Literature Review

Broadband is a concept that comes from telephony world. Different

service provider will have different definition of broadband but in general the speed of
the broadband must exceed 2Mbps (Aronsson et al.2003). Broadband connection is faster
than narrowband connection and is suitable for large amount of data transferred
(Kidokoro 2007).

Broadband is a generic term used to describe high-speed networking

services, that is a set of digital communication technologies with the capacity to transmit
significant amounts of data at a high rate, supporting the delivery of a range of digital
services some or all of which can occur simultaneously. It is usually a symmetrical
service allowing fast in and outbound data capacity. (Becta, 2003; OECD, 2003).
Broadband contributes to national economic competitiveness (ITU, 2003), allowing
industry to access distant markets as well as develop and deliver new services. (Whilst
Fransman 2006)

If broadband is defined as a speed that allows users to do the things that

they want to do, what are these things? For users in Canada today, broadband networks
and the Internet are synonymous. In 2005, the majority of Canadian Internet users went
online to email, pay bills and do their banking, check weather or road conditions, view
news and sports, make travel arrangements and search for government and health
information (Statistics Canada, 2006a).

Broadband technology has the potential to enhance the service quality in

education and health to the society (Firth & Mellor 2005). Broadband also offers
organizations the improvement of its efficiency, connection and access towards specific
operation that suggest new methods in doing business and new business model
.According to Broadband Stakeholder Group (2003), a lot of benefits can be gained from
broadband usage in higher education. These benefits include ability to enhance the
learning experience, improve cooperation among learning institution, deliver new
potentials and enhance the efficiency in education.

Service quality is defined as level of services and it can be categorized

into two critical aspects; those are operational and relational performance. Operational
performance is about physical services while relational performance concerns on service
delivering process. (Stanket al. 1999)

Customer satisfaction is defined as a customer’s overall judgment on

disconfirmation between the expected and perceived service performances (Anderson &
Sullivan 1993). If the perceived performance meets or exceeds the expectation, the
customer is satisfied; otherwise, dissatisfied (Kim et al. 2007).

Service performance in high speed internet services consists of two

dimensions; those are network performance and customer service performance (Kim et
al. 2007).The improvement of quality of services delivered can attract the next customers.
The customers will satisfy and probably can be loyal towards the services or might be
suggest it to other people. Therefore, it is important to a company or organization of
product or service provider to improve their quality level.

Drawing on the literature it is possible to identify a range of factors that

encourage ICT and broadband satisfaction. The first identifiable factor is that of cost.
Although Bauer et al (2005) argue that the relationship between broadband penetration
and cost is not yet fully understood, Geroski (2000) states that cost is an important issue
for those dial-up Internet users considering switching to broadband. As broadband
Internet access is typically more expensive than its dial-up counterpart, potential
switchers who are unaware of the benefits of broadband may be reluctant to pay more
for what they perceive to be the same service.

The attributes or characteristics of broadband can also influence its

satisfaction. Savage et al (2005) identified three such attributes - speed, service
reliability and 'always-on'

The customers will be satisfied if their requirements have been fulfilled.

Their important requirements are: Speed of internet access, network Consistency of
speed, Wide range of internet coverage, Easy to log on during peak hours, Always
connected, 24 hours internet connection.(Measuring Broadband Service Quality).

At the end of July 2008, there were total of 170,000 broadband subscribers
in the country, showing 150 percent increase in subscribers when compared with stats in
July 2007. Despite this growth, Pakistan still lags behind in overall number of broadband
subscribers, range of broadband services and investment in next-generation broadband
technologies. (Aamir Atta,2008)

Broadband users in Pakistan have reached 816,807 mark, as of April 2010,

as per recently published stats by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.PTA stats said
that Internet Service Providers of Pakistan added a total of 44,370 broadband subscribers
in April 2010 compared to addition of 55,932 broadband subscribers in March
2010.These statistics suggests that DSL still has 55 percent market share of total
broadband market in Pakistan (in terms of subscribers), while WiMAX stands second
with 30 percent subscribers’ market share. EVDO witnessed highest growth rate in last
two quarters and has added its market share in terms of subscribers by 3 percent, while
WiMAX subscribers’ market share grew by 2 percent.(Aamir Atta,2010)