AS A CONCERNED CITIZEN, I WOULD LIKE TO URGE ALL THOSE WHO HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE ICT SECTOR TO DO WHATEVER THEY CAN, TO PUSH AND EXPEDITE INTRODUCTION OF MOBILE BROADBAND (3G OR WHATEVER).  I say this because yet another delay (albeit short and for good reasons) has appeared.

Irrespective of the on-going, completely unnecessary, “controversy” surrounding auction of 3G in Pakistan, allotting 3G frequencies to telecom operators is extremely urgent and essential for Pakistan. We have already been left behind by others who used to be our followers in 2G. Mobile broadband – or 3G – should have been introduced here already four years ago. The delay has made us lose huge opportunities relating to job creation, international trade, economic growth and Foreign Direct Investment (Telecom FDI 2007: US$1,824 mil and 2011: US$ 79 mil). Not to mention letting the technology gap between the advanced countries and us widen even more, despite the fact that more than 70% of our population is below 35 – normally considered early adopters of modern technology.

According to ITU’s World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, a total of 159 economies worldwide have launched 3G services commercially and the number of active mobile-broadband subscriptions has surpassed one billion.  Countries from New Zealand to USA are allocating huge amounts of national resources to deploy infrastructure, like Optic Fiber Cables, to facilitate delivery of broadband to the citizens. Whereas we are taking ages even to allocate the God-given resource of frequency-spectrum which will facilitate provision of broadband.

Some skeptics ask what we will do with 3G? Mostly they are only thinking in terms of mobile phones – and not mobile broadband. Although a lot could be done with 3G smart phones too (present estimate 15 mil smart phones in Pakistan, expected to increase to 50 mil by 2016), it is 3G mobile broadband, mainly using USB dongles, complementing fixed broadband, that is of bigger value and main attraction for countries like ours. While people in developed countries usually use mobile-broadband in addition to the fixed, mobile-broadband is often the only access method available to people in developing countries.

Broadband has tremendous commercial usages but one of it’s main benefits lies in it’s capability as a deliverer of basic services to hundreds of millions of citizens, especially those living in the hinterlands of the country. Education, Health, Governance, Commerce, Agriculture, Women Empowerment,… all can find their way. Greater access to broadband services has been found to help accelerate achievement of development targets like the internationally-agreed Millennium Development Goals. It is only using broadband that we can serve our exploding population (CAGR: 2.5%) at their doorsteps, not only to bring prosperity to them but also prevent mass migration to urban centers and save our bursting mega-cities from crumbling under their own weight.

Right now in Pakistan broadband is available in less than 300, small and big, towns and cities. All the present two million connections being of fixed broadband category (50% wireless). But then there is only so much fixed technologies can do. Fortunately, thanks to the ubiquitous 2G GSM network, 3G can take broadband to every nook and corner of the country, becoming accessible to more than 90% population, with relatively small effort. I have deliberately used the word “effort” and not investment because investment will come from private sector telecom operators. Here is a sector where the government doesn’t need to bother about development budget allocations and resource constraints. Just like 2G was such an effective engine of growth for our economy, 3G too could contribute significantly. Admittedly the private sector operators would like to invest and deploy 3G mainly in large cities, but for the rest there is USF!

As for the controversy, firstly, on a per-megahertz-per-year basis, the announced base price is equal to the peak price achieved last time around. Secondly it is likely to go higher during bidding, despite worse political/economic/security situation than in 2004. And thirdly the licenses are going to be technology-neutral, therefore it is the operators who would decide whether they deploy 3G or something else (incidentally 4G – the so-called LTE Advanced — is not even there yet). Yes, the only thing that all of us need to be vigilant about and jealously guard is the process being followed. The process must be fair and transparent. Period.

The author is the formar CEO of USF (Universal Service Fund) Pakistan. He joined the newly formed USF in May 2007 as it’s first employee. Within weeks he built the organisation and successfully started executing projects to bridge the digital divide in the country thru private sector telecom service providers. USF Pakistan is globally recognized as a success-story in it’s domain. Parvez receives frequent invitations to deliver talks at international forums on Universal Service Obligation issues (mainly sponsored by World Bank, ITU and USAID) as well as conduct workshops and provide consultancy services to various countries. Presently Parvez is working as an Independent Telecom Consultant. Before USF he was the country-head of Siemens Telecom in Pakistan. Has been to great learning institutions like Carnegie Mellon and Oxford Universities and has been extensively trained by Siemens in Germany.

This post first appeared on Parvez Iftikhar’s personal blog.

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Pakistan is ranked as one of top countries that registered high growth rates in broadband Internet penetration among their populace, the latest worldwide data report for Q1 2010 to Q1 2011 says.

Serbia leads all countries surveyed with a 68% annual growth rate from Q1 2010 to Q1 2011, according to July 2011 Bandwidth Report with data on worldwide bandwidth penetration. The figures were cited by Website Optimization, LLC, a leading website optimizing firm, sourced from Point Topic, a global broadband tracker, and reported by PRWeb. Pakistan, which has seen a boom in its promising telecom sector and information technology services in recent years, recorded around 46.2 percent growth of subscribers and is placed fourth on the ranking list.
The closest South Asian country to Pakistan on the list of top countries is Sri Lanka at the 11th spot with its broadband penetration growing in 30s while India lags at the 14th place in terms of broadband growth.
Globally, only Thailand and Belarus had greater percentage expansion than Pakistan, apart from top-rated Serbia during the period.  Pakistan’s digital growth prospects have begun to look brighter lately.
Besides having a large bilingual (English and Urdu) Internet conversant population, Pakistan’s software companies have carved a niche internationally in recent years. According to government figures, the country’s information technology exports totalled $ 1.4 billion in the last financial year. Experts say the IT industry, which adds thousands of skilled workers every year, has the potential to hit multi-billion export target within next five to ten years. Additionally, mobile phone and wireless Internet usage are also expanding rapidly.
The survey data shows that China continues to lead the world in total broadband subscribers. As of the first quarter of 2011, China had over 135 million broadband subscribers, with the US at over 88 million subscribers in second place. Japan, German, and France followed China and the US in total subscribers.

Via APP

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By using this application general public can view the growth in mobile and fixed line services all along the country including Azad Jammu and Kashmir. It would be helpful for those people who are planning to visit remote areas, whether coverage of the particular telecom service for particular operator is available in that area or not. It is worth mentioning that this type of application is first of its kind in the public sector of Pakistan.

Federal Secretary for Information Technology and Telecom Mr. Saeed Ahmad Khan has inaugurated an application enabling general public, telecom operators and investors, to view availability of telecom services coverage all across Pakistan. The application named “Pakistan Telecommunication Coverage Footprint” has been developed by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and is available on its website (www.pta.gov.pk). The Secretary inaugurated this application during his visit to PTA Headquarters today. Chairman PTA Dr. Mohammed Yaseen Member Technical Dr. Khawar Siddique Khokhar and senior officers of the Authority were also present during the visit.

The application has few glitches, but we are sure that they will be resolved with time. As a whole PTA’s effort in developing this consumer benefiting  application is laudable.

The coverage footprint can be viewed at: http://www.pta.gov.pk/digitalmaps/digitalmaps.php

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While commenting on the growth of broadband internet market he says that a phenomenal growth is seen and it is still growing rapidly. “I do not think there is any saturation in the market. Companies that improve their services, technology and products will succeed,” he asserted. “Owing to the demanding nature of business, we call it a 3D business which is different, difficult and dynamic.”

Speaking about possible mergers and acquisitions, Naqvi said he expected mergers and acquisitions in the local broadband market. “Technology kills technology, companies do not kill companies,” he said. At present, there are four broadband internet service providers in Pakistan.

With almost a 52 per cent market share, DSL internet is still the most popular in the local internet market. However, broadband internet users have grown continuously over the last three years and companies have acquired a 28 per cent market share. The remaining market share is divided between EvDo (15 per cent) and HFC (4 per cent), according to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) data.

via Express Tribune

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An industry first, Pakistan’s PTCL will be using VDSL2 Bonding technology to provide existing digital subscriber line (DSL) customers with speeds up to 50 Mbps. The project leverages Alcatel-Lucent’s (Euro next Paris and NYSE: ALU) VDSL2 Bonding expertise and should be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2011.

VDSL2 Bonding takes two copper-based VDSL2 lines per subscriber and aggregates them – almost doubling the bandwidths available to existing customers, or expanding high-speed broadband access to areas that are underserved today. Using VDSL2 Bonding, service providers can extend the life of their existing copper infrastructure – supporting the delivery of bandwidth-intensive services such as triple-play voice, data and IPTV.

According to a recent study  from market research firm IHS iSuppli, simultaneous access to applications such as peer-to-peer file sharing, online gaming, streaming audio, VoIP and IPTV will soon require bandwidths between 50 and 100Mbps. This fits exactly with VDSL2’s capabilities, especially when combined with innovations such as Bonding and Vectoring.

Commenting on this achievement President and CEO PTCL Walid Irshaid has stated “PTCL is the first service provider worldwide to deploy a commercial VDSL2 Bonding solution that aims at doubling the bandwidths provided to its existing customers. We are thus setting the trend in international telecoms, and are taking the broadband experience in Pakistan to the next level. Alcatel-Lucent’s VDSL2 Bonding technology and comprehensive services and network integration expertise is helping us to keep pace with the increasing bandwidth requirements of our customers, while capitalizing on the existing copper infrastructure. This will enable us to quickly deliver high-quality, high-speed and high-availability business and residential services – even in areas where it was not possible before.”

Alcatel-Lucent is providing PTCL with its Intelligent Services Access Manager (ISAM) IP access platform – which is the first platform to commercially support VDSL2 Bonding. Alcatel-Lucent will also supply Bonding-ready customer premises equipment (CPE). Alcatel-Lucent serves as the project’s master network integrator, and is providing a range of professional services – including project management, installation and commissioning, integration and technical support.

“We understand that service providers need the right tools to bridge the gap until fiber deployments have become ubiquitous. VDSL2 Bonding is an ideal approach: service providers like PTCL can almost double the speeds supported by their DSL infrastructure or expand their network’s reach. This makes it a fast and cost-effective approach to bridging the digital divide,” said Aadil Rauf CEO Alcatel-Lucent Pakistan Ltd. “This commercial VDSL2 Bonding project with PTCL marks the beginning of VDSL2 Bonding deployments outside of the US – where the technology is typically used to expand the reach of the copper network.”

Alcatel-Lucent is the driving force behind the world’s most advanced VDSL2 roll-outs, with customers such as Belgacom, STC, Swisscom and Telekom Austria. Our VDSL2 solution has also been deployed by competitive operators, including M-net (Germany) and South Yorkshire Digital Region (UK).

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The exact question at Dr. Yaseen’s private blog is as follows:

No doubt, Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) will be a next BIG thing in the world and it is now not so far to expect that in every part of the world, maximum percentage of the people will be dependent to TMT. Technology is evolving day by day; From TV to IPTV, Internet TV and now 3D TV and highly innovative mobile phones like Apple IPhone and Google Nexus Android are the examples of technology evolvement in last 2 years. From Dialups to Broadband and now Fiber to the home and 4G / LTE mobile networks, People are getting used to high Data speeds and usage of DATA and information Accessibility is much in trend these days. I would like to start a discussion on an important question that should Pakistan go for 3G networks or beyond it, by beyond I mean 4G, E-Edge?

You can jump to discussion following this link: http://www.dryaseen.pk/technology.asp

Other things covered on Dr. Yaseen’s private blog include topics on Regulations, Strategy and ICT initiatives.

Dr. Yaseen’s step to engage with segments of the industry on the upgrade to communication technology is highly appreciated.

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With an aim to enhance online access for both personal and business use, wi-tribe is focused towards expanding its quality-driven network, in line with a strategic plan to provide an affordable range of broadband services to more customers in all their cities of operation.

While talking about wi-tribe’s expansion in Pakistan, VP Sales & Marketing; Wahib Aslam said, “We are really excited about introducing our services to Faisalabad and take this opportunity to invite the local community to join the tribe. We look forward to our customers benefiting from wi-tribe’s diverse package and promotion offerings, along with a superior broadband experience. It is evident that any country’s literacy and GDP are significantly tied to online access, which will only improve the opportunities for wi-tribe’s community.”

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To celebrate this achievement, PTA Chairman, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen, was invited by wi-tribe Pakistan’s CEO, Mustafa Peracha and his team for a cake-cutting ceremony at wi-tribe’s head office in Islamabad. During the ceremony, wi-tribe’s CEO Mustafa Peracha expressed his delight on the recent achievement, stating, “I am elated about wi-tribe’s success in Pakistan. I’m also thankful to PTA for recognizing our effort to take broadband to the next level.”

On the team’s effort he said, “Today, I proudly share wi-tribe’s feat with my dedicated team, our community, customers and partners, who have continuously extending their trust and support. We aim to deliver an exceptional and personalized broadband experience to our customers, and believe in constant evolution, which will continue to reflect in all our offerings.”

In addition to recognizing wi-tribe’s quality-driven approach, the report also concluded that wi-tribe is the fastest growing broadband operator in Pakistan, successfully delivering high speed internet to customers in all its cities of operation.

During the last five years, Pakistan’s broadband subscriber base has increased by leaps and bounds. People from all walks of life, including professionals, students, academics and corporates are all finding high speed internet to be essential towards their respective progression. wi-tribe realizes the need to serve growing demands, with no compromise on quality of service.

via Press Release

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Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited is the largest broadband service provider in the country and has acquired over 500,000 broadband users in 1000 cities and towns, thereby leading the proliferation and awareness of Broadband services across Pakistan. Not only this, to cater to the diversified needs of its broadband subscribers across the country, PTCL introduced WiFi modems with its fixed line broadband service. The WiFi modems provides customers with the convenience to move around freely and enjoy secure wireless high speed broadband connectivity with in their homes matched by none other wireless broadband service provider.

PTCL Broadband service has achieved another milestone by introducing a new 10Mbps Broadband package in addition to its existing Broadband packages. That offers the customers 1, 4, 6 and 8mbps broadband speed under various packages according to their requirement. This makes PTCL as the highest data rate broadband service provider in the country with the most robust and capable network providing its customers with most flexible bandwidth packages.

SEVP Commercial Naveed Saeed told by providing different packages and bandwidth speed and now by introducing the 10MBPS package, PTCL broadband becomes the obvious and best choice for the customers who are looking for high speed internet usage providing them with a bundle of free services such as ‘Buzz’ infotainment portal, ‘gaming zone’ free & personalized e-mail, e-learning and special economical student packages for online education.

EVP Multimedia and Broadband Zomma Mohiuddin said PTCL introduced a number of initiatives and value added services to its broadband product portfolio not only to ensure fast proliferation and growth of broadband service but  has also upgraded its infrastructure constantly to ensure the availability of the service to our valued customers in far flung areas of the country. He also added that PTCL is also the only service provider to introduce interactive IPTV, Quad play packages and online “BUZZ” gaming and infotainment portal to satisfy the needs of its large customer base.

via Press Release

Along with this I believe PTCL should also come with improvements to the customer services. Their customer service at present is really a pain. What do you think?

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