not exhaustive and the approach of the commission shall depend upon the particular facts and circumstances of each case. As it is not possible to predict future behaviour of the undertakings involved in the telecommunication sector, the commission will not, in any way, be restricted to look into matters that have not been mentioned in these guidelines.

The effort has been made in the guidelines to provide guidance on what may constitute as deceptive marketing practices and avoid actions that may amount to violating Section 10 and other provisions of the competition act.

The Draft Guidelines have been prepared in light of best international practices after reviewing several documents and guidelines published by jurisdictions namely, the USA, UK, Australia, Canada and Hong Kong, and draw knowledge and experience from jurisdictions that have similar provisions as those of Section 10 of the Competition Act. The principles contained in the guidelines will be applied and further developed and refined by the commission from time to time in individual cases.

HP Slate 7 Affordable 7-inch Android Tablet

At the Mobile World Congress 2013, HP announced the new Slate 7 that is the company’s first attempt in the consumer Android tablet market. Available at an affordable price of $169.99, HP’s offering will be competing with Google’s Nexus 7 and Asus’s MemoPad. Running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the tablet offers Google experience with Google Now, YouTube, Google+ and access to Google Play Store.

While the price of the Slate 7 is quite attractive, the hardware of the Slate 7 may not be able to impressive you. It is powered by an dual-core 1.6GHz Cortex A-9 processor and 1GB of RAM. Its 7-inch 1024×600 multitouch display uses High-aperture-ratio Field Fringe Switching (HFFS) panel for wide viewing angle. There is a 3 Megapixel main camera on the back and a VGA front-facing camera for video chat. It even includes Beats Audio for rich sound and of course, you can expect support for WiFi connectivity. The Android tablet comes pre-loaded with HP’s ePrint application that allows users to easily print at home or on the go wirelessly.

HP will release the Slate 7 in the US in April.