According to the latest Inclusive Internet Index released by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Pakistan falls in the bottom quartile of the index, second to last in Asia, and at 90th place overall out of 120 countries studied. The report presents an alarming picture of internet availability, affordability, relevance, and readiness in Pakistan which calls for emergency measures at the policy level for immediate redressal of the situation.
ProPakistani got a chance to sit with Asif Aziz, Chief Commercial Officer, Jazz, and explore solutions to address this key issue. We also talked about the policy interventions required to put a smartphone in every hand so that every Pakistani can reap the benefits of modern-day connectivity.
In the exclusive interview, Asif Aziz shed light on the possible solutions to bridge the connectivity gaps that still exist in Pakistan. His feeling of disappointment at the current statistics is valid as he points out that whilst there are a hundred million people using data connectivity, there are a hundred and twenty million who are not which is the major cause of a digital divide.
As there are over 30 million people with no or less digital connectivity throughout the country, it gives mega telecom operators such as Jazz a massive digital opportunity.
“What we need to do is work with the government and the Universal Service Fund in order to have a public-private partnership to bring more people into the digital community as opposed to leaving them out. While it’s marvelous that teledensity has increased in Pakistan, there is still a lot more work that needs to be done in this sector, so I see enormous potential,” says Asif.
Asif’s strategy to improve and accelerate mobile broadband penetration in the country is to reduce the gap by ensuring more people have smartphones available to them. “Measures such as putting an end to the import and manufacture of 2G is bound to encourage more people to shift to smartphones instead.”
With the number of monthly subscribers growing rapidly, the need for broadband spectrum beats all. Being the fifth most populous country in the world, an abundance of spectrum is required which will allow operators to improve their services drastically.
Explaining his approach to connecting more than 60% of Pakistanis, Asif says, “We are focusing very heavily on covering not only general parts of the city, but the whole cities and towns. So wherever we have gone, we have accelerated that growth city-by-city so that more people can come online.”
Asif is hopeful that given the proper support through policy interventions from the government, Jazz can help improve connectivity nationwide and cover remote areas that still remain unserved in the near future.
Watch the full interview below:
