When I got my Nokia N70 back in 2007, I always wondered what was the point of the front facing camera. On the brochure I received with the cellphone, “Make video calls with your new Nokia N70″ was written in bright colorful letters. Below the colorful letters in very small bold letters, a disclaimer was written that the video call service requires 3G networks. At that point, I decided to contact Telenor Pakistan and ask them when will they be switching over to 3rd generation networks. I got a reply from a representative that currently there are no plans but it looks quite likely in the near future.
Fast forward 4 years later and Iam still wondering when will this “near future” come. I contacted Telenor Pakistan again and here is the exact reply I receive:
“Dear Mr. Lalani,
Thank you for writing to Telenor. With reference to your email hereunder, please be informed that currently Telenor Pakistan is not offering 3G services. However, as soon as there will be induction of the said technology to our network, same shall be advertised through mass media.
Meanwhile, we expect your kind understanding in this regard.
We always value the opinion and the feedback of our customers as it is critical to our success. It’s through communication like yours that we become aware of customer concerns and preferences.
We thank you for taking time to write to us and for providing us your valuable feedback.
Moreover, please feel free to contact us whenever you think we can be of any assistance. We shall be more than delighted to hear from you!
Best Regards, ”
——–
I have to hand it to Telenor. They replied to my query quite slickly, one small paragraph of an actual answer and the rest were just words reassuring me that they cared about me and my opinion.
Let’s now look at what 3rd generation networks or 3G actually is. In simple terms, it offers much higher data transfer speeds then EDGE or GPRS. It gives users the capability to do video calls between cellphones supporting 3G. It also lets users do Voice over internet protocol(VOIP) calls. What most people don’t know is that 3G has already been introduced in Pakistan and is currently provided by broadband providers such as PTCL. But these 3G networks are just limited to usage on computers through USB broadband.
While the rest of the world has already experienced the 3G wave and is now preparing its transition from 3rd generation to 4th generation networks, Cellular networks in Pakistan are stuck at 2nd generation networks. It comes to thought that if 3rd generation technology is already available and implemented through broadband providers here in Pakistan, then why don’t the cellular network providers introduce it here.
The answer is simple, It isn’t economically feasible. Only 6% or so of the population uses GPRS/EDGE. A huge investment is needed to upgrade the cellular infrastructure. The cellular companies would not be able to recover the mammoth cost due to the low number of consumers for 3G data transfers.
Some developments did take place in 2005 when the Pakistan Telecom Authority had announced that they would be handing out 3G licenses to bidding cellular companies. But those developments never took place because the companies jointly refused to allow distribution of 3G licenses in Pakistan. Why? Because if 3G was introduced, the companies would go into huge losses due to consumers using VOIP calls and other data services at fixed rates to makes calls instead of voice calls, which constitute a large percentage of their earnings. Since then on, statements have been made by PTA to introduce 3G but all have been fruitless.
We can safely say that 3G isn’t going to be introduced in Pakistan for atleast another 4-5 years. Supposedly, even if it were announced today that 3G licenses have been bought by cellular companies, it would still take a long time for 3G to be properly implemented through out Pakistan.
Guess we will have to stick to using Skype to make video calls for now.
