Author: admin

Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s leading Islamic bank, has announced the renewal and expansion of its strategic partnership with Visa, a global leader in digital payments, aimed at further enhancing its debit card portfolio and redefining the banking experience for its customers across the country.

The collaboration was formalized with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by Dr. Syed Amir Ali, Deputy CEO – Meezan Bank, and Leila Serhan, Visa’s Group Country Manager for North Africa, Levant & Pakistan. The signing ceremony was attended by Mr. Irfan Siddiqui, Founding President & CEO – Meezan Bank, Mr. Ahmed Ali Siddiqui, Group Head Consumer Finance, along with other senior executives from both organizations.

As part of this renewed alliance, Meezan Bank, which operates one of the fastest-growing and Shariah-compliant debit card portfolios in the country, will introduce a range of premium and lifestyle-oriented Visa debit card products, offering customers exclusive benefits tailored to their evolving financial needs. These include enhanced digital banking services, access to global privileges, seamless international payment capabilities, and bespoke travel and lifestyle rewards. Rolled out in phases, these initiatives will transform how customers transact, manage, and experience digital payments, further positioning Meezan Bank’s position as a leader in digital Islamic banking in Pakistan.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Irfan Siddiqui, Founding President & CEO – Meezan Bank, said, at Meezan Bank, we remain deeply committed to investing in our digital infrastructure to deliver a seamless, secure, and Shariah-compliant banking experience for our customers. Our collaboration with Visa takes this commitment further, empowering our debit card customers with advanced digital payment solutions that combine global standards while addressing local market needs. This partnership marks another milestone in our digital transformation journey as we continue to move an increasing share of retail transactions to digital channels.”

Umar Khan, Country Manager, Pakistan & Afghanistan at Visa, shared, Visa is proud to strengthen its partnership with Meezan Bank. Together, we aim to deliver cutting-edge, secure, and personalized payment solutions that align with the unique preferences of Pakistan’s growing Islamic banking consumers. This collaboration is a testament to our joint vision for building a digitally inclusive and innovative financial ecosystem in the country.”

This renewed partnership builds on a long-standing relationship between Meezan Bank and Visa, extending beyond card issuance. It reflects a shared commitment to innovation, digital inclusion, lifestyle benefits, and technology-driven initiatives aimed at enhancing customer experience and promoting a cashless ecosystem in Pakistan.

[email protected]

[October 31, 2025, Madrid, Spain] Huawei recently hosted the Global Optical Summit (GOS) 2025 Europe in Madrid, Spain. Themed “F5G-A Accelerates Industry Intelligence,” the event brought together more than 150 industry experts, clients, and ecosystem partners from across Europe to discuss the latest trends and applications of F5G Advanced (F5G-A) in driving intelligent industry transformation.

In his keynote, Perry Yang, President of Enterprise Optical Domain, Huawei, remarked: “As the wave of intelligent transformation sweeps the globe, Europe is entering a critical stage of intelligent transformation. Leveraging F5G-A technologies, Huawei is building an intelligent connectivity foundation with high bandwidth, low latency, and enhanced awareness. Together with our clients and partners, we are accelerating industry upgrades and helping Europe move toward a high-quality, sustainable, and intelligent future.”

Perry Yang, President of Enterprise Optical Domain, Huawei

F5G-A All-Optical Networks Drive Intelligent Campus Upgrades

F5G-A all-optical networks are already in large-scale use across sectors such as education, healthcare, ISPs, transportation, and electric power. At the summit, representatives from various industries shared their experience in F5G-A deployment and gave insights.

José Antonio Jiménez Caballero, Head of Digitalisation of Standards Dept at UNE, Spain, commented: “The POL all-optical network, with its simple architecture, energy efficiency, large bandwidth, and smooth evolution features, support efficient data transmission and enable high-quality diagnosis and treatment services in the smart healthcare system. Now, Spain is actively formulating standards and specifications for smart hospital network construction. The goal is to leverage all-optical networks to enhance hospital connectivity, meet the evolving needs of the healthcare industry, and comply with the requirements of the Gigabit Infrastructure Act (GIA).”

José Antonio Jiménez Caballero, Head of Digitalisation of Standards Dept at UNE, Spain

Daniel Just, CEO of CERIUM TECNOLOGIAS, Spain, spoke about the company’s collaboration with Huawei in building green, smart hotels: “The FTTO solution enables high-speed networks to reach every corner of a hotel. Its simplified cabling design significantly reduces construction costs. In addition, this solution supports long-distance transmission and easily covers large spaces such as villas, delivering a seamless high-speed network experience without blind spots. CERIUM collaborates with Huawei to deliver unparalleled user experience, scalability, and security for hotels, reshaping the future of smart hotel.”

Daniel Just, CEO of CERIUM TECNOLOGIAS, Spain

F5G-A Boosts ISP Innovation and Unlocks New Growth in Home Broadband

With the widespread adoption of smart home devices and upgrades to user experience, ISPs in Europe are entering a new phase of growth opportunities.

ISP Home Broadband Panel

York Liu, Vice President of Enterprise Optical Domain at Huawei, introduced Huawei’s portfolio of multi-scenario fiber access solutions based on F5G-A, including FTTH (Fiber to the Home), FTTR (Fiber to the Room), and FTTO (Fiber to the Office). These solutions provide users with high bandwidth and low latency connectivity for superior experience. For example, in the smart home scenario, Huawei has proposed a comprehensive “from one fiber to one network, and to one smart home” strategy, offering AI-ONT, iFTTR, and AI-FTTR solutions to meet the needs of different development stages of smart home construction.

Raphael Peschkes, Prokurist of Glasfaser Direkt and CMO of Carrierwerke, Germany, shared the successful launch of FTTR package in partnership with Huawei: “Through our collaboration with Huawei, we deliver true gigabit connectivity and seamless Wi-Fi coverage to the entire house for our customers. FTTR not only enhances user experience, but also lays the foundation for building smarter, more interconnected homes across Germany.”

Gonzalo Elguezabal Ayala, CEO of AOTEC, Spain, examined the trends in Spain’s HBB industry: “Spain’s FTTH coverage has now reached nearly 90%, marking a significant achievement. FTTR services are also in the pipeline. As competition intensifies in the home broadband market, ISPs should leverage their organizational strengths to unlock new growth opportunities by offering innovative products and services, cost-effective packages, and building strong brand recognition. These efforts pave the way for long-term, stable growth in the home broadband industry.”

Rafael Avendaño Torres, Head Of Strategy & Engineering at Onivia, Spain, analyzed the business benefits and challenges of FTTH solutions through real-world cases. He suggested: “ISPs can use more cutting-edge technologies such as 10G PON, Wi-Fi 7, and FTTR to strengthen their brands and flexibly adjust service packages to cope with these challenges.”

Stefan Obucina, Director of Architecture Department at PUC Belgrade Metro and Train, Serbia, shared how optical-visual linkage is used to set up intelligent borders for the metro system: “As major urban rail projects such as the Belgrade Metro continue to advance, the need for higher-precision perimeter inspection is becoming increasingly important. Huawei’s optical-visual linkage perimeter inspection solution, powered by AI-enhanced fiber sensing, offers metro operators a powerful tool to help ensure safety and reliability. Designed to deliver zero missed alarms and an ultra-low false alarm rate, it supports the prevention of intrusions and theft while reducing manual inspections and lowering O&M costs. This innovative technology demonstrates how intelligent sensing can contribute to smarter, safer metro operations worldwide.”

Stefan Obucina, Director of Architecture Department at PUC Belgrade Metro and Train

At GOS 2025 Europe, Huawei joined hands with its clients and partners from various sectors in Europe to showcase the vast potential of F5G-A in accelerating the intelligent transformation across industries. Moving forward, Huawei will continue to expand the application of F5G-A all-optical networks, supporting industries across Europe and beyond in advancing toward a new era of intelligence and sustainable development.