Telecoms, internet in Pakistan

From: Ghulam Shabbir Utero
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 10:46 PM
Subject: Service Degradation: Issue in FLAG Network
Importance: High

Dear Customer

We have an update from FLAG NOC that higher order bearer between FUJ-SUEZ
was erroring which has affected 2xSTM-1 links between VPOP Karachi &
London.FLAG is in process of moving these 2xSTM-1 links to another bearer to
restore the VPOP Karachi traffic to normal value.We are in contact with FLAG
and will keep you updated.

Your understanding of the situation & bearing with us, is higher
appreciated.

Regards
Ghulam Shabbir Utero
DE VPOP ITI Karachi

From: Ghulam Shabbir Utero
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 7:14 PM
Subject: Fiber Cuts in FLAG submarine cable near Taiwan
Importance: High

Dear Customers

This is to inform that FLAG Telecom has suffered Multiple Fiber Cuts in
their FNAL (FLAG North Asia Loop) near Taiwan due to earthquake on 26 Dec
2006.In order to carry out fiber repair, FLAG has arranged Cableship and
work is in progress.

In the meanwhile FLAG has now doubled the number of their IP backbone
circuits towards London from Hong Kong and are also putting in place
additional capacity towards the US via Taiwan and via bought-in IP Transit
services. This will hopefully improve IP services. However, you may observe
some degradation on traffic via HONG KONG but traffic via LONDON will be
normal as usual.

Hopefully, you will bear with us.

Regards

Ghulam Shabbir Utero
DE VPOP ITI Karachi

Email from PTCL NOC
===============================
From: NOC ISB
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2006 6:25 PM
Subject: Clarification

Dear Valued Customers
Because of the earthquake in Taiwan on 27-12-2006 (cuttings from news
sources attached) couple of our eastern side links (STIX and TeleGlobe) were
sevearly affected due to which you might have suffered degraded services
between 10am to 1pm on 27-12-2006. The problem is temporarily handeled, but
the links are not fully restored yet. The exact restoration period of these
links is not known yet and will be conveyed to you after intimation from our
upstream providers.
We highly regret the inconvenience caused to you during this period.
NOC can be contacted 24 hours and 7 days a week for Technical Assistance.

Kamran Bhatti

ADE ITI,
Network Operation Center
Pakistan Internet Exchange (PIE)
Rawalpindi, Pakistan

December 27, 2006

Earthquake Cuts Asian Telephone and Internet Services

By Randy Chen

(AXcess News) Hong Kong - A major earthquake in Indonesia disrupted telephone and Internet services in Southeast Asian countries Wednesday after an underseas cable off the coast of Taiwan was damaged by the 7.1 quake.

Chunghwa Telecom Co., Taiwan’s largest operator, managed to reroute connections, restoring partial service to the US, Canada and China. But it could still be weeks before repairs can be made to the undersea cable damaged by the earthquake.

Operators are using back-up systems to help alleviate the bottleneck as parts of Hong Kong, China, Singapore and India remain without Internet and telephone services.

Online banking services in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China remain down with HSBC completely offline.

Singapore Telecom, France Telecom SA and Pakistan Telecommunication Co. are in a group that own the Sea-Me-We3 cables linking Europe to Asia that were damaged by the quake.

Part of Asia Netcom Corp.’s EAC fiber optic cable was also damaged.

According to Internet Traffic Report, a Website that monitors the flow of global Internet traffic, the average response time in miliseconds in Asia is now 405 and packet loss has reached 30 per cent.

The earthquake struck at 8:26 p.m. local time on Dec. 26, 10 kilometers (6 miles) under the seabed, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site and Internet as well as telephone services have been down ever since.

The repairs will be outsourced, using ships designed to pick up cable from the sea bed and repair it. Some repairs could take up to a month to complete.

Broadband Faces Obstacles in Pakistan

High rates, poor infrastructure primary culprits

Muhammad Jamil Bhatti
Published 2006-12-20 16:22 (KST)

Internet usage has tremendously increased throughout Pakistan during the last couple of years, with users reaching a record number of 12 million. Not only young adults but children, the elderly, and even blind people are using it.

Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which were giving attention only to Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, have now extended their services to other cities of the country. Internet service is currently being provided to more than 2,389 cities and towns in Pakistan.

According to the report of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the prices of personal computers (PCs) have been decreasing, and thus more people have PCs at their residences or workplaces. Therefore, people are now able to connect to the Internet at their residences or workplaces using cheaply available Internet cards. Internet cards are available in the market for as low as 2.5 rupees (US$0.04) per hour. But the Internet speed is creating more headaches and problems for the users. The usage of Internet cards has also affected the growth of net cafes.

On the other hand, broadband services growth is also slow due to high tariffs, lack of awareness among consumers, and paucity of service providers. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) undertook a major initiative to facilitate the development of broadband services, by permitting all ISPs to offer broadband. The government announced a Broadband Policy to support the availability of affordable and high-speed Internet. The government also encouraged private sector investment in these services. With this policy, the government was looking at a target of 500,000 broadband users within five years. But, in spite of all efforts and policies, broadband penetration growth in the country was slow. There are only 56,611 broadband subscribers (DSL), in the country, with the largest share going to 13 major ISPs.

DSL services are available in selected areas of the major cities and provincial headquarters of the country. Worldcall is considered the only main cable operator providing broadband services in Pakistan. Some other cable operators also provide broadband services to consumers. For the last few months, they have been campaigning to raise consumer awareness. Some corporate customers in Pakistan, which cannot gain other modes, are using satellite broadband services, which have very high tariffs.

PTA has been in touch continuously with the industry to ensure the enforcement of all regulatory measures to enable broadband proliferation. There are some major problems obstructing broadband services growth in the country.

Firstly, the quality of copper in Pakistan is not good and some copper cables are in very bad shape. Faulty distribution poles and cabinets, and difficulties in sharing Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) resources like cables and ducts are also a big hindrance.

Secondly, there are some issues regarding PTCL’s local loop unbundling, transmission media, collocations, and Optic Fiber Access Network (OFAN) from PTCL.

Thirdly, the line rent on DSL connections charged by PTCL is considered overly burdensome.

Fourthly, the consumers are not well aware of the benefits of broadband services in terms of avoiding telephone charges, time saving, and convenience.

Fifthly and most significantly, the PTCL monopoly is playing vital roll. PTCL’s prices are very high and constitute the major share of the total cost to service providers.

Lastly, broadband service tariffs in Pakistan are many times higher compared to those in some other countries and not affordable for common people.

Lack of usable infrastructure and high broadband tariffs are being considered as the chief hurdles for broadband proliferation in Pakistan. Regulator, PTA and the government are trying hard to overcome these problems by lessening bandwidth rates and solving other problems.

Three companies — Multinet, Wateen, and Worldcall — are deploying fiber-optic networks throughout the country that should be helpful for broadband growth. In addition to existing SEA-ME-WE-3, two extra undersea cables have been deployed in Pakistan to secure international connectivity. Worldcall is introducing Wimax for wireless broadband.

Considering the expected reductions of bandwidth rates, elimination of other hurdles, and infrastructure development, it is expected that broadband services will be accessible widely and at affordable prices in the coming years.

On the other hand, a Canadian company. Infosat Telecommunications, recently invested in telecommunication sector of Pakistan.

Infosat, partnered with Pakistan’s Comstar ISA Ltd., is going to launch the first broadband satellite hub in the country.

It is hoped that the broadband satellite hub will also be able to provide Internet access to remote areas of the country.

©2006 OhmyNews