the-south-asian.com                               September 2003

 

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September  2003 
Contents



 Heritage
 
Astana in Baltistan 
 wins UNESCO award


 Exhibition
 
Metcalfe's album of
 'Imperial Dehlie'

 
 
 
 People
 Ela Bhatt 
 

 Culture
 Esala Perahara of
 Sri Lanka

 

 Technology
 Pakistan Telecomm

 

 Wildlife
 The Indian Elephant


 Books 
 
 Cookbooks

 

 Neighbours
 Letter from Pakistan

 Chandbagh - Doon's
 cousin in Lahore

 

 Lifestyle
 Bollywood's 
 educated elite


 Real Issues
 
Religious freedom 
 and conversion


 Culture
 body.city@berlin

 Music
 Sandeep Bhagwati

 Shubha Mudgal


 Films
 
Hrithik Roshan - an
 interview

 

 

 

 the craft shop

 Lehngas - a limited collection

 the print gallery

 Books

 Silk Road on Wheels

 The Road to Freedom

 
Enduring Spirit

 Parsis-Zoroastrians of
India

 
The Moonlight Garden

 
Contemporary Art in
 Bangladesh
 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

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Page  2  of  5

 

Pakistan – Markets in IT & Telecomm Convergent Technologies

CONNECTIVITY = PRODUCTIVITY

 

PAKISTAN TELECOMM SECTORS

3.0 Internet Conectivity

In Pakistan Internet Bandwidth consumption grew healthily as gauged by the fact that the STM-1 circuit (155 MBPS) procured from Singtel by Pakistan Internet Exchange (PIE) is booked at near full capacity. Dialup Internet access got ubiquitous in major cities and was further extended to smaller cities by the ‘local-access-for-131’ arrangements done by the Ministry of Science & Technology. Industry insiders indicated an upward shift in the Internet bandwidth demand of corporate and SME customers. While customers typically asked for 64 kbps Internet connections, they are increasingly asking for higher capacities for their Internet connectivity requirements.

3.1 Internet Backbone

Pakistan Internet Exchange started the process of procuring a second STM-1 circuit to augment the existing STM-1 connectivity with Internet. The new contract with Singtel costs significantly less than the older one and the savings thus made would be passed on to the general Internet users in the form of reduced bandwidth prices.

 

3.2 MAJOR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS –ISPs

ISP NAME WEB SITE PHONE

Apollo Online http://www.apollo.net.pk/ (051) 2651361-3

Brain Net http://www.brain.net.pk/ 111-222-888

Comsats http://www.comsats.net.pk/ 111-700-800

Crestar http://www.crestarnet.net/ (021) 5861715

Cyber Net http://www.cyber.net.pk/ 111-44-55-66

Fascom http://www.fascom.com/ (021) 2400366

Gerry's Net http://www.gerrys.net.pk/ 111-123-321

Global Net http://www.global.net.pk/http://www.global.net.pk/ (021) 2411344-2410412

NetSol Connect http://www.netsolir.com/http://www.netsolir.com/ 111-638-765

Pak Net http://www.pak.net/http://www.pak.net/ (021) 5218572-5675238

SuperNet http://www.super.net.pk/http://www.super.net.pk/ 111 78 73 76

World Call Online http://www.worldcall.net.pk/ 111 111 004

Internet/e-mail is now considered an essential part of the data communication network services in Pakistan and the number of users is growing at a rate of 200 percent per annum. Some of the leading Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are as follows:

 

ISP Yr. founded No.of users

Comsats 1996 11,250

Cybernet 1997 12,000

Paknet 1996 11,000

Brainnet 1994 8,000

(16,000 e-mail users)

Fascom 1996 1,500

Supernet 1997 6,000

IBM 1996 5,000

Internet/e-mail services are now available in all the major urban areas of Pakistan with the exception of Quetta. The average Internet connectivity rate stands at Rs. 40 per hour but Paknet, a subsidiary of PTCL, offers consumers a rate of Rs. 20 per hour.

The total number of Internet users in Pakistan stands at around 1.4 million users.

 

3.3 Broadband Wireless Internet :

Fascom launched its wireless broadband service in Karachi in April 2003 and is pricing it at Rs 20,000 per PC per month for a 64K connection , Rs 35,000 for 128K, Rs. 65,000 for 256K and Rs 128,000 for a 512K connection. This is targeted at small, medium businesses and corporate users .The wireless antenna is included in this price and there is a first time installation charge of Rs. 10,000. Fascom was also the first to provide online Karachi Stock Exchange prices in 1995. Fascom intends to become a bandwidth player targeting smaller ISP operator’s with this product.

NetSolConnect's Joint Venture Launches First Broadband Wireless Service in Karachi, Pakistan. The New NetLogic Liberty(TM) Servicewould deliver High-Speed, Broadband service to 85% of Karachi in 5.8GHz ISM Band .NetLogic Wireless Broadband, a Joint Venture between NetSolConnect (Pvt) Ltd -- A NetSol Technologies, Inc., Company (Nasdaq: NTWK); and iLogic (Pvt) Ltd announced the launch of its first broadband wireless service in Karachi. The new product called NetLogic Liberty(TM) represents a truly revolutionary method of providing two-way, broadband Internet access and service using fixed wireless technology.

As of today, over 85% of the homes and offices in the Karachi metropolis can subscribe to NetLogic Liberty's high-speed service for as low as Rupees 6,000 or, $100 per month. The service provides multi-megabit download speeds and does not require a phone line to hook up a computer to the Internet. The connection is "always on" when the customer is ready to surf the World Wide Web -- no more dialing into a modem bank multiple times to get a good connection and no more getting bumped off-line during an important work session. Furthermore, since the technology is wireless, customers will not have to wait months or years for their local telephone or cable company to upgrade their neighborhood's wiring with two-way capabilities.

Now customers have an attractive third option for combined local broadband access and Internet Service Provider (ISP) service. NetLogic Liberty will provide downstream burst rates of up to 10 Megabits per second (Mbps).

In the future, services to be added are Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Video Conferencing, and Cable TV over Ethernet, Online Gaming, Video-on-Demand and other value added services and to set the stage for the rapid deployment of the NetLogic Integrated on Demand (ION) product line."

About NetLogic

NetLogic is a Joint venture between NetSolConnect (Pvt.) Ltd. -- a NetSol Technologies, Inc. company (Nasdaq: NTWK); and iLogic (Pvt.) Ltd, an International Communications Company at the forefront of integrating long- distance, local and wireless communications services with Head Office in the United Kingdom. NetSolConnect built and operates one of the largest ISP networks in Karachi with planned expansion in Lahore and Islamabad. NetSolConnect also specializes in advanced data communications services.

PAKNET:

Paknet offers broadband wireless services in most large cities and then connects them to its Internet Cloud.

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