State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

Guest Post by Naveed-ul-Haq, Member, ISOC Pakistan Chapter. Assistant Director (ICT), PTA.

Editor’s note: Mr. Naveed-ul-Haq attended the fourth annual Internet Governance Forum meeting in Egypt in November as an ambassador of The Internet Society (ISOC) , Pakistan Chapter. We thank him for sharing his experience and views with us.

While living in today’s world of technological modernization where humans and devices are in continuous interaction with each other, Internet evolved as a unique innovation that now has became a necessity. This evolution didn’t happen overnight, it has an historic link with ARPANET (a defense based project initiated in 1963 to exchange data packets over computer network). Then after 25 years of research and development of standards, Internet came into use of common man during early 90’s.

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PTCL is in the news as it reported earnings: a net profit of Rs. 5.354 billion for the half year ended on 31st December, 2009. This is a 13% growth compared to same period last year. At the same time, PTCL has withdrawn its high-speed Internet discount for students. In a recent press release, it announced that “PTCL is offering special 30% discount package for the students on 1 Mbps connection on high speed broadband services.” The previous connections of 2MBps and 4Mbps offered to students will be downgraded. To me, this business strategy seems odd. Why would you downgrade a popular package at a time when earnings are good?

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Can you spot what is not right about this advertisement from PTCL?

PTCL is providing devices (router and usb) for WiFi access in the home but they make it sound as if it is a “service”. Check out the official statement below. My take is that they should just make the router+usb free (at least not charge Rs. 200 per month for an indefinite period) and stop calling it a “service”.

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USF has been active in extending ICT access to under-served areas of Pakistan. Now its the turn of South Punjab to get  Broadband Internet, funded by Universal Service Fund (Ministry of IT), worth Rs. 1.95 billion. This project will be implemented through PTCL and Worldcall and will providebroadband facilities in un-served urban areas of Southern Punjab. This covers a population of 4.4 Million in 38 cities located in districts of Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur, D.G. Khan, Khanewal, Leyyah, Lodhran, Multan, Muzaffargarh, Rahim Yar khan, Rajanpur and Vehari.

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Recently my father wanted internet connectivity at his work site in the vicinity of Port-Qasim (Karachi), I suggested him to go for wireless broadband. So, my father asked me to get the best wireless broadband connection. This was not an easy task and above all my finding surprised me even more.

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This is a quick recap of the year for Telecom industry in Pakistan. Here are some of the positive developments of 2009.

1. Broadband shows signs of improvement with more subscribers, competition and lower rates.
2. Easypaisa paves the way for mobile financial services.
3. Online SIM checking service 667 and 668 for overseas Pakistanis
4. Better online maps and navigation become available for Pakistan.
5. Social media use among mainstream Pakistanis keeps growing.
6. Telecom companies actively use Facebook & start tweeting.
7. Plenty of ICT events and opportunities for networking.
8. PTA pushes to get SIM issue resolved.
9. Mobi2weet introduced.
10. Zong catches up and launches Blackberry.

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PTA has recently published a long overdue paper outlining the key performance indicators (KPIs) for fixed broadband services in Pakistan. The objective of defining these indicators, per PTA paper, is to create transparent, quantifiable and measurable standard service parameters for broadband which the service provider is entailed to provide and the user has a right to expect.

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Here’s an excerpt from the ISPAK (Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan) statement release to the press on PTCL’s non-cooperation over the last 5 days to activate new DSL connections to customers. PTA is investigating the matter. The history of bitter relations can be traced back to one of our early posts in 2006 – Battle of the Bandwidth.

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The latest PR affirms State Bank of Pakistan and PTA are closely working on a unified policy for mobile banking that will connect all banks of the country with cellular mobile operators for mobile transactions. No mentions about where the existing mobile banking framework will stand with it.

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PTCL steps up to give more to Lahorees. In their latest regional campaign for Lahore, they are offering three exciting packages for new subscribers.
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When compared with cellular phone growth, Broadband has been slow to take off in Pakistan. However the last two years show some progress  in terms of growth (a little over 20K subscribers per month), more choices of services in more places and most importantly a significant drop in cost for broadband access (~Rs.1200 per month on average). Another welcome trend is to move towards unlimited broadband.

PTCL has taken the lead with its DSL and EVO offerings while WorldCall, Mobilink Infinity, Wateen / WiMAX, Qubee,  NayaTel and Wi-Tribe have also offered their services.

According to PTA, “broadband subscriber base grew by 146% adding 245,727 subscribers during July 2008 – June 2009, while broadband connection charges for 1Mbps connection dropped below Rs. 1000. There were 413,809 Broadband subscribers in June 2009 as compared to 168,082 in June of 2008.”

At the current rate of broadband growth we can cross the half-million mark by December 2009. We need to get to 1 million much faster.

Daily Times recently wrote about broadband, excerpt below.

The Sustainable Development Policy Institute’s (SDPI) Study Group on Information Technology and Telecommunication in its 56th meeting discussed the problems that hinder broadband growth in Pakistan. Relevant stakeholders participated in the meeting. Wahaj ul Siraj of NayaTel and Zamir Bhatti of Wi-tribe reviewed the existing policy and infrastructure sharing issues.

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Universal Service Fund of Pakistan continues its initiatives to award substantial funds for rural connectivity in Pakistan. Recently USF awarded telecom contracts worth Rs. 1.25 Billion for providing Broadband Internet in the un-served urban areas of Hazara Telecom Region (HTR) with PTCL and Wateen Telecom and Optic Fiber connectivity to un-served tehsils of Central Balochistan with Wateen Telecom. Read more »