Mobile telecoms are vital to any
country’s development, bypassing obstructive bureaucrats and bringing services
directly to the masses from texting to calling to banking to the voter
registration. But sadly Pakistan was the only country in South Asia that does
not have high-speed mobile internet even war-ravaged Afghanistan, switched to 3G
way back in 2012. But
now as in other parts of the world Islamic Republic of Pakistan, finally, entered the age of 3G and 4G technologies. With
the arrival of 3G and 4G, e-commerce, e-banking, e-learning and other
e-services will benefit to a very large scale in Pakistan.
So first of all what speeds you can get with
3G and 4G connections. Let’s take a look at the comparison below. Now these
speeds which I have mentioned below are based on optimum performance. The
actual 3G / 4G Speed possibly vary in Pakistan depending on the network load and
times.
All the speeds are mentioned in Bytes per
seconds. I have made it simpler for you to understand by mentioning in bytes
per second because that is what we see on the devices.
|
|
Edge |
3G |
4G |
||||
|
Maximum Download Speed |
48 KB/s |
9 MB/s |
12.5 MB/s |
||||
|
Maximum Upload Speed |
7.5 KB/s |
256 KB/s |
6.25 MB/s |
||||
|
Average Download Speed |
15 KB/s |
128 KB/s |
1.25 MB/s |
||||
|
100 MB Download Time |
|
|
1 minute 12 Seconds |
Expected Price of 3G/4G
3G and 4G technologies are not expected to be cheaper in Pakistan actually not only in Pakistan it’s costly all
over the world. If we talk about our neighbor countries, 3G is expensive as
well and mobile operators are trying to benefit financially from 3G.
|
Package
|
Price away
Pakistan
|
Price in
Pakistan
|
|
1 GB data in 3G (UAE) |
99 Dirhams (Etisalat) |
2645 Rupees Approx. |
|
1 GB data in 3G (UK) |
10 Pound (Hutchinson) |
1649 Rupees Approx. |
|
1 GB data in 3G (INDIA) |
249 Rupee (Airtel) |
403 Rupees Approx. |
|
1 GB data in 3G (AFGHANISTAN) |
520 Afghani (MTN) |
899 Rupees Approx. |
|
1 GB data in 3G (CHINA) |
24 Dollar (China Mobile) |
2354 Rupees Approx. |
|
1 GB data in 3G (USA) |
22 Dollar (Virgin Mobile) |
1335 Rupees Approx. |
Now it is really easy to estimate how
expensive 3G and 4G technologies in Pakistan will be. Although with an
expanding customer base, it is expected that 3G and 4G will be available in cheap
packages but it will certainly take time, around 2-4 years before anyone can
easily make use of this technology.
Social
Benefits
- Faster internet means more people will be attracted to using the internet on their phones.
- Smartphone capabilities will increase as more web/internet dependent apps will be applicable for Pakistan.
- Pakistanis will be able to enjoy things like streaming video, accessing news, and social media on the go.
- Internet availability will be expanded to larger parts of the country Not only in the business sector, but the other major sectors like Education, FMCGs, food and health, Banking sectors, electronic media, multinational brands and many more.
Reasons if 3G will not taken off in Pakistan
- Pricing far Expensive, this will probably the foremost reason.
- Pathetic 3G speeds
- 3G eats up Battery power like crazy, If you keep 3G connection ON continuously, the battery is eaten up twice as faster as compared to normal.
- Lower Smartphone, User should have 3G supported phone. In Pakistan less than 18% handsets are 3G compatible and 4G compatible handsets are even less than 1%.
At the end it’s upto the people how they take advantage of it and use it to their benefit. It’s a huge step-up for Pakistan, one that doesn’t seem to be as big now, but in future it will go a long way in shaping up the technology arena of Pakistan which can easily change the fate of the country. Once a country becomes technologically advanced, everything else follows. I hope that 3G would bring us more and more benefits as it is rolled out in the coming months. Congratulations Pakistan for being on
3G and 4G. May Allah Help Pakistan to grow more and more. Ameen!
