PTA eying telecom investments to grow Rs393b
By Ali Imran

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, a telecom regulator is expecting that total investments would grow to Rs. 393 billion whereas total revenue will reach Rs. 387 billion by 2010 in telecom sector.
According to PTA’s vision 2010, prepared to further develop the sector, the mobile penetration is expected to grow up to 57 per cent and in this regard activation charges and withholding tax levied on telecom services are required to be further reduced to increase the potential market.
Similarly, there is a potential of 3 to 5 million broadband customers.
It says since WiMAX and VoIP can create another revolution in Pakistan, a legal framework of SIP/VOIP is also required. Accordingly fixed number portability and symmetric termination rate framework should also be developed to increase the fixed (wire/wireless) density.
Under the vision, the Authority made projections for different telecom indicators including potential telecom market, subscriber growth and investment.
With consolidation of the market, new international players in the WiMAX Broadband Market will replace small ISPs and local WiMAX operation, PTA therefore plans to further facilitate mergers & acquisitions & and make more spectrum available for wireless operations (WiMAX).
Since E1/DS(IPLC/DPLC) will be taken over by IP/MPLS port or nodes, there needs to be bulk (IP/MPLS Nodes) based pricing strategy by 2010.
Huge price reduction, due to economy of scales and competition, are expected in the local telecom market as a consequence of changes in the international market.
PTA, therefore, would be working on IP based interconnection mechanism, SLA among operators, amendment in interconnection regulation to accommodate operators to interconnect at PTCL co-locations.
WiMAX along with VOIP will be having potential to bring revolution in FLL and broadband markets which is an ideal combination to bridge digital divide.