PTCL has played a significant role to increase the broadband penetration in the country. According to the press release, the country’s largest converged services provider shows highest subscriber growth of 48% in the last quarter.
PTCL Broadband, country’s largest and fastest growing Broadband service showed a 48% growth in the last quarter of Oct - Dec 2008, bettering all its previous growth rates. Within one and a half years of its Broadband launch, PTCL has acquired over 100,000 Broadband customers in over 100 cities and towns across Pakistan, leading the proliferation and awareness of Broadband services across Pakistan.
The year 2008 was also very significant for PTCL Broadband in that it achieved two unique distinctions of hitting ‘a hundred’ during the last quarter; In October 2008, PTCL became the first ever company in Pakistan to spread its Broadband coverage to over 100 cities and then two months later it also became the first company ever again in Pakistan to acquire over 100,000 Broadband customers! It is significant to note that before PTCL’s entry into the Broadband market in 2007, Broadband was primarily only available in the 3 major cities of the country. With its entry in this market segment, PTCL opened up a broadband culture in Pakistan,where till a couple of years back there was very little awareness in the Pakistani market about broadband & high speed internet services.
Since its Broadband launch in May 2007, PTCL made the broadband technology affordable by lowering the barriers to entry, by geographically bringing the service within the reach of a common user across Pakistan and by continuous improvement in the customer service provisioning and complain management for the service. In just over 1.5 years this quadrupled the subscriber base that had taken 5 years to collectively accumulate by all the other service providers. PTCL now has its broadband services in over 120 major cities and towns across Pakistan i.e. Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Hala, Sukkur, Jacobabad, Khairpur, Larkana, Multan, Bhaipheru, Okara, Pakpattan, Sahiwal, Faisalabad, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Abbottabad, Attock, GujarKhan, Jehlum, Peshawar, Quetta alongside other small towns and cities. Expansion of PTCL broadband network will continue, providing more of its landline subscribers an opportunity to experience the latest in broadband and related technologies.
Special packages for the student segment along with services such as free dial up service for its Broadband customers and FREE access to movies, music, classical Pakistani dramas and cricket matches, educational and religious content for its Broadband customers are available, branded under ‘PTCL BUZZ’, this complete web infotainment content portal is made exclusive only to PTCL Broadband subscribers. In addition to these value additions, PTCL now also offers a free personalized e-mail account exclusively to its broadband users.
In addition to the above using its Broadband network, PTCL on 14th August 2008, entered the media sector by launching an interactive television service for the first time in Pakistan. Branded under ‘PTCL Smart Line’, the service includes Interactive Television, Broadband and voice Telephony all at the same time on PTCL’s telephone line. The most revolutionary section of this offering is the ability to rewind and pause live TV channels, the ability to block / unblock any TV channel for parental lock and the ability to search through video on demand content. Currently PTCL Smart TV offers its viewers over hundred live channels and a growing over 300 Movie titles ‘on Demand’. Currently the service is available in the three metros Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad and will be expanded into all the major cities during the year.