Pakistan to have 5G services by FY2023: PTA
The preparations are underway to bring the advanced fifth-generation (5G) internet services in Pakistan by the fiscal year 2022-23, which would significantly increase the internet speed by 10 times and widen economic activities in the country.
This was revealed in the annual report 2020, by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) stating that the government of Pakistan is developing a detailed roadmap for 5G technology readiness in the country and aims to auction “spectrum for…5G services in fiscal year 2023”.
Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Aminul Haque has also said that the government is planning to launch 5G technology by December 2022 I Pakistan, but experts believe that it would still take much longer for the country to launch 5G in Pakistan.
Pakistan is also the first country in South Asia to test 5G “with a recorded download speed of more than one Gbps.” The test was conducted by mobile phone services providing firms under a limited environment and on non-commercial basis in 2019 and 2020.
The tested speeds stands 10 times high compared to 100 megabits per second (Mbps) on 4G internet in the world, it was learnt.
Haque was of the view that the introduction of this modern technology would reap great economic benefits for the country.
PTA has also informed that the authority along with the government would publish a Spectrum Master Plan and a Spectrum Rolling Strategy, which will allow cellular operators to plan their investments in an efficient manner. They must jointly work to create an environment that encourages creativity and innovation so that large and small businesses can explore the possibilities created by 5G, said PTA.
According to the GSM Association, the estimated economic contribution of the mobile industry in Pakistan will reach $24 billion by 2023, contributing 6.6 per cent to total gross domestic product (GDP).
As per the official stats, 98 per cent of the households own a mobile phone in Pakistan, whereas penetration of mobile services reached 81.1 per cent at the end of October 2020, with 172.3 million mobile subscriptions.
Meanwhile, 4G service subscriptions increased by 60 percent in FY20, resulting in the total broadband penetration reaching 42.4 per cent by the end of October 2020. With the expansion of 3G and 4G services, an increase of 77 per cent was seen in data usage for FY20.
