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Pakistan had its first broadband policy documented in 2001. According to that, the following implied the definition of broadband in the country:

Broadband in Pakistan will be defined as “Always on Internet connection with a download speed of at least 128kbps connectivity”. This download speed target will be subject to an increase as the bandwidth prices reduce, local content becomes available and there is a general increase in awareness of broadband.

The main objectives of the established Broadband policy were:

1. Spreading of an affordable, ‘always on,’ broadband high speed internet service in the corporate/commercial and residential sectors across Pakistan.

2. Encourage the entry and growth of new service providers while stimulating the growth of the existing ones at the same time.

3. Encourage private sector investment in local content generation and broadband service provision.

However, to date even with a supposed technological evolvement of the broadband sector of Pakistan, the penetration rate is quite low. There are multiple reasons for this. To have access to broadband, first and foremost a PC or a laptop is required and secondly a modem & connection. The cost of a PC starts at around $400 and is surely not in harmony with the average income per capita; therefore unless we increase the number of affordable devices the BB penetration will not take off. Secondly, the cost of the modem & flexible bandwidth connection will have to be brought down.

How are these hurdles to be overcome? The best anecdote is to have 3G introduced as a device which is less than USD 70 can not only provide voice but also broadband internet with thousand of non‐text application. It is projected that in Pakistan over 08 million 3G devices are working currently on Pakistan existing 2G networks. it remain a fact that unless 3G technology is introduced by the operators the BB Connectivity and subscriber base will remain quite minimal.

Apart from 3G introduction, the government shall continue to have a liberal policy for private sector facilitation by way of low or no licensing fee, low custom tariff on infrastructure and terminal devices in bringing internet bandwidth through multiple Optical Fiber Cable routes and 03rd party satellites. While, a separate Broadband policy document is not required as was done previously this policy item should importantly be highlighted in the same document as the Telecom Policy.

Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) was used first in the Second World War for jarring transmissions. Since 1995 CDMA systems have been in commercial use. The technology was developed by Qualcomm and became the seed that aided Qualcomm engineers to come up with innovations such as Soft Handoff and fast power control, making CDMA technology not only efficient but also practical for terrestrial cellular communication. In Pakistan CDMA was introduced in 2004 when PTA announced for the auction for four frequency ranges: 450 MHz, 479 MHz, 1900 MHz, and 3.5 GHz.

However, the introduction of CDMA faced great hostilities from the GSM lobby who considered this technology as a competitor rather than advancement in the tech sector.First things first, CDMA was NOT introduced to replace GSM rather it was deployed mainly as an alternative to fixed line, in other words the copper line. The self-enforced war of GSM and CDMA did more harm than good to the Pakistani tech sector. WLL operators were restricted to single BTS , a limited number of end user terminals and were also denied RUIMS.

To add up to these setbacks was the heavy taxes that were imposed on the WLL industry accounting for 38%-40% taxes.Not only this, the licensing cost charged if not equaled exceeded that paid by the mobile operators.In addition to that, WLL operators were auctioned frequencies in only 14 regions For example, Worldcall Telecom Ltd. won frequencies in all 14 regions, but in Karachi it received the frequencies only in 450 MHz, in 10 regions only in 479 MHz, in 10 other regions only in 1900 MHz, and in 9 regions only in 3.5 GHz. The result of this partiality was that not only were the WLL operators unable to recover licensing cost but also did not receive any substantial growth resulting in some even failing to launch or being forced to shut. The cherry on top was that as the WLL operators were allotted limited spectrum growth, they were not able to provide optimum services to the customers failing to fulfill additional voice and data needs.

The industry must realize the worth of CDMA technology. With 475 million customer’s world wide, CDMA technology is undoubtedly a breakthrough ignored in Pakistan. Looking in to a future of 3G technology, CDMA is the preferred technology for the third generation in which it uses EV-DO and EV-DV. So what steps must be taken by the industry to promote CDMA? One positive step needs to be taken by the government to remove the restriction on mobility which will allow CDMA operators to flourish in the market reaching their full potential.

The debate on whether the time is suited to introduce 3G technology in Pakistan has gained a lot of momentum since the past year. Does 3G appear to be a plausible changeover after the apparent flop of Wimax technology in Pakistan?Or is the market ready to take a plunge in to the 3G world that has taken over not only the developed but even the emerging economies such as China and India?

It is an established fact that out of a teledensity of 60.2%,  the mobile user penetration has reached almost 58.3% as of March ‘09 with around 91.4 cellular subscribers in Pakistan (PTA). One might consider that with such a large number of mobile users, the market for introducing 3G is undoubtedly present. True, the trend is moving towards purchasing 3G compatible handsets, but the fact of the matter is, that is this transaction on the basis of the “cool features” or the usefulness of the product? I’ve seen many people, who might not even be aware of how to type a text, purchase a cellphone that boasts such “fancy” features.

This brings me to my second point, that even with such a deep penetration, the rate of GPRS subscribers has still not reached a handsome amount, specially if compared to India. The number of people using facebook on their cell phones is undoubtedly increasing but yet again this ratio is still very minute. Coupled with a low GPRS subscriber rate is the low broadband penetration. Even with low rates and high speeds, the rush towards broadband subscription lacks the heat. Therefore, the picture that comes to the mind is that Pakistan is evidently not ready for 3G.

However, the flip side of the coin shows a different picture. To have access to broadband, first and foremost a PC or a laptop is required. The cost of a PC starts at around $400 and is surely not in harmony with the average income per capita. 3G handsets, on the other hand, have had a sharp decrease in their prices and cost no more than $70. The picture that now pops up is that with a single 3G handset the probability of a high rate of internet users can easily be worked up on.

However, up comes another drone attack from the anti-3G minds : low literacy rate in Pakistan poses a hindrance for the success of 3G. This might, to some extent, really appear to be a rock in the path. But again, one needs to realize that out of a population of 17crore, 56.8% own a handset. And this 56.8%, if not knowing how to text, can easily attend a call and make one as well. 3G, is not just limited to data packages but also provides other benefits, such as Video Conferencing. Say, if people can learn how to dial a number, how difficult can it possibly get for a person in Nathia Gali, to show on his cell phone, a live coverage of his serene surroundings?

Secondly, the major cell phone subscribers are the ones residing in the metropolitan cities of the country. And yes they do comprise of the educated class, who do tweet their status online throught their cell phone. This clique demands on-the-go high speed internet connectivity as well- a feat that can best be provided by 3G technology.

3G license auctioning has still not been executed, even though it has been a year since its inception. Is the governement ready to auction the spectrum and most importantly, are the cellular companies up for the challenge in the current economic scenario, where even the telecom sector of Pakistan has suffered a blow?

It seems like the monotonous outlook of the mailbox has finally caught attention of the service providers. A recent epidemic entitled as “bringing your mailbox to life” has emerged whereby different features are enabled for the purpose of personalizing the homepage suiting the needs of the user. The most recent feature is of applying themes or colours to your inbox, and of trying to manage the inbox in different and new ways.

Now different webmail vendors are offering different features. Yahoo and AOL are providing their users with 6 different colours. Of course to maintain the interest of the user the colours have been awarded innovative names such as ocean and sky for what we simple call “blue”. On the other hand, msn and gmail have surpassed yahoo and aol in terms of innovation. Various “themes” have been uploaded with msn offering a total of 8 stylish themes and gmail offering 31!

In addition, new startup companies are trying to enhance email in different ways. Orgoo, that we covered earlier, offers a way to blend email, video and instant messaging into one interface. Xobni connects with Microsoft Outlook and searches through your email lists to find social connections between emails and other useful stats. Zenbe offers a striking new interface to emails…. making them look like web forums or the Facebook wall more than a standard inbox.

Yes, so finally our placid inbox has undergone a drastic change to an interface with colors and fun. From ninja themes to bubblegum colours, now you have the authority to personalize your interface according to your mood and your requirement.

Amidst the mass of twitter apps, twittomatic might appear to some as another stone in the heap. This app, designed by Sohail Abid (who built IdeasHut prior to this), synchronizes your tweets for future dates. The mechanism is simple enough: just log in with your twitter account, type in your tweet with the date and time and it shall be delivered on the desired date.

With twittomatic, users can set reminders for important dates and events, just like we do on our cell phones. Also, they can schedule tweets they want to appear on particular dates and considering wide array of tweets (business, marketing,personal etc) this app appears to be pretty useful for automating your tweets. In fact, such an app should have been an integrated feature of twitter, since its uses and advantages are practically the same as twitter.

The application is yet to launch in its private beta version. You can follow up on the launch on www.twittomatic.com

Imran Sheikh, 19 has developed, what is considered the fastest IE-based browser to date, Xtravo Explorer. Though still in its beta version, this browser has caught the attention of not only the local media but also has gained mass popularity worldwide. The explorer is powered by IE, and its requirements include 10 megabytes (MB) of hard disk drive (HDD), 128 of random access memory (RAM), Net Framework 2 (Compulsory) and Windows Operating System.

Salient features of Xtravo are tab browsing, short cuts, fast browsing, Integrated RSS feeds and Integrated DOM introspection. its advanced pop up blocker, provides its users with safe and secure browsing. However, The individuality of this explorer is not only restricted to loading heavy websites within 10 seconds, but the special features for web designers: Document Reader, which allows one to review the websites coding and Image Grabber, which permits saving multiple pictures at the same time. Also, the improved ftp uploader through which webpages can be uploaded by simply typing: ftp.yourdomain.com.

User reviews on various websites have termed Xtravo as user friendly. However, Sheikh Imran is yet to attain larger mainstream recognition on this remarkable breakthrough of his in the information technology sector of Pakistan. With such a vast list of evangelists while still in its beta version, the explorer is sure to head for great success.