March 12, 2009

Mobile Commerce Conference 2009

chairman pta and president telenor addressing the conference

 

Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) in collaboration with Total Communications organized â??2nd International Conference on Mobile Bankingâ? at Marriot Hotel Karachi. Primary aspiration was to explore potential opportunities across mobile commerce sector in the country. Representatives from State Bank of Pakistan, Banks, Financial Institutions, Ministry of IT, Cellular Operators, Software Houses, ICT consultants and academicians attended to impart their invaluable input and expertise on the subject.

During his speech Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen briefed the audience about associated value and business propositions of m-commerce. The Chairman said that in view of the global mobile growth, value-addition services have a huge market potential. He said that the telecommunication operators will find advantage in developing unique m-commerce value propositions founded upon the specific dimensions of: ubiquity, convenience, localization, and personalization. In the new decade, the call for information technology will be information, any time, any place and on any device. "No Wires, No Limits� benefit associated with mobile telephony has poised conventional e-commerce to witness an unprecedented explosion of mobility, creating a new domain of mobile commerce.

He emphasized that commerce transpires as organizations introduce new methods to employ mobile devices to communicate, inform, transact and entertain using text and data via connection to public and private networks. Emergence of mobile commerce has created a new business dimensions for mobile operators to rely less upon usage fees and derive more revenues from content and services. It is important for operators to solidify the relationship between the customer and various dimensions of product value.

He apprised PTAâ??s vision of â??creating a fair regulatory regime to promote investment and ensure high quality ICT servicesâ? to the people of Pakistan, in accordance with its vision PTA has endeavored to serve the IT and Telecom sector of Pakistan for it growth and development. He said that in reference with m-commerce we believe that now is the right time to start mutual efforts towards offering such services to our 90 million users. We at PTA have jointly conducted various surveys to perceive what Pakistani consumer thinks about m-commerce services.

In the end Chairman PTA congratulated the organizers and sponsors for holding such enlightening conference where all major stakeholders are sitting together and sharing their thoughts towards mobile commerce in Pakistan. He further invited all to make use the opportunity that this gathering represents to forge a new era of innovative solutions through our mobile phone infrastructure.

Five International Key Note speakers from USA, Canada, South Africa, India and UAE also presented their research work on mobile commerce. The speaker elaborated various E-payments models along with respective issues and challenges. The conference was highly appreciated and endorsed by all participants and they stated that mutual coordination and working of stakeholders can pave the way towards innovative mobile commerce services in the country.