KARACHI, Dec 3: Almost one-fourth of the Pakistanis access the internet for online-education and e-banking despite poor connectivity and the market scenario is likely to change if 3G networks come into play.

This was said by Google representatives while talking to Dawn after the launch of a survey ‘Pakistan Digital Consumer Study — A look at the life of the connected Pakistani consumer’.

Spread over a period of two months, the study was conducted by research and analysis firm IDC and surveyed 1000 Pakistani internet users from seven major cities.

The main aim of the research was to gauge the potential of Internet to the Pakistani economy which is an emerging market.

The survey highlights that more and more Pakistanis are opting to go mobile and 2014 will see ‘mobile Internet overtaking desktop Internet’.

“Once the speed improves, you can expect more people to come online through mobile devices,” said Tania Airdus, Manager for Asian Growth Markets, Google Asia-Pacific.

The study shows ¼ of the participants said that they used the internet for online banking.

Although not many banks in Pakistan offer e-banking, there is a demand for these services and it highlights the possibilities that are there for e-commerce.”

The team highlighted that small and medium enterprises, education initiatives, research and financial services are likely to benefit the most from an increase in internet proliferation in Pakistan.

Drawing a parallel with his home market Malaysia, Zeffri Yusof, Manager, Communications and Public Affairs, Google, said that as 3G became more prominent in his home country, the internet consumption pattern spread out.

“A similar pattern has been observed in almost emerging markets. With more people going online, we do tend to see an increase in e-commerce. Previously, one would see a lot more consumption at home during evening hours, but that changed once people did not have to rely on a dial-up line,” he said.

The Google survey highlights that 61pc Pakistanis used the Internet for social networking, followed by 53pc who used it for emailing, 49pc general search, 22pc online banking and 26pc online education.

Watching TV (41pc) and reading the newspaper (24pc) combined ranked lower than networking.

Personal computers continue to be dominant with 91pc Pakistanis owning a home computer. Fortyfive per cent of participants said that they also owned a smartphone or tablet, with 18pc citing the latter as their primary device.

The study shows that 86pc use PCs to access the Internet daily, 77pc use smartphones, 73pc use feature phones and 59pc use tablets daily.