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Pakistan and the Internet Dr Mohammad Yaseen, Chairman, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA)

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Pakistan and the Internet Dr Mohammad Yaseen, Chairman, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) MobileNational paymentMobile development systems access Pakistan and the Internet Dr Mohammad Yaseen, Chairman, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Internet usage in Pakistan is growing, but is still low. The government is encouraging broadband service growth throughout the country and has established a new regulatory framework that better reflects and deals with the challenges that digital technology raises. In addition to changing laws to enable safer transactions on the Internet, Pakistan has promoted a wide variety of measures for e-learning, e-banking, e-governance, e-health, e-crimes and e-commerce that promise to make the Internet an integral part of life in Pakistan. Dr Mohammad Yaseen is the Chairman of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). He has produced 30 international and national publications on telecom technologies, ICT growth, strategies and design of telecom networks. Dr Yaseen has represented the PTA at various international and national forums, including the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT), where he was named Vice Chairman of APT Study Group 2 (Networks). Prior to joining the PTA, Dr Yaseen served as: Director of Strategy at PTCL Pakistan; as Senior Consultant for Advanced Networks and Systems, Australia; as a System and Project Engineer, at Alcatel Submarine Networks Australia; and, as a Senior Research Officer at Essex University, England. Dr Mohammad Yaseen graduated from DCET, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan. He was awarded a Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Science and Technology, Scholarship to complete his PhD with specialization in Telecommunication Systems at the University of Essex, England. Today, the Internet and advances in The Internet in Pakistan • TWA 1 (Trans World Associates information and communications technology, Submarine fibre optic cable system). in general, not only affect the way people In Pakistan, Internet bandwidth consumption communicate, but also affect societies and grew healthily over the past few years. Four The SEA-ME-WE 3 cable was a 34-nation cultures as a whole. The information age cables connect Pakistan with rest of the project with a total cost of US$1.5 billion. has shattered communications barriers and world: The 39 landing point cable, at 39,000km, is made the world’s markets more competitive. the longest in the world. It has a total capacity Internet usage today is rising; according to • SEA-ME-WE - 3 (South East Asia-Middle of 2.5 /10 Gbps. ITU, the Internet is growing at more than 100 East-Western Europe 3 submarine cable); per cent per year. The SEA-ME-WE 4 has seventeen landing • SEA-ME-WE - 4 (South East Asia-Middle points with sixteen telecom companies and is Pakistan has a population of 161 million East-Western Europe 4 submarine cable); about 18,800km long. It has a total Capacity and in area of 800,000sq.km. It has of ten Gbps and cost about US$500 million. four administrative provinces, federally • FLAG (Fibre-Optic Link Around the administrated tribal and Northern areas and Globe); FLAG, a 28,000km-long cable, is operated by the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir. India’s Flag Telecom. PTCL is not a member The capital of Pakistan is Islamabad. One of FLAG Submarine Cable System. FLAG third of the people live in urban areas and “In Pakistan, Internet lands in Karachi and connects to Fujairah via two-thirds in rural areas. Pakistan’s per capita SMW3. income is about US$1,085. According to Bandwidth consumption Economic Survey of Pakistan (2007-2008), grew healthily over the last The TWA is 1300km long; its total capacity is 55 per cent of people (adult) are illiterate. few years.” 1.28 Tbps. Asia-Pacific III 2008 n 07 National development “The Government of Pakistan promoted electronic banking through its promulgation of the Electronic Transaction Ordinance of 2002. This landmark regulatory framework provided legal recognition of digital signatures and documentation reducing the risks associated with the use of electronic media in business. ” Internet penetration and usage Work is in progress to interconnect 59 more inquiry; 2) Payments - fund transfers, credit campuses within a year. card payments, direct payments, utility bills Digicom launched the first international payments; 3) Requests - chequebook requests, Internet service in Pakistan in 1995. The The interconnection of all these universities stop payment orders, demand drafts, new fixed licensing of commercial Internet service and institutes will permit the integration of deposit requests; 4) Downloads - customer providers began in 1996. By mid-1999, their databases, support collaboration for profiles, statements, other information and approximately 100 organizations had licences research and development and help upgrade guidelines. to provide Internet services. By mid-2000, teaching and learning skills. PERN will also the number of Pakistani users had grown to provide an access platform to interconnect e-governance - An Electronic Government 500 thousand. In 2007, the total number of universities and educational institutions with Directorate (EGD), reporting to the Ministry Internet users reached 3.5 million. the Virtual University. The Government of Information Technology (M/o IT), was of Pakistan in cooperation with PTCL established in 2002 to implement projects Affordable broadband services have recently Research and Development funds is financing related to Pakistan’s Electronic Government been introduced in Pakistan. Although the project. The network is designed, Programme (e-Govt). EGD provides technical broadband has been available for some time, operated and maintained by NTC (National advice and guidelines for the implementation high costs and poor service delayed market Telecommunication Corporation). of e-government projects at the federal, growth. There are currently more than 130 provincial and district levels. EGD also plans thousand broadband subscribers in Pakistan. e-banking - Electronic banking, using ATMs, and prepares electronic government projects, tele-banking, Internet banking, credit and develops standards for electronic government The growth of the broadband market began debit cards is an effective delivery channel software and infrastructure, and undertakes with the introduction of DSL services by the for traditional banking products. In Pakistan, any other related assignment at the request of incumbent, the Pakistan Telecommunication foreign banks took the lead by introducing the government. Company Limited (PTCL), itself. The offer ATMs and credit cards in the mid 1990s, and of low-priced broadband and free installation domestic banks followed in the late 1990s. In April 2005, EGD’s e-Government Strategy quickly attracted more than 33 thousand The delayed entry in electronic banking was & 5 Year Plan document was approved by subscribers. Pakistan has other types of largely due to regulatory hurdles, higher start- the National E-Government Council (NEGC) broadband services, including WiMAX, up costs, on-going banking sector reforms and and, in June 2005, endorsed by the Federal introduced in December 2007, which captured the lack of technical skills. Cabinet. Following the plan, the government close to ten thousand subscribers in four is working to establish e-governance systems months. Starting in April 2008, Wateen now in every department; many projects have provides HFC (hybrid fibre-coaxial) services “The Electronic Government already been implemented and many are in to more than five thousand subscribers. Directorate (EGD) has pipeline. Overall, with a subscriber base of more than already established three 36 thousand, HFC is the second most-used telemedicine centres in e-health - e-Health programmes are not broadband technology in Pakistan. present everywhere but initiatives have Pakistan.” been taken by the Federal Government and Internet services in Pakistan Provincial Governments of Punjab and Sindh. The Pakistan-US collaboration in e-Learning - e-Learning is education at telemedicine has led to the establishment of a distance that uses modern electronic The Government of Pakistan promoted the first telemedicine/e-health training centre technologies to provide teaching and learning electronic banking through its promulgation of for capacity building in Pakistan. It has content. e-Learning uses various means of the Electronic Transaction Ordinance of 2002. trained 45 doctors and nurses in telemedicine. communication, such as the Internet, cell This landmark regulatory framework provided These trained professionals are helping other phones, television and radio. In Pakistan legal recognition of digital signatures and hospitals, like the Pakistan Atomic Energy e-Learning is offered in more than 700 documentation reducing the risks associated Commission Hospital, to establish their cities by the government-supported Virtual with the use of electronic media in business. telemedicine facilities. Moreover, during the University of Pakistan. At present, almost all commercial banks in 2005 earthquake in Pakistan professionals Pakistan have setup their own ATM networks, in the programme established telemedicine Pakistan’s educational system’s PERN issue debit and credit cards and have joined centres in affected areas. This service, (Pakistan Education and Research Network) one of the two ATM switch networks. however, is still in its infancy in Pakistan. project interlinks all public and private sector chartered universities and degree-awarding Pakistani banks typically provide the The Electronic Government
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