Mobile Connectivity in Pakistan Faster Than India

Even  before 3G and 4G roll-outs, Pakistan's mobile data users enjoy an average bandwidth of 1.5 Mbits/sec and peak bandwidth of 14.7 Mbits/sec, according to a report published by Akamai Technologies, Inc. The Akamai data includes usage from smartphones, tablets, computers, and other devices that connect to the Internet through mobile network providers. The only mobile broadband option available to users in Pakistan has so far been PTCL's EVO.

Results of Google-sponsored Survey in Pakistan Source: Express Tribune

Akamai Technologies, the creator of this report, operates an Internet content delivery network headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Akamai's network is one of the world's largest distributed-computing platforms, responsible for serving between 15 and 30 percent of all web traffic around the world.

Mobile Broadband Speeds. Source: Akamai

Akamai report ranks 16 countries in Asia by mobile Internet speeds. South Korea tops the list with average 14.7 Mbits/sec and 41.3 Mbits/sec peak. Vietnam is at the bottom with 1.1 Mbits/sec average and 6.5 Mbits/sec peak. India ranks second from bottom with 1.3 Mbps average and 8.7 Mbps peak.

With 3G and 4G roll-outs currently underway in Pakistan by multiple carriers, companies like Zong are talking about delivering  speeds of up to 42 Mbps while other companies are offering 3G speeds of up to 21 Mbps. Even if they fall short, I expect that the average mobile broadband speeds in Pakistan should still be lot faster than what's available in the country today.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Pakistan Rolls Out Mobile Apps in Public Sector

Pakistan Launches 100 MBPS FTTH Broadband

Mobile Internet to Overtake Desktop in 2014 in Pakistan

Biometric Information Technology in Pakistan

Power Theft in Pakistan

Mobile Banking in Pakistan

Mass Literacy Through Mobile Phones

Online Education in Pakistan

Pakistan's Telecom Revolution


Comments

Riaz Haq said…
Less money moves through wireless transfers in India than in either Pakistan or Bangladesh, both of which have smaller populations.

As we report this week, in much of the developing world, mobile money is evolving. Initially just a means of making payments, it’s now becoming a platform for an entire financial-services industry. But one of the world’s biggest and poorest countries has remained immune to the attractions of mobile money. Despite the potential benefits, “the uptake has been limited,” says Graham Wright of MicroSave, a financial-inclusion organisation working in India. “And because of those challenges, the mobile operators are unsure about how much to invest in this business.”

That doesn’t mean there isn’t opportunity. India has 15 mobile money providers, second only to Nigeria. Of the 904 million mobile subscriptions in India, 371 million (pdf) are in rural areas. Analysts think that mobile money transfers in India could be worth $350 billion annually (paywall) by next year. Yet the state of the industry remains small: Less money moves through wireless transfers in India than in either Pakistan or Bangladesh, both of which have smaller, poorer populations.

So why, despite boasting 15 mobile money services, does India lag so far behind other developing nations?

The simple answer is regulation. India requires mobile operators to work with banks to provide the services. Mobile networks would like instead to have their own agents who can cash out the digital money into hard currency. Much of the infrastructure is already in place, because there are so many locations where customers can top up on airtime. But the mobile operators aren’t allowed to use those sales outlets as financial agents.
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Yet the banks aren’t filling the gap. They have failed to serve rural areas, especially thinly-populated ones. Nor are they particularly keen on sending agents to operate in small villages. A report (pdf, p.31) on financial services for the poor, commissioned by the Reserve Bank of India, called the situation in both rural and urban India “grim,” with 64% of Indians lacking bank accounts. “The business case for providing mobile money services to the unbanked in the most remote rural areas of India is not appealing to banks,” reports the GSM Association (pdf), a trade body of mobile operators.

http://qz.com/222964/why-mobile-money-has-failed-to-take-off-in-india/
Riaz Haq said…
Zong will invest $1 billion in the next three to four years to deploy network for Next Generation Technologies including 3G/4G in maximum cities of the country in line with it business plans and continuity of the long-term friendship between China and Pakistan.
This was stated by Fan Yunjun, CEO Zong while official launch of 4G technology in Karachi with the roll out of new service in seven different cities of the country . The company plans are aggressive for 3G, 4G and even 2G and it will add 4,000 new high-tech sites by the end of 2014.
Zong is the first network of 4G technology that will bring the country a pride as Pakistan will become first in the index of highest broadband service from 93rd position from the present. It even left China in the race which is stand at 4th position on the scorecard.
Chinese operator is providing 3G service with a broadband speed of 42 Mbps and 4G LTE with 150 Mbps.
Zong is the biggest cellular operator in terms of 3G technology user base with nearly 866,000, Yunjun claimed. Zong is the choice of 47 percent of the subscribers using 3G technology among different operators who are also providing same service in the country, he claimed quoting an independent third party research.
He said the availability of the low cost smartphone is hampering the growth of 3G and 4G technologies but the company is working with different handset manufacturers to introduce those gadgets which could be affordable to maximum people in the country.
Zong is working to develop an ecosystem which helps promoting technology and its impacts on the lives and business of the people, hence different new ventures will be taking place within different companies to introduce various apps to subscribers in future.
Yunjun added that Zong 4G enabled SIM is highly secure, speedy and data capacity of 46KB whereas facilitating customers, a handset M811 handset is the first step to provide the customers with a complete bouquet of hardware and service provision.
Chinese operator is the fastest growing network in terms of subscribers as it acquired more than 50 percent connections among the overall base in the past three years reaching the overall numbers at 27.2 million at present.
The combination of 3G/4G technology along with 2G will add more number of customers in the future though Next Generation Technologies are made available in 19 cities.
The 4G technology is being launch in seven cities including federal and provincial capitals Faisalabad, Rawalpindi whereas it is already providing services of 3G in cities including Sargodha, Sukkur, Abbotabad, Gujrawala, Gujrat, Maradan, Chasma and Motorway


http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/business/28-Sep-2014/zong-to-invest-1-billion-in-three-to-four-years
Riaz Haq said…
From Middle East North Africa Financial Network:

The number of 3G subscribers has touched around 4 million mark, apparently surpassing all other broadband technologies in the country.

There are around 3.7 million broadband users in Pakistan as per official data for all technologies combined including WiMAX, DSL, EvDO, FTTH, Satellite, HFC and others till May this year.

Three mobile phone operators have already announced that each of them has crossed 1 million mark of 3G subscribers while Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is yet to formally release the stats about 3G and 4G subscribers.

According to Mobilink, it has 1 million 3G users on October 22, Telenor has 1.3 million 3G users on October 28 while Zong has also announced that it has 1 million 3G users. Ufone has not said a word so far about its subscribers.

Based on operators' announcements, there are at least around 4 million 3G users as of today.

With these figures, one can ascertain that 3G subscribers have crossed the numbers for all other broadband technologies, that too within just six months of auction of 3G and 4G licenses.

http://www.menafn.com/1094001560/Around-4m-3G-users-in-Pakistan
Riaz Haq said…
Mobilink Pakistan's parent company VimpelCom Ltd. ("VimpelCom", "Company" or "Group") VIP, -1.88% a leading global provider of telecommunications services operating in 14 countries and headquartered in Amsterdam, and Twitter, Inc., the world leader in public social network services today announced that they have agreed a partnership to offer VimpelCom's customers new ways to connect and engage with communities and content on Twitter.------
Mobilink Pakistan is the first VimpelCom operating company to launch Twitter mobile services under this partnership. VimpelCom will expand the service to its other operations.

The agreement is a part of VimpelCom's consistent strategy of providing its customers with the best mobile internet experience, complementing its current partnerships with Google Play and Windows Phone store to allow VimpelCom smartphone customers using their mobile accounts to pay for digital content, with Opera Software to deliver better mobile web browsing and with WhatsApp and Wikimedia to increase customer engagement and stimulate use of the mobile internet.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/vimpelcom-and-twitter-partner-to-stimulate-mobile-internet-usage-2014-11-19
Riaz Haq said…
ISLAMABAD: Telecommunication service provider Ufone has unveiled the launch of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in Pakistan in collaboration with Apple.
The popular smart phones will be made available to consumers under the banner of the telecom service provider from Dec 11 this year. Customers will be able to register online for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus from Nov 28 at the company’s website, a press statement said.
This is the first time that Apple has collaborated with a Pakistani telecommunication provider for the launch of its signature smart phone. Apple is considered one of the biggest names in technology-related products and is widely believed to be the world’s second-largest information technology company.
Despite the phone’s official unavailability in the country, iPhone enjoys a large fan base in Pakistan, with many users already awaiting the entry of the new product. The prices are bit expensive then the local market starting from Rs80,000 – Rs115000.
iPhone 6 was first officially introduced two months ago in the United States.

http://customstoday.com.pk/47876/

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