Communications in Pakistan
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[edit] Mobile Telecommunications
Telecom sector is seeing exorbitant growth in Pakistan. The sector is said to be growing at a pace of 170 per cent yearly. Mobile subscribers are 85 million as of April 2008, according to Pakistan Telecommunications Authority(PTA), 2.7 million subscribers are added monthly. In fact Pakistan has the highest mobile penetration rate in the region. According to the PTA, Mobilink continues to lead the market with 31.94 million subscribers, followed by Ufone (17.54 million), Telenor (17.32 million), Warid Telecom (14.76 million), Zong (3.15 million) and Instaphone (0.32). All Telecom companies are now working to broaden their network in AJK and Northern Areas, which were normally ignored till now.
Main listing: List of mobile phone companies in Pakistan
[edit] Telephone system
The telecom infrastructure is improving dramatically with foreign and domestic investments into fixed-line and mobile networks; fiber systems are being constructed throughout the country to aid in network growth. Major businesses have established their own private systems; since 1988, the government has promoted investment in the national telecommunications system on a priority basis, significantly increasing network capacity. There are currently 7 million landline subscribers in the country.
Domestic: microwave radio relay, coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable, cellular, and satellite
Landlines: For local calls the code used is non-STD. For calls to other cities (e.g. Karachi to Lahore) the code is called STD. For International calls the code used is ISD.
Dialing System: When dialing on landlines, calls made within cities are considered local calls. Calls to other cities (e.g Karachi to Lahore) are considered long distance calls and are metered according to distance. (e.g. When dialing to Lahore from Karachi you have to dial the code for Lahore then followed by the number of the destination, therefore you dial 042-XXX-XXXX ). For local calls, you just dial the local number. For international calls, you dial "00" followed by the country code. (e.g. For calls to the UK from Pakistan you dial 00 - 44 - XXXXXX ).
International: satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean); 3 operational international gateway exchanges (2 at Karachi and 1 at Islamabad); microwave radio relay to neighboring countries.
[edit] Internet
Internet access has been available in Pakistan since the early 1990s. PTCL started offering access via the nationwide local call network in 1995. By early 2006 Internet penetration remained low. But the numbers are growing. There were signs that this was changing, however. The country has been pursuing an aggressive IT policy, aimed at boosting Pakistan’s drive for economic modernization and creating an exportable software industry. Broadband access is now available in the major cities. Also wireless broadband internet has been introduced by the WLL(Wireless Local Loop) Networks in many major cities. WiMAX networks are also being deployed in the country. It does not end here as Pakistan became one of the few countries in Asia to have FTTU - Fiber to the User triple-services, which at present are available in all major cities. There is no doubt that there has been helping increase the popularity of the Internet. The market certainly has huge potential. In January 2007, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority reported over 12 million internet users. Most Pakistani companies, and government departments maintain web sites which has further increased the demand for internet.
[edit] Broadband Internet Access
Broadband was first introduced in Pakistan in 1995 by Telstra [ Australian telecom company] with the design of the repeater huts being done by Designman – an Islamabad civil engineering firm[1]. The first and only official cable internet service was launched in 2000 by a company named World Call[1] under the brand name of GO4B. The First DSL service was launched by Micro Net in Islamabad/Rawalpindi in 2002. Pakistan had almost 128 ISPs in 2007 with internet users being concentrated in the areas of Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore.
Today broadband is offered in Pakistan from 512 kbit/s to 12 Mbit/s in all major cities. Currently Pakistan has 600,000 broadband subscribers in the country. The big broadband providers are PTCL and LINKdotNET and Wateen. Other small DSL providers are Micro Net, Cyber Net, Max Com, Multi Net, World Call, Brain Net and Comsats.
[edit] Wimax
Wateen Telecom has launched its WiMAX services in the country. It is the largest and the first nationwide WiMAX network in the world. Connections are available from 256Kbit to 4Mbit.
[edit] See also
- Pakistan
- List of Pakistani TV and radio Channels
- Pakistani Blogosphere - Weblogs as an Alternative Media in Pakistan
- Pakistan STD Code
- Worldwide ISD Code
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