Etisalat reported a 21 per cent fall in second-quarter profits on Sunday

The Arab World's second-largest telecom operator by market value is now pursuing opportunities abroad.

Shares in Reliance Communications rose more than three per cent on Monday after a Financial Times report said that Emirates Telecommunication Corporation (etisalat) was close to buying a 26 per cent stake in the Indian firm. Shares in Reliance were up 3.3 per cent at Rs193.25 this morning, while the Mumbai market was down 0.2 per cent. On Sunday, etisalat reported a 21 per cent fall in second-quarter profits.

The Arab World’s second-largest telecom operator by market value, now pursuing opportunities abroad, said net profit fell to Dh1.9 billion in the quarter from Dh2.4bn a year ago, missing analysts’ expectations. It did not give a reason for the profit fall. Second-quarter revenue totalled Dh8.1bn, similar to a year ago, while subscriber levels, at 7.8 million in mobile and 1.28 million in fixed-line, were little changed from the first quarter.
source: Emirates Bussiness

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is seeking to streamline synchronization of telecom networks to remove maximum problems encounters in reconciliation and billings of voice and traffic data.
The telecom authority has intended to frame a regulation in this regard to be named as “Clock Synchronization Regulations 2010” after consultation with all stakeholders.
These regulations shall apply to all Long Distance Interconnects (LDI), Landline (LL)/Cellular mobile/CVAL Data licensee for the purpose of synchronization of their system clock to ensure fair reconciliation of call detail record (CDR) and IP detail record (IPDR) data in line with the criterion/ratings determined by the PTA from time to time.
PTA’s draft regulation specified two parts of the system; one relates to synchronizing of the system clock for error free data recovery while the other part ensures that the date and time stamps are accurate for billing reconciliation purpose.
There are two common methods of clock recovery. One based on independent highly accurate clock (atomic clock) while the other is based on a clock recovered through Network
Telecom Operators’ Workout
PTA suggested that all LL/LDI/CMTOs licensees shall compile and submit information regarding, clock, synchronization source, degree of accuracy and stratum level in case synchronized using NTP servers.
The licensee shall maintain a record of their clock synchronization test for (03) years. This record shall at all times be open to inspection and audit by the authority or representative of the authority.
On the basis of PTA findings and/ or at least 10 complaints filed to the PTA against
a licensee in one month, the authority shall initiate an investigation process through an nominated officer.
The PTA will conduct manual test/inspections which may be replaced with an automated process subject to the availability of advanced tools. It may place the relevant data for public information.

Wireless phone operators are focusing to switch over their business to broadband in order to cash their investment in the potential and much-less competitive market.
Operators in Wireless Local Loop (WLL) sector are planning to provide wireless broadband service on their same spectrum allotted for the telephony services in specific regions, seeking to stay in the profitable market from a stiff competitive market.
The trend emerged as a result of services transition by two operators namely Mytel and Qubee, which employed 3.5 GHz wireless telephony spectrum for broadband services in different telecom region. The technology used for telephony services, CDMA, is changed into Wimax for Internet broadband. Mytel is now providing broadband services in Peshawar on its wireless phone services licence and Qubee started its broadband services in Karachi after acquiring spectrum of another wireless firm.
The broadband subscriber on wireless licences witnessed sharp growth as the base jumped from 190,947 in October 2009 to 331,416 in April 2010 – an increase of more than 73 percent in just six months, employing WiMax and EvDO technologies, PTA statistics reported.
WLL operators have been facing cutting-throat competition owing to excessive number of players in the market since the deregulation of the market.
Analysts said that WLL operator’s revenues from subscriptions and voice and data traffic have fallen significantly as the sector faces internal competition among players and external from cellular sector. The growth in number of WLL users also saw contraction in the past couple of months despite constant cut in tariffs and special call packages by the operators.
In July 2009, the beginning of current fiscal year, the number of wireless connections stood at 2.56 million, which reached 2.77 million subscriptions by May 2010. Hence, the sector has added 23,914 connections merely as negative growth was recorded in three months while less than one percent growth was witnessed in the same months out of a total of 10 months (July 2009 – May 2010).
There are 14 licensees in WLL allotted by the authority for different telecom regions.
PTA has cancelled the licences of three none operational WLL licensees after giving due notices, opportunities of hearings and extensions.
WLL penetration is seen in small cities and villages particularly but its number of connections is quite good in big cities where PCO agents use it for commercial purposes.

PTCL BroadbandPakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) claimed that it acquired over 500,000 broadband users in 600 cities and towns. PTCL Broadband service achieved recent milestone by doubling its broadband data rate speed by introducing a new 8MBPS package, which is effective from July 15, 2010.
In addition to the new package, all existing 2MBPS and 4MBPS customers have been upgraded to 4MBPS and 6MBPS data rate respectively on the same tariff. This makes PTCL as the highest data rate broadband service provider in the country.
To cater diversified needs of its broadband subscribers across the country, PTCL introduced WiFi modems with its fixed line broadband service.
The WiFi modems provides customers with the convenience to move around freely and enjoy secure wireless high speed broadband connectivity with in their homes matched by none other wireless broadband service provider.
Understanding the pressing needs of technology oriented era, PTCL LTD joined hands with USF to promote the development of telecom services (Broadband) in the un-served and under-served areas throughout the length and breadth of the country

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