Shams ul Nisa

The current total volume of Pakistan’s telecom industry is $26 billion against less than $18 billion five years ago, contributing 5.7% to GDP, according to WealthPK.

In the last five years, the telecom industry has successfully attracted $7.1 billion of foreign and domestic investment, generating more than 60,000 direct and 250,000 indirect jobs in the country.

Currently, there are 197 million subscribers all over the country. The internet penetration, bandwidth and broadband subscribers are 124 million. Despite the financial issues because of floods, internet subscribers increased by approximately 7.61% in the Fiscal Year 2022.

On top of that the optic fiber deployment is approximately 190,000 kilometers through the sub-marine cable. As optic fiber is the backbone of connectivity, there are six cable lining stations operational countrywide, which are connected to the outside world. Owing to the floods last year, 4,800 telecom sites were damaged, but the telecom sector recovered them the same year. According to the World Bank, every 10% increase in internet inclusion contributes to 1.33% of a country’s economy. In Pakistan, the optic fiber growth is more than 10%. The total volume of the economy is $290 billion, which means 3-billion-dollar worth of economic uplift because of the telecom sector. Apart from that, approximately 170 new licenses were issued to the national and international telecom companies in FY2022-2023 in the field of telecom infrastructure, telecom tower infrastructure, internet of things, value added services and long distance and international (LDI).

Additionally, 10 licenses were issued for smart device manufacturing this year, including 5G devices. In 2022, some 22 million smart devices were manufactured, and 33 manufacturing licenses were granted by the PTA. The prominent domestic companies include Nokia, Samsung, VIVO and OPPO. The domestic mobile policy has shown a significant impact on mobile imports. The imports are almost down to 0.4 million, which used to be 12 million. The imports of telecommunications, computer, and information services plummeted from $612 million to $298 million in June and July of current Fiscal Year 2023-2024 as compared to the previous Fiscal Year 2022-2023. Pakistan’s telecom sector possesses a great potential to earn foreign exchange. The government should facilitate this sector by investing in infrastructure development in accordance with the time and technology needs.

Credit: INP-WealthPk