Illustration by Radia Durrani
There is a tone that many of us experienced growing up. A wave of white noise familiar to those who have lived through the dial-up internet era. We remember hearing it when trying to go online using internet cards. And we also remember hearing it if we accidentally picked up the landline phone while someone else at home was online this would usually result in the internet getting disconnected and was, often, followed by some yelling.
If we go back further, even having a home landline was a rarity. At a press conference during the early 2000s, Former Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh narrated an incident that took place at a wedding ceremony he was attending. He recalled that, at the wedding, there was suddenly some commotion and the family started congratulating one another. Sheikh assumed that the
GSMA advises Pakistan against new voice call levy
July 3, 2021
ISLAMABAD: Global telecoms lobby GSMA has warned of negative impact of new voice call levy on Pakistan’s economy and its digital vision, it was learnt on Friday.
“From an operational perspective, the new levy will significantly increase the compliance cost for the government and the mobile sector due to the challenge of implementing such tax,” GSMA wrote in a letter to Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin.
“The new levy would create an additional barrier and slow the progress to close the usage gap. Due to its negative impact on demand and perspective of development for the mobile sector, this new levy creates uncertainty while the mobile sector is planning long-term investment as part of the planned spectrum auction presenting a significant risk for the government achieving digital Pakistan vision,” it said. The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting more than 750 operators with ov
At the end of May, Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated the Ehsaas Saving Wallets initiative in Islamabad, a programme that will bring women into the financial inclusion net by allowing female beneficiaries the use of digital wallets for savings and cash withdrawals.
“As the pool of bank accounts increases, poverty decreases,” said the prime minister. “And when you bring women into the financial system, they are able to save money, start businesses and control their own lives.”
Given that only 18 percent of women in Pakistan are account holders, this initiative aims to widen the financial net for women. However, access to mobile money wallets requires access to mobile and internet services. Increasing the number of digital wallets for women may, therefore, prove to be a Herculean task, considering that Pakistan suffers from a 38 percent gender gap in mobile phone ownership (the highest in South Asia) and a 49 percent gender gap in internet usage.
From July 2020 to April 2021, Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $1684.988 million, an increase of 63.98 per cent year-on-year, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. George Long believes that Pakistan has great market potential and is an opportunity for OPPO and its partners in Pakistan to develop together.
“We can share dividends and work together to build a sustainable mobile phone industry so that the next generation can benefit from different aspects, not just the use of smartphones. OPPO has launched IoT products in Pakistan, such as OPPO Watch, OPPO Band Style, OPPO Enco Air.”
At present, people s lives have been deeply integrated with the Internet and mobile data technology. Throughout the impact of last year s epidemic on life, smartphones played an important role in maintaining close ties between people and added fun to customers’ lives. “OPPO aims at young people, bringing new excitement to the audience in the way of products and m