Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has recorded a hat trick on the 100 index of Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) by remaining market leader in terms of shares’ trading volume on three consecutive days of the present week.

PTCL remained a leading scrip on the 100 index and experts say it is likely to retain its position of volume leader by the end of trading session today, for consecutive fourth day.

PTCL’s shares value was also seen increasing as investors have been buying its shares like hot dogs in the equity market in the hope to get maximum dividends expected to be announced soon.

In the first three days, traded shares from PTCL stood from 31.29 million to 47.2 million yesterday. Last weekly day from past week had also marked PTCL as market leader – 51.65 million shares were traded then.

In overall last four sessions, the value of PTCL share increased from Rs 14.42 per share to Rs 16.20 per share, showing 12 percent increase per share value.

Analysts believe that investors are heavily buying PTCL’s shares owing to the expectedformation of International Clearing House by LDI operators, in which the international incoming calls traffic will be increased on legal channels while blocking the grey traffic at maximum level on the other hand.

Accordingly, the rates for overseas callers may witness a massive jump as any foreign operator terminating calls into Pakistan would have to pay Rs. 7.64 per minute (USc8.4/min).

PTCL having lion share in the international traffic revenues will become the ultimate beneficiary of the filter system, that will enhance its profitability if plan is implemented as scheduled in near future, analysts said.

It can generate extra revenues while playing a role of technical leader in the consortium besides providing value added services to call centers.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is delaying the auction for 3G licenses – which is likely to generate up to one billion dollar for the federal government – by not issuing finalized date for auction, Secretary Information Technology Farooq Awan told Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly yesterday.

The newly elected chairman of the committee, Nadeem Afzal Gondal, chaired the PAC meeting. The meeting reviewed the audit accounts of telecommunication sector for 2004-05 and 2006-07.

The secretary for information technology alleged that despite giving assurance to Ministry of Information Technology, the PTA did not appoint consultant for the valuation of 3G licenses, which the government had earlier planned to auction in March 2012.

It was revealed that Prime Minister had been told on December 19, 2011 that 3G auction would be held on March 29th, 2011 and that a consultant would be appointed till that time.

"But no consultant has so far been hired by the PTA after expiry of 80 days at a time when the government is desperate for cash," secretary remarked.

It maybe recalled that mobile operators always wanted to avoid 3G auction. We have covered a timeline for major events in past few months regarding 3G. ProPakistani’s complete coverage for 3G auction can be found here.

Allied Bank Limited has inked a Technology Support Agreement for the deployment of mobile banking services with Sybase and Abacus Consulting, said a statement issued here today.

Sybase is a SAP Company with expertise in mobile commerce services while Abacus Consulting will help Allied Bank in adapting the technology for mobile financial services.

The deal was closed at the Head Office of the Bank today.

Khalid A. Sherwani, President/CEO, Jalees Ahmed, Executive Director – Strategic Planning, Zia Ijaz, Group Chief – Commercial & Retail Banking & Mujahid Ali, Group Chief – Information Technology from Allied Bank, Asad Ali Khan, President & Abbas Ali Khan, Senior Partner from Abacus Consulting and Hasan Jamal, Country Head – Pakistan from SAP were present on the occasion along with other officials.

Pakistan happens to be one of the fastest developing markets in the world for mCommerce and these services will create opportunities of unprecedented scale for bank customers. Allied Bank’s decision to deploy mCommerce solution will enable it to offer mobile phone based financial and non-financial services to its customers.

On the occasion, Sherwani commented “Allied Bank, being one of the largest banks in Pakistan, has been capitalizing on technology to provide fast and cost efficient services to its customers. The imminent implementation of mCommerce solution would further enhance Allied Bank’s capacity to extend its services to wide range of banking customers and help in extending financial inclusion to the hitherto untapped market segments”.

Asad A Khan of Abacus Consulting commented “We are pleased to be a part of this goal in transforming the financial ecosystem in Pakistan in partnership with Allied Bank. At Abacus Consulting, we are fully committed to leverage our vast knowledge in the field of mCommerce. Our on ground team of experts in the field of mCommerce combined with senior management’s robust efforts for client satisfaction shows our seriousness towards developing mCommerce and mBanking in Pakistan”.

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has launched its newest “Life Made Easy” re-charge service through which Vfone and EVO (prepaid) customers can recharge their accounts through a nationwide network of Uload retailers.

PTCL customers of Vfone and EVO can now enjoy instant recharge for their Vfone and EVO connections of minimum Rs.20 to 2,000 through nearly 150,000 retailers situated across the country.

Customers and retailers will get SMS alerts for all recharges, which will help them keep track of their account status.

Following is the customer lifecycle implemented against different recharge amounts:

“PTCL has always strived to provide the best services and exciting offers to its valued customers,” said PTCL Senior Executive Vice President Commercial, Naveed Saeed. “PTCL’s focus remains our customers’ convenience and the new ‘Life Made Easy’ service will certainly bring a qualitative difference to the lives of our customers.”

“Keeping in mind the needs of our customers, we will keep upgrading PTCL’s services in future,” said Executive Vice President Wireless, Omar Khalid.

Matloob Ahmed, one of the Ufone sponsored golfers, won COAS Open Golf Championship – 2012 which concluded recently at Rawalpindi Golf Club.

There were more than 400 participants in the event from all across Pakistan. The tournament throughout was led by Matloob Ahmed and Muhammad Nazir both Ufone sponsored golfers but at the end this was Matloob who stood strong to take away the winning prize. Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani handed over the winning cheque of Rs. 2 million to Matloob Ahmed at the grand prize distribution ceremony.

Ufone recently announced its ongoing commitment to sports in Pakistan by signing up the top golfers Pakistan has to offer. This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that golf has been endorsed at such a massive country wide scale. Ufone has signed on Shabbir Iqbal (Pakistan No.1), Matloob Ahmed (Pakistan No.2), Muhammad Munir (Pakistan No.3) and Mubariz Ahmed (Pakistan Junior Champion) along with other upcoming talent. This step has reaffirmed Ufone’s conviction to support sports in the country. Soon after the signing of these players, Muhammad Munir won Mangla Open 2012 and the KP National Ranking Open Golf Tournament 2012 and Matloob has soon followed suit.

Speaking at the occasion beaming Matloob Ahmed said that Ufone’s endorsement has built his self-confidence. The platform provided by the company has encouraged golfers to play local and international tournaments which has increased the spirit of competition between them and drives them to perform at their very best.

‘ZONG United Kickoff’ Football Tournament 2012 was launched on Friday, May 4 to great public excitement, simultaneously in five cities of Pakistan.

The tournament is for the selection of 32 young boys who will get trained in Manchester United Soccer School, Abu Dhabi. The CCO of ZONG Mr. Sajid Mahmood kicked-off the ball in Pakistan Sports Complex to begin the tournament.

A total of 128 ZONG registered teams of young boys within the age bracket of 13-17 years of age are participating in this knock-out tournament. Football matches will be held among all these teams and the winning team comprising 16 players will be sent to Manchester United Soccer School. In addition, 16 outstanding players during the matches will also be going to the school.

Commenting at the occasion ZONG’s Chief Commercial Officer, Sajid Mahmood said “This is the biggest activity supporting football in the history of Pakistan. ZONG recognizes that football is possibly the fastest growing team game in the country today in terms of popularity, and is proud to be the pioneer supporter of talent in Pakistan. For us this is much more than just sponsoring a sporting activity. It is about courage, determination, the desire to compete and excel and above all to prove to the world that Pakistan does not lack in talent in any way.”

Previously, ZONG has approached schools to identify schools teams and set-up trial camps to form teams with maximum number of 16 players per team. The teams registered from schools and through trials have now been given the chance to prove their mettle by competing against each other.

These trials were conducted in major cities of Pakistan which includes Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad/ Rawalpindi, Multan and Faisalabad. A team of professional coaches conducted these skill-based trials and selected the best players to form 64 teams, consisting of 16 players in each team.

Previously it was planned to select only 8 teams through trials and 120 teams from schools, but after overwhelming response from individuals, ZONG’s management decided to increase the number of teams selected through trials and make the number of teams even in both categories.

Manchester United Soccer Schools (MUSS) offer coaching courses for footballers of all ages, backgrounds and abilities, from six year olds through to adults.  ZONG have teamed up with MUSS to offer 32 lucky winners the chance to participate in a 5 day program at their state of the art facility in Abu Dhabi, which will include a series of fun and challenging coaching sessions focusing on a variety of different technical areas such as dribbling, short passing, turning and finishing. The program will also look to develop the young players in other fields, such as tactical understanding, and mental, physical and social growth.

Zong, arguably the king of mobile internet packages, has announced this new offer that will allow its customers to use unlimited mobile internet based on daily rentals.

It maybe recalled that Zong is already offering various mobile internet packages with different kind of contracts.

However, this new package by Zong will allow its customers to use 50 MB of download/upload per day at a fixed daily cost of Rs. 10 per day.