Briefings to the President and Prime Minister to showcase the dependence of growth within the industry, and possibly the country, with the licensing of extra bandwidth to cellular service providers have fueled the prediction workshop.
Many are wondering when and who will get us 3G, but the key question is how?
There is no shortage of complaints against the five mobile service providers in the country, as is the case in the rest of the world. Quality of service has remained a bone of contention, with very little effort made by the regulatory authority or the providers to address concerns. Reprimands and fines have yielded some change, but nothing to give a 99% approval to any service provider on its customer service and network optimization.
If the expectation is that 3G will bring radical improvement to the industry, then it is a wonderful vision, but certain factors undermine this vision.
With a stated 65% penetration of mobile services, quality of 2/2.5G is abysmal in many areas.
Furthermore, with only an estimated 5% of subscribers being mobile data users, the GPRS/EDGE provision maintained by the providers raises questions on their actual adherence to value addition. If this is the buffet currently on offer, will higher speed of service really change the taste?
Over time, consumers have asked for access to faster data services, and with the influx of a vast array of smartphones in the market, most want to make full use of the devices on par with consumers of many other nations. But there are huge differences in the consumer segment of other nations and Pakistan.
With a larger prepaid block, average revenue per subscriber is around US$3. This does not hold much promise for service providers to invest further within their network.
One needs to understand the costs and time involved. Apart from the millions and possibly, a billion that the government dreams of making through the licensing process, there will be the need for investment in infrastructure and technology.
This is further cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. On a time scale, it is unlikely that 3G can be implemented before the end of 2012 and that too in the urban centers. For such heavy investment, can any provider expect return at complementary levels?
Moreover, how long will it be able to keep the consumer happy as the world moves to 4G and LTE? Will there be another cry after a few years for upgrade?
Innovation is no doubt a key factor in the technology sector. It is what keeps the industry running on full steam and ensures attractiveness for the end-user. However, the dimensions of the Pakistani market do not resonate like any other 3G-enabled nation. Could the technology be used to bring a change to the entire market?
While time will tell what eventuates in the coming months, one hopes that irrespective of 3G entering the fray or not, mobile service providers can take some time to leave the strategy tables and hammer their current network into shape for the 105 million paying consumers of today.
A version of this post originally appeared on ProPakistani.pk
COMMENTS (11)
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i have been using 3G and 3.5 G networks in europe, i have also used the networks in pakistan. Besides offereing TV and Internets servies with more content 3.5G and 3 G networks are useless. The minimum services requirement of connentivity among the business entities is available in pakistan mobile networks . And more effort should be exerted towards better customer services and better legal settlments.
What are the sources for those statistics?
regulators job is to lead growth. they should have given 3g a year ago. whether its commercially viable is a concern for operators
This is wrong time to auction 3G...
3G bandwidth should be open auction to all ie existing providers and new entrants.
consumers are the real problem. If majority is willing to pay for it than i dont think any telco ll have problem getting 3G ...
The whole 3G discussion seems pretty pointless from the angle that the current providers are simply unable (and incapable) to provide full 2G data speeds as it is. All because our connections will be marked as 3G, what assurance do we have that they'll deliver the data at the rates promised? None...
Actually another news story on Express tells us that most mobile phone users in Pakistan are quite satisfied with their mobile network provider. And that news story was based on a real honest-to-goodness survey not some baseless opinion of a journalist. So no mobile networks are fine in Pakistan.
As far as 3G goes, we need to skip it and go straight to 4G. If 4G is not yet affordable for our telcos then they can wait until it is. But 3G is obsolete and a waste of money. Of course the govt. needs to raise money to cover it's budget deficit so it'll likely hold a 3G license auction anyway. Here's hoping that the auction flops!
So does the author mean to say we should sit on our hands. What else will get Pakistan in the 21st century, the fact that there are very few data users won't even change in two decades. Why? Because the people who use data services are educated people and at our current literacy rate, how can things change. Does this mean we should stay like this, even until 2020 when the world moves to 5G or even 6G? I think this is precisely what the author wants to happen. As such lets be even more realistic, there is also no need of internet and cellular services in the country, lets first feed the hungry and starved. I assure the author thinking like this stifles progress, doesn't lead to it.
easy to say revenue per customer is $3 however cost per employee is also very less
Why doesn't the regulator go straight to 4G?
the same story everywhere... current services and quality is zero while we aim for fashionable stuff. We cannot manage basic stuff and try to show off with fancy stuff to compete with others.