E-payments grow to Rs 3.9trn in 1QFY10: Electronic payments continued to show a rising trend as both the number and value of such transactions increased in the first quarter (July-September) of 2009-10 fiscal year (FY10). According to State Bank’s First Quarterly Report on Retail e-payments and Paper Based Instruments released today, the volume and value of e-payments transactions in the country during the first quarter of FY10 reached 45.7 million and Rs 3.9 trillion respectively showing an increase of 2.7 percent in number and 0.3 percent increase in value as compared to 11.1 percent increase in number and 7.8 percent increase in value in the previous quarter.

Ufone brings Tension Free Package: In order to facilitate its customers more, Ufone brings Tension Free Package for you. Make calls without any tension or stress about inter-network charges because now all your calls cost only Rs.1.20 per minute to Ufone or any other network. Subscribe to the Tension Free Package and talk day or night at the lowest flat rate to any network!
To activate this package dial 444 from your Ufone.

Etisalat Receives Three CommsMEA Excellence Awards: Etisalat was recognized three times during the 2009 edition of the annual ‘CommsMEA’ Awards which took place last night in Dubai. Etisalat’s operations were awarded the title of ‘fixed operator of the year’ while Etisalat Misr took the titles of ‘Best African Mobile Operator’ and ‘Most Innovative Non-Voice Service’.
Ahmed Bin Ali, Senior Vice President Corporate Communications, received the awards on behalf of Etisalat Misr , whilst Khalifa Al Shamsi, Senior Vice President Consumer and Marketing, received  the award for Etisalat.

AsiaInfo to merge with Linkage Technologies: Wall Street Journal has reported that AsiaInfo Holdings will merge with  Linkage Technologies that will create a company with a market capitalization of more than 1.8 billion US Dollars.
After this Merger, Linkage shareholders will receive 26.8 million AsiaInfo shares as part of the deal and will end up owning 35.8% stakes in the new company, while AsiaInfo shareholders will own 64.2% shares in the merger.

PTA, FIA raid illegal gateway exchange: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) have jointly raided illegal gateway exchange operating in Commercial Area and Defence at Phase-IV in Lahore resultantly arresting two persons, says a press release issued by PTA here on Tuesday.
More than 50 cellular devices along with allied accessories have been recovered from the scene. This raid was conducted on the information obtained through PTA’s facility, which detects illegal telecom traffic. The PTA Zonal Office in Lahore was monitoring the illegal activity before the raid.