KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Ltd (PIA) announced unconsolidated loss for the nine months ended Sept 30 at Rs39.9 billion and loss per share at Rs7.61 for “A”’ class shares and Rs3.81 for “B” class shares.

The loss for the period decreased from Rs42.0bn and LPS at Rs8.02 and Rs4.01 for the nine months of the previous year. The PIA’s revenue dropped to Rs74.4bn, from Rs107.3bn earned in the same period last year. The company made a gross loss of Rs71 million against gross profit of Rs4.71bn same time last year.

Loss from operations also surged to Rs8.7bn from Rs4.9bn. Exchange loss declined to Rs7.6bn from Rs11.7bn while finance costs also showed minor drop to Rs23.6bn from Rs25.0bn.

Zong tests 5G voice and video

Zong 4G announced that it has successfully placed what it said was the first 5G NSA call between Beijing and Islamabad in collaboration with Beijing Mobile on Thursday.

Minister of IT & Telecom Syed Amin Ul Haque experienced the 5G call in person. “We congratulate Zong on placing the country’s very first international 5G call to Beijing,” said Haque. “We’re pleased how Zong is helping Pakistan enter the era of future ICT technologies including 5G. It’s through disruptive measures like these that we can live the dream of Digital Pakistan and reduce the inclusion gaps.”

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2020