Pakistan; a simple nation of 170 million and a bit more, completed a decade of telecommunication change last year.
From the days of landlines and costly cellular services, we are now apparently a mass of 100 million mobile users, connected to our friends, family and the wider world through the power of 5 operators. However, stagnation has begun to infect this process of change as the focus remains limited to the primary purpose of mobile communication: voice, with a hefty sprinkling of SMS.
Over the last few years, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has periodically released statements on the introduction of 3G services within the country
- In the first instance for Pakistan, the multi-million dollar license fees that were planned by the PTA have not won them any support from the industry till date. After all, each operator is a business entity that needs to provide a return to its stakeholders on the investment, and PTA’s vision does not have the backing of any market analysis at this stage.
- A quick scan over the alleged 100 million mobile subscribers reveals the large hindering blocks to any immediate 3G implementation in the country. Only 4% or so are GPRS/EDGE users; that means approximate 4 to 5 million mobile users have access to internet over their devices. This would include the Blackberry service users, who form only a speck in the entire mobile subscriber base. However, the push towards more incorporation of data services has shown an upward trend in the last year or so, with the service operators keen on hooking more users to internet applications and services.
- But there is a large gap to cover and it will take time. A major chunk of mobile users are not as tech-savvy or resourceful to purchase and utilize the added services on offer. This has prompted mobile operators to customize their extra services to SMS usage, instead of pure data or internet sessions, and the consistent reluctance to sign up for 3G investment, which is unlikely to be widely adopted by the consumer.
