Telecoms, internet in Pakistan

Press release.

[ See also
http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=126219
http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1002012 ]

============================================

HAMILTON, Bermuda–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dec. 13, 2005–Teleglobe International Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:TLGB):

– New SMW-4 consortium submarine cable will soon provide ME-IEX customers with a new path for IP capacity to Europe and Asia for reliable, competitively-priced international connectivity

– SMW-4 consortium members can also benefit from direct connection to the ME-IEX through the Jeddah full landing station

Saudi Telecom Company (STC) and Teleglobe International Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:TLGB) today announced that carriers and ISPs connected to the Middle East IP Exchange (ME-IEX) in Saudi Arabia will soon benefit from the addition of international capacity via the reliable, high quality international connectivity from the new SEA-ME-WE-4 (SMW-4) consortium network, a submarine cable linking 14 countries from Europe to Asia. The ME-IEX currently links to N. America, Europe and Asia via the SMW-3 and FLAG systems and will continue to supplement this existing capacity for network redundancy and optimum reach.

STC and Teleglobe established the ME-IEX at the beginning of 2005 to serve Middle Eastern ISPs and carriers. The ME-IEX currently carries traffic for several customers from Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Yemen and supports peering arrangements between ISPs. The exchange was the first true IP exchange node in the region to provide diversified international connectivity.

The exchange combines STC’s established regional and international infrastructure with the global reach of Teleglobe’s Tier 1 IP network and is backed by the support services of both companies. This enables lower total costs, streamlined operations and unparalleled connectivity. The ME-IEX ensures high availability for customers’ services via a number of fail-safe and redundant mechanisms that guarantee stable, reliable connectivity.

The SMW-4 submarine cable network is to be formally inaugurated on December 13th by a consortium of 13 telecommunications companies, including STC. The network spans nearly 20,000 km, approximately half of the circumference of the globe, linking 14 countries from Singapore to France via Malaysia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Italy, and with 16 landing points, including Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as full landing where one of the ME-IEX major PoPs is located.

“New international connectivity via SMW-4 will allow ME-IEX customers to experience an even higher quality of service for their fast-growing international transit needs,” said Mr. Saad Demyati The Vice President of International Telecom at Saudi Telecom Company. “Access to SMW-4 should assure ME-IEX customers that the ME-IEX will continue to scale with their requirements.”

Mr. Demyati added, “SMW-4 consortium members will be able to take advantage of their consortium rights to procure full circuits and thus directly connect to the ME-IEX through the Jeddah landing station. STC encourages its fellow SMW-4 consortium members to become a customer of the ME-IEX. The ME-IEX offers SMW-4 members two clear benefits. First is the ability to directly interchange IP traffic with leading Middle Eastern operators and ISPs. Second, it provides international routing diversity for transit traffic to N. America, Europe and Asia.”

STC and Teleglobe will be attending the SMW-4 inauguration event in Dubai on December 13 and are pleased to further discuss its plans and vision for the ME-IEX.

About Saudi Telecom Company:

Saudi Telecom Company (STC) was established on 2 May 1998 to take over the telecommunications operations of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, previously managed by the Ministry of Post, Telephone and Telegraph (MOPTT).

With a network of approximately 3.8 million fixed lines and over 11 million mobile subscribers, and 5 Gbps IP connectivity. STC is the largest telecommunication company in the Middle East region and is currently the sole provider of telecommunication services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

STC is currently the sole provider for International Internet Connectivity to all local ISPs, and is also one of the Kingdom’s leading Internet Service Providers with more than 1 million subscribers.

The company’s Headquarters are located at King Abdulaziz Telecom Complex in Riyadh and its 21,000 employees operate from 13 major district offices and numerous customer service locations throughout the Kingdom. STC is 30% publicly owned with the remaining 70% owned by the Government.

STC has invested heavily in a technologically advanced digital network. Global access is provided by STC via a terrestrial fiber network that covers almost all the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and extends to connect to all neighboring countries; via its active participation and ownership in all Submarine Cable Systems passing in the region; and via satellite with direct route connectivity to more than 80 countries worldwide. Three International Switching Centers in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam provide direct communications to more than 230 countries worldwide. Detailed information about STC is available on its web site at www.stc.com.sa.

About Teleglobe:

A wholesale international telecommunications leader, Teleglobe International Holdings Ltd owns and operates one of the world’s largest telecommunications networks, reaching over 240 countries and territories. The company carries over 13 billion minutes of voice traffic every year, has 219 direct and bilateral relationships with the world’s leading voice carriers, is one of the largest providers of international internet transport to ISPs and carriers, and provides innovative mobile services to over 400 mobile operators.

Teleglobe delivers its mobile, voice, data and IP services solutions to mobile operators, fixed voice carriers, ISPs, and other companies worldwide. A pioneer in network services for mobile operators, Teleglobe offers a range of signaling services such as hosted applications for enhanced roaming services, as well as content managed services that enable higher revenue mobile content operations. Its international voice services combine traditional switched and advanced VoIP capabilities, while its data and IP backbone reaches over 90 countries via land, sea, and sky, connecting carriers and large ISPs to content across the planet.

On July 25, Teleglobe entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited, VSNL (NYSE:VSL). A core division of Tata, India’s industrial powerhouse, VSNL is India’s leading provider of Internet and International Telecommunications Services and is the first telecom service provider in the world to earn the prestigious TL 9000 certification. Teleglobe is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol TLGB. Detailed information about Teleglobe is available on the company’s web site at www.teleglobe.com.

Big 3 gang up.

bp
=======================
Pakistan’s three GSM network operators, Telenor, Ufone and Warid Telecom have launched a MMS interconnection service. This would enable the subscribers of all three operators to exchange MMS or multimedia messages with zero interconnect charges. This was stated in a joint Press Conference of Ufone, Telenor Pakistan, and Warid Telecom here in Islamabad last week.

Addressing the agreement signing ceremony, the telecoms regulator, the PTA Chairman General Shazada Alam Malik appreciated the efforts of all three operators in reaching this breakthrough agreement. “This agreement is a significant development in the cellular sector where healthy competition is introducing cutting-edge value added services for customers. Praising the spirit of cooperation, the Chairman further added: “Here are competitors who understand that they are joint stakeholders in the industry, serving the cause of the customer. They are competitors but also partners in the cellular mobile sector.”

President and CEO Ufone Mr. Babar Khan said that this is a break through in the cellular industry and will be exciting for the MMS users of the three operators. He also appreciated the efforts of PTA Chairman for his continuous support in the development of telecom industry in Pakistan, which is now moving towards evolution of value added services for the telecom users in Pakistan.

CEO Telenor Pakistan, Tore Johnsen, termed the agreement a “milestone” and said that it was indicative of the growing maturity of the market and the industry. Tore further added, “Together we are intent at making it easy for the customers to use advanced services and utilize the real potential of the available technology and the quality of network.” He congratulated PTA Chairman on the role PTA has been playing in the development of the sector and in bringing such partnerships to life.

Hamid Farooq CEO Warid Telecom said, “MMS is one of the most promising and fastest growing Value Added Service at the moment and we expect MMS to have the same growth boom as SMS had in Pakistan. The difference it can create in the messaging service can be compared to the launch of colored television back in late 70s. I am confident that this interconnection agreement shall be the beginning of a durable and long lasting relationship among the three operators. We truly appreciate the continued support PTA is providing to the mobile operators and they have not only promoted investment in the telecom sector it has substantially protected consumer interests.”

Farid Ahmed, Dhaka: The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission has decided to award the country’s sixth mobile phone operation licence to Warid Telecom International LLC of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

The 40th board meeting of the regulatory commission approved the offer from Warid, a concern of UAE’s Dhabi Group, the New Age daily reported Tuesday.

Omniah of Jordan was the other bidder competing for the licence, but its offer was not accepted.

Dhabi group, the owner of Warid, had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Board of Investment in September to invest around $1 billion in various sectors in the country including telecom, tourism and pharmaceuticals.

The regulatory commission had invited proposals on Oct 5 from Bangladeshi companies, joint ventures with local partners or overseas companies with 100 percent foreign investment to set up, maintain and operate GSM telephony for general public use.

The objective of the invitation was to ensure reasonably priced, reliable, competitive and market-based mobile phone environment with a view to improving teledensity in the country.

“The commission will award the licence to the company after finalising the procedures,” said the official.

The licence will be given for an initial period of 15 years, covering the entire country. After that, it may be renewed by the commission subject to satisfactory performance.

Warid in 2003 bought a GSM mobile licence in Pakistan through auction for $291 million.

Currently, there are around 7.5 million mobile users in Bangladesh provided for by five mobile operators - GrameenPhone, Aktel, BanglaLink, CityCell and the state-owned Teletalk. Industry insiders said that Bangladesh was likely to see around 17 million subscribers by the end of 2007

e-marine lays new cable linking UAE- Pakistan

Dec 6, 2005 - 08:02 -

Abu Dhabi, 06 Dec. 05 (WAM)– Emirates Telecommunications & Marine Services FZE- e-marine- a subsidiary of Etisalat, has announced the completion of a new submarine cable connecting UAE and Pakistan, branching to Oman.

The project to lay over 1200 kms of submarine cable, awarded to e-marine by Tyco and owned by Trans World Associates (TWA), Pakistan, was completed ahead of planned schedule.

Omar Jassim Bin Kalban, CEO, e-marine, said: “Our vessels and people have once again shown their expertise and leadership in our field by completing the project successfully in a record time. This project saw our Cableship Umm Al Anber landing the cable at Fujairah before proceeding to lay the cable till Karachi.

A branching unit was included and another cable laid connecting Al Seeb in Oman to the main cable.” “This cable will boost the available bandwidth between the UAE and Pakistan, and will result in convenience and benefit for telecom and Internet users. With recent additions to bandwidth, we are positive that users across the region will be able to enjoy the benefit of fast and efficient connectivity through submarine cables”, he added.

Ok, so this doesn’t really seem related to the subject matter of this Blog, but stay with me. It is.

===================
from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4501132.stm

============================

No one seems to know where this poem came from. The BBC reports that someone in the Education Department downloaded it from a website.
A bit of googling produces http://www.rhlschool.com/read8n2.htm which is the poem, with spacing to emphasise the name of the Leader. There is certainly no attempt to hide the fact that this is about GW Bush.

Who or what is RHL School?
The site is fairly anonymous. 2 links to whitehouse.gov and a link to firefightersforbush.com, the news page has links to all sorts of right wing newa sites (but nothing to http://english.aljazeera.net/HomePage). Otherwise no names, no nothing.

The site is hosted by Software Workshop, Inc (http://thebook.com/).
The company and server is in New York. The domain registration is hidden behind Network Solutions (something fishy here, don’t you think?).

So this is what the it security community calls social engineering. A fairly well funded organisation with good engineers sets up a website to spread its propaganda. Type in “worksheet free pakistan” on the google site and the first page that comes up is … well we will leave that as an exercise for the reader. Try “free teaching resource pakistan”, or other combinations. RHL gets good rankings.
Its well funded because there are 3 listings on Yahoo and 2 on Dmoz.org - it looks amateur but the engineering is very very good. You do not get this and a huge amount of content for free.

Obviously the results are good. Getting your poem printed for free in Pakistani text books is an excellent result. One supposes that many other Pakistani teachers have downloaded material from this site.