KARACHI, June 04 2006: Internet service providers and telecom operators are expecting a major cut in Internet bandwidth rates by the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd next week in line with the regulator’s directives to support broadband service proliferation. A senior official said on May 03 the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had called a consultative meeting of all telecom operators on June 6, which was likely to end up with a major cut in bandwidth rates.
“The meeting will review overall broadband services across the country,” PTA Chairman Major General (Retd) Shahzada Alam Malik told a group of journalists on the sidelines of C-Future Telecom Exhibition. “Currently, these services are not meeting standards and June 6 talks will consider reasons including bandwidth prices, hindering the broadband growth.”
He said the meeting was expected to suggest cut in bandwidth prices to the recently-privatised PTCL, but it was too early to give the size of such an incentive. However, the chairman said, the watchdog would definitely play its role in bringing bandwidth rates down. Broadband technology entered the country a few years ago with a bang but later failed to thrive due to higher cost and poor service quality. DSL (digital subscriber line) based broadband is a modern technology that converts existing twisted pair of telephone lines into access path for high-speed communication of various sorts. By using the technology, regular telephone lines can be converted into a high-speed broadband digital link.
DSL is faster than both ISDN (integrated services digital network) and leased line, yet it is more cost-effective. With DSL, Internet connection is ‘always on’, and the users have unlimited access to the Internet. The downloading speed can be ten times higher compared to regular downloading speed of an analogue modem. In addition, with one line users can be connected to both telephone and the Internet. The government announced broadband Internet policy in 2004 but the services have not witnessed any growth as the operators claim bandwidth prices charged by the PTCL remain the main hurdle.
The telecom giant is the only Internet backbone provider across the country.
“The PTCL announced the price of $1,600 a month for two megabit bandwidth for the operators,” said a broadband operator who was due to attend June 6 meeting. “Similarly, for 34 megabit it has fixed $19,200 per month and for 155 megabit $60,000. We are expecting 50 per cent cut in these rates. “He said though the deregulation of telecom broke over five-decade monopoly of the PTCL, practically there was no such competitor to offer Internet bandwidth across the country, which allowed the company to regulate the industry as it wanted.
“The only problem in the way of proliferation of broadband services is prices,” he said. “If the authorities really want to give a push to broadband services, they would have to bring the prices to lower level.”
The PTA chief agreed with the claims to some extent, saying the telecom watchdog “is there to create a level-playing field for industry players, which is the only way to increase Internet growth at affordable prices.”
“For that matter, we are playing our role to reduce bandwidth prices and June 6 meeting with the operators would make a comprehensive strategy to put the country among the best broadband services operators,” said Malik. He said the PTA had already conducted a detailed study to assess demand, potential and market dynamics of broadband Internet and wireless local loop services in the country and received a positive feedback.
Source: The Nation
Date:6/4/2006
