Business

PTCL internet service likely to see improvement

Company announces commissioning of Asia-Africa-Europe 1 cable system

Our Correspondent July 08, 2017

A photo of a PTCL outlet. PHOTO: PTCL

KARACHI: Customers of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) are likely to experience internet service of better quality after the telecom company connected with the world's largest and latest submarine cable laid down from Asia and Africa to Europe.

"PTCL today announced the commissioning of Asia-Africa-Europe 1 (AAE-1) cable system that connects South East Asia to Europe via Egypt," a press statement said on Friday.

The cable spans over 25,000 kilometers and is the largest submarine cable constructed in around 15 years, it said.

PTCL is a listed company at the Pakistan Stock Exchange. Its share price increased 1%, or Rs0.15, to Rs14.32 with a volume of 303,000 shares on Friday.

PTCL has been providing fixed line telephone services for the last 70 years and is also the country's largest provider of broadband services. However, recently, its market share has been threatened with the launch of mobile broadband services and entry of new players in the business.

"PTCL will be able to cater for growing bandwidth requirements of its customers to support live streaming and watching HD content over internet, thus furthering its commitment of building a digitally connected Pakistan," said the PTCL statement. "Network diversity is a priority in network planning. It is critical to have more than one route; for continuity of services, security and efficiency of the network, it said.

"With a capacity of at least 40 Terabits per second across 5 fiber pairs, AAE-1 is designed from the outset with 100Gbps transmission technology, which may be upgraded in the future to fulfil increasing bandwidth demand.

"Salient features of AAE1 are Low Latency, no difference between Trunks or Branch and express traffic between any two points," the statement added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 8^th, 2017.

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COMMENTS (2)

Rehan Khan | 6 years ago | Reply This news is breaking news! By connecting its network with most modern (AAE-1) cable system, providing 100+Gbps bandwidth, PTCL is taking a big step in fulfilling its commitment to building a digitally connected Pakistan, The global economy is now digital i.e. you do not need to go to the brick and mortar office (such as banks, insurance companies, service industries, etc.) anymore. You can work from home and meet via VOIP (Voice over IP) teleconferences and have face to face video calls using routers.Also, your online presence will let your colleagues know if you are away from your desk for lunch or on your desk. This means people can live away from the city centers and do not have to commute daily hence less traffic and less pollution. This will revolutionize the urban planning. On a side note, the existing copper wire network can be used with new DSL technology to give higher bandwidth. Yes, you do not have to upgrade copper wire to the optical fiber to be digitally connected at the higher speed to stream video etc.

Baligur | 6 years ago | Reply The problem with PTCL's service lies in their local infrastructure in Pakistan. Their old copper lines. Their last mile infrastructure. Until and unless they do something about that their service will never improve. However this new cable will be good for consumers of others ISPs because they'll get wholesale bandwidth at a cheaper rate from PTCL and hopefully they'll pass on those discounts to their consumers in the near future.

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