The Road Forward For Broadband In Pakistan
Remember the broadband dispute between PTCL and ISPs? The PTA determination (pdf file) on that has been released and it seems that the industry is finally heading in the right direction. It was high time for PTA to intervene and fix the broadband policy and regulatory issues which are slowing the broadband growth. Currently, there are only 65,000 broadband users in Pakistan with a growth rate of 15%, much lower than other comparable countries. The primary issue has always been price.
The main contention as mentioned above was about DSL rates and it was resolved when PTCL slashed bandwidth prices by 25% to 50% for its Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity on July 6, 2007. This positive change was welcomed by the telecom industry. PTCL also reduced the DSL line rental.
Here’s a list of all the other issues which were raised for telecom industry’s consultation:
 a) Crow flying vs. distance based charging of bandwidth by PTCL;
 b) Charging of line rent to DSL operators by PTCL;
 c) Access to Optic Fibre Access Network (OFAN) of PTCL to DSL operators;
 d) Provision of adequate collocation space by PTCL to DSL operators;
 e) Provision of Ethernet connectivity between PTCL exchanges;
 f) Improvements in DSL operators’ complaint handling mechanism by PTCL;
 g) Simplification of Standing Operating Procedures(SOPs) for activation of PTCL lines Â
 for access to DSL operators; and
 h) Provision of broadband services by Cable TV service providers.
I am hoping that others who have more in-depth or first-hand experience of these issues will present their views as well. Are we on the right track yet?
Created by Babar Bhatti, TelecomPk.Net is a leading source of information and analysis about Pakistan Telecom industry.
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Nice blog. A survey post on the current infrastructure would be highly appreciated. What are the current players in industry providing backbone networks etc
a)- even if they keep distance based pricing they can still reduce intercity connectivity charges, so far they have reduced bandwidth tariffs but the real OPEX in case of ISP’s is stream charges which are still very high.
b)- PTCL does not charge any line rent from DSL operators, they only do revenue sharing which is usually 5%/package of the revenue ISP is earning and i believe that now when they are a competitor to others they can secure some revenue from the ISP’s who are Dependant on PTCL
c)- I suppose PTCL should allow as they have done this before by allowing ISP’s to service on copper medium. same revenue sharing policy applies, however companies coming with their own laung haul OFC backbone will not remain Dependant on PTCL
As far as (d),(e),(f) and (g) are concerned, PTCL is still not positive even after PTA’s determination. getting extension in colocation, new colocation, SOP’s, LQT process are still with inadequate facilitation, even those applying for OFC lead in to PTCL exchanges are being rejected on revenue assurance by PTCL. I think they are right we must understand that being a private company now they are no more on the facilitating end for the competitors, why would they lose potential revenues theirselves???????? So competitors must get independant by deploying their own networks or lookinf for any other alternates
Good points Atif.
See discussion on these decisions at:
http://groups.google.com/group/telecom-grid-pakistan/browse_thread/thread/95e9ffac6ccc708f
Excerpt from above thread - a comment by TM:
PTCL had a simple draconian rule which said that if you are colocated at PTCL, you could only interconnect with PTCL - both for voice and data. The above ruling by PTCL should pave way of the removal of similar ugly conditions currently being imposed on the entire industry by PTCL.
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