In 2008 Pakistan was the world’s third fastest growing telecommunications market. Pakistan's telecom infrastructure is improving dramatically with foreign and domestic investments into fixed-line and mobile networks; fiber systems are being constructed throughout the country to aid in network growth.
Regulatory environment
The Telecommunications Ordinance of 1994 created the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Pakistan's first independent telecommunications regulator, and the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd(PTCL), a state-owned monopoly.
Due to a lack of competition, local telephone call rates were high and international call rates were even higher. During the 1990s, a call to United States cost $5 per minute (300PkRs per minute), which was not affordable for most of the population. In addition customer service was poor; fixing a problem might take 10 to 15 days. Despite this, consumers had to stick with PTCL, as they had no other options.
This prompted the government to take a series of actions to improve the service by opening the telecommunications market. This was critical, but required a fine balance because opening the market and preserving PTCL were both important for the government.
In July 2003 the government introduced a Deregulation Policy for the Telecommunication Sector, which allowed and encouraged foreign companies to invest in the Pakistani telecommunications market. The centerpiece of the deregulation was the establishment of two categories of basic services licenses: Local loop (LL), for fixed line telecommunication within the 14 PTCL regions, and Long-distance and International (LDI), for connectivity between regions.” Two sets of criteria set by the regulatory authorities must be met before an operator is allowed to start operation: one for the issuance of a license and another for the maintenance of service quality.
In 2006, Etisalat International Pakistan, a wholly owned subsidiary of Emirates Telecommunications Corporation, purchased a 26% stake in PTCL and assumed management control of the company.
Pakistan's telecommunications infrastructure includes: Microwave radio relay, coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable, cellular, andsatellite networks. International links include: landing points for the SEA-ME-WE-3 and SEA-ME-WE-4 submarine cable systems (*AMK) that provide links to Asia, the Middle East, and Europe; 3 Intelsat satellite earth stations (1 Atlantic Oceanand 2 Indian Ocean); 3 operational international gateway exchanges (2 at Karachi and 1 at Islamabad); and microwave radio relay to neighboring countries.
*AMK : Now IMEWE of PTCL and TWA-1 of Transworld (Private Operator) also successfully working in Karachi, Pakistan.
Perception Survey
LIRENasia's Telecommunications Regulatory Environment (TRE) index summarizes stakeholders’ perception of the regulatory and policy environment and provides insight into how conducive the environment is for further development and progress. The most recent survey was conducted in July 2008 in eight Asian countries, including Pakistan. The tool measured seven dimensions: (i) market entry; (ii) access to scarce resources; (iii) interconnection; (iv) tariff regulation; (v) anti-competitive practices; (vi) universal services; and (vii) quality of service; for the fixed, mobile, and broadband sectors.
The survey found that in Pakistan the mobile sector was most active, followed by broadband; while the fixed-line sector remained somewhat static. The parameters that improved compared to the 2006 survey were: interconnection, tariff regulation, regulation of anti-competitive practices, and universal service obligation in the mobile sector; and market entry, interconnection, regulation of anti-competitive practices and universal service obligation in the fixed sector. Market entryreceived a low score in the mobile sector due to the perception that the cost of a new or renewal mobile license was prohibitive, thus posing a serious barrier to entry. However, this conclusion may have been incorrect, as the license fee, at least in the case of renewal by Mobilink GSM, was paid in installments over a period of three years. Thus, lack of complete information on the part of survey participants may have skewed the results.
