Author: admin

President and Chief Executive Officer of PTCL and Ufone, Hatem Bamatraf, announced on Wednesday that PTCL and the merged telecom company, which includes Ufone and Telenor Pakistan, will participate in the upcoming 5G spectrum auction.

He added that the authorities will consider the concerns of the telecom industry and release the spectrum during the 5G auction at conducive terms.

He was addressing a news conference along with the top management of Telenor Pakistan formally announcing the acquisition of 100% of issued share capital of Telenor Pakistan and Orion Towers at Rs108 billion.

Meanwhile, the CEO PTCL did not respond to the pending issue of release of $800 million that Etisalat management was holding since 2006, when the management of the PTCL was transferred to UAE based Etisalat.

The Telenor Pakistan and Orion Towers has become 100% owned subsidiaries of PTCL, alongside Pak Telecom Mobile Limited (PTML) — Ufone and U Microfinance Bank.

However, Telenor Pakistan will continue to operate as a separate legal entity during the next 5-6 months as the Ufone and Telenor Pakistan will be integrated as merged entity (MergeCo) by the telecom sector regulator the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Islamabad High Court.

Bamatraf said that the MergeCo will expand network capabilities, optimise spectrum resources, and deliver seamless, secure, and digitally enabled services designed around evolving customer needs and aligned with Pakistan’s digital ambitions.

He assured the employees of Telenor Pakistan that there would be no threat to their jobs and said, “I warmly welcome our colleagues and want to assure them that this transition is rooted in respect for people, continuity of talent, and thoughtful integration of industry best practices. Together, we will build a stronger, future-ready organisation that serves customers better, empowers its people, and advances Pakistan’s digital future.”

Meanwhile, in another development the newly established Board of Directors of Telenor Pakistan appointed Awais Vohra as the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the company, Telenor Pakistan, which is now an autonomous subsidiary of PTCL following the completion of all regulatory approvals.

Fraudulent QR codes imitating parking payment instructions were discovered in Whistler, B.C., and the municipality is warning the public that they might have fallen victim to credit card fraud.

The Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) said the fraudulent QR codes were imitating pay-by-phone payment signs.

The stickers were discovered on pay parking terminals in Whistler Day Lots one to five, and also on signs along Main Street and Lorimer Road.

Staff believe the stickers were only up for 12 hours before the parking contractor notified the bylaw team.

A total of 24 stickers were discovered on Dec. 27, and all of them were removed by the next day.

“Nobody has come forward yet to say they were a victim,” said RMOW spokesperson Penny Buswell Lafrance.

Certified cybersecurity expert Claudiu Popa said people should be wary of sticker QR codes.

“If a QR code looks like a sticker, ignore it,” Popa said. “If it looks like you can peel it off yourself, then chances are it’s not legitimate.”

He does not believe this type of scam will go away anytime soon due to the ease fraudsters have in setting one up.

“It’s a very, very low barrier to entry. It’s basically free to get into it, and really, it’s the cost of a sticker that allows any fraudster to enter this lucrative business,” Popa said.

RMOW said the QR codes have been reported to the RCMP, but Popa said tracking down the culprits of the stickers can be difficult.

“They could literally travel to Canada for a couple of days, put up 1,000 stickers and go back to their home country and defraud Canadians for as long as the scam works,” Popa said.

Municipal parking in Whistler does not use QR codes for payment.

Staff will continue to monitor the parking areas to prevent this from happening.