Telecommunications in Pakistan

Mobile Telecommunications

Telecom sector is seeing exorbitant growth in Pakistan. The sector is said to be growing at a pace of 170 per cent yearly. Mobile subscribers are 68 million as of August 2007, according to Pakistan Telecommunications Authority(PTA), 2.7 million subscribers are added monthly. In fact Pakistan has the highest mobile penetration rate in the region. According to the PTA, Mobilink continues to lead the market with 27.82 million subscribers, followed by Ufone (15.33 million), Telenor (11.9 million), Warid Telecom (11.48 million), Paktel (1.03 million) and Instaphone (0.33). All Telecom companies are now working to broaden their network in AJK and Northern Areas, which were normally ignored till now.

Main listing: List of mobile phone companies in Pakistan

Telephone system

The telecom infrastructure is improving dramatically with foreign and domestic investments into fixed-line and mobile networks; fiber systems are being constructed throughout the country to aid in network growth. Major businesses have established their own private systems; since 1988, the government has promoted investment in the national telecommunications system on a priority basis, significantly increasing network capacity. There are currently 6 million landline subscribers in the country.

domestic: microwave radio relay, coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable, cellular, and satellite

Landlines: For local calls the code used is non-STD. For calls to other cities (e.g. Karachi to Lahore) the code is called STD. For International calls the code used is ISD.

Dialling System: When dialling on landlines, calls made within cities are considered local calls. Calls to other cities (e.g Karachi to Lahore) are considered long distance calls and are metered according to distance. (e.g. When dialling to Lahore from Karachi you have to dial the code for Lahore then follwoed by the number of the destination, therefore you dial 042-XXX-XXXX ). For local calls, you just dial the local number. For international calls, you dial "00" followed by the country code. (e.g. For calls to the UK from Pakistan you dial 00 - 44 - XXXXXX ).

International: satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean); 3 operational international gateway exchanges (1 at Karachi and 2 at Islamabad); microwave radio relay to neighboring countries.

Internet

Internet access has been available in Pakistan since the mid-1990s. PCTL started offering access via the nationwide local call network in 1995. By early 2006 Internet penetration remained low. But the numbers are growing. There were signs that this was changing, however. The country has been pursuing an aggressive IT policy, aimed at boosting Pakistan’s drive for economic modernization and creating an exportable software industry. Broadband access is now available in the major cities. Also wireless broadband internet has been introduced by the WLL(Wireless Local Loop) Networks in many major cities. WiMAX networks are also being deployed in major cities. It does not end here as Pakistan became one of the few countries in Asia to have FTTU - Fiber to the User triple-services, which at present are only available in Islamabad the capital of the country. There is no doubt that there has been helping increase the popularity of the Internet. The market certainly has huge potential. In January 2007, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority reported over 12 million internet users, however the low bandwidth is a concern for most. Most Pakistani companies, and government departments maintain web sites which has further increased the demand for internet.

Broadband Internet Access

Broadband was first introduced in Pakistan in 1995 by Telstra [ Australian telecoms company] with the design of the repeater huts being done by Designman – an Islamabad civil engineering firm[1]. The first and only official cable internet service was launched in 2000 by a company named Worldcall under the brand name of GO4B. The First DSL service was launched in Karachi in 2004 by Multinet. Pakistan had almost 126 ISPs in 2004 with internet users being concentrated in the areas of Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi. The broadband penetration during the same period stood at 1.6 percent with 40,000 subscribers, of which 91 percent were cable internet subscribers, 8 percent were DSL subscribers and less than 1 percent were satellite and wireless subscriber[2]. Broadband is offered in Pakistan at 128 kbit/s, 256 kbit/s and 512 kbit/s in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Multan & Peshawer only. Currently Pakistan has 56,611 DSL subscribers in the country, with the largest share to 13 ISPs. While the big DSL providers are WOL (World OnLine), Brain NET, Cyber.Net, Beaco NET, Maxcom, Paknet, Multinet, Micronet, Cyber Soft Technology and Dancom.

In late 2004, wireless internet was launched by PTCL using Wireless local loop (WLL) technology. Following this in 2005, another company named Worldcall Telecom Ltd launched the same services. And in 2007 WiMax is due to launch by two companies WorldCall Telecom Ltd and Wateen Telecom.

In 2007 PTCL launched, Broadband Pakistan DSL service, giving packages from 256 kbit/s to 1 Mbit/s on existing PTCL Telephone lines.

See also

• Pakistan
• List of Pakistani TV and radio Channels
• Pakistani Blogosphere - Weblogs as an Alternative Media in Pakistan
• Pakistan STD Code
• Worldwide ISD Code