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Evolution Of Internet In Pakistan

History

The Internet in Pakistan has been available since the early 1990s. The number of Internet users in Pakistan is about 118.8 million. It has the world’s 8th largest population of internet users. As per reports stated in 2020, Pakistan is in 6th in the ranking of Internet usage in Asia.
The internet users in Pakistan were only 1.3% in 2001.

The figures had increased to 6.5% in 2006 and 10% in 2012. The figures for the Internet crossed 82.90 million in 2022. In 1992-1993, the first dial-up email service was introduced by Digicom Pakistan (PVT) Limited. Also, the first dial-up internet service was started by digicom Pakistan in 1994, connecting a 128K link was built in Karachi. In 1995, the internet was available nationwide, by the state-owned Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL). Pakistan has pursued an ambitious IT policy aimed at strengthening the country’s economic modernization efforts and developing the exportable software industry. The first DSL Service was launched by Micronet Broadband in the year 2001. In 2007, Pakistan had 128 ISPs in total, with customers in Lahore, Islamabad, and Karachi. Telecom Malaysia obtained 78% equity in Multinet Pakistan, and also introduced the launch of “Project Ittehad”. The project resulted in a highly accessible, completely redundant, and stable DWDM backbone with a capacity of 20 gigabytes per second and 48 dark fiber cores. The increase in the companies, government officials, and educational institute’s websites had increased the demand for the internet. The Government of Pakistan (GOP) recognized in 2015 that telecommunications had become one of the most powerful aspects of the economy, adding to society’s well-being and significantly contributing to GDP, and thus released a Telecommunication Policy 2015. PTCL, Wateen, Storm fiber, Multinet, Optix, and Nayatel are the largest broadband providers in Pakistan. PTCL also introduced its Smart TV service.

The Growth Of Internet

Between 2019 and 2021, Zong, Jazz, and Telenor upgraded their key 4G towers to allow carrier combining, allowing consumers to use 4.5G or 4G LTE-A services on their devices in most regions of the nation.

Pakistan became the first South Asian country to test 5G services on August 22, 2019.

Zong, a Pakistani telecom firm, conducted successful testing. The government is expected to debut 5G services by December 2022, although analysts estimate that it will take more than 3–4 years for the country to completely deploy 5G services. The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) stated in April 2021 that the country’s broadband subscriptions ha reached 100 million customers.

Boom in Internet Usage

The Internet is widely used by people in Pakistan now and most people are now interested in the E-commerce industry. With the advancement in the technology and growth of e-commerce in Pakistan, the growth of Online Business has increased during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Pakistan. The majority of the brands and businesses have shifted their work online. As per a survey, 71% of Pakistani people find purchasing products and services through the internet easy. 66% of people find it easy and 54% admit that online shopping through websites and applications gives users customized product suggestions, which is a great thing for people buying online.

As per reports, Social Media users in Pakistan were 71.70 million as of January 2022.

The numbers increased in the pandemic as PTA stated: there was a 15% growth in internet usage in Pandemic Covid-19 2020. As per Stats in March 2022, Facebook users in March 2022 were 55,637,700, which is approximately 25% of its entire population. Instagram users in Pakistan are 15,327,700, which is 7% of its entire population. LinkedIn, the career-oriented application, has 8,174,000 users, which is approximately 3.7% of its entire population. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) stated that there’s a rapid increase in social sites and gaming platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Bigo, and PUBG.

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