Increasing optic fibre penetration.

ISLAMABAD -- There is only one sector where both, Shaukat Tarin and Miftah Ismail, seem to be on the same page. Both agree that information technology (IT) has the potential to increase export earnings, provide employment to the burgeoning population, improve governance, commerce, education, health care, agriculture, financial inclusion... in short, everything.

But IT benefits cannot be enjoyed unless the nation is digitally connected, which, in turn, depends on robust telecom infrastructure.

In developing countries, most users connect to the internet wirelessly on mobile networks. In the voice communication (2G) days, microwave radios connected mobile towers with the core network. Due to massive data communications, radios no longer suffice, and optic fibre cables are employed to transport the ever-increasing giga-bytes of data.

Ironically, as we move to newer generations of mobile technology (4G, 5G), optic fibres' role increases.

Optic fibres are highly capital-intensive, having notoriously slow rates of return - typically, 10 years plus. Investments in installing and operating large telecom networks are made primarily by the private sector.

Understandably, their investments tend to be concentrated in urban locations where they are likely to earn more, and fast. In smaller cities, such investments arrive late, if at all.

Optic fibres in Pakistan

One measure of optic fibre penetration in a country is the percentage of towers connected with the fibre. In Pakistan, it is 10%. For comparison, in Thailand, it is about 90%, in Malaysia about 50%, in India about 30%, and in Bangladesh 27%.

In Pakistan, every city is connected with optic fibres, and thanks to the efforts of PTA (obligating new/ renewal of fixed-line licensees to lay fibre cables) and USF (obligating subsidy winners to lay fibres), the fibres connecting cities and villages are increasing. But fibre penetration is poor within smaller towns and relatively less affluent localities of larger cities.

In Islamabad, many streets have up to three optic fibres buried in parallel (where only one would more than suffice). In contrast, large Mohallahs even in the neighbouring Rawalpindi have no optic fibres.

This is understandable, as all fibre investors are Internet Service Providers (ISPs) who must fiercely compete with each other. They cannot share the capacity of their fibres. They would rather lay their own fibres.

Consequently, the fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) in Pakistan is very low...