The most advanced technology of the modern world – 3G technology – would officially be launched in the country within a short span of three months after the Information Technology Ministry prepares the concerned draft, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Dr Mohammad Yaseen said on Friday.
“The emergence of the 3G tech will benefit IT firms as well as the telecommunication sector,” he said. “Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has recently given the go-ahead for the 3G Tech.”
The PTA chairman was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the data centre established by leading telecom company Transworld at the city’s outskirts in Hawkesbay. The ceremony was largely attended by executives of the telecom industry and media personnel.
Yaseen said that the PTA is fully committed to the task of regulating, issuing new licenses and introducing new spectrums and technologies. However, he emphasised that the private sector can play an important role in sector by investing in the ventures.
“The telecom industry has had to battle a host of issues ranging from the rupee devaluation, the energy crisis, the security situation and inflation that has greatly reduced the disposable income of the common citizens of this country. However, the industry has proven itself to be remarkably resilient and there are some notable achievements that the industry can be proud of.”
He said that cellular service coverage in Pakistan is one of the best in the region; cellular subscribers have crossed the 100-million milestone and there are multiple broadband options available to the consumer in every nook and corner of the country. “Besides, there are more than 1.5 million broadband consumers in the country with the industry doubling year to year and 4 operational long haul networks in the country that connect various cities.”
He said that with the increase in broadband adoption, the need of the hour for the country is to continue improving its internet infrastructure. Internationally, there are two independent operators that connect Pakistan to the Internet and every destination of the world. Transworld is one of them.”
Yaseen said that Transworld’s data centre is unique due to its location and state-of-the-art technology and new applications and contents can be hosted with minimum CAPEX.
Briefing the participants of the ceremony on the occasion, Transworld President Kamran Malik said that the data centre is the country’s first private submarine fiber optic cable operator.
He said that Transworld data centre is located 20kms outside the clamour of the city in a fully owned purpose built Telco grade building. The centre, being built on Tier II architecture, ensures 99.995 percent uptime, uninterrupted power and cooling, n+n redundancies and fault tolerant infrastructure. It is the new standard of collocation services for multiple applications including disaster recovery, business continuity, virtual PoPs, mobile commerce, online media content and cloud computing.
“In this digital era, data must instantly be accessible round the clock, leaving no time for downtime. We have taken the initiative to launch data centre to create a marked difference in the market because not all data centres are created equal,” he said.
Malik said the Transworld data centre has the capacity to accommodate the collocation needs of any sized business. Its infrastructure is equipped with variety of space and power configurations to provide solutions which are engineered to scale and provide the reliability required by today’s “always-on” enterprise.
Transworld Commercial Division Vice President Zulfiqar Qazilbash explained the advantages that the data centre offers. “The Transworld data center provides a unique mix of cutting edge power, safety, security, associated infrastructure and expert manpower and technical know-how of the data centre team,” he said.
“Being at the hub of all local and international data traffic, it is able to provide single hop to any location locally as well as internationally and instant access to unlimited bandwidth has set the data centre apart from its competition.”
Wait 3 months for 3G tech, say PTA chairman
