State of Telecom Industry in Pakistan

Telecard has been in licensing disputes earlier and is now again as PTA suspends the WiMax commencement certificate of Telecard Limited. This takes Qubee’s future at stake as Qubee (brand name of Augere) for operating WiMax services uses Telecard’s spectrum and licenses. Daily times reports the details.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Monday suspended the commencement certificate of Telecard Limited.

The PTA took interim action in respect of their WLL licences, which were being used in conjunction with the 3.5GHz wireless spectrum by Augere Pakistan for supporting their new wireless broadband service launched in Karachi by the name of Qubee.

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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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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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Qubee – ‘An Augere Brand’, we discussed earlier, have now been officially launched in Karachi. Qubee has become the fourth player offering WiMAX services in Karachi, the other three being Wateen, Mobilink Infinity and Wi-tribe. The website says that services also are expected to be launched in Lahore, Islamabad, Hyderabad and Quetta in 2009.

Qubee Packages

Qubee offers variety of packages to home users.

Business users have a chance to customize their package on basis of their needs using the qubee tariff planner.

For more information visit their website here.

Since 2006, WiMAX in Pakistan has been the topic of news, articles and blogs. The views range from optimistic and positive to those who think that WiMAX will not survive against competing technologies. Regardless, the number of companies offering WiMAX based broadband has increased. At the same time, foreign press has also started noticing this trend. Here’s a recent article in Wi-FiPlanet magazine about WiMAX and its possibel role in online and distance education in Pakistan. I provided some information for this article as well. Here’s the link to the article.

At least three companies already have WiMAX networks up and running. In major cities, such as Islamabad, the capital, there is even some competition. Prices as a result have come down recently. KZO is only paying about $21 a month for 1 Mbps service at the two schools in its pilot, Cruver says.

Wateen, part of the Abu Dhabi Group based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is offering its Wateen Home service in 22 Pakistani cities, including Islamabad, Karachi and Rawalpindi. It was first to market, launching service in 2006.

Since then, the country’s largest cellular operator, Mobilink, a subsidiary of another Middle East company, Egypt’s Orascom, has launched its Mobilink Infinity service in Karachi. It has plans to roll the service out to other cities, including  Lahore and Islamabad.

Wi-tribe, a wireless broadband-only company, again with roots in the Middle East, launched this year in Lahore, Islamabad, and Karachi. All three use mobile-capable 802.16e WiMAX technology in the 3.5 GHz band.

According to WiMAX Forum, at least two other operators, Supernet (owned by Telecard) and Burraq Telecom, also plan to launch WiMAX service in Pakistan. 

WiMAX in Pakistan appears well on its way to becoming a key component of the country’s telecom infrastructure, one that leap-frogs it over better developed countries. But WiMAX still faces challenges, says Babar Bhatti, the U.S.-based chief editor of TelecomPK, a blog covering the industry in Pakistan.

I discussed the WiMAX evolution in Pakistan earlier. The recent launch of wi-tribe has definitely elevated the level of competition in WiMAX market in Pakistan. Now the latest news is the expected launch of Qubee an Augere brand for WiMAX services in Pakistan.

Qubee is a new and exciting company providing fast, reliable and competitively priced broadband internet services to residential and business customers across Pakistan. We believe that everyone should be able to enjoy trouble-free access to the internet and the world of opportunities that it brings. Our aim is to make a magical internet experience available to everyone, everyday, without exception.

Qubee is the creation of a group of global telecoms professionals who saw that a new technology called WiMAX could really change the internet experience for millions of people worldwide.

The details of the tariff and packages offered is not yet mentioned on their website, www.qubee.com.pk.

They are starting in Karachi, but quickly plan to expand thier network and cover other cities nationwide. The current coverage area for Qubee can be seen on the following link.

Qubee’s launch right after the launch of wi-tribe reminds me of the year 2005 when at the GSM front we saw Warid following Telenor’s launch. Nevertheless Qubee will bring on-air the fourth WiMAX operator of Pakistan, the other three being Wateen, Mobilink Infinity and the recent Wi-tribe. Will this start a price/data-rate war among the WiMAX operators? This will only become clear with time.