It has been exactly six months since the license award for next-generation telecom services took place in Islamabad. Already, some operators are claiming reaching over one million 3G subscribers. Information made available shows that the four 3G operators have extended their coverage footprint to a number of major cities - the first port of call in any high-end service or product rollout.
But still there are many miles (or lets say millions) to go, for a potential market of 140 million+ users beckons. Agreed that no more than 60-70 percent of those 2G subscriptions are unique; and it is also practical that not all 2G sites can be swapped by 3G for multiple reasons. But still, many more millions of subscriptions can be on board within a year. The progress so far is not unsatisfactory, given the under-developed smart device ecosystem and availability of local content.
It would be better if PTA starts releasing the data on mobile broadband subscriptions on a regular basis for analysis purposes - as it has done for GSM services (although those statistics, too, haven been updated since July this year). But PTAs choice not to release the 3G/4G subscriptions data at this stage makes some sense.
Recall that in the 2G era; operators were in such a rat race for subscriber acquisition that millions of junk subscriptions (a loose term here for illegal Sims) had made their way to the teledensity stats. Right now, operators are in a "market-making phase" and its too early to say who will be the eventual leader in 3G services. So why not let them roll out their services and talk about leadership a year later? But on the other hand, regular subscription updates will also keep the competitive juices flowing.
But thats just the connectivity aspect - and operators are expected to make good of their resources in monetizing their multimillion dollar spectrum. This column wants to bring the attention to the fact that in these six months, policies that could help direct 3G/4G connectivity towards "useful connectivity" or what donors call "ICT4D" (D stands for development) are still awaited.
Ideally, such policies - where policymakers bring together folks in ICT, development and social sectors at an intersection where this new mobile broadband connectivity can help in the ongoing work in areas such as education, healthcare, governance, etc. - should have been ready before license award and their targets made part of the rollout obligations.
Yet, so far, ex post-facto policy is still missing. New telecom policy is presumably in final stage - but the feedback-adjusted draft is short on ICT4D milestones as well. Then, to make 3G and 4G services reach a wider geography in the future, Pakistan needs to lay down fiber across the country. All these issues need to be addressed simultaneously. The IT ministry seems aware of these issues, but they need to act fast!
Comments
Comments are closed.