12 June 2004	Saturday	23 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

ISLAMABAD, June 11: Teledensity in Pakistan has registered a stable growth over the past few years as fixed telephone connections have doubled from 2.4 million in 1996 to 4.2 million till February 2004, the Economic Survey 2003-04 said.

According to the survey, released on Friday by Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz during a press conference, the cellular mobile sector has shown tremendous growth in Pakistan over the years.

At present, four companies are providing cellular mobile services in Pakistan like Mobilink, Paktel, Instaphone and Ufone. In 1999, there were only 0.2 million subscribers across the country but with the introduction of CPP regime (calling party pay) and Ufone entry into the cellular market, a sharp increase in the number of subscribers was observed resulting in a rise to 1.2 million in 2002. Currently there are a total of 3.7 million subscribers in Pakistan.

It is expected that the cellular mobile sector will experience a wave of change with two new mobile operators. According to an estimate a potential demand of about 25 million subscribers till 2018 is required to be satisfied in Pakistan.

Similarly, teledensity has increased from 1.85 per cent in 1996 to 2.8 per cent by the end of February 2004, an improvement of 51.35 per cent. At present, there are three basic telephone service providers namely Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL), Special Communication Organization (SCO) and National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC).

By the end of February 2004, the PTCL had deployed 5.05 million lines out of which 4.2 million were in service (a capacity utilization ratio of 84 per cent). The PTCL network has a 99.5 per cent digital switching system exchange, an optical fibre cable backbone, subsidiary routes, long distance media, digital radio systems, satellite communications and alternative arrangements with international gateway at Karachi and Islamabad.

Besides, a total of 1,812 cities, towns and villages have so far been provided with internet access. There are more than 1.6 million internet users across the country.

The PTCL also provides infrastructure for connectivity to Internet Service Providers (ISPs), data network operators (DNOPs), software exporters, educational institutions, universities, corporate customers, card pay-phone licences and other users.

The past year has seen telephone consumers, both residential and corporate in Pakistan, enjoying an influx of cheap and new services on regular basis. Installation charges were reduced by almost 400 per cent for the rural areas from Rs1,850 to Rs500.

Such measures may positively contribute towards stimulating the reach of telephone connections in the far-flung areas of Pakistan, thus increasing teledensity, the survey said.