PTCL Posts 97% Growth in Profits During 2013

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHiTao1U1spaKMv4Ews6HNevTkKb3_9653iAwN3OC0PYyU6Ag2BEbyOK31IfovB0yrnNuzc47G0xHlgWyXVN_tqm3ZDYDizDpSpPBMusBhlgmYqNadpTgMv1AwuXmGNNA7LlFl92EqWh0/s1600/PTCL_Logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHiTao1U1spaKMv4Ews6HNevTkKb3_9653iAwN3OC0PYyU6Ag2BEbyOK31IfovB0yrnNuzc47G0xHlgWyXVN_tqm3ZDYDizDpSpPBMusBhlgmYqNadpTgMv1AwuXmGNNA7LlFl92EqWh0/s1600/PTCL_Logo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) posted a staggering Rs. 15.76 billion after-tax consolidated profits for the fiscal year 2013, registering a 97% growth against Rs. 8 billion profits for FY 2012.<br /> This massive growth in profits are mainly attributed to high margins earned through Long Distance and International business. Moreover, increased share and better revenues from broadband and cellular segment also contributed towards the hiked profits.<br /> Yearly revenues for PTCL group stood at Rs. 131.22 billion for the period ended December 31, 2013 against Rs. 62.48 billion revenues it generated during the previous year.<br /> PTCL’s (just the landline, broadband, LDI) revenues amounted Rs. 81.1 billion while a net profit of Rs. 12.7 billion for the FY 2013.<br /> “The positive growth of PTCL’s revenue streams and net profits, points to our dynamic corporate strategy and our enhanced customer base,” said Walid Irshaid, PTCL CEO & President following the BoD meeting.<br /> “This strong performance during a sluggish economy has yet again proved that PTCL leads the ICT sector of Pakistan, added Mr. Walid.<br /> The company has also declared a final cash dividend of Re.  1 per share for the year ended, in addition to already paid interim dividend of Re.1 per share in July 2013. Thus the collective dividend for FY2013 stood at Rs 2 per share.<br /> With <a href="http://rexhacker.blogspot.com/2014/01/breaking-telenor-exits-ich.html" target="_blank">future of ICH uncertain</a>, PTCL’s revenues in coming months remain hard to predict.</div>

PTCL Posts 97% Growth in Profits During 2013

Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) posted a staggering Rs. 15.76 billion after-tax consolidated profits for the fiscal ye...

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NSA Allegedly Hacked Belgian Cryptography Expert With Spoofed LinkedIn Profile

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkPMLnvfk1zFpUH1T-arrHJwMsBdUXgHjfduBDfhpRrRZEeD9wT6NaxDjF1HNpCnn7Mgl0npB5qbhIzV4_1hmi0RX8WeV9K1kjhBPaL1lt2iMU_W03J2Ziw4MQPrMclsWzKxBEe66xghA/s1600/NSA+allegedly+hacked+Belgian+Cryptography+Expert+with+spoofed+LinkedIn+Profile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkPMLnvfk1zFpUH1T-arrHJwMsBdUXgHjfduBDfhpRrRZEeD9wT6NaxDjF1HNpCnn7Mgl0npB5qbhIzV4_1hmi0RX8WeV9K1kjhBPaL1lt2iMU_W03J2Ziw4MQPrMclsWzKxBEe66xghA/s1600/NSA+allegedly+hacked+Belgian+Cryptography+Expert+with+spoofed+LinkedIn+Profile.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Cryptographer Professor <i>Jean-Jacques Quisquater</i> has become the part of a targeted attack by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and its British counterpart GCHQ, first reported on Saturday morning by <a href="http://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20140131_049" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">De Standaard</a>.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> A few months back in<i> September 2013</i> it was revealed that, Belgacom, the largest telecommunications company in Belgium was hacked and number of employees on Belgacom’s network, including their servers were compromised.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div id="aim23739986018066392128"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Later in <i>November 2013</i>, it was revealed that the NSA and GCHQ were behind the infiltration of the company’s computers, according to the document provided by the former NSA contractor <i>Edward Snowden</i>.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The document detailed that the British intelligence agency GCHQ created fake ‘<i>LinkedIn</i>’ and ‘<i>Slashdot</i>’ pages to spy on computers of Belgacom network engineers. They used a method called “<i>quantum insert</i>”, to redirect employees to fake websites that contained malware using<b> Man in the middle attack</b> to a spoofed server (<i>codenamed "Fox Acid"</i>), which can respond faster than the real one, is placed somewhere on the Internet backbone.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The company had filed the complaint against an unknown third party to <i>Belgian federal police (FCCU)</i> and granted its full support to the investigation, which revealed that Quisquater’s computer was allegedly hacked in the same way as Belgacom’s. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He had fallen victim to the same ‘<i>quantum insert</i>’ attack in which by responding to a LinkedIn message actually redirected him to a copycat website that infected his computer with spying malware.</div> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <i>"I received an ordinary e-mail asking me to connect to LinkedIn. I often receive that kind of mail. I didn't open it; I just looked at the content. It was sent by I person I know. At least, at first sight, because in reality it was sent by someone else. By the time I realized that, it was already too late as I had clicked on the link containing the person's profile," </i>Prof. Quisquater told reporters. He also added,<i>"My computer started to do strange things. If I have been hacked, there are bound to be hundreds of other cases where individuals were spied on, also in Belgium.</i>"</div> </blockquote> <div style="text-align: justify;"> “<i>The Belgian federal police sent me a warning about this attack and did the analysis,</i>” Quisquater told <a href="http://gigaom.com/2014/02/01/nsa-and-gchq-hacked-belgian-cryptographer-report/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gigaom</a>. The NSA and GCHQ are both suspected by Belgian Federal Police to be the real face behind the attack. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> He doesn’t know the actual reason he could have been targeted, but can be estimated that: “<i>There are many hypotheses (about 12 or 15) but it is certainly an industrial espionage plus a surveillance of people working about civilian cryptography.</i>”</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> <i>Jean-Jacques Quisquater</i> is a well-known professor in cryptography at the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) in Louvain-la-Neuve. There could be many reasons for him to be targeted by the intelligence agencies. </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Quisquater is worldwide renowned because of his work in cryptography and we found a presentation called “<a href="http://catacrypt.org/rsa-isat-brief%20-%20Public.pdf" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>The End of RSA</b></a>” on his website that uncovered severe vulnerabilities in <span class="GINGER_SOFTWARE_mark" id="31e38661-e9f8-4c40-89b5-91a1a194d116">deployed</span> systems using RSA, which could be one more reason for targeting him.</div> </div> </div>

NSA Allegedly Hacked Belgian Cryptography Expert With Spoofed LinkedIn Profile

Cryptographer Professor Jean-Jacques Quisquater has become the part of a targeted attack by the US National Security Agency (NSA) and...

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800,000 Customers' Detail Stolen in Data Breach at French Telecom 'Orange'

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG90rBA6UVNXZsqckn9pRRXC04ZyUDcxi3T1wy-xjLt0w9bWTzT5d0AiAfYpf_7-ulrBYlu80cj0XOWNu1LOeRCMsi21YB4MKklWQjcDqlw6dK8awMxy6LBcDptqMmXY2Nf22sWVXhpu4/s1600/Orange+Hacked.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgG90rBA6UVNXZsqckn9pRRXC04ZyUDcxi3T1wy-xjLt0w9bWTzT5d0AiAfYpf_7-ulrBYlu80cj0XOWNu1LOeRCMsi21YB4MKklWQjcDqlw6dK8awMxy6LBcDptqMmXY2Nf22sWVXhpu4/s1600/Orange+Hacked.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> One of the world’s largest mobile operator '<b><i>Orange</i></b>' has been hit by data breach.<br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The French multinational telecommunication company announced recently, it was targeted by unknown hackers on 16th January 2014, who allegedly gained access to the accounts of up to 800,000 customers of Orange website.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div id="aim27672027004397295782"> <div style="text-align: justify;"> According to a report published on the <a href="http://www.pcinpact.com/news/85647-orange-victime-dune-intrusion-informatique-donnees-dans-nature.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><i>PC INpact</i></a> website, the company warned their customers in an email that their Client Area website<i> orange.fr</i> was hacked and personal data of 3% customers have been stolen, but the passwords are not affected.<br /> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The hacker has successfully stolen customers' names, mailing address, email, landline and mobile phone numbers.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> The company warned, with the information lost in this attack, hackers can perform phishing attacks, allowing them to steal personal data, including bank account details and passwords by sending emails that look as if they have come from official sources.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Orange has confirmed the data breach, and after the discovery of the attack, they closed "<i>My Account</i>" page from the website quickly for a few hours as a precaution.</div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> </div> <div style="text-align: justify;"> Orange customers should, of course, change their security details of the affected accounts. </div> </div> </div>

800,000 Customers' Detail Stolen in Data Breach at French Telecom 'Orange'

One of the world’s largest mobile operator ' Orange ' has been hit by data breach. The French multinational telecommunicati...

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ICH’s Role in Curbing Grey Traffic

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaG6AyYIuEK3aEagUw-EhtSSnL5NyPW3cJAgsxTeVpZB0BTfBJtbMW_s6jbBrKO4DPYTLagK2uUp2R-DMTbYGFwu2EnRQ9insy4HKY7b7i-CdfNJRSO42H0Wp0U56JaZ7f-QVpfCW3V7g/s1600/PTA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaG6AyYIuEK3aEagUw-EhtSSnL5NyPW3cJAgsxTeVpZB0BTfBJtbMW_s6jbBrKO4DPYTLagK2uUp2R-DMTbYGFwu2EnRQ9insy4HKY7b7i-CdfNJRSO42H0Wp0U56JaZ7f-QVpfCW3V7g/s1600/PTA.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <strong>By Sohaib Sheikh</strong><br /> Ever received an international call with a local number? If yes, then that call came through illegal grey channels.<br /> For those who are not familiar, grey traffic is the way to carry international voice traffic into Pakistan through the internet (VoIP) and then terminating those voice calls on exchanges within the country. These exchanges are capable of transferring VoIP calls to local networks.<br /> The costs of carrying voice traffic to Pakistan, government taxes and various levies involved during the process is pocketed by grey traffic smugglers, which is estimated to be around the $350 to $400-million mark per year.<br /> This industry is only growing with time and resulting into huge losses to the national exchequer, local telecom operators and the national economy.<br /> The scourge of grey traffic<br /> The phenomenon of grey traffic dates back to the nineties. However, it picked up only during 2006-07 when mobile penetration in the country grew at optimum rates.<br /> Grey traffickers cause a loss to the national exchequer by setting up illegal exchanges as they do not pay LDI license fee worth $0.5 million and a renewal fee of 0.5% of the annual gross revenue. They do not collect any taxes for the government and pose a grave threat to national security as all calls are unmonitored.<br /> The illegal exchanges can be set up at low cost by grey traffickers amid the presence of cheap Chinese equipment is in the country. Operators also set up multiple SIMS of local cellular service providers which route these calls through VOIP services.<br /> <h4> <span style="font-weight: bold;">What is the ICH?</span></h4> Serious concerns over grey traffic first surfaced around 2008, when the then Pakistan Telecommunication (PTA) chairman and other officials of the telecom industry tabled the idea of bringing in International Clearing House (ICH), essentially a centralised place through which international calls would be brought into Pakistan.<br /> The main goal of the ICH was to centralise traffic route through a single channel so that illegal traffic could be detected and curtailed. Along with improving the margin of incoming calls, the operators would provide equipment to relevant authorities to detect the location of the illegal exchanges set up by the grey traffickers.<br /> <div class="adsxpls" id="adsxpls1" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"> </div> The premise of the ICH was also to improve return for the government with enhanced collection of taxes and monitoring of sensitive information. The ICH would have also improved viability for LDI operators and protect loss of jobs due to failure of business. Inflow of foreign exchange would have increased as well. The ICH would also help the Universal Service Fund bridge the digital divide providing access to telecom facilities to all citizens of Pakistan.<br /> The IT ministry, under the previous government, re-reviewed the ICH proposal and went ahead with its implementation. As expected, the initial rise in tariffs also gave rise to grey traffic as people resorted to using cheaper medium of communication — illegal exchanges.<br /> There is a misconception that the Pakistan termination rates have increased after the establishment of the ICH. The settlement rate in pre ICH scenario was 6.25 cents, which has increased to 8.8.<br /> While looking at the LDI business holistically, it must be reviewed that the termination rates of foreign operators in Middle East and Europe (for mobile termination) are in the range of 10-15 cents that is still higher than 8.8. These countries account for two-thirds of the traffic terminated in Pakistan.<br /> Although the Pakistan market termination rates in the pre ICH period were low, foreign operators were still charging higher tariffs to their subscribers. Therefore, the entire margin was reaped by the foreign operators resulting in a loss to the national economy. The ICH merely balanced this phenomenon, helping local operations become more viable.<br /> <h4> <span style="font-weight: bold;">What lies ahead for the industry?</span></h4> The requirement for the ICH needs to be understood before being rejected and outrightly banned. The ICH may have a teething problem but given time, grey traffic would be reduced and, eventually, resolved.<br /> The PTA has already blocked over 200,000 IPs that were routing grey traffic, thousands of SIMs have been blocked and multiple raids have been conducted to shut down illegal gateways. In addition to this, the PTA has created awareness among people to report any illegal call they receive in an attempt to track and shut down these illegal exchanges.<br /> Although there are calls within the industry to also cancel the licence of Chinese companies who are selling the gateways in Pakistan, it seems unlikely.<br /> On the other hand, the PTA needs to draft a policy where these companies would need to declare details of their transactions. Any sale to unlicenced operators would then be curbed.<br /> This would be another step to curb the setting up of these illegal exchanges.<br /> Some LDI operators who are involved in such activities are coming to light as Wisecomm, an LDI operator, was recently shut down by FIA and their bank accounts seized on account of grey trafficking. The post ICH world is much better for the government and all players involved should also try to understand its importance.<br /> <em>The writer is head of marketing at Wateen Telecom Limited.</em></div>

ICH’s Role in Curbing Grey Traffic

By Sohaib Sheikh Ever received an international call with a local number? If yes, then that call came through illegal grey channels. ...

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Voice Emails in the Open Air that Only Recipient Can Listen Are Possible Now!

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLWVjdA8tW4UWIcDOhAluoq0xt5weQjlArKf1vXlHTRGXzRmx0LPgt2ecRb9wJ-_iZlu6QW_IkS7BgDhFPutmh1J05UcF6brZukDtX5cKleC7JFWC-3YQz9F1ht9TTGjaMurP91rE_JVA/s1600/Flying_Email.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLWVjdA8tW4UWIcDOhAluoq0xt5weQjlArKf1vXlHTRGXzRmx0LPgt2ecRb9wJ-_iZlu6QW_IkS7BgDhFPutmh1J05UcF6brZukDtX5cKleC7JFWC-3YQz9F1ht9TTGjaMurP91rE_JVA/s1600/Flying_Email.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> An audio-enabled email platform has been developed by researchers at the Technical University of Berlin that will allow users to transport messages using specific sounds and without any device.<br /> Messages will come whizzing and flying directly above the users head like birds and users can choose which message to listen to and which to discard. These sounds (read emails) will be heard by specific individuals only that is only by the recipients.<br /> Fully functional test was performed by creating a ring of 56 speakers in a hall, 16 gesture-recognition cameras and most importantly the hyper-intelligent audio-processing algorithms with which special sounds were created by targeting specific individuals.<br /> This technology, along with transmitting voice emails, tweets, social updates can be used for countless and unusual purposes, such as restaurants will be able to music that only certain tables can hear<em>.</em><br /> <div class="adsxpls" id="adsxpls1" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"> </div> According to Jorg Muller who is a professor and specialized in human-computer interaction,<br />          “The BoomRoom uses wave field synthesis (WFS) – a technique developed at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands that builds 3-D sound fields by using algorithms to either cancel or reinforce sound waves with constructive or destructive interference”.<br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYnDeCNsVJg5gzLJPJAu5mdw7fsBouNqncVbtC1P-T9gf4zornAh860UFzrAQqC6oAUyf1YMV6D8ikkU2K53hBrEyXsnQ2EXqNW_7vDXT7nXjWGFU_u0ybMcmpMj9hH9GGHgtxa3LYhgA/s1600/mg22129544.100-1_300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYnDeCNsVJg5gzLJPJAu5mdw7fsBouNqncVbtC1P-T9gf4zornAh860UFzrAQqC6oAUyf1YMV6D8ikkU2K53hBrEyXsnQ2EXqNW_7vDXT7nXjWGFU_u0ybMcmpMj9hH9GGHgtxa3LYhgA/s1600/mg22129544.100-1_300.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div> This technology is a milestone towards developing smart rooms for visually impaired persons. Objects would be programmed to denounce their location as the blind walks into the smart room.<br /> “One day, it might even help create smart homes that can speak to their visually impaired owners,” said Muller.</div>

Voice Emails in the Open Air that Only Recipient Can Listen Are Possible Now!

An audio-enabled email platform has been developed by researchers at the Technical University of Berlin that will allow users to transpo...

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Huawei Announces the Budget Ascend Y530

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhthOkg_LWwNqsuK6IZ4bKWUiqWn0sZMyOV0HG9AgxnmFUtExUIZn0TDugYsNKEOXGMf-QW4U4d5-0ajsrFo0s7TcGOOEcCJGX6EBdbCd0hLPt1-fjBUMxDJy1CtIQ56yaMnXQ1q1Y_7MA/s1600/Ascend-Y350.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhthOkg_LWwNqsuK6IZ4bKWUiqWn0sZMyOV0HG9AgxnmFUtExUIZn0TDugYsNKEOXGMf-QW4U4d5-0ajsrFo0s7TcGOOEcCJGX6EBdbCd0hLPt1-fjBUMxDJy1CtIQ56yaMnXQ1q1Y_7MA/s1600/Ascend-Y350.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> Huawei has announced a new budget phone for its price-conscious audiences with the new Ascend Y530. The phone comes with a 4.5″ display and a youthful design.<br /> The display comes with a resolution of 480 x 854 pixels which is just fine for a display of this size. <br /> Under the hood, you’ll find a 1.2Ghz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor with 512 MB RAM and 1 GB expandable storage. <br /> Around the back lies a 5 megapixel camera with LED Flash, coupled by a VGA shooter at the front. <br /> The OS running on the phone is Android 4.3 Jelly Bean, customized with Emotion UI. A 1,750 mAh battery completes the mix. <br /> Here are the specs of the phone: <br /> <ul> <li>Android 4.3 Jelly Bean customized with Emotion UI </li> <li>4.5″ display with 480 x 854 resolution  </li> <li>9.3mm thick </li> <li>Weight: 145 grams </li> <li>1.2Ghz dual-core Snapdragon 200 processor </li> <li>512 MB RAM with 1 GB expandable storage </li> <li>5 megapixel rear-camera with LED Flash </li> <li>VGA front-facing camera </li> <li>1,750 mAh battery</li> </ul> The phone will be available in the coming few weeks for $200, but will likely struggle against strong performers such as the <a href="http://rexhacker.blogspot.com/2013/11/motorola-announces-moto-g-45-inch.html" target="_blank">Moto G</a>.</div>

Huawei Announces the Budget Ascend Y530

Huawei has announced a new budget phone for its price-conscious audiences with the new Ascend Y530. The phone comes with a 4.5″ display ...

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