The data revenues of cellular
mobile operators (CMOs) reached Rs47 billion during the year under review, showing
a growth of 47.4% YoY. The data traffic has escalated by 19.3% overall in the
telecom sector and 40% in voice traffic due to increased subscriptions and
competitive bundle offers provided by the cellular services in Pakistan. These
cellular companies have taken notice of the explosion of social apps usage in
Pakistan and are offering lucrative offers that include daily, weekly and
monthly plans for internet usage, which is also a major contributor to data
traffic. Consumers are moving from voice call trend towards to mobile data
trend because of apps such as Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter.
There has also been a substantial
increase in the imports of mobile handsets worth US $544 million, an indication of the consumers opting
for Smartphones with features like email, instant messaging, video and voice
calls. The consumers are opting for Smartphones with smart apps to ease their
lives on the go and to keep themselves updated with global trends. A Smartphone
also provides a window for the consumer to mix their social and business
activities. These Smartphones at a time were costly to obtain, but now
telecommunication companies, banks and manufacturers are providing discounts
and installment offers with 0% markup that make obtaining a Smartphone easy.
The aggregate effect of increase in subscriptions, bundle offers,
internet packages, social apps, email and smartphones have created an entire
segment of mobile data traffic that is worth monitoring and it because of such
factors networks are looking in to 3G and 4G networks. This will not only be a
source of revenue for the cellular companies but will also generate employment
in the economy, contributing positively towards Pakistan’s GDP.
In lieu of this GPRS/edge supported network, Pakistan has entered in
an era of Next Generation Wireless Networks (NGWN) commonly known as 3G and 4G networks.
These NGWNs are going to innovative all services across a national platform,
including but not limited to financial, business, information, social, and
education and entertainment services. In addition to these, there will be
superior voice communication and faster bandwidth will make video calls
possible. Having a 3G network is a big step for Pakistan, as it means faster
internet than Edge/GPRS services, clearer voice calls and a superior experience
in mobile finance, entertainment, education, social and business services.
However, Fourth Generation LTE networks will revolutionize the entire
process of mobile payments and banking. It will also provide superior voice
call quality; the download speed will be faster and video quality clearer. One
of the leading telecom operators Warid Telecom has recently launched LTE services
in Pakistan and became the first operator to transform from 2G to LTE technology. This transformation will help ease the data traffic being generated
from social and business apps but will also update and revolutionize the entire
system and lifestyle of Pakistan. The network will be ten times faster and more
responsive than a 2G or 3G network as the LTE technology is designed to reduce
latency. Video chats and conferences will facilitate social and business lives
of a consumer. Introduction of LTE by Warid will also create an influx of
investment as software companies will begin to develop apps that are
facilitated by LTE networks, which will also generate employment.
In short, our lives will be hard to picture without Next Generation
Mobile Networks in the coming future. The introduction of LTE is going to
revolutionize and uplift the entire social, economic and financial state of
affairs in Pakistan. Pakistan can infact boost its ideas and conceptualization
of progress with the help of LTE and in few years make these concepts a
reality. These Networks can act as a catalyst that will bridge the development
gap between Pakistan and First World Countries, if utilized accurately.
The author of this article is a
renowned publicist with a penchant for information technology and corporate
sector.
