Zong offers International Roaming Bundle for Turkey

 

Islamabad, MAY 13: Understanding and addressing the needs of Pakistanis travelling internationally, Zong 4G is offering an International Roaming Bundle for Turkey.

The International Roaming bundle for Turkey offers Zong’s prepaid subscribers 30 minutes of talk time, 30 SMS, and 1GB of data for a validity of 15 days at an affordable price of PKR 2,232 +Tax.

Travelers can activate the bundle offer by dialing *4255# or by visiting Zong's online shop at https://www.zong.com.pk/onlineshop/ir-bundles.

"Our efforts to help Pakistani international travelers stay connected with their loved ones back at home continue with the Turkey International Roaming offer," said the Zong 4G spokesperson.

"We remain committed to providing our customers with innovative and timely services and solutions to effectively meet their evolving connectivity and digital communications demands," he said.

With Turkey being one of the most popular tourist destinations, this bundle offers excellent value in terms of talk time, SMS, and data, allowing users to stay connected when travelling in the country.

Zong is the largest mobile connectivity provider in Pakistan and is driving the country's digital transformation. It is the industry's largest international roaming network with dozens of countries already covered.

Besides Turkey, Zong has previously introduced prepaid and postpaid roaming plans for China, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Europe, and many other countries.

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Huawei Middle East President highlights Huawei’s commitment to region telecom, other sectors

 

ISLAMABAD, MAY 13: Steven Yi, President of Huawei Middle East, highlighted Huawei’s commitment to support governments across the region achieve their digital transformation visions with 5G networks and other advanced technologies as an enabler. This took place during an exclusive media roundtable from Pakistan and 9 other Middle East countries held on the sidelines of the SAMENA Leaders’ Summit 2022, the top telecom industry event hosted by Huawei for the 9th consecutive year and attended by indsutry leaders, experts and decision makers from telecom companies, regulatory bodies, industry organizations and related stakeholders from SAMENA Region (South Asia, Middle East North Africa). 

Steven Yi stressed that in Pakistan, Huawei works with local customers, businesses, and partners to improve local network connectivity and improve the quality of life for the people. Yi also highlighted the importance of the telecom sector as an enabler for other industries’ sustainable development and growth in light of the evolving 5G landscape and the immense opportunities for enterprises in the 5G era. Yi also noted that Huawei, together with carriers and partners, has signed 3,000 5G commercial contracts, and that 5G saw large-scale commercial deployment in many industries, including manufacturing, mining, steel, port, chemical, cement, power grid, and healthcare. "Middle East countries are leading globally in 5G deployment. As an end-to-end leader in 5G, cloud, AI, devices and chips, Huawei will continue its commitment to help countries in the Middle East achieve their visions with digitization and sustainable development as key drivers. Yi highlighted. 

Additionally, during the Summit, leading regional operators and Huawei launched IntelligentRAN, an advanced telecom network solution, which comes in line with Huawei’s objective to empower the telecommunication sector with more advanced innovations and value for its own business  and other sectors and industries businesses by means of injecting intelligent to wireless networks and achieve autonomous driving network in the wireless domain in the future. “The intelligentRAN architecture is constructed to develop a mobile network with intelligent service operation, intelligent network optimization, and simplified O&M. This feature helps customers and partners quickly provision services and guarantee user experience, maximize user experience, reduce energy consumption, and simplify O&M in multi-frequency and multi-mode scenarios.”

With digital technologies advancing rapidly, securing networks and cybersecurity continues to be Huawei’s top priority. “We have a sound cybersecurity and privacy protection assurance structure which has a leading global records.” Steven Yi said. “Our practices in cybersecurity have won the continuous trust of our partners including those in the Middle East. We believe that cyber security is a shared responsibility and it’s crucial to have an open discussion around cybersecurity governance architecture in line of international standards like 3GPP, GSMA NESAS and others. Last year, we unveiled the largest cybersecurity and transparency center around the world in Dongguan China, and we hope that we will be able to invite you to visit there after the pandemic to experience this open collaboration platform targeted at addressing cybersecurity challenges and come up with joint innovations for improving the future of cybersecurity.” Yi continued. 

Steven Yi also stressed on Huawei’s commitment to support building digital economies in the Middle East region “We need to be united to establish unified laws and regulations so that the digital economy can be protected.” 

“Huawei has worked with customers to deploy 5G technology and hope to see more use cases of 5G in vertical industries in the Middle East region. We are committed to openly collaborate with our customers and partners and extend our innovations and global expertise to the region players for achiving more value in 5G deployement, in-line with the ME countries socio- economic growth.” Yi said. 

“In terms of R&D, we will continue to invest heavily to serve our smart and intelligent future. In 2021, We invested over 22% of annual revenue in R&D targeted at supporting the long-term sustainable development of the ICT industry, we will continue to invest significantly in intelligent solutions and services such as ICT infrastructure and cloud services.” Yi added. 

But focusing and expanding the digital space comes with its own concerns over energy consumption, therefore, Huawei has made sustainability as a priority to achieve a low-carbon society through continuous technological innovation. “In the Middle East, Huawei Digital Energy is working with industry partners to develop the digital energy industry, building a low-carbon telecom sector, homes, factors, parks and smart cities, and moving from a low-carbon society to a zero-carbon one.” At the moment, over 100 operators from across the world have deployed Huawei’s low-carbon solutions, reducing carbon emissions by 40 million tons.

On talent development, Huawei’s long-term strategy in the MEA region is aimed at developing ICT knowledge for various markets by leveraging their strengths in advanced technologies. “In the digital economy era, digital talent will be the key to digital transformation and economic growth.” Huawei has committed to develop over 100,000 ICT talents in the Middle East in the next 5 years. In the Middle East, we have set up 154 Huawei ICT academies, and over 3,000 students have participated in the flagship program Seeds for the Future, and more than 17,000 students have obtained a Huawei certification.

"Huawei is committed to cultivating innovative talents for higher and vocational colleges, accelerating innovation in teaching, research, and narrowing the digital divide, and promoting balanced education development in basic education" Yi added. 

Steven Yi also highlighted that Huawei is committed to use its global knowledge and expertise in over 170 markets and in mega projects such as the 2018 World Cup in Russia and 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to the benefit of the Middle East region mega events, including  successfully guaranteeing Saudi Arabia's Hajj network for 16 years, accident free and offering unprecendnted experiences to the upcoming 2022 Qatar World Cup. “We remain committed to collaborate with our suppliers and partners to provide customized, secure, reliable, stable and competitive solutions to our customers in the Middle East Region.” Yi concluded. 

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Huawei highlights commitment to technological advances at SAMENA Council Leaders' Summit 2022

 

Islamabad, MAY 11: Leaders and experts from the telecommunications industry came together at this year's SAMENA Council Leaders' Summit hosted by Huawei for the ninth consecutive year. The annual gathering was held under the theme of "Thriving with Resilience & Integration in the New Opportunity Realm" and focused on the new business opportunities that 5G and allied technologies provide for all industries and economic sectors. 

This year, Huawei shed light on the role of 5G, cloud and digital power in tackling the sustainability needs of the telecom industry and how an integrated intelligent ICT architecture will light up the future. Through its 'Everything as a Service' model, Huawei highlighted the cloud's integral role in enabling the digital economy and data sovereignty. The Summit also focused on the opportunities gained by integrating technologies, infrastructure investment, connectivity, and spectrum availability, which will benefit vertical industries and economic sectors. 

Steven Yi, President of Huawei Middle East, highlighted the crucial role of 5G in driving digital transformation across the region and the immense opportunities for enterprises in the 5G era. "Digital renaissance triggered by the pandemic has pivoted digital transformation to new heights, with 5G era infrastructure and communications technologies taking center stage. A strong drive for digital transformation is taking place worldwide, and Huawei is committed to bring the ingenious new technologies that will enrich people's lives with immersive digital services and enabling new opportunities in the industry’s digital transformation with smart digital solutions.” Yi noted.

Bocar A. BA, SAMENA Council CEO, said, "We held very fruitful discussions on the future direction of our networks, particularly in the 5G era. What was apparent is the transformational role of networks in driving digital transformation and economic growth. Participants also agreed that networks themselves must evolve to meet the region's sustainability goals. In this regard, the role of innovation in enabling net-zero transition through digital power technologies is increasingly important for the Middle East." 

Vanness You, Vice President of Marketing and Solution, Huawei Middle East, officially launched Huawei IntelligentRAN in the region. Vanness You noted that: “Towards the future, intelligence in every industry and connection, Huawei IntelligentRAN opens new paths to wireless intelligence, bringing the next level of service capability including agile service, smart experience, smart green and smart O&M.”

Additionally, IntelligentRAN allows intelligent air interfaces to use key technologies like smart grids, scheduling dictionaries, and channel graphs. These tools can configure air interface resources intelligently and achieve optimal user experience and capacity. Service prediction with IntelligentRAN also guides non-real-time spectrum and channel selection on the network side and real-time symbol scheduling and transmit power configuration on the base station side. This significantly reduces energy consumption across the entire network. 

Huawei Executives took part in several panel discussions. Mohamed Madkour, VP of Wireless Networks Marketing and Solutions at Huawei, participated in the "Leaders' Exchange Connectivity for the New Decade" panel. He noted that intelligent connectivity is the lifeline for everyone and integral to every country's digital economy. He reiterated Huawei's commitment to providing powerful, intelligent, simple and efficient digital infrastructure and operational tools to create more commercial and social values for societies, industries and economies. He also highlighted that growth oriented ICT policies are key to facilitate a favorable environment for business and technology innovations.

Emaad Ahmed, Chief Expert, Huawei Middle East, took part in a panel discussion titled "Techno-Business Convergence Achieving Sustainable Integration in the 5G Era." He noted that operators' OPEX increases due to system and network complexity. Therefore, reducing OPEX and achieving green development is essential for operators' future growth in light of the carbon-neutral background and the demand for cost reduction and increased efficiency.

Joined by senior executives from leading companies in the region, Mr. Paul M. Scanlan, CTO of Carrier Network Business Unit, Huawei, participated in "Cloud & Network Synergies: Achieving Resilience in Service Delivery" roundtable. The executives discussed Cloud Resilience, Hybrid-Cloud, Cloud Native Security, Multi-Cloud, Cybersecurity, Cloud Service Models, "X2B", Cloud and Network Synergies. 

The Summit also witnessed the launch of a joint UNESCO Huawei report titled "Talent Ecosystem for Digital Transformation: Insight Report on ICT in Higher Education and TVET (Technical and Vocational Education) in the Middle East and Pakistan". The report echoed the importance of developing ICT talents and creating relevant ecosystems to enhance ICT skills in the region and expand access to career opportunities in the digital world. The report showed a focus on ICT skills development has resulted in high ICT skills among the populations in the region. Data shows that 79% of individuals in the UAE have basic ICT skills in 2019. The corresponding figure is 61% in Saudi Arabia and 63% in Bahrain. With a legacy of developing high-quality human capital, Jordan has 63% of individuals with basic ICT skills. 

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VRG CEO, iPath CEO participate in WEF moot

 

Islamabad, MAY 10: The World Economic Forum held the EDISON Alliance Champions Deputies & Executive Network Meeting to discuss the 2022 roadmap, share commitments and initiatives, as well as calls for action to scale partnerships prior to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting scheduled to take place in Davos in the last week of May.

The EDISON Alliance provides a platform for partnership between governments, industries, and people to advance digital inclusion as a foundation for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. While private sector-led, it is the result of collaboration between financial inclusion industry leaders, governments and international organizations, who together formed an industry-led working group on financial inclusion.

Mr. Salman Ali, CEO of VRG (Virtual Remittance Gateway) participated in the meeting along with Mr. Ali Shah Asani (CEO iPath) and reaffirmed VRG's commitment to bring 50 million or about 40% of Pakistan's adult population under the financial ambit by 2024 through successful partnerships in the public sector.

Asaan 'Easy' Mobile Account is a revolutionary initiative undertaken by the State Bank of Pakistan and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, under Pakistan's National Financial Inclusion Strategy. The scheme was mandated to Virtual Remittance Gateway (Pvt) Ltd, a member of the Pathfinder Group of Companies in 2017.

Asaan Mobile Account Scheme ("AMA") works on the USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) technology and the platform is accessible from any phone in the country by dialing a universal code *2262#. Geared towards the unbanked population the service can be accessed using a basic feature phone on any telecom service provider as no Internet or application is required. Therefore, every Pakistani has the accessibility to instantly open a bank account and undertake financial transactions on the go.

The Platform enables instant account opening by interconnecting all Telecom players with all Branchless Banks, whereas with seamless integration with NADRA (National Database and Registration Authority) and Pakistan MNP Database enables bariks to instantaneously authenticate mobile connection against customer provided identity credentials along with the

retrieval of KYC (Know Your Customer) data from NADRA which is processed to open an account in under a minute.

The service has received an overwhelming response and has gained tremendous momentum in the country since its soft launch on 13th December, 2021. AMA gained 4 million+ customers on the platform who have performed transactions amounting over $166 million in the first 4 months since launch.

With the launch of RAAST, SBP's Instant Payment System, and with AMA the State Bank of Pakistan has a dynamic-duo, to set a staunch foothold in the enablemen,t access of affordable, dependable and cost-effectivedigital financial payment services to the masses. A tremendous feat achieved by bringing together the best in digital payment services on the fingertips of the common man.

Both schemes can together provide the channel to enable a multitude of payment services, beginning from P2P (Person-to-Person)to merchant payments, and paving the way for advanced services such as micro-loans, small value international remittances, G2P (Government-to ­ Person) disbursements etc.

It was a great honor for VRG to participate in this meeting of the World Economic Forum and it was indicated that because of the VRG platform WEF will seriously consider to make one of the LIGHTHOUSE countries of the financial inclusion focus area. This would be a great honor for Pakistan to be considered in the forefront of Financial Inclusion technology and recognized this great public-private partnership.

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Zong Partners with Huawei, Akhuwat Foundation to Promote Digital Education

 

ISLAMABAD, MAY 10: Zong, Pakistan’s digital services frontrunner, and Huawei have joined hands with the Akhuwat-(World’s Largest Interest Free Micro Finance Organization with poverty alleviating interventions in MicroFinance, Education and more), to help promote digital education in Pakistan and introduce the less privileged students to the modern ways of learning.

Under the partnership, Zong in collaboration with Huawei will be donating 200 tablets to Akhuwat

Education Services to make digital education for the less privileged students accessible across Pakistan, including the far-flung areas of Sindh. Through high-tech studios facilities, interactive content, highly qualified teachers, a team of academic and IT professionals and the tablets donated, Akhuwat will be leading the mission of digitally imparting quality learning.

“As an organization that places a huge emphasis on the well-being of the underprivileged strata of the society, Zong 4G has always stepped forward to integrate them in the modern and digital society of today,” Zong 4G’s spokesperson said.

“With digitization being on top of our agenda, we’re pleased to have partnered with Akhuwat Foundation and are glad to have a chance to help Pakistan’s underprivileged youth get introduced to advanced ways of learning,” she added.

Deputy CEO Huawei Pakistan, Mr. Wuhan reiterated the sentiment, stating, “At the heart of the Huawei ethos is our belief in openness and knowledge-sharing. We are committed to supporting the development of an ICT talent ecosystem in Pakistan and very happy to aid Akhuwat Foundation, in collaboration with Zong 4G, in this endeavor.”

Huawei’s aim is to openly collaborate with the public and private sectors to create an ICT ecosystem which drives forward digital transformation. Zong believes that Akhuwat Foundation has all the means to establish and deliver a nationwide e-learning platform which will be free to access. NJV Government School in Karachi is going to be the transmission center of this e-learning project. Classes will be conducted by highly qualified teachers and will be streamed live to students all over the country.

Students who can’t afford such advanced learning will benefit greatly from this initiative. The partnership initially targets 200 students belonging to the remote areas of Sindh, hosting online classes for grades VI to XII. Training on usage of these devices and connecting with Akhuwat’s LMS (Learning Management System) will be provided to students/parents by Akhuwat.

Zong is leading the country’s ICT-powered digital transformation and is geared to digitize the educational landscape of Pakistan, especially in the wake of Covid-19 which brought the wide digital divide to light in Pakistan. Zong’s support for Akhuwat Foundation in its mission of ending social inequality is just one instance of Zong’s commitment to Pakistan.

Akhuwat, World’s largest interest free micro finance organization and one of the leaders in alleviating poverty through quality education, believes that a hybrid style quality education is the need of today in nurturing the students coming from less privileged backgrounds. Exposing them to the technological tools of today’s learning environment, gives these students a fighting chance to stand at par with everyone else and nurture them to be future leaders in their respective fields. The Huawei tablets will greatly facilitate in NJV School’s objective to impart hybrid style Free of Cost Quality education to the students coming from rural areas of Sindh.

These tablets will greatly improve the students’ technological skills, enable them to access apps that promote learning along with research and the accessing of LMS. Above all prepare them for more technological advancements years down the road.

Zong is leading the country’s ICT-powered digital transformation and is geared to digitize the educational landscape of Pakistan, especially in the wake of Covid-19 which brought the wide digital divide to light in Pakistan. Zong’s support for Akhuwat Foundation in its mission of ending social inequality is just one instance of Zong’s commitment to Pakistan.

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