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Pakistanis enjoy cheapest broadband service worldwide
[April 09, 2009]

Pakistanis enjoy cheapest broadband service worldwide


ISLAMABAD, Apr 08, 2009 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) -- A recent survey has found that Pakistani broadband users enjoy very inexpensive broadband internet compared to other parts of the world as the countrys Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are providing excellent service. Though there are subscribers in Pakistan, who are not happy with their ISP or customer support at times, which happens all over the world, wherever the computer networks are involved, problems may occur there.



The survey reveals that Cox, an ISP in the USA, provides broadband facility of 9mbps for $45, 1.5mbps for $30, and 768kbps for $20. Verizon of USA costs 1mbps for $18 and 3mbps for $28. As far as the Indian ISPs are concerned, Tata Indico in Mumbai provides 512kbps for Indian Rupees (INR) 1850 and 1mbps for INR 3850 while BSNL gives 512kbps for INR 1350. In Japan, 1Gbps for $56.50 while in the United Kingdom (UK), 8Mbit Unlimited is provided for 13.50 pounds while 24Mbit Unlimited cost 17.50 pounds.

Clearly, Pakistans ISPs are offering very competitive rates - with 1 MB link for Rs 1200 or $15 which is of course a great deal. For references sake, $20=PK Rs. 1600, as $1= PK Rs. 80.00 approximately. When asked to comment over the comparison, Sadia Khan, a broadband user in the federal capital, said, Yes dear, I am using DSL 512KB/s at Rs400/month. Much cheaper than any other ISPs in the rest of the world.


I personally believe that instead of doubling the speed, they could have lowered the prices of the package. I mean instead of converting 512 to 1MB for 1200/, it would have been better to lower the price of 512 package to 600 rupees, she added. Fatima Batool called for digging deeper and you would know how 1mbps in Pakistan is not even 1mbps standard if we look at the door-to-door fibre optics technology and cable tunnels capacity.

Pakistan does not have that much expensive internet. Pakistan is a lot better in telecom and internet things compared to other 70 percent countries of the world, she added.

Aamir Ihsan from Rawalpindi also agreed with the notion, saying that he was happy to see Pakistan on cheaper rates list at least in telecom sector as all other commodities were being sold on much higher rates.

Usman Atta appreciated the current price cuts for high speed internet, saying that one must consider the fact that Americans and rest of the countries have much more spending power than Pakistanis. I believe we are comparing apple to oranges here. In my opinion, prices need to go down even further to see higher adoption rates of the broadband facility. Secondly, it is not just about pricing, we know it for a fact that only about 500 kbs PTCL fixed lines can handle DSL, and we have almost used 50 percent of that capacity.

The price war is imminent on DSL anyway. The real issue is bringing highspeed data network available to users across the nation. Wimax is a good option, but affordibility is a major concern. We already see Wateen going into DSL services instead of further expansion of Wimax. So my hopes are linked with the 3G, off course after it becomes affordable for local consumers, said Hamid Ali.

The rates, cost, bandwidth and the speed with that bandwidth vary in all countries. In Pakistan the 512Kbps does not mean you will get 60kbps speed but actually you receive less than that one because of the poor infrastructure of telephone lines, said Wajeeh Alam. You see, the earning power of most of people in Pakistan is very less, so to bring a DSL service with very good bandwidth but poor speed along with additional cost is discouraging, he added.

Currently I am using 1Mbps for Rs.1000/- but the speed is sometime very good and sometimes (not most times) is nothing. Its not the fault of the ISP but the fault of the PTCL, he opined.

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