October 2015
Not learning anything from history
The following article was first printed in The Daily Express Tribune, October 5, 2015. Around a decade ago, when I was country head (telecom) of German multinational Siemens, who were the largest provider of telecom equipment in Pakistan at that time, mobile telephony was witnessing a boom. Hundreds of thousands of new mobile phones were being…
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Spectrum auction: Learning from past errors key for successful rollout
September 20, 2015 Last week, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar shared exciting news with the nation. He said the country would be welcoming more spectrum that would be auctioned within this fiscal year. Considering the response the last spectrum auction received and the large growth mobile broadband services have registered, this piece of news would be…
Read MoreRole of public-private partnership
The following article was first printed in The Daily Express Tribune, August 23, 2015. We are all rejoicing at the recent phenomenal rise in the number of broadband users in Pakistan after the launch of 3G and 4G mobile broadband. Mobile broadband users have risen from 1.9 million in June 2014 to 13.5 million in June…
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