telecommunications in pakistan describes the overall environment for the growing mobile telecommunications, telephone, and internet markets in pakistan. in 2008 pakistan was the worldâs third fastest growing telecommunications market. pakistan's telecom infrastructure is improving dramatically with foreign and domestic investments into fixed-line and mobile networks; fiber systems are being constructed throughout the country to aid in network growth. ==regulatory environment== thumb|right|alt=a map showing active and anticipated submarine communications cables servicing africa, the middle east, pakistan, and india.|active and anticipated submarine communications cables servicing africa, the middle east, pakistan, and india.  the telecommunications ordinance of 1994 created the pakistan telecommunication authority (pta), pakistan's first independent telecommunications regulator, and the pakistan telecommunication company ltd (ptcl), a state-owned monopoly. due to a lack of competition, local telephone call rates were high and international call rates were even higher. during the 1990s, a call to united states cost $5 per minute (300pkrs per minute), which was not affordable for most of the population. in addition customer service was poor; fixing a problem might take 10 to 15 days. despite this, consumers had to stick with ptcl, as they had no other options. this prompted the government to take a series of actions to improve the service by opening the telecommunications market."pakistan: birth of a telecom revolution", bloomberg businessweek, 31 january 2005 this was critical, but required a fine balance because opening the market and preserving ptcl were both important for the government. in july 2003 the government introduced a deregulation policy for the telecommunication sector,de-regulation policy for the telecommunication sector, ministry of information technology, government of pakistan, july 2003 which allowed and encouraged foreign companies to invest in the pakistani telecommunications market."telecommunication laws in pakistan", bilal sarwari, pakistan law website, 24 october 2009 the centerpiece of the deregulation was the establishment of two categories of basic services licenses: local loop (ll), for fixed line telecommunication within the 14 ptcl regions, and long-distance and international (ldi), for connectivity between regions.â two sets of criteria set by the regulatory authorities must be met before a
Communications_in_Pakistan