2019 Pakistan - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Last updated: 26 May 2020 Update History

Report Status: Archived

Report Pages: 134

Analyst: Sebastien De Rosbo

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Summary
Table Of Contents

Publication Overview

This report provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments in Pakistan’s telecommunications market. The report analyses the Telecoms Infrastructure, mobile, fixed broadband, Digital Media and Digital Economy sectors. Subjects include:

Market and industry analyses, trends and developments;
Regional market comparisons
Telecoms Maturity Index
Data centres and smart Infrastructure;
Major players, revenues, subscribers, ARPU;
Broadband (FTTH, DSL);
Internet of Things, 5G developments
Mobile, broadband and mobile broadband forecasts to 2023-4.

Executive Summary

5G trials have begun in Pakistan

Pakistan’s telecom market had long struggled with the transition from a regulated state-owned monopoly to a deregulated competitive structure. The transition, and the development of the telecom sector generally, has been greatly aided by foreign investment.

Despite the government’s promotion of internet services and the expansion of access nationally over the past decade, fixed broadband penetration remains low at barely 1%. The fixed-line telephony market, dominated by Pakistan Telecommunications, is similarly underdeveloped, and the number of fixed lines is slowly declining as the mobile segment continues to expand.

As in many countries in Asia, both businesses and government agencies in Pakistan are opening up to the benefits of third-party data centres for public, private and hybrid cloud deployments. Data centres have been established in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad, while telcos managing data centres include Telenor, Zong, and Ufone.

The mobile market has experienced moderate growth over the last six years, supported by a young population and a rising popularity of mobile services. Slow to moderate growth is predicted over the next five years, though stronger growth will be constrained by local competition which has kept prices down and ARPU low.

Mobilink and Warid merged their operations into a single brand, Jazz, which reduced the number of mobile operators reduced from six to five. Further market consolidation is anticipated over the next few years as the operating margins of the major operators come under further pressure.

In January 2020 the telecom regulator issued trial 5G licenses to Zong and Jazz. Despite this, the capacity of LTE infrastructure and the lack of compelling user cases for 5G suggests that network operators are not yet pressed to launch commercial services.

BuddeComm notes that the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2020 is having a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. During the coming year the telecoms sector to various degrees is likely to experience a downturn in mobile device production, while it may also be difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. Overall progress towards 5G may be postponed or slowed down in some countries.

On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, will offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect should be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth.

Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report.

The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions.

Key Developments

Regulator postpones renewal of Telenor Pakistan’s GSM licence due to CPOVID-19 crisis,
Fixed line market predicted to decline further over the next five years to 2024;
Dominance of the mobile platform continues to hinder development of fixed-broadband segment;
Universal Service Fund (USF) and Ufone signa contract to provide broadband coverage for the Makran Coastal Highway;
MoIT aiming to launch 5G services later in 2020;
Report update includes operator data to Q1 2020, regulator’s market data for 2019, Telecom Iaturity Index charts and analyses, assessment of the global impact of COVID-19 on the telecoms sector.

Key companies mentioned in this report:

Pakistan Telecommunication (PTCL); Ufone (PTML, PTCL’s subsidiary); Telenor Pakistan; Warid Telecom; Zong; WorldCall; TeleCard; PakNet; Wateen Telecom (subsidiary of Warid Telecom); Mobilink; NayaTel; Wi-Tribe; National Telecommunications (NTC), Instaphone

Key statistics
Regional Asian Market Comparison
Country overview
COVID-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Economic considerations and responses
Mobile devices
Subscribers
Infrastructure

Telecommunications market

Market overview and analysis
Revenue and investment levels
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

Regulatory environment

Overview
Regulatory authorities

Ministry of Information Technology (MoIT)
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA)
National Telecommunications Corp (NTC)

Fixed-line developments

Access

Mobile network developments

Spectrum auctions – 2014 - 2017
Mobile Termination Rates
Other developments

Mobile market

Market overview and analysis
Mobile statistics
Mobile infrastructure

5G
Mobile broadband

Major mobile operators

Statistics by operator
PMCL (Jazz)
Ufone (PTCL)
Telenor Pakistan
Zong
Special Communication Organisation (SCO)
Historic - Instaphone (Pakcom)
MVNOs

Mobile content and applications

m-commerce / m-banking

Fixed-line broadband market

Market analysis
Broadband statistics
Government broadband projects
Fixed broadband service providers

Pakistan Telecommunication Company (PTCL)
Stormfiber

Fixed broadband technologies

Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) Networks
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
Fixed wireless
Other fixed broadband services

Digital economy

e-Commerce

Overview

e-Government
e-Education
e-Health

Fixed network operators

Fixed network subscribers by operator
Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL)
WorldCall group
TeleCard
Wateen Telecom

Telecommunications infrastructure

Overview of the national telecom network
Fixed line statistics
Fibre networks
International infrastructure

Satellite networks
Submarine cable networks
International gateways
International fibre optic links

Data centres

Overview
Challenges
Providers

Smart infrastructure

Internet of Things (IoT)
Smart cities
Smart grids

Appendix – Historic data
Glossary of abbreviations
Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities – Pakistan – 2020 (e)
Table 2 – Pakistan’s telecom revenues (PKR million) by category –- 2004 – 2018
Table 3 –Pakistan’s telecom investment – total and mobile - 2004 – 2018
Table 4 – Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in telecom sector – 2008 – 2018
Table 5 – Percentage of Population Covered by Type of Mobile Network
Table 6 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2010 – 2025
Table 7 – Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers and penetration – 2009 – 2024
Table 8 – Change in the number of mobile subscribers by operator – 2013 – 2019
Table 9 – Change in the market share of mobile subscribers by operator – 2013 - 2019
Table 10 – Annual change in the number of mobile subscribers by operator – 2015 – 2019
Table 11 – Mobile subscribers by operator and 3G, 4G - 2018
Table 12 – PCML (Jazz) mobile subscribers – 2008 - 2019
Table 13 – Historic - Warid Telecom subscribers – 2005 – 2016
Table 14 – Ufone (PTCL) subscribers – 2008 – 2019
Table 15 – Growth in the number of Telenor Pakistan’s mobile subscribers – 2010 – 2020
Table 16 – Development of Telenor Pakistan’s mobile ARPU – 2010 – 2020
Table 17 – Development of Telenor Pakistan’s financial data – 2010 – 2020
Table 18 – CMPak (Zong) mobile subscribers – 2008 – 2019
Table 19 – Change in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2010 – 2025
Table 20 – Fixed broadband subscribers by access type – 2009 – 2019
Table 21 – Fixed Broadband subscribers by access type – 2009 – 2019
Table 22 – Fixed broadband subscribers market share by access type – 2009 – 2019
Table 23 – Fixed broadband subscribers annual change by access type – 2010 – 2019
Table 24 – International internet bandwidth – 2004 – 2018
Table 25 – Lit/Equipped International Bandwidth Capacity – 2013 – 2018
Table 26 – Cable modem subscribers – 2008 – 2019
Table 27 – DSL broadband subscribers – 2005 – 2019
Table 28 – FTTH subscribers – 2007 – 2019
Table 29 – WiMAX subscribers – 2008 – 2019
Table 30 – Fixed local line subscribers by operator– 2018
Table 31 – Fixed-line (WLL) subscribers by operator – 2018
Table 32 – Historic - PTCL fixed-line subscribers – 2008 – 2017
Table 33 – Decline in the number of fixed-line subscriptions and teledensity – 2009 – 2025
Table 34 – Historic - mobile subscribers – 1995 – 2005
Table 35 – Historic - Telenor Pakistan mobile subscribers – 2008 – 2009
Table 36 – Historic – fixed-line subscribers and penetration – 1991 - 2006
Table 37 – Historic - Instaphone (Pakcom) subscribers – 2000 – 2010
Table 38 – Historic - Internet Users and Penetration – 2007 – 2016
Table 39 – Historic - PTCL broadband subscribers – 2007 – 2016

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Asian Telecoms Maturity Index by Market Category
Chart 2 – Asian Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita
Chart 3 – Telecoms Maturity Index – Central Asia
Chart 4 – Mobile, Mobile Broadband & Fixed Broadband Penetration – 2019; 2024
Chart 5 - Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2009 – 2024
Chart 6 – Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers and penetration – 2009 – 2024
Chart 7 – Change in the number of mobile subscribers by operator – 2013 – 2019
Chart 8 – Change in the market share of mobile subscribers by operator – 2013 - 2019
Chart 9 – Growth in the number of Telenor Pakistan’s mobile subscribers – 2010 – 2020
Chart 10 – Development of Telenor Pakistan’s mobile ARPU – 2010 – 2020
Chart 11 – Development of Telenor Pakistan’s financial data – 2010 – 2020
Chart 12 – Change in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2010 – 2025
Chart 13 - Decline in the number of fixed-line subscriptions and teledensity – 2009 – 2025

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – Key market characteristics by market segment
Exhibit 2 – Central Asia -Key Characteristics of Telecoms Markets by Country

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2019 Pakistan - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Purchase this Report

5G trials have begun in Pakistan

Key Developments

Key companies mentioned in this report:

Key statistics

Regional Asian Market Comparison

Country overview

COVID-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Mobile market

Fixed-line broadband market

Digital economy

Fixed network operators

Telecommunications infrastructure

Appendix – Historic data

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

Purchase this Report

Share this Report

TMT Intelligence

A platform to scale your intelligence tasks

Research Methodology

Hot Topics

News & Views