Broadband user base widens beyond 50 million

ISLAMABAD: The number of broadband subscribers in the country has crossed 50 million, which translates into a high-speed internet penetration to the tune of around 24.5 percent till November last year, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) reported on Tuesday.

“Of the total users, mobile broadband remained the major contributor, sharing 48 million 3G and 4G subscribers till the period,” stats released by the PTA showed.

“The 3G and 4G subscription registered 23.5 percent penetration.”

The PTA report also presented that till November 2017, the mobile phone user base widened to 144 million compared to 142.5 million by October 2017, taking the cellular teledensity to a staggering 70.83 percent.

“Jazz 3G users stood at 14.096 million by end-November compared to 13.93 million by end-October 2017, registering an increase of 0.166 million,” the figures revealed.

The stats also showed Jazz 4G users jumped from 1,558,180 by October to 1,750,866 by end-November, Zong 3G subscribers increased to 9.0297 million by end-November compared to 8.976 million by end-October, while its 4G users jumped from 4.8 million by end-October to 4.9 by end-November.

“On the other hand, Telenor 3G users decreased from 10.635 million by end-October 2017 to 10.591 million. It’s 4G users jumped from 1,162,870 by end-October to 1,361,514 by end-November,” the PTA numbers showed.

The stats also brought to light that after adding 67,517 3G users in November as the total number of Ufone users reached 5.57 million by end-November against 5.4889 million by end-October.

Moreover, the number of broadband subscribers in other technologies included DSL 1,562,360, HFC 52,108, Wimax 151,092, FTTH 55775 and EvDO 518646.

Analysts say 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.

“The introduction of mobile broadband coupled with influx of affordable smartphones had a catalytic effect on use of social media,” an analyst said.

According to another industry expert, the country continues to be one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the region. “Introduction of timely reforms by the successive governments over a period of last many years transformed the telecom industry unprecedentedly,” an official said.

He added that the fast growing number of subscribers calls for befitting as well explosive network expansion to keep up with the demand, which further necessitates mobilising more investment into telecom infrastructure development.