By March 2015, Telenor leads total number of subscribers that stand at 3.5 million, followed by Zong with 2.9 million, Mobilink with 2.8 million and Ufone with 2.6 million. These figures speak the rapid adoption of 3G services while Warid has 66,140 subscribers for its LTE service and Zong has 31,582 for its 4G services.

Starting from EDGE service with a speed of 512 kbps, telecom operators spent a couple of months testing 3G services that allowed many subscribers to enjoy free high speed mobile internet up to 7 Mbps. Several subscribers chose to switch to 3G after the auction and many converted with the availability of better packages, better and cheaper smartphones and better awareness of 3G services by the telecoms. Telecom revenue from mobile broadband services now stand at 25% of total revenue, a phenomenal change in one year since the auction.

Despite bio-metric re-verification drive that saw reduction of overall number of subscribers, rapid uptake of mobile broadband shows great potential in the market and hunger for faster internet speed. Much of it as smooth as fixed broadband, constant supply of high speed mobile internet has opened doors where people can remain connected even in the absence of electricity.

The success can also be gauged by the fact that in March 2014 Pakistan won an award at Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona called  “Spectrum for Mobile Broadband Award 2015“. The successful auctioning of 3G/4G spectrum was recognized by the world and Anusha Rehman (Minister of IT) shared facts and figures at the forum to prove Pakistan’s potential. With a population of 200 million, mostly of young people, the possibilities and opportunities are endless.

Which mobile broadband service do you use? Share your experience in the comments below.

Khurram Zahid

The post 635% Mobile Broadband Growth in Pakistan appeared first on Smartchoice.pk.

It is important to bring an authentic perspective about 5G service. Pakistan is already late in entering mobile broadband race and trying to catch up to rest of the world. A casual look at options provided by local telecom companies will list speeds from 7 Mbps to 36 Mbps, most of it theoretical which no local telecom operator has so far managed to achieve. A 36 Mbps (mega bits) speed translates to 4.5 MBps (mega bytes) but the speed usually experienced is anywhere between 1 MBps to 1.5 MBps. Similarly 4G speed can theoretically reach 300 Mbps on most networks that translates to 37.5 MBps, but in Pakistan the speed is anywhere between 5 to 10 MBps (and sometimes even lower).

In UK, 3G was deployed in 2004 and 4G deployment began in 2006. In 2014, the best performing 3G service averaged 4.48 MBps while best 4G service averaged 6.19 MBps. UK has already matured 3G technology while its 4G will be approaching maturity in next few years. Pakistan has a lot of years to even come close to maturing its 3G service, let alone 4G.

So what is this 5G service?

In a nutshell, 5G is a technology currently under development by the likes of Huawei and ZTE. It is a parallel technology to LTE that would, theoretically, be 1000 times faster than 4G. The best 4G networks in the world can reach 1 Gbps speed though never in practicality. 5G can reach a speed of 10 Gbps with the lowest possible latency.

What is the benefit of this speed?

Besides being able to download HD movie of size 8 GB in 6 seconds, with incredible speed and lowest possible delay time, 5G will enable real-time controls from across the globe. A person can control a car, a machinery or any piece of equipment from another country as if physically present there. A driverless car can get instant updates of crime, accidents or problems up ahead on the road to avoid any disaster in real time.

Standards of 5G are yet to be defined, the technology is yet to be brought in any practical use and even the most developed nations don’t see deployment possible before 2020. The equipment for 5G would cost a lot more than 4G, which is already a huge expansion burden for local telecom operators of Pakistan.

While IT Minister’s announcement is encouraging that government has eyes on latest tech developments, it is unrealistic at best to assume Pakistan would be ready for 5G within the next decade.

Should Pakistan focus on early deployment of 5G? Tell us in comments below!

Khurram Zahid

The post Does Pakistan Need 5G Service? appeared first on Smartchoice.pk.