Back in November 2011, or especially in January 2012 I was kind of sure that 3G will at last surface in Pakistan.
This belief was backed by facts, such as announcement of 3G auction date, issuance of Information Memorandum for 3G/4G, high activity at telco headquarters, market buzz and so on.
Yes, my optimism was involved too.
At that time one of ProPakistani commenters posted these comments:
Some how I always say the 3G thing is not going anywhere in Pakistan but people just start dancing with the slightest talk to 3g. lolz its not gonna happen..
Pakistan telecom has already reached maturity so at this point 3G would just be the next thing and will not bring about any renaissance
And the only one on their knees will be people expecting 3G to be launched and people expecting the licenses to be sold :)
Another one was:
Here we with the 3G hooplah again!! From what I know, the government cannot force investors or firms to invest money in a market which does not show any viable returns. 3G I am afraid is one such venture in a country like Pakistan.
Kudos to the government through, for coming with the most innovative form of beggary. Don’t really see it happening though. Business is always give and take. 3G is all about giving and getting nothing in return in a $2.5 arpu market.
I am still not agreeing with what Stone said then, for my own reasons, but he echoed what mobile phone operators then.
Deep in my heart, I had always wondered, how these billion dollars investors will sit and watch the government to go ahead with 3G auction and make them spend another USD 500 million to USD 1 billion. That too to fill the budget deficits of Pakistan, a country which is dear to none but the poor. I mean, the voice and muscle of cellular companies isn’t something which government could neglect, especially when we have so !noble rulers – if you know what I mean.
Call me conspirator, but how will you deny the events that happened in following manner:
- November 23rd, 2011: Prime Minister Approves 3G Policy
- December 23rd, 2011: 3G auction date announced
- January 23rd, 2012: Information Memorandum for 3G/4G issued
- January 26th, 2012: Senators, for the first time, Question 3G License Prices, Move to Stop Auction
- January 31st, 2012: Opposition gets serious to oppose 3G
- February 15th, 2012: Senators Ask PTA to Revamp 3G Policy
- February 22nd, 2012: Advertisement published for a Consultancy Firm to run down the auction process
- February 24th, 2012: CEOs of Telecom Companies Meet PM
- March 7th , 2012: 3G auction Delayed
- April 5th, 2012: ‘Outsider’ starts attending 3G auction meetings
- April 12th, 2012: Auction body rejects firms selected for consultancy
- April 18th, 2012:
- Serious reservation over auction of 3G license expressed
- A sub-committee formed to assess the auction transparency
And it appears the trick worked.
Welcome to Pakistan, but forget about 3G meanwhile you stay here.
One thing we Pakistanis need to understand is that with the present govt nothing good can happen in Pakistan in any field including IT and Telecom. You have Raja Rental aka Raja Pervez Ashraf as the minister for IT. What good do you expect now. So just forget about 3G till this govt is present.
Some how “I told you so” just quite doesnt say it :) but I will say it anyways……. I told you so!!
Sucks for us but we as a nation have always had a hard time being realists. I see 3G but not anywhere in the near future unfortunately. By the looks of things and the way network upgrades are happening, I would say 2 years at least.
We can speed up things by buying a LOT OF SMART PHONES :p
Excellent article and this seems so true. Pakistan khappay!
HAVING READ THROUGH IT SEEMS MOST OF COMMENTS TALK ABOUT CORRUPT GOVERNMENT. ITS NOT THE GOVERNMENT BUT THE STATE OF PAKISTAN THAT IS A CORRUPT AND MORALLY BANKRUPT ENTITY; AND IT IS GOING TO HELL RIGHT AWAY. IMRAN KHAN OR WHOEVER CANNOT GET IT RIGHT. IT IS ALL SHIT AND SLIME. LET IT FALL SO THAT EVERYONE SEES WHO DID WHAT.
ITS COMING. I MEAN THE DOOM FOR THE SHIT THAT HAS ROT PAKISTAN TO THE CORE. THE DRAMA OF FOLLOWING A DREAM CANNOT RUN INDEFINITELY. THIS IS NOT A DREAM ANYMORE BUT A ROTTING SORE.
TOTALLY AGREED TO WRITER POINT OF VIEW…CORRUPT GOVT NOTHNG GUD IS GONA HAPPEN IN THIS COUNTRY…
:(
Awesome article :)Gov Suucks
Want to get a good perspective of how retarded our government is? Afghanistan has 3G. Yes. Afghanistan. They realise the potential of the whole thing. And we on the other hand live in a country where 1 MBPS broadband is advertised as the fastest Internet connection in the world. It’s just a huge fail.
A country where politicians can exploit HAJJ packages to score some extra bugs, its a no brainer to comprehend the dramas behind 3G fiasco.
Using 4G Mobile on 2G network with hope of 3G since past 1 year :)
Great write-up Aamir bhai.
Same problem,, I bought nokia c7 last year expecting that 3g is just coming on door but nothing happens then I sold it..and now haha using galaxy s2 with mobilink monthly packge and happy to use a 12KBps speed edge gprs…
GOD blessed on IT sector after taking owth of RAJA.Pervaiz Ashraf as an IT minister.
we should get these m fu*kers out of the society sucking our nations blood. pppz we should hang them ______ __________
vote for imran next time what ever he is he will be better than ppp pml and what ever the other losers are in this country
agreed with jawad
we should vote imran khan if we want to save pakistan
Why in recent TV ads 3G is specially mentioned?
In the New Jazz ad with Atif Aslam at the end it is written “SIMs available now for Data Generation”
Also in the Ufone ad on the pic of SIM it is written “3G Ready”
What does this mean?
Hmmm… No 3g in Pakistan. Even at this time, minority of mobile phone users are using GPRS. So, I think its a tough decision to be taken. Those crazy for 3g, keep in mind that this is PAKISTAN. Pray for Pakistan.
I think the fundamental question is do we realy need high speed internet on mobile.
Realy i don’t think so.
According to study & browing history of PTCL, hardly 2% of user browse educational & research base site and others ?????????????? all of you know.
I think we should think about our upcomming generation.
Dear Mobile broadband ( MBB) is not only for mobile users, we must think about providing broadband services to most of the country and this is best way to spread in short and economical way, in Pakistan we have less than 1% broadband penetration, and we are not that rich to run ADSL/FTTH to people’s home for long time to come, so MBB is way forward…But people like our PM,President and R Ashraf, have nothing to do with nation’s needs or problems, they are here to loot…. Mobile operators are here to make money as they have to answer to investors…wish we have visionary govt who can work with mobile operators to establish such policy we all can benefit from this new technology… its irrelevant that we have 3G, 4G or any thing… what matters is access to broadband through wireless technology…fast and economical to deploy….
my all dear friends plz open this link nd scrath ur head. me b ser khujata hon. 3g in afghnistan. omg.
http://www.etisalat.af/personal/etisalat-3g
I hope it starts. But it would be way too expensive. Who will afford it?
i believe .. that what ever we have now like internet average speed .. what we pay for bandwidth, .. ptcl and other it companies should maintain in well manner .. but i am afraid if rates are going to be high like we know about cng,patrol,etc // we cannot afford high rates .. .. so forget 3G .. keep whatever we have now ..
Yeh pakistani qaum hai bhai khana nhe kayega par 3g zaror isyemal karega
This government suckkkkkkkkkkkkkkksssssssss..:(
3G kab aayga. baat ye hai k pak telecom awarded hai agar ham 3G jald se jald launch nahi karte to ham piche reh jainge 2nd 3g k aane se rozgar mai izafa revenue genrate hoga or fast data speed milegi jo k har jaga use karo warna dsl or evo ki jo halat hai sab jante hain
seeing Raja Rental as a minister…God help IT..and 3G is not going to happen in Pakistan in near future..
Will 3g allow me to sell stuff on ebay and receive payment on Paypal?
World is moving for 4G and in Pakistan we are hoping and disheartening for even 3G… so strange :(
Why we worried??? . Just think our nation attitude and work. President Zardari is the reall face of Nation. Rest of the Govt You can say
“BANDER Hatth Machies Aa Gee Hy “
Monkey got hand matchbox.
well. . telecom sector ain’t contributing that much as it was few years back . since the competition has increased so badly .. T.O ( Telecom Operators ) are doing nothing other than ruining generations by providing cheapest rates on messages and calls ? and lesser price results lesser taxes , and lesser participation in Countries GDP . 3g/4g is the only way to get back those on the track. atleast somehow with raising line on the graph..
So, the new Generation has to occur :) .. may be they got the IMF fund for current year that’s why they are ignore this income. if it is so .. than .. It SuckXXX
Abu Dhabi—Etisalat, the largest telecommunication company in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, has launched the first ever 3G services in Afghanistan through its arm “Etisalat’s Afghanistan”. The service agreement was signed by the Chairman of Afghanistan Telecommunication Regulatory Authority, H.E. Abdul Wakil Shergul and Etisalat’s Afghanistan CEO, Ahmed Alhosani during a ceremony held at Ministry of Communications & Information Technology offices in Kabul. The ceremony was also attended by Afghan Minister of Communications & Information Technology, Amir Zai Sangin; Afghan Minister of Finance, Dr. Omar Zakhilwal; senior Afghan government officials; and media representatives.
Maybe we should just skip 3G and opt for 4G.
3G k paisay b kha liye hoon gay us main b corruption kar di ho gi .PPP Allah isay barbad karay Benazir aur bhutto k bad is party ko hijack kar liya gaya .Allah in se azab lay ga ,May god guide all :)
ye kamene kab choren ge pak ko.jeena haram kardia hai inho ne.inshallah imran khan ki hukomat mai start hoge waise tu rehman malik mobile hi band kar raha hai tu 3g kaha se chore gaa
If 3g technology come in pakistan… then after all flop 1Mb internet ptcl wi-fi…. etc…. and new genration more disturb.. so 1st think about your pakistan… what is this…