Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Dr Syed Ismail Shah on Monday said that priority was being given to use next-generation ICT services, particularly mobile broadband, to enable socio-economic development and spur growth.
He was speaking at a Nokia conference titled – Connected Pakistan – 3G, 4G Perspectives” – which brought out excellent insights from various eco-system players on how to achieve further mobile broadband penetration. The event was well-attended by a cross-section of companies and organisations. The chairman reiterated the government’s resolve to support and develop the telecom sector with investor and consumer friendly policies and said, “there exists a strong demand for 3G as operators have started providing such services while consumers look excited about the new enabling technologies.” He said the regulator was also committed to enabling the operators to take mobile broadband subscription base to a new high together with players such as Nokia and its advanced 3G and 4G mobile broadband services.
Member Telecom at Ministry of Information Technology Mudassar Hussain highlighted that on the policy front, the government had invited industry and public consultants to be partners in its decision making, and in this context a review of telecom policy was also in the offing.
In his address, General Manager, Networks Nokia Pakistan, Danny Atme mentioned a study by Nokia which revealed that Pakistan scored low in mobile broadband infrastructure despite high use by subscribers.
As per the study, the country scored 2.09 out of 10, ranking 25 out of the 26 developing telecom markets in mobile broadband connectivity.
For measuring the score, the study entitled ‘Connectivity Scorecard 2013’ took into account key criteria such as consumer infrastructure and public sector usage and skills, to measure the level of mobile broadband connectivity in Pakistan.
He said the study showed mobile broadband users in Pakistan increasingly demand high-speed mobile broadband and significantly improved network coverage across the country.
As the world’s specialist in mobile broadband, they are committed to providing operators in Pakistan with our advanced 3G and 4G technologies, and comprehensive services to build and run the networks cost efficiently.
The number of WCDMA subscriptions in Pakistan will overtake GSM subscriptions by 2019, and there will be 103.4 million WCDMA subscriptions by the end of 2019, representing about 58 per cent of the mobile market, according to Ovum forecasts. It also forecasts that the adoption of 4G will be more modest than for 3G for the foreseeable future, with the number of LTE subscriptions in Pakistan reaching about 6.6 million by end of 2019.
