Broadband policy non-existent: Rs 13 billion lost annually

Pakistan has been suffering a loss of about Rs 13 billion annually for non-existence of broadband policy. Internet Service Providers of Pakistan (ISPAK) President Ansar-ul-Haq told Business Recorder here on Thursday that for the last eight months, the policy couldn't see the light of the day. The IT and Telecom Ministry also lacks qualified experts to formulate broadband policy as most of them have joined new companies and the existing staff could not handle such a highly delicate issue, he added.
He said Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) did not have proper infrastructure and is likely to take more than six months to start such service.
Presently, the ISPs are waiting for ministry's green signal to start such services and one ISP had already paid $250,000 for STEM-I broadband connection of 155MBS, he said, adding that the ISPs can provide more than 250,000 broadband connections provided the ministry announces the policy that would also help in reducing Internet rate from Rs 7,500 to only Rs 900.
The revenue of Internet service providers stand at about Rs 4.5 billion per annum, which can be increased to Rs 18 billion in three to six months through broadband connections.
Currently, there are about 4 million Internet users and 1.2 million subscribers in the country, and after initiating broadband services, we expects an increase of six times in the users and subscribers in the next six months, Ansar said, adding that we are using less than half (0.5) percent of the broadband in the country.
He said that India is providing 20 percent of broadband service to its subscribers and plans to increase usage to 40 percent by 2005.
He said ban on Internet telephony by the government had encouraged the illegal usage of such services and the government is also losing a large amount.
Ansar said that the government should act as a facilitator, which would help the growth of new Internet-related services, which in turn would also help in generating new job opportunities in the country.
He said ISPAK had presented a 100-page report to the IT and Telecom minister in April, which identified major areas of broadband service, its infrastructure and problems faced by the ISPs, but so far no decision has been taken.