August 02, 2010

3G Services to be launched soon

chairman pta addressing the seminar

 

Karachi: Secretary IT & Telecom Mr. Naguibullah Malik has said that 3G services would be launched soon in Pakistan as lot of work on policy directive for 3G has already been completed. He was talking at a seminar organized by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in collaboration with HUAWEI at Karachi on “Demands for 3G and beyond” here, today. Secretary IT, Naguibullah Malik was the chief guest on this occasion and Chairman PTA, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen presided over the seminar. IT & telecom industry experts CEOs of telecom companies, representatives of chamber of commerce, academia and media men attended the seminar.

The Secretary said that policy on 3G licenses would be issued soon enabling Pakistan to see launch of this new technology. He said that for 3G services three things are important i.e policy stream, regulatory regime and business model. He said that we are better than India and other regional countries in telecom services.

The Chairman PTA Dr. Mohammed Yaseen in his speech on the occasion said that Telecom sector of Pakistan has seen unprecedented growth ever since deregulation of the industry. Currently our teledensity stands at 63% and we are well on our way to cross the 100 million mobile subscribers mark in the near future. The past two years have also seen broadband growth of 150% never before experienced. The number of broadband users has grown from 45,000 in 2007 to 900,000 this year. Due to these results Pakistan has been placed 6th in terms of quarterly growth and 10th in terms of annual growth in the global broadband market by a leading web source on broadband statistic.

He said that telecom industry is doing well and showing positive trends with mobile users reaching 99 million. Average Revenue Per User (ARPUs) were also indicating upward trends. Owing to these developments it is the high time that 3G Technologies are introduced in Pakistan. He said inception of 3G services would create demand for new applications and contents thus casting positive impact on different segment s of economy.

It may be mentioned that PTA has already done sufficient preparation to be able to launch the service within a few months of issuance of policy directive by the government and PTA has organized a number of introductory seminars in this regard.  3G Mobile Broadband is an important step in modernization of mobile telephone system. With the launch of 3G, in future, Pakistani cell phone subscribers will be able to transmit and receive high speed data through their mobile phones. High speed data means possibility of video calls, internet browsing and downloading at a much higher speed which also includes usage of data intensive applications.

3G networks can act as segue to proliferation of broadband in Pakistan. 3G Mobile Broadband will ensure availability of a number of data intensive value added services such as real-time access to medical records, on demand TV, e-education, cloud computing, video calls, real-time weather forecasts, advisory for farmers etc.  The list is almost limit less and depends on the ingenuity of users and the professionals who can design and implement value added service.

On this occasion Mr. Munawar Hussain of HUAWEI, Mr. Atif, representatives of Qualcomm also made presentations highlighting impact of 3G services. During the  seminar speakers of national and international fame focused on the benefits of 3G to: businesses, education, government, national economy, urban/rural populace, indigenous software houses and local contents development. They also highlighted importance of high-speed infrastructure in accomplishing these benefits. Later MoUs were signed for infrastructure sharing between PTA and cellular operators of Pakistan.

 

Khurram A. Mehran

Director (Public Relations)