M. Saleem Akhtar (Toor)

M. Saleem Akhtar (Toor)

Head of Program Management at Wateen Telecom; MBA, B.Sc. Eng., PMP

Pakistan

Current
Past
  • Assistant Manager Engineering at Pak Telecom Mobile Limited (Ufone)
  • Engineer/ Senior Engineer/ Principal Engineer at Alcatel

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Education
  • The University of Calgary
  • University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore
  • Air Base Intermediate College, Sargodha
Recommended
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Connections
228 connections
Industry
Telecommunications
Websites

M. Saleem Akhtar (Toor)’s Summary

I have been working in the telecom sector since 1998. Following is a brief of my work experience:

a) Alcatel-lucent: 4.5 years (GSM/ Wireline/ IN) in pre-installation engineering, customer project management, pre-sales/ account management, team leadership

b) Pak Telecom Mobile Limited (Ufone, Pakistan's second largest GSM operator): 1 year (GSM/ GPRS) in project management, network planning and bidding management

c) IBM Consulting: 7 months (telecom datawarehousing and ERP) in customer project management, bidding management

d) Mobile Weaver (www.youpark.com): 2 years (telecom VAS solutions) in company startup, human resource management, technology and business development

e) Wateen Telecom - working since May 2008: customer project management and technical account management for banking and media clients providing voice, data and internet services through WiMax, OFC (Metro and Longhaul), DVB-RCS, VSAT and Microwave solutions, Since March 2009, I have been assigned the responsibility of Program Management in Engineering Division.

On the education/ training side, I posses the following credentials:

a) PMP Certification - April 2008
b) MBA – Finance (University of Calgary, Canada) - June 2005
c) B.Sc. Electrical Eng (University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore,
Pakistan)- December 1997

M. Saleem Akhtar (Toor)’s Specialties:

Program/ Project management, leadership, tendering/ pre-sales management, vendor ngotiations, organizational development, Human Resource management and counseling, corporate communications; experience in GSM, Wireline, WiMax, OFC, VSAT, Microwave technologies and mobile content industry

M. Saleem Akhtar (Toor)’s Experience

  • Head of Program Management

    Wateen Telecom

    (Privately Held; Telecommunications industry)

    March 2009 — Present (5 months)

  • Head of Corporate Projects and Technical Account Management

    Wateen Telecom

    (Privately Held; Telecommunications industry)

    May 2008 — February 2009 (10 months)

    Working as Senior Manager Operations:

    1. Overseeing Wateen’s nationwide corporate project implementation in the banking, media, carrier and other sectors supervising a team of five Project Managers; projects cater for data, internet and voice connectivity over WiMax, OFC, DVB-RCS, VSAT or Microwave

    2. Supervising Technical Account Management (SLA management) for over 130 corporate customers with a team of three managers and a twenty member staff of corporate helpline

  • Head of Operations (Technology and Business Development)

    MobileWeaver ApS

    (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

    August 2006 — May 2008 (1 year 10 months)

    This experince is related to setting up and managing a startup company developing mobile content and applications for the telecom industry.

    1. Planning, development and management/ monitoring of a 30 member offshore technology and business setup to service clients worldwide

    2. Planning, development and implementation of HR, finance, software development and quality assurance processes; hired over 20 team members; assisted in accounting, procurement and administration areas

    3. Strategic planning and online marketing of telecom VAS products

    4. Proposal development and contract negotiations with international and local telecom VAS clients (operators and mobile phone distributors)

  • Senior Consultant

    IBM Business Consulting

    (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; IBM; Information Technology and Services industry)

    February 2006 — August 2006 (7 months)

    1. Project Manager: Implementation of Data-warehousing solution at Paktel (now ZONG, a company now owned by China Mobile Corporation)

    2. Bidding lead: Oracle ERP implementation at Pakistan Telecommunications Company Limited (PTCL)

  • Assistant Manager Engineering

    Pak Telecom Mobile Limited (Ufone)

    (Telecommunications industry)

    July 2002 — September 2003 (1 year 3 months)

    - Project estimation, planning and tendering:

    1. Complete coordination of the RFP preparation and review process for NSS, BSS, VAS and allied equipment for Ufone network expansion
    2. Project estimation and planning for $100million GSM/ GPRS network expansion
    3. Development of NSS network technical specifications
    4. Technical and financial evaluation of submitted bids
    5. Negotiation of final project deliverables and timelines with selected vendors
    6. Review of US$83 million contract for telecommunications mobile network infrastructure with Nortel Networks and Siemens

    - Project monitoring and contract Management:

    1. Successful monitoring of US$60 million country-wide GSM installation project
    2. Coordination of country wide network acceptance activity and resolution of Ufone-vendor acceptance issues related to telecom and allied infrastructure in liaison with regional teams
    3. Presentation of network acceptance-testing stats to top management on monthly basis

  • Engineer/ Senior Engineer/ Principal Engineer

    Alcatel

    (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; ALA; Telecommunications industry)

    April 1998 — July 2002 (4 years 4 months)

    - Project Planning, tendering and project management:

    1. Project estimation, bidding and planning for 3 PSTN, GSM and IN projects
    2. Preparation of Alcatel Pakistan's quarterly as well as annual installation plans and follow up with third party suppliers, sub-contractors and the customer
    3. Successful pre-installation engineering and management of project execution and monitoring of four public switching projects worth US$15-20 million each
    4. Heading the engineering team for SAP (SD and MM) master database administration, foreign and local Material Requirement Planning (MRP), ordering and equipment logistics for telecom and allied infrastructure

    5. Traveling to more than 100 remote sites within rural and urban Pakistan for surveys and feasibility studies of the proposed telecom infrastructure

    - Team building:

    1. Development of a four member Engineering team
    2. Assisted in training of Alcatel's 12 member operations and maintenance team

M. Saleem Akhtar (Toor)’s Education

  • The University of Calgary

    MBA , Finance , 2003 — 2005

    - Cumulative GPA - 3.72/ 4.0
    - Member of the winning team: business plan compeition
    - Strategic Audit of Guest-tek, a startup providing telecommunication solutions to worldwide hospitality industry
    - Analysis of Rogers Wireless acquisitions

    Activities and Societies:
    - The MBA Society, University of Calgary
    - Graduate Research Assistant with Professsor Peter D. Sherer PhD: Data collection regarding HR transitions in US law firms

  • University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore

    BSc Engineering , Communications & Electronics , 1992 — 1997

    - 88% cumulative score; among top 5% students in all four academic years in a class of 200 students

  • Air Base Intermediate College, Sargodha

    Higher Secondary School Certificate , Pre-Engg. , 1985 — 1991

    - First position among all Pakistani students in HSSC exam - won Allama Iqbal Gold Medal

Additional Information

M. Saleem Akhtar (Toor)’s Websites:

M. Saleem Akhtar (Toor)’s Interests:

Social development in the third world, renewable energy and Technology particularly Telecom, IT and media, broadcasting

M. Saleem Akhtar (Toor)’s Groups:

Project Management Institute (PMI) international, Islamabad and Lahore Chapters; University of Calgary Alumni Association

  •    The Greater IBM Connection: IBM's alumni program for past and present IBM employees
  •    Telecom Professionals
  •    Telecom Grid of Pakistan
  •    Project Management Link
  •    Project Managers - Resource Pool
  •    Total Telecom Professional Network
  •    Tech & Job Expo: Networking in Technology, Media, Wireless & Telecom
  •    Project Management Professionals (PMP)
  •    Pakistani Professionals Working Outside of Pakistan
  •    UET Alumni
  •    Telecom Jobs
  •    Haskayne MBA
  •    Wateen Telecom
  •    Alcatel Lucent Association Group (+ 3,800 members WW)
  •    Middle East Opportunities
  •    ZUMBEEL | A Telecom Engineering Family
  •    University of Calgary Students, Alumni and Professors
  •    Saudi Arabia Opportunities
  •    Telecom- World (IMSI)
  •    Pakistani Telecom Professionals Network

M. Saleem Akhtar (Toor)’s Honors:

- Commonwealth Scholar MBA 2003-2005 (University of Calgary, Canada)
- Pakistan's National Merit Scholarships throughout academic career
- Merit certificates (top ten in a class of 200) in all four academic years at University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore
- Pakistan's National Gold Medal for achieving first position in nationwide Higher Secondary School Certificate (HSSC) exam

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