The internet technology is considered as the next big thing in Pakistan with its rapid expansion in the country which has been creating its demand itself in the changing and advanced lifestyle of the people. The internet users and services providers have been on the rise in the capital cities in particular and in different urban cities and rural areas with the growing awareness, emerging applications, and its multifaceted benefits.
The statistic of Internet Service Providers of Pakistan (ISPAK) showed that number of internet users have increased more than 10 million in the country including almost 1.5 million broadband users.
Pakistan is ranked as one of the top countries recently that registered high growth rate in broadband Internet penetration, a global think tank on technology said.
The country, which has seen a boom in its 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.
It is top in the list of South Asian countries lagging behind its neighboring states such as Sri Lanka that spot 11th place with its broadband penetration growing in 30s while India lags at the 14th place in terms of broadband growth.
There more than 50 internet service providers including 10 broadband companies operating in different parts of the country under their license at various charges.
These service providers have brought advanced technology to deploy their network including Wimax, DSL, FTTH and HFC. The number of operators with variety of technology has been expanding base of technology users with competition, showing the falling rates of service by every passing of month.
The different service providers include PTCL, Wateen, WiTribe, Qubee, Comsat. The broadband packages are lowest in the world ranging from Rs 250 to Rs 3,000 per month depending on the speed and utility of data by the subscribers. However, the stiff competition among the operators resulted constant decline and multiple offers to the users.
This demand has attracted scores of service providers to scale up their business as much as possible where rapid communication is needed at least. The technology expansion has contributed a vital share to the economy as the operators have invested millions of rupees and provided jobs to millions of educated and skilled workers.
Particularly different broadband operators utilizing wired and wireless technology have planned to broaden their network in big and small cities with million dollar of investment in the future as a matter of fact Pakistan is highly potential market for them with increasing number of educated youngsters in the largely under-served market.
Pakistan’s Universal Service Fund (USF) is aggressively working for the deployment of physical network for internet operators side by side with awareness program for masses.
USF Broadband Program is spending different projects and allocated subsidy of Rs 6.3 billion on infrastructure. It laid special emphasis on educational institutions under which Computer Labs (Educational Broadband Centres) are being set up in 2,000 higher secondary schools and colleges whereas 700 community Broadband Centres are also in the developing stages in different areas.
In this regard, 1,500 contracts were awarded to different operators to establish learning centers for people who cannot afford computers.
Pakistan has already developed and expanded its technology highways with international undersea cable for its future demands. Presently, there are four undersea cables connecting Pakistan to rest of world including PTCL’s owned SMW3, SMW4 & IMEWE and one with TWA.
The domestic internet highways or domestic Fiber backbones providers are PTCL, Wateen, Mobilink and Multinet.
Internet has been evolving in its different technological modes through high-speed broadband have become of the basic need of the people for the purpose of information, education, entertainment and business. Hence, it is an indispensable source that plays a vital role in different aspects of a masses’ life.
Pakistan’s digital growth prospects have begun to look brighter lately. Besides having a large bilingual (English and Urdu) Internet using population as the estimated viewership of blogs have reached nearly 3.4 million.
The broadband program is also giving boost to provision of other e-services like e-health, e-government, e-commerce etc.
This will open up a much larger market for smaller enterprises and big businesses as well to reach their consumers more directly. An example can be online payment mechanism with top-up capabilities everywhere and ability to transfer online in real time.
Once the users realize the full potential of the internet the entire commercial landscape can change within a short span of time, as businesses and their consumers interact at a closer level. There is need to provide low cost computer systems for students and make them literate to operate different applications of IT with broadband facility. The broadband technology is indispensable not only for educational and business sector but it is utmost necessity for small medium sized enterprises.
The government should establish training centers for promotion of IT education among the masses aimed at enhancing a true literacy level in the urban rural areas, which is still very low as far as technology enabling is concerned.
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