TechLahore

If you ever thought that a little GPS map embedded deep inside a tiny application in a relatively inexpensive piece of consumer technology was, in the grand scheme of things, unimportant and harmless, well, think again. Recent happenings in India will expose your naivete! Apparently, Nokia cell phones contain GPS maps of Kashmir, which (correctly, from [...]

The Business Recorder broke a story about an investigation that has been launched by the Competition Commission of Pakistan into Mobilink’s restrictive trade practices around their Blackberry offerings. The article highlights one specific area of inquiry, which is the inability for Blackberry handsets to access basic GPRS services without activating RIM data services. I think [...]

Back in the ’60s and ’70s, Pakistan and China cooperated to build the Karakoram Highway, or the “Friendship Road”, which is the world’s highest highway, linking Pakistan with the Chinese mainland, traversing the mountains of the Hindukush. Now, Pakistan and China have announced a joint venture worth $327M dollars that will significantly upgrade the highway [...]

Since this sales tax was imposed last year, the general IT industry in Pakistan, local PC/Server manufacturers and IT retailers, have strongly advocated its removal. The 15% General Sales Tax, or GST, is currently applicable to all IT purchases. Critics of the tax argue that it is too soon to impose any inhibitors on the growth of [...]

Unique Pakistan carries an in-depth interview with Yusuf Husain, Managing Director of the Pakistan Software Export Board. Among other things, Yusuf discusses the rationale behind the $2BN IT market size estimates PSEB uses, the growth rate for the IT sector in Pakistan – pegged at 50% YoY, and the potential for explosive growth in software [...]

Here is a list of our predictions for 2008. While most of these predictions have to do with technology and IT companies in Pakistan, some of them are political. We’ll circle back on Jan 1 2009 to see how accurate our crystal ball was; until then, we’d love to hear your opinions! Share this:

This story caught our eye because we’ve experienced something very similar in Lahore. If you are in the Bedian, Mughalpura, Harbanspura or other areas close to the border with India, you will find that your GSM cell phone will pick up at least a couple of Indian cell phone networks! In particular, AirTel seems to [...]

The wireless industry has made great strides in Pakistan, and the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) is planning to build on this momentum by pushing aggressively for 3G deployments through multiple carriers currently operating in the country. An article that appeared in The News outlines the PTA’s plan to hold a spectrum auction for 3G and [...]

  Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi, talking to the press during the Punjab Information Technology Board meeting in Lahore, said that the Punjab Government had finalized plans to establish an “Internet City” near Kalashah Kaku. The image above shows the KSK M2 Motorway Interchange. The site of this new Internet City will be somewhere around here. [...]

News.com reports that iPod prices in Pakistan are amongst the most competitive in the world and in fact, the cheapest in South Asia. Why does this have to do with the price of tea in China, you ask? Well, it’s an indication that the import regime for electronics and technology products is pretty favourable in [...]