Telecom firm shows Pakistan some
backbone By Syed Fazl-e-Haider
QUETTA, Pakistan - Telekom Malaysia
announced this week that the company is set to
complete its US$100 million countrywide
fiber-optic-backbone project in Pakistan - the
largest fiber-optic network in the country - by
October.
In February 2005, Telekom
Malaysia announced a joint-venture
fiber-optic-backbone project with Multinet, a
licensed provider of electronic information and
data-network operation services in Pakistan. Its
activities include local loop and other
value-added
services, such as broadband,
wireless broadband and allied services. The deal
was concluded in April 2005. Through its
international arm, TM International, it has
telecom investments in Pakistan, India,
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Cambodia, with
evolving plans to expand into other parts of Asia.
The fiber-optic-backbone project involves
the laying of a high-capacity fiber-optic backbone
throughout the country. The backbone will link
more than 75 major towns and cities in Pakistan.
The project will provide "bandwidth on demand" for
the use of other telecom operators and businesses
such as mobile-phone operators, cable-television
companies, Internet service providers, broadband
ISPs, academic institutions, utility companies,
call-center companies, software-development
houses, banks and financial institutions, and to
other enterprises and small-business customers.
Multinet is currently establishing its
nationwide long-haul optical-fiber transmission
network in Pakistan, spanning a length of more
than 4,500 kilometers and connecting 107 cities,
to overcome bandwidth limitations of the domestic
market.
The infrastructure is built around
the latest technology including full redundancy
and self-healing rings. It has also invested in
deploying metro optical-fiber rings in major
Pakistani cities. This will connect homes and
offices directly to the world without relying on
third parties.
Telekom Malaysia is an
emerging leader in Asian communication, offering a
comprehensive range of communication services and
solutions in fixed-line, mobile, data and
broadband. It has operations in several countries
around the Asia-Pacific region, as well as in
Africa. Listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange,
it is one of the largest listed companies in
Malaysia, with a market capitalization of $8.4
billion. It acquired No 2 GSM (Global System for
Mobile Communications) operator Celcom in April
2003. It launched a third-generation service in
January 2004. TM offers mobile services, public
payphones, and leased services.
TM
International has investments in nine countries,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Cambodia,
Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, India and Iran.
The company's overseas investments contribute 30%
of profits to the TM group. Telekom Malaysia is
also the largest ISP in the region, with a
customer base of more than a million. Its
extensive fiber-optic network of some 245,000km
supports Internet services and provides the
infrastructure backbone.
Telekom Malaysia
operates three international gateways and provides
services including telephone, telex, data, private
leased lines, maritime and aeronautical
telecommunication services, and television
transmission. It keeps Pakistan in touch with the
world with more than 1,500 international
submarine-cable, satellite and microwave circuits.
Its customers enjoy international direct dialing
to more than 180 countries.
Multinet as a
subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia is promoting
communications solutions to carriers and
enterprises in Pakistan by leveraging TM's
extensive network capabilities around the globe.
It has entered the consumer market. TM's
partnership in the 20,000km undersea cable SMW-4
will enable Multinet to provide international
bandwidth. The project will make Multinet the only
private company in Pakistan to offer the greatest
diversity for international connectivity services
to the country. SMW-4's multi-gigabit system
allows Multinet to offer carriers and enterprises
connectivity.
Malaysia's
telecommunications market is a developing
communications industry in Southeast Asia. Its
domestic mobile market is almost saturated with
local operators and hence looking abroad for
growth. Telekom Malaysia dominates the fixed-line
sector. The market is characterized by a thirst
for next-generation mobile telephony and the
increasing integration of information technology
into telecom networks. Telekom Malaysia was
publicly listed in 1990, on the Kuala Lumpur Stock
Exchange, where it currently tops the list of
stocks by market capitalization. With 29,000
employees, Telekom Malaysia brings telephone
services to more than 3 million subscribers.
Cellular telephony is a fast-growing
sector in Pakistan and has enormous potential for
investors.
The country has made
exceptional development and progress in the field
of mobile telecommunications. The number of mobile
subscribers in the country has increased from 2
million to 20 million in the past five years
alone. Islamabad expects a further increase of 50
million subscribers in the next three to four
years with associated investments of between $3
billion and $4 billion, presenting an additional
opportunity for telecom investors. Pakistan's
rapid progress in mobile telephony was recognized
when the Global System for Mobile Communications
Association gave Pakistan the Government
Leadership Award in 2006. Pakistan was the second
country after Brazil to receive this honor.
Telekom Malaysia is actively pursuing
international telecommunications investment
opportunities and has invested in cellular and
paging joint ventures in Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
India, Indonesia and Malawi. TM has found
tremendous potential in Pakistan and is interested
in buying the Pakistan Telecommunications Co and
Paktel, a cellular company, which was recently
bought by a Chinese company.
Syed
Fazl-e-Haider (sfazlehaider05@yahoo.com) is
a Quetta-based development analyst in Pakistan. He
is the author of six books, including The
Economic Development of Balochistan, published
in May 2004.
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