Pakistan is fast catching up internet bandwagon where millions of users are converting online and web companies are all set to grab the highly potential market, worth several hundred million dollars, at a time when mobile usage has surpassed the desktop usage trends.
We are all talking about startup boom, various incubators, accelerators, global brands taking interest in local tech, Pakistani IT companies making a mark in US, Europe and African markets and what not.
We also also abuzz about FTTH reaching in several metropolitan areas, 3G, 4G and 100Mbps of speeds that have potential of changing the future of Pakistan.
However, tech scene — and particularly the internet connectivity — in one part of Pakistan is not as vivid as in rest of Pakistan.
Jhelum (an historic but relatively less populated city on GT Road) for example has all kinds of fast speed internet — including DSL, EvDO from both PTCL and WorldCall, 3G for all five operators, IPTV and WiFI networks from local players — however, Mirpur — a neighboring city less than just 40KMs away, has one operator that offers 3Mbps of maximum advertised speeds while actual speeds are less than half of the promised speeds.
Interestingly, customers in Mirpur get 30Kbps (in place of expected 300KBps) on a 3Mbps package as the back-end system responsible for setting up the speeds isn’t updated.
This notable difference is mainly due to the fact that Pakistan went through deregulation in 2004, which opened up the market fetching abundant amount of investment and advancement in telecommunication sector, however, this change happened in only rest of Pakistan while Azad Kashmir was left alone in the hands of Special Communication Organization (SCO) a Pakistan Army administered entity.
For those who don’t know, only SCO is allowed to operate wired telecom infrastructure in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit & Baltistan. Cellular operators did get GSM license in 2005 (that too when government had no other option but to allow telcos to fill communication gap caused by earthquake), however, they are still now allowed to offer 3G/4G services there.
Pakistan has made a lot of efforts in equipping Azad Kashmir on various vectors and scales, including education, energy needs, roads and infrastructure but Telecommunication is an area which has been ignored for long enough now.
Whole of Azad Kashmir, Gilgit & Baltistan is now demanding an effective and next-gen communication solutions for wired and wireless broadband and telephony services.
Its 2015 today, either through deregulation or through other means, time has come now that concerned authorities should address this area and equip this important region of Pakistan with fast speed internet and other telecom facilities.
