Broadband user base widens to over 46.9 million

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s broadband subscriber base, including both wireless (3G/4G) and wireline users, broadened to over 46.9 million by August 2017 from around 45.6 million till a month earlier, mainly driven by a striking rise in the usage of mobile data services, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) reported on Friday.

“The major contribution came from the mobile operators in the shape of 3G/4G subscribers, which reached 44.5 million by August,” the PTA said. “The number of broadband subscribers in other technologies included DSL reached 1,549,688, HFC 51,065, Wimax 160,519, FTTH 51,097, EvDO 565,709, while the users of other technologies hit a figure of 9,264.”

The PTA also revealed that country's largest mobile phone operator, Jazz, overwhelmed its competitors as a premier 3G/4G provider. “Jazz mobile broadband subscriber base reached 13.2 million and 1.24 million for 3G and 4G respectively in the period under review,” the PTA numbers disclosed.

A senior official of the company said the key to this leading position was an outcome of consistent investment to further innovate on behalf of subscribers by delivering not just the best 3G/4G and voice network, but also improvements in customer service, and product lines. The PTA statistics also showed that Zong 3G and 4G subscribers increased to 8.77 million and 4.6 million respectively, while Telenor’s 3G and 4G users hit 10.57 million and 849,139 by end of August 2017. The Ufone 3G subscribers reached 5.3 million by August from 5.15 million till July 2017. Experts say that portable mobile broadband devices like MiFi and Wingles are one of the main reasons of this growth in 3G/4G subscribers and many more will follow this trend in upcoming days.