Knowing the fact that Government of Pakistan is trying hard to introduce 3G in the country, we thought it would be a good idea to compare 3G Mobile Broadband with hardwired high speed Internet service or what you call it DSL.

So, with the assumption that you have a choice between some sort of a hardwired Internet service, DSL or cable, and mobile broadband, either 3G or 4G (after it is introduced), and also that you don’t want to take on the expense of having both, lets’ make a brief comparison of the two types of Internet connections and examine their pros and cons.

DSL offers these advantages:

• If your computer and modem are powered on, you’re always connected. Yes, connections can be lost occasionally, but cable and DSL are very nearly bulletproof and constantly improving.
• Download speeds are fast. Fixed line Internet connections are approaching and exceeding 10 MB in some instances, but even basic connections will give you 1-2 MB per second.
• Costs would be lower than the 3G or 4G connections.
• DSL and cable connections may come packaged with telephone and television services. You receive the proverbial “quantity discount” along with the convenience of needing to pay only one bill.
• The amount of data you can access is essentially unlimited, at least for now.

The disadvantages of DSL and cable fixed line broadband are:

• It is impossible for providers of fixed line broadband to test every operating system, brand of computer and the variations of configurations for different combinations of hardware and software. This means that sometimes it is very frustrating for someone, even someone with better than average computer skills, to establish and maintain their Internet connection. Likewise, it is sometimes problematic for even the most skilled tech support people to diagnose every possible problem.
• The locations where the Internet can be accessed are limited to computers physically connected to the modem or within that modem’s wireless range.

3G and 4G Internet connections offer some benefits:

• They make it easy for someone who is often in different locations to carry their Internet access with them. The USB modem’s weigh only ounces and can easily fit in the pocket, purse or briefcase.
• They are easier to set up than fixed line. All the configuration information is automatically installed when the USB modem is plugged in and activated.
• The need for land line telephone and cable TV service could potentially be entirely eliminated.

Disadvantages of 3G and 4G

The disadvantages of mobile broadband connections are currently considerable, but technology of this type can change so rapidly that there is every reason to expect that these will soon be gone.

• 3G or 4G is going to be more expensive than fixed line broadband.
• Demand currently exceeds the supply, worldwide. Providers may finding their networks and bandwidths stretched so thin that unlimited data plans would be hard to get.
• Given, the limited data plan, it is somewhat difficult to accurately estimate your usage consistently, and exceeding your data limit can quickly get costly.

Ultimately, the decision between fixed line and mobile broadband internet connections is up to the individual. However, the key factor will remain the price for 3G or 4G.

There is currently no one-size-fits-all solution, and what suits your requirements today could change tomorrow, and changes in technology will constantly offer new options and change the game again.

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Mobile Monday (MoMo) event was held last Monday in the faculty cafeteria, Faculty Block, CIIT, Park Road, Islamabad.

More than 100 participants (Faculty and students) participated in the event. As PTA was seeking expert’s opinion on implementation of 3G/4G in Pakistan so the theme of this event was declared as “3G/4G wireless Network implementation in Pakistan: Is this required”.

The program started with short introduction about the theme of the event. Later, a presentation was delivered by Mr. Shahwaiz Iqbal on the generation of Mobile networks.

The presentation was focused on the difference between 1G, 2G, 2.5G, 3G and 4G and what further hardware/software etc. will be required to implement 3G/4G in Pakistan. After Presentation, an open discussion was started among the participants. Everyone took part in the discussions and presented their point of view. The gathering was dominated by final year students of EE department and CS department and they took part in this lively discussion.

The recommendation made in this event will be forwarded to PTA

Mobilink is ready for a go to offer 3G services in the country, provided the government assures a fair and cost-effective allocation of spectrum in the industry, said Mr. Rashid Khan, CEO Mobilink in an interview with Daily Times.

He was quoted saying:

“We give our assurance and commitment in cooperation for early launch of 3G, we also would like to recommend an appropriate approach for allocation of the 3G spectrum.

The allocation of this spectrum should be planned in a manner that presents a plausible business case for the cellular mobile operators keeping in view the challenging financial situation surrounding the cellular mobile industry in Pakistan”.

Mr. Khan showed his concerns over high tax rates for telecom services, despite the fact that telecom sector has contributed the most for the country’s economy. He said:

Telecom companies have continued to invest and expand their networks in Pakistan. Out of a total investment that exceeds $11 billion, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) of more than $6.4 billion has been made by the telecom sector; the telecom sector is the largest recipient of FDI in Pakistan.

Despite geo-political instability and pressures affecting Pakistan, the telecom sector has shown rapid growth and evolution and also been a key economic driver, he said and added the telecommunication sector contributes 3 percent to the country’s GDP.

He pointed out that the cellular industry alone has paid over Rs 300 billion through various taxes in the past five years alone.

Pakistan cellular sector is paying high taxes in comparison to the entire region as its overall rate reached 31 percent whereas the regional countries tax heads contained between 10 to 15 percent,” Rashid Ali said. “In contrast the cellular tariffs in Pakistan are amongst the lowest in the region.”

Rashid Ali Khan urged that the relevant authorities should support the cellular sector and ease this tax burden to provide relief to the common man keeping in view the challenging financial situation surrounding the sector and its users.

The relief of various telecom operators may get disrupted, especially those who were advocating for 4G in order to escape from 3G rollout and the investment, if the title mentioned above turns true.

And the news is, that Government may think of allowing 4G rollout for the price of 3G, meaning that operators will have to pay for 3G license, and they will be allowed to rollout 3G or 4G based on their strategy, needs and the will.

According to Express Tribune, this groundbreaking idea is revealed by Dr. Yaseen, Chairman PTA, himself.

This actually shows how keen the government is to giveaway 3G licenses, apparently, not because that the people of Pakistan need it (if this was the case then we could have 3G back in Feb 2009), but for a fact that current government wants to make some money out of 3G license auction – more than a billion dollar at least, according to industry experts.

If, as opined by Chairman PTA, government eventually allows such a liberty to operators to opt between 3G and/or 4G rollout, all those anti 3G and pro-4G voices will dissolve, who were resisting 3G on the shoulders of 4G to avoid 3G and to save their reputation at the same time.

Based on level of disinterest shown in 3G seminars, it is apparent that telecom operators are in no mood of investing anything, due to low or no profits at all.

However, on other side, government has given the task to Chairman PTA to prepare the industry for 3G, at any cost. Reportedly, current government is trying to reap the potential of 3G license fee, based on India’s recent experiment of making 14.6 billion dollars from 3G licenses.

But again, the question is: Do we really need 4G or even 3G? Do we need to invest billions of dollars for the facilitation of very fewer numbers of customers who may need higher broadband on the go?

And just for a hint: telecom operators are planning to offer 3G services with 2G license. Don’t ask me the how part for now, as things are at ultra classified level for now.

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In an email message share by Rafaeel A Chaudhry on TGP, Dr. Mohammed Yaseen (Chairman PTA) is seeking expert opinion on which technology is better: 3G or 4G?

The exact question at Dr. Yaseen’s private blog is as follows:

No doubt, Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) will be a next BIG thing in the world and it is now not so far to expect that in every part of the world, maximum percentage of the people will be dependent to TMT. Technology is evolving day by day; From TV to IPTV, Internet TV and now 3D TV and highly innovative mobile phones like Apple IPhone and Google Nexus Android are the examples of technology evolvement in last 2 years. From Dialups to Broadband and now Fiber to the home and 4G / LTE mobile networks, People are getting used to high Data speeds and usage of DATA and information Accessibility is much in trend these days. I would like to start a discussion on an important question that should Pakistan go for 3G networks or beyond it, by beyond I mean 4G, E-Edge?

You can jump to discussion following this link: http://www.dryaseen.pk/technology.asp

Other things covered on Dr. Yaseen’s private blog include topics on Regulations, Strategy and ICT initiatives.

Dr. Yaseen’s step to engage with segments of the industry on the upgrade to communication technology is highly appreciated.

I am sure many of you have been reading about the corruption case about 3G spectrum auction in India.  The purpose of this post is not to go over the details but to present a few thinking points about how developing countries should deal with issues such as auctions of resources, privatization and allocation of capital in a fair and just manner. It is no secret that corruption and nepotism is a major problem in many developing countries, South Asia (Indian sub-continent) suffers from this malaise.

Here are the 5 key points.

1. Transparency and ethics should be #1 priority in Emerging Telecom Markets
2. Role of Regulator can make or break the business case.
3. Value of Spectrum – spectrum is a very precious national resource which should be allocated in just and fair manner
4. Business Ethics should be a high priority of all stakeholders including all telcos
5. Privatization needs to be handled carefully – lots of issues still linger from PTCL case!

Read the full story

We’re only four days away from a supposed January 27th unveiling, but apparently there are still more juicy PSP2 rumors left to dole out — Japan’s often-reliable Nikkei newspaper reports that the handheld machine will sport a crisp OLED touchscreen and 3G data from NTT DoCoMo when it arrives later this year, with the latter enabling multiplayer action and even full video and game downloads over the Japanese cellular network. What’s more, the paper confirms that the screen will be physically larger and powered by some potent new silicon. So, how will Sony differentiate this PSP2 from the PlayStation Phone and tempt you to buy both? The game system won’t make calls.

Note: In case you’re not familiar, the image above is a relatively ancient reader mockup, and likely not representative of the final product. It is pretty sexy, though.

As the regulator and Government seem pumped up for 3G license auction (latter in 2011), it looks that cellular companies in Pakistan are now looking for ways to escape the expedition.

Reasons are apparent,

• Cellular companies are in no mood of further investment (that too in huge size)
• Industry has its reservations for high licensee fee. (Industry segments predict that 3G license fee would be over or around 105 million US dollars)
• And if we talk about target audience, it seems not very potential to them. As we recently mentioned, Only 4% or so are GPRS/EDGE users; that means approximate 4 to 5 million mobile users have access to internet over their devices.

Now, the cellular companies are lobbying through media to make sure that government/PTA’s campaign for 3G gets hampered. In a story produced today in ‘The News’ has plenty of evidences of what I just said.

Here is how the news item starts:

Telecom operators in Pakistan may choose not to introduce 3G, the third generation mobile services, at least for now because of a limited subscribers’ base, high cost of investment involved and an unfavorable investment climate in the country, cellular operators said.

Just to mention here, this is not the first time cellular operators have opposed the idea of 3G in media. But the thing is that they go unnamed or via sources in the papers. None of the cellular companies have dared so far to publicly mention their reservations, probably due to their respective corporate profile.

Read the full story

3G and 4G are in the news everywhere. In Pakistan we have conferences about 3G. In other countries there’s plenty of marketing about new 4G roll outs. Before we go too far in the discussion, it is a good idea to explain a bit about these terms. There’s no standard definition of 4G so that adds to confusion started by wireless and network companies. Here’s one attempt by GigaOm, modified to fit here.