CIS IT torch bearer in Pakistan: Asim Husain
By Technology Times at May 29, 2012 | 1:06 pm | PrintA- Reset A+
Asim Sheheryar
COMSATS INTERNET Services (CIS) is the pioneer ISP of Pakistan when it launched Internet services for the first time in the country in 1996. In 2011, CIS celebrated its 15 years of Internet operations in Pakistan through a customer event which was attended by Chairman PTA and Executive Director COMSATS also. At present, CIS is operative in 8 cities including Multan this year. CIS is the most diversified ISP of Pakistan offering a variety of core and value-added services to its customers, mainly government and corporate. Core services of CIS include DSL, wireless P2P links, and domain & hosting. Value-added services include on-demand broadband, video conferencing, website development, and IT training. CIS has four centres of expertise including data centre, training centre, video conferencing centre, and software centre.
This year, I am proud to announce that keeping our tradition of being the pioneers, CIS is the first ISP to offer VPS (virtual private server) with local hosting in Pakistan unlike other VPS providers who offer VPS with foreign hosting. We launched our VPS service in April 2012. With VPS, a customer can rent a virtual server from us on a monthly basis instead of investing in a new server. We are using Intel’s modular server to offer VPS service where every customer’s server is like a dedicated server with its own memory, storage, and bandwidth. All servers have been secured through a Juniper firewall.
CIS is different from other ISPs in the sense that we offer social services also in the form of telehealth and training. COMSATS was the pioneer in telehealth in Pakistan when it launched telehealth clinics in 2001 in Skardu, Gilgit, and Gujar Khan. This year, CIS will be launching more telehealth clinics in rural areas of Pakistan.
On the occasion of the World Telecommunication Day, I want to congratulate all telecom operators in Pakistan as well as the Government of Pakistan for achieving 70 per cent teledensity in the country. This is a major achievement considering that Pakistan had only 4% teledensity ten years ago. However, the growth in broadband penetration has not been as spectacular as mobile penetration. Reasons for this are literacy rates in Pakistan as well as cost of computers which are a lot more expensive than mobiles. Also, usually there is only one broadband connection per household unlike mobiles where multiple family members have their own mobile connections. However, once 3G has been launched in Pakistan, it should trigger growth of broadband in the country.
