Beginning his interview, Mr Rashid stated that Multinet Pakistan is a subsidiary of Telecom Malaysia, which is the leading telecom giant in Asia. It is a licensed company offering EIS (Electronic Information Services), DNOPS (Data Network Operation Services) and LDI (Long Distance and International). At the moment the company is operating in Karachi but it plans to expand to more than 27 cities in the country including 77 towns within one years time.

Continuing with the interview, he said that the reason for partnership with Telecom Malaysia is to assist the company to expand not only in the internet access network area but also to install a fully equipped high speed fibre optic network across the country.

Elaborating on the technical aspects of the services, he said that DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) is an advanced technology that allows higher bandwidth data transmission over the standard copper telephone wires. It is an exceptional service at low cost, and delivers unprecedented value as compared to ISDN, and analog modems. Moreover, it is a dedicated line, which is always connected, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Speaking about access, he said that the company is a licensed operator Of DSL services on behalf of PTCL. This arrangement enables the company to install DSL equipment at all the exchanges throughout the country. In addition, the company also provides wireless and dial-up Internet accesses. The DSL service takes the existing voice cables that connects customers premises to the telephone exchange, and turns them into a high speed digital link. The distance between the customer's premises and the exchange determines the maximum DSL speed. At the customer's premises, the DSL modem connects the phone line to a computer.

This device is different from other internet access devices in two ways: it requires no user configuration and it is not dial up dependent. Once the equipment is installed, the modem provides the customer with a continuous and uninterrupted connection to the internet. All small and medium enterprises along with large firms can benefit from this service, which saves their costs without sacrificing speeds on their LAN and WAN. Giving the advantages of this service, he further said that DSL would allow the users to access the internet at speeds starting from 64kbps and up to 50 times, which is faster than a standard dial up modem. This would allow utmost freedom and convenience with a permanent connection to the internet up to 2mbps. The users, would therefore, no longer have to wait for a dial tone, counter busy signals, or suffer the frustration of disconnection.

Multinet has a high capacity and is able to cater to the needs of the telecom sector. It can offer services to mobile phone operators, broadband service providers, and internet service providers which would greatly enhance the overall telecommunications infrastructure.

Speaking about the future plans of the company, he said that project Ittehad is a massive infrastructure project, which would greatly enhance and revolutionise the country's communications sector. The project Ittehad is expected to be completed within one year and will bring in US$100 million worth of foreign investment in the country. Capacity and coverage are two of the most fundamental values in any broadband wireless product and Multinet excels in both. The company's efficiency as to how many bits it can pack in the available spectrum is one of the best in the industry. Multinet cell radius coverage also exceeds others and gives an edge on most of the competitors, he said. The company uses 802.11 standard, which enables the company's wireless broadband to easily adapt itself to the needs of almost any network configuration that the customer may desire, from a simple network to a sophisticated routed network.

Furthermore, the company's MetroNet is based on the trusted Ethernet technology, meaning operating on a fibre optic backbone, which offers the best of reliability, plug and play capabilities and very high speed connectivity. All of this is with no modem or telephone line. This service of MetroNet is cost effective and is being offered for the first time in the country. By connecting to this service, one can obtain unmatched connection speeds ranging from 1mbps to as high as 1gbps, thus opening up a world of new possibilities for users and their businesses. With this new service the possibilities of setting up new businesses and expanding further are now truly enormous. Thousands of computers of sub networks are now being connected to a high-speed fibre backbone across the country with extremely low cost as compared to other tariffs presently being offered.