Making Internet accessible By Rooqeaia Ali
Arise by over 30 percent in the number of Internet users in the past year reflects the growing interest in Pakistan. The increase from 1.3m to 1.7m users is encouraging because it allows a greater proportion of the population access to a cheap and quick way of communicating with the rest of the world.
Other than that, the Internet is literally an infinite source of information and knowledge and because of that it can be very empowering for users. This particular benefits is especially important in Pakistan, where wider access to education, knowledge and information is vital for progress.
No doubt, all this growth would not have been possible without the decision of Ministry of Science and Technology to extend Internet coverage to several hundred towns and cities. The policy of promoting information technology and Internet use has contributed to a rapid growth in this field.
166 new cities/towns have been added in Universal Internet Access Coverage during the last two months and now this facility is available in 724 cities/town through out Pakistan.
In August 200 when Universal Internet Access programme was launched by Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) only 29 cities of the country had Internet access. PTCL, by expanding Internet to more cities in a short period has achieved a milestone, which is remarkable and rate for a public sector corporation.
PTCL is also working on a plan to improve service quality of Internet, which will be completed by the end of the current month.
By the end of June 2002 the number of cities having Internet access will be extended to 800 cities/towns of the country.
Internet is likely to continue to revolutionise the way people communicate and access information. Because it represents such a powerful communication tool, the environment in which the Internet operates must be understood and regulated differently from traditional communication media.
However, it needs to be pointed out that an increase in the number of net users has not meant a corresponding increase in the quality of service provided by the Internet companies. Besides, many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have not passed on the consumers the benefit in the form of lower prices of reduced government rates for purchasing bandwidth.
This commendable policy measure, designed to lower the costs of the ISPs and hence that of the end user, has meant increasing the industry’s profit margins. In fact, many ISPs have been rightly criticised for taking on far too many users given their capacity a practice that has showed the download speed for users.
The Ministry of Science and Technology should see to it that growth in the number of Internet users does not happen at the expense of the quality of the service provided.
The expand provision and use of the Internet in Pakistan, it is necessary to provide low-cost and reliable access to the international bandwidth, reliable local bandwidth connectivity, low-cost access to network equipment, widespread public access to networked computers, a base of educated and trained users and providers and support for the development of national Internet content.
Source: The News
Date:10/6/2002
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