Mobilink Users Can Now Acess Zameen.com For Free

By GUlshan Naz: Zameen.com has entered into a wide-ranging partnership with Pakistan’s leading cellular network Mobilink. Representatives from both organisations signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to that effect at Mobilink’s Head Office in Islamabad on Friday.

With this partnership, Mobilink users will be able to browse Zameen.com’s website and use its smartphone apps absolutely free and without payment for mobile internet data. Zameen.com is visited by 1.3 million people every month and has over 400,000 registered members.

The deal between the two industry leaders will provide Mobilink users easy access to more than 1 million properties listed on Zameen.com, as well as putting them in direct contact with over 6,600 registered real estate agencies.

Mobilink is Pakistan’s largest cellular network with over 38 million subscribers out of a total of 136 million mobile users in Pakistan, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). Around 25% of Pakistan’s 10 million-plus 3G/4G subscribers are also Mobilink users per the PTA’s February 2015 stats, and they can now access Zameen.com and its apps free of charge on their smartphones.

Zameen.com Co-CEO Mr Imran Ali Khan said:

This partnership marks a major milestone in Zameen.com’s journey towards an online revolution in the real estate market of Pakistan. As a leading player in the tech industry of the country, Zameen.com operates on the cutting edge of technology and this collaboration with Mobilink is part of its mobile-first approach.

With the signing of this MoU, Mobilink has taken another step towards firmly establishing itself as Pakistan’s most digitally aware and innovative cellular network which is keenly tuned into a changing online landscape.

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85 Million SIMs Re-verified, Another 18 Million still unVerified

Telecom Operators companies have processed 85 million SIMs for re-verification through biometric verification system, suggests latest data made available to Pak Tech Insider.

According to data made available to Pak Tech Insider, mobile phone companies have successfully verified 74 million SIMs during two and half month re-verification drive that is going to end on April 13th, 2015.

Another 11 million SIMs were blocked as they were disowned by their owners.

UNVERIFIED SIMS WILL GET BLOCKED AFTER APRIL 12TH, 2015, AND THIS DEADLINE WON’T EXTEND

With this number, another 18 million SIMs are still pending verification, for which mobile phone companies have another 15 or so days to complete the re-verification process.

At the end of re-verification drive i.e. after April 13th, 2015, all un-verified SIMs will get blocked, and customers owning those SIMs will have to get their SIMs replaced by paying extra fee for SIM replacement to reinstate their numbers.

Market sources tell that number of re-verifications per day have now dropped to below 200,000 instances per day, as compared to an average of 1.5 million per day that telcos had maintained before February 26th, 2015.

Officials of mobile phone companies say that they are putting all possible efforts to ensure that maximum number of customers are re-verified before the deadline. Officials told that mobile phone companies are now focusing on rural areas, especially in Southern Punjab and Internal Sindh. High paying customers who have not re-verified SIMs are being approached in person now.

Also Read: 10.3 Million User Subscribes 3G Data in Pakistan at the end of February

Mobile phone companies are fearing that they may have to face extreme conditions after the deadline as millions of SIMs will get blocked and all such customers will at once head to franchises/service centres for restoration of their services.

These millions of customers with blocked SIMs would naturally want to get their connections restored with-in no time and that is when the support system of mobile phone companies is likely to get choked.

Market experts suggest that at least 10-12 million SIMs will never get re-verified as these connections are either dormant, or used by voice exchanges, spammers and those who send Benazir income support messages.

Data shared with Pak Tech Insider reveal that Mobilink is leading the charts with Telenor at second position.

Total Number of Verified SIMs – March 23, 2015

• Mobilink  – 21,719,733
• Telenor –  19,409,530
• Zong – 13,259,127
• Ufone – 11,798,657
• Warid – 7,822,218

Below are details about unique number of CNICs that telecom operators have verified. In other words these are unique number of customers for each operator.

Unique Customers Per Operator – March 23, 2015

• Mobilink  – 17,729,047
• Telenor –  14,039,149
• Zong – 10,119,588
• Ufone – 9,917,210
• Warid – 5,877,560

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