PTCL’s anti-worker policies: Senate body expresses reservations
The Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology (IT) has expressed its reservation over the strategy of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority Limited (PTCL) converting regular employees’ jobs into contract. The committee also asked the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to improve its standard of service.

The Committee which met at the Parliament House on Monday directed the IT Ministry and its attached departments particularly the PTA to take immediate steps for improving the service quality and to bring greater efficiency and transparency in its operations. Earlier, PTA has issued a show cause notice to PTCL directing it to improve its standard of service to meet the competition.

One of the participants of the meeting said that the committee expressed serious reservation over anti-worker policies of PTCL and directed it to change these policies keeping in view the worker’s interests. The committee expressed strong reservations on converting employment of regular employees of the PTCL into contracts and wanted to know the rational behind it, as it is creating unrest among the employees of the Corporation. The Committee was also critical of receiving fee for converting fix line numbers into wireless and asked the Ministry to explain why it was being done in clear violation of the rules.

Earlier, the newly appointed advisor to the PM on IT Sardar Latif Khan Khosa assured the Committee that he would himself look after the matters in the Ministry and its attached departments and would make every effort to bring about further improvements. The meeting was attended among others by Senators Muhammad Zahid Khan, Saleem Saifullah Khan and Fouzia Fakhurzaman besides Chairman of the Committee Senator Muhammad Idrees Khan Safi.

CCP issues notices to mobile firms
The Competition Commission (CCP) has issued 24 show-cause notices to chief executive officers and other senior officials of the five cellular telecommunication operators on charges of cartelization and price fixing.
The report of an inquiry said that in view of information received from insiders all the five firms had been found involved in collaborative pricing schemes.

The inquiry concluded that the companies had entered into an agreement to revise the price of SIM cards and missed call charges which amounted to a prima facie violation of the competition ordinance.

The inquiry was conducted by CCP Director Shaista Bano Gilani and Joint Director Waqqas Ahmad Mir.

It said discussions held at a CEOs’ forum had also been implemented, including imposition of a 10 paisa charge per balance enquiry.
According to the report, it appears that the mobile companies have reached an understanding on important economic aspects of their business pertaining to costs of providing service, pricing, revenue enhancement, resource sharing and limitation on advertisements.

It said all the companies had given similar reasons for imposing charges and it appeared that they had colluded on those aspects of the business.

There are about 94.3 million subscribers of mobile services in the country and a small price movement by these companies has a direct impact on them.
The companies apparently compete on core services like call and SMS rates, but have colluded to fix prices of services like balance enquiry, missed call and SIMs.

Replies to questions by the firms disclosed that the number of SMSs for balance enquiry was nearly four times the number of other SMSs by pre-paid customers.

It appeared that the operators had adversely affected the interest of customers and restricted competition in the market, the report said.

GQTL to help Pakistani traders’ access to int’l market
Food and Agriculture Minister Nazar Muhammad Gondal on Monday said establishment of Grain Quality Testing Laboratory (GQTL) at the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) would help ensure access of international market to Pakistani traders.
He was speaking to scientists at NARC at the inauguration of GQTL. It was to be noted that Grain Quality Testing Lab was an important component of Food Quality & Nutrition Programme. It was recently established to provide all the facilities for grain quality testing under one roof.
In coming future, Grain Quality Testing Lab would play a key role in determining the quality of the grains in order to meet the challenges of export and import of the commodities. Objectives of GQTL were quality testing of exportable agricultural produce for public and private sectors, to enhance the grain and its products quality testing capabilities, to provide trained manpower in Pakistan and to undertake research and grain quality testing work.

IT Media City approved
The long pending project of IT Media City has finally been approved to help boost the IT industry in Pakistan, said Haroon Raza, Minister for IT Sindh.

In a meeting, the Minister said that the project, spread over 200 acres is going to be a key stimulant for the IT industry of Pakistan which can serve as an economic engine for the country. “The project will be launched soon when it is the right time and we can attract more value,” he said.

He said that the plan will commence within a year for which funds are being released this year going towards master plan and the expression of interest (EOI) will be published soon. He said that the IT Ministry has come up with a vision that ‘every household must have use of computer’. He said in a world of growing computer technology, this vision would not only enhance knowledge and exposure of our common man but also increase the industry itself.

He stressed that given such good talent in IT, we need to explore, promote and use our local soft wares and IT solutions. The speakers present at the meeting stressed the importance of the private sector, which can bring significant revenue for the government by this industry.

Dr Mashood Qazi, President of the Pakistan ICT Consortium said that in order to increase our exports we need to train all our commercial attaches to promote the IT potential in Pakistan. He also said that the gap between the academia and the industry must be filled and some legislation must be made to strengthen the industry. Quoting an example another private IT businessman said that the increase in customs duty for hardware must be told in advance to the stakeholders and reviewed.

“We have delivered IT projects like e-policing and the District Administration Sukkur project with the help of local expertise. More projects like the video conferencing project, civil hospital project, and others will be delivered soon,” Haroon Raza said.

He stressed that the industry should curb illegal practices and privacy related issues in the software area. He said that the people of Pakistan have been losing their genuine market share and interest of multinationals due to the use of illegal software. Only with fair business practices and the right amount of hard work can we use the industry to its full potential, Raza said.

Latif Khosa Appointed PMs IT Advisor
Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has appointed Sardar Muhammad Latif Khan Khosa as his Advisor on Information Technology. APP says that Mr. Latif Khosa has been given the status of a federal minister, citing Cabinet Division’s notification.

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