Amir Malik

Broadband is globally considered among the basic necessities of daily life. High capacity broadband communication is considered a powerful tool that significantly improves quality of life, global competitiveness, and access to economic opportunity. Broadband in Pakistan is yet to reach the first stage of its usage. Only 0.47% of the population has attained subscription to broadband. This presents a huge opportunity in the years to come of including a large segment of our livelihoods in this important sphere.
Wireless Broadband is a set of fairly new technologies that provides high-speed wireless internet and data services access over a wide area.

Consequently due to the massive transformation in Telecommunications landscape, another revolution looms as fixed wired connections give way to the possibility of a wireless broadband era. At the helm of this change is a fast-evolving wireless broadband ecosystem that combines amplified speed and higher data volumes in shape of different flavors such as WiMAX and EvDO. 

Pakistan has observed a massive growth in Telecommunication sector both in terms of infrastructure and subscription; nevertheless broadband has not proved itself a real success until recent times. Now with almost ten years after its introduction, Broadband subscription levels remained at a very low side during the first seven years. Statistics reveal that in the span of first seven years (June 2000 – June 2007), total number of broadband subscribers in the country reached a mere figure of 45,000. Till that time, the market was captured by all fixed offers over xDSL (Digital Subscribers Line) and HFC (Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial) technologies.

The situation has changed significantly during the last three years (June 2007 – April 2010) and according to Point Topic’s (a renowned international broadband research company) Global Broadband Report for quarter 4 2009, Pakistan stands among the top ten countries for annual Broadband subscription growth. The total number of Broadband subscribers in Pakistan has reached an encouraging figure of 817,000 by April 2010. This reflects an impressive addition of approximately 772,000 subscribers in last 34 months showing an average of approximately 22,500 subscriptions per month. The following bar chart highlights the recent growth of broadband subscription in Pakistan.

One of the primary factors behind this noteworthy change comes about in December 2007 when Wateen Telecom commercially announced its WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) service in various cities. This marvel of wireless broadband brought an alternative to copper-based broadband coupled with convenience of wireless Internet. Consumers perceived this attraction as this edition of broadband is showing an upbeat progress.

Subsequent to the introduction of Wateen telecom, Mobilink started its WiMAX under ‘infinity’ brand in last quarter of 2008 followed by WiTribe commercial launch in second quarter of 2009. The competition in wireless broadband market of the country incorporated yet another technology when WorldCall Telecom announced EvDO (Evolution-Data Optimized) broadband service in March 2009, shortly followed by EvDO launch by the PTCL in April 2009. These wireless technologies have gained a splendid success over past two years and by April 2010, a total of 249,000 broadband subscribers are utilizing WiMAX followed by 83,000 EvDO subscribers. This makes a sum of 332,000 wireless broadband subscribers in Pakistan. The following bar chart shows the subscribers growth with respect to wireless broadband since April 2008.

Another interesting development is the swift increase in the overall market share for wireless broadband technologies when weighed against fixed broadband technologies.  Although, the subscription cost for wireless broadband in the country is more than DSL, conversely, this amazing adoption of wireless broadband clearly depicts the interest level of subscribers in browsing through high speed Internet over smart wireless USB devices. This indeed is a positive sign towards future proliferation of broadband services in Pakistan. The following pie charts depict this broadband market trends since April 2008 onwards.

The present market share for wireless broadband technologies has reached to almost 41%; this may well lead to a situation in due course of time when wireless broadband would overcome fixed-line broadband services with respect to total market share making the economy probably the only global broadband market with such stipulation of broadband. Based on the trends observed during last two years, it is estimated through the following bar chart that current set of wireless broadband technologies (WiMAX, EvDO) may attain a cumulative market share of 45% by April 2011 and 51% by 2012 respectively.

Moreover, as the broadband market moves along with further competition and new technologies, a likely concern of future revenue streams would become part of deliberation. As the market opts for new technologies, operators would invest in upgrading existing networks, effective transition is likely to be one of the keys to long term success in making a financial return on investment. Moving to these new networks offers the chance to increase efficiency and reduce operating cost in the longer term for network operators. The following is a predictable view of probable revenue streams for future broadband networks and services.

The wireless broadband technologies have a bright future in the Pakistan market, as the competition among the wireless broadband service providers increases, the prices are expected to decrease making ‘Mobile Internet’ affordable for people of Pakistan.