Abstract
This paper reports selective results of the study to explore the acceptability and readiness of consumers to switch from existing separate date, voice and video services to a single converged service over a fixed line. Providing a converged service requires effort in three areas i.e. convergence supporting technology, converged (unified) service offering and development of access devices. This study is only about a converged service offering. Market for Cable TV service in Pakistan is more established and mature as compared to that of Internet. Research question of this study was that ‘broadband alone may not be able to create a viable market for itself therefore will a converged offering of broadband and high quality cable TV be more acceptable to consumers?’. The answer is in affirmative. According to the results the acceptability of converged service in Pakistan is going to be based primarily on pricing but there may be some other needs that have to be looked into. This survey based research was conducted in March – April 2007. The survey instrument used had 26 questions. A sample of about 300 respondents was used as a stratified sample of the urban population of Karachi. Primarily the questionnaires were distributed personally by the research team and filled on the spot. Therefore the response rate was very high. A total of 257 valid responses were received. Karachi was selected because it has representation of people from all parts of the country and has a high population density with most of the people having access to data, voice and video services and can be considered as potential consumers of converged service. Pakistan is an upcoming economy with a very high growth rate in IT sector. Thus providing a converged service of data, voice and video on a single fixed line has great potential. Results of this research can provide valuable information about consumers’ preference to companies for making better-informed decisions on strategic planning and investing in converged services. It also provides a direction for further research
Keywords
Convergence, Broadband, Cable TV, fixed line, Pakistan
DOI
https://doi.org/10.54784/1990-6587.1155
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Nabi, S. I., Abrar, D., Chagani, K., Khan, A. A., & ul Haq, A. (2008). Converged service of data, video and voice – readiness of Pakistani market. Business Review, 3(2), 1-20. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.54784/1990-6587.1155
Published Online
February 24, 2021
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Submitted
23-02-2021
Published
01-07-2008
