Islam & Pakistan! Technology & Me!
Engineering
Research projects for the progress of our nation
39 months ago
For the past eight or nine years, Pakistan has been producing a large number of engineers and technologists, the numbers literally run in several thousands. This is all thanks to strong initiatives taken by the previous government through the Higher Education Commission and the Pakistan Engineering Council.
For engineering and technology graduates, their final year project is one of the most important aspects of not only their study but also is an asset to the nation. Unfortunately, only a handful of projects stand out every year that truly contribute to the nation’s well being and prosperity in terms of technology and its localized applications.
Most graduates treat their Final year projects as a formality. In many cases I have found students paying outsiders to have their projects developed and just present them to their professors and come out with a qualified degree. With regret, I have to say such students are not only doing injustice to themselves, this is injustice to the nation as well. A nation who has invested in you and expects a lot from you. (more…)
FTTH Services in Pakistan
31 year ago
Originally written for Telecomistan.com – It is understood that Optical fiber will be the main building block for future high capacity home broadband networks due to the fact that its transmission capacity is almost unlimited compared to existing copper cabling systems.
Fiber to the Home (FTTH) networks, where the optical fibers run directly into the customers’ home, are enjoying considerable growth in many parts of the world. This is mainly due to the steep rise in demand by private households for greater network bandwidths so as to use novel applications such as fast Internet access or high-definition television.
Services such as Voice communication, broadband internet facility and IPTv are generally offered by an FTTH provider over a single line.
FTTH in Pakistan:
When it comes to the deployment of Optical Fiber networks in Pakistan, we have four major commercial long-haul optical fiber networks in PTCL, Wateen Telecom, Multinet and Mobilink spread across the length and breadth of Pakistan. Wateen and PTCL have also invested in metro ring networks for large cities.
Big losses for Cell phone/handheld device manufacturers
32 years ago
The world has been hit terribly by the Global economic recession. The hit has been particularly hard for cell phone manufacturers that include big names like Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Motorolla.
I am particularly concerned about Nokia – the fact that its sales have plummetted by 90% is alarming indeed.
Here, I have tried to bring to your attention these losses and what impact they may have on the telecom industry using news from various sources of quarterly reports coming from manufacturers.
I’ll begin with Nokia, followed by Sony Ericsson and Motorola.
Nokia
Nokia’s net profit falls 90 percent
If you were wondering how bad things have gotten for the mobile handset market, just take a look at Nokia, the world’s largest maker of cell phones.
The company on Thursday reported a 90 percent fall in first-quarter net profits as the global recession took a big bite out of demand for mobile devices.
For the first quarter, which ended March 31, Nokia said that net profits fell to 122 million euros ($161.3 million). A year earlier the company reported net profits of 1.22 billion euros. Analysts had expected the company to report net profits of about 306 million euros.
The company’s sales fell to 9.27 billion euros from 12.66 billion euros last year. This was also below analyst expectations, which were counting on sales of around 9.80 billion euros.
Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson posts loss, plans to cut 2,000 jobs
STOCKHOLM – Mobile phone maker Sony Ericsson on Friday posted a euro293 million ($387 million) net loss in the first quarter on falling sales and said it would slash an additional 2,000 jobs to cut costs.
The result was the third consecutive quarterly loss for the Sony Corp. and LM Ericsson AB joint venture, which reported a profit of euro133 million in the same period in 2008.
Sales in the January-March quarter tumbled by 36 percent to euro1.7 billion, from euro2.7 billion a year earlier.
Sony Ericsson attributed the sales drop to weaker demand for mobile phones, with distributors and retailers trimming inventories amid the economic slowdown.
Motorola
Motorola posts $3.6b loss as devices sales fall by 26 percent
Motorola reported a fourth quarter loss of $3.6 billion, or $1.57 a share, hit by falling sales, particularly in its mobile handset unit. Sales dropped 26 percent, sinking to $7.1 billion, and missing analyst expectations of $7.2 billion. Mobile Devices saw sales drop to $2.35 billion, a 51 percent decline compared to the same period last year. The operating loss was $595 million, compared to an operating loss of $388 million in the year-ago quarter. The struggling handset maker shipped 19.2 million handsets in the quarter, which it estimated gave it a 6.5 percent of the global market. It blamed the unit’s poor performance on the weakening economy and on “gaps in its portfolio.” Motorola also said it was suspending its dividend, and was embarking on a cost savings plan that aimed to save $1.5 billion in 2009. In another blow, Paul Liska, its chief financial officer, is leaving the company. SVP and corporate controller Edward J. Fitzpatrick has been named acting CFO until Motorola can find a replacement.
Other market players like Apple (net loss o f $69 million) and Palm (net loss of $841,000 approx.) have also reported losses over the first quarter.
Blackberry, however, seems to be gaining some ground with its demand rising, particularly in the Middle East and in South-Asian countries like Pakistan.
The mobile handset manufacturing industry does seem to be going through a really rough patch for now. Given the circumstances, there is not much hope for the immediate future but things might stabilize over the course of a couple of years, I hope.
Something that should is worrying for me as a Telecom professional is that this sharp drop in demand of handheld devices and cell phones will have a direct impact on service operators, but let us all hope for the best.
The market in Pakistan is promising indeed. There still is quite a lot of potential for growth here. Let us all hope for the best!
Report: Energize Pakistan
42 years ago
The Energy Crisis in Pakistan is serious. A competition was organized at the Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute in which our team presented this report that I am sharing with my readers here.
Abstract
Pakistan today faces a severe energy crisis with a shortfall that varies from 2000 to 5000 megawatts. Developing countries and emerging powers plan well in advance to not only ensure sufficient energy for the present but also for their future needs.
While alternative energy or ‘greener’ solutions are the talk of the hour – we in Pakistan need to understand the potential of utilizing our natural resources like coal and water for increased power generation apart from exploiting other sources like nuclear and tidal energy.
We, in this report, have tried to suggest a viable solution for today and plan for tomorrow to come out of the energy crisis at hand using all available resources.
Introduction
Pakistan’s power generation has been marred by complex socio-political and economic issues over the past several years. We are a naturally blessed country, with immense potential if we choose to utilize water for power generation. We are already late. It is now time to move forward and explore other area’s through which this crisis may be overcome.
In this report, we propose a comprehensive strategy discussing the use of the following power generation methods for Pakistan:
a) Hydroelectric power
b) Nuclear power
c) Power generation based on Coal
d) Green solutions for Pakistan (including solar, wind and tidal energy)
Phase 1 Complete: Evolution of 2.5G RAN towards HSDPA
33 years ago
We have been studying and planning the path towards deploying HSDPA, a UMTS/W-CDMA extension, in Pakistan. For those of you who are not aware of my Final Year Project, please Read this post first.
The first phase of our Final year Project ( for a Bachelor’s degree in Telecom Engineerng ) is complete, Alhamdulillah. Let me share the presentation with this post.
Click Here to Download the Presentation
More of this later… =)
Recent Comments