September 20, 2006	Wednesday	Sha'aban 26, 1427

KARACHI, Sept 19: Ufone is cooperating with local authorities in recovering the snatched or stolen mobile phone sets as per guidelines given by the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA). The company is all set to implement the regulator’s guidelines any time.

This was stated by President and CEO Ufone Babar Khan at a press conference here on Tuesday.

He said that it was imperative for blocking of stolen sets that the customers note down the IMEI code of their cellphones and provide the same to the authorities in case their set is stolen or snatched.

He said that the company had already put in place a special system whereby if a reported set, whether stolen or snatched, was found operating, an SMS will be sent to the customer informing him that the handset being used is stolen/snatched for which his SIM is being blocked.

He would be asked to contact CPLC for more information and clearance.

The intimation of all these alarms would then be forwarded back to the CPLC.

A service called “Phonebook Saver” has also been offered to eight million customers, which could retrieve all their important contact numbers if accidentally deleted or lost, he said.

He said that the $550 million network expansion plan focuses on capacity and coverage in the existing system, besides providing high-speed wireless data services based on Edge technology and by the end of June 2007, Ufone would be covering more than 1,500 cities, towns, villages and all the major highways in the country.