ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s telecom sector generated Rs850 billion in revenues in 2022-23, marking a 17 per cent growth from the previous year and demonstrating the sector’s resilience amid challenges of inflation, high business cost, and economic slowdown, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) says in its annual report.
The report says the industry holds substantial investment potential, with local industry investments of $5.7 billion, and FDI of $1.4 billion over the last five years from 2018-19 to 2022-23.
“Despite economic challenges such as higher business costs and inflationary pressures in the fiscal 2022-23, the telecom sector showed resilience, expanding its services and generating telecom revenues up to Rs850 billion,” the report says.
However, the industry sources say in real terms the telecom industry’s revenue has declined from $4.84 billion in 2018-19 to $3.03 billion in 2022-23, due to decline in the rupee value.
Work under way on integration of satellite broadband, particularly through satellite system to bridge digital divide in country
The PTA report says the sector contributed Rs1.27 trillion to the national treasury from the fiscal year 2018-19 to the fiscal 2022-23.
The report says PTA is actively working on integration of its satellite broadband, particularly through High Throughput Satellite (HTS) system to bridge the digital divide in the country. The HTS system will provide high-speed satellite internet in the country.
The telecom sector regulator has acknowledged that its Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) was low in the country besides other financial stress faced by the industry included rising fuel costs and high capital investments.
The report suggests reducing the cost of doing business by adopting certain measures such as infrastructure sharing and implementing cost-effective strategies to meet capacity demand that is essential for extending connectivity to underserved areas in the country.
The report says mobile broadband has significantly grown over the past five years from 37 per cent of mobile subscribers in 2017-18 to 65 per cent in 2022-23.
Currently, it says, 90 per cent of mobile broadband subscribers in the country are using 4G compared to 17 per cent five years ago.
The report has mentioned four telecom operators in the country, led by Jazz, followed by Zong, Telenor and Ufone, as the formal merger of the Telenor with PTCL/Ufone has not been notified so far.
Among existing companies Jazz leads with total 37 per cent cellular subscribers in country and the largest number of 4G subscriber base of 43.86 million. It also has the highest revenue market share of 46 per cent as well as the highest average revenue per user (ARPU) of Rs354.
In industry ARPU in 2022-23 was Rs247.8 per month, up from Rs220.2 in the preceding year, whereas the industry maintains that the ARPU has declined in dollar terms.
The report says one of the PTA’s strategic objectives was to provide affordable, high-quality services in the country besides ensuring that investors and operators receive a reasonable return on their investments.
The report claims Pakistan offers some of the world’s lowest and most budget-friendly telecom prices.
It says the cost of 1 GB of data in Pakistan was 12 cents making it the lowest in the region and sixth lowest in the world, but it has registered 71 per cent decline since 2017-18.
The report says PTA is developing guidelines for the management of electronic waste (e-waste) in the ICT sector. The goal is to promote responsible disposal and recycling of electronic equipment, contributing to environmental sustainability and the establishment of a circular economy. These guidelines will offer recommendations for ICT companies to handle, dispose of, and effectively recycle electronic waste.
The PTA has also highlighted the international connectivity infrastructure of the country as there are seven submarine cable connections and a Pak-China optical fibre cable (OFC), alongside 19 cross-border terrestrial telecom links to neighbouring countries, consisting of nine microwave links and 10 OFC links.
Key players in the country’s international bandwidth provision include PTCL, Transworld Associates (TWA), Cyber Internet Service Providers and SCO.
The report says the government is preparing to launch 5G services in the country. It says a draft policy guideline designed to facilitate the deployment of 5G and advanced technologies is already in place, along with identification of spectrum for 5G.
In order to introduce 5G services in an effective and efficient manner, the report says, the government must prioritise the development of the requisite infrastructure.
Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2024
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