Three Gulf companies to invest $60-mn in internet service

Karachi: Three international companies from Gulf countries are currently engaged in negotiations with at least 10 Pakistani internet service providers (ISPs) for acquiring their stakes and management control with an approximate investment of around 60 million dollars.

According to sources in the information technology (IT) industry here on Friday, three potential United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar-based parties are in the negotiation phase with the local ISPs for last few weeks, They said these parties intended to invest 20 million dollars each in three separate project.

With the 60 million-dollar investment in the IT sector by these parties, the total investment in the IT sector would be increased up to 150 million dollars during next five years, said the sources.

Of the 10 ISPs, three would be shortlisted, they said, adding two of them would start work by the end of current year, while third would be active in the beginning of the next year.

They said that one company would use fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) technology, while the other company would use metro WiFi technology, and added that these companies would provide 512 KVPS as the current speed of ISPs in Pakistan was 128 KVPS to 256 KVPS. The sources said that beside the GSM and LDI sectors, the broadband internet had a vast potential to growth in the country.

They said that the internet penetration growth rate target had been set up at 20 percent from the existing 1.2 percent, which would attract heavy foreign investment. Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) had also reduced its internet broadband tariff, which was a good sign to create a trend of competition among various companies they said, and added that the use of internet would be increased as banking sector in Pakistan was gradually switching over to e-banking.

They said that banking sector would install 5,000 more ATMs all over the country, which would increase the use of internet and would facilitate the public in withdrawing cash.