MyAdhan Blog

Link: Oman: International MMS for Nawras prepaid customers

Official Link: Nawras Network provides International MMS

Prepaid customers of Nawras, Oman’s second mobile operator, can now send MMS while travelling abroad using data roaming in 16 countries, including all GCC states, the company said yesterday. MMS, also known as picture or multimedia messaging, is an advanced messaging service that allows the composition, sending and receiving of messages using all forms of media, including text, pictures, audio and even video clips. “Many Nawras customers are already enjoying the creativity and convenience of using MMS in Oman and now picture messages can be sent to and received from friends and family or business contacts in the roaming partner countries too,” a spokesman for the company said. Sending MMS nationally is 45 baisa for any size up to 200Kb, while roaming prices vary from country to country and can be checked before or while travelling by visiting www.nawras.om. In Oman, customers can also send a free SMS with the keyword Roaming or IMMS to 90500 for details of the service. While travelling, an SMS can still be sent but roaming charges will apply.

Link: Iraq: Zain eyes full mobile coverage by year-end

Kuwaiti mobile phone firm Zain said yesterday it would expand its coverage to the whole of Iraq by the end of 2008 after buying the Iraqi unit of Egypt’s Orascom Telecom and building up its network. Ali Dahwi, chief executive of Zain Iraq, told Reuters in an interview that the company expected to integrate its Iraqi network fully with Orascom’s former Iraqna subsidiary by year-end. “We have 7.5 million subscribers in the centre and the south. However, we just opened a new service in Kirkuk and we are building our network in Diyala, Tikrit, Anbar and Sulaimaniya,” he said on the sidelines of the Iraqi Defence and Telecommunications Summit in Dubai. “Over the next two months, we will see our service set up in these areas and by the end of the year we should cover the whole of Iraq.” Zain, the third-largest Arab telecom firm by market value, bought Iraqna for $1.2bn late last year after the Egyptian operator failed to win a licence to continue the operations it began after the US-led invasion of 2003. Iraqna had been forced to tie up with Kurdish operator Korek Telecom but sold to Zain after the partnership failed. Zain, Kuwaiti rival National Mobile Telecommunications Co and Orascom set up mobile phone networks in Iraq under licences sold by the US-led interim administration that ran the country immediately after Saddam Hussein was ousted in 2003.Only Zain retained the right to operate its network at an auction of licences held by the Iraqi government in August 2007, paying $1.25bn for the privilege.

Link: Pakistan: Consumers unhappy with SMS and phone banking quality

The SMS and Internet banking services provided by a number of banks are not working properly and the subscribed customers have to face problems. A number of customers using online services told Daily Times that local and foreign banks have offered the service of checking the balance of bank accounts through internet or alerting the customers through mobile SMS. The banks have introduced the internet banking service, which enables the customers getting information about their bank balance and credit cards limit through Internet. The SMS banking helps the customers to get information on their mobile phones. In the service, bank informs the customer about the balance and any transaction, taking place. Both of the services are provided on credit cards as well and the customer gets an SMS, if his card is swapped. The customers say that both of the services seemed to be least priority of the banks, as in many cases they did not received any details on their cell phones. The credit card customers said that the banks do not send them any SMS of transaction. “The service is free therefore the banks do not pay attention on the quality of service,” said a credit card user Sajjad Ali adding that once he applied for the loan and received the SMS of application status after one month. “My application was declined two weeks ago and I received the SMS of tracking my application,” he said. The bank officials said that the services are relatively new and they are working to improve the quality. A bank officer while seeking anonymity said that though the service is free but it has nothing to do with the quality of service. “The facility is provided through computerised servers and sometime the systems respond late,” the official said.

Link: Iran: SMS with so many enthusiasts

The ratio of using SMS, short messages sent, has been estimated at 20 percent while other new related-telephone services, such as call waiting, call forwarding, call return, Internet access, and caller ID, have achieved 28 percent of the market penetration. Statistics show consumers demand for SMS more than any other services mentioned before. That is to say 20 percent of consumers said ‘it is the most significant service used as they demand for it more’,” said the Public Relations of Telecommunication Company of Iran. However, the audio box and having limitation over the time of talking on phone is the least significant services. 9 services, including audio box, limitation over the time of talking, call waiting, call forwarding, internet access, SMS, caller ID, and non caller-ID, has been offered to the consumers of Initial Cell phone.

Link: Jordan: Zain and TootCorp launch social networking service through the new youth website ‘Watwet’

Zain, part of the Zain Group, the leading mobile telecommunications provider in the Middle East and Africa, launched a first-of-its-kind social networking service in the Middle East, under the name of ‘Watwet’, in partnership with the Amman- based TootCorp, a leading Arab web 2.0 media company based in Jordan. This unique service will be available exclusively to Zain’s customers through SMS and will enable them to always stay in touch with their friends and colleagues, wherever they are. Watwet is set to launch its social networking and mini-blogging service on February 17, 2008 through Watwet website that is considered one of the newest social Arabic websites specialised in social networking. This new service, that links both the mobile and internet services, is expected to attract a high number of youths and university students. All internet users can constantly stay in touch with their friends by visiting Watwet at www.watwet.com and create their own walls. Zain customers in Jordan will have exclusive access to the mobile services of Watwet via SMS and MMS; resulting in increased instant interaction and ease of use. Watwet will allow people to send one message to all friends using their mobiles or internet, the messages will be received online and through email to all users, while free SMS notifications will reach Zain users only. People will be able to receive messages for free, while sending SMS will cost 3 piasters per message and MMS will cost 9 piasters per message, no matter how many recipients. Al- Masri added: ‘Zain always seeks to invest in innovative ideas and to benefit from the great spread of mobile penetration in the Kingdom. People’s increase of responsibility and work make mobiles not only an essential tool of communication that adds color to our lives, but also an important tool that helps increase efficiency and productivity.’ He said that Zain is providing a diverse database of services through SMS and MMS in the fields of entertainment, news, stock and exchange prices, instant translation and on the social level as well.

Link: Pakistan: Texting poll tips to Pakistan’s electorate

The official campaigning in Pakistan for Monday’s polls may have ended midnight yesterday, but there’s no stopping the beeping of text messages on mobile phones tipping the electorate against top parties. A “dua” (prayer) for the peaceful holding of elections sums up the angst of the electorate: “Oh God keep ‘book’ in the library/Keep ‘lion’ in the jungle/Keep ‘arrow’ in the bow/Keep ‘cycle’ in the puncture shop/And, peace in Pakistan,” goes a widely circulated SMS. ‘Book’, ‘lion’, ‘arrow’ and ‘cycle’ are symbols of the top political parties of the country. The Pakistan Muslim League(Q) has been the prime target of most of these text messages. “Electricity closed, flour closed, gas and CNG closed, export closed….if you want to remain silent for the next five years do stamp your vote on ‘cycle’”. ‘Cycle’ is the symbol of the PML-Q which won the 2002 polls. In the recent past Pakistan has faced an unprecedented shortage of flour, gas and fuel shortage. The unscheduled power cuts, even in the federal capital, run into many hours. Within the PML-Q, former premier Chowdhry Shujaat Hussain, whose poor communication skills have been the subject of many a joke, seems to be everyone’s “favourite”. “That’s Shujaat talking/Did you understand what he said/ I too didn’t get it/ But if you want to understand what he says/do vote for the ‘cycle’,” goes another SMS. Another widely circulated text is on the fear of rigging in tomorrow’s polls — “Polling results of Adiala jail, Rawalpindi: Total votes = 8,250; PML-N = 8,016; PPP = 210; PML-Q = 34; Wait for the actual results after dhandhli (rigging)”.

Link: Ethiopians in Diaspora outraged at Ethiopian Telecom

Several Ethiopians who live in Exile expressed their concern and disappointments of the state owned Telecommunication operator , ETC for its poor quality services and losing their money and time for nothing. According to those complaints, when ever they make calls back to home their calls mostly diverted to an individual who behalves as he were a business man and tries to call their relatives while the phone is opened. Ato Gethaun Assefa, one of the complaints who resides in Verginia, America said that these time, contacting his families and friends , who live in Addis is unlikely.” When ever I tried to talk with my families on their mobiles , I quite often encounter with a person who says to me Wait ! wait!. Then after the same person pretends as if he were calling my families/ friends who are next to him” Getahun said. In his views he and his friends who live in the same apartment spend more than ten US dollars /per week with out contacting their families because of the bad Connection and their Calls are being hijacked by unknown individuals in Ethiopia, none of them are part of their families. “sometimes this person turn on his Tape recorder and enforced me to listen Amharic music that I have ever listened before”. He also revealed his concern that Jamming and censorship against some of foreign radio stations and Ethiopians Web sites like VOA, DW, Ethio-media , Ethiopian Reviews, Addis Voice, Ethiopian Media forum (EMF) …etc respectively is understood, but trapping individual’s Telephone calls is strange and unheard even in the previous regimes. “I knew that senior officials such as Dr.Kassu Illaa, former Minster of Transport and Communication were saying in public that the country is not ready for privatization of ETC, and for them the Telecom sector is a milking business, while people were suffering from the poor quality of the Telecommunication services” Gethaun.

Link: Saudi Arabia: Do mobile phones actually interfere with aeroplane?

You are piloting an executive jet at 200 kilometers an hour along a runway; you rotate the aircraft off the ground and use full power to climb away and — all the electrical generators fail. At this point you really begin to work for your riyals. Not a speculative example is this, but an actual one. Securing the aircraft on battery backup, the pilot checked to see what was happening and discovered that at the point of take-off his VIP passenger had made a call at exactly the moment of electrical failure. Proof that the cell phone caused the incident? Perhaps. Certainly evidence. Asking the passenger to switch the telephone off and recycling the generators back on-line, the systems were restored to normal and the flight continued uneventfully. While there seems to be no positive proof that cell phones or some other non-trivial electronic devices cause navigation or system failures, anecdotal evidence is strong and pilots have reported anomalies with their navigation equipment that seem to be linked to the use of personal electronics in the cabin. And before anecdotal evidence is dismissed out of hand, it frequently justifies empirical investigation that later proves it true. The phenomenon of electromagnetic interference with avionics (aviation electronics) is not new and neither is it mere speculation. It has happened — and to military aircraft that one would assume to be shielded against such interference. When the Blackhawk helicopters were introduced to service in the late 1980’s, five crashed soon after. Investigators found the cause to be strong electromagnetic interference from radio and radar transmitters in the flight control systems of the aircraft. If it can happen to military aircraft, perhaps we should at least be concerned about commercial aircraft. You are a pilot on final approach to touchdown; of the six information screens in the cockpit feeding you essential data, four go blank. Within two minutes of touchdown and before the pilots could run a diagnostic check, all the screens came back to life. “I suspect that was to do with cell phones,” the pilot said. Cell phones? Perhaps; every air traveler has seen the “Hello-mom-I’m-landing” syndrome. In 1992 the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics (RTCA) Special Committee 177 was formed at the request of the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) to examine the possibility of interference with aircraft systems from passenger portable electronics most particularly computers, game machines and cell phones. Founded in 1935, RTCA today includes about 335 government, industry and academic organizations from the United States and around the world. Bruce Nordwall, a specialist in avionics, writing in Aviation Week and Space Technology in September 1996 said that the RTCA advisory group was worried that no group was testing or systematically tracking the potential effect of passenger electronics on avionics. It was also concerned that the flying public is not being educated about the potential hazards, and that the airlines must work out how to deal with the issue themselves.

Link: Electioneering through SMS adds new feature to polls campaign in Pakistan

Taking maximum benefit from the accurate access and availability opportunity on mobile phones, election candidates and their supporters in Pakistan have started virtual electioneering campaign through short text messages (SMS) nowadays. Pakistan is going to mark general polls on February 18 and these elections are being considered to be historical event of the country’s politics as it is passing through defining circumstances. Even most analysts and general public, especially the political workers forecast that the elections would decide for fate and future of Pakistan. More than 77 million mobile phone users across the country daily receive dozens of motivating and mobilization short text messages from their relatives and friends, affiliated with various political parties, to vote in favour of the particular parties and candidates. These SMS comprise of slogans of various political parties, their precise election manifestoes and symbols. Pakistan Muslim League’s symbol cycle, Pakistan Peoples Party’s arrow, PML‑N’s tiger and Mutahida Majlis Amal’s book are widely circulated election symbols in the Multimedia Messages (MMS), it was observed. Meanwhile, Mutahida Quami Movement’s kite along with the party’s slogans has though circulation all over the country but its flight through telecommunication signals can be witnessed more in Karachi in comparison to other parts of the country. Similarly, election symbol of Awami National Party’s Lantern is one of the widely circulated part of SMS and MMS in NWFP including Peshawer valley as the party’s major vote bank concentrates there, it was learnt. The PPP supporters are considered to be leading the race of SMS campaign and they are mostly sending messages to seek sympathy vote in wake of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. The PPP workers also insert poems and verses to pay tribute to their slain leader beside appealing for vote, a mobile phone user said. According to survey election candidates in some of the areas especially urban centers are formally conducting the campaign through SMS and they have obtained cell numbers of the voters residing within their constituencies. “The candidates have assigned their campaign workers responsibilities to send SMS to each resident of the constituency on regular basis till February 18,” a political worker said. “Well, SMS is the best source to transmit the electioneering message to the people in every corners of city especially the businessmen and employees who are difficult to be accessed due to their professional commitments,” an election candidate from Rawalpindi near Islamabad remarked.

Link: Brunei: SMS and email fraud up

SMS and email fraud has been on the rise in the country. Despite repeated warnings from relevant agencies, many still fall victims in their eagerness to get rich quick and only realise their mistakes when they lose money. Some report to the police while many resign to their fate and feel ashamed to go public. Last year, the police recorded 22 fraud cases through SMS mostly involving “Konsert Dangdut Indonesia” (KDI). Nine more cases have been recorded so far this, which shows that the trend continues unabated. Director of Criminal Investigation Department, SAC Peng Eng Lee, disclosed statistics of crime and traffic control for 2007 at a press conference yesterday. Also present were Deputy Director of Criminal Investigation Department Snr Supt Metamit Hj Kanak, Director of Investigation and Traffic Department Acting ACP Pg Hj Abd Wahab Pg Hj Omar, Deputy Director of Investigation and Traffic Department Snr Supt Pg Kamaluddin PSR Pg Hj Jaya, and Acting Head of Public Relations Unit DSP Sharazuddin Hj Masri. Brunei-Muara District recorded nine SMS fraud cases with loss totalling $5,746.10, Berakas two cases with a loss of $1,000, Jerudong four cases with a loss of $998.77, Muara and Tutong a case each with the victims losing $1,995.89 and $998.70 respectively, Kuala Belait two cases with a loss of $3,356.32 and Temburong three cases with losses amounting to $1,997.54 bringing the total amount of loss to $17,093.32. DSP Sharazuddin said this year to date nine reports have been recorded with a total loss of $7,906.10. The police have again reminded the public not to get easily conned by these offers and should they receive such offers either via email, SMS or facsimile, they must refer them to the authority.