The "Etisalat Bubble"

The Importance Of Information

April 20, 2015 was a landmark day in the history of Pakistan. It was the day that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was made official. Not only was that agreement a milestone in the history of the Pakistan-China Brotherhood, it was also the day when Pakistan officially became a member of the global business community, instead of being viewed as a barely-noticed "failed state" cowering on the sidelines. It is not possible for any human being to be 100% sure of what the future holds, but the CPEC is a step in the right direction when it comes to ensuring the welfare & security of the people of Pakistan.

However, as in everything in Life, there is a catch. From the beginning of time, the most important factor in deciding whether any given dynasty or civilization flourished was the speed with which information could be conveyed from one person to the next. History is filled with examples of successful rulers who based their administrations on the strategic & prompt spread of knowledge, people like Qin Shihuang or Ashoka Maurya. Even the British, who came to India in search of commerce & knowledge, lost no time in repairing & upgrading the dilapidated transport & communication systems of India after the 1857 War.

Information & Internet Accessibility

The Corridor constitutes a very important step towards development; but as the Chinese Government itself firmly states, the Internet is a vital part of any successful post-2000 enterprise. What started out as a US DARPA project to facilitate communications between intelligence personnel in the 1960s, once commercialized & globalized, has become the backbone of 21st Century commerce & development. The authorities in Pakistan are considered to be the slowest among the 4 nations that constitute the Indian Subcontinent (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan & Sri Lanka) to catch on to new trends, but despite that, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has declared Internet access so important that he has ordered free wi-fi hot spots to be set up at every bus station in Punjab Province.

PTCL is the single largest provider of Internet-related services in Pakistan. According to Market Law experts, the only reason Etisalat (the major shareholder in PTCL) has not been hit with an anti-monopoly lawsuit by the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) is because the Pakistan Government is still a minority shareholder in PTCL. Otherwise, several of its competitors could have built a pretty strong case of unfair market advantage against them in court - especially since a number of the other brands haven't currently received permission to cover places as central as Peshawar (capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province), leaving PTCL as the only viable option.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Dilemma

Taking Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province as an illustration, PTCL doesn't even offer its full range of services there. Despite the fact that Islamabad (the national capital) is just a stone's throw away, the best option is PTCL's exorbitantly-priced DSL connection. PKR 2,500 per month! Nearly half the legally-mandated minimum wage of Pakistan! How does one reconcile the UN's human right to knowledge with the price of the most efficient way to remain informed?

But Pakistanis are naturally mild-mannered. What would have had the citizens of any respectable Western country up in arms, doesn't even draw a whimper of complaint here. People simply shrug & say that unaffordable services just means that they need to cut down their expenses, e.g. food, clothing & shelter, & save more for whatever they want. But, when it comes to PTCL's Internet issues, monopolization & over-pricing are just the tip of the iceberg.

My brother & I were born in Peshawar. However, for reasons too lengthy to discuss in this post, the last time I was here was when I was a child 20 years ago. My mother & I came to Peshawar a little over a year ago because I have business in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In the past 1 year alone, PTCL's DSL connection to our family house here has broken down around once every 3 to 4 months - & each time I inquire as to the nature of the problem, I am told that some mid-level employee was "playing" with the equipment & "mistakenly" disconnected our link. After that I get an apology coupled with the arrival of a repairman & am assured that "it will not happen again"...& then, it happens again. Thrice this year alone, the second time on June 2 (to be eventually fixed - after an eternity of being put on hold by the PTCL helpline - on June 3 at 1600 hours) & the third time on June 4 (& hasn't been fixed until now, which is why I had to get my own PTCL Evo Wingle service). And the latest explanation from PTCL? My uncle is getting the connection (which is on his name) sabotaged himself, which is why they are compelled to close down my complaint without repairing the fault! This is horrifying in & of itself without mentioning the fact that my uncle is considered a rather important Khyber Pakhtunkhwa official. My sympathies to those subscribers who are private sector professionals (like me).

Potential Investments & Official Priorities

Google recently held its first conference in Peshawar. That means a global company has come to the conclusion that there is a sizeable potential market for IT consultants & software experts in the city. This is a golden opportunity for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa IT sector. But Time waits for no man. If the IT regulatory authorities do not spruce up Internet availability in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Google & other potential investors will lose interest & go elsewhere. If that happens, the local tabloids & talk show hosts will spend the next several months wringing their hands about not getting a fighting chance to bring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the same level of development as Punjab or Sindh. Terms like "discrimination" & "injustice" will promptly become the most popular buzzwords of the year. But such chit-chat generally means nothing when it comes to business.

The Corridor is coming. That is a fact of life. Thankfully, the business model for it is based, to a great extent, on the private sector. But the authorities are actually as invested in its success because many of their loved ones are members of the private sector &, once they retire, they will join the private sector, too. If they don't pull themselves together & establish their sense of commitment & the level of their competence while they can, they will not only undermine the progress of development (to a limited extent), but they will also lose credibility - the only qualification that matters in the private sector & the one commodity that can't be bought for all the gold in the world.