Trade Chronicle Jan Feb 2019 Issue

TRADE CHRONICLE
Telecommunication News
Zong 4G celebrates
10 years
Zong 4G celebrated ‘10 years of excellence’
as part of the telecommunication
sector of Pakistan recently.
On this occasion, Federal Information
Technology and Telecommunication
Minister Dr Khalid Maqbool
Siddiqui said, “Zong 4G has
been a significant player in creating
a digital ecosystem in Pakistan.
Through its continued investments
in the telecommunication infrastructure,
the company has played
a pivotal role in the uplift of the industry.”
Zong 4G Chairman and CEO Wang
Hua said, “Through these strategic
ventures, we will leverage our partners’
expertise to accelerate our
growth, strengthen our network and
deepen the engagement with our
customers, while driving higher efficiency
in our company. With VoLTE
readiness, we will ensure that our
customers are empowered with an
unprecedented connectivity experience.”
The event also credited Zong’s
prized customers for its success in
Pakistan’s digital transformation and
thanked the 10 million 4G customers
for being a part of the Zong 4G
family. Zong 4G’s commitment to
excellence and the digital progress
for the country would continue to
empower millions of Pakistanis
through the most advanced digital
services and solutions.
Zong 4G achieves
new milestone
Zong 4G reached a new milestone
with its fastest site rollout in 2018
by completing more than 1,600 4G
sites in few months to strengthen its
network in 2018 for addressing the
evolving demands of the new age
customers.
The company invested $3 billion for
mobile network infrastructure development
across Pakistan, a statement
said recently.
Spokesperson of the company said,
“In 2018, we experienced massive
growth in data users. By hosting the
largest data traffic of Pakistan, we
Samsung, Huawei, Nokia
want to start Manufacturing
The government has decided to for
mulate mobile phones manufacturing
policy, as three international cellular
companies - M/s Samsung, M/s
Huawei and M/s Nokia - want to start
manufacturing in Pakistan due to lower
wages compared to China, well-informed
sources in EDB told local media.
This was disclosed at a meeting
of Pakistan Mobile Manufacturers and
representatives of Federal Board of
Revenue (FBR), Ministry of Information
Technology and Telecom, Pakistan Telecomm-unication
Authority (PTA) and
EDB held on January 31, 2019.
According to sources, Noman Khalid,
Director, PTA, informed the participants
that due to International Mobile Equipment
Identity (IMEI) registration the
local manufacturing of mobile devices
has increased. He recommended that
Ministry of Industries and Production
(MoI&P) in coordination with relevant
stakeholders should formulate a policy
to encourage local manufacturing
of mobile devices. Initially, Semi Knock
Down (SKD) assembly should be encouraged
with the help of tariff- based
incentives. However, benefits offered
have continued to dominate the market.”
Speaking of leading the digital revolution
in Pakistan, the spokesperson
said, “Our precision for customer
centricity has enabled us to deliver
more value to our customers through
our top-notch services and innovative
digital solutions. We expanded
our footprint in rural and corporate
settings. Our aim was simple, to lead
the digital innovation across Pakistan.”
to the SKD assembly should have cap
limit i.e. 22 months. The case study of
India can be followed as an example.
He further added that incentives should
be given to 3G/4G technology mobile
devices.
Mansoor Khan, Joint Director Ministry
of IT and Telecom stated that the benefits
were offered to Industry in 2015 and
currently 23 companies are assembling
mobile phones in Pakistan out of which
15 are in Azad Jammu and Kashmir
mainly due to tax holiday offered to
industry in AJK. He proposed that tax
slabs should be formulated according
to manufacturing and classification of
industry. The representatives of mobile
industry revealed that all mobile device
manufactures and potential investors
- M/s Samsung, M/s Huawei and M/s
Nokia - want to start manufacturing in
Pakistan.
TRADE CHRONICLE - Jan - Feb . 2019 - Page 37