Internet Governance Priorities and Practices: Pakistan

Internet use in the Asia-Pacific region has grown in leaps and bounds over the last decade. Between 2000 and 2003 alone the Internet population in the region grew by an annual average of 38 percent to 250 million users, making the Asia-Pacific region the world's largest Internet community. Estimates put this number today at over 300 million and predict further strong growth. These impressive numbers notwithstanding, overall penetration rates are still very low in most countries...

A product of the Open Regional Dialogue on Internet Governance (ORDIG) project, this 25-page report shares results from a year-long process of various online and in-person consultation as well as research activities on internet governance priorities for the Asia-Pacific region. Overall, more than 3,000 individuals from over 37 countries in the region participated in some way in this initiative, which is implemented by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)-Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) in collaboration with the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre with support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada.

Specifically, the report draws on an online survey of 121 individuals from all stakeholder groups in Pakistan. It examines internet policy issues, such as how people living in Pakistan regard viruses, cyber attacks, and spam - as well as governance issues and opinions about two new and emerging technologies: wireless internet and internet telephony. With regard to the latter, research cited here suggests that internet telephony markets are fairly well developed in Pakistan; this dynamic development is aided by Pakistan's large population size, which makes the aggregation of voice over internet phone (VoIP) traffic more cost-effective and helps negotiate more advantageous transit or termination rates with international providers. Nevertheless, population size and number of providers is not a guarantee for low rates...

To cite another specific survey finding: Concerns about illegal content "feature prominently in replies to the survey from Pakistan with 85 percent of the respondents expressing their dissatisfaction with the status quo of this issue. In several write-ins to the survey, respondents from Pakistan emphasize their concerns about harmful content online, and express their frustration about the disorganized nature of information online and the ensuing difficulties of locating useful content."