De-regularization of VOIP in Pakistan - When will PTA rectify its own fault!

[Fouad Bajwa]

Lack of VOIP De-regularization by PTA in Pakistan destroying or
boosting local access and industry?

VOIP Deregulation continues to be amongst one of the key Internet
Governance issues not receiving due attention by the regulators such
as PTA and the Ministry of IT&T in general. The community remains
amazed why platforms like P@SHA and organizations like PSEB have not
been taking up this issue on the public sphere, media and industry
forums as they did so for the Electronic Crimes Ordinance as his issue
is equally important. This issue has gone international and is also a
cause for declining investments into the Pakistani academic, research,
business and industry sectors.

Somehow our regulators cannot realize that they are becoming the main
cause for destroying the local IT/ICT Industry and reducing
opportunities for connecting the major rural population of the
country. Since 2007, the World Bank ICT stats have projected Pakistani
ICT to be declining and this is shameful when countries plan on doing
business with South Asia and drop Pakistan from their list. This is
not something to be proud of but frustrating when both citizens and
industry do not receive access to services that will help them grow
socio-economically. Adding to this, debates have been underway that
denial of VOIP-enabled services to Pakistani Citizens is the denial of
basic human rights to access and fulfillment of their right to
communicate as per the article 19 and article 21 clause (b) of the UN
Human Rights Charter which Pakistan also recognizes.

Internet Governance and De-regularization of VOIP in Pakistan:

If the regulator is willing to take notice and P@SHA and PSEB willing
to play their societal as well as macro-economic roles then:

* The Pakistani Telecom Regulator and Ministry of IT&T should realize
that communication is a basic right of every Pakistani citizen and
with the adoption of the Internet and now the emerging IP enabled
services sphere, Pakistani citizens are entitled to freely access and
utilize VOIP services anywhere and anytime throughout Pakistan.

* VOIP can act as the medium to connect the 66% unconnected population
of Pakistan to the national communication grid thus fueling local
content communications and widespread access to both government and
private sector services. VOIP can immediately benefit Healthcare,
Education and Agrimarket access across the country as well as prevent
terrorism and mismanagement of disasters. This is just the beginning
of this list of services.

* The regulator must allow without any twists 100% unlimited access to
IP-enabled services to all service providers, entrepreneurs, academic
and non-profit organizations across Pakistan. Denying so only shows
that national growth is not the priority of the regulator.

* The regulator should permit unrestricted development and evolution
of VOIP technologies and platforms so that Pakistani Youth and Women
entrepreneurs may achieve the same level of product and service
creation that their counterparts are achieving in other countries.
Preventing to do so, the regulator is keeping the majority of Youth
population disengaged from the telecom enterprise, local telecom
industry and the global IP-enabled services markets.

* A VOIP grey market only exists when the regulator fails to provide
adequate de-regularization of IP enabled services to its citizens.
Revenues from VOIP to the regulator, operators and service providers
is not an indicator of socio-economic progress, instead how society
and citizens use VOIP to find solutions to their basic needs and wants
is an indicator for socio-economic progress.

* Lack of VOIP De-Regularization in Pakistan is preventing national
progress in the field of communication and limiting VOIP under
licensing only fills a few pockets and is the main cause of draining
Pakistan of monetary benefits as all FDI in telecommunications is
draining the country of both jobs and resources.

* In short, the regulator is generating a very bad image of the
Pakistani ICT Industry. The global ICT think tanks,
ICT/Internet/Technology policy arenas see this as a bottleneck to the
growth of ICT in Pakistan, denial of basic communications right to the
citizens of Pakistan, lack of interest by the regulator to its primary
task of facilitating the citizens of Pakistan and misguided
investments into ICT without getting the basics right.

* Denial of access to VOIP and denial of unrestricted supply of
VOIP-enabled services to service providers, academia and civil society
is a basic human right violation today!

* Change makers, please take notice. There will be many workshops
conducted and topics raised during the United Nations facilitated
Internet Governance Forum 2010 this year in Europe in September and
the local regulator should understand that this is negatively
impacting its mandate as all of such messages will enter global dialog
and publications.



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Regards.
--------------------------
Fouad Bajwa
Internet Governance Advisor
ICT4D Social Practitioner & Researcher
Member Multistakeholder Advisory Group (IGF)
Member Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus (IGC)
My Blog: Internet's Governance: http://internetsgovernance.blogspot.com/
Follow my Tweets: http://twitter.com/fouadbajwa
MAG Interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATVDW1tDZzA

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