Technology

KARACHI: The value of mobile banking, internet banking and e-commerce transactions have more than doubled during the third quarter current fiscal year (Q3FY21) compared to the same period in FY20, the State Bank said in its latest report issued on Monday. According to the Payment System Quarterly report, the number of internet and mobile banking users has increased significantly, up …

A Hindu hardline group has filed a complaint with police against Twitter’s country head after politically sensitive regions were depicted outside a map of India on its website, kickstarting an investigation in a fresh headache for the US tech firm. A map on Twitter’s careers page showed occupied Jammu and Kashmir region as well as the Buddhist enclave of Ladakh …

The Sindh High Court on Monday ordered the Pakistan Telecommu­nica­tion Authority (PTA) to suspend access to popular video-​sharing application TikTok in the country until July 8. The order was issued on a petition filed by a citizen aggrieved by the “immorality and obscenity” spread by content on the mobile app. The PTA has been directed to supsend the app until …

ISLAMABAD: As the government has proposed an increase in tax on mobile phone calls, prepaid customers mainly those belonging to the low-income segments of society will be hardest hit by the move. The finance minister has announced levy of additional Federal Excise Duty (FED) at the rate of Rs0.75 “after every five minutes” of mobile phone calls. The industry has …

KARACHI: Exports of telecommunications, computer and information services increased by almost 48 per cent to $1.908 billion during first 11 months of this fiscal year compared to $1.29bn in 11MFY20, State Bank’s latest data showed on Friday. In May alone, export earnings from this relatively new sector stood at $200 million compared to $196m in April. It recorded a 66pc …

NEW DELHI: India’s information technology minister on Friday accused Twitter of briefly blocking his account because of criticisms he made of the US firm in a standoff over new social media rules. Ravi Shankar Prasad said that in a “gross violation” of Indian regulations, he was without warning informed that his account was locked because of an infringement of US …

ISLAMABAD: Social media giant Facebook is expanding its women-empowerment focused initiative ‘SheMeansBusiness’ to bolster financial inclusion and resilience of women-led businesses in Pakistan. The ‘SheMeansBusiness’ initiative is operating in 21 countries around the world and more than one million women have been trained in digital skills worldwide by Facebook and its partners. Implemented in partnership with the State Bank and …

Google’s Chrome web browser will not fully block tracking cookies until late 2023, the Alphabet company said on Thursday, delaying by nearly two years a move that has drawn antitrust concerns from competitors and regulators. Google had wanted to bar reams of ad-personalization companies from gathering users’ browsing interests through cookies from January 2022. But rivals accused the world’s biggest …

More than half of young adults with mild COVID-19 who self-isolated at home were still reporting troublesome after-effects six months later, a study from Norway published on Wednesday in Nature Medicine found. The study included 312 COVID-19 survivors over age 16, with illnesses of varying severity. Overall, at six months, 189 patients, or 61%, reported persistent symptoms. Of the 61 …

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has renewed the licences of Telenor, Ufone and Jazz to operate in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan for another 15 years. These licences were to be expired on June 25 (today). PTA chairman Amir Azeem Bajwa and chief executive officers (CEOs) of Telenor, Jazz and Ufone along with senior representatives of these cellular …