Finally, we can expect better internet speed with more data volumes in Pakistan. The country is soon going to get its very first Internet Exchange Point that will reduce latency rate for domestic traffic along with minimizing bandwidth costs. The Internet Exchange Point will be set up in Islamabad within two months.

Despite the arrival of 3G and 4G services, internet speed is way behind in Pakistan as compared to global average of 5 Mbps. Also, the ISPs in Pakistan are not able to provide accurate speeds most of the times. We have often heard users with 4 Mbps speed complaining about getting speed of 2 Mbps and even lower. Even 3G and 4G users are now complaining about the reduction in internet speed with passage of one year.

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has collaborated with Internet Society (ISOC) for establishing the exchange point. The hardware is currently being setup and the exchange point will soon be operational. You will definitely be thinking what Internet Exchange Point (IXP) does. Well, it is a physical structure that exchanges local internet traffic within the country between ISPs and CDNs (Content Delivery Networks). Currently, the internet traffic in Pakistan is routed through international internet exchanges before reaching to the desired website. This increases the time of data transfer along with contributing to higher costs of per-bit delivery.

PTCL and other major ISPs in Pakistan are already in discussion to make sure that all traffic goes through the internet exchange point. This will ensure that all the internet users in Pakistan experience better speed through reduced latency rates. Moreover, less bandwidth costs will enable ISPs to increase data volume for the customers.

We can expect overall improvement in internet in Pakistan once the internet exchange begins operating. Stay tuned to get more updates on this story!