Pakistan seeks telecom funds
Recently the telecom sector in Pakistan has attracted a lot of attention from international investors - and for the right reasons: it is one of the fastest growing sector with a huge potential market. Looking at the billboards and media advertisements of mobile phones in Pakistan it is hard to believe that until a few years ago there was no one else but PTCL monopoly. The government is determined to make use of this opportunity to attract foreign investment. For example The International Herald Tribune recently reported:
Overseas investment in Pakistan’s telecommunications industry is expected to hold at $1 billion a year until at least 2009, said Shahzada Alam Malik, head of market regulator Pakistan Telecommunications Authority. As many as 50 percent of Pakistan’s 160 million people are expected to use telephones by that time, up from 23 percent in March this year and 4.3 percent in 2003, he said.
Telenor and Warid Telecom have since secured 20 percent of Pakistan’s cellular market, cutting the share of market leader Pakistan Mobile, or Mobilink, as the unit of Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Holding SAE is known, to 51 percent from 64 percent in 2004.
Pakistan, South Asia’s fastest growing telecommunications market, added as many as 2.6 million cellular users in April, according to a report by the regulator released that month. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz wants to widen the nation’s communications network to help the $118 billion economy grow 7 percent in the year starting next month.
The increasing competition should theoretically be good for the Pakistani consumers as well, but only if the regulatory framework does what it is supposed to do. There remains some concern from the consumers about service and rates. The question is: Is Pakistan Telecommunication Authority doing a good job of looking out for the consumers in Pakistan?
This post also appeared in Adil Najam’s blog: All Things Pakistan on July 7, 2006.
[...] By Babar Bhatti [...]
Talking from investors persepctive. especially those from OECD countries, what opportunitiies Pakistan’s Telecom Sector offers to foreign companies who wish to ente into Pakistan market.
Athar,
For foreign companies the opportunities lie because of the vast untapped market. The challenges are with the poor infrastructure, inconsistent regulatory market and unstable government. If you look at Mobilink or Telenor they have made big investments and as teledensity increases they will be in a good position to benefit from a larger customer base.
- Babar
Hi!
i am Khalid Zaib hasnain Living in Karachi and i am Student D.A.E TeleCommunication
PTCL not working in Student plus in Colleges and Institute. we want Internship but no buddy Come in our Institute My institute (SAIFEE EIDE ZABHI INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY) in all over Sind Saifee Doing D.A.E 1st time Plz Come and Got the Talent. Bcz we New Baby and fresh So Inshallah this time u Working grassrut Lavel.
THNX.
Khalid zaib hasnain 0345-2075648
i want to take internship in your institute but i dont know about procedure plz sms me on my hot mail ID …
i will thankfull to you….
i have 63% marks in D.A.E from kahuta institute of technology….
[...] By Babar Bhatti [...]
i am a student of 6TH semester (3rd year) in telecommuniction engineering at UET NWFP.I want to take internship in your institute .pleze send me all the procedure trough mail at mail address
engrsahib_khn@yahoo.com
yours imeadiate responce is desired
Thank
salam. i am student of 6th semeser electrical engineering in ali ahmed shah university of engineering and technology mirpur azad kashmir . i want to have internship .plzzz send me the procedure. at m y mail address . thanks .
I am final year student of COMSATS Institute of information technology (Islamabad).I have already done internship in PTCL. I want to have some experiance working with mobile company.
Tell me how to apply.
Doing final year project on “Mobile WiMAX”;
dear sir,
i am seeking for internship or job done my BSC in
Electrical (Electronics) engineering in 2007,resident of quetta.
kindly guide me for any company.
thank u!
http://telecompk.net/