Pakistan plans modern net - Company Business and Marketing

CommunicationsWeek International, July 17, 2000 by Ahmar Mustikhan

Pakistan's second-largest operator is planning to build what it claims will be the most advanced national communications network in southern Asia.

National Telecommunications Corp., owned by the Pakistan government and based in Islamabad, is inviting bids from local and foreign technical consultants to design and supply an integrated broadband and fixed wireless system with provisioning for business users.

The plan is a major shift in networking strategy from providing telecoms systems to the powerful defense establishment only, in preparation for the introduction of full competition in the $1-billion Pakistan telecoms market in 2003.

"We would go for the most modern network system available anywhere in the world, and certainly Internet Telephony would be part of our network," said NTC technical chief, Mohammad Hussain. "Our modernization goal is to provide the existing clients and customers, who are all government departments, with business solutions that would be in vogue when the PTCL monopoly ends in 2002. Our customers definitely would be in e-commerce.

When the armed forces took control of Pakistan in a coup last October, the country's citizens in different cities were unable to communicate with each other as the public telephone system was suspended for some hours. Only the army had access to NTC's network of 100,000 private lines.

The army-led government has focused on building a state-of-art national telecoms system once the national incumbent Pakistan Telecommunications Corporation Limited (PTCL) is deregulated.

But the World Bank and IMF's push for PTCL's privatization has run into snags after 3.5 years, primarily due to reservations held by Pakistani military leaders that private operators may leak vital secrets.

Only 26% of PTCL has been sold to private investors. Now, the authorities are preparing to allow foreign investment through NTC, in a bid to promote new network build.

"Joint ventures are on the cards," said NTC's Hussain. "But in line with our own priorities."

The NTC network plan will include a range of new technologies including boosting wireless local loop, and providing business Internet and corporate extranet services based on a frame relay system, as well as IP virtual private network.

However, there is some skepticism among analysts, who say Pakistan's military establishment will continue to claim national security is a primary issue.

"There may be lot of filtering and screening involved before the NTC opts for

partnering with any foreign consultant," said Abdullah Butt, analyst at Interlink Multimedia Pvt. in Karachi.