Intel Sees Pakistan Computer Growth
By Tahir Ikram
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Sales of personal computers should grow by a third in Pakistan this year, pushed by a rapid rise in
Internet use, Intel China president James Jarrett said.
Jarrett said 260,000 personal computers were expected to be sold in Pakistan this year, a 30 percent increase over 1999.
Intel products, mainly its microchip processors, have roughly an 80 percent share of the Pakistani market.
''So, the computer industry here is alive and growing,'' Jarrett said in an interview late on Tuesday.
Jarrett said he was encouraged by the growing popularity of the Internet in Pakistan and saw potential for rapid growth.
''There is a potential here, which is considerably larger and that is why we are here,'' he said.
Jarrett said keeping down the cost of using the Internet was crucial for its growth in Pakistan, where the average annual salary
is $470.
Information technology analysts say the average cost of an hour of Internet use in Pakistan was 35 rupees ($0.67), which
should fall as competition increased among service providers and telecommunication charges were reduced.
Good Infrastructure Needed
''The very basic thing to do is to provide a very good infrastructure for the Internet...'' Jarrett said.
''There is a very clear inverse relationship between the penetration of the Internet into an economy and the cost of the
Internet access as an average annual income,'' he said.
''If the cost exceeds 10 percent of the annual income, it will have very low penetration in the Internet,'' he said.
Jarrett, who met government officials in Islamabad, said the government was quite open toward the Internet and aware of its
benefits.
''Our view is that every company is going to become an e-company in a few years because every company can benefit from
the effective use of the Internet,'' he said.
Pakistan has an estimated 3,000 assemblers which meet about 80 percent of domestic demand for personal computers but
analysts say demand will grow as more businesses turn to the Internet.
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