Only 2.12 percent people use Internet in Pakistan
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By Romail Kenneth
KARACHI: Pakistan has only 2.12 percent of Internet users, leaving a vast majority of population without any knowledge of the world wide web.
According to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Pakistan with a population of 164,741,924 have only 3.5 million Internet users. The figures show the performance of the IT ministry’s efficiency in the last couple of years.
In the era of broadband and wimax Pakistan Internet subscribers still relying on the dial-up connection, which is fading rapidly all over the world but the Internet users in the country have no option but to using it as the broadband is not in the reach of common man’s budget.
There are over 13,500 users who have registered under the ‘.pk’ domain which is quite disappointing figure against the potential strength of the Internet in the country.
Wahaj us Siraj, Convener of Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) said that these thwart figures are emerging as the government has never taken the IT industry seriously. The reasons of these dismal figures are heavy taxes on computers and accessories, which is creating a negative impact on the Internet subscribers’ base as the Internet users are directly related to the computer growth.
Siraj said the Internet dial-up users’ future is bleak as it is expected that if the government will not take this matter seriously and take bold steps and make broadband available to the common man and within the reach of middle-class Internet users’ budget. This will help in the growth of Internet subscribers base in the country.
If the same situation will last a little longer then it is well expected that in the coming years the number of ISPs will cut down to half, he added.
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