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China halts funding of 3 CPEC projects

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Islamabad, Dec 5 (IANS) China has temporarily stopped funding of three projects related to the road network under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) till a decision regarding “new guidelines” is issued from Beijing, according to a senior government official.

The decision could affect over 1 trillion Pakistani rupees ($9 billion) road projects of the National Highway Authority (NHA). The projects to be affected include the 210-km Dera Ismail Khan-Zhob Road at an estimated cost of 81 billion Pakistani rupees, Dawn online reported.

Of this, 66 billion Pakistani rupees was supposed to be spent on construction of road and 15 billion Pakistani rupees on land acquisition. The second project was 110-km Khuzdar-Basima Road and 19.76 billion Pakistani rupees was estimated to be spent on it.

The 8.5 billion Pakistani rupees 136-km remaining portion of Karakarom Highway from Raikot to Thakot was also impacted.

All three projects were originally part of the government’s own development programme but in December 2016, the spokesman of the NHA announced that they are to be included under the CPEC umbrella to become eligible for concessionary finance from China.

The Pakistan government official told Dawn that funds for the three road projects were approved in the 6th Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) meeting for the CPEC held last year, pending necessary procedural formalities.

It was expected that the funding of the three projects would be finalised during the Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting held on November 20, but Pakistan was informed in the meeting that “new guidelines” will be issued from Beijing under which a new modus operandi for release of the funds will be described.

The decision of the Chinese government was conveyed to Pakistan in the JWG meeting and the existing procedure for release of funds had been abolished.

The official said the Pakistani side was left “stunned” when told of the development.

He, however, claimed that Chinese side was disturbed with increasing news reports being published in Pakistan regarding corruption in the CPEC projects and that was the reason behind Beijing temporarily halting release of funds for the corridor.

–IANS
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Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

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CasinoDays India

International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.

Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.

The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.

Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile

The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.

CasinoDays India

The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.

“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.

Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings

Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.

 

CasinoDays India

Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).

Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.

The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.

Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.

Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities

The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.

On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.

Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.

“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.

The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.

 

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