Pakistan: Internet users cross 25m mark

PakTribune.Com

Internet users in Pakistan have increased to more than 25 million due to its online accessibility through mobile phone services on affordable rates. According to Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK), the estimated Internet users are on the rise with its increasing trend of utility via mobile phones reaching the figure of up to 15 million. The mobile phone subscribers go online through different Internet services including, EDGE, GPRS and Blackberry Internet Services (BIS). The cellular phone companies have been working aggressively on the promotion of Internet services for last two years mainly for earning extra revenues besides voice calls and text messages. These companies introduced different bundle packages of Internet services in their youth brands to promote Internet services as an essential for young customers for education and entertainment purposes. The trend of using Internet is increasing rapidly with the arrival of smartphones of different handset makers though low-cost handsets are available in the market having options of online connectivity. It was further given impetus through providing easy connectivity to users for using Facebook and Twitter. Mobile phone companies and handset makers alike have provided easy connectivity of Facebook and Twitter Internet users that gave further impetus to Internet usage among the customers. Officials of the mobile phone companies said the Internet consumption of their subscribers varies due to different needs of individuals in their daily life. They said the customers having postpaid connection are large users of Internet services due to their business and professional demands. Besides youngsters usage of Internet is limited on mobile phone as they usually avail Internet services for social networking sites, informative webs and browsing. Cellphone operators have created demand of Internet usage among customers through different tools like applications of education, infotainment and entertainment by their own portals. The excessive branding and marketing campaigns of mobile phone companies are generating positive results on their business in fact creating awareness among the customers before the launch of high data service—3G technology. The Internet users having demand of high-speed services are also increasing particularly through broadband. As per industry estimate, there are more than five million broadband users in the country through 2 million connections. The Internet users mainly do connect with one IP connection and consume Internet services through sharing at home, office and educational institutions. There are 50 Internet services providers in which 10 are broadband companies exploring untapped market in big cities.