September 15, 2006	Friday	Sha'aban 21, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 14: There is tremendous potential for broadband services in Pakistan and this technology will be the essential part of life in the future. This was stated by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman Maj-Gen (retired) Shahzada Alam Malik while speaking as chief guest at a “WiMax seminar” arranged by the South Asia Middle East North America (SAMENA) Telecommunication Council here on Thursday.

The PTA chairman said we should look for futuristic technologies, adding that broadband technologies were being considered essential for long-term and sustained economic development of a country. Broadband sets up the basic criteria for the convergence of computing, telecommunication and broadcasting.

He said it was unequivocally essential for corporate, commercial and individual applications. Broadband technologies have enabled a range of online activities such as banking, shopping, video streaming, telemedicine, e-learning and so on.

He said the demand for broadband services was growing with increased use of data communication. Presently, broadband services are not affordable and the incumbent operator has important role to play in this regard, he added. The regulatory environment for the broadband is highly favourable.

The chairman said among all broadband technologies, WiMAX brought together diverse technologies such as cellular, broadband wireless, WiFi, and wireline, offering solutions to fill gaps and virtually reach all spaces and environments with high-speed data transfers, multimedia environments, and rich content experiences that consumers demand. This is a right solution for Pakistan environments, he added.

Mr Malik said the PTA had been in continuous consultation with the industry to ensure that all regulatory measures were in place to enable broadband proliferation, and was eliminating hurdles in the way of development of WiMAX and other broadband technologies.

He said PTA’s recent determination and efforts on domestic and international leased circuits, APC purchase of equipment for QoS and monitoring grey traffic were all aimed at providing state-of-the-art services to common man at affordable prices.

PTA Member (Technical) Dr Mohammad Yasin, while giving a detailed presentation, said Pakistan had presently 2.4 million internet subscribers with approximately 12 million users.

Similarly, broadband subscribers are not much owing to high cost of the service available. He said PTA had taken all possible measures to pave way for promotion of this technology. He said the industry players should introduce new technologies.

On the occasion, Thomas W. Wilson and Riaz A. Siddiqui of SAMENA Telecommunications also gave presentations on the future of WiMax technology in Pakistan and efforts being made to extend this service to all areas of Pakistan.

It may be mentioned that WiMax is a revolutionary development in the broadband arena which enables users to access all kinds of broadband services in a converged manner including IPTV.