Internet is one of the most necessary need of the hour with Pakistan no exception in this regard. It has been reported by PTA-Pakistan Telecommunication authority that that there are 30 million users of internet in Pakistan and among them 3 million are broad band users. Pakistani market faced an internet explosion after 2004.From local to the more pronounced companies there are 100s of internet providers emerging in Pakistan. Before having a look on the more outstanding or well- known companies, lets overview the history of Internet in Pakistan.
The first dial up E-mail service in Pakistan was started operating for the first time by Imran-net in 1992-93. So, we can imagine that history of internet in Pakistan have come a long way.
In 1993 SDNKP-Sustainable Development Networking Program introduced dial up email services in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. Number of users started increasing really fast. After that many ISPs were launched and the project has lost its desirability.
Dial-up services using direct satellite were launched in Karachi by Digicom. Dialup text based internet services were launched in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad by PTCL in 1995.
PTA-Pakistan telecommunication Authority was entrenched in 1996.
In the same year dial-up graphics based internet, speed 14.4 to 28.8 was introduced in Lahore and Islamabad by Paknet.
COMSATS in the same year introduced ISP in Karachi Lahore and Islamabad with speed 28.8 kbps.
In 1996 cost of dialup internet was Rs.100 per hour.
Services of Cyber net in Karachi started in Karachi in 1997. In the same year the dial up speed increased up to 33.6 kbps.
In 1998 Dialup speed enhanced to 56kbps. In the same year government unrestricted internet calls from multi-metering.
Micronet Broadband started DSL, the first broadband in 2001.
The first sub-marine cable linking from Karachi to UAE was launched by Transworld Associates.
In 2006 first FTTH- was put into motion by Nayatel (Pvt) limited.
Wateen Telecom begun first WiMax Services persued by WiTribe and Qbee in 2007.
Currently different internet service operators are operating in Pakistan that reduced the monopoly of PTCL –Pakistan Telecommunication Company limited which is the oldest company in Pakistan.
Here is the list of more pronounced companies in Pakistan.
PTCL
It is basically the semi government company and the largest internet provider in Pakistan. It has the huge number of users. The major infrastructure of internet including under seas fiber optics is owned by the country.
Storm Fiber
It is Pakistan’s most steadfast fiber to the home (FTTH) broadband service provider. The difference it has from other countries is that unlike other internet providers it does not rely on copper based technology. It rather invested in building a fiber based network that is speedy, economical and easy to approach. They also offer digital services but unfortunately it isn’t available all over Pakistan. The specific areas where it is found are Defense, Clifton and in few areas of Gulshan and PECHS, Karachi and in few areas of Lahore and Faisalabad which includes PCSIR Phase 1, Eden Canal Villas, etc.
NAYATEL
This company was introduced in 2014-15. It owns the honor to introduce first fiber home (FTTH) in South Asia. With its three key telecommunication services,, cable TV, telephony and Broadband internet , it has actually reformed the ISPs in Pakistan. However, it is available only in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
WI-TRIBE
This is Qatar based company and was introduced in July 2009 and started competing really well with other ISPs. Few explicit aspects of Wi-Tribe are:
- Its excellent customer service. They address the problems readily.
- It has exclusively innovative design network matching the customer’s life style. They have customized packages for different type of customers. They are the first one to come up with the 4G Technology.
- They hire the best employees from all over Pakistan to ensure the quality of their services that ranked them top in the internet service provider’s list.
COMSATS INTERNET SERVICES
It is affiliated with CIIT-COMSATS Institute of information technology and is found in all the big cities of Pakistan. It offers wired, wireless, satellite, fiber optics, copper and normal lined cable internet services to its customers.
QUBEE
It is one of the well-known company in Pakistan They have recently improved their internet packages and improved the speed of internet as well. Good thing is they have shuttle devices that are easy to carry and they catch signals really fast. They have fair, low-cost packages along with their services in urban areas of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
WATEEN TELECOM
It is one of the renowned ISP of the country. WiMAX and DSL technologies were launched by Wateen telecom. Smart internet services too are offered on low economic rates by this ISP. Abbottabad, Bahawalpur, D.I. Khan, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Jhelum, Karachi, Lahore, Mandi Bahauddin, Multan, Okara, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, R.Y. Khan, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Sheikhupura, Sialkot, Sukhur are the cities where its services are offered.
These are the best companies operating right now in Pakistan. Now it depends on customers’ affordability, data usage and speed requirement etc. and availability of the specific internet company in your area to choose the best service for them. Unfortunately, the users cannot rank or compare the ISPs overall as most of them have limited coverage area. Different area in Pakistan have different ISPs.
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