It was announced, free Wi-Fi hotspots will be installed in public places in several cities of Punjab. Digital Punjab Program has installed Wi-Fi hotspots in Lahore, Multan and other major cities of Punjab. The people there complained that they are having problems accessing the Punjab Free Internet and thus It’s useless.

We guess people have assumed some other service.

To clear any misconception about the service The Chairman of PITB, Mr. Umar Saif, has recently twitted and cleared the clouds.

If you see a Punjab Wifi sign outside a building, it means there is Wifi coverage in the public area of building, not at random spot on road pic.twitter.com/TZum6t9lBf

— Umar Saif (@umarsaif) February 24, 2017

He said that people cannot access the hotspots (Punjab Free Internet) on roads. The Wi-Fi hotspots are installed in the public areas such as waiting areas of metro stations, parks and hospitals etc.

He further mentioned that the free internet is not for those who are passing by these signs or from roads.

It is announced that The CM of Punjab, Mr. Shehbaz Sharif will be present at inauguration ceremony of this project. The ceremony will be held in two or three weeks.

250 routers are already set in Lahore and more are to be placed in Multan and Rawalpindi. The government of Punjab is taking this initiative to provide easy access to internet.

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Wateen Telecom, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company announced Free Wifi Villages of Tharparkar to be made soon. This step in the first of its kind in Pakistan. This is the team work of three big names that are joining hands to create a better Pakistan.

Mr. Shamsudin Shiekh who is the CEO of SECMC and Mr. Rizwan Tiwana who is Chief at Wateen Telecom announced the breaking news which took the internet by storm. The event was held in Green Park, Thar Block II of Taulka Islamkot, Tharparkar.

According to Mr. Shiekh the first step to be taken is to provide free WiFi to two villages, Tharyo Halepoto and Senhri Dars. The WiFi internet speed will be of 3 MB. In the second phase they plan that all the schools of Thar Coal Block II will be made Free WiFi.

He quoted,

“We want to take children of our host communities into the 21st century at par with children of urban centers of the country. We are working on to making entire Thar Block II as Free WiFi block in the upcoming phase and ground work is being prepared in this regard.”

He also told the people present at the conference that  Free WiFi facility is addition to the step being taken by SECMC under CSR.

He said,

“We are already implementing a comprehensive CSR plan for provision of quality education, state of the art health facilities and clean drinking water facilities to the host communities with around population of 10,000 inhabitants.”

He further added, “Provision of scholarship to deserving students and Thari Trainee Engineers program is also an added initiative for Thar Coal Block II residents.”

On the event Mr. Tiwana told that they had extended the fiber optic to the Thar Block II, that makes an extra mile. About it he said, “Partnering with SECMC, we will further explore the possibilities to provide internet facilities for Thar Coal Block II in particular and far-flung areas of Tharparkar in general.”

Wateen has a network of 25, 000 kilometers of fiber optic that are laid all across Pakistan. The authorities are now planning to extend this to areas of deserts like Tharparkar and they are really proud of this too.

We are hoping to see a well-developed country in upcoming decade as many initiatives are being taken.

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What can be better than a free Wi-Fi?

When Pakistani government announced to provide 200 free WiFi hotspots, the lads were quite happy. The announcement was made earlier this year. Wait is over PITB launched 200 Free WiFi Hotspots in Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi.

Sajjad Ghani, Director IT at PITB said,

“Users will be authenticated by their ID and mobile numbers, after which they will receive a code via SMS to connect to the internet. We will avoid data hogging by making the internet subscription time barred and are still deciding the exact duration of the subscription as well as which websites will be accessible through this Wi-Fi.”

These hotspots are located at different educational and government institutions, public parks. Moreover different market places, hospitals, railway stations, airports and bus stations will get free WiFi.  It will be launched in other cities of Pakistan soon.

If you are afraid that Government agencies can also access your information, you need not to be.

Ghani said,

“We will only keep time and location logs so we are able to check them in-case of any terrorist activities. But browsing history and user data will not be saved or stored.”

So now people of the three cities can enjoy free Wi-Fi.

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Free Wi-Fi…? Yes, you heard it right! Imagine sitting in a coffee shop sipping down your coffee. You have free access to the internet wherever you go. You can order anything you want with just a few clicks. Wouldn’t it be great? Of course it would be. Who doesn’t need free Wi-Fi.

Internet has become undoubtedly become one of the most powerful tool in our times. You can manipulate people the way you want. It’s a platform to come closer to people and also to get away from people. Its impact is what intrigues me the most. We have been enslaved by the chains of this master of ours- the Internet. Well for better or for worse it’s in our lives whether we like it or not, whether we want it or not. We can’t escape it so it better to embrace it.

A 26-year-old Pakistani citizen has utilized this paradigm and made it into a multi-million-dollar company named Wifigen. It is a tool that gives you free Wi-Fi in return for your social profile information.

Who is behind the Startup?

Bilal Ather – Founder Wifigen

Mr. Bilal Ather was just an ordinary student like any other Pakistani who doesn’t know what to do with his life. He completed his A-levels but decided not to go to college, finally he did his ACCA and planned to become an auditor and he realized it wasn’t meant for him to pursue this career. He also thought of singing as he was in a band in his high school but his father who was in military wanted him to get a stable career and like any other Pakistan mom, her mother wanted him to have a consistent pay so that he would be able to marry a girl. After many ups and downs in his life as a last resort he started free lancing. Luckily, one of his projects was given by John Russel Patrick, the ex-VP of IBM. Even though John Russel was interested in the idea but he did not want to invest in such an early start up.

Funding and Progress

Later on, he took on a project in New Zealand where he got introduced to a person. He decided to fund this project and within two month Bilal and his team developed the prototype. The deadline was only for two months but completed the project in 45 days to review it in the later days in case of any error or fault. The following months, he moved on to start his own company and got funds by none other than Russel. But it wasn’t easy, after developing the prototype, all of the funds were used and he thought of shutting down the project. In a press release he stated that he was in dire needs of funds that are when Russel stepped in and provided a fund of US $1 million dollars. This was truly a breakthrough for him and Wifigen

Advancing on, moving on to the ladder of success, Bilal started building it for a Singapore Airport and Unilever Pakistan as well. The Tahiti Island saw it beneficial for the tourism industry and got him on board and signed off the biggest deal that one can imagine.

It was initially incubated in heart of Pakistan- Lahore chosen for the fifth cycle of Plan9 Launch Pad. It was also one of the top 10 successful startup of this series and is currently in a six-month incubation cycle.

What is Wifigen?

Well, it’s a pretty straight forward concept- you provide your information in exchange for free Wi-Fi, pretty simple right? Well there’s more to it than that. The information you provide is via the following way. You have either an option to log in form your face-book account, your twitter profile and your LinkedIn or Google+. The information you have offered will automatically be transferred to a cloud band account where companies can look into and analyze the demographics provided by its users, they can also check whether the customer is new or not, whether they are a consistent customer and the level of their satisfaction. It also allows the restaurant to display and provide the users with their menu as soon as they log in to WiFiGen. This is truly a breakthrough for the sales, advertising and marketing industry. The corporate sector can find it very useful in several ways; information can be utilized in countless ways suitable for each industry sector in its own ways. It also provides its customers discounts and special offers. Wifigen provides a straight communication between the corporation and the costumer.  It is valuable for both the customer and the business sector as well.

The company plans to actively advertise it in Pakistan as they haven’t started their service here. Furthermore, they plan to aim Australia- their next target.

Wifigen provides a door into the future where all of corporate sector can get in touch with its customers and the customers can directly interact with the companies. It is a great opportunity for those who are working in the services department as well. I believe it is soon going to be a world’s biggest marketing platform internationally. It would be wise for investors as well if they can see the future of Wi-Fi experience for users and companies. It’s easy to use and handle and make your company more reachable to people. It’s a perfect tool for effective marketing.

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