by Khayyam Siddiqi
While the Federal and Provincial government authorities have taken several measures to contain the Coronavirus pandemic in Pakistan and provide all possible socioeconomic relief to the people during this lockdown, the corporate sector and regulatory bodies have also come forward to facilitate the community in different ways.
The credit also goes to the corporate sector regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), that had advised the corporations during the third week of March to divert their corporate social responsibility activities and budget towards the prevention, detection, and cure of COVID-19.
Companies were also advised to take proactive measures, ensure contingency planning, and mitigate health risks to employees, customers, and communities while making alternate arrangements with suppliers and customers to ensure continuity of business operations.
So, let’s get straight to some recognition of those organizations who have been s..
Category: Sports
Off Net Calls Likely to Get Cheaper in Pakistan
The government has decided to slash Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs) from the current Rs 0.90/min to Rs 0.70, which would help telcos to keep off-net tariffs low for consumers.
MTRs play a critical role in driving retail tariffs, especially for off-net calls.
In view of the changing market structure of the cellular mobile segment and considering that the last change in MTR was made in 2010, a review of the existing MTR @ PKR 0.90/min was required in Pakistan.
Based on comments, hearing and meetings, the Authority decreased the MTR for all types of calls, that is local, long distance and international incoming calls terminated on mobile networks from other mobile networks or fixed networks from PKR 0.90 to PKR 0.80 on 01 January, 2019.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) official documents, available with ProPakistani, revealed that this rate will be further decreased to PKR 0.70 in 2020.
Subsequently, the MTR will be reviewed in the coming years in line with international..
Here Are Some of The Precautions Mi Pakistan is Taking to Deliver Your Orders
Smartlink Technologies is determined to flatten the curve by taking necessary safety measures and appealing everyone to follow the safety precautions suggested by the government of Pakistan to win the war against COVID-19.
COVID-19 is rapidly spreading all around the world including Pakistan. So to cater to this emerging situation, Smartlink Technologies is closely monitoring the situation and till now Mistore.pk is fully operational.
Here are some of the precautionary measures which are being practiced by the Mistore.pk team.
Packaging
The warehouse team is highly concerned about the cleanliness and recently the whole warehouse was sprayed with anti-bacterial chemicals. All warehouse employees first sanitize their hands before entering the warehouse, wear gloves and masks, and then start their work. All the packing material and product boxes are first sanitized with wipes before being packed.
Deliveries and Collections
Mistore.pk is in continuous contact with logistics partners ..
Xiaomi Delays Deliveries in Pakistan Amid Coronavirus
Many businesses are facing difficulties in operations due to the prevailing situation. Although Mistore.pk is operating 100%, it’s still facing some obstacles in delivering the orders due to recent emergency situation and the lockdown imposed by the government to halt the spread of COVID-19, which has directly affected the time duration of product delivery.
Mi Pakistan is extremely regretful for this delay, it is completely unintentional and it’s for the sake of the well-being of customers and employees as Mistore.pk is taking certain measures to sanitize their warehouses and products. The employees are also taking the necessary precautions to prevent themselves from this pandemic.
Xiaomi is in contact with its logistics partners, asking them to take precautionary measures against this pandemic. In this difficult time, the company is supporting the decisions taken by the government of Pakistan because this battle against Coronavirus cannot be fought by the government alone. We all ha..
Banks May Use Scanned Images For Cheque Transactions: SBP
To combat the potential spread of COVID-19 pandemic by limiting person-to-person interaction and to provide ease of services to the customers, State Bank of Pakistan has said that commercial banks may allow corporate and priority customers to use scanned images of cheques along with relevant details of the beneficiary either through registered emails or through mobile Apps of their banks, to push funds from their accounts to the payee bank.
However, such an arrangement must be duly agreed with the customer under proper terms and conditions along with complete disclosure of risks and liabilities.
The Paying/Drawee bank shall implement all necessary controls including call back confirmation or multifactor authentication to ascertain the authenticity and genuineness of the instrument and identity of the payee. Upon satisfactory validation, the paying/drawee bank may transfer funds to the beneficiary bank using MT 102 of RTGS (PRISM).
SBP further said that banks should also implement ad..
Supply Chains of Essential Items Will Not be Disrupted: Asad Umar
Minister for Planning Development & Special Initiatives Asad Umar chaired a video conference to review the situation and consider proposals relating to the management of supply chains of essential commodities, during the partial or complete shutdown in various parts of the country.
The meeting discussed proposals for ensuring the continued operation of various industries, especially those included in the food and medicine supply chains, during the Covid-19 emergency. Matters related to the continued supply of electric power and petroleum products were also discussed.
It was decided that detailed safety guidelines for the workers will be outlined for those industries, which are required to be kept operational to ensure the supply of essential commodities. The guidelines will be implemented in collaboration with industry associations.
The meeting directed the Ministry of Industries to closely monitor any issues faced by the industries identified for continued operation and address the..
Facebook Launches Coronavirus Hub for Messenger
Social media giants are coming together to fight against the spread of coronavirus and misinformation on their platforms. Facebook had placed a coronavirus information hub on Instagram first and now they’re bringing it to their Messenger app as well.
The Coronavirus Community Hub is aimed at providing tips, authoritative information, and other resources to help stay connected and informed and curb the spread of the virus. It is also aimed at stopping the spread of misinformation that has become common on the platform amidst the outbreak.
It provides details from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and UNICEF for reliable resources.
The news comes weeks after Facebook launched a similar hub on WhatsApp and Instagram. It comes at an opportune time as people are now using the platform for instant messaging and voice calling more than ever to a point where all the traffic is becoming difficult for Facebook to handle.
The social netw..
Credit Card Customers Are Struggling To Clear Payments on Time
Coronavirus has wreaked havoc all around the world. The pandemic has triggered a major economic crisis that will burden our societies for years to come.
Bank customers that own credit cards are struggling to make their due payments in the wake of multiple issues with online payments.
A majority of credit card users are avoiding visiting branches but are trying to use digital banking channels for the payments against the credit they used within the deadline.
A credit card user of Standard Chartered was unable to pay his bill through Askari Online banking. When contacted, Standard Chartered bank stated that there was no such problem in their system. If the issue is not fixed, the customer of this bank is likely to pay extra charges on the account of markup and financial charges.
Banks in Pakistan usually give a maximum of 20 days to avoid markup to their customers with some banks giving 15 days.
A section of customers who did not receive their salaries or got laid-off by their emplo..
Tencent and Huawei are Launching a Cloud Gaming Service Soon
There has been a boom in popularity of cloud gaming with Google Stadia, Geforce Now, Project xCloud and a number of others joining the fray and eliminating the need for having a powerful gaming PC or console.
Chinese tech giants Huawei and Tencent are now working together to enter the cloud gaming market as well according to Tencent, one of the world’s biggest game companies.
Additionally, the statement mentions that the collaboration between the two will involve tapping into Huawei’s Kunpeng processor to work with Tencent’s cloud gaming platform known as GameMatrix. The two brands will also explore the possibilities of applying artificial intelligence and other technologies for augmented reality (AR) based gaming.
Huawei’s hardware expertise combined with Tencent’s experience in the gaming industry will make for a formidable partnership that could give the competition a run for its money.
GameMatrix will debut in China first and will likely stay exclusive to the region for a while..
Xiaomi Announces Mi 10 Lite 5G With 48 MP Quad Cameras & Liquid Cooling
Xiaomi announced the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro flagship phones last month and after a small delay, they’ve now announced an affordable version of the premium devices.
Along with toned-down specs, the Mi 10 Lite 5G also changes up the design formula we saw on the Mi 10 duo with a standard waterdrop notch at the front and a square-shaped camera module at the back.
Design and Display The Mi 10 Lite 5G has a slightly smaller 6.57-inch AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution and a standard 60Hz refresh rate. Unlike the Mi 10 and the Mi 10 Pro, the Mi 10 Lite has a waterdrop notch for the front-facing camera and a slightly bigger bottom bezel.
The back has a square-shaped quad-camera setup in the top left corner with a dual-LED flash unit and an in-display fingerprint reader.
Internals and Storage On the inside, the Mi 10 Lite is powered by the gaming-oriented Snapdragon 765G with liquid cooling. Xiaomi hasn’t stated the device’s RAM, but storage options include 64GB and 128GB UFS 2.1. The RAM opt..
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