Thursday, December 23, 2004

Federal Cabinet approves Broadband Policy

Quote from a press release: "The Minister for Information Technology Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on Wednesday unveiled the government's broadband internet policy, setting the stage for what he called 'an affordable, always-on, broadband high-speed internet service' in the corporate and residential sectors across Pakistan.
He also announced reduction in IP bandwidth rates from US$ 3,950 per E1 per month to US$ 2,000 per E1 per month with monthly copper rental for DSL reduced from Rs 771 per month to Rs 250 per month, monthly PRI rental reduced by 50 per cent, domestic bandwidth rates reduced by 25 per cent of the existing prices to facilitate peering services, and DXX connectivity also reduced by up to 63 per cent. 'We expect that as a result of the implementation of this policy, the number of broadband subscribers will increase from the present 29,000 to about 200,000 in about two years as tariffs drop substantially and the number of operators providing broadband services increases rapidly,' said Awais" Really? What do you guys think of the policy?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Salam ppl,

If the price of 64K unlimited drops to below 1500 Rs. per month, I will switch without question.

Also, I will be in 7th heaven if 128k unlimited is available at 1500 per month as a result of the newly announced policy.

DSL / ISDN any will do with the above scenarios. However, I will prefer DSL on account of the savings in telephone bill with which I will finance the setup and equipment charges.


ummro ayyar

Teeth Maestro said...

This is a milestone achievement for the IT industry - but I await the pundits to shed some light on the effects in terms of actual reduction in prices for the end customer (I do see light at the end of the tunnel)

Anonymous said...

where can i find reviews on the policy ....
what would be end consumer rates will be..

Rafay Bin Ali said...

Why is the government interfering in IT policies such as the IT and broadband policy. Such policies are usually drafted by NGO's and industry organizations .. why is there a need for bureaucratic interference in Pakistan which would just serve to further make it difficult for people to cut through the official red tape?

TM: read the article in Dec 2004 issue of SPIDER that discusses the broadband policy of Pakistan. There are some problems as I could make out from the cover stories.