Wateen Telecom launches massive WiMAX network in Pakistan

Good news for those in Pakistan hungry for another link to the 'net: Wateen Telecom has officially launched its WiMAX / HFC services for the consumer market. Reportedly, Motorola played a huge role in deploying the "first 802.16e commercial WiMAX network in Pakistan," and according to Wateen, it's the largest WiMAX network "ever installed." In case you hadn't already guessed, Wateen Telecom is indeed a Abu Dhabi venture, and the service will initially be made available in 22 cities. For more details on exact coverage and rate plans, be sure and check out Wateen's website.

[Via Metroblogging Karachi, thanks Zainuddin Z.]

[Faisal @ Feb 8th 2008 1:37AM]

Wow this is great. I thought this was going to take a long time. Finally I can get rid my DSL which ptcl is continuing to ignore.

[WateenUser @ Feb 9th 2008 10:11AM]

Wateen's tripple play free trial connections' download speeds have been degraded to an awful 12kb/s .. you cant really check now to your satisfaction

[ali @ Feb 19th 2008 11:03PM]

qwell, i got the modem free from Wateen....who says wateen is charging a lot...we have the world's biggest WiMax network....hooorayyyyyy

[WateenUser @ Mar 8th 2008 1:14AM]

on the face of it wateen sux , but if you can pull on some strings, and start getting stuff for free like this dude here has managed ... nothing beats it!

[michas_pi @ Dec 17th 2007 3:58PM]

So how many Pakistanis will end up in emergency rooms with headaches like the last time WiMax was deployed in Sweden?

[Rex @ Dec 17th 2007 4:13PM]

That depends on whether it is deployed by a Swede. I jest, I jest.

[Rex @ Dec 18th 2007 5:25AM]

hey there are two rex! btw, i am from pakistan, where are you from?
and engadget, can i somehow change my screen name?...i would hate the confusion it would create...
btw the rex that post furthur down (Rex @ Dec 18th 2007 5:15AM) is me, i hope the rex "above" wouldn't mind...

[michas_pi @ Dec 18th 2007 10:38AM]

I say you two have a battle royale over this issue. Victor gets to keep "Rex".

[JSM @ Dec 17th 2007 4:18PM]

probably the same number that a susceptible to psychosomatic illnesses.

[OddManOut @ Dec 17th 2007 4:49PM]

So now, not only is Korea putting the US to shame with wireless internet access, but PAKISTAN is too ?

(I kid...I know there's a whole lot more to the tech gap between the US and Pakistan and one metric does not an upset make. But not the Korea part...on that I'm totally serious...).

But hey, good for them. Wave goodbye to what peace and freedom ya'll used to have in your homes and other places of leisure. Welcome to the 'Blackberry Generation', my friends. This is the begining of the end of you guys ever having to be cut off from work.

You have my congratulations and condolences.

[Hasan @ Dec 17th 2007 5:13PM]

As a student that used to be in the States, Wateen is not exactly catering to the general public too well. The rates for basic Wimax are ridiculously expensive when taken into consideration the local incomes.

Rs. 25,000 for a modem ($400) is rather ridiculous considering you can find modems for half the price on the Net.

It's a nice change to see some competition in the broadband department of Pakistan, but it's still overpriced beyond most consumers.

The Triple Play (Broadband, IP telephony and Cable TV) are still fairly buggy. Lots of tech support problems. No torrents for downloading, and yes, there are legal torrents as well.

The established monopoly here is Worldcall, Ltd. Fairly inexpensive, crappy service nonetheless, and capped download speeds but in comparison to Wateen, it's not too bad.

Again, to put it in context, it's taken Wateen over three years to launch the Wimax network, which is understandable due to logistics. However, basic cable TV, IP telephony and Cable internet shouldn't have been a real problem in terms of setup. Again, why the 3 years wait? no one really knows.

Nonetheless, only time will tell whether Wateen can make a positive difference.

For more details about Wateen/Worldcall services. I suggest heading out to www.wccftech.com. It's a local Pakistani tech forum that documents the new technology growth within Pakistan.

[talha @ Dec 18th 2007 1:21AM]

you should check their new packages ..its pretty cheap even cheaper then the cheapest in dsl!!!

[alamzeb.com @ Dec 27th 2007 12:05AM]

Dear Hassan,

I wonder how you can call the latest WiMax technology expensive, there are many packages starting from $4 per month to $22 per month.

If you look at other ISP Broad Band Services, PTCL (Rs.1250+200)($24 Per Month) , Micronet Broad Brand having the same price, and they are giving 128 KB/Second with 2 GB Band Width.



If you look at Wateen, they are giving you WiMax modem for free. They charge you 300$ for One year, in which 512 KB/Second speed and 10 GB per month Bandwidth and Free Telephone, free calls to any where in Pakistan and 10 countries, absolutely free.

Those who can't pay $300 in advance, they can pay 100$ in advance and 22$ per month.

Other broad band modems you can't move, but this is wireless. You can take it any where, and free calls to any where in Pakistan and around the world, its awesome.

I have used it last night, unbelievable speed, and free calls, I am enjoying a lot......... I can proudly say, that communications in Pakistan is cheapest and most advanced in the world.

[holycow @ Dec 17th 2007 5:12PM]

Damn.. this is good news! Finally people back home can get a decent internet connection.

[Wasim @ Dec 17th 2007 5:44PM]

Its interesting to see the point of view of people who have actually never lived in Pakistan. Having lived here (Pakistan) for 9 years now and an avid techy, Wateen seems to be doing good.

The CPE/Modem will be paid for in installments, and the rates are beating all other DSL providers as of now. With the copper wiring dominating Pakistan and a pretty old infrastructure, I think Wateen will work.

[CellMk @ Dec 17th 2007 10:34PM]

This should be good for Pakistan. But they are a little late. The country of Macedonia has already developed a WiMax network. The WiMax network in Macedonia covers nearly the entire country, considering its size of Rhode Island. Check out http://www.neotel.com.mk/wireless.htm

[Irfan @ Dec 18th 2007 12:04AM]

who said they claimed to be first?

[skhawaja @ Dec 17th 2007 9:16PM]

Thank god developing countries are bypassing the wired infrastructure migraine headaches - and the legal hassles that the telcos and cable companies are providing apartment and condo complexes with their "we own the wire, so we get to provide the services"

Whatever protocols get rolled out - wireless is the way to go - spotty coverage be damned - telcos rolling out wired dsl services and investing heavily in equipment, upgrading wiring to properly deliver the signal, not to mention the installers - just plain headaches no matter how good your techs are at identifying, isolating, and solving problems.

WiMax will have some interesting coverage issues though, most of the housing in Pakistan is brick and mortar :]

Thanks for reporting something interesting from the developing world engadget that we're actually jealous of. (we're pretty jealous about lots of stuff when you think about it)

[ethana2 @ Dec 17th 2007 10:55PM]

You mean facilitated? Don't worry about it.

I stopped pirating things a while ago, and it has made my life easier.
CC-BY-SA, GNU FTW!
jamendo.com
ubuntu.com

[Prad @ Dec 17th 2007 11:21PM]

Interesting.. Reliance in India launched WiMax in Pune and Bangalore in July 07 at very competitive rates - Rs 500 (12.5 USD) installation charges and then plans starting from as low as 15 USD to 20 USD for home users at 300 kpbs for unlimited usage. Now they are rolling out in other major cities in India.. How did you miss this engadget ?

[tillman @ Dec 18th 2007 12:20AM]

Good news for Taleban. They can now communicate with each other very easily using googletalk and perhaps use google earth to plot attacks against Pakistani and NATO (in neighboring afghanistan) troops.

[taha.rana @ Dec 18th 2007 2:22AM]

Well they have this package in which u pay 1350 Rs /month in which u get the wimax internet ,phone and the cpe and u pay for 11 months after which the cpe is ur's which is pretty affordable if u ask me.BTW 1350Rs is about $22.

[Rex @ Dec 18th 2007 5:15AM]

FIRST OF ALL: NO OSAMA IS NOT HERE! GO AWAY!
sorry for the shout, just wanted to buzz off some morons...

okey wateen claims the first WiMax service unrolling in the world (according to their ad in dawn and the news), though our respected commenters from other countries claim otherwise :-)

okey here are some facts, to put things in perspective...

-the income of a pc owner (or his dad's ;-) is around Rs. 10000/-...

-pentium 3 pc can be bought for as less as 4000/- (btw, almost all pc's are white-boxes, branded are very rare, macs even more so... :)

-the normal exchange rate is 60rupees to a dollar...

-a dialup-card can be bought for as less as Rs 5 an hour, though better companies charge 10 or even 20 per hour...

-dsl is VERY rare...not only because it is very costly, but not all the exchanges, even in big cities, are digital

-other options of connectivity i know of are using cable (in some parts of karachi at least, according to my cousin), and gprs-to-pc (which i am using, 500 per month, unlimited, but horrendous speed)

-oh yah, there are cdma enabled phones (using wireless-loop tech, or something to that effect), they also offer net at 0.1/ per minute, but i have heard their speed is good, provided your overall signal is good (usually by adding an external antenna)

-dsl, by ptcl (national phone company, and equally loathed by all) is at the minimum, 128kbps for 1199/-, 2 gb cap...
other companies include worldcall(can't recall their rates), microdsl (their pamphalet says 384kbps for 999/-, 3gb cap)and may be one or two i missed...

just want to say, we lack cheap connectivity feature, so we basically live by the dialup, and buy cd's(30/-, all types, pirated obviously :-) instead of downloading

lets just say that anything over a megabyte, is usually not worth downloading, since it will take an hour and run down your card :-(

unless we get offers which cost 500/- or less, and offer decent speed, and NO problems...the average joe will just pass over such options...

just my two paise...

[Hasan @ Dec 18th 2007 6:05AM]

That's a fairly decent update. Worldcall offers for $10 USD cable internet (64kbps) and cable TV in certain areas of Lahore where Wateen is competing for customers with them. That's a pretty good deal if you ask me.

Currently I use a Worldcall corporate connection $40 a month with full tech support (non-existent) and I get my own domain and email address for upto 15 users. So I'm not saying it's a great deal in terms of service and facilities, but they don't have a download cap and hence it's fairly easy to run downloads.

The whole idea behind Wateen launching was to reduce the rates in the market where there would be connectivity for everyone, including the average Joe. Although they may be beating DSL providers, Worldcall's monopoly on cable will be tough to beat. Many tech-savvy people have complained about the customer support and connectivity of Wateen's cable and DSL. Again, the issue is that they have taken a very long time to launch claiming that they were still developing and fixing the network. Yet with the official launch in some areas of Lahore, there's still a large number of problems plaguing the network.

The investment Wateen bought is important to the infrastructure but they seem to have shot themselves in the foot with some of the pricing schemes. They had a huge market of unhappy Worldcall users that would switch in a heartbeat to Wateen services, yet the few that were selected for testing purposes by Wateen, immediately said that they were unhappy with the entire service.

Again, for the corporate world, Wateen is a blessing. However, for the average consumer, it's still fairly expensive and buggy technology.

[jman @ Dec 18th 2007 8:02AM]

People buy a line in pakistan...and then ten houses in one street will share that line...just by "hooking up" another wire to it illegaly. I know people who have done this ..and hence the original line which started out quite good...turns into a slow piece of crap!!!

This should be good for the economy.
Love live Musharraf and free economy/media

[jman @ Dec 18th 2007 8:05AM]

first time post ever btw....long time reader!

:)

[guy white @ Feb 21st 2008 4:16PM]

In Pakistan, DSL was introdoced around 2005. Before that it was all dial-up. So we did'nt really had much of a choice but now, since new companies are appearing and are exploring new avenues and have started competing with each other. Cconsumers here will benefit enormously in coming years.

[NasirJumani @ Dec 18th 2007 4:00PM]

Nice service but it should be more cheaper to reach in Pakistani public. I am getting 256 kbps unlimited connection in 10$/mo. and definitely will not pay for this "wireless" access.

[ReallyVirtual @ Dec 18th 2007 9:09PM]

Their marketing people have called me thrice or uap, and either they didn't give me the updated rates, or have changed their plans, because the guy said its 3500 Rs. (58$) for a 128k unlimited line, 6500 for a 256K one... whereas PTCL offers a 1Mbps DSL for around the same price.
Also, its a fixed installation and not mobile WiMAX - there go my dreams of working (read playing) from a park/cafe/canal bank :-/

[Faiz @ Dec 20th 2007 8:28AM]

actually Osama is in quetta and adjoining areas, the north has been taken over by the extremists so its only a matter of time before i loose my country to these bastard extremists...
DSL is cheap 128kbps unlimited for 1250rs reliable as hell 13kb/sec downloads lol but not really bad :p max.com.pk
wimax = no gaming, intense lag, extreme prices, LIMITED BANDWIDTH..we like downloading movies everyday, we thrive on piracy :)

and unlike sweden anyone can get away with anything here...deaths will never be attributed to wimax people have worse diseases to contend with here...would love to know if wimax deaths are not a myth :p

[Sumair Khan @ Dec 19th 2007 2:58PM]

Great news for me....
I am using DSL Service of PTCL (The Nations Only Land Line Provider). I am paying US$20 for 256k(per month). I have seen many people complaining about the service, but for me it works fine. I have never had any trouble using it. The only problem is that other ISP's are providing DSL at low prices compared to PTCL DSL. For eg WOL is providing DSL @ US$15(256k) which is quite cheap.
Most of the people in Pakistan are using Dial Up(cuz its cheap US$0.08 per hour) but @ a very slow speed(40k). My best wishes to Wateen Telecom for thier successful deployment of WiMax Network.

Internet Access in Pakistan
1. Dial Up
2. Cable
3. DSL
4. GPRS\EDGE
& now
5. WiMax

[Salman @ Dec 21st 2007 5:36AM]

I recently got connected to this wimax service and I must say it is amazing ... really!

Its very cheap too ...... I got a corporate package pre-paid for 1 year for only Rs 18,000 (US$300) which includes 512Kbps connectivity / 10 GB banwidth per month / 1 voice line.

Congratulations Pakistan on becoming the first really BIG wimax country.

[Salman @ Dec 21st 2007 6:30AM]

I forget to add that the cost of the CPE .... CPEi600 from motorola is included in the $300

[Salman @ Dec 21st 2007 8:45AM]

http://direct.motorola.com/hellomoto/wi4wimax/wateen/

[nadeem @ Dec 26th 2007 8:31AM]

by the way any one is USING the wimax ? how is their services (speed wise) ?

[Khan @ Jan 12th 2008 8:47PM]

hi

Good marketing by Wateen for its WIMAX but its modem is tooooooooooo expensive! 19000 Rupees modem! (approx. 316 $) I think they should lower the rates of modem!