Is Ufone Preparing to Bring iPhone to Pakistan?

Ufone_iPhone

Above posted screen was posted on Ufone’s website last night, hinting that Ufone could be the first cellular carrier in the country to officially bring iPhone devices in Pakistan.

While we don’t have any confirmation or any official word from Ufone, the above posted picture can easily be interpreted that operator is planning to bring iPhone devices in Pakistan, a market with over 15 million smartphone users.

“Ufone network is now iPhone ready” can be termed as a vague statement and must not be treated as a conclusive or meaningful phrase, but it be translated that Ufone and Apple collaborated (officially) for something. It can be network tweaking, software upgrade, bug-fixing, network optimisation with respect to iPhone devices or anything else.

Yes, it can also be an agreement for allowing Ufone to officially retail iPhone devices in Pakistan.

On a related note, we know that some operators had to configure their network (software and hardware) to support iPhone’s Face Time when Californian smartphone maker enabled the support for Face-Time calls over cellular networks rather than solely over Wi-Fi.

This happened two years ago in rest of the world but since 3G was made available in Pakistan only recently (Face Time Calls would naturally not work on GPRS/EDGE), there is a chance that this “Ufone Network is Ready for iPhone” may only mean that Ufone’s network now seamlessly support Face Time calls.

Not to forget, Ufone and Telenor recently asked its iPhone customers to update their OS through an OTA update that they were to receive from Apple. Reportedly, both operators had asked Apple to send an OS update to users in Pakistan that included a bug-fix.

It merits mentioning here that a tipster had confirmed me back in May 2014 – at the time of 3G auction – that Apple has plans to bring its iPhone devices in Pakistan. He had further told me that there could be two operators to officially bring iPhone in the country somewhere around September 2014. Due to lack of authoritative confirmations we didn’t carry the story then but we just hope now that this teaser from Ufone is about iPhone’s official launch in Pakistan.

In other news, Apple is rumoured to launch next versions of iPhone on September 30th, 2014. Apple may launch two devices namely iPhone 6 and iPhone Air with different screen sizes, later to fall in phablet category.

Tech and telecom reporter for over 15 years


  • 5s is now year old so Ufone please don`t bother , iphone 6 is welcome

  • I can confirm its just network tweaking. Whenever I insert my Ufone SIM in my iPhone 5s or connect through iTunes a pop-up comes up asking to update carrier settings. After update network name changes from UFONE-PK to Ufone and internet/cellular data settings are installed automatically whereas other local networks don’t support automatic configurations for iDevices.
    P.S. Facetime and iMessage services aren’t working. That’s all.

    • after reading ur comment, I insert ufone sim in my mobile but nothing happened, no pop up , no network settings.

                    • Yes it does, i restored my iPhone to get facetime back and now whenever i got this msg on my iPhone or on my Mac i declines to do the update, but my anty she did the same and after week or so he facetime came back, and her carrier logo is just ufone not Pk-Ufone, i dont know if it will work for us or not, the best part is ufone support is so naive that they dont realy know what im talking about and they keep saying ask Apple.

                    • Yes it is true, it did disable facetime when u update these careier settings, but only some days later there was anothee carrier update which enables the factime ! Which is the latest update. So don’t worry. :)

              • just for OS version, i changed sim again after not receiving any settings

                • @zulqarnainnizamani:disqus You are using Mobilink network that’s why you are not getting carrier setting. You must have Ufone sim :)

                    • Ok in that case you can connect your device with Itunes. After some time you will be notified on your computer to update carrier setting.

                • After inserting ufone or telenor sim in factory unlocked iphone Go to settings >general >software update check you will receive carrier update
                  Or go to settings >general >about
                  New settings will be auto installed for internet And mms
                  Custom option to change apn will disappear

                  Make sure you are connected to wifi to receive update

              • You will not get this on mobilink, its only coming to ufone and telenor sims.

      • Simply connect to Wifi, make sure you are not using Locked (gevey etc) iPhone. Or u won’t recieve update. Go to settings>general>about ! Wait, u should see the carrier update. If not then connect to iTunes on PC, wait for it. And if u are already seeing the small Ufone on ur status bar, means its already updated, if not (and a Full “Pk-Ufone” then u need to update,

    • I had to restore my phone to get these services back, but my anty dis the same and after one week her facetime came back with just ufone logo

    • This is the great update .. Thanks for sharing…

      One thing which I really want to know that iPhone 5 Model 1429 (Australian versions for LTE support) dose not has active LTE radio button in carrier data settings. Anyone noticed that?

      And after this update, anyone received active LTE option instead of 3G?
      I had iphone 5 and using on Zong. But it dose not have active 4g or LTE option in that. I checked on the web and came to know that carrier have to get licensed from Apple to active LTE options. Please check and let me know.

      Thanks,

  • Ufone the most ghatiya network of Pakistan. i used my ufone sim in iphone 3gs (1yr), 4 (1yr), 4s(1yr) & 5(1month)

    eveyone calling that you have shit phone, your voice always breaking.

    then i swithched to warid since that day not a single voice / facetime or i message issues. even push works perfect.

  • This is just a carrier setting update which disables your Face Time and iMessage :)

  • Iphone is good but i will pass this iphone 5s.Guys just wait Iphone 6 is coming bigger screen.So this 5s model will be useless.

  • “Reportedly, both operators had asked Apple to send an OS update to users in Pakistan that included a bug-fix.”

    Huh? When did this happen?

  • here people talking about that networks have to allow for face time for iphone since zong 3g launched i have been using their 3g network for face time calling and there is no issue at all. have u any 1 tried before commenting here guys ? its work for zong i dont know others network

    • if you dont know other networks then you should not comment either.. I have used Ufone3G and Telenor3G , they both send carrier update setting and facetime and iMessage was removed from my iPhone 5 so I had to restore it using iTunes to get it back.. .. ZONG is not giving me any carrier update :)

  • if they are actually plan on bringing iPhone to Pak, they better make sure its iPhone 6.. 5s is old news.. Apple is making quite some changes to its screen size and to its UI.. not to mention the new sapphire glass will be used on new iPhone.. way way better then iPhone 5s.. 6 will have same features as 5s but in a better, improved way.. [before you call me an Apples fan boy.. i use Android.. just saying]

  • Being iPhone reaady and giving iPhone are two different things, but Apple never launches its device officialy to those countries where cellular data sucks, and in Pakistan after 3G we are still not having any advantage, but i believe when 3G will roll out properly Apple will launch its devices in Pakistan, fingers crossed.

  • Never accept carrier settings as you will loose FaceTime, even you wouldn’t be able to make a Skype call.

  • its about network tweaking, confirmed
    Telenor has pushed OTA apple settings via apple updates last month too

  • I’ve asked ufone representative and here is it’s response,

    “Apple products have been optimized to be used on Ufone network; IPhones should work more seamlessly on Ufone network than any other network. For plans and any further updates keep on visiting Ufone web site”…..

  • Ive been using Facetime on my iPhone 5 using Warid Edge with no problem. It’s been working pretty smoothly. Althogh video quality is not that good. Idk about other carriers. But lets hope that someone will launch iPhone sooner or later. All we can do is wait.

  • i updated the Ufone carrier update but my facetime and imessages are working.
    they did not vanished. its improved ufone carrier update. 16.3 version.


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