We Are Capable of Competing Starlink: Jazz

Jazz Telecom company said on Thursday they were fully capable of competing with Starlink and other satellite internet service providers. 

Kazim Mujtaba, President, Jazz GSM, said this while briefing the media here on Thursday.

About Starlink and other satellite network companies, they said that Jazz was fully capable of competing with these companies.

Read More:Jazz WhatsApp Packages| Daily, Weekly & Monthly

As Jazz announces to become the first teleco of the country to link 5G at 1000 sites across the country, it has called the government to upgrade the power grids following massive increase in electric demand to run 5G internet services. 

“EVs and 5G services have led to higher demand of electricity “ Kazim Mujtaba, President, Jazz GSM, said. 

Kazim Mujtaba said that the company plans to reach 2,500 5G sites by year-2026, with the focus to deliver a better digital experience through greater capacity, faster speeds and more reliable connectivity, while enabling new services and use cases as 5G adoption grows.

Mr Mujtaba added that practically the 5G service has negligible benefit for the individual customers, however its key use cases are for the industrial, corporate sectors and the government services.

Media was informed that damages from accidents like the recent fire accident at PIMS Hospital, Islamabad can be reduced by implementing the concept of ‘smart buildings,’ by establishing 5G bubble as early warning, that will help the rescue and relevant departments to act in time.

“An average of one million censors are installed in one kilometer area, and if take the example of PIMS hospital the censor installed in AC plant will tell beforehand that not only it was consuming higher electricity but overheating too, and after the fire erupted all the relevant officials would be informed at their phone sets about any abnormal development,” Mr Mujtaba said.  

He highlighted that electricity consumption at the 5G network was two times more than that consumed for the 4G.

“As a result, we have requested for upgrading the grid stations as the 5G cell sites needed more power, similarly the battery backup too has been upgraded at these sites,” he added.

The media was informed that overall internet usage was on the rise and up-gradation of the telecom sector eco-system was needed including sale of mobile sets at instalments.    

Jazz will invest $1bn in network expansion in the coming 2-3 years, but at the same time to reap the benefits of 5G, the government too has to invest supporting infrastructure. 

Meanwhile, sources in the ministry of IT & telecom said that while Jazz has linked 1,000 sites with 5G, the other two telecos were lagging behind as Zong has 350 sites upgraded to 5G and the Ufone- Telenor merged co has only 200 sites. 

Mujtaba said that the country needed more 5G compatible handsets. The government and telecoms companies were close to strike a mechanism for providing 5G handsets on installments. 

He said that telecom companies wanted to block SIMs of defaulters on all networks if customers fail to pay installments. 

However, he added that banks were not ready to take exposure. 

The Jazz officials further said that they had faced a loss of billion rupees due to early closure of markets. 

They further said that the government has realised that interruption in network services was a hurdle in the digital economy and there had never been major interruption in internet services after the spectrum auction. 

Responding to a question about the impact of 5G services on the environment, they said that solar was the best option.