Pakistan's mobile segment provides a glimmer of hope for its telecom sector
Pakistan continues to lag most other Asian countries in terms of the maturity of its telecom sector. This is partly due to the poor state of its fixed-line network following years of under-investment and neglect by the state-owned incumbent telco Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTC), with teledensity now down to almost 1%.This lack of focus has left the door open to mobile to become the dominant platform for both voice and data. While penetration rates are low by Asian (and rest-of-world) standards, the mobile voice and mobile broadband markets have been growing at double-digit rates of late and at least in subscriber numbers. In contrast to the fixed network market, Pakistan's mobile segment is highly competitive. The result has been continued downwards pressure to pricing and ARPU, such that mobile revenues have been unable to keep pace with the rate of market expansion as 4G LTE networks, in particular, stretch ever deeper into the more remote parts of the country.
Future growth (in market size as well as revenue) is likely to come from the wider availability of value-added services on top of the expansion of 4G LTE and (from 2023) 5G mobile networks. The Universal Service Fund (USF) continues to direct investment towards the development of mobile broadband (and, to a lesser extent, fibre-based networks) in under-served and even un-served areas of the country, with multiple projects being approved to start in 2021 and 2022.
This report update includes operator and regulator market data to September 2021, Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, an assessment of the global impact of COVID-19 on the telecoms sector, and other recent market developments.
Key Developments:
The Universal Service Fund (USF) Board approves a range of projects in the 2020/2021 budget to expand LTE into under-served areas.The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) unveils a roadmap for launching 5G in 2023.
Zong and Ufone each win unused spectrum in the 1800MHz band to expand 4G LTE services in the Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan regions.
VEON acquires the remaining 15% stake in Jazz from the Abu Dhabi Group for $273 million.
Key companies mentioned in this report:
Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTC), Ufone, Telenor Pakistan, Jazz, Zong, Special Communications Organisation (SCO).This product will be updated with the latest data at the time of order. Consequently, dispatch time for this product will be 7-10 business days.
Table of Contents
- Key statistics
- Regional Asia market comparison
- Market characteristics
- Market Leaders
- Market Challengers
- Market Emergents
- TMI vs GDP
- Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
- Fixed versus mobile broadband penetration
- Country overview
- COVID-19 and its impact on the telecom sector
- Economic considerations and responses
- Subscribers
- Infrastructure
- Telecommunications market
- Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
- Regulatory environment
- Regulatory authorities
- Ministry of Information Technology (MoIT)
- Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA)
- National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC)
- Fixed-line developments
- Access
- Universal Service Fund (USF)
- Mobile network developments
- Spectrum auctions
- SIM card registration
- Mobile phone tax
- Mobile market
- Mobile statistics
- Mobile infrastructure
- 5G
- 4G (LTE)
- 3G
- Other infrastructure developments
- Mobile broadband
- Major mobile operators
- Jazz
- Ufone
- Telenor Pakistan
- Zong
- Special Communications Organisation (SCO)
- MVNOs
- Mobile content and applications
- m-commerce / m-banking
- Fixed-line broadband market
- Fixed broadband service providers
- Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTC)
- StormFiber
- Fixed broadband technologies
- Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) Networks
- Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
- Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
- Fixed wireless services
- Fixed network market
- Major network operators
- Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTC)
- WorldCall group
- TeleCard
- Wateen Telecom
- Telecommunications infrastructure
- National telecom network
- Fibre networks
- International infrastructure
- Satellite networks
- Submarine cable networks
- International gateways
- International fibre optic links
- Data centres
- Smart infrastructure
- Internet of Things (IoT)
- Smart cities
- Smart grids
- Digital economy
- e-Commerce
- e-Government
- e-Education
- e-Health
- Appendix - Historic data
- Glossary of abbreviations
- Related reports
List of Tables
List of Charts
List of Exhibits
