Digital divide in Pakistan

Last updated

The digital divide in Pakistan refers to inequalities between individuals, households, and other groups of different demographic and socioeconomic levels in Pakistan in access to information and communication technologies ("ICTs") and in the knowledge and skills needed to effectively use the information gained from connecting. [1]

Contents

Pakistan is one of the South Asian countries that does have internet access. Internet access in Pakistan began in the 1990s and has continued to grow over the past decades. In fact, Pakistan has about 32 million internet users. However, according to data collected by the World Bank, Pakistan has an overall population of about 193 million people. [2] In addition, Pakistan also has about 15 million people who access the internet from their mobile devices. Pakistan has 5 broadband internet providers and 10 DSL. Broadband use through computers is the number one way that people access the internet in Pakistan. The second most popular way that people of Pakistan access the internet is through their cellular devices. Even though there are about 32 million internet user compared to a large population, Internet in Pakistan is ranked 20th in the world.

Cell phone coverage

Pakistan has five major cell phone providers. The five are (in order from most to fewest subscribers): Jazz 51.88 million; Telenor 39.37 million; Zong 27.71 million; Ufone 18.46 million; and Warid 12 million.[ citation needed ] Recently in May 2017, the Pakistani government decided to lower tariffs and taxes on cellular services as well as on mobile phones. The reasons for this decision included years of pressure from the nation's top mobile operators and a World Bank report pointing out Pakistan's high taxing of telecom services in the region. [3]

Gender and caste

In rural Pakistan, cell service use is divided along gender lines. Karin Astrid Siegmann pointed out this disparity; 40 percent of female users have to ask permission from the male owners to make calls. Cell phones being in the hands of females is viewed unfavorably in Pakistani culture. According to one participant in the study, from the Muzzafargarh district in rural Pakistan, "Women don't even know how to dial a number." [4] Additionally, the percentage of women owning a cell phone is 36% compared to men at 78% overall. [5]

Besides gender, there is a distinct divide among castes. Newer castes rank much more highly on the Digital Access Index (DAI) than do the older castes. The same study compared two political parties. One political party, called the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf), was composed of newer castes (Khan, Hashmi, Alvi, and Qureshi). The Muslim League is composed of older castes. The PTI outperformed the Pakistan Muslim League in number of foreign visitors to its web site, with a combined percentage of 12.7%, and in websites linking to it with 450, compared to the Muslim League's 168 (See Table 6 page 354). Ahsan Abdullah elaborates the important background of these findings: "Members of the new caste traditionally have not been farmers; for example, members of the Sheikh caste are traditionally traders, and members of the Syed caste traditionally hold religious offices, and hence they have to be better educated as compared to the old caste members. The old caste members, who are traditionally farmers, require tacit knowledge more than education to be successful. This observation is supported by the higher literacy rate in new castes as compared to the old caste members, with Pathan, Sheikh, and Syed being the top three educated castes among the 12 castes considered." [6]

Solutions

Besides Private efforts, Public efforts put forth by the Pakistani government would help bridge the digital divide. There is an ambitious undertaking called the Universal Services Fund which would aim to provide broadband coverage to the whole nation by 2018. [7]

Related Research Articles

Telecommunications in Ecuador include telephone, radio, television, and the Internet.

India's telecommunication network is the second largest in the world by number of telephone users with 1171.80 million subscribers as on 31 Oct 2020. It has one of the lowest call tariffs in the world enabled by mega telecom operators and hyper-competition among them. As on 31 Oct 2020, India has the world's second-largest Internet user-base with 734.82 million broadband internet subscribers in the country. As of 31 December 2018, India had a population of 130 crore people, 123 crore Aadhaar digital biometric identity cards, 121 crore mobile phones, 44.6 crore smartphones, 56 crore internet users up from 481 million people in December 2017, and 51 per cent growth in e-commerce.

Jordan has a highly developed communications infrastructure. Jordan's telecom infrastructure is growing at a very rapid pace and continually being updated and expanded. Communications in Jordan occur across many media, including telephone, radio, television, and internet.

Telecommunications in Kenya include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.

Telecommunications in Mongolia face unique challenges. As the least densely populated country in the world, with a significant portion of the population living a nomadic lifestyle, it has been difficult for many traditional information and communication technology (ICT) companies to make headway into Mongolian society. With almost half the population clustered in the capital of Ulaanbaatar, most landline technologies are deployed there. Wireless technologies have had greater success in rural areas.

The People's Republic of China possesses a diversified communications system that links all parts of the country by Internet, telephone, telegraph, radio, and television. The country is served by an extensive system of automatic telephone exchanges connected by modern networks of fiber-optic cable, coaxial cable, microwave radio relay, and a domestic satellite system; cellular telephone service is widely available, expanding rapidly, and includes roaming service to foreign countries. Fiber to the x infrastructure has been expanded rapidly in recent years.

Digital divide Inequality of access to information and communication technologies

The digital divide refers to the gap between those able to benefit from the digital age and those who are not. The concern is that people without access to the Internet and other information and communication technologies will be disadvantaged, as they are unable or less able to obtain digital information, shop online, participate democratically, or learn skills and offer skills. This resulted in programs to give computers and related services to people without access.

Internet access Individual connection to the internet

Internet access is the ability of individuals and organizations to connect to the Internet using computer terminals, computers, and other devices; and to access services such as email and the World Wide Web. Internet access is sold by Internet service providers (ISPs) delivering connectivity at a wide range of data transfer rates via various networking technologies. Many organizations, including a growing number of municipal entities, also provide cost-free wireless access and landlines.

Landline Phone that uses a metal wire or fibre optic telephone line for transmission

A landline telephone is a phone that uses a metal wire or optical fiber telephone line for transmission as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, which uses radio waves for transmission. In 2003, the CIA World Factbook reported approximately 1.263 billion main telephone lines worldwide. China had more than any other country, at 350 million, and the United States was second with 268 million. The United Kingdom had 23.7 million residential fixed home phones.

Information and communications technology Extensional term for information technology

Information and communications technology (ICT) is an extensional term for information technology (IT) that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of telecommunications and computers, as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage and audiovisual, that enable users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information.

Kajeet is a wireless provider operating on the Verizon and Sprint LTE wireless networks. The company serves two distinct, yet parallel, markets: off-campus wireless broadband for school districts and mobile phones & service for kids. The highlights of the service includes cloud-based management tools, CIPA-compliant filtering, mobile device controls, data-usage controls, time-of-day controls, contract-free plans, and the option of GPS location services.

Mobile broadband

Mobile broadband is the marketing term for wireless Internet access through a portable modem, USB wireless modem, or a tablet/smartphone or other mobile device. The first wireless Internet access became available in 1991 as part of the second generation (2G) of mobile phone technology. Higher speeds became available in 2001 and 2006 as part of the third (3G) and fourth (4G) generations. In 2011, 90% of the world's population lived in areas with 2G coverage, while 45% lived in areas with 2G and 3G coverage. Mobile broadband uses the spectrum of 225 MHz to 3700 MHz.

Internet in the United States Overview of the Internet in the United States of America

The Internet in the United States grew out of the ARPANET, a network sponsored by the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense during the 1960s. The Internet in the United States in turn provided the foundation for the worldwide Internet of today.

Rural Internet describes the characteristics of Internet service in rural areas, which are settled places outside towns and cities. Inhabitants live in villages, hamlets, on farms and in other isolated houses. Mountains and other terrain can impede rural Internet access.

Internet in India began in 1986 and was available only to the educational and research community. It was publicly available from 15 August 1995. As of 2020, there are 718.74 million active internet users that comprise 54.29% of the population.

Telecommunications in Hungary include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.

The digital divide in the United States refers to inequalities between individuals, households, and other groups of different demographic and socioeconomic levels in access to information and communication technologies ("ICTs") and in the knowledge and skills needed to effectively use the information gained from connecting.

Digital divide by country

The digital divide is an economic and social inequality with regard to access to, use of, or impact of information and communication technologies (ICT). Factors causing the divide can vary depending on the country and culture, as can the potential solutions for minimizing or closing the divide.

Digital divide in Thailand

The digital divide in Thailand refers to the economic, educational, and social inequalities between the Thai people who have access to information and communications technology (ICT) and those who do not. Thailand is a developing country within Southeast Asia, and is currently confronted with this problem. There are a number of factors that determine the digital divide within a country, including income, choice of technologies and socioeconomic factors. ICT development and mobile penetration are strongly correlated with economic growth and social benefits.

The digital divide in Japan refers to inequalities between individuals, households, and other groups of different demographic and socioeconomic levels in Japan in access to information and communication technologies ("ICTs") and in the knowledge and skills needed to effectively use the information gained from connecting.

References

  1. ↑ Norris, P. 2001. Digital divide: Civic engagement, information poverty and the Internet world- wide. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge Univ. Press.
  2. ↑ "Population, total - Data". data.WorldBank.org. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
  3. ↑ "Pakistan to cut taxes on mobile services, handsets - Mobile World Live". Mobile World Live. 2017-05-29. Retrieved 2017-12-03.
  4. ↑ "The Gender Digital Divide in Rural Pakistan: How wide is it & how to bridge it?" (PDF).
  5. ↑ "Gallup Pakistan History Project's Weekend Read 42: Mobile Phone Usage and Access in Pakistan: An Analysis of Trends in 2015 and 2014" (PDF).
  6. ↑ Abdullah, Ahsan. "Digital Divide and Caste in Rural Pakistan".Missing or empty |url= (help)
  7. ↑ "National Perspectives on bridging the Digital Divide – Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the WTO" (PDF).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.