HOW CONNECTED ARE PAKISTANIS? CPRsouth 5 Xi’an 06 Dec 2010 ARZAK KHAN.
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Transcript of HOW CONNECTED ARE PAKISTANIS? CPRsouth 5 Xi’an 06 Dec 2010 ARZAK KHAN.
“Broadband is termed as a key enabler of the information society, increasing productivity and competitiveness across all sectors of the economy and hence has been made a policy objective in many developing countries for future digital development”
Future Built on Broadband
21st Century Infrastructure
It is also believed that widespread broadband adoption and usage can extend the ICT revolution and further improve national and regional productivity, helping to promote robust economic growth and increase the standard of living especially in poor developing countries like Pakistan.
Demographics of Pakistan Population: 180
Million HDI: 60.3% of
Pakistanis live on less than $2 a day.
Internet Penetration: 11.5%
Broadband Penetration: 0.29%
Cell Phone Penetration: 61.8%
Major Initiative
To facilitate the growth of broadband Internet in the country PTA (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority), at the behest of the government, undertook a major initiative in 2004 “to encourage the diffusion of affordable and high speed broadband Internet access”.
As part of this initiative, it was recommended that broadband Internet access be made available to all households, so that they could actively participate in the information revolution and contribute to the socio economic development.
So how Connected are we?
To further investigate the policy initiative and understand the diffusion and adoption patterns of broadband across Pakistan this pioneer research was undertaken in three cities of Pakistan.
672 households were interviewed in Karachi, Lahore and Quetta belonging to different socio-economic demographics.
Research Locations
Research Analysis
A household’s decision to subscribe to broadband is influenced by a number of factors such as income, education, availability and affordability of technology.
Access to Internet (Pakistan)
21.4%
67.1%
30.5%
14.8%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Café
Home
Work
Uni/School
Internet Café Home Work Learning Center
Internet Access Technologies
57.4%
2.2%
14.3%
7.7%
24.2%
0.8%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
Dialup
ISDN
DSL
Wireless
Cable
Satellite
Dial Up ISDN DSL Wireless Cable Satellite
He was a dialupInternet user
Gross Monthly income and Internet Connection
61.7%
57.5%
49.1%
55.6%
43.90%
2.3%
2.3%
1.9%
5.6%
0.0%
10.9%
12.6%
20.8%
16.7%
26.8%
9.1%
8.0%
11.3%
5.6%
7.3%
19.4%
27.6%
26.4%
27.8%
34.1%
0.0%
1.1%
0.0
0.0%
2.1%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80%
10K-20K
21-30K
31-40K
41-50K
51K+
Dialup ISDN DSL Wireless Cable Satellite
Reasons for Not Adopting Broadband
16.5%
26.5%
19.7%
1.8%
17.7%
19.9%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Not Avaliable in the Area Have No Information About it
Too Expensive P oor Quality of Service P roviders
Have No Access to Computer Facilities Already Have Fast Internet Access
Broadband Cost
Household Willing to Pay to Acquire Broadband Connection
54.0%
23.7%
15.9%
6.5%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
200-500Rs
500-700 Rs
700-1000 Rs
1000-1500+1000-1500Rs andAbove700-1000Rs
500-700Rs
200-500Rs
Conclusions
A reasonable conclusion is that despite government claims of connecting Pakistani households to the Internet, it has failed to reach the most disadvantaged segments of Pakistani society.
Pakistanis who are not online are those who are disadvantaged by income or education, and as such are a tangible expression of the failure of existing policies to provide equal access to the information society.
Recommendation
If the potential of the information economy is to be maximised, then everyone needs access of one form or another to the Internet. One aspect of this is ensuring that costs are brought down to such a point that affordability is maximised, while another is providing a plurality of access mechanisms to ensure that no one part of Pakistani society is excluded.